The volcanic world breathed like a living furnace.
Ash fell in slow spirals.
Lava crackled beneath fractured stone.
Every gust of wind felt like an exhale from a dying sun.
Dark stood in the center of a shattered plateau, blood dripping down his chin, shadows pulsing behind him in heavy, thick currents. His right arm trembled from the last hit Kaelith landed. His ribs shifted each time he inhaled, healing slower than usual in this unbearable heat.
Kaelith stood across from him, flames coiled around her shoulders like beasts waiting to bite. Her hair whipped in the wind, burning brighter each time she breathed. Each step she took melted the stone beneath her feet.
Kaelith: Again.
Dark wiped blood from his mouth with the back of his hand.
Dark: You trying to train me or bury me here.
Kaelith's grin sharpened.
Kaelith: Both.
She vanished.
A sonic crack ripped through the volcanic air as her fist appeared beside Dark's face. He jerked backward, but not fast enough. Her knuckles scraped his cheek, tearing skin, slicing flesh, sending a streak of blood arcing across the warped sky.
Dark countered with a heavy right hook, shadows swirling around his arm like black fire. Kaelith caught the punch mid-swing. The impact sent a shockwave through the entire plain, splitting the ground in a long, jagged wound.
She twisted his wrist violently.
Bones crunched.
Dark growled through clenched teeth, twisting his body to lessen the break. He drove his knee upward, colliding with Kaelith's hip hard enough to crack the surrounding air.
Kaelith's eyes widened slightly.
Kaelith: Not bad.
She slammed her forehead into Dark's nose.
The crack echoed like a stone pillar being smashed apart. Blood sprayed across the stone. Dark staggered back, vision flashing white for a moment.
Kaelith didn't wait.
She grabbed him by the hair and dragged his face down toward her rising knee. The collision split his lip open and sent several teeth flying into the molten stone below. Dark's head snapped back from the force, blood streaking down his jaw.
He reacted on instinct.
Shadows burst from his spine like spears, stabbing toward Kaelith's torso from behind.
Kaelith rotated her body in a perfect half spin. She grabbed one shadow spear with her bare hand and crushed it like glass. The others sliced at her skin, tearing through her flames, leaving thin but rapidly healing cuts across her arms.
Kaelith: You finally stopped hesitating.
Dark didn't answer. He lunged forward and slammed his palm against Kaelith's stomach. A burst of condensed shadow detonated outward, blowing Kaelith off her feet and sending her crashing through a volcanic ridge.
Stone shattered.
Fire erupted upward like a geyser.
Kaelith climbed out of the rubble with a wipe of her mouth. A thin stream of blood slid from the corner of her lips, sizzling as it hit the ground.
Kaelith: Good.
She stepped once.
The world cracked.
She was suddenly behind Dark. Her fingers slipped under his jaw and pulled his head backward, exposing his throat. Her knee rose toward his spine.
Dark bent sideways, her knee grazing him, tearing open flesh along his ribs. Blood splattered across the ground in a wide smear.
Dark turned sharply and elbowed her throat.
Kaelith coughed once, more out of surprise than pain, and retaliated by jamming her fingers into Dark's shoulder muscle, burying them into his flesh until blood poured down her knuckles.
Dark snarled and slammed his head forward.
His forehead cracked against her cheek.
Skin split.
Blood sprayed.
Kaelith blinked once.
Kaelith: Now we begin.
Her flames surged.
The temperature spiked so violently that Dark's shadows distorted from the heat.
And then she moved.
Not fast.
Beyond fast.
A blur of red flame and muscle crashed into Dark's abdomen. His body folded around her punch. A wet tearing sound echoed as several ribs snapped inward. The force launched him across the volcanic plain.
He bounced once.
Then twice.
Then skidded across jagged stone, leaving a long streak of blood behind him.
Dark dug his hand into the ground and stopped himself. His fingers snapped backward from the force, dangling at unnatural angles. He forcefully realigned them with a wet crack as he stood up again.
Dark: ...You're insane.
Kaelith walked toward him, heat bending the world around her.
Kaelith: And you need to stop dying so easily.
She rushed him again.
Dark tried to dodge.
He failed.
Her fist sank into his stomach so hard it cratered his abdomen inward. Blood erupted from his mouth, splattering across the air as he was lifted off his feet. Kaelith grabbed his leg midair and slammed him downward.
