Chapter 171: The Battlefield Belonged to Him
The moment Kai lowered his stance...
The chamber came alive as thousands of magic circles floating behind Elden brightened simultaneously. Blue-green mana surged through the room like rivers of light. Then Elden lifted his staff and then flick his wrist.
Three arcane spears appeared behind Kai.
They fired instantly.
Kai swiftly rushed out, making the spears miss him by inches. They pierced through the floor, exploding into pillars of blue-green light.
He hadn’t even landed when another magic circle lit beneath him. "...Already?"
BOOM!
The floor erupted.
Kai twisted through the explosion before another rune activated on the wall beside him. Chains shot toward his arms but he cut them apart. Then Ice spread beneath his feet and a mana construct burst through the frozen floor with a sword already swinging.
Kai blocked.
The impact pushed him backward.
Straight into another glowing rune and then Gravity doubled. His knees bent before a laser flashed across the chamber.
Kai ducked.
The beam shaved several strands of hair from the top of his head before cutting cleanly through a nearby pillar.
Every direction became dangerous. Kai wasn’t fighting Elden but the entire battlefield itself.
He immediately charged again and this time he made it halfway before another gravity field activated. His speed dropped instantly and then arcane bolts began falling from above.
One.
Three.
Seven.
Kai sprinted through the slowing field as explosions chased him across the chamber. He escaped the gravity zone.
Only to find chains erupting from the floor again.
"They never stop..." The chains wrapped around his ankle but Kai drove the Fractured Blade into the stone.
The chain snapped and then a laser swept toward him. He quickly switched to Earth Mage and a pillar erupted between him and the beam. The pillar split apart but Kai used the falling debris as stepping stones.
Air Step.
Another step.
Another.
He finally reached Elden’s position again.
Elden smiled. "Preparation wins before the battle even starts."
A volley of arcane bolts crossed the room but Kai walked between them.
"If I have to improvise..."
A barrier rose from the floor but Kai split it apart.
"...I’ve already made mistakes."
A construct lunged but Kai caught its weapon and threw it into a nearby gravity rune. The construct collapsed under its own weight.
Kai finally looked at Elden. "Then why are you smiling?"
Elden’s grin widened. "Because..." He pointed his staff toward the shattered battlefield. "...you’re making me improvise."
Kai looked around one last time and realized something. Every spell created distance. Every construct bought another second. Every barrier forced another detour. Every explosion reset his progress.
For what?
It was to make him tired.
Kai laughed. "I get it."
Elden tilted his head. "Oh?"
Kai pointed his Fractured Blade toward the chamber. "Every single thing you’ve built..." His smile slowly widened. "...exists for one purpose."
Elden waited.
Kai finally looked him in the eyes. "You studied how I fought Mira, and Raze. I’m guessing you grasped that the best approach is to push me to exhaust my stamina and magic?"
Silence settled over the chamber.
Then Elden nodded. "Correct."
Kai rolled his shoulders as the Storm Sovereign Cloak fluttered behind him. His grip tightened around the Fractured Blade.
"Then, let’s see. If you can really push me to exhaustion before I beat you." Lightning quietly crackled along the edge of his blade.
Kai moved straight toward Elden.
A gravity rune activated beneath him and the invisible force slammed onto his shoulders. But Kai didn’t stop as stone cracked beneath every step as he forced himself forward.
Another magic circle lit.
Arcane spears descended but he slashed through all four of them as he rushed outside of the gravity field. But then a wall erupted from the floor. Kai switched to Pulse Fist before blasting out and shattering the wall into dust.
Dust exploded across the chamber.
Kai burst through it.
Another construct appeared, then another, and then six more. Kai never slowed as the Fractured Blade flashed once.
The first construct fell.
His shoulder crashed into the second.
Pulse Fist detonated at point-blank range and the remaining four constructs shattered. Kai stepped through the explosion without looking back.
Threads pulled him around barriers instead of cutting through them.
Earth Mage raised platforms beneath collapsing paths.
Pulse Fist opened shortcuts.
Ashen Seal shifted his weapons between hands as naturally as breathing.
Every trap Elden had prepared, Kai turned into another step forward. Every spell that should have slowed Kai now pushed him closer. A gravity rune lowered his center of balance but Kai used it to accelerate out of the field.
An explosion launched debris into the air and Kai Air stepped from stone to stone. Arcane lasers swept across the chamber but he redirected them into incoming constructs. The battlefield was no longer fighting for Elden. It was becoming part of Kai’s movement.
Elden finally stepped backward.
Kai smiled. "There it is."
Elden sighed. "I was hoping to avoid this."
