"Wait! Chief, look at this!"


Gordon spun around. He had spotted something on one of the monitors where officers were reviewing street footage. He pointed at the screen. "There."


The young officer manning the station nodded, paused the video, and rewound the progress bar.


Gordon stared at the screen. It showed Lucas walking down the street. Then, a man approached from the opposite direction. He was wearing a baseball cap pulled low to hide his face, but Gordon had a trained eye. That build, that walk... the probability of it being Scar was high.


"Pull up the feed from the next camera," Gordon ordered.


The next clip confirmed it. Scar stopped, picked up a piece of trash Lucas had discarded, examined it, and then began following the boys.


Gordon's pupils constricted.


"Lucas and the other student," Gordon said, his voice tight. "Scar's hunting them."




"Huff... huff..."


Back in the park, Lucas finally let the Sky Halberd drop to the dirt. He sat down heavily, gasping for air. Wielding a weapon that weighed over a hundred pounds wasn't exactly a walk in the park.


"Monkey, you've got the Five-Step Fist wrong," Lucas said between breaths, watching Milo practice. "You need to flow into the stance like this..."


Having mastered the form himself, Lucas found it easy to spot the flaws. Milo followed his instructions, correcting his posture. His eyes widened in surprise; movements that had felt awkward before suddenly snapped into place.


"That's about enough waiting..."


In the shadows, Scar held his breath. He reached behind his back and slowly drew a wicked-looking short blade.


He moved silently, closing the distance. Then, he sprinted. In the blink of an eye, he was directly behind Lucas.


But Lucas's perception was unnatural. He felt the shift in the air. He spun around just as the blade came chopping down toward his skull.


Lucas threw his body to the side. The knife slashed through empty air, missing his head by an inch.


"What?!"


Milo, startled out of his practice by Lucas's sudden movement, froze. He stared blankly at the middle-aged man who had appeared out of nowhere, slashing at his friend with a knife.


Lucas didn't stop moving. He bobbed and weaved, barely dodging Scar's relentless flurry of attacks. The blade was razor-sharp; it caught Lucas's shirt, slicing the fabric wide open.


"A Combat Suit?!"


Scar paused for a split second. Through the torn shirt, he saw the glint of the high-tech protective gear hugging Lucas's body. Greed flared in Scar's eyes, brighter than before.


Elixirs were expensive, but Martial Warrior weapons and Combat Suits? Those were a fortune.


"Jackpot," Scar sneered, slashing forward again. "I'll take it all!"


Milo finally snapped out of his trance. He scrambled backward, his hand closing around a heavy rock on the ground. Waiting for an opening, he hurled it with all his might at the back of Scar's head.


CRACK!


The stone slammed into Scar's skull—and exploded into dust.


Scar didn't even flinch. He turned slowly, not a scratch on him.


Scar glared in Milo's direction, and boom—his Origin Aura exploded outward.


Milo felt like he'd been shoved into a hydraulic press. The invisible pressure was crushing. He coughed up a spray of blood and dropped to his knees, totally overwhelmed.


Lucas wasn't waiting around to see what happened next. He snatched the Sky Halberd off the ground. Before Scar could pivot for a follow-up, Lucas gripped the heavy shaft with both hands and swung it in a massive horizontal chop.


Scar's eyes widened. He abandoned his attack on Milo and scrambled backward.


Lucas didn't let up. He pressed the advantage, swinging the Sky Halberd again. By now, Lucas had a solid handle on his Origin Force. He flared his energy, creating a faint, shimmering film of Essence over his skin—instant armor.


This kid... Scar's expression turned sour. He kept backpedaling, dodging the heavy blade.


There's an old saying in the martial world: "Reach is everything." The Sky Halberd was a beast of a weapon. Unless Scar could get inside Lucas's guard, he couldn't touch him.


CRASH!


Lucas brought the halberd down, smashing the pavement where Scar had been standing a split-second ago. Concrete exploded. Debris flew everywhere.


Scar hopped back to a safe distance, a cold sneer twisting his lips.


Sure, the kid was strong with that halberd. It was a heavy, sweeping weapon—devastating in the hands of a master. But Lucas was barely a rookie Martial Warrior. If Scar played it safe and kept dodging, the kid would gas out in no time.


Then, the weapon and that sweet Combat Suit would be his.


Scar was right. Lucas was already panting. Swinging a massive halberd after a training session was draining his stamina fast.


Scar saw the fatigue. He lunged, closing the gap in a blur of speed.


Panic flashed in Lucas's eyes. He tried to bring the halberd shaft up to block, but Scar was too fast. Scar's short blade slammed into the metal shaft. The impact sent a shockwave up Lucas's arms, rattling his bones and numbing his hands right down to his thumbs.


Scar's blade slid down the shaft and thrust straight for Lucas's chest. The tip pierced the skin, but then... it stopped. It couldn't punch through.


Scar's pupils contracted. His skin... he's fully Tempered his body?


[System Notification: Shock from Lyle Zane. +10 Credits.]


Lucas didn't have time to celebrate his durability. He let go of the Sky Halberd.


Gravity took over. The heavy weapon—weighing nearly a hundred pounds—dropped straight onto Scar's foot.


While Scar flinched from the crushed toes, Lucas whipped a dagger from his waist and slashed at Scar's throat.