He had only condensed 30 Soul Swords, but it was equivalent to the first stage of mastery. Using the first stage of Destroying the Void, he had stood up to Chris and Edward's full might. Fane deliberately leaked out some killing intent so Chris and Edward had the chance to react.

He did so because he wanted to test how powerful 30 Soul Swords would be, but he was left with only disappointment. He had thought that he would be able to kill off Edward instantly with that attack, but not only had Edward survived, but he even managed to consume a pill to stabilize his injuries.

He could feel the power of Destroying the Void left in Edward's body being forcefully suppressed. Even though it was still eating at Edward's soul, the speed of consumption was much slower.

Fane sighed as he shook his head in disappointment. He had thought that an upper ultimate god rank technique would be unstoppable against the two of them, even at the first stage. The reality displeased him.

If Chris knew of Fane's thoughts at that moment, Chris would have spat out blood in anger. At that moment, Chris' mood was in disarray. He was not willing to believe everything that had happened, but he was forced to.

Both he and Edward had misjudged the situation. The hidden expert had not been Souza but Fane all along. Chris could not accept that fact at all. What was Fane? Was he not just an alchemist? How was Fane so strong?!

He was using an upper earth rank technique. Consuming Slash could even be considered a slightly weaker lower ultimate god rank technique. Based on what he knew, the Ice Breaker that Edward used was about equal to his technique. They were both upper earth rank techniques close to ultimate god rank!

After feeling Fane's killing intent, both Chris and Edward reacted immediately. He had first struck out and used a lot of power in his Consuming Slash. It was not at his full strength, but there was still 90 percent of his power.Têxt belongs to .

Edward had erected his ice pillars in front of him.

Chris was certain that Edward had used his full might to block Fane's attack, but Edward was still hit in the end.

When his Consuming Slash clashed

Ineq

against Fanes technique, it was slashed in half instantaneously and quickly went through Edward's defenses. There was even enough power left to pierce into Edward's body, causing Edward to collapse on the ground, injured.

The scene replayed in Chris' mind in a loop. His lips twitched, and even the muscles on his face contorted. He felt like his heart was about to explode. Chris took a deep breath as he gritted his teeth and said with reddened eyes, "So it was you! I can't believe it really is you! You put on such a good act. You fooled everyone!"

When he said that, Chris felt like spitting out blood. He did not want to see reality at all.

The hidden expert was actually Fane, whom he belittled and ridiculed. He had thought that Fane was just an ant that he could kill at any moment, but Fane had proven to be a lion that was at the helm of them all.

Even though he did not want to

admit the truth at all, Chris knew that he was no match for Fane alone. Otherwise, he would not have worked with Edward against Souza. It was precisely because they were not completely confident that they worked together to kill the hidden expert.

They just never expected that their guess would be so drastically wrong!

Fane's sneak attack landed, causing Edward to not even be able to open his eyes as he used all of his true energy to suppress his internal injuries.

Fane's lips twitched in exasperation

as he let out a small laugh. "This again. All of you keep saying that lied to all of you. Why don't you just admit that something was wrong with your own eyes? I've never put on an act; you just didn't believe me!"