—

"Nngh!" Kieran's eyes widened as the pressure bearing down on his body suddenly amplified. Ronan hadn't performed any irregular action, yet it felt as if the gravity surrounding his body had increased threefold.

Ronan's indifferent cerulean eyes swept toward Kieran's struggling expression, and he blinked again. From threefold, the swathing pressure Kieran forcibly withstood increased to fivefold.

The ground began to crack underneath the pressure as even triggering Blood Mania's activation became difficult. When had he ever gone against a force so great it inhibited the use of his skill?

System: The user is being targeted by a dangerous force. The user's ?Will? is being challenged. ?Will?'s subsystem is being activated. The effects of ?Willpower? are surfacing.

System: Now that the ?Willpower? subsystem is activated, the user's Vengeful Soul may act as a vessel to contain one's Willpower. [Current Willpower: 10]

After the Willpower subsystem was activated, Kieran felt a soothing presence that alleviated much of the pressure.

Kieran activated Blood Mania during that brief moment and erupted with fearsome momentum.

However, Ronan crossed his arms and tapped his finger against the inside of his elbow. The action paved the way for an even more frightening pressure to bore down on Kieran's back.

At this point, Kieran's left knee was three centimeters from touching the ground as he resisted to the greatest extent possible.

"Unrelenting. Unyielding. But subpar power," Ronan spoke, speaking his opinion of Kieran's current situation. Afterward, he continued to relay his perspective. "I can sense it from you—Will. The unique power Barbarians have cultivated and taken a step further. But.. in this crude form, it is not enough."

'Strong. Terrifyingly strong,' Kieran thought to himself. This wasn't the first time he had come in contact with an Advanced Being; however, it was the first time he had done so without sufficient strength.historical

The disparity in power was a true eye-opener for Kieran. After all, after experiencing a rebirth, while Golden Brigade was the source of his wrath, Kieran didn't eye the guilds as his opponents.

No, in his opinion, only the NPCs were his actual opponents. They held the true power within this world. Even if their lives were finite compared to a player's, their influence and might remained far superior.

That superior power was the reason Kieran deemed them his ultimate adversaries and, in a sense, a goal. Sure, conflict amongst the players would be inevitable, but it would never be his focus—it couldn't be.

Focusing on a pittance of an enemy would only hinder his progress in the end.

Kieran's head bobbed as he struggled to lift it defiantly and stare into Ronan's eyes. When their eyes met, Ronan sensed a madness brewing within. One that differed from the power in his possession.

This impression made Ronan's eyes narrow with a soft cerulean glow. "I value that look in your eyes—it is one that knows pain, suffering, and triumph. I can tell your road up until now was paved with gruesome battles. As my Master said, you of the True Berserker lineage are known to stop at nothing."

"I am a True Berserker," Kieran grunted and huffed, struggling to squeeze out his words. It felt as if his lungs were being crushed, making it extremely difficult to breathe, let alone gather his breath to talk. Nevertheless, Kieran was innately defiant and unwilling, so he continued to speak.

"But being a True Berserker doesn't define me. I have trodden the line of death several times. As a child, there were times when I had come within inches of life. However, in that bleak world, I understood something clearly."

"My suffering wasn't there to break me. No, suffering is given to the strongest of warriors to mold them. My pain was made to forge me. My circumstances—my life—its only purpose was to forge me into a version of myself incomparable to my past..."

System: The user's ?Willpower? is rapidly increasing. If this trend continues, the user's ?Will? shall begin to rise.

Kieran noticed the notification but didn't acknowledge its presence, simply discarding it as he understood that Ronan's power possessed a refining effect, as did his words. They drove Kieran to look into himself and analyze his circumstances.

After his parent's death, life within the orphanage was harsh and, at times, unbearable. Several troubled kids confined in a small space were a recipe for disaster, and that disaster existed in the form of violent outbursts.

