"You're insane!" Nova exclaimed.
He slammed both fists into the floor and launched himself forward before the bully could raise another wall. The sudden movement carried him through a gap in the broken stone, and he drove his elbow toward the man's face.
A slab of rock rose between them. Nova split it, stepped through the debris, and drove his knee into the bully's stomach. The man staggered before swinging his stone-covered fist.
Nova ducked beneath it. The fist struck a pillar behind him, scattering fragments across the floor.
'This is getting ridiculous,' he thought, shifting his weight onto his back foot.
They had already exchanged enough blows to put an ordinary Adventurer in the hospital. Yet every time Nova managed to injure his opponent, the man reached for another yellow mana crystal. His cuts closed, his breathing steadied, and the exhausted look in his eyes disappeared, only to be replaced by something increasingly unstable.
Nova had no such luxury. His knuckles were split, his shoulder ached, and every breath irritated his ribs. He had wanted a strong opponent, not someone determined to consume an entire supply of crystals in one match.
The bully swept his arm sideways. Three narrow stone pillars spun toward Nova, forcing him to retreat. He slipped between the first two, then raised his forearm against the third. The impact numbed his hand, but he managed to knock it aside before it struck his chest.
"You're fast. I'll give you that," the bully growled. "But I'm stronger. Smarter. And a hell of a lot more insane than you'll ever be!"
"You keep saying that as though it's something to be proud of," Nova replied, shaking feeling back into his arm.
The bully's expression twisted. He struck the ground with both palms, and a ring of stone spikes erupted around him. Another ring followed, then a third, each one expanding outward.
Nova jumped over the first wave and smashed the next spike with his elbow. He avoided another column, but its edge caught his ribs.
He nearly lost his footing.
'He's too powerful with those crystals. Even when I damage him, he recovers before I can take advantage of it. And I can't get close enough to steal them because he's protecting his pockets.'
Nova pressed a hand against his side for a moment and forced himself upright.
'Damn it. If I keep fighting him like this, I'm going to lose.'
For the first time, the possibility felt immediate. Training injuries had been controlled. Here, the floor itself was a weapon, and his body was beginning to lag behind his reactions.
The thought frightened him. It also made him pay closer attention.
The bully raised a wall directly in front of him, apparently expecting Nova to break through it again. Instead, Nova moved along its edge. A second barrier appeared in his path, so he planted a foot against its surface, pushed himself sideways, and emerged at the bully's unguarded flank.
His knee struck the man's chest.
A faint cracking sound came from beneath the impact. The bully gasped, staggering toward the broken floor, and Nova noticed something strange beneath the torn fabric of his shirt. A patch of skin near his ribs had turned an unhealthy shade of red. Another patch was visible along his neck, although neither seemed connected to the places Nova had struck.
'What is that?'
Before he could look more closely, the bully shoved another crystal into his mouth. Golden light passed through his body, his posture straightened, and the cracked section of stone behind him lurched forward.
Nova was hit across the back and thrown into a wall.
Pain shot through his shoulders and chest. He dropped onto one knee, coughing, then pushed himself away before another pillar crushed the place where he had landed.
"This ends now!" the bully snarled.
The arena floor shuddered. Four walls rose around Nova, enclosing him in a chamber that grew smaller with every passing second. Loose shards began circling overhead, scraping against the stone as they gathered speed.
There was no clear exit, and debris crowded the space above him.
"You think this will stop me?" he shouted.
He struck the nearest wall with both fists. Cracks spread across it, but a fresh layer of stone pushed forward from the other side, forcing him backward. He kicked at the lower section, broke enough material to make an opening, and crawled through as a spinning shard passed above his head.
The bully was waiting outside.
A stone fist slammed toward Nova's face. He twisted aside and caught the man with a backfist across the jaw. The blow staggered him, but another wall rose behind Nova and pressed against his shoulders. He shoved himself forward before it trapped him completely.
"You're going to die here!" the bully shouted. The veins along his neck stood out, and his eyes shone with a fierce golden light. "Everyone who touches me dies!"
Nova stared at him.
'Is he trying to win a competition for the most embarrassing threats? Give me a break.'
Despite the pain, a small smile appeared on his face.
"Are you going to fight me," Nova asked, "or keep giving speeches?"
The bully roared and sent a jagged boulder straight at him.
Nova dropped under it, rolled across the uneven ground, and drove his elbow into the man's temple as he came up. Blood spilled from the bully's ear. Nova followed with a punch to the ribs, then another to the shoulder, trying to keep him from reaching the crystals.
For two breaths, it worked.
The bully stumbled, his arms failing to rise quickly enough to protect his head. Nova moved in again, but stone burst from the ground between their feet. He had to leap away, and the bully used the distance to retrieve another crystal.
Golden energy washed over him.
