Chapter 165: Now Let’s Really Fight (Part 1)
The gate closed behind them with a deep rumble.
Silence followed.
The viewer count on the stream had already climbed past seventy thousand.
Sora looked at the two figures standing across from each other in the arena. "This feels different," she said.
Mira had smiled with confidence before her fight started.
Raze was grinning.
Not because he wanted to hurt Kai. Because he had been waiting for this since the announcement first appeared.
He rolled one shoulder. Cracked his neck. Rested the massive crimson greatsword across his shoulder.
"So," he said. The grin widened. "Finally."
"I figured you’d enjoy this," Kai said.
Raze laughed. "You have no idea."
Both reached for their weapons.
Kai drew the Fractured Blade. The Storm Sovereign Cloak settled behind him, the dark fabric moving slightly despite no wind being present. No lightning yet.
Across from him Raze lowered the enormous crimson greatsword into both hands. The blade was scarred from countless fights. It was not elegant. It had no decoration. It looked like something that had only ever existed for one purpose.
Kai had already noticed something. Mira’s equipment had been extraordinary, layered with rare items and stacked enhancements. Raze’s was practical. Few relics. The build relied on something else entirely.
[Raze Donovan. Level 59. Class: Blood Tyrant.]
He had sacrificed equipment for skills.
[Blood Tyrant. Every successful hit increases Strength. Stacks during combat.]
Kai’s expression tightened. A long fight would only make Raze stronger. That was a problem. Kai had fought people who became stronger over time before.
Victor relied on momentum. Territory Commanders adapted. Even Mira’s armor grew stronger the longer she defended.
But Raze was different. Every second of the fight made Raze himself stronger. Not his weapon or armor but this maniac.
Kai reached one conclusion almost immediately.
This fight had to end quickly.
Neither of them counted down or waited for a signal.
Raze vanished. The marble beneath his feet exploded as he launched forward, the greatsword sweeping across the arena before the sound of his movement had fully reached Kai.
Kai air-stepped away.
The blade missed.
The shockwave did not.
The pressure tore through the stone floor, carving a trench twenty feet long, sending chunks of marble into the walls.
...
Sora’s eyes went wide. "He didn’t even touch him."
Inside Titan Forge, several veteran hunters looked at each other.
One of them laughed. "He’s using Blood Tyrant from the start."
Another hunter frowned. "Against Kai? Aren’t they friends?"
The veteran nodded. "That’s the highest respect Raze can give someone."
The viewers understood now. The sword was not the only danger. The air carrying the attack was just as dangerous.
...
Raze kept moving. A second swing, then a third, each one enormous, simple, direct. No flourishes. No unnecessary combinations. Just overwhelming force aimed at clearing space.
Kai air-stepped again. Another section of the arena collapsed. He landed on a broken pillar.
Raze did not look up. The greatsword came around. The pillar exploded beneath Kai’s feet.
He leaped away before it fully collapsed.
Then he understood.
Raze was not trying to hit him yet. He was destroying the arena. Every swing removed another escape route. Every crater forced Kai into a smaller space. The battlefield itself was becoming a weapon.
Raze smiled. "You noticed."
Kai did not answer. He activated Class Emulation.
Flames burst along the Fractured Blade.
The next clash filled the arena with sparks. Raze cut straight through the fire, the greatsword overwhelming it through sheer force. Kai slid backward, boots carving lines through broken stone.
"So that’s not enough," Kai said.
Stone erupted from the ground. Massive walls rose between them.
Raze did not slow. His sword smashed through the first wall. Then the second. Then the third, each one shattering under his strength.
The fourth wall exploded.
Then the fifth.
Raze didn’t even bother changing direction. He simply walked through everything Kai built. Watching him felt less like fighting a hunter and more like trying to stop a charging monster. But they still delayed him for a moment.
Kai smiled.
One second or a mistake was enough to create an opening for him. That was all he ever needed. If he couldn’t overpower Raze... Then he’d create opportunities instead.
Silver threads shot across the battlefield, anchoring between broken pillars and shattered walls.
Raze charged.
The first threads snapped instantly before the second and third quickly followed. Then one caught around his ankle for a fraction of a second, shifting his next step by inches.
Kai was already there.
Pulse Fist activated. His fist struck empty air and the compressed shockwave pushed Raze backward three steps.
