The Volcanic World no longer resembled a stable landmass.
It had become a fractured sphere of molten layers, collapsing and reforming in real time. Entire continental plates of obsidian rotated freely in the air, held together only by pressure fields created from repeated impacts. Rivers of magma no longer flowed downward. They wrapped upward, spiraled, and slammed into the sky before crashing back into the ground like tidal waves made of fire.
This World was not a metaphor.
It was a literal, complete World.
A closed system the size of existence itself.
And it was being beaten apart.
Dark stood at the center of a broken plateau suspended above a sea of magma that churned like a living ocean. His body was torn open in dozens of places. Muscle fibers were exposed along his ribs. Blood streamed down his sides and evaporated before it could hit the ground.
His breathing was no longer steady.
Each inhale was forced.
Each exhale rattled.
Across from him, Kaelith rolled her shoulders slowly.
Her flames were no longer explosive. They were compressed, hugging her body so tightly that the air around her screamed from friction alone. Every step she took caused the Volcanic World to deform inward, not crack, but yield, like matter acknowledging it could not resist.
Kaelith stepped forward.
The ground beneath her foot imploded.
Not shattered.
Compressed.
Thousands of kilometers of stone collapsed inward, folding into themselves as if crushed by an invisible hand. The released pressure detonated outward in a spherical shockwave that tore entire regions of the World loose from its core.
Kaelith: Again.
Dark moved.
He didn't dash.
He forced himself forward.
Shadows wrapped around his legs, not to enhance speed, but to prevent his body from tearing itself apart from acceleration alone. His foot hit the ground and the plateau disintegrated, fragments launching outward at relativistic speeds.
He closed the distance in less than a thought.
Dark rotated his torso, pulling his right shoulder back, compressing his entire upper body into a single line of force before unleashing a straight punch aimed at Kaelith's jaw.
The punch did not miss.
It grazed.
That fraction of misalignment mattered.
Kaelith tilted her head just enough that Dark's knuckles scraped across her cheek instead of landing flush. The contact created a pressure cone that ripped a visible gouge through the atmosphere behind her, carving a tunnel through molten clouds and tearing open the World's crust kilometers away.
Dark's arm screamed.
The resistance that fed back into his bones vibrated his skeleton violently. Microfractures raced up his forearm, snapping muscle fibers and rupturing veins.
He didn't stop.
He stepped in harder.
His left elbow drove upward toward her throat, shadows compressing around the joint to reinforce the strike.
Kaelith caught it.
Her fingers closed around his elbow joint.
The grip was casual.
The pressure was not.
Dark felt the bones in his forearm collapse inward, not snap, but compact into themselves. Bone shards tore through muscle and skin as blood sprayed sideways in a violent arc.
Dark snarled, twisting his torso mid-grip, using the rotational force to tear his arm free while simultaneously driving his knee upward.
His knee slammed into Kaelith's lower ribs.
The impact detonated.
The World convulsed.
A hemispherical shockwave blasted outward, tearing apart entire internal layers of the Volcanic World. Deep magma chambers ruptured, sending geysers of molten rock screaming into the sky.
Kaelith slid back.
Half a step.
Her boots carved trenches through stone that instantly liquefied from heat.
She grinned.
Kaelith: Better.
She lunged forward.
Her forehead slammed into Dark's face.
The sound was not flesh on flesh.
It was structure on structure.
Dark's skull rang violently as the impact transferred force directly through his spine. His vision went white. Blood erupted from his nose, mouth, and ears as he was thrown backward.
He skipped across the surface of the World like a stone across water.
Each impact annihilated the terrain beneath him. Entire continental masses shattered, collapsing inward as Dark's body tore through them.
He slammed his hand into the ground.
His fingers punched through layers of molten stone and locked in place.
The sudden stop dislocated every joint in his arm.
His fingers bent backward at impossible angles.
Dark screamed through clenched teeth and forced them back into place with a wet crack, hauling himself upright just as the air above him folded.
Kaelith was already there.
She came down heel-first.
Dark rolled.
Her foot struck the ground.
The Volcanic World failed.
A vertical rupture tore open beneath her heel, splitting the World's crust from surface to core. Internal pressure exploded upward, ejecting entire regions of the World into orbit before gravity dragged them back down in flaming arcs.
Dark barely cleared the blast, shadows wrapping around his torso to keep his organs from rupturing.
Kaelith launched upward through the eruption.
She twisted mid-air.
Her fist drove forward.
It hit Dark square in the abdomen.
Not pushed.
Caved.
His torso folded inward violently. Ribs shattered inward, puncturing lung tissue. Organs ruptured. Blood burst from his mouth in a dense spray.
The force did not stop at contact.
It continued.
Dark was driven straight down.
He vanished beneath the surface.
The World screamed.
Dark smashed through internal layers never meant to be breached. Each impact destroyed him further. Bones broke again before they could finish healing. Flesh tore. Heat flayed skin from muscle.
Pressure crushed him from all sides.
Then—
Stillness.
Kaelith hovered above the wound she had created, flames flickering tightly around her body.
Kaelith: Hm.
The ground behind her ruptured outward.
Dark erupted from below.
Shadows tore through reality as he emerged, his body barely holding itself together. Flesh was reknitting unevenly. Blood soaked through skin and dripped freely.
His right eye burned a violent red.
His left glowed deeper.
Colder.
Dark: This is it.
Kaelith turned.
Dark moved.
He didn't accelerate.
He appeared.
Their fists collided.
The impact did not explode outward.
It imploded.
The Volcanic World folded inward around them. Space compressed violently as pressure overwhelmed structure. Entire regions of existence warped, crushed into dense layers before rebounding outward in catastrophic release.
Kaelith twisted her wrist mid-collision and struck again.
