(A/N):
Drop a meme here that you find funny. Or reflects your mood.
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The last of the sacks of coin had been handed over, villagers clutching their recompense with shaking hands.
The Royal Knights were already forming into ranks again, ready to go back to the capital once their king gave the word.
Ben stretched his shoulders.
Ben exhaled slowly, satisfied that justice had been carried out.
Sigh~
"____"
He turned, about to dismiss the knights, when a finger jabbed firmly into his shoulder.
He glanced sideways.
Mereoleona Vermillion stood there, her mane of fiery hair catching the late sunlight like an open blaze.
A wolfish grin stretched across her face, eyes bright with that unmistakable hunger for battle.
Grin~
"Well,"
She drawled, her voice crackling like kindling catching flame.
"You remember what you promised me, don't you?"
Ben arched a brow, though he already knew.
"____"
"The duel,"
She said, the grin widening into something downright feral.
"Last time, you told me you'd face me when the time was right. I say—"
She spread her arms wide, letting the crowd and knights catch every word—
"The time is now."
The villagers, still gathered in the square, gasped and murmured in awe.
To see their king and the Lioness of House Vermillion clash?
That was a tale for the ages.
Ben studied Mereoleona in silence for a long moment.
"____"
Her aura was already flaring, the heat rolling off her like a midsummer inferno.
She wasn't joking, and she wouldn't let him walk away without answering.
Finally, he let a small smile curl at the corner of his lips.
"You're persistent."
Mereoleona's laughter cracked like a fireball exploding.
Hehe~
"I'm alive because I never stop hunting for stronger prey. Don't think I'll let the king himself wriggle out of it."
The square buzzed louder, villagers scattering to form a wide ring.
Knights exchanged eager glances, some grinning, some shaking their heads, already bracing for the shockwaves about to come.
Ben stepped forward, his cloak brushing the dust, and met her gaze head-on.
"Very well. If it's a duel you want…"
He lifted his hand, summoning a faint shimmer of mana around his fist.
"Then I'll keep my word."
The ground itself seemed to tense in anticipation.
The murmurs of the crowd swelled as Ben and Mereoleona locked eyes,
The weight of their agreement hanging in the air like a spark waiting for tinder.
But Ben broke the tension with a calm, steady voice.
"Not here,"
He said, his tone brooking no argument.
"If we fight in this square, the village won't survive it."
The words silenced even the boldest of whispers.
"____"
"____"
"____"
Mereoleona tilted her head back and let out a booming laugh, fiery and unrestrained.
HAHAHAHA!!!
"Ha! You're right about that!"
She roared, slapping her thigh.
Then, with a glint of excitement in her eyes, she leaned closer.
"There's a place I know. A perfect crucible for warriors like us."
Ben raised an eyebrow, curious.
"Ultime-Volcano Mountain,"
She said, savoring every syllable.
Her grin sharpened.
Grin~
"A high-mana region that chews up the weak and spits them out. Its mana zones twist and flare like the breath of a dragon. It's hell—my kind of hell."
The knights shifted uneasily, some whispering the mountain's name like it was a curse.
Ben's expression remained steady,
But a faint gleam flickered in his eyes.
He gave a single nod.
"Lead the way."
Mereoleona's fiery aura flared hotter, her battle-thirst growing with every heartbeat.
She strode to one of the waiting brooms, yanked it from the hands of a wide-eyed royal guard, and kicked into the air with a roar of laughter.
Ben watched her vanish into the skies, then exhaled and clicked his Omnitrix.
Flash!
A flash of green light enveloped him, his form shifting, wings unfurling in a brilliant span of crimson membrane and golden edges.
In seconds, Jetray shot upward, slicing through the sky like a living comet, trailing Mereoleona's fire across the horizon.
Below, the villagers shielded their eyes, watching their king and the Lioness vanish into the distance toward the jagged silhouette of Ultime-Volcano Mountain.
A hush settled over them, broken only by Jojo muttering with a smirk.
Smirk~
"…This is gonna be one hell of a fight."
For nearly half an hour,
The two streaks—
One blazing with fire, the other glowing with emerald light—
Cut across the skies of the Clover Kingdom.
