Chapter 688: Round 3! Fight! I
Explosions tore through the air, each one a deafening roar that echoed across the continent. Streaks of silver and gold zipped across the fractured landscape, leaving trails of destruction in their wake.
The sonic booms followed like the crack of a divine whip, splitting the skies and shaking the earth as two streaks of gold and silver light blurred through the land.
The golden streak—Duskhand—moved like a thunderstorm given form, his spear a blinding flash of light that crackled with golden lightning, illuminating the surroundings with each strike.
Opposing him, the silver streak—Arthur—was no less overwhelming. He grinned as he zipped through the air, his translucent sword slicing through the golden light like a phantom severing the horizon.
With each thrust of Duskhand’s spear that sent divinity rippling through the air, Arthur matched with a swing of destruction law energy that fractured the ground beneath them and sent shockwaves tearing through the battlefield, the clash of their weapons igniting the space between them in bursts of power.
The bright grin on Arthur’s face stood in stark contrast to the deep frown on Duskhand’s, a clear sign that only one of them was finding any enjoyment in this battle.
From beyond the atmosphere, dozens of Race Kings and Queens observed in silence, eager to witness the power of the renowned Progenitor who had bypassed the Inferior and Intermediate Stages of Transcendence in his rise to power.
"Come on, Duskhand! Put a little spirit behind your—!"
Arthur’s voice boomed as he teleported to Duskhand’s flank, spinning to build momentum before delivering a full-powered slash that struck the man squarely in the side.
"—strikes!!"
Duskhand’s body was hurled through the air, but mid-flight, he regained his balance and landed on his feet. But by the time he raised his head, Arthur was already in front of him.
Celestia tore through the air and Duskhand vanished in a flash, reappearing behind Arthur with his spear aimed for a devastating blow.
However, Arthur turned his body as if he was already expecting it, his sword meeting the spear in a blinding flash of silver and gold aura.
The clash unleashed a force that scattered debris and light across the battlefield like a bursting supernova. Without hesitation, both fighters pulled back, only to collide again—and again—and again—each strike sending shockwaves through the air and carving destruction into the earth around them.
In a single second, sword and spear clashed hundreds of times, and by the time the second hand ticked again, the ground beneath them had transformed into a massive crater.
Another second passed, and the battle had already ascended above the clouds, their weapons colliding with a thunderous crash that sent shockwaves rippling through the sky, flattening trees and shattering boulders far below.
The force of their clash sent them both flying back, but they immediately charged toward each other, colliding again and again. Their movements were so fast that they seemed like streaks of light, ripping across the horizon.
One moment, they were reducing plains to craters, and the next, they were turning rivers into steaming mist as their energy boiled the waters dry.
Moments later, their battle spilled into a battlefield teeming with Aramisian Divine Humans and Gozonian Demons. They streaked through the chaos at hypersonic speed, their clashes cutting through hundreds of unlucky soldiers in their path.
’Divine Smite! Thunderous Thrust!’
Duskhand’s spear sent a blazing bolt of golden lightning towards Arthur, who twisted his body at the last moment, letting the energy sear past his shoulder.
"Ooh, that was close!"
Arthur laughed, his voice brimming with excitement as he swung his sword in a wide arc. A jagged wave of destruction law energy erupted from the blade, carving through the ground and hurtling toward Duskhand.
Right after attacking, Arthur turned around and flew in a different direction.
Duskhand’s body dissolved into golden lightning, first evading Arthur’s destructive energy with his speed, before charging after the boy.
He closed the gap with terrifying speed, his spear primed for a decisive strike at Arthur’s exposed back.
But just as the attack was about to connect, Arthur twisted in an impossibly sharp manoeuvre.
Arthur’s abrupt shift in trajectory brought Duskhand’s spear hurtling dangerously towards a Divine Human Transcendent locked in fierce combat with a demon below.
’?!’
From Duskhand’s perspective, Arthur’s figure blocked the view ahead, leaving him blind to the unsuspecting transcendent.
As Duskhand thrust his spear, its deadly tip came dangerously close to striking the divine human, the unintended target hidden by Arthur’s manoeuvre.
Duskhand immediately solidified his body, pouring every ounce of power into halting his momentum.
His spear froze mere inches from the Transcendent’s wide-eyed, astonished face, but before he could steady himself, Arthur appeared behind him.
"Careful now! You might hit someone who’s not me!"
Arthur shouted as he delivered a devastating kick that sent Duskhand crashing into the unfortunate transcendent.
The two tumbled violently to the ground, dust and debris exploding in their wake. Before either could recover, a streak of crimson-silver light descended from above like a falling star, striking the earth with the force of a nuclear detonation.
Arthur’s translucent blade, gleaming with destruction energy, tore through the head of the stunned transcendent crumpled beneath Duskhand.
Twisting his body at the last second, Duskhand narrowly evaded the same fate, but Arthur’s empty fist came down faster than he could roll to his feet.
Duskhand reacted instantly, catching the punch and locking their hands in a clash of strength. Muscles strained and energy crackled as the two pushed against each other, neither side willing to let up.
’His physical strength is greater than mine...!’
Just as Duskhand came to this realisation, Arthur leaned in close, a mischievous glint in his eyes.
"Hey, Duskhand. Did you forget I can manipulate gravity?"
The words had barely left Arthur’s mouth when an immense, invisible force pressed down on Duskhand’s body.
