The End

"You can't kill me! If you kill me, you won't be able to stay in the Navy either! Killing a fellow serviceman is a serious crime!"

"No, these two beasts are the ones who killed you!"

Randall remained completely unmoved by Pietro's pleas.

Pietro: ???

Why are you stealing all my lines?

Randall walked toward Pietro.

One step, two steps...

Each step seemed to land right on Pietro's heart.

His heart began to tremble.

His muscles quivered.

His stomach spasmed.

"I-is there no chance for me?"

Pietro wanted to make one last desperate struggle.

Randall ignored him and kept walking.

Pietro's cheeks twitched, twisting his face into a vicious grimace.

Faced with the threat of death, his heart pounded and his adrenaline surged. He actually felt strength flooding his entire body.

He sprang up from the ground, then...

Turned and ran.

Seeing this, Randall swung his right fist forward.

Iron Fist: Impact Steel!

The instant Randall swung, Pietro sensed death approaching.

With his life hanging in the balance, his survival instincts drove him to execute a perfect dodge.

A transparent channel of air skimmed past his face.

Then he watched as a tunnel five meters across blasted through the dense forest, stretching farther than he could see.

Feeling the burning pain on his cheek, Pietro was scared out of his wits.

When he had watched Randall fight earlier, he had known Randall was strong.

But only now did he truly understand what that meant.

I can't let him hit me!

One hit, and I'm done!

Run! Hurry and run!

Pietro had never run so fast in his life.

To Randall, it seemed to happen in the blink of an eye. Pietro had already shot far into the distance and plunged into the forest.

He hurriedly unleashed another Iron Fist: Impact Steel in the direction Pietro had disappeared.

But there was no sign of him in the newly formed tunnel.

"Shit! Is this guy really that fast? It's only been a moment, and he's almost out of my sensing range!"

He hurried after Pietro, following what he could sense.

At the same time, he inwardly grumbled that the guy's straight-line speed was absurd.

His reaction speed really was holding him back. Otherwise, he would never have been limited to his current level of strength.

For a while, Pietro ran and Randall chased!

Less than ten minutes into the chase, Randall stopped, utterly speechless.

He had been chasing with everything he had, yet the distance between them had only kept growing.

By now, he had completely lost track of Pietro.

This is fucking ridiculous!

With talent like that, why don't you put it to good use instead of dreaming up underhanded schemes all day?

Randall ran a little farther in the same direction, but still found nothing.

Looking frustrated, he muttered to himself:

"Am I really going to give up just like that?

Damn it!

I shouldn't have walked toward him one slow step at a time just to look cool!

I should've finished him off immediately!

Ugh, lesson learned. Lesson learned!

Next time I want to look cool, I'll cripple the other guy first!"

Then he turned, looked in another direction, and said:

"Bad luck for you! I'm full of pent-up anger, and you're just the thing to take it out on!"

With that, he punched forward.

He opened with the same move as always: Iron Fist: Impact Steel!

A hole appeared in an instant.

At the same time, a wretched roar rang out across the sky.

It was an enormous chameleon. At a glance, its body looked to be over ten meters long.

The creature had been camouflaged against the forest, slowly creeping toward Randall.

Despite its immense size, it hadn't made the slightest sound as it moved.

An ordinary person would have died without ever knowing what had killed them.

Unfortunately for it, Randall's perception didn't rely on his eyes or ears.

"Heh heh, you showed up at just the right time!

Then I won't hold back!

Come on, baby!"

Randall pressed the joints of his hands, producing a series of unnerving cracks.

With a slightly deranged smile on his face, he slowly approached the giant chameleon.

The beast could shake the earth with the slightest movement, yet now it was like a helpless child, able only to await its miserable fate.

After a bout of shattered mountains and rivers, split earth and collapsing skies, as though the world had been plunged back into primordial chaos...

Randall walked off into the distance without a backward glance, like a heartless scumbag, his face glowing with the satisfaction of having vented his frustration.

All that remained was a thoroughly battered chameleon, already unconscious.

After finding a suitable spot, Randall climbed a tree and promptly fell asleep.

Wrestling three fierce beasts in succession had left him exhausted too.

Although Randall was asleep, he would wake immediately if anything hostile toward him entered a certain range.

Unfortunately, Pietro still hadn't appeared by the time he woke.

That coward!

I was already asleep, for crying out loud!

Oh well. That guy can't pose a threat to me anymore anyway.

Seventy-two hours passed quickly.

People began trickling into the clearing where they had first arrived.

"Hey, how'd you do?"

"Don't even ask! I nearly died! This place isn't fit for human beings!"

"You're telling me! Just staying alive was hard enough!"

"Tch! This test was no fun at all! I had no idea what was going on!"

"Whoa! What's that in your hand? Am I seeing things? Is that actually a purple ring?"

"Come on, don't just look at the ring! Look at my injuries! Heaven knows what I went through for this thing!"

"You've got this in the bag, right? You might even have a shot at the top three!"

"Heh heh, not necessarily! I can't compete with those monsters!"

Before long, a crowd dressed in rags, looking like beggars, had gathered there.

None of them looked particularly well, and every one of them was injured.

But some were smiling, like the guy holding the purple ring.

Soon, a sudden stir ran through the crowd.

A burly man emerged from the forest.

It was Aequus.

He carried his shirt in his hand, his powerful muscles seeming to gleam in the sunlight.

As though they had arranged it, Milers slowly approached from another direction just as Aequus appeared, one hand resting on his sword hilt and the other carrying a bundle.

Their eyes met naturally.

Aequus raised an eyebrow, glanced at the bundle in Milers's hand, and said:

"Well? How'd your haul turn out?"

Milers replied expressionlessly:

"Just get ready to fight Randall for second place!"

Aequus smiled.

"You sound pretty confident! But I was about to say the same thing!"

They glanced at the gathered trainees, then both walked off to one side.

There they waited, each striking a pose designed to look effortlessly impressive.

Before long, a man with a thoroughly languid air emerged.

At the sight of him, everyone looked both surprised and as though they had expected nothing less.

He was simply too clean!

His exposed skin was spotless, and his clothes looked as pristine as new.

It was as though he had just returned from a vacation!