YuWon loved the sensation of mana overflowing in his body.

Thats the shit, he thought to himself.

His grip on his sword strengthened.

Edge of Nightfall was no perfect sword. It had the restriction that it could only exhibit its full power in night or darkness. That was a huge negative.

But right now, not only was it night, but Hypnoss skill was creating a near-perfect darkness. And in a situation like this

Its the perfect item.

Hephaestuss ability felt truly great in this moment for YuWon.

Fuuu

YuWon controlled his breathing while sharpening his senses. He might have been able to injure him, but his opponent was still a Ranker. He couldnt afford to be relaxed.

Hypnos is a Ranker that specializes in illusions.

Fortunately, YuWon already knew a bit about Hypnos.

His battle position is a close-range mage, and he utilizes dark attribute mana, ideal for illusion-type skills.

Fzzzt!

YuWons eyes had a glow in them. He could feel the overflowing power of the [Holy Fire] and the Dark Divine Crystal.

Im confident against guys like him.

Crack, crack

Both of YuWons arms started to inflate from activating [Gigantification,] and the [Holy Fire] wrapped around his sword.

Fsss, fss

Hypnoss mana that was spread out around the area started to move.

Tmp

The distance between the two people shortened.

YuWon and Hypnos. Their fighting styles differed, but they both liked to have a similar distance between themselves and their opponent.

Whoosh!

Hypnoss sharp blade flew towards him. It moved fast and sharp, but YuWon didnt let the image fool him.

Shatter!

Hypnoss mirage disappeared, and another Hypnos popped up right beside him. It was just another illusion. YuWon was able to see through all of Hypnoss illusions with [Cinder Eyes.]

Whoosh

Clang!

Vwoom, vwoooooom

The two blades clashed, and two different black-colored manas rippled throughout the area.

YuWons sword was not pushed back by Hypnos. There was a difference in the sizes of their swords, but Hypnos still couldnt believe what was happening.

Whoosh, whoosh!

The purple [Holy Fire] raged on, threatening Hypnos.

Hypnos sliced the fire, and it was swallowed by his darkness.

Every time the fire got close to him, a mysterious fear crept up on him.

What is this skill? Hypnos wondered.

This eerie feeling was there the first time he saw YuWons fire. He had never seen a fire that was purple before, and for some reason, when he looked at it, it felt instinctively repulsive to him.

But as his repulsion and fear increased, the fire burned hotter.

No. Hypnos soon realized the true nature of YuWons fire. Its not actually growing hotter.

Hypnos stretched out his hand and snatched up the fire that was flying in midair.

With the ability to turn dreams into reality, Hypnos was able to grab things that didnt have a physical form.

Fwoosh, woosh

The hand that he had grabbed the fire with felt hot, but it wasnt as hot as before.

It just feels hot.

It was a bizarre skill.

Hypnos was shocked that it was able to provoke an opponents fear and change in power proportionally to their emotions.

How troublesome, Hypnos said, shaking his hand.

Vzzt, vzzzt

Sparks flew around him. It was a sign that the penalty was starting and a testament to how much power he had used.

Fwoosh!

The [Holy Fire] was pushed aside in multiple directions. It was as if a huge hole was being opened up.

YuWon hesitated for a second before swinging his sword.

Vzzzt!

Mana exploded out of the Dark Divine Crystal, adding power to the sword.

With no more reason to pay attention to the [Holy Fire,] Hypnos focused his attention on YuWon.

Cling, clang, clang!

As the swords struck each other and slashed through the air, countless sword marks made imprints on the ground.

The two had now traded dozens of blows, and as more time passed, Hypnos became more and more impressed. This is unprecedented talent, he thought.

At first Hypnos had brushed him off, thinking, How great can a player on the 11th Floor be? But that preconceived notion had now been smashed.

A player on the lower floors could never beat a Ranker. That was a long-standing, unchangeable law.

Every once in a while, among the elite Pure-Bloods were ones with great talent who managed to surpass Rankers before they became a Ranker themselves. However, that always happened after they had climbed pretty far up the Tower.

If he were to become a Ranker in the future

Hypnos couldnt begin to imagine what kind of a monster YuWon would be.

I cant let that happen.

Hypnos finally understood why Hera cared about a lowly player.

I have to kill him here, Hypnos resolved himself.

[Moon Dream]

Vzzzzt

The penalty on Hypnoss body grew stronger.

At the same time, a huge circle floated above their dark arena. It was as if a full moon was up alone in the night sky.

Crack, crack

The moon started to rupture

Kaboom!

And it exploded.

Shattered fragments of the moon started raining down with nowhere to escape.

I guess youre not afraid of the Administrator, YuWon stated.

His words made Hypnos pause for a second. Even Hypnoss turbulent mana froze momentarily.

But soon after, Hypnos bit his lip and responded, My only allegiance is to Olympus.

What a joke.

Say whatever you want.

Rumble, rumble

The sky and the ground shook.

Theres no way a brat that knows nothing like you would understand the greater cause.

Greater cause, you say YuWon muttered while watching the fragments of the moon coming at him.

Keep this in mind.

YuWon remembered what Chronos said when he first revealed the Clock Movement.

Whoever is the one that uses this to go back in time Chronos said while everyone was gathered around. They will have to carry the entire Tower on their back.