Stone exploded.
Dark lay in the crater for half a second.
Kaelith stomped down on his chest.
Ribs shattered. Blood sprayed from Dark's mouth, hitting Kaelith's thigh and evaporating instantly.
Kaelith: Move.
Dark rolled aside just before her heel pulverized the stone where his skull had been.
Kaelith appeared beside him and kicked his jaw.
His head snapped sideways, neck twisting dangerously close to breaking.
Dark slid across the volcanic ground, leaving a smear of blood.
He rose again, stumbling for only a second.
Kaelith grinned.
Kaelith: Good.
Her fist cocked back.
Kaelith: Now we begin.
And that's when it happened.
No sound.
No ripple.
No warning.
A presence simply appeared behind them.
Like it had been standing there long before the world was created.
Dark felt it first.
Kaelith felt it a heartbeat after.
And both turned slowly.
Sereon Vaize stood on the molten stone, hands folded behind his back, posture perfect, expression calm, glasses reflecting the violent light of the volcanic world.
He wasn't sweating.
He wasn't breathing hard.
He wasn't affected by the heat at all.
He looked like he walked out of a quiet library and accidentally stepped into hell.
Sereon: Pardon the intrusion.
His smile was small.
Too small.
Too calm.
Too knowing.
Kaelith's flames quieted slightly.
Dark's shadows coiled close.
Sereon adjusted his glasses with one finger.
Sereon: I simply came to observe.
He paused.
Sereon: And to see how far behind you still are, Emperor.
Dark's eyes narrowed.
Kaelith's jaw tightened.
Dark wiped blood from his cheek with the back of his hand. He stared at Sereon with a flat, irritated expression.
Dark: Oh. It's you again.
Last time I saw you, you were acting weird as hell and vanished before anything made sense.
Sereon adjusted his glasses, the lens catching the firelight. Calm. Unbothered. Completely in control.
Sereon: It is good to see you as well, Emperor.
Kaelith stepped forward, heat warping the air around her like rubber.
Kaelith: You picked a bad time to show up.
Sereon did not look at her. Not even a sideways glance. His voice stayed perfectly level.
Sereon: I didn't come for you.
Kaelith's aura spiked violently.
Kaelith: Say that again.
Sereon finally lifted his gaze toward her. Just a single glance.
Kaelith's flames recoiled off her body like something invisible slapped them downward. The volcanic plain trembled. Even the molten rivers seemed to hesitate.
But Kaelith didn't step back.
Kaelith: Try me.
Sereon exhaled lightly, more like boredom than effort.
Sereon: Your reactions are predictable.
Kaelith swung instantly.
A fist packed with enough force to break continents.
Sereon raised one finger.
Tap.
Her punch froze on impact with nothing.
Kaelith's eyes widened.
Kaelith: The hell—
Sereon flicked her forehead.
Just a flick.
Kaelith was launched backward like a meteor, crashing through a chain of black volcanic ridges. Lava exploded into the sky in a violent arc behind her.
Dark didn't wait.
He charged.
Shadows twisted violently behind him, lashing the ground as he sprinted across the molten landscape. His fist rocketed toward Sereon's jaw, shadows spiraling around his knuckles.
Sereon stepped one inch to the left.
The punch cut through empty air.
Sereon's hand brushed lightly across Dark's ribs.
Barely a touch.
Dark's entire body twisted violently as if his bones were rearranged by force he didn't understand. He slammed into the ground, rolled across jagged obsidian, and skidded through a stream of molten stone.
Dark gritted his teeth, forcing himself upright.
Dark: Tch. Show-off bastard.
Sereon: You improved.
Your form is less reckless than before.
Dark: That supposed to be a compliment?
Sereon didn't answer.
He simply tilted his head slightly, studying Dark the way someone might study a puzzle piece they already solved years ago.
Kaelith exploded from the rubble again, flames spiraling around her like a storm.
Kaelith: ROUND TWO. LET'S GO.
Sereon didn't even change his stance.
Sereon: If you insist.
Kaelith disappeared.
Dark barely saw her move.
She reappeared behind Sereon.
Her fist collided with—
Nothing.
Sereon was already beside Dark.
Sereon: Your step was too wide.
