Seconds passed as Corey looked at the flying third generation Paragon and just when Corey was becoming slightly impatient and anxious, he saw the third generation Paragon raise his head as his throat started to swell.

A glint passed through Corey's eyes and without hesitation, he laid on the floor with his back touching the ground.

He waved his right hand and six differently sized boats which were placed inside one another causing it to look like a pile of boats appeared on top of him, covering him.

'I hope this works in real life.'

Corey thought with a slightly anxious expression and just as he did, he felt the fog which he had a connection with, disappear and in the next instant, he felt the boats on top of him become slightly warm, before the temperature increased and sweat started dripping from his entire body.

With a determined expression, Corey looked at the reddened boat which was on top of him and a second later, a thought appeared in his mind.

'Do your thing Rhea.'

Just as he gave his command, Corey's ancient spear trembled slightly and a second later, the eyes of the drawing of the black bird blinked twice before the drawing disappeared and the black bird appeared a few meters from the ancient spear.

Rhea glanced at Corey for a second before she looked at the flying avatar of the third generation Paragon who was still releasing a breath filled with dark grey fire.

With a flap of her wings, she flew to the back of the third generation Paragon and when she was a few meters away from the third generation Paragon, she opened her mouth and in the next instant, a murky white mist appeared from her mouth and went towards the left wing of the third generation Paragon whose mind was occupied on Corey.

If one looked closely at the white mist that was released by Rhea, one would notice that the mist was not actually a mist. The mist had numerous ghost faces in it and this ghost faces had painful expressions.

As this ghost mist or to be more exact, Rhea's ghost breath, moved towards the wing of the third generation Paragon, the Paragon had a feeling that something was wrong, but just as he was about to turn around, Rhea's ghost breath reached his dark grey wing.

The dark grey wings of the third generation Paragon which looked dull now became much duller. It looked like all the vitality in the wing was sucked away causing the third generation Paragon to fall, much to his shock.

As the third generation Paragon fell, he looked for the source of his destroyed wing, and when he saw a flying black bird with an indifferent expression, a confused expression appeared on his face.

'What kind of pet is that?'

Meanwhile, after Corey received Rhea's transmission that her mission was done, with a relieved expression, Corey kicked the boats on top of him with full force, successfully removing the reddened boats.

Without glancing at the boats, Corey looked at the falling third generation Paragon and without hesitation, he dashed towards him and used thunder step.

Clap!

Loud thunder claps resounded with every step Corey took and as Corey got closer to the Paragon who was closer to the ground, he brought out the dual battle axes.

Two seconds passed and just as Corey was around 15m away from him and the third generation Paragon was around 5m away from the ground, the sabers in the hands of the third generation Paragon disappeared and the moment they disappeared, the third generation Paragon waved his right hand first before waving his left.

But after waving it… Nothing appeared from his hand or to be more exact, Corey could not see anything appear from the actions of the third generation Paragon causing him to be confused.

'Focus.'

Corey entered his focused state and just as he did, he noticed something strange coming towards him, but… it was too late.

Slash Slash Slash

'Urgh.'action

A slightly muffled groan escaped Corey's lips as numerous cuts and slashes appeared all over his body, including his neck.

Cough

Corey coughed out blood and with a dizzy expression, his hands which had reflexively placed both of his dual axes in front of his face fell due to weakness.'What happened?'

Corey thought as he shook his head, trying to rid himself of his dizziness.

'Poison?' Corey thought.

Caw

Rhea cawed with shock and in the next moment, she opened her mouth, wanting to release another ghost breath but just as she opened her beak, the third generation Paragon who had landed on the floor spoke with a cold tone

"No you don't."

The moment he spoke, his right hand tightened into a fist and he pointed it at Rhea.

The moment he pointed it at Rhea, a thick web shot out of his wrist and in the blink of an eye, it accurately reached Rhea and with a yank, he flung his arm towards a destroyed building, sending Rhea smashing into the building.

"Hmm."

Woosh!

The third generation Paragon made a 'hmm' sound after disconnecting the web from his wrist.

He turned towards Corey, and just as he did, he abruptly moved to the right, dodging Corey's thrown axe which was about to cut him.

Clang

A loud clang resounded as the third generation Paragon blocked Corey's axe slash with his saber and just as he did, he felt his saber vibrate intensely.