The Tower was a collection of hundreds of different worlds. It was a world with trillions of living beings, and that world was on a trajectory heading towards doom.

YuWon knew the end of the world.

So the one who goes back needs to be capable of holding up that weight.

YuWon only understood after coming back how truly heavy it was.

There was no way for Hypnos to know the magnitude of the weight on YuWons back.

I may not, but I at least know one thing, YuWon said to Hypnos.

The greater cause. That wasnt something one should easily say. Not only was it embarrassing to say, but one needed the responsibility and right to be able to say it unabashedly.

YuWon didnt truly know what it meant either, but he was sure of one thing.

The thing about the greater cause, YuWon snickered at Hypnos, is that its meant to be said when youre sacrificing yourself, not someone else.

Like Yuwon, who had gone back in time just to repeat that hellish fight once again.

Thats cooler, isnt it? YuWon asked.

Between the two of them, YuWon had the greater right to talk about it.

Rumble

Boom, crash!

Crush!

The fragments of the broken moon covered the ground.

As YuWon was squashed under the pile of rocks, the ground underneath buckled, unable to handle the weight.

* * *

The user of the skill, Hypnos, was fine because none of the moon fragments fell around him.

YuWon was now buried somewhere underneath the mountain of rocks.

Cooler? Hypnos said bitterly. How dare you say that when you dont even understand Olympuss will

Hypnos clenched his fist tight.

He was well aware that what he was doing right now was one of the unforgivable crimes in the Tower, but he had no choice.

Everything is for Olympus, Hypnos closed his eyes and repeated the same thing over and over in his head. For Olympus

Pshk

A hot sensation pierced through his back and chest.

Hypnos looked down and saw a black sword drenched in blood.

Kgh

You should never let your guard down in a fight, YuWon said while pushing up on his sword.

Hypnos grabbed the blade with his hand, using sheer force to barely stop his body from getting cut in half.

However, he was unable to do anything about his hand getting torn apart by the blade.

Ahhhhh!

Fwoosh!

Along with incurring a powerful penalty, mana flowed out of Hypnoss body.

This mana was threatening enough for YuWon to pull the sword out of Hypnoss back and jump back a distance.

Fsss, fss

The fragments of the moon around the place slowly started disappearing.

As the scenery returned to normal, Hypnos had a shocked look on his face.

H-How?! he thought.

[Moon Dream] was the strongest skill he had that he used in combination with [Dark Night.] It was a cheat-like skill capable of turning illusions into reality within the area of his mana.

Moon Dream showed illusions of Hypnoss choice to his opponent. Even if his opponents suspected it of being an illusion, it was hard for them to be certain that the rocks falling right in front of them werent real. That was the power of visions. The ability to inspire fear in someone, even if they knew that it was fake.

And [Moon Dream] had the power to change that fear into reality.

Two conditions were needed to nullify the skill. The first was to realize that the sight in front of them was an illusion. The second was to not feel even an inkling of fear after seeing the fragments of moon fall on them.

If one doubted whether it was real or not for even a second, the illusion became reality.

Is it because of those eyes? Hypnos asked, staring at YuWon.

YuWons eyes were red. Hypnos sensed a peculiar flow of mana around them.

At first he didnt care since there were many eye-related skills, but it seemed that this was no ordinary skill.

They are pretty good eyes, YuWon didnt deny it.

In this fight, YuWon had focused his energy into [Cinder Eyes] more than anything. He already knew how Hypnos fought, so it was a matter of seeing through his illusions. Hypnoss skill mixed reality and illusions, so it was critical to discern what was real or not.

Theres nothing better than the Golden Cinder Eyes for that, YuWon thought to himself.

[Cinder Eyes] was not a perfect skill. As it wasnt completed into the [Golden Cinder Eyes] yet, its effects were still half-baked.

Despite that, [Cinder Eyes] was the best counter-skill to illusion-type skills. The reason why YuWon was confident in this fight was all thanks to [Cinder Eyes.]

Its not over yet, Hypnos said, clasping his wound and walking towards YuWon. If illusion-type skills dont work, Ill use another method!

No, YuWon cut him off, putting down his bloody sword. Its over.

What? Hypnos said in confusion.

He knew that he wasnt in a great state, but for YuWon to lower his guard so much

On top of that, YuWon started to calm his fighting spirit.

Is he trying to catch me off guard again? Hypnos wondered.

However, Hypnos was no longer going to underestimate YuWon. YuWon had exhibited far too great a strength for him to do that anymore.

Clench

Hypnoss eyes glared while he gripped his dagger tight.

I will slit his throat this time, Hypnos thought to himself.

Vzzzzt

Penalty overflowed from Hypnoss body.

Hypnos had no intention of going easy anymore since he now knew YuWon could see through his illusions.

However he could not move his dagger, as if a powerful force had taken hold of his weapon.

Behind you, YuWon said while smiling. Look whos here.

Cold sweat started gathering on Hypnoss forehead.

He didnt have to be told to know who would have arrived at a moment like now.

Hypnos carefully turned his head around to see a mean-faced, red-skinned, giant man.

Sir Hypnos trailed off.

It was the 11th Floors Administrator who had given Hypnos his position as the test examiner.