"Enough!"
George's shout detonated across the docks like a thunderclap.
The shockwave rolled outward, slamming into Krestai head-on.
For a split second, Krestai's body locked in place. Pain flashed across his face as the flow of power inside him destabilized. The expanding darkness slowed, its pressure weakening just enough to create an opening.
George stomped.
The ground fractured.
Chunks of stone tore free and shot into the air.
"Let's see you block this."
His small body blurred into motion.
He kicked.
Again.
And again.
Each rock became a projectile.
Each strike was clean, brutal, and impossibly fast.
The stones screamed through the air at supersonic speed, friction igniting their surfaces until they burned like miniature comets.
To the Watchers and enforcers on the perimeter, it no longer looked like debris.
It looked like a meteor shower.
Somewhere in the crowd, Klein stared in disbelief.
He's turning rubble into artillery…
Krestai snapped out of the sonic stun just in time to realize one thing.
If he tried to maintain the dark domain, he would die.
Immediately, he pulled all remaining power inward and poured it into the Goddess Sword, abandoning offense entirely in favor of defense.
High above, Reldar didn't hesitate.
He had fought enough battles to know when restraint would lead to humiliation.
Two against one and still losing would not just wound pride.
It would cost them authority.
Water surged from the river beside the docks, rising into enormous grasping hands that lunged for George.
Reldar's eyes turned pure white.
Lightning cascaded downward in overlapping arcs.
Then the wind came.
A roaring tornado spiraled up around George, wrapping water and lightning together into a sealed vortex. The barrier wasn't just to trap him.
It was to keep the destruction contained.
George stood at its center.
Wind howled.
Water crushed inward.
Lightning clawed at his skin.
Instead of fear, his expression brightened.
"So this is what people mean when they say you're almost divine."
If this world produced fighters like this below the very top, then the ceiling was far higher than he'd expected.
That thought pleased him.
"Shame," George said quietly. "Pure elemental force is the worst way to deal with me."
He drew in a breath.
Deep.
So deep that the tornado shuddered, its rotation warping as if something inside it had swallowed half the air.
George clenched his fist.
And punched.
The impact didn't look spectacular at first.
No light.
No explosion.
Just a transparent shockwave shaped like a coiling dragon, tearing upward through the vortex.
Water dispersed.
Lightning collapsed.
Wind disintegrated.
The entire storm was blown apart in a single motion.
George launched himself skyward, rising higher than Reldar.
He smiled.
Not kindly.
His fists moved.
Too fast to count.
Air compressed again and again, each punch becoming an invisible hammer that slammed into Reldar's body.
Reldar didn't even have time to scream.
His form folded under the barrage and rocketed downward like a falling star.
Below, Krestai had just finished deflecting the last of the burning stones.
Reldar crashed directly into him.
The two executives tumbled across the ground in a tangled heap.
"Enough! We yield!"
They staggered to their feet, bruised, scorched, and thoroughly humbled.
George landed lightly and did not pursue.
Silence spread across the docks.
They both understood now.
George's body alone placed him beyond what they could handle.
Even fighters above their level might not fare much better.
"Looks like you believe me now," George said.
Both men nodded without hesitation.
"We do."
The sparring ended.
This time, there were no interrogations.
No examinations.
No guarded distance.
Instead, they met inside a private luxury room at the Evil Dragon Tavern, seated across from one another as equals.
Power changed posture.
"Mr. George," Krestai said carefully, "we still can't determine the exact cause of your condition. However, if you're willing to join the Church, we can use its resources to investigate properly."
Reldar nodded.
"More importantly, you'd gain protection."
Krestai continued, "You're still at an early stage, but your talent and physical anomaly are undeniable. If you enter the Church now, you'll become one of our future pillars."
There was another reason they did not say aloud.
George's path was not aligned with darkness.
Which meant his future advancement would not interfere with their most sensitive internal hierarchies.
That mattered.
In this world, power was not infinite.
It circulated.
It concentrated.
And at the very top, space was brutally limited.