Samuel’s eyes went wide as blood coursed through his veins. The incoming blow threw his mind in chaos as he frantically thought of every way to counter or evade the blow. Yet, he couldn’t come up with anything whatsoever.

To him, the time seemed to come to a crawl as Zack’s fist descended, one inch after the other. The thoughts spinning through his head grew quick as lightning, overdrawing his mind. His vision blurred under the pressure as all the colours in his eyes intermingled, fading into the shades of black and white — all but the earthen yellow covering Zack’s incoming fist, which now stood out like sun in a clear sky. His eyes wandered left and right, looking through this new world like those of a baby.

However, he had his priorities straight, especially with an incoming blow which might injure him severely, heading towards him at that very moment.

His brows locked as the incoming mass of yellow approached his chest. The next moment, though, his expression relaxed into a smile as his hand reached towards Zack, specifically his collar. Next, he jerked his arm strong enough to make his joints hurt. The force threw the descending fist off trajectory, grazing past his right arm.

An instant later, a booming sound made his ears buzz as a shock wave passed through his body. The colourless world around him seemed to spin as he felt he could see the starts in the sky. The ensuing cloud of dust made him cough while he closed his eyelids, shielding his eyes.

But, he wasn’t the only one affected. Beginning from the point of impact, the ground around the both boys cracked, turning into loose dirt and sand. The shockwave also travelled through Zack’s body, sending him into disarray as his heart pounded wildly.

‘So this is the power of a third-rank spell, Seismic Shock…. Terrifying!’ Samuel exclaimed inwardly, looking forward to learning new spells.

Wabbling, both boys got up, facing each other with unsteady steps.

“How many spells more can you use with that thing?” Samuel asked, his eyes gesturing to the beast core in Zack’s hand.

With an honest expression, Zack replied, “Not many. Probably only one or two. But that should be more than enough.”

Through his abnormal vision, Samuel could make out a dim light rapidly flickering in and out of existence in Zack’s hand, like it would fade out any moment. And fade it did; a sound similar to ice cracking filled the air.

Zack looked down at his palm as a bitter smile surfaced on his face. Overturning his palm, pieces of what once used to be a beast core fell down to the sandy ground, crumbling to dust.

Samuel blinked. His eyes searched around for any and all traces of colour. Eagerness practically dripped out of his gaze. Looking at the sun, he saw an almost invisible amber hue flowing out, radiating everywhere.

Looking down at his body, just below his sternum, he saw a bright ball of white with three concentric circles floating around it, all mutually perpendicular to each other. Above the three rings, a mist of white smoke wafted about, forming an indistinct shape of a ring.

Raising his head, he looked back and forth through his surroundings. An instant later, his gaze focused on the greenery in the distance, with one indistinct dull-white silhouette of a man standing and another dark grey figure of another man sitting.

Taking a deep breath, he collected his thoughts. ‘Wait, did that core die out just like that? Didn’t Zack say it had another use left? Did it have anything to do with that light I saw? And that fist earlier was also an earthen colour. Does that mean — Damn you! Now you’ve done it!’

Catching onto Samuel’s stupor, Zack jumped on the chance, punching out, his fist heading for Samuel’s face.

But to his surprise, Samuel’s hand moved at an incredible speed, catching his punch midway. The grip on Zack’s hand tightened as pain filled his senses. His hand went numb in an instant, causing him to grit his teeth. Yet, not a shriek of pain escaped his mouth. Instead, his gaze firmly locked onto Samuel, burning with a zealous fighting spirit.

“You know what, I’ve had enough of holding back,” Samuel bellowed, his voice seething with anger. “I warned you, but you didn’t listen. If I don’t go all out, it doesn’t mean you’ll go for my face. If it was anywhere else, I wouldn’t have minded. Even if it was a hundred times stronger. But you just had to go for the face.”

“Seems I have done it this time…” Zack spoke wryly as he freed his hand as he backed off.

“Yeah, you did. Too late for that though. Whatever happens, so be it. I don’t care anymore.” An azure light condensed around his hand as he icily uttered, “Ice spike.”

Backed by the power of a three circled mage, a bolt of ice, as big as Samuel’s head, condensed as it floated in the air. With a wave of his hand, it flew ahead towards Zack.

Zack’s body stiffened as his eye met the light gleaming off the sharp tip of the spike. It flew past his head, missing it by a hair’s breadth.

Sounds of wood breaking came from behind, followed by the trembling of the ground. Mechanically turning his head around, Zack saw a series of fallen trees and a chunk of ice with next to no resemblance to the spike of ice that flew by past his head.

Zack shuddered, feeling weak in his knees. His throat bobbed up and down as he stared behind in a trance.

Samuel sighed as he threatened, “I repeat once again, never ever, no matter what happens, try to hit my face. Or else… Well, you probably can guess it. Hehehe… That aside,” His tone took a sudden 180, “I do think that I look quite dashing today. Wouldn’t you agree?”

Having no response, he gave Zack a look mixed with anticipation alongside a hidden threat while feeling light inside.

Without a second thought, Zack nodded in response.

“Okay Samuel, enough. Cut it out,” an old and raspy voice sounded out seemingly out of nowhere.

“Dad?” Samuel exclaimed as he jerked his head backwards to look at William coming out from a patch of bushes from behind him, followed by a man wearing a conical bamboo hat and black cloak—the person he walked into earlier in the day.