"You're a liar." Were the only words Leox could say as he spiralled into a state of disbelief. He refused to believe that the Emperor himself had any need for him. He doubted that the man even knew of his existence at all.

  Mister Hawkings, however, seemed to think differently.

  "Now, why would I lie? The Emperor has offered a great prize to those who find you. When you stumbled into Donn's school, we almost didn't believe it. We instructed him to perform tests on you, to confirm it all."

  "If that was true, you would have brought me straight to the Emperor to receive the reward. You're a liar!" Leox roared again, this time unable to contain his frustration.

  "Not necessary. You were already in our possession. No one else would find you, and we could spend as much time as we wanted using your immorality to strengthen our family. When done with you, we would give you to the Emperor."

  Rage welled inside of Leox like it never had before. At that moment, he felt angrier than he had even when Donn had captured him. Finding out that not only the entire family was behind it, but apparently the Emperor as well. If that was true, then he could only imagine what other powerful figures were after him.

  He wanted to question the man further, but it seemed that the time for chatter was over.

  Mister Hawkings stopped circling the table and finally stood still. He then outstretched both hands to the side, revealing two red symbols etched onto his palm as scars. They began to glow brightly as a skill was activated. Only moments later, the ground on either side of the man became disturbed. Two pairs of skeleton hands clawed through the flooring as they had done before, slowly making their way out.

  Leox prepared every skill that he could. It was clear that he had a fight on his hands, and his opponent was a stage-four awakened. That meant that his strength was on par with the Leviathan's.

  "Don't look at me, child. Your opponent will not be Grave Hawkings today."

  Grave pointed to the two figures that now stood beside him. Their bodies were adorned in black cloaks that covered their faces. A gust of wind suddenly blew that knocked their hoods off, revealing two faces that Leox recognised.

  Donn and Morigann Hawkings.

  "My dear children. Even in death, they do my bidding."

  The duo charged immediately, catching Leox off guard.

  His body was shrouded in the entirety of the Perfect Overheat flames. They hummed around him faintly, tinting his body a slight orange. Immediately afterwards, he activated Whiteflame Coating. The length of his blade burned with white flames that could pierce through some of the strongest metals.

  This was the power of an Adept Fire Mage.

  Morigann and Donn both fought with skills and fists, as their reincarnations did not allow them to bring weapons with them. Donn seemed to be wielding his Adept Death Mage class, whilst Morigann was clearly using some sort of Dark Mage class.

  From the sister, who had now stopped charging and stayed behind, a shadow suddenly crawled across the floor towards him as she slammed her hands together. They were like five tentacle arms racing for Leox's feet. Meanwhile, Donn continued to charge towards him with a strange glove of spiralling black and purple magic surrounding his clenched fist.

  As the boy and the shadows tried to get him, Leox leapt into the air, aided by the strength of Perfect Overheat. He landed on the ceiling, dodging both strikes. However, as soon as he landed, Donn slammed his fists into the ground. At the same time, skeleton arms emerged from the ceiling where Leox had landed, grabbing hold of both of his flaming ankles.

  What? He predicted my movements?

  Is it because I've fought him before, and he remembered what I used in our last battle?

  Leox swung his blade into the hands grabbing hold of him. The forearms broke. As he fell back to the ground, he tried to manoeuvre himself to land back on his feet. But there were now two figures in the air waiting for him. Morigann and Donn. They had leapt towards him, ready to strike as he fell.

  Leox wanted to use Perfect Counterstance, but knew it wouldn't work as two separate strikes were coming to strike him. So instead, he used Greater Tempest. The winds in the room gathered, and he forced them to blow against him heavily. His body was blown to the side slightly, which allowed him to dodge a mid-air kick from Morigann; Donn's fist still managed to catch him on his side. The pain knocked some of the wind from his lungs and sent him crashing to the ground. As he tumbled along the floor, he managed to regain his footing by using his hands to push off the floor and flip his body. Once he was back up, the pair were charging again from the front.

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  Leox was prepared to defend himself, but then suddenly, he was hit from behind. Powerfully. He thought that he felt a crack in his spine as he flew towards his two previous opponents.

  Donn smiled as he watched Leox fly towards him. Then, he braced his body, preparing to throw a hooked punch with the same fist that was surrounded by the black and purple glove of magic.

  THUD!

  The fist crashed into Leox's jaw ferociously. He flew to the ground limply. He no longer had the strength to keep his jaw closed, even if he tried.