There were days when most, if not all, of the orphaned children spent time in the infirmary to tend to their wounds. It was indeed a savage sight when kids, who didn't understand the concept of love, rued their circumstances and didn't possess the internal agency to vocalize their feelings.

That sense of helplessness led to the only communication they knew—violence. Of course, Kieran was no helpless kid, nor was he meek. The anger from his parent's inexplicable death left him bitter.

There was an incident where he nearly bashed a child's skull in with a brick despite his own bloodied head. The insane and murderous look in his eyes during that moment led to him being labeled a psychopath.

Fortunately for the other children involved, he passed out from the immense pain before he could carry out executing the child.

When the staff heard the uproar, they arrived at a gruesome sight—several kids laid out—some with broken bones, others with deep wounds.

After remembering this particular scene, Kieran's pupils contracted.

It was an event he subconsciously buried due to the trauma it led to. He had become an utterly isolated presence inside the orphanage after recovering from the infantile war.

'How could I forget? Was I always this way?' Kieran wondered. Was he indeed a psychopath? Is that why this so-called Vengeful Soul found its way to him? If that were true, Kieran understood why he was drawn to the True Berserker Class, especially after seeing the previous user of his past life wield it.

Sometimes, he wished he had started earlier to claim the class first. Fortunately, those circumstances were upon him now. There was no one better suited for the class, and there was no one to steal his mantle—it had become Kieran's legacy!

A guttural growl resounded, and it was birthed from Kieran's throat as his bandaged foot crushed the ground. His Willpower continued to rise amidst the frightening pressure, creating a translucent and thin cocoon around his body.

It wasn't perfect, but it was enough for him to brace his bodyweight with his foot and keep his knee from touching the ground. With the pride brimming inside his heart, Kieran felt no person in this world could make him kneel or yield.

Even if it wasn't Ronan's intention, this action that teetered on the edge of wanting to make Kieran submit awoke grave defiance inside Kieran.

System: The user's ?Will? has risen to 2 points.

System: The user's ?Will has? risen to 3 points.

System: The user's ?Will? has risen to 4 points.

System: The user's ?Will? has...

System: The user is undergoing a primitive ?Will Refinement?!

Ronan's brow arched after witnessing the subtle yet continuous change in Kieran. From the almost kneeling position of a knight pledging their allegiance to a cause, Kieran rose until his leg formed an obtuse angle.

Unknowingly, Ronan's lips curved into a faint smile. This was the first time he showed any emotion throughout the entire competition.

'It's just as Master Archival mentioned. Anyone fortunate enough to receive Commander Scar's attention is far from normal. I can sense it—he's a normal human, yet his Will is solidifying and purifying as we speak.'

However, Ronan's smile was a precursor for a dreadful series of events. He extended his hand with an imperious presence. Only a slight Mana fluctuation could be felt as Ronan's hand discharged a stifling ripple.

"World Suppression."

Ronan's voice was flat yet deep, invoking alarm in all those unlucky enough to hear it. An indent formed in the ground surrounding Kieran as Crimson Ashrune suddenly dropped like it weighed a few tons.

If not for his current Strength and the Vampiric Blood Encrustation reinforcing his hand, Kieran was sure his wrist would have snapped from the sudden increase.

System: The current force is becoming unbearable for the user's current ?Constitution?. Prolonged exposure may lead to extensive injuries. Distance is advised.

'Oh really? Distance is advised?! And how do you suppose I distance myself, you damned system?!' Kieran internally snarled.

As if responding to his thoughts, the system answered his question.

System: The user may complete their ?Will Refinement? to create distance. The current pressure can be thwarted for 0.1 seconds if the user's Will becomes powerful enough.

"!!" Kieran's eyes widened in disbelief. Did the game's system just respond to his thought birthed from his internal anguish? To confirm his suspicions, Kieran asked another mental question.

'What is the success rate of a Will Refinement?'

"..."

Kieran awaited a response, but nothing came, which made Kieran question his assumption. Was the system responding to his thought, or was it systematically providing a solution to support its advice?