"Isn’t it a bit weak?"

Seraph asked casually, causing him to jump away, startled.

"You bast-!"

Seraph didn’t let him complete the word. He shot straight at him, spear in hand.

Faga was forced to use his cracked sword to block the flurry of attacks, and he was being forced back with every exchange.

’Damnit! I’m still weaker than him! How is this possible?! I trained for years just to catch up to him but I still can’t?!’

Anger, indignation, and a sense of helplessness filled his heart.

’I only... I only wanted to make an hierarchy!’

Suddenly, Seraph’s spear sank into his left thigh, only stopping before it pierced his bone.

"You!"

Furious, he blew a tornado of flames at Seraph, but the white-haired disciple easily dodged it.

"Hm? Brother Faga, you’re getting injured. Are you sure you don’t want to stop vying for justice now? It would be bad if you end up greatly injured."

Seraph’s taunting words had the exact effect he wanted.

Faga’s face reddened with anger, and he immediately created several meteors again.

Those words had been simple and somewhat merciful, but they were working on the principle of reversed psychology.

If a person who claims to fight for justice, backs down because he was injured, wouldn’t that mean he wasn’t fully devoted to justice?

And since Faga had claimed he would avenge his friend who had been treated unjustly by Seraph, he couldn’t back out now.

’You’re internationally screwed.’ Seraph chuckled inwardly.

Holding his spear while smiling naturally, he created a number of wind blades that they blotted out the sky like a fishing net.

Then, they rained down on Faga.

"Don’t think I’ll talk like this!"

Roaring, the young man channeled much more spiritual energy into his meteors, making them larger and more fiery.

"Go!"

The meteors shot into the sky—a reverse of what Seraph knew about meteors in his life as Stephen.

The net of wind blades also descended, and soon, the two attacks collided.

There was a chain of explosions that rattled a section of the mountain, the shockwave even reaching the residential area of the inner court disciples.

Some were startled and confused, while the others were certain that it was the doing of the core disciples.

"Damn. I want to have the power like that too one day."

While the inner court disciples were having their own moments of admiration, Seraph and Faga clashed on ground while their attacks now rained smaller meteors to the ground.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Faga was an expert with the sword, being one of the most skillful Seraph had ever seen.

Yet still, Seraph could easily spot the flaws in his attack patterns.

And being a mastermind, he exploited the flaws.

As Faga thrust his sword forward, aiming to force Seraph to retreat, the white-haired disciple slapped the flat of the blade, sending it off trajectory.

Faga was unable to believe it and immediately tried to correct his stance, but Seraph was already upon him.

Seraph’s palm slammed into his chest with so much force that he was slammed into the ground.

He coughed out blood weakly, struggling to even raise his hands.

Seraph’s smile dimmed faintly, but his eyes continued to shine ominously.

"Are you alright, Brother? I think you should just surrender at this point."

Faga’s expression darkened, and he immediately pushed himself up.

"Don’t even think about making me surrender!"

Ignoring the pain in his body, he charged at Seraph with a valiant roar.

Seraph chuckled, lowered his spear, then suddenly unleashed the full might of his soul.

Faga froze, then collapsed to his knees, shaking as he struggled to contend with the crushing pressure.

Seraph’s eyes narrowed, and he couldn’t help but be astonished by how persistent Faga was.

Unfortunately... Seraph smiled and increased the soul pressure.

Bang!

The struggling young man was slammed into the ground, denting the surface of their stage.

Everyone turned silent, not expecting that he’d be knocked out that easily.

"This..."

"It was even faster than the last time."

"Brother Seraph has really grown so great."

"Yeah. He should be called the strongest disciple in the sect right now."

"There are still those two monsters at the Winter Peak and the Summer Peak, though."

While they chatted in hushed tones, Seraph walked over to Faga’s unconscious figure and hoisted him up by the collar.

He turned to the spectating disciples.

"I’ve said this once and I’ll only be saying it once again. There shall be nothing like an hierarchy between the core disciples. No one, whether new or old, should serve another and become their slave. Is that clearly understood?"

The disciples glanced at each other and nodded. It was rare for inner court disciples to become core disciples so most of the people present had already become senior disciples—according to Faga’s hierarchy.

Only Seraph and Sylvia had become new core disciples over the past six years. Now that Seraph had returned to endure the hierarchy rule was abolished, they all knew he did it because of one person.

Sylvia.

The girl maintained a straight expression, though she was feeling awkward on the inside. She could feel the piercing stares of the disciples around her, and the jealousy in the gazes of a few female disciples.

’Really...’

She felt the urge to facepalm, but she didn’t.

On the stage, Seraph tossed Faga to his friends, then walked straight to Sylvia.

"Let’s go. I want to check on Left and Right."

The two of them departed from the secluded training area for the core disciples, then headed to the dormitories of Soul Peak.

"Where do you think they’ll be?"

Seraph asked as they paused to look around.

"I can’t say," Sylvia shook her head. "They might be in their room, or they might be in the cafeteria, or out on a mission."

Seraph smiled bitterly, suddenly missing the existence of phones.

If he had a phone, he could have easily put a call through to Left and ask him about his whereabouts.

Of course, there were communication talismans. However, these talismans were rare and extremely precious.

They couldn’t be used by anyone just because he wished to.

"Sigh..."

Closing his eyes, Seraph spread out his spiritual sense, mapping out the surroundings. He searched through the dormitory, Mission Hall, and the cafeteria before finally finding the twins.

"Let’s go."