Miles looked at his raging opponent, attacking him blindly while shouting. His eyes then landed on the opponent's weapon. The spear he was clutching with everything he had despite his injuries.

"Coin, what's the spear's level?" Miles asked in a low voice as he raised the sword in his hand to parry the attack. Spear had a range advantage, but the sword was better when it came to controlling flow.

“Since it was able to pierce through the high-tier car, it should be higher than that. But I cannot see it. It also cannot be Frenzy-Rank though.” Coin reported. “It is also a piercing element, so don’t get stabbed by it.”

“Good for you to say that buddy.” Miles rolled his eyes and readied himself. He did not summon his armor yet not because he wanted to keep his identity a secret. He planned to use it as an ace in the hole. After all, Miles had used the car the Marooner purchased. And even not unique, it was pretty rare and would tip away their connection if Miles were to let Ivan walk away. So he wasn’t planning to let his opponent go nor would he hide his armor.

It was then that the spear, with ominous light, headed to his heart. Ivan went for a sudden attack as the spear left his hand like an extended javelin.

The spear arrived fast. In less than a second, it came in front of Miles. But Miles was faster. He dodged the incoming attack with a small movement and let it pass between his left arm and chest. He did it to keep it under control while approaching the enemy.

Miles can be considered one of the fastest people in the G-Circle, even despite those with superpowers that provide speed. Superpowers weren’t that strong before Form-Rank, making a person with Strengthening Serums faster than them in most cases. Most people in G-Circle couldn’t use Strengthening Serums or wouldn’t risk their lives even if they could. However, Miles did. So, in close combat, he had a great advantage. A close-range battle was to test the waters and to keep superpowers as aces in the hole.

The sword in Miles's hand then crackled with lightning, slashing towards the enemy. It was a fast and sudden attack where he should have succeeded, but to his surprise, his movement slowed down, and Ivan had dodged his slash attack.

“Cold?” Miles was surprised, then realized what was bothering him from the start.

In the Graders showdown, he watched a week ago, one of the champions was a lady with the last name Strankov. At the time, Miles did not think that she might be related to General Strankov since Carl has not mentioned it. So, he just shrugged it off. But now that Ivan was using similar power, he finally realized that they should be related.

Of course, the reason he didn’t connect the dots, because General Strankov’s superpower wasn’t cold-related, at least not directly. She and most of the Strankov family had superpowers allowing them to have calm minds and quick thinking. General’s superpower was Cold Perception. Allowing her to freeze the perception of time, making her brain work faster.

Unlike her, the Grader and Ivan had cold elemental superpowers.

Miles then felt his body getting colder with his blood flow slowing down. Cold was the bane of close-range fighters because it would slow them down. But luckily, Ivan was still Grace-Rank. Otherwise, Miles would have to fight from a distance. Since he already had his enemy at a close, he wouldn’t let him escape from his grasp.

As he willed it, the maroon armor surrounded Miles's body from head to toe. It was then that the bolts of lightning on the sword resonated with his armor as they intertwined around him. And a weird coiling blue current moved to his right hand.

“What is this? I feel like the sword is getting stronger!” Miles said in a low voice as he grasped the sword in his hand.At that moment, Ivan’s face was filled with disbelief. He looked at the maroon-colored liquid surrounding his target. And when it solidified into armor, his mind was blown.‘I am fighting with the Marooner?! And I have seen his true self.’ Ivan gasped inwardly. ‘No, no! I just called him lowlife and wanted him to kneel before me!’

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At that point, Ivan had an inner struggle. Not because he was weaker than the Marooner, but because of his fame and glory when he fought against three assailants of Starve Cleric. If word got out, people would hang him for this.

However, the deed was done. Ivan had to see it to the end. He wouldn’t let people know he had attacked the Marooner and tried to steal from him. Thus, he had to kill the Marooner.

After making up his mind, Ivan attacked Miles with the spear more ferociously. Things were different this time now that Miles donned his armor.

The cold powers of Ivan could hardly influence him thanks to the armor, so Miles got the upper hand once again. He dodged the spear tip agilely and attacked with his sword. Because of their length difference, Miles had to approach Ivan. But Ivan had kept the distance between them, almost engaging with the spear at every turn.

The exchange of clashes between a sword and spear continued even after for some time. Both of them fought evenly.

Miles had the advantage of speed, but he was injured. He could hardly move.

On the other side, Ivan could hardly keep on, but he wasn’t just anybody. As an elite member of the Strankov family, he had been raised and taught battle since childhood.

Miles was proud of his battle experience, but he also knew that all the children of strong families were the same as him.

Lucky for Miles, Ivan wasn’t in the best shape either. Coin’s split-second decision to accelerate instead of slowing down injured Ivan. The impact quaked his organs and injured him internally.

Miles felt that his body was on the verge of breaking down. His muscles were hurting. His bones felt like glass stabbing to his flesh. His legs could hardly support him, especially the injured one was slowing him down, but his will and instinct to live fueled him, but pain brought him back to reality, slowing him down.

He looked at Ivan, but he realized his sight was getting blurry. “I can’t lose consciousness, not yet!”

Miles then bit the tip of his tongue and dashed to the enemy.

Purple bolts of lightning intertwined with the blue current on the armor as Miles swung the sword, clashing with the spear, aiming to cut his opponent’s head off.

The sword slipped through the tip of the spear to keep it away as the fraction between two weapons created sparks in the air. Miles dashed to Ivan, intending to punch. However, he did not notice his opponent’s fist coming right for him from above with a white aura. When Miles noticed the fist, he realized Ivan’s demeanor was different than before. His aura was ethereal while his fist looked like a meteor piercing through the atmosphere.

“Crater Punch!” Ivan shouted with gusto.

Miles activated the orb he was hiding, and a shield appeared in front of him. The fist landed on the shield, and Miles got sent flying like a meteor. He flew more than three meters before he crash-landed. He coughed, and blood gushed out from his mouth. The shield almost sank inward, while his organs quaked from the force.

Ivan looked at his opponent on the ground. As he was so close to death, he had to use the secret technique he finally mastered, but he wasn’t proficient in it and his body wasn’t strong enough. The punch hurt him almost as much as it hurt Miles.

He was about to walk to Miles and finish him when all of a sudden, he felt danger behind him. He looked back, and the ivory car he attacked earlier had grown bigger.

Not giving him enough time, the car throttled at full engine towards him. He was then sent flying not far from Miles. Like his opponent, he coughed up blood and laid there silently.

“Good job buddy!” Miles said hardly and rose to his feet.

It was Coin who hit Ivan with the car. If it wasn’t for him, Miles would have been dead.

“Don’t push me to the edge, Marooner!” Ivan said from where he was lying, but Miles ignored his threats.

Miles walked to his opponent with scuffling feet. He could hardly move, but he had to. He pointed the spiky side of the shield towards Ivan and pressed the button hidden in the handle of the shield.

When there was only a meter between both of them, Ivan shouted, “You asked for it.” While spikes left the shield flew towards Ivan.

“Oh, no!” Coin suddenly exclaimed. “Run, he is overcharging his spear orb! It's gonna detonate!” Coin warned and urged Miles to run.

“Hack his wristwatch now!” Miles commanded in a rush, but it was too late.

The orb detonated with a great explosion.

With that impact, Miles was sent flying away.

However, at the last second, an ivory car appeared in front of him and took the brunt of the attack.

Miles then lost his consciousness as he lay unmoving on the ground.