Adrian''s face twisted with fury at my words. "You darepare me to grass? ME?!" Dark energy exploded around him, his eyes burning with hatred. "I''ll show you what true power is!"


    With a savage roar, he charged at me, abandoning all pretense of negotiation. The air crackled with his unleashed energy as he closed the distance between us in an instant.


    I raised my sword to block, but the force of his attack sent me skidding backward. The raw power behind his strike surprised me.


    "You think you''re special?" Adrian snarled, pressing his advantage. "I''ll kill you and take everything you have!"


    Heunched a flurry of strikes, each one faster than thest. I parried and dodged, studying his movements. Despite his rage, there was something calcted in his attacks.


    "Conrad," I called out, "get ra as far from here as possible!"


    Conrad nodded grimly, lifting ra''s unconscious form. "Don''t let him take you alive, Liam. If he gets your body..."


    "That won''t happen," I assured him, focusing on the battle.


    As Conrad retreated with ra, Adrian''s attacks grew more frenzied. "You''ve ruined everything!" he screamed, dark energy coalescing around his hands. "Years of preparation, wasted!"


    I deflected another devastating blow, feeling the impact reverberate through my arms. "Your ns deserved to be ruined."


    Adrian paused suddenly, a sinister smile spreading across his face. "Perhaps not entirely."


    He turned toward his fallen elders, who were struggling to rise from where my counterattack had thrown them. With a swift gesture, he immobilized them with bands of dark energy.


    "Master Adrian?" one of them gasped, confusion evident in his voice.


    "Forgive me, loyal servants," Adrian said, though there wasn''t a trace of sincerity in his voice. "Your final service begins now."


    I tensed, sensing something horrific was about to happen. "What are you doing?"


    Adrian''s smile widened. "Improvising."


    With that single word, he began an incantation in an ancientnguage I couldn''t understand. The elders'' expressions shifted from confusion to horror as they realized what was happening.


    "No, Master Adrian! Please!" one begged, struggling against his bonds.


    "You promised us power, not this!" another cried out.


    I lunged forward to stop him, but a barrier of dark energy repelled me. The ritual had already begun.


    The eight elders screamed in unison as their bodies started to wither. Their skin shriveled, their eyes sank into their skulls, and their muscles atrophied before my eyes. Their life force—their very essence—was being forcibly extracted.


    "Stop this!" I demanded, hammering at the barrier with my sword. "They''re your own people!"


    Adrianughed, the sound echoing unnaturally throughout the cave. "They are tools, nothing more. Just as the girl was meant to be."


    The elders'' screams faded to whimpers, then to silence as their bodies copsed into desated husks. Their extracted life force swirled in the air like luminous smoke, flowing toward the center of the ritual tform where a bodyy.


    I hadn''t noticed it before—a corpse preserved in some kind of crystalline casing. As the stolen life force poured into it, the crystal cracked and shattered.


    "Yes!" Adrian cried out in triumph. "The holy body awakens!"


    The barrier fell as Adrian abandoned it, rushing toward the tform. I pursued him, but it was toote. He ced his hands on the now-exposed corpse and began another incantation.


    "Vessel of power, ept my spirit!" Adrian''s body went rigid, then slumped forward as something ethereal emerged from him. His consciousness—his very soul—flowed into the preserved corpse.


    The tform erupted in a blinding explosion that threw me backward. Rocks fell from the ceiling as the entire cave shook. When the dust settled, the tform was shattered, and where the corpse hadin stood a new figure.


    It was Adrian—but not Adrian. His consciousness inhabited a new body that radiated terrifying power. Taller, more muscr, with an otherworldly glow to his skin and eyes that burned like embers.


    "This..." he said, his voice deeper and more resonant than before, "is magnificent!"


    He flexed his new hands, grinning with savage delight. "I can feel the strength! This body belonged to one of the greatest warriors of the ancient age!"


    The oppressive aura emanating from him was unlike anything I''d ever felt. It pressed down on me like a physical weight, making it difficult to even stand upright.


    "I was going to use this body for our ancestor," Adrian continued, examining himself with obvious pleasure. "But why waste such power? I am Earth Fiend Valley now. I AM the ancestor reborn!"


    I gripped my sword tighter, refusing to be intimidated. "You''re still just Adrian—a coward who sacrifices others for his own gain."


    His eyes shed with anger. "I am power incarnate!" He mmed his fist into the ground, creating a crater and sending shockwaves through the cave floor.


    Despite the danger, I felt a strange excitement building within me. Here, finally, was an opponent who could truly test my limits.


    "Let''s see what your stolen body can do," I challenged, settling into a fighting stance.


    Adrian''s grin turned feral. "With pleasure."


    He moved with blinding speed, crossing the distance between us faster than I could track. His fist connected with my chest before I could raise my guard, sending me flying backward into the cave wall.


    The rock cracked behind me from the impact. I coughed, tasting blood.


    "How does it feel?" Adrian taunted, slowly approaching. "This body belonged to a peak Grandmaster in his prime. Even without my cultivation, its physical strength is unmatched."


