Chapter 180: Finally
The dungeon closed behind them with a quiet rumble, and silence followed.
Unlike the battlefields before, this one felt... peaceful. A gentle breeze drifted through the forest, carrying the scent of pine and fresh earth, while birds sang somewhere high in the canopy and beams of sunlight slipped between the branches, scattering patches of gold across the grass below.
For a long moment, neither of them moved.
Kai looked across the clearing. Sera stood only twenty feet away.
She slowly drew her sword, and the polished blade caught the sunlight before settling comfortably at her side. Kai answered by drawing the Fractured Blade.
Neither entered a stance. Neither raised their weapon. They simply looked at one another, then smiled.
Sera broke the silence first. "No teammates today."
Kai chuckled. "Just us."
She nodded. "...Finally. It feels strange."
Kai nodded.
"It does."
Neither counted down. Neither gave a signal. The instant their smiles faded, they disappeared.
CLANG!
Sword crashed against the shield with enough force to send a shockwave racing through the clearing. Leaves burst from nearby trees, and birds scattered into the sky.
Both slid backward several feet, but neither waited before they rushed each other again.
Steel rang through the forest.
Kai slashed high, and Sera caught the strike with her shield. The impact pushed her back half a step before she drove the shield forward.
Kai ducked beneath it, his leg sweeping toward hers. Sera twisted over the kick and answered with a slash that released a crescent of golden light.
Kai Air Stepped. The Light Wave swept beneath him, carving a glowing trench through the forest floor. Lightning exploded beneath his feet as he dropped back toward her, and the Fractured Blade descended. Sera met it head-on, her shield glowing brilliant gold.
BOOM!
The collision blasted both of them apart. Kai landed lightly on a fallen tree, while Sera skidded backward through the grass.
For a heartbeat, neither moved. Then they laughed. Not because the fight was easy, because it wasn’t. Because this was what they had wanted for a very long time.
Sera rested her sword across one shoulder. "You’re faster."
Kai smiled. "You’re stronger."
She laughed. "Good."
She vanished again, and Kai met her halfway. The clearing erupted into another series of clashes: sword, shield, sword again.
Kai feinted low before changing into a thrust, but Sera had already moved her shield. She wasn’t reacting. She knew.
Kai smiled. "You remembered."
"I always do." She stepped inside his guard before he completed another swing, and Kai twisted away. He already knew she would.
Every exchange flowed naturally into the next. Kai already knew how Sera preferred blocking attacks from above, and Sera already knew Kai liked changing angles at the last second. Kai attacked, and she interrupted. Kai adapted, and she had already expected the adaptation. Neither looked surprised. Neither hesitated.
They had spent too many battles watching one another. Too many expeditions, too many dungeon clears, too many training sessions. Every habit, every instinct, every tiny movement before an attack, they already knew them all.
Sera suddenly stepped backward. Golden mana spread across her body, flowing across her armor before hardening into brilliant plates of light that covered her shoulders, arms, and legs, and the air around her shimmered.
Kai’s smile widened. "There it is."
The next instant, she disappeared. Kai barely raised the Fractured Blade in time.
CLANG!
The impact echoed through the forest. His boots carved two long trenches across the ground before he stopped himself.
"...Definitely faster."
Sera didn’t stop. Another slash, then another, every movement carrying golden light behind it. Kai blocked the first and dodged the second, but the third forced him into an Air Step. Golden energy exploded where he had been standing, and the ground collapsed beneath the impact.
Kai landed atop a broken branch. "...Guess I can’t hold back either."
Wind gathered around him as the Storm Sovereign Cloak unfolded behind his shoulders, lightning quietly dancing along its edges. The breeze became a gale, and loose leaves spiraled around him.
Sera smiled. "There you are."
Kai vanished. This time, they met in the middle.
Lightning and golden light exploded together. Neither gained ground, and the forest shook beneath repeated collisions.
Then a low growl echoed through the trees. Both paused for the smallest fraction of a second. Another growl answered, then another.
Several Thorn Wolves burst from the undergrowth, drawn by the noise of their battle. One lunged toward Kai, but he didn’t even turn, the Fractured Blade sweeping behind him. The wolf collapsed before reaching him. At the exact same moment, another wolf sprang toward Sera. She slammed her shield forward.
BANG!
The beast flew backward into a tree hard enough to split the trunk. Neither even acknowledged what they had done. Their eyes remained on each other.
Then more movement appeared. Goblins rushed through the bushes, a Stone Ape climbed down from the canopy, and Forest Spiders crawled across the surrounding trees. Within seconds, the peaceful clearing had become crowded with monsters.
Kai sighed. "...Really?"
Sera laughed. "Wrong timing."
A Forest Spider dropped behind Kai.
Kai never even looked.
Because he already knew.
Sera would be there.
The shield slammed into the spider before its legs reached him.
At almost the same moment—
A Goblin rushed Sera’s blind side.
Lightning flashed.
Kai had already cut it down.
Neither thanked the other.
Neither needed to.
And the forest erupted into chaos.
A Stone Ape charged straight toward Kai, raising both fists overhead. Kai stepped aside just as the creature slammed them into the ground, and the impact shook the clearing. Before it could recover, Sera appeared beside it, her shield crashing into its ribs.
BANG!