Villages and forests shrank beneath them as they pressed onward,
The air growing hotter with every passing mile.
Finally, the horizon tore open with the sight of Ultime-Volcano Mountain.
It wasn't just a mountain—
It was a living inferno carved into the earth's spine.
Its jagged peaks clawed at the sky, crowned with plumes of ash that rolled outward like storm clouds.
Rivers of molten lava oozed down its blackened slopes, glowing veins of orange that pulsed like the heartbeat.
The ground around it shimmered with heatwaves, distorting the air until even the distant treeline looked like it was writhing in agony.
The mana here was different.
It pressed down like a suffocating weight, thick and oppressive, yet thrumming with energy so raw it felt alive.
In the high mana zones around the volcano, the currents twisted violently,
Forcing even the air to roar in chaotic gusts.
Mereoleona's fiery aura flared brighter the moment she crossed into its influence, her body drinking in the wild mana like it was her native element.
Ben descended as Jetray, wings beating against the scorching updrafts.
He could feel it too—
The volatile, untamed power surging in every direction.
He already knew about this place from the plot knowledge he has from his past life.
Ultime-Volcano Mountain—
The Lioness's training ground, the crucible where she forged recruits in fire and fury.
To stand here was to stand inside a battlefield that never slept.
Landing on a jagged outcropping of black rock,
Ben reverted back to his human form in a green flash, his boots crunching against the scorched stone.
Mereoleona hovered on her broom for another heartbeat before dropping down beside him,
A grin stretched across her face, wide.
Grin~
"This is it,"
She said, spreading her arms to the blazing expanse.
"The mountain that burns away the weak and tempers the strong. I've brought plenty of recruits here to break them—or to make them."
Her eyes narrowed, a predator's gleam sparking.
"But today, It will be our batteground."
The volcano rumbled as if answering her challenge,
A deep, guttural growl rolling through the molten earth.
"____"
Ash drifted on the hot winds, and the sky above glowed crimson in the reflection of endless fire.
Ben's lips curled into a faint smile.
"Fitting,"
He murmured.
"A battlefield worthy of what's about to happen."
Mereoleona's grin widened as she cracked her knuckles, the sound sharp and echoing through the volcanic winds.
Her crimson mane whipped wildly in the hot gusts, her eyes gleaming like twin flames.
"Come on, show me,"
She growled with excitement.
"Transform into that fiery monster my brother told me about. I want to face that one. The one who can burn the world down."
Ben exhaled slowly, almost like a sigh.
Sigh~
"You really don't do patience, do you?"
His hand hovered over the Omnitrix, the familiar click–whirr as he twisted the dial, the holographic silhouettes spinning until the fiery outline stopped on the one he knew she wanted.
"Fine then,"
He said, his voice hardening as his finger slammed the dial down.
CHZZZTTT–
FLASH!
A searing emerald light exploded outward, forcing the ash-filled wind to ripple away in a shockwave.
His skin cracked apart like cooling magma, giving way to plates of obsidian outlined with rivers of molten fire.
Flames erupted from his skull, rising higher than the blaze of the volcano itself,
And his eyes burned twin pits of molten orange.
When the glow dimmed,
Heatblast stood where Ben once was, towering like a living inferno.
Lava pulsed through every seam of his body,
And the ground at his feet hissed and blackened under his heat.
Mereoleona's smile stretched into something savage, her own aura bursting to life—
Pure, wild fire magic that roared against his alien flames.
The volcano seemed to respond to the collision of powers, the ground trembling as sparks and embers whipped between them.
"YES!"
She bellowed, laughing like a beast finally loosed from its chains.
"That's the form! That's what I want to fight!"
Heatblast rolled his shoulders, flames crackling off him in a storm.
His voice came out deeper, layered with a guttural rumble:
"YOU'LL GET YOUR WISH. BUT DON'T BLAME ME WHEN THE FIRE GETS TOO HOT FOR EVEN YOU TO HANDLE."
Mereoleona's eyes narrowed with hungry delight.
"Try me."
With that single challenge, the duel was primed—
Fire against fire, raw power against untamed flame.
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(Author's POV)
(A/N)Thanks for reading the chapter!
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