Clack. Clack. Clack. Clack.

Since branches and saplings did not have hands to hold a round of applause, they instead used other means of making sounds that were akin to an applause, with some shouts here and there.

Although there was some dissatisfaction from the alliance members due to the fact that a newly admitted grade Inanimate member was an Executive, they could still vividly remember the phrase that Herellia said to them as she announced Aurus' addition into their alliance.

'He has the capability to kill S-grades like cutting radishes.'

Of course, since Herellia saw that, that meant that Herellia had seen it firsthand. If the other alliance members did not believe in their alliance leader's words, would they truly be a part of the alliance?

"Hold on just a darn minute!"

While the other alliance members ranging from normal members to Pillar level members were applauding for Aurus, one member could not endure the feeling of envy he had and voiced his complaints out.

A few seconds later, a stifling silence covered the large hall as most of the branches and saplings that were beside the branch that shouted out, moved out of the way. Herellia, who was able to see the branch that voiced their complaints out, could not help but exude a serious aura as she said, "What is it?"

"Aren't we an alliance made up of S-grade and X-grade Inanimates? Why did you allow an grade to join the alliance? And even give him an Executive level of authority?" From the branch's words, it seemed that he did not care about Herellia's authority anymore.

Herellia took the time where the branch was talking to remember the branch's name, replying not long after, "Now let me ask you, Connor. Do you have the authority to talk back to me like that?" The aura that radiated from her body intensified as it concentrated on the place where Connor was.

"I-" Connor easily realized his slip of the tongue and hastily apologized. "I-I apologize for not using the right honorifics, Alliance Leader. But..."

With his SP, Connor formed an incorporeal hand that pointed towards Aurus' body as he said, "He's an grade! He shouldn't be accepted at all! Even though he could kill S-grades like cutting off radishes, he's still an grade nonetheless!"

"You...are you even—" Just as Herellia was going to berate Connor for not giving her and Aurus face, Aurus decided to hover forward and say, "Uh...Connor was it? Did I get your name right?"

"Hm?" Connor heard Aurus' voice and replied in an arrogant tone, "Heh. That's right, you lowly grade. Good thing you got my name correct."

'Man, that's some superiority complex right there. Or is it some sort of king complex?' Aurus could not help but mutter inwardly as he restrained his emotions, maintaining the same polite tone as he continued, "From the words you're telling all of us, it seems that you want to kick me out of the alliance?"

"Why not?" Connor did not hide his intentions and agreed to Aurus' question. "Ever since this alliance was founded, only S-grades and X-grades were allowed to join this alliance, those from grade and below being denied outright."

"Have you heard of the saying 'Rules are dead while people are alive'?" Aurus responded to Connor's statement with this.

"What do you mean by that?" Connor, being an S-grade who only knew how to get stronger, did not know what this meant.

As for Aurus, he let out a cheerful aura as he replied, "In other words, rules are meant to be broken."

"Now let me tell you this." In an instant, the aura that Aurus exuded changed from being cheerful to being overbearing, concentrating on Connor's body. "Do you dare to fight against me? Aren't I a lowly grade? You want to prove to everyone that fact right?"

Connor, who was being bombarded by the pressure of both Aurus and Herellia's aura, could not help but chuckle under the pressure as he replied, "Of course I dare! You're just a lowly grade. I even bet that you wouldn't even deal any damage to me."

"Well, we'll see," Aurus said before landing on the ground, rolling slowly towards where Connor was.

"To everyone else, could you move out of the way?" Aurus asked to the others in a polite tone as he continued to roll towards Connor. Of course, since he had the authority of an Executive, most of the members went to the opposite sides of the hall, allowing the two to position themselves at the center.

"Aurus, do you really have to do this?" While positioning himself on the center of the hall, a voice resounded throughout Aurus' mind, which he easily figured out to be Herellia. He turned his sense of vision around and sent a strand of SP to Herellia, which he learned from h.o.r.ell from their first meeting.

"I have to," Aurus said without hesitation. "He has malicious intentions, and I have a feeling that it's not limited to just me."