Three steps against Raze felt like a win.
Raze looked down and then laughed. "You pushed me back."
He looked genuinely impressed. "No monsters have done that since the Commander."
Kai answered immediately. "Then I’ll make it four."
Raze laughed loudly. "You really have something for everything."
"No," Kai said. "I just don’t want to lose."
Raze’s grin grew wider. "Good answer."
He vanished again. Every heavy swing launched his body forward, offense turned into movement, every attack closing distance and gaining speed from the last one.
Kai blocked one strike. The impact numbed both arms. The next attack arrived faster. He barely slipped around it. Another stack building. Another swing. Another increase.
The fight was getting worse every second, and Kai knew exactly why.
Raze leaped high into the air, the crimson blade pointed straight down.
Kai’s instincts screamed. Air-step.
He vanished.
The greatsword struck the arena floor.
The entire dungeon shook. A crater nearly thirty feet wide replaced the center of the battlefield, stone launching into the air, dust swallowing everything.
Raze stepped through the cloud, lowered his shoulder, and charged straight ahead, the attack bulldozing through every piece of rubble in its path.
Kai could not meet it head-on.
Instead he changed.
His stance lowered. The Fractured Blade disappeared behind him. His feet shifted into something different.
Ironpact. The version built entirely on efficiency.
Raze thrust forward. Kai stepped inside the attack and his foot slammed into the flat of the greatsword, redirecting it just enough to miss. The second kick struck Raze’s knee, not hard, but precise. Raze’s balance shifted. Kai spun and his elbow crashed into Raze’s shoulder, then a kick forced the larger hunter sideways.
The whole exchange lasted under two seconds.
The viewers froze. Kai was not fighting like himself anymore. Every movement flowed into the next, every strike interrupting another.
Raze recovered instantly. He laughed. "There it is."
The greatsword swung upward. Kai blocked, then used the momentum to spin over Raze’s shoulder, his heel crashing into the back of Raze’s armor. Raze stumbled forward one step.
Only one. Kai did not chase. Ironpact never overextended.
Raze steadied himself. His grin had not disappeared. "So that’s another trick."
Kai stayed silent. His stance shifted again, shoulders relaxing, breathing slowing, his gaze sharpening into something direct, no wasted movement.
Raze charged.
Kai stepped forward instead of back. The Fractured Blade met the greatsword and steel screamed. Kai slid along the blade instead of resisting it, his shoulder striking Raze’s chest, his knee slamming into Raze’s ribs. The Fractured Blade swept upward, one, two, three perfectly timed strikes.
Raze blocked all three. Barely. For the first time, he stopped advancing.
Kai was not using new skills. He was using different people. Every stance reflected someone he had already fought.
Every stance belonged to someone else.
The footwork came from the Flaming Swordsman. The close-range control came from Pulse Fist. The battlefield manipulation came from the Thread Weaver. The walls came from the Earth Mage.
Alone...
None of them could stop Raze.
Together...
They gave Kai a chance.
Raze’s smile faded slowly into excitement. "Again," he roared.
A crimson aura exploded outward. Broken stone lifted off the ground. Every Blood Tyrant stack he had accumulated surged at once. The dungeon trembled.
Kai narrowed his eyes.
The Storm Sovereign Cloak began moving on its own. Wind gathered around him. Tiny arcs of lightning crawled across the fabric’s edges and disappeared again. Not released yet. Just waiting.
He understood now.
The things he had thrown at Raze still wasn’t enough. He had the skills to constantly strike him but Raze kept growing stronger and stronger. To the point the gap in stats was becoming apparent.
It was official, he couldn’t hold back against this monster. If he wanted to win, he would have to actually go for the kill.
Raze pointed his greatsword across the arena. His grin returned, sharper than before. "There you are," he said. "That’s the face I’ve been waiting for."
Kai exhaled slowly.
Lightning spread across the Storm Sovereign Cloak. The air around him began to crackle. Wind circled the ruined arena, lifting loose stone from the shattered floor.
Kai remembered what Raze had said outside the gate.
Let’s see whose future is stronger.
He smiled. "Alright."
Raze laughed, pure excitement carrying through the collapsing dungeon. "Now," he said. He dropped his stance lower.
"Let’s really fight."
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