"Pathetic!" the bully laughed. "I regenerate faster than you can hurt me. I'm invincible, you fucking mortal!"
Nova's smile faded.
The insult was almost funny, considering who he truly was. The man shouting at him had no idea he was fighting the Supreme God of Destruction. If Nova abandoned the limits he had accepted, this entire confrontation would become meaningless.
But he had made his choice before descending to Earth. He wanted to learn what it meant to struggle with a mortal body, and he would not throw that experience away simply because his opponent was becoming unbearable.
'If I'm going to win, I'll do it with what I have now.'
The bully threw both arms outward. Jagged rocks tore free from the damaged walls and rushed toward Nova from different directions. He ducked beneath one, knocked another aside with his forearm, and jumped over a fragment that struck the ground where his ankle had been.
A smaller shard cut across his temple. Blood ran into his eye, blurring the next attack.
Nova wiped it away with the back of his hand, but that moment of distraction cost him. A stone column struck his thigh, sending him sideways. He caught himself on one palm and immediately felt the torn skin of his hand scrape against the floor.
'Focus. Don't waste a movement.'
He rose into a crouch and watched the bully's hands. Each large movement seemed to accompany another change in the surrounding stone. The man was adapting his attacks, using the broken walls to redirect boulders and raise obstacles in places Nova needed to step.
Nova waited until the bully pointed toward his left, then moved right. A wall shot up where he had been standing, leaving the path beside it briefly open. He rushed through and drove a knee into the man's abdomen.
The bully folded forward with a grunt. Nova turned and landed an elbow against his jaw, followed by a punch to his side. The impacts were solid. He felt the resistance of bone beneath his knuckles and saw the bully's expression tighten.
Then another crystal disappeared between the man's lips.
Nova backed away as the familiar light spread across his opponent's body. His wounds closed again, and the golden glow around his hands grew stronger. Yet the red discoloration along his neck had not vanished. It seemed darker now, with another patch appearing near his wrist.
'He's healing, but something still isn't right.'
He had no time to examine it.
"I am the storm!" the bully screamed, slamming his fists into the ground.
Stone spikes burst outward. Nova struck one with his elbow, slipped between two more, and nearly collided with a rotating slab that appeared from his right. He bent backward to avoid it, but his injured ribs protested so sharply that his next breath came out as a gasp.
The bully laughed, louder than before.
"I am chaos! I am perfection! I'm the one who destroys!"
"You really need new material," Nova muttered.
He took a step forward, but his left leg trembled beneath him. He recovered before the bully took advantage. His body was paying for every exchange now. The adrenaline that had kept him moving could not erase the bruises, strained muscles, and accumulating exhaustion.
Nova tightened his fists and advanced once more.
A wall rose between them. Rather than striking its center, he drove his shoulder against the weakened edge, broke through, and caught the bully with a punch to the side of the head. The man stumbled and swung a stone-covered arm in retaliation.
Nova ducked and countered with an elbow to the ribs.
The bully grunted. His face twisted with fury as he lifted another crystal, and Nova lunged for the hand holding it. Their arms collided. The crystal slipped between the bully's fingers, but before Nova could seize it, the man drew the stone beneath their feet upward.
Nova was thrown off balance. By the time he regained his footing, golden light was already spreading through the bully again.
"You can't keep up!" the man shouted. "You'll fall, you'll break, and then you'll be mine!"
Nova breathed through his teeth. He had come painfully close to stopping the next crystal, but close was not enough. The bully was now moving faster between attacks, throwing up barriers without giving Nova a clear route to his body.
They clashed again near the center of the ruined arena. Nova landed a punch to the jaw, a knee to the stomach, and a short elbow against the man's chest. Each strike brought a reaction, but none lasted. A stone wall caught Nova from behind, forcing him to turn before he could press his advantage.
The bully absorbed another crystal.
The golden glow flared across his arms. His injuries faded, but the strange red patches remained visible beneath it.
"You'll die!" he screamed, hurling several pointed columns toward Nova.
Nova avoided the first two. He shattered a third with his fist, but the fourth struck the ground close enough to throw him backward. His shoulder hit a fallen slab, and a sharp pain traveled down his arm.
He tried to stand immediately. His body did not respond as quickly as he expected.
For a moment, he remained on one knee, chest heaving, with sweat and blood dripping onto the stone. Across from him, the bully was already preparing another attack, laughing to himself while fresh fragments rose around his hands.
'I'm still faster when I get close,' Nova thought, forcing his trembling leg beneath him. 'But every time I reach him, he heals. I need to change something before I run out of strength.'
He pushed himself upright just as the next wave of stone came toward him.
Nova struck the nearest fragment aside and staggered backward. His vision blurred for an instant, and he blinked hard, trying to keep the bully in sight as the arena continued to shift around them.