"Aurus, did you know that before you were admitted into the alliance, this Connor was actually respectful?" Herellia could not help but say.

Of course, Aurus was startled for a bit before composing his emotion, replying with, "What happened before I joined does not matter. Also, can I kill him off if I need to?"

Herellia thought about what Aurus said for a while before sighing as she replied, "Go ahead."

"Great," Aurus replied back before looking back at Connor, who was exuding an extremely arrogant aura.

As for Aurus, he decided to suppress his aura as he activated [Spirit Energy Ascension]. "Since I'm a lowly grade, it's fine for me to have a handicap right?"

Connor, who noticed that a flame was covering Aurus' body, got to the conclusion that this was Aurus' handicap. He thought that a simple flame could not hurt him so he sn.i.g.g.e.red as he replied, "Be my guest."

"In exchange, I'll let you hit me first," Aurus let out a cheerful aura as the flame that covered his body intensified, before growing even further in size and intensity, as if a bottleneck was broken through.

Hearing Aurus' words, Connor did not hesitate to say, "If that's the case, then I shall accept." A few seconds later, a small splinter started to hover over Connor's body before being shot out towards where Aurus was.

Ding!

'The exchange of SP into power has reached its limit, boosting the user's power by 300%'

After grinding all of his skills in the second trial of the Tempest Cliff Inheritance, his [Spirit Energy Ascension] skill reached its MAX level, boosting his stats by 150 percent. Not only that, the auxiliary skill brought by [Spirit Energy Ascension], which was [Spirit Ascension], was upgraded as well, doubling the stat boost for 2 minutes, allowing him to obtain a stat boost of 300 percent!

As Aurus got the notification, the splinter shot out by Connor was still halfway in its trajectory. From this, Aurus realized that Connor was someone who did not care about movement speed that much.

Although Aurus had ways to negate this splinter, Aurus just decided to use his invincibility skill in order to shock Connor.

A few seconds later, the splinter was almost close to Aurus' body, which made Aurus activate his invincibility skill [Unyielding Spiritas] inwardly.

Whoos.h.!.+

Since the silver flame from the [Spirit Energy Ascension] skill covered Aurus' body, the fact that he activated his invincibility skill did not even register to the others.

Bang!

A loud explosion was heard after the splinter collided with Aurus' body, but Aurus stood there, as if nothing happened at all.

Ding!

'You have received 1 HP damage.'

This was the notification Aurus got.

Seeing that Aurus was unscathed, Connor could not help but curse out. "What the heck?! That's impossible! Even S-grades would be seriously injured from that attack!"

Sadly, he had to face off against Aurus who had an invincibility skill.

"Since you're done with your attack, it's time for me to attack!" Aurus ignored Connor's reaction, slightly chuckling as he said this. "I will also be using my weakest move against you."

"Heh, your weakest move? That's some arrogance you have there," Connor could not help but treat Aurus' words as hot air.

Nonetheless, Aurus continued preparing the weakest skill in his a.r.s.enal...well spell in his a.r.s.enal, which was [Spirit Wind Bolt]. A rough magic circle was conjured inside his Spell Core a few seconds later, and then...

Whoos.h.!.+

In an instant, a bolt of wind energy was shot out from his Spell Core and headed towards Connor at a speed that was similar to blinking one's eye.

Bang!

At the next instant, everyone saw Connor's body start to disintegrate into splinters and small red and green particles as these particles were absorbed by Aurus' body.

All of them were dumbfounded at the result of the duel, even Herellia was not spared from this reaction as she knew that Aurus was just barely able to critically injure an S-grade from an alliance back then. Other than the fact that the alliance skill took effect on him and he received a few skills from the inheritance, how could his firepower grow to this level?

While others were dumbfounded, Aurus heard a notification sound as a screen popped up in front of his field of vision.

Ding!

'You have dealt 4,636 HP damage to [Connor].'

'Experience +500'

'8 Life Points have been obtained.'

'6 Will Points have been obtained.'

'1000 Alliance Points have been obtained after killing an Executive that defied the alliance's leader laws.'

'The Alliance Tech system has been activated.'

'The Alliance Shop system has been activated.'