"Well, well, well..." the man said casually.
"Seems like Rhyssa missed your direction, and I ended up being the one who found you instead."
The unfamiliar voice sounded relaxed, almost amused.
Alex slowly raised his head while breathing heavily. His entire body still hurt from what the Anakim had done to him moments ago. His muscles trembled slightly, and his arm still felt numb from being nearly ripped apart.
Still, the moment he looked at the person standing before him, Alex immediately recognised the suit.
It was hard not to.
Every Synapse Circle participant stood out during the tournament. Their gear alone made sure of that.
Their arrival at the event had practically turned into a spectacle.
The advanced battle suits.
The large ship.
The confidence.
Everyone present had noticed them immediately.
Even if Alex didn't know the man's name personally, he still recognised him as one of the Synapse Circle members.
And honestly, that wasn't comforting at all.
'The Synapse Circle...' Alex thought carefully.
'We were warned to stay away from them no matter what.'
His body remained tense despite technically being rescued.
The situation didn't feel safe.
Not even close.
Meanwhile, the man standing behind the Anakim's corpse wore a wide smile on his face. It wasn't friendly either. It looked more like the smile of someone who had unexpectedly found something entertaining.
'Who would've thought I would run into him first and not her?' the man thought inwardly.
The "her" he was referring to was obviously Rhyssa.
From the very beginning of the tournament, Eric had noticed the strange interest Rhyssa seemed to have in Alex.
He couldn't fully explain what it was exactly.
Curiosity?
Attention?
Obsession?
Whatever it was, Eric honestly didn't care much about the reason.
What interested him more was the fact that Alex had somehow managed to catch the attention of someone like Rhyssa in the first place.
And now, standing before the battered Alex with a dead Anakim lying between them, Eric found the whole thing even more amusing.
'And I have a feeling he might be the reason she thinks this tournament may not go exactly as we calculated,' Eric thought.
His eyes remained fixed on Alex as he carefully observed him from head to toe.
At the moment, Alex honestly looked terrible.
His body was covered in dirt and blood. His breathing was rough, and one of his arms shook slightly from the strain of the earlier fight.
Nothing about him looked particularly special right now.
Eric narrowed his eyes slightly.
'He couldn't even beat a single Anakim on his own,' he thought dismissively.
After watching for a few more seconds, Eric finally decided to use one of the advantages the Synapse Circle possessed.
A scan.
The visor over his eyes flickered faintly.
Immediately, information started appearing before him.
[A Participant of the Wyndhams Clan]
Then the system paused.
A second later, another message appeared.
[Error!]
[No other information can be produced at the moment]
Eric frowned instantly.
'Error?'
That was unusual.
Very unusual.
His smile faded slightly as confusion appeared on his face for the first time.
'Is the system malfunctioning?'
'Has this ever happened before?'
The Synapse Circle systems were known for their absurd precision. Information gathering was one of the things their technology excelled at.
Yet right now, the scan had failed completely after only identifying Alex's clan.
Meanwhile, at almost the exact same moment, a notification suddenly appeared before Alex as well.
[Warning!]
[An external power is attempting to scan you]
[Get out of its sight]
[Stay off the Synapse Circle's sight]
Alex's eyes narrowed slightly the moment he saw it.
'This warning again...' he thought.
This wasn't even the first time his system had reacted strangely toward the Synapse Circle.
What Alex didn't understand was why.
Eric hadn't attacked him.
He hadn't even moved aggressively yet.
And still, the system was acting as though Alex was standing in front of something dangerous.
Something he should avoid at all costs.
But honestly, Alex didn't care about figuring out the reason right now.
The only thing on his mind at the moment was simple.
Get away. Fast.
After receiving the warning, Alex reacted instantly.
A second ago, he had still been lying on the ground trying to recover his breath. The next second, he kicked hard against the soil and flipped backward onto his feet.
He didn't stop there.
Alex jumped back again, widening the distance between himself and Eric as quickly as possible. His muscles screamed in pain from everything the Anakim had done to him, but he ignored it.
Right now, creating distance mattered more.
"Wow..." Eric said while watching him carefully. "And here I thought you couldn't fight anymore."
His voice sounded casual, almost amused.
Eric waved away his system interface, ignoring the strange error for now, then fully turned his attention toward Alex.
"Tell me something," Eric suddenly said. "Do you know your sister? Like really know your sister? Are you fucking her?"
Alex frowned immediately.
"What type of stupid question is that?" Alex replied.
Honestly, the way Eric spoke felt off in the head. There was something wrong with the guy.
"Come on, don't be shy," Eric said with a grin, casually waving his hand as if the question was normal.
"I mean, she seems way too interested in you for there to be nothing going on."
Alex's expression darkened slightly, but Eric kept talking anyway.