His staff spun once before blue-green mana wrapped around the wood. Kai reached him and slashed out with his sword.
Steel met reinforced wood.
CLANG!
The impact echoed through the chamber. But then they both attacked again, the staff intercepted the Fractured Blade a second time.
A burst of mana exploded between them.
Kai stepped inside before a short-range spell erupted from the tip of the staff. He twisted aside and the spell grazed his shoulder before striking the wall behind him.
Kai kept on slashing at Elden who kept on blocking with his stack. Ever block guided Kai’s blade away instead of stopping it and every counterspell interrupted his rhythm instead of overpowering him.
Kai laughed. "I like that."
Elden answered with a burst of compressed mana but Kai blocked that, leading to an explosion that forced both of them apart.
The older Hunter planted his staff against the floor. "...I suppose..." The smile returned. "...it’s time."
Click.
The staff touched the stone and the entire dungeon awakened. Every remaining magic circle lit simultaneously. The chamber transformed as blue-green lines spread across every wall, every pillar, every crack in the floor before connecting into one enormous spell formation.
Thousands of runes.
One Grand Arcane Array.
Constructs rose everywhere. Walls erupted from the floor. Arcane spears filled the sky. Explosions rippled through the chamber. Gravity fields activated one after another. Lasers swept across every possible path.
The dungeon itself became one gigantic spell.
Kai closed his eyes before the Storm Sovereign Cloak unfurled completely. Lightning spread across the chamber and tempest Fang appeared beside the Fractured Blade. Ashen Seal awakened and all his other rare weapons floated behind him.
The world became quiet.
Kai opened his eyes. He wasn’t looking at the attacks but at the spaces between them. He rushed ahead, evading a spear by an inch before hurling over a laser and then summoning pillars that lifted him above an explosion.
Threads caught a floating construct before swinging them at each other. Pulse Fist shattered a wall before it trapped him. Ashen Seal redirected the Tempest Fang into a pursuing mana orb. Lightning exploded before the others weapons slashed, cut, pierced, and smashed through the other attacks.
Kai never stopped moving. Every step was perfectly timed and flowed into the next. The battlefield that had taken Elden twelve hours to prepare was being solved by Kai in seconds.
Elden watched him coming. "...Impossible."
Kai smiled. "No."
He appeared directly in front of Elden and the Fractured Blade descended. Elden blocked but then the sword burst apart into threads that wrapped around the staff. The older Hunter pulled backward but then Pulse Fist exploded beneath his feet.
His balance shifted and then an Earth Spike erupted behind him. As he slammed into the wall and was unable to escape. Kai switched back to Pulse fist and smashed straight into Elden’s stomach, making him gasp.
Before he was blasted through the pillar.
But then threads rushed out, wrapping around his waist and then pulling back. Elden’s body was tugged back towards Arthur who clenched his fist that surged with Pulse Fist.
The air trembled before it began to swirl around his fist as Kai began compressing all of his Emulation time into his Pulse fist. Once Elden had arrived, he smashed his fist straight towards Elden’s face.
It was only an inch away before it shifted to the right.
His fist blasted past Elden and smashed into the ground. And then it shattered everything below. The ground that held the Grand Arcane Array was crushed, the floating constructs were dissolved and the remaining runes were swept away by the shockwave.
The chamber became quiet.
Kai pulled his fist back as Pulse Fist faded and he said. "Well, still want to go?"
Elden stared ahead and then laughed. "I spent twelve hours preparing."
Kai smiled. "I noticed. It really pushed me to the limit... You really can’t brute force something like this."
Elden shook his head. "You couldn’t, I just didn’t think you had so many tricks up your sleeves. Or in your case, so many damn weapons."
Kai chuckled. "I need something to keep with the crap you guys pull."
Elden’s smile grew and then he lowered his staff. "I withdraw."
A familiar screen appeared between them.
[Authority Candidate: Elden.]
[Status Updated.]
[Withdrawn.]
The livestream exploded. Comments flooded faster than they could be displayed.
Kai let out a long breath before he walked over to a nearby stone and sat down. "...You know." He laughed softly. "You might be the most exhausting person I’ve ever fought."
Elden smiled. "Good."
Both sat there for a moment, enjoying the silence after everything they had just destroyed.
Eventually they stood.
Together they walked toward the gate.
Just before reaching the exit, Elden spoke again. "Only two left."
Kai nodded. "Lily and Sera."
Elden looked at him and his smile disappeared. "...Don’t underestimate them."
Kai returned the look without hesitation. "I never have."
The gate opened.
Both Hunters stepped through together.
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