Before Dark could react, Sereon pressed his palm to Dark's sternum.
Dark felt the impact before he registered movement.
His back cratered the volcanic surface, stone layers snapping as he sank several meters into the ground. Air blasted from his lungs. Blood sprayed from his mouth.
Kaelith erupted toward Sereon again, flames twisting wildly in her wake.
Kaelith: Stop touching my student like he's a rag—
Sereon caught her punch mid-air.
Not blocked.
Caught.
With two fingers.
Kaelith's eyes widened. Her entire arm trembled. The lava beneath them hissed violently.
Sereon: You are emotional today.
Kaelith snarled.
Kaelith: I'll show you emotional—
She kicked at his ribs with enough force to warp the horizon.
Sereon vanished.
Dark's instincts screamed—
Too late.
A hand clamped onto the back of his head and smashed his face back into the molten stone.
Sereon stood over him.
Calm.
Still.
Almost gentle.
Sereon: Get up, Emperor.
Dark forced himself up out of the cooling lava, shadows flickering around him like broken glass.
Dark: You're pissing me off.
Sereon: Good.
Kaelith landed beside Dark, fire swirling around her fists.
Kaelith: We are not done.
Sereon adjusted his glasses again, eyes unreadable.
Sereon: Then come.
His voice held no threat.
No excitement.
No malice.
Just certainty.
The air thickened.
The volcanic world trembled.
Kaelith cracked her knuckles.
Kaelith: Dark. With me.
Dark nodded once, shadows sharpening.
Together they charged.
Sereon's expression didn't change.
Sereon's voice becomes softer.
Sereon: (low) This fight is meaningless you know. You two stand no chance against someone like me, and even if you did, it is all going according to plan.
Sereon keeps his hands behind his back, always calm and keeping his balance.
Sereon did not lift a hand.
Yet the moment Dark and Kaelith moved, the world reacted.
They vanished from where they stood, heat exploding in two separate lines across the volcanic plain. The stone where they had been standing shattered from the recoil alone, lava spraying upward in tall, glowing arcs.
They reappeared on each side of Sereon, Dark on his right, Kaelith on his left, fists already swinging toward his head.
Sereon closed his eyes.
Sereon: Good grief.
He took a single, relaxed step backward.
Their fists tore through the space his skull had occupied a heartbeat earlier, colliding with one another in a brutal crunch. Bone struck bone. A shockwave burst between them, rippling out and tearing a long trench in the molten ground.
Dark gritted his teeth as pain shot through his knuckles.
Kaelith snarled, flames flaring in annoyance.
Sereon was already a meter away, hands still folded behind his back, coat unruffled, hair untouched by the heat and ash that tried to cling to him.
He lifted his left hand slowly, sleeve sliding down to reveal a thin, silver watch on his wrist. The glass face reflected the violent sky.
Sereon glanced at it with mild interest.
Sereon: I have exactly one minute left to entertain you.
He looked up again, voice calm, soft, almost bored.
Sereon: After that, I must take my leave.
Dark moved first.
Dark: Tch. What do you want from me.
He sprinted forward, shadows spiraling around his legs, each step cracking the ground. His fist roared toward Sereon's jaw, wrapped in compressed darkness that warped the air around it.
Sereon shifted his weight.
Not a dodge.
A simple lean.
Dark's fist slid past his cheek by less than a hair. The wind pressure alone ripped a chunk out of a distant obsidian ridge.
Sereon responded with a light tap of his fingers against Dark's chest. No visible force. No dramatic glow.
Dark's body folded inward as if someone had taken the air out of him with a single twist. He flew backward, crashing into a jagged rock formation. Stone cracked. Blood splattered against black glass.
Kaelith stopped mid charge, feet digging into the molten stone, heat snarling around her like a living storm.
Kaelith: What he wants is irrelevant. You are the one who came here.
Sereon turned his head toward her, eyes half lidded behind the gleam of his glasses.
Sereon: What I want.
He tasted the words for a moment, as if testing them.
Sereon: Nothing, Kaelith. The question is not what I desire.
He took one silent step toward her, the lava under his shoe cooling instead of melting.
Sereon: The question is why the Emperor of this fused world believes he is allowed to strike me without understanding a single thing about me.
Dark pushed himself out of the broken ridge, blood dripping from his brow, expression sour.