  His vision went blurry as it was clouded by black and purple shadows. There was a number at the top of his vision, imprinted there. No matter how many times he blinked, it didn't go away. Currently, it was at 281, and seemed to be going down in seconds.

  "A death counter." Donn's familiar voice came, though much more hoarse than it was during life.

  Leox looked over to where he had stood before to see who had previously attacked him from behind. Of course, it was Grave Hawkings. The man had decided to involve himself in the battle. For some reason, Leox had foolishly thought that the man might have let him fight against the two siblings fairly.

  Grave Hawkings smiled sinisterly. "You probably think that the death counter won't apply to you? We know how your power works, Leox. It takes time for you to reconstruct your body. We will have you tied up well before then."

  Leox did his best not to show the fear that he felt on his face. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, which was a task with a broken jaw.

  I have five minutes. Five minutes to end this, or escape. But how?

  In truth, the answer was simple. He had to push himself to his absolute limits and risk losing his life in the process.

  Leox's Perfect Overheat and his inability to feel pain allowed him to push through the pain that he felt in his back and face. He focused on using the skill Greater Tempest and manipulated the winds in the room around him and the flaming white blade. In a second, he went through the process of activating Stormblade, the fusion skill, and pumping it with everything he had.

  White, condensed sparks of lightning adorned the blade, ready to be let loose. The weapon in Leox's grip became heavier.

  The three Hawkings were now together, watching. There wasn't an ounce of fear on any of their faces. Grave even laughed.

  "A decent fusion skill, but it's not enough." The man mocked.

  Leox already knew this, which was why he activated another of his monk skills in battle for the first time.

  Realm Expansion.

  A harmless blue bubble spread from Leox's body enveloped the room, tainting in a faint blue hue. Every time he breathed, he could see the mana waves leaving his body and flowing through the air. Like that time in his room, he felt in control of the space and felt like he had a connection to the mana floating in the realm around him. It seemed the Hawkings were able to see this, as Grave raised a brow and looked around him.

  "A realm ability? By the looks of it, you don't even understand it."

  Leox's silence answered the question for him, so the man laughed again.

  "Foolish child with more power than he knows what to do with it. This ends now."

  The two siblings charged once again, fast. Leox wouldn't let them put him on the back foot. He had the physical advantage, even if outnumbered!

  He swung his blade in a vicious arc, sending sparks of lightning flying from the weapon and crashing towards the approachers. Donn managed to dodge to the side, but Morigann was struck in the chest and zapped furiously. Her body convulsed, and Leox wondered whether that would be the end of her, but before he could rejoice, Donn was already up close, attacking with an overhand punch.

  Leox activated Perfect Counterstance. Donn predicted it and withdrew his punch, pausing for a moment before the shattering glass sound faded away. Then, he ducked low, using his hands to brace himself on the ground as he used his feet to sweep Leox's legs from underneath him.

  As he fell to the ground, Leox tried to swing his blade downwards and attack Donn on the way. However, he missed, and his blade struck the ground. The lightning dispersed into the floorboards instead of his opponent and shocked the surrounding area. Luckily, it didn't seem to affect him.

  Leox and Donn both rolled away from each other. However, before Leox could push himself to his feet, he felt two arms wrap themselves around him from behind.

  He cursed as he looked over his shoulder. Morigann was there, skin burnt and clothes fried from the previous attack. It seemed she was close to death once again, yet was using her remaining strength to keep hold of him. Noticing this, Donn slammed his fists into the ground, and the skeleton hands emerged from the floor beneath them, grabbing hold of both of their feet and holding them in place.

  Leox tried to struggle against them, but the skeleton arms only grew longer, eventually reaching his upper body, and trying to claw at his arms. He swung his blade but found no success; his arms were too restricted by Morigann's grip.

  "Pierce him, Father. Pierce him through the heart!" The girl screamed desperately towards her father, who watched the show with amusement.

  Leox shook and growled. "And pierce you as well?" He continued to struggle. "He would have to take you down with me!"

  "I've already met my death once, fool. I'll meet it again."

  Donn couldn't move while using the skeleton skill, so that left Grave as the only one free to finish the job. Leox guessed that the man was already strong enough to take him down alone, but the wound on his leg that made him limp left him feeling unconfident in his abilities.

  The man smiled as he reached into his pocket, drawing a knife the size of his forearm. Then, with a smile on his face, he hurled the knife, aimed directly for Leox's heart.

  156 seconds left.