Chapter 188: Warden vs Youth Leader

"Why yes, I have heard of the Youth Leader’s strength and have always wanted to see it for myself."

"Is that so? So you decided the best way to do that was by challenging me?"

"Yes."

"You understand I’m an authentic Demi-god, right?" Eren asked, tilting his head slightly.

"Yes."

Hearing the two converse so casually across the dining table, the Ascendant officers couldn’t help but feel that something was deeply out of place. The pair were speaking as though they were negotiating an ordinary training spar, not an open public challenge between a high-tier Demi-god and an unranked Tier 5 mortal.

Challenges like this across major faction lines were normally treated as grave, blood-feud insults.

Yet neither commander seemed particularly offended or agitated by the prospect of violence.

"Fine."

"Fine."

With the terms settled in an instant, both young leaders pushed their chairs back and stood up.

Just below the high balcony, the central courtyard had already been evacuated by the West Wall Brigade, creating an expansive stone dueling ring easily visible from the surrounding battlements.

The news ripped through the citadel barracks like wildfire.

The newly appointed Warden of the Thousand Beast Citadel was about to cross steel with the Youth Leader of the Ascendant faction.

"A Tier 4 Demi-god against a Tier 5 mortal summoner," an old veteran murmured from the parapets. "This is either going to be a masterclass or an execution."

Below, the crowd held its collective breath as the two figures stepped onto the dueling platform.

Eren strolled casually toward the center of the ring, slowly wrapping strips of enchanted white linen around his broad knuckles.

"Feel free to call out as many of your summons as you want," Eren said, not even looking up as he tucked the linen ends into his wrist wrap.

At Tier 4, contracting an authentic Demi-god entity was an absurdly rare, borderline impossible feat without an ancient deity directly blessing the pact.

That was why over ninety percent of Demi-gods abandoned the summoning path altogether to cultivate their own martial bodies.

Eren was a pure martial sovereign.

He had never needed contracted beasts to establish his undisputed supremacy in the Bastion.

"Sure," Ethen replied flatly.

He didn’t waste half a heartbeat on false modesty.

Three towering summoning circles ignited simultaneously across the stone floor beside him.

Gilgamesh.

Arthur.

And Adam.

His most durable, lethal frontline combatants materialized together in an iron triangle.

Gilgamesh rested his colossal golden warhammer over his armored shoulder, his eyes burning with ancient pride.

Arthur stood in absolute, chilling stillness, his gauntlets resting on the pommel of his greatsword as his golden eyes locked onto the white-haired prodigy.

Adam walked to the vanguard position, his unarmored, chiseled frame radiating unbothered serenity.

Ethen had zero intention of holding back a single trick.

Against a genuine Demi-god, any trace of arrogance was an express ticket to an early grave.

He had to strike with absolute, overwhelming force from the opening second.

The instant that calculation finalized in his mind, Ethen kicked off the pavers.

A dozen heavy, rune-forged iron chains erupted from the platform, hissing through the air like striking vipers aimed at Eren’s limbs.

Ethen sprinted directly behind the steel barrage, his Storm Crossbow raised and sighted.

Eren’s dreamy eyes narrowed just a fraction.

He threw a single, casual punch into the empty air.

Boom!

The atmospheric pressure before his bare knuckles detonated like a high-yield artillery shell.

The incoming iron chains shattered into twisted fragments under the sheer concussive blast, while the residual kinetic shockwave ripped through the flagstones, carving deep trenches toward Ethen.

Blazing Star.

That was Eren’s continental title.

His underlying class foundation was the legendary *Shattered Star*.

It was one of the exceedingly rare hidden S-Rank lineages preserved within the highest vaults of the Bastion, passed down exclusively to apex prodigies capable of withstanding stellar kinetic recoil.

"Hmph!"

More binding chains erupted through the cracked pavers to enclose him.

Eren answered with rapid, piston-like jabs.

Every fist sundered the physical space before him, leaving spider-web fractures in the air that snapped with deafening thunderclaps.

The entire dueling platform shook violently beneath their boots.

"The Blazing Star is an absolute monster," a spectator on the balcony whispered, shielding his eyes from the dust.

Every veteran watching from the walls understood why seasoned warriors avoided sparring with Eren at all costs.

The passive devastation trailing his movements was simply too overwhelming for normal combatants to endure.

Every punch warped the surrounding battlefield into an unnavigable wasteland of crushed rock.

Every shift of his stance carried the crushing momentum of an avalanche.

It wasn’t like fighting another human being; it felt like dueling a natural disaster.

"Hmph!"