    I pulled myself from the indentation my body had made in the stone wall. "Impressive," I admitted, wiping blood from my lips. "But stolen power is never truly yours."


    I charged forward, my sword a blur of motion. Adrian didn''t even try to dodge. My de struck his chest—and stopped dead, as if I''d hit solid steel.


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    Hisugh boomed through the cave. "This body''s skin was tempered through decades of training. Your sword can''t prate it!"


    He grabbed me by the throat, lifting me off the ground. "I''m going to enjoy crushing you slowly."


    I kicked out, connecting with his stomach. It was like hitting a mountain. Adrian squeezed tighter, cutting off my air.


    "Liam!" Conrad''s voice echoed from the cave entrance. He''d returned, leaving ra somewhere safe.


    Adrian turned his head slightly, distracted by the neer. I seized the moment, focusing my energy into my palm and striking directly at his face. The blow connected, forcing him to release me as he staggered back.


    "You..." he growled, touching his cheek where my strike hadnded. "You hurt me?"


    I dropped to the ground, gasping for air but quickly recovering my stance. "That body isn''t invincible. And you don''t know how to use it properly yet."


    Conrad rushed to my side, his expression grim. "That''s the holy body they were preparing? I thought it was meant for their ancestor."


    "Change of ns," I said, not taking my eyes off Adrian. "He decided to keep it for himself."


    Adrian rolled his massive shoulders. "A wise decision, don''t you think? Why resurrect some ancient figure when I can be the legend myself?"


    Conrad drew his weapon. "We need to retreat, Liam. That body was specially cultivated and preserved for centuries. Its physical capabilities are beyondprehension."


    "I''m not running," I replied, feeling a surge of determination. "Besides, he won''t let us leave alive now."


    Adrian confirmed my assessment with a nod. "Smart boy. After I kill you, I''ll find the girl andplete what I started."


    Conrad moved into a defensive position beside me. "Then we fight together."


    "Together?" Adrianughed. "It won''t make a difference."


    He charged again, this time aiming for Conrad. I intercepted, blocking his massive fist with my sword. The impact numbed my arms, but I held firm.


    "Conrad, aim for his joints!" I shouted. "They might be vulnerable!"


    Conrad darted in, striking at Adrian''s knee with precision. Adrian barely flinched, swatting Conrad away like an insect. My friend crashed into a pile of rubble, momentarily stunned.


    "Is that your strategy?" Adrian mocked. "Looking for weaknesses? This body has none!"


    He grabbed my sword, yanking it forward along with me. As I stumbled toward him, his fist hammered into my ribs. I felt something crack inside me, pain exploding through my torso.


    But rather than fear, I felt an odd sense of exhration. How long had it been since I''d faced an opponent who could genuinely challenge me physically?


    "Finally," I gasped through the pain, "a real fight."


    Adrian paused, studying me with newfound curiosity. "You''re enjoying this? Even as I break you?"


    I straightened up, ignoring the stabbing pain in my side. "I''ve grown stronger by oveing impossible odds. You''re just another obstacle to surpass."


    For the first time, uncertainty flickered in Adrian''s eyes. He hadn''t expected this reaction.


    I seized the moment,unching into aplex attack pattern, moving faster than I ever had before. My de became a silver arc, targeting the same spot on his chest repeatedly.


    Adrian blocked most of my strikes, but a few connected. Though they didn''t break his skin, I could see him registering the impacts.


    "Impossible!" he growled. "No one can prate this body''s defense!"


    I pressed harder, pushing myself beyond my limits. "There''s always a way."


    Our battle intensified, destroying what remained of the ritual chamber. Massive chunks of stone fell from the ceiling as our energies shed. Conrad recovered and rejoined the fight, providing crucial support by disrupting Adrian''s footwork whenever possible.


    From the corner of my eye, I noticed two figures appear at the cave entrance. One was a middle-aged man with stern features, the other a young woman with piercing eyes. They watched our battle with evident shock.


    "What monstrous power..." the man murmured, his voice barely audible over the sounds ofbat.


    Adrian noticed them too and grinned. "Witnesses to my ascension. Perfect!"


    He redoubled his assault, both hands wreathed in dark energy as he pummeled me with blows that would have killed a normal man instantly. I blocked what I could, but many connected, each one feeling like I''d been hit by a battering ram.


    Despite the punishment, I remained standing, my determination undiminished. This only seemed to enrage Adrian further.


    "Why won''t you fall?!" he roared, grabbing a massive boulder and hurling it at me.


    I sliced through the projectile, the halves crashing into the walls behind me. "Because I have something worth fighting for."


    Adrian screamed in frustration, charging again. This time, I met him head-on, our collision creating a shockwave that shook the entire cave system.


    The woman at the entrance gasped, her eyes widening as she got a clear view of my face for the first time.


    "It seems to be Liam Knight!" she eximed, turning to herpanion. "Marvin, that''s him!"


    Adrian and I remained locked in our brutal contest of strength, neither willing to yield as the cave continued to copse around us, our battle reaching its savage peak.