A high-level 7.

Even for level 7s, it wasn't easy. Some took only a few years, while others took decades.

One step behind and you'd be out of the race.

So, the princes and princesses were perhaps the fiercest competitors in the entire federation.

They worked like crazy. Took missions all the time. Competed for the rare resources and had almost no time for a normal life. Their actions also remained unknown for most of the time.

That's also the reason they received so little media attention. They were almost non-existent in the public eye.

The high-level 7s were usually those that were ahead in the race. To get there, they were battle-hardened, experienced, and hard-working.

So, when Varian encountered a high level 7 prince, he was incredibly cautious.

That paid off well.

Boom!

Right when he entered the 100-meter range of the prince, a lightning snake reached for his feet.

Varian sidestepped and dodged the attack.

Then, like a classic merman, he stared at the brown-haired prince with bloodshot eyes. "Roar!"

The prince squinted his eyes. "I remember clearing all the mermen in the vicinity, where the heck is this guy from?"

'All of them?' Varian was slightly surprised, but he didn't stop his action.

He teleported right behind the prince and punched his back.

Boom!

As the punch was about to reach his back, the prince's body shone with blinding golden light.

'He's about to elementalize.' Varian noticed and used his psychic power.

Buzz!

The prince's mind was flooded with a terrifying pain and a cluster of illusions that showed his worst nightmares.

It should've usually caused him to freeze at least for a moment and would've resulted in a slight delay of elementalization.

But that didn't happen with the prince.

"Arghhh!" With a reverberating roar, he suppressed the pain and ignored the haunting feelings from his illusions.

Blood spilled out of his eyes, ears, and nose at the trauma, but the prince didn't care.

He pushed his lightning mana through and when Varian's fist touched his skin, he elementalized.

Zaap!

Varian's hand passed through the mass of lightning and appeared from the other side.

Varian himself, due to the momentum went inside the lightning body.

It was then, the prince whispered. "Die."

'Oh shit.'

The rather tame lightning Varian was in turned chaotic. Since a good portion of his body was inside the lightning, the lightning was able to attack him simultaneously in multiple places.

"Argh—Roar" Varian stopped the human-like cry and responded like a merman.

The lightning lashed out against him mercilessly.

The space layer he hurriedly set up was torn apart, his telekinetic barrier couldn't hold on either. His lightning barrier was the worst, it was the quickest to break down.

'Are you for real?' As the lightning flooded his body, aiming to burn his organs, Varian winced in pain.

Compared to a high level 7 lightning, his space, telekinetic and lightning were all two notches lower.

They stood no chance.

As the lightning made inroads into his body, his chi, prana and all others came to block it.

A fierce fight began in his body.

Varian gritted his teeth and leaned back, to jump out of the lightning mass.

"You're not going anywhere."

The prince's voice sounded and the lightning turned even more dangerous.

Varian didn't even bother roaring in reply and punched out combining his powers.

Shuaa!

The lightning was momentarily torn apart and he quickly jumped out.

The prince, currently a lightning mass followed, eager to end him. Varian expected this and was preparing to teleport.

When the prince thought he swallowed the merman, it had already teleported.

"Strange…it has body strength, telekinetic force, psychic power, space, and even lightning? Did the devas create a weird monster?" He muttered.

"Roar!"

An attack came from behind. The prince expected it and swung a lightning hammer without even turning around. He didn't need to, his lightning sense took care of it.

Even though the merman was strange, since he gained an upper hand from the start, the prince evaluated it to be weak.

Boom! Kacha!

He was wrong.

The punch of the merman broke the lightning hammer and hit the prince's back.

"What?!"

The prince staggered a few steps but quickly stabilized. If the punch was stronger, it would've shaken his elementalized state!

"Just how did it…?" The prince turned around and saw the merman on a single knee.

Its right arm was charred and hung like a broken branch. Its flesh gave off a burnt smell and even its bone was visible. The blood of the creature formed a puddle under its hanging arm.

The prince raised his hand and a lightning spear materialized.

The merman stood up and looked him in the eye.

"Still challenging me?" The prince scoffed. "With that injured ar—?!"

The prince shut up abruptly as he saw the merman's right arm turn into a branch and heal at a visible rate.

When he came back to his senses, it was already half-healed.

"Fuck! What is this crazy creature! So many divine paths!" The prince muttered, but his killing intent grew stronger.

"Is this some sort of rare creature? Will it give more points?"

The lake of illusions gave rewards based on the number of mermen killed. But the evaluation also depended on the strength of each merman. A high-level 7 merman had more points per kill than a low-level 7.

So, the prince thought this special merman could be a rare monster that provided even more points.

As he was one of the weakest in high level 7, the prince was at the thirty-sixth mile.

He knew his chances of getting the key were rare. So, he decided he might as well get the lake's reward.

"Haha! You are mine!" The prince laughed and shot toward the merman.

His lightning body left golden sparks in the air as he reached Varian in the blink of an eye.

"Haha! You're done!" The prince summoned a lightning hammer each in his hands.

"Roar!"

Varian roared and raised his hands, clearly meant to counter the hammers.

It was meant to be a final strike to decide the battle.

Or so the prince thought.

Boom!

When the hammers reached the merman, it turned around and ran away.

Heck, it even teleported to the distance and disappeared out of his 100-meter range.

"Wait!"

The prince quickly moved forward, eager to not lose this prey.

But even if he moved quickly, his sensing range was only a hundred meters.

Varian used his speed and teleportation and got out of the prince's sight.

"I have to change the strategy. I can't win high level 7s with my current strength."

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