BAM!!!
BAM!!!
BAM!!!
Our fists collided again and again.
No rhythm.
No pause.
No room to breathe.
Only destruction.
Every impact sent shockwaves ripping through the battlefield, tearing open the ground and twisting the shattered space around us.
Azure lightning crashed against abyssal flames.
Stormfire clashed with the power of the abyss.
And between those opposing forces—
We fought.
BOOOOOOM!!!
My fist met his.
The collision shook the heavens.
My muscles tightened as I forced more strength into my arm, blue lightning surging beneath my skin.
Vorgrath barely moved.
His fist remained locked against mine, his abyssal flames devouring the lightning crawling across my knuckles.
My teeth clenched.
My muscles screamed.
The cracks beneath my skin widened, thin streams of azure light leaking from my body.
I could feel the transformation consuming me from within.
My power was growing faster than my body could withstand.
But I didn't stop.
I couldn't.
BOOM!!!
I released a compressed blast of air directly between us.
The explosion forced Vorgrath backward, sending him skidding through the air.
For the first time, his feet moved several meters from their original position.
I immediately pursued.
Not enough.
BAM!!!
I closed the distance and drove my fist toward his face.
He turned his head slightly.
My punch missed.
His hand caught my wrist, and with a small rotation, he redirected my entire attack.
Effortlessly.
My eyes narrowed.
Damn it!
His counter came before I could recover.
An uppercut surged toward my chin.
I twisted sideways.
Barely.
The attack passed close enough to distort the air beside my face.
I retaliated with a roundhouse kick.
CLANG!!!
He caught my leg.
His grip tightened.
Then his other hand began to glow.
Crimson energy gathered around his palm, compressing into a dense sphere of abyssal power.
The surrounding space bent toward it.
My instincts screamed.
DANGER!!!
I tried to pull away.
Too late.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The blast detonated.
The space where I had stood disappeared beneath the explosion.
But I was already moving.
SWISH!!!
I reappeared behind him, my fist drawn back.
Blue light pulsed beneath my skin.
My muscles trembled as I forced the remaining power into my arm.
The transformation was tearing me apart.
I knew it.
I could feel it.
But for one instant, Vorgrath's back was exposed.
And I had no intention of wasting the opportunity.
BAMMMMM!!!
My fist struck the back of his head.
A clean hit.
The impact released a violent shockwave.
Vorgrath shot downward, breaking through the sound barrier as the air screamed around his falling body.
For a fraction of a second, I watched him descend.
Then—
CRAAAAACK!!!
Pain exploded through my arm.
I stared at my hand.
The skin had torn open.
Flesh split across my knuckles, exposing fractured bone beneath the blue light.
The force of the strike had damaged me almost as badly as it had damaged him.
Azure flames rushed across the wound.
They wrapped around my fingers, forcing the broken structure back together.
Bone reconnected.
Flesh closed.
But the regeneration was incomplete.
My hand continued trembling.
My body can't keep up.
I barely finished the thought before my instincts screamed again.
DANGER!!!
BOOOOOOM!!!
A sphere of abyssal energy detonated against my back.
Then Vorgrath's fist followed.
BAMMMMM!!!
The impact swallowed my vision.
Everything turned white.
I was hurled across the battlefield, my body tumbling uncontrollably through the air.
I couldn't stabilize myself.
Couldn't gather enough energy to change direction.
I could only endure.
BAM!!!
His fist struck my ribs.
BAM!!!
Another smashed into my abdomen.
BAMMMMM!!!
The final blow drove through my guard and sent me flying farther into the distance.
Each impact felt heavier than the last.
My body wasn't simply taking damage.
It was being crushed beneath a force I could no longer match.
My arms barely responded.
My legs felt numb.
The stormfire surrounding me flickered with every strike.
I can't keep up.
Vorgrath appeared before me again.
His fist drew backward.
Crimson light condensed around his knuckles.
I saw the attack coming.
I understood where it would land.
But my body refused to move quickly enough.
Then—
I stopped trying to endure it.
I'll make you move instead.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
I exploded.
Every remaining trace of energy burst outward from my body.
Azure lightning and stormfire erupted in every direction, forming a violent shockwave that forced space itself to recoil.
Vorgrath was caught in the blast.
His body shot upward.
Burn marks spread across his chest and shoulders as the explosion tore through his aura.
For the first time, he was forced to retreat.
I watched him disappear into the clouds of energy.
Then gravity reclaimed me.
I fell.
Straight down.
My body spun through the air, barely responding to my attempts to stabilize it.
The remaining stormfire struggled to hold my transformation together.