"I've never seen her look at a guy the way she looked at you before," Eric continued.
"In fact, there were times I wondered if she was more interested in girls than men."
Eric laughed to himself.
"Like she was gay or something. Hahaha."
His laughter echoed through the damaged area while blood from the dead Anakim slowly spread across the ground nearby.
"But then you showed up," Eric continued while pointing at Alex. "And suddenly she's staring at you like some hungry dog looking at meat."
Alex stayed silent while listening to him.
At the same time, his mind remained alert.
'This guy is dangerous,' Alex thought.
Not just because he was from the Synapse Circle.
The way he talked, the way he smiled, and the way he casually killed the Anakim with a single shot earlier... everything about him felt unstable.
Alex honestly didn't know how he was supposed to respond to Eric anymore.
The guy seemed like the type who simply said whatever entered his head without filtering a single thing.
"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but I don't even know your sister's name," Alex replied.
His brows furrowed slightly as he spoke.
"I only met her today, and I barely even looked at her once."
Alex tried explaining it plainly, hoping the conversation would finally end there.
Instead, Eric suddenly froze for a second.
Then his eyes widened.
"Wow," he said softly.
A strange smile slowly spread across his face.
Then he casually took another step toward Alex, acting like they weren't standing in the middle of a battlefield filled with blood, broken trees, and a dead Anakim nearby.
"So the myth is true after all," Eric said.
Alex already had a bad feeling about where this was going.
"Love at first sight," Eric finished dramatically.
Alex stared at him in disbelief.
At this point, the more Alex tried clearing things up, the more Eric seemed determined to misunderstand everything on purpose.
Honestly, it was exhausting.
"I am not a fan of love," Alex eventually replied.
This time, Eric stopped smiling.
The playful look on his face slowly faded as he stared directly at Alex.
"So you intend to break my sister's heart?" Eric asked.
His tone sounded far more serious now.
The sudden change in atmosphere made Alex tense slightly.
Alex clenched his fists.
"Like I said before, I don't know your sister that well," Alex answered firmly.
"And I honestly don't care what she thinks about me."
For a brief moment, silence filled the area.
Only the sound of wind moving through the damaged forest could be heard.
Eric lowered his head slightly.
"You are right..." he said quietly.
"You don't know her."
"You don't care about her."
"You don't love her."
As he spoke, his tone gradually became colder and darker.
The joking attitude from earlier was gone completely.
And somehow, that version of Eric felt far more dangerous than the laughing one.
"But she seems to have something for you," Eric said.
"And whatever that thing is, it has already made her doubt her own clan... her own people."
His voice remained calm, but there was something dangerous hidden beneath it.
"Which is exactly why you need to go."
Alex's eyes narrowed slightly.
At this point, he already knew where this was heading.
A fight was coming.
'I am not sure I can beat a Synapse Circle member in my current state,' Alex thought.
Although the Anakim had tossed him around brutally earlier, Alex surprisingly wasn't in as terrible a condition as expected.
Most of the impact damage had been reduced because of his reflection effect. Every time he was slammed around, he redirected part of the kinetic force to cancel out the remaining impact.
Still, that didn't mean he was fine.
His body ached badly.
His muscles felt heavy.
And more importantly, Alex knew he could not fight seriously here.
'If I use too much power, the wristband might detect the stage change,' Alex thought.
That alone was already a problem.
But there was something else bothering him more.
'The Wyndhams are probably watching too.'
If they noticed certain things about him, questions would start coming.
Questions he absolutely did not want to answer.
Because of that, Alex quickly came to a decision.
'If I can't escape him... then I should just quit the tournament like I planned.'
Alex had no intention of fighting Eric.
Lucius had warned all of them to stay away from the Synapse Circle no matter what.
Even his own system had repeatedly warned him about them.
Alex still didn't fully understand why.
But honestly, he wasn't interested in gambling his life just to find out.
Right then, a familiar screen appeared in front of him.
[Do you want to quit the tournament]
[Yes/No]
The moment the interface appeared, Alex already knew his answer.
However, at that exact same second, something suddenly shot toward him.
It came directly from Eric.
One part of Eric's suit had detached from his wrist like a machine breaking apart mid-motion.
The metallic hand shot forward at terrifying speed.
Before Alex could react properly, it grabbed tightly onto his wristband.
Clank!
"You are not going anywhere," Eric declared.
His grip tightened instantly.
---
Meanwhile, inside the VIP area where the Wyndhams were seated, a new notification suddenly appeared above the display screen.
[A member of the Wyndhams clan has been eliminated from the tournament]
[Name: Alex]
[Stage: 2]
[Path: Warrior]
[Kills: 0]
[Eliminated by Quitting]
The moment the notification appeared, the expressions of several people in the room immediately changed.