Chapter 181: Until the End
Neither of them spoke. They simply disappeared.
CLANG!
Steel screamed as the Fractured Blade crashed against Sera’s shield. Lightning burst across the clearing while golden light exploded outward, flattening what remained of the nearby trees.
Neither stopped.
Kai twisted to Sera’s left. She was already there. Her shield slammed toward his shoulder, and Kai ducked beneath it and drove the Tempest Fang upward. Sera’s sword intercepted, and a burst of golden light pushed them apart.
Kai Air Stepped before his feet touched the ground. Sera chased immediately. Their weapons collided again, then again, then again, every clash sending another shockwave rolling across the battlefield.
The forest had already been destroyed. Now even the shattered remains were disappearing. Broken trunks exploded into splinters, boulders shattered into dust, and the ground cracked beneath every exchange.
Kai smiled. She already knew I’d change direction. He abandoned the attack halfway through and spun into a kick instead. Sera leaned back before it reached her, already expecting the change, her shield coming around in the same motion.
Kai caught it on the Fractured Blade. The impact threw him backward, but Sera followed without giving him time to recover. Sword, shield, golden shockwave. Kai phased through the first strike and Air Stepped over the second. The third exploded against an Earth pillar that erupted beneath his feet.
The pillar shattered. Kai kicked off the falling stone, and Pulse Fist erupted from his free hand. The invisible shockwave slammed into Sera. She crossed her shield, and golden armor absorbed most of the force. She slid backward only two steps. Then smiled.
Golden light erupted around her body, the armor covering her limbs brightening until it resembled polished sunlight. Her aura surged, and the pressure sweeping across the battlefield doubled.
"There you are," Kai muttered.
Sera vanished. Her speed doubled. Kai barely blocked the first strike, but the second slipped past his guard and clipped his shoulder. The third became a shield bash that launched him through the remains of a stone pillar. He rolled across the broken ground before pushing himself upright.
A wave of golden light crossed the battlefield. Kai Air Stepped above it. Sera’s shield left her hand and spun toward him like a giant blade. Kai twisted aside, threads shooting from his fingertips and wrapping around a broken pillar, and he pulled himself sideways as the spinning shield passed inches from his chest.
Before he landed, the shield curved. It was coming back. Kai released the thread and dropped beneath it, and the returning shield flew over his head. Sera caught it without looking.
Their eyes met. Then they charged again.
Lightning crashed against golden light. Sword met shield. Kick met armor. Every exchange flowed naturally into the next. Kai wasn’t planning combinations anymore, he couldn’t. Sera forced him to adapt every second, and every answer created another question, every movement demanded another.
Sera laughed during another clash. "Still adapting?"
Kai blocked a downward slash before driving his shoulder into her shield. "Still impossible?"
The shield crashed into his chest, and he slid nearly twenty feet before stopping himself. He looked up. Still smiling.
The battlefield continued disappearing. There were no trees left, no boulders, no landmarks, only broken earth stretched in every direction. The dungeon itself had begun repairing the damage. Stone walls slowly rose from the ground, fresh trees sprouted along the edges of the clearing, and grass spread across the cracked earth.
Then, BOOM! Another collision erased everything the dungeon had rebuilt. The cycle repeated. Repair, destroy, repair, destroy.
Even the spectators watching through the livestream had stopped commenting. Nobody wanted to miss a single exchange.
Kai rushed forward, deliberately leaving his right side open. Sera saw it. She ignored it, and instead attacked his left. Kai smiled, he had expected that. The Fractured Blade flashed, but Sera was already moving before the attack completed. She knew that answer too.
Golden light exploded beneath her feet, and she appeared above him. Kai didn’t look. He Air Stepped backward, and her sword struck empty air.
She landed exactly where Kai wanted.
Pulse Fist erupted, the shockwave bursting toward her.
Sera planted her shield, and the impact split around her instead of pushing her back. She answered with another Light Wave. Kai stepped inside it before the attack fully expanded, and the Fractured Blade swept upward. Sera twisted, and the edge missed by inches.
Neither gained ground. Neither lost ground. The duel had become something else. Not a contest of strength. Not a contest of speed. A game of prediction.
Kai intentionally left openings. Sera intentionally refused to take them. Sera changed her rhythm. Kai abandoned his usual answer. Every exchange felt like both of them were reading the same page before it had been written.
Their weapons locked. The sound echoed across the empty battlefield. For a moment, neither pushed. They stood only inches apart.
Sera smiled. "Remember Thunder Peaks?"
Kai laughed. "You pushed me off."
"You survived."
"Barely."
She grinned. "I knew you would."
Kai shook his head. "I still think you planned that."
"I absolutely did."
Both laughed. Then pushed off at the same time, and the force sent them sliding backward across the broken earth.
The wind slowly settled. Dust drifted between them. For the first time since the fight began, both were breathing harder. Neither looked tired enough to stop. Both still smiled. And both knew the next exchange would decide everything.
