As Ashton took position to fight his uncle, Kro'Han, the latter couldn't help but shake his head in dismay.
"Like father, like son," he said. "Both all too eager to die by my hands. The only difference is that other Precursors saved your father while you're alone."
"Guess what, uncle? I'm more than enough for the likes of you," Ashton retorted, which made Kro'Han laugh.
"You have your father's confidence, but I can't say that about the skills."
Ashton knew they had talked enough, and it was time to end the words and speak with fists.
The cavern quivered under the explosive force unleashed by the clash of god-like beings. Ashton engulfed himself in Precursor's aura, just like Kro'Han, as he charged towards his uncle.
As their fists met, the ground shook beneath their feet, echoing the fury of their battle. Ashton even managed to push Kro'Han back for a moment, but the latter was only testing his nephew and quickly regained his footing. But Ashton's had more tricks up his sleeve.
Using the Precursor's aura, Ashton catapulted himself towards his target, his body blurring as he closed the distance between him and Kro'Han.
His fists struck out like meteorites, each blow carrying the might of a cosmic storm. Kro'Han might be a more experienced Precursor than Ashton, but the latter had one thing Kro'han didn't... his wild imagination, and he was deadset on using everything to get rid of his uncle.
He aimed to overwhelm his adversary from the very beginning with a relentless storm of punches and kicks that threatened to shatter the fabric of reality.
However, to Ashton's surprise, Kro'Han met Ashton's assault with chilling composure. Instead of confronting Ashton head-on, Kro'Han similarly used Precursor's aura to dodge the attack by moving sideways.
"You wield your power like a child with a toy," Kro'Han remarked before hitting Ashton from behind, sending him tumbling out of the room, where Celeste and the skeletons were hard at work.
Seeing their master in danger, they rushed towards Kro'Han, but their attempts were futile. In a wave of his hands, he effortlessly destroyed the skeletons while knocking out Celeste.
"A weak leader with weak followers," Kro'Han shook his head in disappointment. "Just like your father."
"You talk a lot for someone who was locked up for thousands of years," Ashton replied after stopping his summons from intervening anymore.
It was Kro'Han's turn to attack first and strike he did. He performed the same move as Ashton before. But his speed and accuracy were on a different level.
However, unlike his uncle, Ashton didn't dodge the attack. Instead, he created a wall of flames backed by his aura to stop the attack.
Their clash sent shockwaves rippling through the cavern's subsurface depths. The ground fractured and churned beneath them, tremors radiating outward like ripples in a pond.
With their collision deep within the planet, geothermal pressures shifted ominously. Unbeknownst to them, earthquakes struck the entire world. Even though they were controlled, it was enough for the fighting above the surface to stop as everyone rushed to the safety of their spaceships.
"Impressive, but ultimately futile," Kro'Han commented as he used his aura to extinguish the flames. "Where is he-"
He was expecting Ashton to be behind the wall of flames, but he was wrong. Ashton emerged from the ground as soon as the flames were extinguished, sinking his werewolf claws deep within Kro'Han's thighs.
"Argh!" Kro'Han groaned in pain before kicking Ashton away.
Ashton's aura burned fiercely as he landed on his feet. He hoped he would weaken the Precursor using [Aggravate] skill, but his hopes were squashed as Kro'Han's wounds healed instantly.
"You fight with determination, but determination alone won't save you." Kro'Han groaned.
"Tough words for someone who is yet to land a single hit on me," Ashton scoffed. "Maybe your bones got rusted while you were sitting on that throne of yours."
"Interesting, I found something you have that your father didn't..." Kro'Han replied as he charged at Ashton yet again. "That yapping tongue of yours!"
Ashton once again prepared to confront him head-on. He knew that this was a battle of unimaginable consequence, one that held the fate of not only his life but the entire galaxy, as it would be impossible to stop Kro'Han if he succeeded in defeating him.
Kro'Han's strikes landed with the explosive force of supernovas, creating bursts of incandescent light and echoing thunder whenever they came in contact with Ashton's fists.
Kro'Han, however, was not easily bested. With every move, he demonstrated the precise control of a master of martial arts, deflecting Ashton's blows with effortless finesse while retaliating with his own.
The strikes were measured and lethal. Each was a precise strike at the heart of Ashton's defences. Slowly but surely, Kro'Han began pushing Ashton back while maintaining a calm expression.
Ashton, sweat mingling with the radiance of his aura, knew that he was fighting a foe unlike any other he had encountered. Kro'Han possessed an eerie calmness, a cold calculation that seemed to guide his every move.
Their battle delved deeper into the Earth's core, and the planet became a canvas for their cataclysmic encounter.
Earthquakes rumbled through the labyrinth while shockwaves rippled across the surface of Planet Euphoria, causing natural disturbances that left the inhabitants awestruck and terrified.
Despite Ashton's best efforts to defend himself, it became evident that Kro'Han had not yet revealed the full extent of his power. It was then one of Kro'Han's attacks struck true, flinging Ashton towards the planet's surface.
***
"Where is he!?" Anna slammed her fists on the control panel in frustration.
They were worried about Ashton when he entered the cave, but they began panicking when they lost contact with Ashton and the next moment, the earthquakes hit them.
Vulcan and Flintmace forced everyone to retreat, including the First, who was now on their side after Flintmace and Vulcan ran him through everything they knew about the Cult.
As soon as they were back on the ship, they began locating Ashton. But they were having difficulty finding him since the Precursor tech buried underground was interfering with their signals.
"Relax! You know how strong he is," Verina tried consoling Anna. "He'll come out any moment now-"
True to Verina's words, Ashton did come out of the cave, but not in the way they were expecting as he ripped through the planet's surface.
"We need to get down there," Flintmace said as Vulcan and the First readily agreed with him.
However, they froze to their spot when they saw someone else flying out of the reverse crater formed by Ashton's ejection.
"Kro'Han...? How is he alive!?"
Vulcan immediately recognised the most hated Precursor from his young days, and the look of fear on his face said everything the rest needed to know. Ashton was in trouble... real trouble and could lose his life at any moment.
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