Chapter 306: An A-Rank Origin Skill Appears in the Arena!

After a brief discussion, Nolan finally decided to go first.

"I will go."

With those words, he pushed himself away from the specter seat and jumped down.

Wrrr...

The moment his body left the seat, the surrounding space rippled softly, as though the air itself had turned into water. The distortion spread around him, swallowing his figure before the spatial force carried him directly toward the arena.

A second later, Nolan appeared at the center of the battlefield.

Marrec was already waiting for him.

He stood there with both arms folded over his chest, his posture relaxed and his expression calm, as though he had all the time in the world.

His half-demonic face was still visible, with the black leather armor covering his body and the crimson eye on the corrupted side of his face watching Nolan quietly.

What stood out, however, was what he didn’t have.

There was no weapon in his hands.

Nolan’s gaze briefly moved over Marrec’s body before his brows furrowed.

’No weapon?’

That raised an obvious question.

Was he a mage-type fighter?

Nolan wasn’t willing to assume anything, so he immediately reached into his spatial ring and pulled out his silver greatsword. At the same time, he had already equipped his black plate armor, the metallic surface reflecting the dim light hanging over the arena.

After checking the locking mechanism of his helmet, he lowered the visor over his face.

"I’m ready."

Peiro floated higher above the arena and looked down at the two combatants.

"Start."

Below, Marrec made the first move.

"Let me show you, young man, the difference between a veteran and those earlier weaklings."

His gaze briefly shifted to the corpses of the demonic warriors who had already fallen during the previous battles.

There was no sadness in his expression.

Those warriors had been outer members of the Infernal Choir, people sent into this mission for precisely this kind of purpose, and Marrec clearly didn’t consider their deaths worth remembering.

Nolan tightened his grip around his greatsword.

"Bring it."

Marrec didn’t answer immediately.

Instead, he slowly closed his eyes.

His breathing became steady.

He remained still for a brief moment, inhaling deeply before slowly releasing the breath.

Then his eyes opened.

The calmness disappeared from them.

Only flickering flames remained.

’A-rank Origin Skill.’

Marrec raised both hands while slowly exhaling and brought his palms together.

Clap!

The sound was simple.

What followed was not.

The air behind Marrec rippled violently, and the space seemed to distort under an intense wave of heat, as though it were being softened by an invisible furnace.

A tiny flame appeared behind him.

Then another.

Then another.

One after another, ten small flames emerged until they formed a circular halo behind Marrec’s body.

The flames didn’t spread wildly.

Instead, each one remained suspended at an equal distance from the others, slowly rotating around an invisible center.

Several people in the spectator seats frowned in confusion.

Then Marrec’s voice echoed across the arena.

"SEARWHEEL!"

The ten small flames suddenly brightened.

FWOOM!

Infernal Flame surged through each spark, causing them to rapidly expand until the small flames transformed into ten red spheres.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

The ten spheres began rotating behind Marrec in a circular formation, their surfaces shimmering with concentrated heat.

Even from the spectator seats, the distortion around them was visible.

Nolan’s expression tightened.

"A fire user..."

That alone wouldn’t have frightened him.

A melee fighter generally had an advantage against a mage who needed distance to unleash attacks.

But Marrec didn’t feel like an ordinary fire-type mage.

The ten spheres behind him were enough to make Nolan reconsider his approach.

"Let’s start, young man."

Marrec casually raised one hand and pointed toward Nolan with his index finger.

The gesture looked almost inviting. "Come."

Kira sighed from the spectator seats.

"Seems like a tough match." She already had a bad feeling about it.

Zeyr nodded slowly.

"I didn’t expect this Infernal Choir member to be an Origin Skill user."

His expression became more serious.

"Hopefully Nolan can get out of there in one piece."

Luke, who had been watching the entire exchange, raised an eyebrow.

There was one thing he didn’t quite understand.

He knew that people with cruel personalities or those who had suffered tragedies could end up joining evil organizations, but Marrec had already displayed obvious signs of demonic transformation.

Half of his face had become demonic.

His body had also changed.

So why had Zeyr specifically called him uncorrupted?

Luke turned toward Selene.

"Do you know anything about this?"

Selene shifted her gaze from the arena to her husband and answered in a calm voice.

"Even though demon gods can give their followers access to a completely new power system, not everyone has to accept that system."

She briefly pointed toward Mella, who was sitting beside Brynessa across the arena.

"And even among those who do accept it, the more they rely on that demonic power, the greater the corruption becomes. Their minds gradually deteriorate, and they lose more and more control over themselves."

Luke nodded as he listened.

"As for the physical changes, those are different."

Selene continued.

"The demonic transformation is already part of their cultivation system. Many of them deliberately pursue it because their goal is to eventually become complete demon species and fully utilize demonic powers."

She glanced toward Marrec.

"So the changes in his appearance aren’t necessarily proof that he’s mentally corrupted. People at his level can also control how much of their demonic transformation they allow to appear externally."

Luke’s expression relaxed slightly.

That explanation cleared up some of his earlier doubts about Demon Whispers.

His attention returned to the battlefield just as the fight suddenly entered a higher intensity.

"SEARING BULLET!"

Marrec’s voice rang out.

The ten Sear spheres behind him rotated faster.

Then their surfaces opened.

Thousands of tiny fragments of compressed Infernal Flame shot out like a storm of bullets.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

Nolan’s pupils contracted.

He immediately moved.

The first wave passed over his shoulder.

He twisted his body to avoid the second.

Several projectiles still struck his black plate armor.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The impacts shook his body, sparks spraying from the damaged metal as the compressed flames tore through the armor.

Nolan gritted his teeth and kept moving.

He couldn’t afford to stay still.

More projectiles rained down.

Some slammed into the ground around him, blowing chunks of stone upward, while others struck his armor until pieces of the black plate cracked and fell away.

Clang!

A damaged section of armor broke loose and hit the ground.

Nolan didn’t even glance at it.

He raised his greatsword and charged.

"Hah!"

His feet hammered against the arena floor as he accelerated.

Marrec watched him approach without moving.

Nolan reached him in an instant.

He raised the silver greatsword above his head and swung downward with all his strength.

The blade whistled through the air.

Just before it reached Marrec—

"Sear Drift." The words were spoken calmly.