Flanking wide to the left, Ethen unleashed a rapid volley from his crossbow.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

The enchanted, explosive rounds struck Eren’s back and shoulders in rapid succession, throwing up plumes of black smoke.

Yet the kinetic payload detonated harmlessly against an invisible, shimmering stellar barrier clinging to the Demi-god’s skin.

Eren didn’t even bother turning his head to acknowledge the gunfire.

Ethen’s eyes tightened as he reloaded on the run.

The rumors hadn’t exaggerated; this monster’s passive domain was rock solid.

At that exact second, a colossal shadow completely blocked out the pale sky above Eren’s head.

Gilgamesh brought his massive golden warhammer down with two hands, the sheer mass of the weapon shrieking as it cleaved the wind.

"Small fry!"

Eren glanced upward without a hint of panic.

He bent his knees, loading immense kinetic power into the stone, before launching himself straight into the descending weapon like a rocket.

His linen-wrapped fist met the falling gold dead center.

Boom!

The acoustic shockwave blew the surrounding dust completely off the platform, ringing in the ears of every spectator on the battlements.

Spatial cracks spider-webbed through the air along the point of impact.

The insane counter-force jarred Gilgamesh’s grip, forcing the giant summon back several paces as his heavy boots tore through the pavers to regain balance.

Yet that massive collision was merely the opening distraction.

From the blind spot created by Gilgamesh’s retreating stride, Arthur materialized like a silver wraith.

The King of Knights had already entered full strike posture.

"Killer Zone."

The instant the skill flared, Arthur’s combat aura surged past its mortal limiter, temporarily breaking through an entire realm of power.

The silver greatsword descended in a blinding crescent of cold light.

Eren had just absorbed the kinetic backlash from Gilgamesh’s hammer and was still suspended in the air.

He had barely a fraction of a second to react.

He contorted his torso violently mid-air, attempting to slip the trajectory.

He was a split-second too late.

The enchanted edge bit directly into his shoulder.

"Hmph!"

The sharp metallic scent of fresh blood immediately registered in Eren’s senses.

His dreamy expression cracked into wide-eyed disbelief.

A clean, distinct crimson cut opened across his clavicle, droplets of divine blood falling onto the stone.

Piercing the defensive boundary of an authentic Demi-god was something ordinary Tier 5 mortals could never achieve, even with high-grade siege armaments.

Eren understood the physical laws of the Bastion better than anyone present.

Yet a newly admitted summoner had just drawn first blood against him.

"You’re surprisingly capable," Eren said, touching the shallow cut with two fingers as he touched down.

He looked straight past the silver knight, his gaze pinning Ethen like a pair of daggers.

"Brace yourself, Warden. I’m taking the initiative now."

His voice sounded polite on the surface, but the dreamy detachment in his pale eyes was gone, replaced by a cold, sharp predator’s glare.

Having his flesh cut by a Tier 5 mortal in front of his own officers was an unbearable humiliation.

Especially for the undisputed Youth Leader of the entire Ascendant faction.

He could not allow this bout to conclude on these terms.

To restore his standing and reassert absolute authority, he needed to inflict something far more brutal in return.

He would either obliterate one of these precious S-Rank summons permanently.

Or he would beat Ethen within an inch of his mortal life.

Either outcome would suffice to restore balance.

Having finalized his resolve, Eren blurred across the platform in an instantaneous burst of speed.

His fist ignited with blinding stellar light, driving directly toward Ethen’s chest.

"Interesting..."

Ethen smirked faintly, executing a smooth backward slip-step without the slightest sign of panic.

Right on cue, Adam stepped smoothly into the strike’s path.

Boom!

Eren’s full-force kinetic blow landed squarely against Adam’s unarmored chest.

The sheer impact rippled through the courtyard, cracking the stone beneath their feet for twenty paces around them.

Yet Adam didn’t yield a single inch of ground.

His chiseled frame absorbed the Demi-god’s kinetic payload like a bottomless void, his expression completely blank.

Ethen’s eyes gleamed with lethal focus from behind his summon’s shoulder.

"collapse the pocket!"

His command snapped across the ringing courtyard like a whip.

Gilgamesh roared, raising his golden hammer high to seal the rear retreat.

Arthur shifted his grip, his greatsword humming with silver light as he flanked Eren’s left side.

Adam locked his cold golden eyes onto the stunned prodigy from the front, raising both fists to pin him in place.

Three S-Rank summons completely enclosed the Youth Leader of the Ascendants in a suffocating kill-box.

They were going to gang up and break him down piece by piece.

If that was what it took to bring down this Demi-god, Ethen had no complaints.