My skin was cracked.
My muscles were damaged.
My energy was almost exhausted.
Yet the wounds continued to heal.
Slowly.
Far too slowly.
The ground rushed toward me.
Then—
DANGER!!!
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
A pillar of energy slammed into my body from above.
The attack drove me straight into the earth.
KRAAAAAAAAAAASH!!!
The battlefield collapsed.
A vast crater opened beneath the impact, swallowing the remaining ground and sending a towering cloud of debris into the sky.
The shockwave spread for miles.
Then everything stopped.
Silence.
Smoke filled the crater.
Thick.
Burning.
Laced with flickering red lightning.
At its centre lay my broken body.
For several seconds, I couldn't move.
My ears rang.
My vision blurred.
The stormfire surrounding me had weakened to a faint blue glow.
It flickered across my body, trying to repair the damage.
Trying to keep me alive.
But every attempt seemed weaker than the last.
"...Cough!"
Blood filled my mouth.
I spat it onto the ground and tried to move my fingers.
Nothing.
I tried again.
A tremor passed through my hand.
Move.
My muscles remained unresponsive.
Move!
I forced energy through my damaged body.
Pain erupted across my chest.
My arms trembled.
My legs shook.
Slowly—
Painfully—
I pushed myself upright.
One knee.
One hand.
Then the other foot.
THUD.
I stood.
Barely.
My breathing came in ragged bursts.
Blood ran down my face, dripping from my chin.
The blue light beneath my skin flickered like a dying star.
Yet I remained standing.
Above me—
BOOM!!!
Vorgrath descended.
He landed several meters away, his feet touching the fractured earth without the slightest sign of strain.
His body remained covered in abyssal flames.
The burns from my previous explosion were already fading.
He looked at me.
Then smiled.
"What's the matter?"
His voice echoed through the crater.
"Already done?"
I said nothing.
I could barely breathe, let alone answer.
He took a step forward.
The ground cracked beneath his foot.
"Come on, little one."
His smile widened.
"Show me something worth remembering."
I lowered my head.
For a moment, I simply stood there.
My arms hung at my sides.
My fingers twitched.
My entire body was screaming at me to stop.
I had pushed beyond my limits.
Forced my evolution.
Broken through the boundaries of my previous transformation.
And still—
It wasn't enough.
But I had one thing left.
One final possibility.
I slowly raised my hands.
Two fingers extended from each hand, pointing in opposite directions.
Vorgrath's smile faded slightly.
A faint blue light appeared around my right hand.
Crimson-red energy gathered around my left.
Lightning.
And compressed energy.
Two forces that had no reason to cooperate.
Two forces that could destroy me if I failed to control them.
I began drawing them together.
The surrounding air trembled.
CRRRRRACK!!!
Space twisted around my fingers.
The blue lightning coiled inward, while the red energy compressed into a dense sphere.
The two forces resisted each other.
Violently.
My arms shook.
Blood ran down my fingers.
The cracks across my skin widened as the pressure increased.
I gritted my teeth.
Come on.
The sphere grew smaller.
Denser.
Heavier.
Its surface twisted between azure and crimson, lightning crawling across it like veins of living fire.
The surrounding space began to distort.
Pebbles rose from the ground.
Fragments of shattered rock drifted toward the sphere, then disintegrated before reaching it.
The energy wasn't merely destructive.
It was hungry.
Every trace of power it touched seemed to vanish into its rotating core.
My breathing grew more ragged.
My fingers trembled.
The sphere wavered.
For one terrifying instant, its surface began to collapse inward.
I forced more energy into it.
CRAAAAACK!!!
A fracture spread across the space around my hands.
The sphere stabilized.
Barely.
I stared at the unstable mass between my fingers.
This attack might kill Vorgrath.
Or it might consume everything I had left.
Including me.
I swallowed the blood in my mouth.
"...All or nothing."
The primal transformation flickered.
White fur dissolved from my arms.
My muscles contracted.
The azure armour covering my body broke apart into sparks of light.
I was losing the transformation.
I didn't have enough energy to maintain it anymore.
But the sphere remained.
And I refused to let it go.
My body returned to its humanoid form, battered and trembling.
The energy between my hands continued to compress.
Smaller.
Denser.
More terrifying.
Vorgrath watched in silence.
For the first time since the battle began, he didn't immediately attack.
Perhaps he recognized the danger.
Perhaps he wanted to see what I had created.
It didn't matter.
I raised my head.
My eyes burned with the last remnants of azure light.
"Devouring..."
The sphere roared.
ROOOOOOOOOAR!!!
"...Thunder Core!"