Dark raised his forearm to block.
The impact layered.
Four distinct force vectors hit him simultaneously.
His arm didn't break.
It disintegrated.
Bone exploded outward. Muscle shredded. The force passed through him and detonated behind, blasting a hole straight through the World's outer shell.
Dark was launched backward.
He carved a trench through existence itself before slamming down on his knees.
His heart thundered violently.
Each beat sent agony through his chest.
Dark (thinking): Four... same instant...
Kaelith walked toward him, brushing hair back.
Kaelith: You felt it.
Dark pushed himself upright, body shaking violently.
Kaelith: Stop thinking.
She vanished.
Her forehead smashed into his.
The collision warped the World again. Entire layers collapsed inward as Dark was driven straight down.
He lay still.
Then he stood.
Black substance crawled over his body, layering into cloth and armor like liquid night. The pressure around him changed.
It no longer leaked.
It settled.
Kyuketsu assembled in his hand, dark metal folding into a longsword that drank the light around it.
Dark walked forward.
Kaelith's grin widened.
Kaelith: There it is.
Dark vanished.
He reappeared behind her.
His blade drove straight through her back.
Kaelith gasped.
Blood poured from her mouth.
Reality snapped.
Dark stood in front of her.
Untouched.
Kaelith staggered.
Kaelith: ...That—
Dark appeared mid-air and kicked.
His heel smashed into her face. Blood sprayed. She flew across the World, smashing through formations before crashing to her knees.
Dark landed.
He raised his sword.
The World darkened.
Dark: I—
Pressure crushed inward.
Dark: Am—
The air screamed.
Dark: The one—
His scream tore through the Volcanic World.
The strike came without motion.
Kaelith convulsed.
A perfect line of blood erupted from her stomach through her chest and out her back.
The Volcanic World went quiet.
Not still.
Not calm.
Quiet in the way a battlefield becomes quiet when everything that could scream already has.
Ash drifted downward in slow spirals. Lava continued to move, but without violence, like the World itself was holding its breath. The裂 in the sky where pressure had torn reality open began to seal, molten light knitting itself closed.
Kaelith remained on her knees.
Blood poured from her mouth in thick drops, hitting the ground and hissing into steam. Her hands were planted against the cracked stone, fingers trembling, flames flickering unevenly around her shoulders.
Dark stood a few steps away.
His sword slipped from his fingers and dissolved into shadow before it hit the ground.
His body shook.
Not from damage.
From release.
He took one step forward.
Then another.
Each step felt heavier than the last, as if the World itself was finally allowing the weight of everything to settle onto him.
He stopped in front of her.
For a moment, he just stared.
At the blood.
At the wound.
At the woman who had beaten him into pieces again and again and refused to let him stay broken.
Dark knelt.
Slowly.
Carefully.
His hands hovered for a second, unsure, then closed around her shoulders.
He pulled her into him.
Not roughly.
Not desperately.
Just... tightly.
Kaelith stiffened at first.
Then she felt it.
The warmth.
It flowed out of him the moment contact was made. Not fire. Not shadow. Not abyss. Something deeper. A pressure that carried intent instead of force. It poured into her chest, through the wound, stitching flesh and bone together from the inside out.
The bleeding slowed.
Stopped.
The torn muscle sealed. The split ribs reformed. The line of damage vanished as if it had never existed.
Kaelith inhaled sharply.
Her flames flared once, then softened.
Dark's grip tightened.
And then his breath hitched.
Once.
Twice.
His forehead pressed against her shoulder.
His fingers dug into the fabric at her back.
Dark: ...Thank you.
His voice cracked.
The word barely made it out.
His shoulders shook.
Then it broke out of him all at once.
Tears.
Hot. Unrestrained. Heavy.
They soaked into her shoulder as his chest heaved, breath coming in jagged pulls he couldn't control anymore. The composure he wore like armor shattered completely. Every fight. Every death. Every thing he had carried without ever stopping long enough to feel it.
It all came out there.
In her arms.
Dark: I didn't know how to stop.
Dark: I didn't know how to get stronger without breaking myself.
Dark: I didn't know if I was doing any of this right.
His voice dissolved into sobs.
Kaelith froze for half a heartbeat.
Then her arms came up around him.
Firm.
Solid.
She pulled him closer, one hand pressing against the back of his head, guiding it into the space between her shoulder and chest. Heat radiated from her, not burning, not harsh. Just warm. Steady. Grounding.
Her flames lowered until they were nothing more than a gentle glow.
Kaelith: Hey.
Her voice was quieter now.
Kaelith: Breathe.
She rubbed his back slowly, rhythmically, letting her warmth sink into his shaking body. The Volcanic World responded, heat stabilizing, magma settling into slow, deep currents.
Dark clutched her tighter, face buried against her.
Dark: I'm tired.
The admission came out small.
Kaelith's grip tightened.
Kaelith: I know.
She shifted slightly, bracing him better, letting him lean fully into her without needing to hold himself up. His weight was nothing to her. His pain was not.
Kaelith: You fought. You learned. You survived.
She rested her chin lightly against the top of his head.
Kaelith: That is enough for today.
Dark's breathing slowly evened out. The sobs softened into quiet, broken inhales. Tears still fell, but without force now, just exhaustion finally given permission to exist.
Dark: I couldn't have done this alone....
Kaelith: You didn't. Shhh..
She held him there, warming him, steady and unyielding, while the World around them healed itself piece by piece.
Ash continued to fall.
But it felt lighter now.
For the first time since the training began, Kaelith did not tell him to get up.
She just held him.
Kaelith then rubbed her hand on his head.
Kaelith: You little idiot hehehe.
Kaelith smiles as he hugs him.
To be continued.
End of chapter 4.