Gravity multiplied fiftyfold in an instant, cracking the earth beneath him and pressing his body deeper into the corpse beneath him.
The pressure grew exponentially, Arthur’s smirk widening as he cranked gravity higher, trying to flatten Duskhand under the overwhelming weight.
At one hundred times normal gravity, the strain became unbearable. Duskhand’s arm quivered, his bones threatening to snap under the relentless force.
Knowing he had only a fraction of a moment to act, Duskhand roared aloud.
"Divine Retribution!"
Golden lightning and light descended from the skies, converging on Arthur’s position in a blinding torrent of divinity. But the boy was already gone, teleporting out of harm’s way just as the energy struck.
Duskhand too, elementalized once more, zapping out of the area before the lightning struck. As soon as his body resolidified, he immediately turned upwards and dashed up towards Arthur who was charging at him from above with ferocious speed.
Spinning his spear, Duskhand activated his Unique Skill and prepared to hurl it at Arthur, but just as he was about to release the gathered energy, Arthur appeared overhead.
"Too slow."
Arthur’s boot descended like a hammer, slamming into the top of Duskhand’s head. The impact drove Duskhand straight into the ground below, leaving a deep crater in his wake.
Unfurling his wings, Arthur flapped them with powerful thrusts, propelling himself towards the ground with his sword leading the way.
Duskhand quickly leapt aside to avoid the strike, springing to his feet and countering with his spear. But Arthur, unbothered, let go of his sword and coated his arms in gravity law energy, using his right to parry the spear and then sending a devastating punch with his left.
Duskhand immediately infused his right arm with magic power to slam into Arthur’s arm from the side, redirecting the gravity-enhanced punch.
He twisted his spear and lightning crackled violently around it before exploding in a burst of power that obliterated the ground around them.
But Duskhand knew better than to think that would stop Arthur.
And he was right.
Arthur tanked the lightning without a single scratch, pulling back his fists and unleashing a flurry of Weighted Impact punches.
Duskhand blocked the punches, but with every block, Arthur’s gravity-infused blows forced his arms to tremble from the overwhelming pressure.
He knew he couldn’t afford to continue blocking Arthur’s Weighted Impact strikes, so he immediately activated his Pseudo-Authority.
’Lightning Nova!’
"?!"
In an instant, an orb of energy coalesced in front of Arthur’s face, from which a pulse of lightning law energy shot out in all directions, erupting like a supernova.
The force of the explosion shattered the ground beneath them and sent arcs of electricity sizzling through the air, a blinding wave of energy that vaporized virtually anything caught in its path.
Duskhand’s strategy worked as Arthur immediately teleported to create distance, his outstretched right arm summoning Celestia back into his grip.
The moment his fingers wrapped around the hilt, silver energy surged through the blade, and he swung it downward, releasing a thin but powerful slash that cleaved through the nova.
’Extinction Slash!’
Arthur aimed to strike Duskhand from behind the core of the nova, but the Divine Human was already twisting his body, moving with lightning-fast reflexes to evade whatever attack was coming.
The silver energy passed mere inches from him, its shockwave creating a blast of force that sent debris flying in all directions.
Without a moment’s pause, Duskhand closed the gap between them, his spear aimed directly at Arthur’s chest, the golden lightning swirling around him like a storm. Arthur, undeterred, raised his sword to meet the charge, and once more their weapons clashed in a violent collision, the ground shaking beneath their feet.
The two tore through the air as they fought, their intense battle pushing them across the land and into another battlefield where Gozonians and Aramisians were in a violent frenzy.
They didn’t even notice as their paths converged upon a skirmish between a High-Ranking Demon and a Divine Human Transcendent.
Arthur swung Celestia, the blade coated in his crimson silver energy and in the next moment, the Divine Human Transcendent’s head flew from their shoulders, their body crumpling to the ground in a lifeless heap.
Duskhand, with equal speed, thrust his spear forward, the tip piercing through the skull of the demon with such force that the weapon tore through the top of their head, splintering bone and brain in its wake.
The two law energy-coated weapons continued their trajectories without pause or loss of momentum, their deadly arcs pushing forward, clashing and igniting in an explosive burst that engulfed the remains of the human and the demon they had just slain.
But even as the two Transcendent corpses were disintegrated in a cloud of blood and dust, neither Arthur nor Duskhand stopped.
There was no thought of the lives lost as they tore through the battlefield, weapons clashing again and again.
Arthur’s sword drew an arc as it aimed for Duskhand’s torso, and in response, the man’s spear flashed upward to deflect the blow.
The lightning coating Duskhand’s weapon surged up the shaft of the spear as he twisted it and quickly thrust it towards Arthur’s side.
Sidestepping the strike, Arthur raised Celestia and carved another downward arc aimed at Duskhand’s exposed shoulder.
But Duskhand was already moving, his spear pulling back and moving back in for another thrust in a second.
He aimed for Arthur’s sword arm with, his golden lightning surging along the spear’s length, adding a deadly charge to the strike. Arthur, however, met the thrust with a counter. He stabbed Celestia forward just as Duskhand’s spear found its mark.
The laws of time and lightning surged through their bodies, accelerating their movements to a speed beyond the other’s ability to avoid. The law energies embedded in their weapons ripped through hastily erected barriers with ease, and their strikes met at the same moment.
