Entering Apocalypse in Easy-Mode

Clyde kept going faster and faster as he continued to climb through the ruined city. His running flowed from one structure to another with precise control while the broken landscape beneath him crumbled further under the assault of the descending tentacles.

Lightning still coiled tightly around his body, illuminating his path in flashes of white and blue that cut through the dust-filled air, while each leap carried him higher above the collapsing streets below.

As he moved, something happened.

It was not visible, nor was it something he could track with his eyes, but the change was undeniable.

A presence that before felt distant and overwhelming now sharpened and became more focused, and aware. Even without eyes, even without a clear face to look at, Clyde could feel it distinctly as the being above began to direct its attention toward him.

It had noticed him and was looking at him.

Clyde’s pace did not falter, but his gaze hardened slightly as that realization settled in his mind. There was no hesitation in his movement, just a quiet acknowledgment of the shift as his instincts adjusted accordingly.

"So you finally decided to look at me, huh," he muttered under his breath.

His thoughts deepened as memories began to surface. This event was not unfamiliar in the slightest. What loomed above was not just a monstrous entity brought forth for this scenario. It was something far more specific, something that mirrored an existence he had already faced before.

It was just a replica, a flawed imitation of an Outer God.

The real Outer beings existed far beyond the structure of the known cosmos, standing at a level where even the most powerful entities within existence would hesitate. Archangels, Demon Kings, and even gods and goddesses would never dare to confront such beings alone because they understood the difference in existence that separated them.

But Clyde had never been part of that limitation.

In his previous life, he had stood beyond even those so-called higher beings. He had not been something that feared them.

He had been something they feared, a presence that forced them to cast aside their differences and unite simply to stand against him.

And even then, it had almost not been enough.

Now, as he moved toward the sky once again, that same will burned within him.

In fact, it had only grown sharper.

His eyes narrowed as a dangerous glint formed within them. His jaw tightened as the pressure from above pressed harder against him.

"You just a fake Outer God," he thought. "In the end, it’s still just a copy."

To him, it was insignificant in the greater scale of what he intended to become. It was not something that could truly stand in his way. If anything, it was merely another step forward.

At that exact moment, something within him responded.

A surge of energy rose from deep inside his body. This was different from the lightning that already surrounded him.

This energy carried heat, intensity, and a violent nature that spread rapidly through his arm as if it had been waiting for this exact moment to emerge.

Then it ignited.

Flames burst from his hand and wrapped around it in a powerful blaze that burned with unnatural intensity.

The fire did not flicker or waver like ordinary flames. Instead, it roared steadily, dense and controlled, radiating a destructive force that felt just as dangerous as the lightning surrounding him.

The moment it appeared, Clyde understood it completely. The control was immediate. The power was undeniable.

Another one if his skill had awakened within him.

For a moment, his eyes widened slightly as he felt the change within his own body. But that moment passed quickly as something else took its place.

A grin spread slowly across his face before widening into a far more unrestrained grin that looks wild and filled with anticipation.

"Now this is more like it," he muttered.

The thrill surged through him once again, stronger than before as both lightning and flame coexisted around his body and amplifying his presence as he continued to ascend.

At that point, it was no longer just determination driving him forward. It was hunger.

A deep and dangerous hunger for battle that only surfaced when he faced something worthy of destruction.

Mina also noticed the change as she moved across the fractured remains of a collapsing structure. Her eyes looked toward Clyde and in that instant, her focus sharpened as something new entered her vision.

The lightning that had already wrapped around his body was still there, crackling with violent intensity, but now there was something else mixed within it. Fire.

His right hand burned with a dense and controlled flame that did not flicker like normal fire. It clung to him as if it was part of his body, radiating a heat that even she could feel from a distance despite the chaos surrounding them.

Her eyes widened slightly.

"He awakened another skill... just now?" she thought.

There was no mistaking it. That kind of power did not come from nowhere. It was raw, newly formed, and yet already stable in a way that suggested complete control.

Mina had seen people struggle to handle new abilities before, but Clyde showed none of that hesitation.

If anything, he looked more natural. More dangerous.

Her grip on her daggers tightened slightly as she continued to follow him, her expression growing more serious as she processed what that meant.

Behind her, Connor and Sean were still pushing forward, barely managing to keep pace as they leapt across broken terrain and unstable surfaces. Their breathing had grown heavier, but they did not slow down.

Then Connor saw it.

"Hey, do you see that?" he said with a strained voice.

Sean’s gaze shifted forward, locking onto Clyde’s figure just ahead of them. The moment he noticed the flames surrounding Clyde’s hand his expression stiffened.

"Yeah," Sean replied quietly.

Neither of them spoke for a second after that.

There was confusion in their eyes and a growing sense that they were working together with something far beyond what they had originally assumed.

"That wasn’t there before," Connor muttered.

Sean didn’t answer immediately. His gaze remained fixed ahead, watching the way lightning and fire coexisted around Clyde’s body as he moved.

"No," he said. "It wasn’t."

There was no clear explanation or time to question it.

The realization settled in anyway. Clyde was getting stronger even now.

At the same time, not far from their path, Ray felt it too.

As he moved through the ruins, his senses picked up on the sudden surge of energy that erupted from Clyde’s direction.

His steps slowed slightly as his eyes narrowed, locking onto the distant figure climbing toward the sky.

"That guy again," Ray muttered.

The Demonic Sword pulsed faintly at his side as if acknowledging the same shift.

Ray could feel the power. It wasn’t just lightning anymore, a strong fire was also present.

A grin slowly formed on his face. "This just got even more interesting."

He keeps running after them.

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