Dark: You talk too much.
Sereon: And you think too little.
He turned his gaze fully to Dark, the glass of his lenses reflecting the distant eruptions. The reflection made his eyes unreadable.
Sereon: You ask what I want from you, Emperor. Yet you are the one throwing punches. You are the one calling this training. You are the one who believes violence is a language everyone must answer.
He tilted his head slightly.
Sereon: So I should be the one asking.
He took another step forward, closing the distance with casual ease.
Sereon: What is it that you want from me, that you would use such a crude tool to reach it.
Dark's jaw tightened.
For a second he had no answer. His mind flickered with memories he did not invite. Destroyer Dark stepping out of his shadow. Enra crushing that monster with one step. Copi laughing with a missing head. Sereon shattering like glass in the Empire.
He looked away for one heartbeat, annoyed by the fact that the question even made him pause.
Dark: You showed up. Again. That is enough reason.
Sereon: Is it.
Sereon took note of the movement as if cataloguing it.
Sereon: Then you are not attacking me because of what I intend. You are attacking me because you fear what you do not control.
Kaelith stepped between them, flames surging upward. The heat around her became violent, warping the air into a shimmering red haze.
Kaelith: I do not care what philosophical games you are playing. You walk into my training ground, you get burned.
Sereon checked his watch again, eyes flicking down for a brief second.
Sereon: Thirty seconds left.
He looked back at them, almost playful.
Sereon: Perhaps you should talk faster, Emperor.
Dark's shadows tightened around his arms like chains made from night itself.
Dark: Talk to you.
He spat blood onto the stone.
Dark: I would rather break your face.
Sereon smiled, just a small, faint curve of his lips.
Sereon: How honest.
Kaelith raised her fist, fire crawling across her skin.
Kaelith: I have a better idea.
She stepped forward until she was close enough to feel the absence of heat around him. Her eyes narrowed.
Kaelith: How about you leave this place before I stop holding back.
Sereon's eyes met hers. The smile did not disappear. It only cooled.
Sereon: You are confident today.
Kaelith: I have every reason to be.
She cocked her head slightly, flames rippling.
Kaelith: You really believe activating your Soul Rygezu guarantees victory.
The term fell from her tongue like a challenge.
Dark blinked once.
Dark: Soul what.
Sereon gave Kaelith a quiet, amused look.
Sereon: How naive.
The same calm tone.
No aggression.
That made it worse.
Sereon: You speak as if my loss or victory could be decided by something so simple as activation.
He took a step closer. His shoes did not sink into the heated stone. They rested atop it as if the world itself was holding him carefully.
Sereon: You claim you could defeat me even if mine were already awakened.
Kaelith's eyes narrowed. Her fists curled.
Kaelith: I am not claiming anything.
She leaned forward.
Kaelith: I am promising.
Sereon let the words rest in the air for a beat.
Sereon: Then allow me to ask you something.
He walked past her, just enough to align himself between both of them, giving them each part of his attention.
Sereon: At what exact moment did you decide that my Soul Rygezu was inactive.
His gaze shifted to Kaelith again.
Sereon: Was it when I arrived.
He flicked his eyes to Dark.
Sereon: When I spoke.
Back to Kaelith.
Sereon: When I deflected your fists.
He lifted his hand slightly, the watch glinting.
Sereon: Or.
His voice dropped lower.
Sereon: Have you considered the possibility that it was already awake long before you ever approached me.
The volcanic plain felt quieter.
Kaelith's flames wavered ever so slightly. The back of her neck prickled. Logic told her she would have felt it if something like that had been active. Instinct told her she was already inside a problem he built.
For the first time, she did not answer immediately.
Dark watched both of them, annoyance etched into his features. The term Soul Rygezu circled in his head with no meaning, just another unknown thrown into a pile of others.
He hated it.
Sereon checked his watch again without hurry.
Sereon: Ten seconds.
He looked at Dark, the faint smile returning.
Sereon: You still have not answered my question, Emperor.
Dark: What question.
Sereon: What is it that you want from me.
Dark stared at him, irritation flickering with curiosity.
He did not know.
He wanted this man gone.
He wanted him dead.
He wanted answers.
He wanted none of those things to matter.
Dark: I want you to stop talking like you already know how this ends.
Sereon regarded him for a long, silent second.
