Chapter 192: A Deeper Secret

Chapter 192: Chapter 192: A Deeper Secret

Damon had been testing him.

Testing his Arts, his reactions. Testing how much power he could bring out.

The man understood that as well, and that made him even more furious.

"You’ve been holding back."

"A little."

Damon replied, and then looked towards Sylphie.

"So have she."

Sylphie gave a small flutter of her wings in response.

The man stared at them with a blank expression.

The reports had said Damon was strong, but this was way beyond what he had expected.

Still, he refused to give up.

He couldn’t.

The mission had already failed because of Damon.

If he gave away the organization’s secrets too, then he would have failed twice.

He would rather die.

Meanwhile, Damon watched him carefully.

As he saw the man suddenly reach toward his storage.

At the same time, he launched another attack.

"Flame Rupture!"

A huge wave of fire exploded forward.

Damon raised his arms, controlling his wind element that rushed around him as he braced himself.

For a moment, he thought the man had simply lost control from desperation.

Then he noticed something.

The man’s hand had already reached inside his storage.

Damon’s eyes narrowed.

"Wait."

The man’s body suddenly shot backward.

He had ejected himself from the battlefield using the force of his own attack.

That wasn’t desperation.

It was planned.

Damon immediately became serious.

"Sylphie."

I know.

The wind around her changed.

She stopped holding back.

Damon did the same.

The flames ahead suddenly grew darker.

The man’s aura began to rise.

Damon felt it.

His eyes narrowed.

The pressure increased.

Then increased again.

His cultivation surged.

Lord Rank.

Then beyond it.

Damon’s expression finally became serious.

"What..."

The man’s body trembled.

Cracks of dark energy spread across his skin.

His Fire Aether twisted.

It was no longer pure.

Something else was mixed inside it.

Something foul.

Something familiar.

Damon’s eyes sharpened.

"Corrupt Aether."

He had seen it before.

The same kind of energy that had spread through the distorted zones.

The same corruption he had fought in Frostveil.

So this was the connection.

These people weren’t simply taking advantage of the mutations.

They were connected to them.

Maybe they were causing them.

Maybe they were using them.

Either way, Damon had finally found a lead.

The man’s aura continued to rise.

His cultivation had already passed the Lord Rank.

Damon couldn’t tell exactly where it would stop.

The pressure alone was unlike anything he had faced from a human before.

Sylphie moved closer.

Damon.

"I know."

Damon’s eyes remained fixed on the man.

His expression was calm again. But there was excitement beneath it.

He had wanted answers, now he had found something much bigger than he expected.

The Zone Hearts. The mutations.

The strange organization, people moving between different zones.

And this corrupt Aether.

There was a connection.

Damon didn’t know the whole picture yet.

But he intended to find it.

The man’s eyes locked onto him.

"You should have never gotten involved with us."

Damon smiled.

"Probably."

Wind began gathering around his body.

Lightning followed.

Ice formed beneath his feet.

His own Aether rose to meet the man’s pressure.

"But then I wouldn’t have found you."

The ground beneath Damon cracked. Sylphie spread her wings.

While the man raised his burning hand.

Neither moved yet.

For a brief moment, the two sides simply stared at each other.

Damon didn’t have to wait long as the man’s flames erupted again.

But the person standing before him no longer looked quite the same.

His aura had changed.

The corruption flowing through his body was much stronger now, and Damon could feel it twisting the man’s Aether from the inside.

It had made him stronger.

There was no doubt about that.

But there was also something wrong with him.

The man moved with the same violent frenzy Damon had seen in mutated beasts.

There was almost no hesitation anymore.

No careful judgment.

No concern for his own safety.

Just the urge to kill.

"So that’s what the corruption does to you."

Damon’s eyes narrowed.

The man didn’t answer.

He simply attacked.

Damon’s expression became serious.

Whatever had happened to him, it was clear that fighting Damon had pushed him too far.

And now Damon had to deal with it.

He still wanted answers.

He wanted to know who these people were, what they wanted from the Zone Hearts, and why they were spreading corrupt Aether throughout the zones.

But those questions could wait.

Staying alive came first.

The man’s body suddenly disappeared.

"Flame Burst!"

A huge explosion of fire appeared in front of Damon.

It was the same Art as before.

But this time, the power behind it was completely different.

Damon reacted immediately. Wind exploded beneath his feet.

He moved sideways as the flames swallowed the area where he had been standing.

The explosion reached him anyway, making him raise his hand.

"Ice Shield."

As Ice formed in front of him.

Boom!

The flames struck, and the shield shattered almost instantly.

The remaining force slammed into Damon and sent him flying.

He twisted in the air and landed hard.

His feet dug into the ground.

Damon coughed.

He looked at the broken pieces of ice scattered around him.

"That would’ve hurt."

His eyes became sharper.

If he had taken that attack directly, the result would have been much worse.

The man was strong.

Very strong.

Damon had fought powerful beasts before, but this was different.

This man had pushed beyond the Lord Rank.

Even if his strength was unstable, it was still enough to threaten him.

Damon looked around.

Several trees had already been blown apart.

The ground was covered in burning cracks, while chunks of frozen earth had been thrown across the area.

The battle had only just started, yet Tempest Hollow was already suffering from it.

Damon clenched his fist.

The world was bigger than he had thought.

There were always stronger people somewhere.

That wasn’t discouraging.

It made him want to grow.

He couldn’t investigate these people properly if he wasn’t strong enough to survive when things went wrong.

And this man was already an enemy.