I thrust my hands forward.
And released everything.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
The sphere tore through space.
It didn't travel like an ordinary projectile.
It devoured the distance before it.
A trail of fractured reality followed its passage as azure lightning spiralled around the crimson core.
The ground beneath its path vanished.
The air collapsed.
Every fragment of energy caught in its wake was drawn into its rotating depths.
Fast.
Hungry.
Unstoppable.
Vorgrath stood before it.
He didn't dodge.
He raised one finger.
Calmly.
Crimson energy gathered at its tip, forming a narrow point of concentrated power.
Then—
He fired.
A thin beam pierced forward.
SHIIIIIIIIING!!!
The beam struck the Devouring Thunder Core.
For an instant, the two attacks collided.
My sphere trembled.
The beam drilled into its surface, sending crimson fractures across the rotating energy.
I felt the impact through the connection between my body and the attack.
My knees buckled.
No...
The beam continued forward.
It pierced deeper.
The sphere began to deform.
For a moment, I thought it was over.
Then—
The Devouring Thunder Core changed.
The crimson fractures stopped spreading.
Azure lightning surged across the sphere's surface, swallowing the invading energy.
The beam began to thin.
Its power was being drawn inward.
Consumed.
The sphere didn't collapse.
It devoured.
Vorgrath's eyes sharpened.
"...So that's your move."
He abruptly stopped firing.
The remaining beam vanished into the rotating core.
The sphere grew larger.
Its surface became brighter.
The surrounding space twisted more violently as the attack absorbed the energy that had been intended to destroy it.
For the first time, Vorgrath's expression became serious.
He extended both hands.
The abyssal flames around his body surged toward his palms.
Crimson.
Black.
Dense enough to distort the space around them.
He gathered everything.
His aura compressed.
His muscles tightened.
The burning core in his chest pulsed violently, sending waves of energy through his entire body.
The power between his hands expanded into a sphere of red-black destruction.
Its surface churned like a miniature abyss.
Then he spoke.
"Crimson..."
The sphere compressed further.
"...Devour."
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!!
He thrust both hands forward.
The crimson sphere tore across the battlefield.
My Devouring Thunder Core rushed to meet it.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!!!!!
The two attacks collided.
The backlash struck me first.
BAMMMMM!!!
The force ripped through my body.
My feet left the ground.
My arms twisted violently.
Pain exploded through every damaged muscle.
I was hurled across the crater, crashing through the air as my body struggled to respond.
My fingers went numb.
My legs barely moved.
The faint blue flames surrounding me flickered.
Once.
Twice.
They were dying.
I could feel it.
My strength was almost gone.
Yet my attack continued.
The Devouring Thunder Core grew larger as it absorbed the energy colliding against it.
Its rotation accelerated.
The azure lightning became wilder.
The crimson core burned brighter.
The battlefield shook beneath the pressure.
Even Vorgrath was forced to brace himself.
The ground around his feet collapsed as the two attacks pushed against each other.
I watched through blurred vision.
And saw it.
The smallest change in his expression.
A tightening around his eyes.
A shift in his stance.
A moment of recognition.
He understood.
My attack was becoming more dangerous the longer it continued to consume his power.
But he wasn't going to let it reach him.
Vorgrath roared.
ROOOOOOOOOAR!!!
A massive crimson blade materialized in his hand.
Abyssal flames wrapped around its length, forming jagged patterns across the weapon's surface.
He gripped it with both hands.
The surrounding space darkened.
The crimson sphere before him continued to clash against my Devouring Thunder Core.
The battlefield trembled.
Vorgrath raised the blade.
Then—
He struck.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!
The blade descended.
Its abyssal edge collided with the Devouring Thunder Core.
For an instant, the world turned crimson and blue.
Then—
Everything disappeared.
Light.
Sound.
Space.
All of it vanished beneath the explosion.
The shockwave swallowed the crater.
The surrounding landscape was erased beneath a wall of overwhelming energy.
The sky fractured.
The earth collapsed.
Reality itself seemed to disappear beneath the collision of our attacks.
I couldn't feel my body anymore.
I couldn't hear the explosion.
I couldn't tell whether I was falling or floating.
There was only darkness.
And somewhere within that darkness—
A faint blue light remained.
I didn't know what it was.
I didn't know whether I had won.
I didn't even know whether I was still alive.
But I smiled.
Because I had given everything.
Every ounce of strength.
Every fragment of energy.
Every last piece of myself.
I had refused to surrender.
And whatever happened next—
I had made my choice.
The blue light grew brighter.
Then—
Darkness swallowed everything.