Kai steadied his breathing. Across the shattered battlefield, Sera did the same. The smiles never left their faces.
Kai rested the Fractured Blade on his shoulder. "One last exchange?"
Sera nodded without hesitation. "Let’s make it count."
Neither moved. Instead, they slowly walked backward until nearly fifty meters separated them. The battlefield was silent. No wind, no birds, no monsters, only broken earth stretched between them.
The dungeon had begun repairing itself again. Fresh grass pushed through the cracked ground while shattered stone slowly knitted itself back together.
Neither paid it any attention.
The wind died completely. Kai closed his eyes. One slow breath.
The Storm Sovereign Cloak spread behind him, lightning crawling across the dark fabric before racing over his arms and around the Fractured Blade.
The Tempest Fang appeared beside it, crackling with compressed electricity. Then flames ignited, wrapping around the Fractured Blade in spiraling streams before climbing higher and higher.
Kai didn’t switch styles this time. He committed. Flame Swordsman. Storm Sovereign. Tempest Fang.
Threads quietly spread beneath the ground around him, anchoring themselves through broken stone. Wind gathered, lightning answered, and the flames rose higher until they surrounded Kai completely. A colossal figure slowly formed behind him, a giant swordsman made of fire, lightning wrapping around its burning blade while dark storm clouds gathered overhead. The pressure alone shook the battlefield.
Across from him, golden light spread around Sera. Her armor blazed brighter than ever before, and radiant swords appeared behind her. Ten. Twenty. Fifty. A hundred. They filled the sky like a field of golden stars.
Mana surged through the battlefield. The floating swords slowly turned until every point aimed toward Kai.
Golden circles appeared beneath Sera’s feet.
One, then another, ancient symbols rotating beneath her boots. She slowly lowered her sword, and the floating blades aligned behind her.
High above, a gigantic sword of light formed in the sky. It was larger than the surrounding forest, larger than the ruined battlefield itself. The blade pointed toward Kai, golden light pouring from it like sunlight given form.
Kai looked up. "...You’ve been hiding that?"
Sera smiled. "So have you."
Silence returned. Lightning danced across Kai’s blade. Golden light gathered around Sera. Neither looked away.
One breath.
Then, both vanished.
The giant swordsman swung. The burning blade tore across the battlefield, carrying lightning and hurricane winds behind it. At the same instant, Sera thrust forward. The enormous blade of light descended. Every floating sword fired together, and a beam of pure golden mana erupted from the tip of her sword, swallowing the battlefield as it surged toward Kai.
The attacks met. Silence. Then, BOOOOOOM!!
The collision erased everything. Lightning exploded into the sky. Golden light consumed the earth. Fire spiraled into the storm. Wind howled through the collapsing dungeon.
The shockwave tore across the battlefield with unstoppable force. Mountains in the distance split apart, and the ground peeled upward like paper.
Freshly repaired forests vanished again, and entire cliffs crumbled beneath the pressure. The dungeon walls shook violently, and even the gate at the far edge of the dungeon rattled beneath the impact.
Outside, the Hunters guarding the entrance instinctively turned toward the gate. "...What was that?" The answer came as another tremor shook the ground beneath their feet.
Inside, the collision continued. Neither attack yielded. Kai pushed forward, and lightning burst from the giant swordsman’s blade as the flames roared higher.
Across from him, Sera planted both feet firmly against the earth, and the beam brightened, hundreds of radiant swords continuing to pour into the collision, feeding more and more power into the attack.
Golden light spread across the storm.
Kai gritted his teeth. "So stubborn."
Sera laughed through the blinding light. "You too!"
The battlefield couldn’t contain them anymore. The ground beneath both fighters finally gave way, and the center of the collision collapsed into a massive crater. Another explosion erupted, and everything disappeared inside blinding light.
Then nothing. Silence.
Dust slowly drifted through the air. Smoke rolled across the shattered battlefield. The golden light faded, the flames disappeared, and lightning dissolved into tiny sparks before vanishing completely. The wind settled.
Piece by piece, the dungeon began repairing itself again. Fresh earth covered the crater walls, and broken stone slowly returned to its original shape.
When the dust finally cleared, Kai was still standing. Barely. His breathing was heavy, and the Fractured Blade slowly lowered until its tip rested against the ground.
Across the crater, Sera was still standing too. Her shield hung loosely at her side, and her sword pointed toward the earth. She took one step, then another. She looked at Kai. Then burst into laughter. Her knees gave out, and she fell backward into the newly grown grass. Not unconscious. Just exhausted.
Kai laughed too. He slowly walked around the crater before dropping onto the grass beside her.
Neither spoke. Both stared up at the sky. Clouds drifted lazily overhead as though the battle had never happened.
Several long moments passed. Finally, Sera broke the silence. "...Not bad."
Kai smiled. "You too."
She laughed softly. "No." She turned her head toward him. "You win."
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