NOVEL NEXT Chapter 99: Claire Redwyn!
That divine, perfect figure belonged to Bruce Ackerman.
It wasn't official, no one had said it aloud, but it was obvious. Her obsession with him, the way she looked at him, the way she stopped caring about anything else since meeting him, it was clear as day.
"She's a Reign," Aria said finally, breaking the silence again. "Why isn't she going after points? Why's she sitting there doing nothing? She stopped hunting after hitting just one thousand."
The others nodded in agreement. It didn't make sense. Sophie Reign, a scion of one of the most powerful families in the world, wasn't the type to settle for mediocrity. She should've been fighting tooth and nail for the top rank, not meditating in some random cave while the rest bled for points.
"Maybe she's conserving mana?" one muttered.
"Or waiting for something?" another guessed.
But no one could come up with a real reason that made sense.
Lucen frowned, his gaze flicking from Sophie's screen to Bruce's.
'Is it because of him?' he thought. 'She's clearly obsessed with him, but… even that doesn't explain this. Just because she's infatuated with Bruce doesn't mean she should stop fighting altogether. So what's really going through her mind?'
He was close, very close, but not quite there.
None of them could possibly imagine that Sophie's reason for pausing her progress wasn't weakness, obsession, or arrogance. It was strategy.
She was letting Bruce take the lead.
Letting him earn as much as possible.
Because she knew what he truly needed wasn't glory. It was money.
Lucen sighed deeply, dragging his eyes away from her calm, unmoving figure. His gaze shifted back to Bruce's screen just in time to see another recruit fall beneath Bruce's blade.
The kill notification flashed. Another dot vanished from the map.
Lucen's brows furrowed.
'Don't tell me… this guy actually plans to kill every single recruit in the trial.'
The thought was insane, unbelievable even. But as Bruce moved toward yet another target, calm and relentless, that unbelievable thought started feeling more and more like a fact.
Lucen chuckled softly under his breath, shaking his head.
"Interesting…" he murmured.
And somehow, despite the unease twisting faintly in his chest, he couldn't help but smile.
....
Meanwhile, inside the VR, Bruce stood locked in a standoff with another figure. His hair fluttered in the simulated wind as he stared at the woman before him, interest flickering across his face.
'This one seems… interesting,' he thought, a small smile curling his lips.
The figure across from him was a fiery-looking woman, crimson hair cascading like molten flame, eyes burning with raw intensity. Her presence radiated heat, and her bloodlust was so tangible that Bruce could almost see it, a blazing red aura flickering and coiling around her form like living fire.
What surprised him most wasn't her appearance, but her behavior. Unlike the other dots that scattered at the sight of his name, this one was hunting him. He wasn't able to notice before because her territory was very far from his location.
"You seem confident you can defeat me, Claire Redwyn," Bruce said, his tone light but his gaze piercing. He knew her name because, just like him, she had killed, making her name and location visible on the map.
The girl's lips curved into a dangerous smile. There was no hesitation, no hint of fear, only pure, blazing confidence.
"You never stay in one territory for once, I'm finally able to meet you Bruce." she began...
"Do you know why you'll lose this time, Bruce?" she asked, her voice steady, almost casual, but each word crackled with heat.
Bruce stayed silent, the corner of his mouth twitching upward slightly.
She took a step forward, and the air shimmered faintly around her. Her bloodlust increasing.
"It's because you possess blood," she said with quiet certainty. "No being of the same rank that carries blood can ever defeat me."
Her eyes gleamed like twin red suns, burning with conviction.
"This is the end of your reign as the number one ranker," she whispered, her tone turning sharp, a fiery grin spreading across her face. "This time, you die."
Bruce let out a soft chuckle, almost admiring her fire.
Confidence like hers meant one thing, a dangerous class, or delusion. Either way, he was intrigued.
'That confidence… her class must be something special to make her that sure of herself,' he thought. His smile deepened, faint amusement flickering in his eyes. 'Now I'm curious.'
A hot wind blew between them, carrying the scent of ozone and ash. The ground beneath their feet trembled slightly, reacting to the pressure leaking from both sides. Neither moved. Neither blinked.
The tension in the air was thick enough to suffocate the breeze itself. Two predators stood face to face, one burning with fury, the other smiling through the storm.
Then, Bruce moved.
It wasn't speed anymore. It was annihilation.
His figure blurred, vanishing from sight in a single explosive motion. The next instant, he appeared right beside her, arm swinging horizontally with enough force to split the air.
The sheer velocity of his movement birthed a violent gale. A vortex of wind erupted around them, sending loose gravel flying in every direction. The ground beneath his feet cracked like spiderwebs under the pressure. His black hair whipped backward violently, intertwining with hers, the woman's crimson hair blazing like wildfire as the storm of raw kinetic force swirled around them.
The sound that followed was deafening, like thunder collapsing right beside them.
But just as his hand was about to connect,
Her eyes snapped open.
Twin crimson lights flared in her irises, glowing so fiercely they seemed to burn through reality itself. Her lips parted slightly, and her voice came out low and cold, commanding, absolute.
"Kneel."
The word wasn't just sound. It was a decree.
In an instant, Bruce froze. His pupils contracted sharply as a sudden, indescribable pressure erupted inside his body. It wasn't external like mana suppression, it was internal, invasive, primal.
His blood… rebelled!