Sereon: That is the one thing I cannot do.
Kaelith took a step, flames roaring back to full strength.
Kaelith: Then leave, before I show you exactly how wrong you are.
Sereon looked faintly amused.
Sereon: Wrong.
He turned his head to her, glasses catching the molten light.
Sereon: You truly believe you stand at a point where you can measure my correctness.
He took one casual step toward her, so close that the edge of her heat brushed his chest, then rolled away from him like it did not dare touch.
Sereon: You pride yourself on instinct and battle, Kaelith. On fire and pressure and pushing your body past sense. Admirable.
He tilted his head.
Sereon: But you are still using eyes and fists in a field where neither matter.
Kaelith squinted, teeth grinding.
Kaelith: You talk like you are floating above everything.
Sereon: I am exactly where I need to be.
His gaze moved past her, toward the distant ridges.
He tapped the watch lightly.
Sereon: And right on time.
For a moment, nothing in their immediate space changed.
The volcanoes still erupted.
The air still burned.
Dark still tasted blood at the back of his throat.
But far beyond them, at the edge of the cracked horizon, a single figure stood atop a black stone outcrop.
She was small from this distance, nearly eaten by the heat shimmer. Bare legs, simple skirt, loose shirt, hair tied up in a messy, high knot with strands falling to her shoulders. Her hair caught the red light with a faint golden sheen. She balanced on the narrow ridge like she was standing on the edge of a fountain back in a peaceful city rather than above a river of fire.
Her posture was relaxed.
One hand behind her back.
The other shading her eyes as she watched the world with an open, curious gaze.
No weapons drawn.
No aura flaring.
Just a girl quietly studying a world that should have killed her on contact.
She smiled at something only she saw.
Kaelith did not sense her.
Dark did not see her.
Only Sereon let his eyes rest on the silhouette for a fraction of a second. The corner of his mouth lifted, almost fond, almost proud, almost something that did not fit him.
Then he looked back at Dark as if he had never glanced away.
Sereon: Time is up.
Dark stepped forward, shadows coiling tighter, impatience scraping down his nerves.
Dark: You are not leaving.
He reached out, hand closing around Sereon's throat.
Or that was what it felt like.
His fingers wrapped around something solid.
His grip tightened.
He could feel skin, warmth, the shape of a neck.
Sereon did not resist.
He did not flinch.
He merely smiled, eyes half closing.
Sereon: Is that your answer, then.
Dark pulled him closer, knuckles whitening.
Dark: You keep coming into my life and talking like you own my future. This is the third time I see you, who even are you?
He leaned in, voice low.
Dark: I am getting tired of people like that.
Sereon's gaze did not waver.
Sereon: You should be.
The world cracked.
It started at Sereon's collarbone.
A single thin line split his skin, running up his neck, across his cheek, over his brow. Another line branched from his jaw. A third crossed his chest where Dark's fingers gripped him.
The sound was quiet.
Like glass cracking under slow pressure.
Dark's eyes widened.
The body beneath his hand shattered.
Sereon's entire form broke into countless translucent fragments, each one catching the volcanic light, reflecting a distorted image of Dark's face. The shards scattered through the air around him, glittering as they fell.
Some cut his cheek as they passed.
A few embedded into his forearms, slicing skin open. Blood slid down his arms in thin streams.
The shards hit the molten ground.
They did not melt.
They sank gently, disappearing beneath the lava as if pulled by something unseen.
Dark stood in the middle of the shattering, hand still outstretched, fingers grasping at nothing.
Silence fell over the plateau.
Even the volcanoes seemed to pause.
Kaelith looked around slowly, flames pulsing with agitation.
Kaelith: Coward.
Her voice echoed off the black cliffs.
No answer came.
Dark's eye twitched once.
His hand lowered.
His fists clenched, blood dripping from his palms, cut by his own nails.
He stared at the empty spot where Sereon had been standing.
Dark: He is not normal.
He sucked a breath through his teeth.
Dark: Is he some kind of broken god or something. Because the fuck was all that??
Kaelith rolled her neck, still glaring at the empty air.
Kaelith: He is a problem. That is what he is.
A gust of ash filled wind swept past them, dragging the last faint shimmer of Sereon's presence away.
To Be Continued.
End Of Chapter 2.