The enormous beast stumbled sideways, and Kai was already there. The Fractured Blade flashed once, and the Stone Ape collapsed. Neither looked at it.
Another Thorn Wolf lunged from the bushes, and Sera cut it down without slowing. A Forest Spider dropped toward her back, but Kai Air Stepped behind her, his blade splitting the monster in half before its legs even touched the ground.
A Goblin rushed Kai from the right, and Sera intercepted automatically, her shield slamming into its chest and launching it through two trees.
Kai smiled. "Habit."
Sera nodded as she caught another wolf with the edge of her shield. "Yeah."
They didn’t need to think. Kai naturally fought the monsters pushing toward Sera, and Sera naturally covered the ones moving toward Kai. Every opening one created, the other finished. The monsters never realized they were fighting two people. It felt like one.
Within moments, the forest became quiet again. The last Goblin collapsed, and dust settled.
Kai and Sera stood back-to-back for a heartbeat before slowly walking apart. Both turned. Both smiled.
For a moment, it almost felt wrong. They had spent so long fighting together that facing each other again felt strangely unfamiliar.
Sera rested her sword against one shoulder. "I almost forgot."
Kai laughed. "What?"
"What it’s like trying to hit you."
He grinned. "You still haven’t."
Golden mana gathered behind Sera. One sword appeared, then another, then another. Within seconds, eight radiant blades floated behind her in a perfect circle, their edges shimmering with golden light.
Kai looked up. "Now we’re getting serious."
Sera pointed her sword, and the floating blades shot forward, crossing the battlefield from different angles, each one arriving a heartbeat after the previous.
Kai Air Stepped. The first sword passed beneath him. Threads shot from his fingertips, and he caught a nearby tree branch and swung sideways as the second blade carved through the trunk.
Earth Mage. A pillar erupted beneath his feet, and he kicked off it just before the third sword shattered it into rubble.
The fourth and fifth crossed together, and Kai twisted between them. The sixth forced him higher, and the seventh waited where he would land. Pulse Fist exploded from his palm, the invisible shockwave knocking the sword off course before it reached him.
The final blade descended from directly above. Kai caught it on the Fractured Blade, and lightning burst across the impact.
BOOM!
The explosion scattered broken branches across the clearing.
Kai landed. "So that’s the welcome package."
Sera smiled. "I have more."
She disappeared, and Kai barely caught the next strike.
Sword met shield.
A kick drove toward Sera’s ribs, but she shifted her weight and let it glance harmlessly across her armor before answering with another shield bash. Kai slipped beneath it, the Fractured Blade sweeping upward.
Sera leaned away, and golden light erupted from her sword.
Kai blocked, and the impact launched him backward. He immediately Air Stepped back into range.
But then a massive golden sword rushed towards him. He barely phases through a strike before slashing out with Tempest Fang.
Sera barely blocks Tempest Fang.
Both step back.
The smiles disappear.
One breath.
Then...
Both grin again.
And they rushed back into more exchanges that happened almost too quickly to follow. Shield, sword, kick, counter, golden slash, lightning, shockwave, counter, counter, counter. Every attack naturally became another defense, and every defense immediately became another attack. Neither gave the other time to breathe. Neither wasted a single movement.
Kai smiled through another clash. "I forgot how stubborn you are."
Sera pushed him back with her shield. "I was about to say the same thing."
Golden light spread across her body once again, and this time it didn’t stop at her armor. The mana flowed through her entire body, and her aura blazed like the morning sun. The ground beneath her feet cracked.
Kai recognized it instantly. "A full enhancement."
Sera nodded. "I’ve been saving it."
Kai lowered the Fractured Blade, lightning gathering around his right hand. The Tempest Fang slowly formed beside the Fractured Blade, crackling with compressed electricity. Wind spiraled around him as the Storm Sovereign Cloak snapped behind his shoulders, and blue arcs raced across the forest floor. The trees bent beneath the pressure.
Sera smiled. "There you are."
Kai returned the smile. "I was waiting for you."
Neither moved. The wind disappeared, and the forest became completely still.
One breath.
Then, both exploded forward.
The collision shook the dungeon. Lightning and golden light crashed together with enough force to flatten the surrounding trees, and the ground shattered beneath their feet.
Kai drove the Fractured Blade forward, and Sera met it with her shield. The Tempest Fang struck from the side, and her sword intercepted. Golden mana surged, and lightning answered. Shockwaves rolled across the forest one after another. Neither stepped back. Neither yielded.
Kai pushed harder, and Sera answered with even greater strength. The earth beneath them groaned, and cracks raced through the clearing.
BOOM!
The ground finally gave way. The center of the battlefield collapsed beneath both fighters, and stone exploded into the air. Dust swallowed everything.
Silence returned. For a moment, nothing moved. Nothing could be seen.
Then laughter echoed through the dust. Kai’s voice came first. "Still smiling?"
Sera laughed. "Always."
The dust slowly drifted away, revealing a massive crater that filled the center of the forest. Kai climbed out from one side, brushing dirt from his shoulder, and across from him, Sera climbed out from the opposite edge with her shield still resting on one arm.
Both were breathing harder. Both still held their weapons. Neither had suffered anything more than a few scratches.
Their eyes met, and they smiled.
Neither had won.
Neither wanted the fight to end.
Without another word, they slowly raised their weapons again.
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