[Tides of Chaos]

[End of Volume Two]

[Battle of Larov]

(Uploaded by the editor due to the disappearance of the author)

Damien surveyed his surroundings while fending off a spear attack aimed at his head by his half-brother, Frank.

The sight of his fallen comrades in this battle, orchestrated by Frank, filled him with sorrow and intensified his anger.

He shouted at Frank, "Why are you doing this? Isn't it enough for you to just make me suffer? There is no need for others to suffer in our battle!"

Frank retorted, "Are you still asking that? This battle is not my fault. This is all your fault."

Frank's voice grew increasingly louder with each sentence that escaped his lips. "Even after you joined the Ashcroft family and Father bestowed upon you the position of heir, my rightful place as a bastard like you, I never voiced any objection."

Damien heard Frank calling him a bastard, which irritated him and caused him to lose control of the battle.

Frank's attacks became faster. "I just let you be. But your greed had no limits. You weren't satisfied with just taking my position. You started taking other things from me—my friends, my connections—even after seeing all this…"

Frank used one of his unique spear techniques his voice thundered, "I did nothing!"

Damien could feel the blood coming out from his right arm after parrying Frank's last attack, and he could sense Frank becoming more unstable.

Frank could feel the change in his mana, but he ignored it. "I only asked you to stay away from Lisa."

Damien tried to defend himself. "Lisa's death wasn't my fault. We were on a mission, and there was no way we could have anticipated the dungeon explosion."

Frank, seeing Damien still sticking to the same story, felt his anger rise to a degree that made him lose control, and his transformation started.

Frank could feel the mana in his body changing. Corruption was taking over, so he stopped suppressing the violent mana and used all his power to make his attacks more powerful.

With his new power, Frank used another one of his techniques and aimed the spear at Damien's throat, yelling, "You told Lisa to stay behind and hold off the monster raid!"

Frank saw Damien dodge his last attack and had a stupefied look. He heard Damien's shocked voice, "You've become corrupted."

Frank ignored Damien's remark and yelled again, his body turning black due to corruption, "And for what? To save worthless lives and play the hero, all to satisfy your ego?"

Frank finally fully transformed into a corrupted being, leaving behind his last words, filled with anguish. "The only person I cared for, my beloved Lisa, my reason for living, you took her away from me."

Damien saw Frank become fully corrupted, fighting like a crazy person. There was no strategy or skill in his style; he was only using pure corrupted mana.

Damien could see that Frank's missed attacks were causing the environment to wither and decay. Those unfortunate enough to be near Frank's malevolent aura were perishing.

After witnessing this, Damien tried to move their fight to a more secluded area. He looked around and saw a mountain near Larov City, heading there.

While clashing with Frank and maneuvering around the battlefield, Damien could spot his friends even in this sea of 10,000 people. Amelia was fighting on the left front side, trying to prevent the enemy from advancing from the flanks.

His best friend, whom he wished were his real brother, Kevin, was positioned in front of the magicians, taking the damage aimed at them and trying to protect the members of the Croft Guild.

They were scattered all over the outskirts of Larov City. Many friends and people responded after Damien called for their assistance.

After a difficult process, Damien and Frank reached the mountain.

Damien exhaled a sigh of relief, knowing that he could now unleash his full power without worrying about endangering anyone within the range of his skills and their aftermath.

After fighting with Frank for a long time, Frank showed no signs of fatigue due to corruption. while he himself grew tired with each passing minute.

Both Damien and Frank were S-rank, but after Frank turned into a corrupted being, he became almost a peak SS-rank.

Understanding the situation, Damien finally decided to use his innate ability, which would improve his rank by one major rank and make him SS-rank: mana amplification.

It was his trump card, setting him apart from others and earning him the admiration of everyone, despite being an illegitimate son of the Ashcroft family.

However, like everything in life, his ability had a flaw: it could only be sustained for a minute. Once the skill's duration expired, Damien's rank would drop by an entire realm for a day. That's why he only used this skill as a last resort.

And until now, he had managed to keep his skill defect a secret from everyone else.

After activating his innate ability, Damien could feel the change in his body. his fatigue vanished, and his senses sharpened.

***

"Watch where you're going, boy," Alex heard an angry voice from the front, and he felt his head bump into something.

Lifting his head from his phone, Alex quickly apologized to the person he had collided with before resuming his journey to work.

Alex scrolled through his phone, searching for the exact spot where he had left off in the novel. Once he found it, he immersed himself in the story once again, engrossed in the story once more.

***

"I could end him in a minute," Damien thought confidently as he observed that the corrupted Frank made no effort to defend against his attacks, mindlessly lashing out at him.

Using his agile movement art, Damien skillfully evaded the hand that was aimed for his throat.

In that instant, Damien spotted a golden opportunity created by Frank's previous attack, and he swiftly channeled all the aura within his body into his sword. With precision, he thrust the blade deep into Frank's heart. Finally killing Frank