The monster did not stay down.

Its arms slammed against the bottom of the crater, the aura flaring violently as it tried to push itself up. The ground shook under the sheer pressure of its mana, the creature’s visor locking onto Hajin as it pulled its fist back for a devastating counterattack.

It was fast, faster than anything the Captain or Helen had faced so far but Hajin was already gone.

The monster’s fist hit nothing but empty air, the impact completely vaporizing the ground where Hajin had just been standing.

Before the shockwave even finished expanding, a blur of gold materialized directly above the creature’s head.

He drove his heel down with terrifying momentum, the golden mist trailing off his leg as it connected squarely with the back of the monster’s armored neck.

The sound of shattering metal ripped through the ruins.

The impact violently slammed the creature face-first back into the dirt, expanding the crater by another ten feet as thick, corrupted blood sprayed from its joints.

Hajin slowly lowered his leg, the golden mist steadily pouring from his mouth while the blue panel flickered in the corner of his vision.

[Time Remaining: 17:42]

"What’s wrong?" He asked, taking a slow step toward the rubble where the monster had crashed. "I thought I was a disappointment. You seem awfully quiet for someone who just finished calling me weak."

He expected it to roar or try to blindly charge at him again.

What he did not expect was the low, vibrating chuckle that echoed from the dust cloud.

He stopped walking, his brow furrowing as the thick smoke finally started to clear.

The monster was standing perfectly upright in the rubble. To Hajin’s complete shock, the featureless black visor split open horizontally, curving upward into a terrifying, jagged smile.

"You are strong," the monster said, its voice no longer vibrating against the ground, but echoing directly inside Hajin’s head. "I acknowledge you, human. For that, I will stop playing around."

The heavy metal plating covering its chest and legs suddenly cracked.

Hajin watched in disbelief as the supposedly indestructible armor simply shattered and fell away, revealing a sleek, muscle-bound humanoid form underneath. The dark red aura that had been bleeding from its body instantly vanished, replaced by an overwhelmingly oppressive, dark purple mist that violently warped the surrounding air.

It raised its hand, the purple aura swirling rapidly into its palm to solidify into a long, pitch-black polearm.

Every instinct in Hajin’s body screamed at him to move.

He didn’t even think, instantly channeling the Goddess Resonance into his legs to violently launch himself backward. He broke the sound barrier again, clearing thirty feet of distance in a fraction of a second, but it wasn’t enough.

The monster had completely vanished from sight.

He barely registered the purple blur appearing to his left before the polearm swung into his ribs. The impact was devastating, shattering the golden mana protecting his side and sending him rocketing across the ruins.

He violently crashed through two pillars before finally slamming into a wall, the solid rock cracking in a massive spiderweb pattern behind him.

High above the ruins, standing frozen on the ridge, the demon girl practically leaped forward.

Her hands grabbed the edge of the rocky cliff, her eyes wide with absolute panic as she stared down at the massive crater and watched Hajin cough up a violent spray of blood.

"Crap, crap, crap," she muttered, biting her lip so hard it almost bled. "This is bad. That stupid beast is taking him seriously now. If it uses its full output, he is actually going to die!"

The demon boy standing next to her did not say a word, his expression perfectly flat while he watched the purple aura completely consume the ruins below.

She leaned forward, her fingers digging into the edge of the ridge while her dark mana started to leak into the air around her.

"I am going down there," she said, her voice dropping into a dangerous, low register. "I am going to rip that overgrown mutant apart before it ruins everything."

"No," the demon boy replied smoothly, not even turning his head.

"What do you mean, no?" she snapped, glaring at him. "If he dies, the fragment is lost!"

"He will not die," the boy said, his eyes still fixed on the purple mist below. "This is a perfect opportunity. The fragment needs pressure to fully awaken its deeper traits. Let him grow."

"But—"

She was instantly cut off by a deafening shockwave that blew the remaining purple mist completely away from the ground below.

Down in the ruins, Hajin had not stayed down.

The monster had rushed in to finish him off with the polearm, but Hajin had met the strike head-on. The Chains of the Goddess were tightly wrapped around his right hand and forearm like a heavy, golden gauntlet, catching the pitch-black weapon mid-swing.

The sheer force of the collision cracked the floor for another thirty feet in every direction.

The monster skidded to a sudden stop, its feet digging deep trenches into the ground as it stared down at the human who had just completely stopped its momentum.

The jagged, terrifying smile on the creature’s split visor widened.

But Hajin was smiling too.

Blood was leaking from his mouth, the side of his ribs heavily bruised, but the expression on his face was completely unhinged.

It was not the confident, righteous smile of a hero. It was the wild, adrenaline-fueled grin of someone who was thoroughly enjoying the violence.

Up on the ridge, the demon girl blinked, her mana completely fizzling out as she stared down at the scene in absolute bewilderment.

’Is that guy really carrying the Goddess fragment?’ she thought, a slight shiver running down her spine. ’With that kind of creepy expression?’

Hajin pushed the polearm back with a violent shove, instantly closing the distance before the monster could regain its balance.

He threw a devastating right hook, the tightly coiled chains slamming into the side of the creature’s head with enough force to warp the air. The monster didn’t even flinch, retaliating with a brutal knee strike that buried itself deep into Hajin’s stomach.

Hajin coughed up another spray of blood, but his smile only grew wider.

He grabbed the creature by the shoulder, driving his forehead directly into its visor. The sharp crack of bone meeting metal echoed across the ruins as both of them stumbled back.

But neither of them stayed down.

They launched themselves at each other at the exact same time. The resulting clash sent a massive shockwave, completely leveling what was left of the surrounding walls.

"Move!" the Captain roared, grabbing Helen by the shoulder, practically dragging her behind the largest pile of rubble he could find. "Everyone take cover right now!"

The remaining knights scattered like panicked insects, diving behind broken pillars just as a stray pulse of purple mana sheared cleanly through the air right where they had been standing.

The center of the ruins had turned into an absolute meat grinder.

Gold and purple mana violently collided over and over again, the sheer speed of their exchanges turning them into nothing but blurred streaks of light. The ground continued to cave in with every step they took, the crater expanding rapidly as they traded blow for blow without a single ounce of defense.

The monster swung its polearm in a wide arc, tearing a massive gash across Hajin’s chest.

Hajin didn’t even try to block it. He simply used the momentum of the strike to spin around, driving a brutal elbow directly into the creature’s throat while wrapping his chains around its weapon to yank it out of its hands.

The creature responded by simply letting go of the polearm, driving a fist directly into Hajin’s jaw.

They were both bleeding heavily now, their bodies taking damage that would have killed a normal human ten times over. But neither of them slowed down.

The monster’s jagged smile mirrored Hajin’s unhinged grin perfectly, both of them completely lost in the sheer, destructive high of the fight while the ruins continued to collapse around them.