"Vibration?"

The third generation Paragon spoke with furrowed brows and he looked at Corey who was gritting his teeth with an extremely cold gaze.

"It's surprising that you, a normal human could force me this far despite this avatar been a tier 0."

"I commend you for that, but…"

The avatar of the third generation Paragon spoke calmly and just as Corey was about to launch another attack, he saw the third generation Paragon form a fist with his free left hand and at extremely fast speed, he punched at Corey's solar plexus.

Puchi

"What the-"

Cough!

With an extremely baffled expression, Corey looked at his solar plexus where the third generation Paragon had 'punched', but instead of the punch that Corey was expecting, he saw three metal claws elongate from the fist of the Paragon which the third generation Paragon used to stab into his body.

'How many unknown skills does this bastard have?'

Cough

Corey coughed out blood once again due to the Paragon pushing his wolverine like claws into his body.

"Like I said, I commend you for pushing me this far as a normal human, but your Fate was sealed when I cut you with my void webs.

Just like my claws, my void webs contain poison that your regeneration skill cannot deal with."

With his claws inside Corey's body, the third generation Paragon spoke into Corey's ears calmly.

Corey whose vision was becoming hazy looked at the Paragon's neck which was beside him and with a cold, calm tone, he spoke:

"Go to hell you bastard."After he spoke, he lunged at the third generation Paragon's neck and with all the force he could muster, he sunk his teeth deeply into the Paragon's neck much to the Paragon's immense shock.

Tear!

Corey tore as much of the Paragon's neck as he could and just as he did, the Paragon quickly pushed him away while holding his profusely bleeding neck.

"What sort of a barbarian are you?!"

The third generation Paragon shouted with a shocked tone and just as he asked, he knelt while breathing heavily.

Meanwhile Corey who was laying on his stomach in pain, looked at the avatar of the third generation Paragon with a calm and slightly hopeful expression.

'I don't know if Paragons have a carotid artery, but I know that they must have a blood vessel in their neck that sends blood to their brain.'

Corey thought as he looked at the Paragon who was breathing heavily.

"I can't- I can't believe I'm going to lose like this."

Corey heard the third generation Paragon speak but Corey did not say anything in response.

"Never have I lost a battle by somebody biting off a huge chunk of my neck."

A self-depreciating chuckle escaped the lips of the Paragon.

"There was no rule that said I couldn't win like that."

Corey replied calmly and the third generation Paragon chuckled the more.

"I guess we learn new things everyday."

After this words were spoken by the third generation Paragon, he fell face flat on the floor and a few seconds later, Corey saw the Paragon's body disappear into numerous lights.

Sigh

Corey released a sigh seeing the Paragon disappear. He placed his face unto the floor with a tired expression.

"Am I going to die after such a long and arduous battle."

Corey mumbled as he felt his regenerative ability fail to dispel the poison in his body just like the third generation Paragon said it would.

Corey release another sigh and just as he did, a female voice reverberated everywhere.

[CONGRATULATIONS YOUNG CHALLENGER ON YOUR VICTORY]

[EAT THE PILL TO YOUR RIGHT IF YOU WANT TO CURE YOUR INJURIES AND BE BACK TO FULL HEALTH]

'Pill?'

Corey raised a brow then turned to his right just as the female voice told him to and to his surprise, he saw a white pill.

He stretched out his hand, took the pill and without hesitation, swallowed the pill.

The moment Corey swallowed the pill, he felt his injuries, pain and the poison in his body heal at an extremely fast space.

'What pill is this?'

Corey thought but didn't ask, and a second later, the female voice spoke out once again.

[NOW THAT YOU'RE HEALED, DO YOU WANT YOUR IMMEDIATE REWARDS?]

[OR DO YOU WANT TO CONTINUE UNTO THE SECOND STAGE OF THE TRIAL?]

[IF YOU FAIL THE SECOND STAGE, THE REWARDS FOR THE FIRST STAGE WOULD BE REDUCED]

Hearing the words spoken by the female voice, a pondering expression appeared on his face for a few seconds and the faces of the pope, Underworld Officials, his parents and his sister appeared in his mind and in an instant, a determined expression appeared on his face.

"I need power so of course I'm going to continue unto the next stage."

[SO BE IT]