Elya moved first fast,closing twenty feet in a blink.
Spada aimed low—sweeping slash at Magnus's legs.
Magnus read it.
Jumped straight up.
Five feet in the air.
Pulled fist back—glowing green.
Aimed down at Elya's exposed head.
Elya smirked.
"Baited."
Spada reversed mid-swing—slashed upward.
Aimed at Magnus's descending chest.
Magnus's eyes widened.
Green energy surged—reinforced torso in half a second.
Blade hit ,sparks showed.
Shallow cut—but not fatal.
He twisted his body.
Used the blade's momentum to spin.
Brought knee around—aimed at Elya's temple.
Elya ducked by inches.
Elya's free hand thrust up—palm open.
"Esplosione."
BOOM.
Point-blank force explosion right straight Magnus's gut,launching him backward.
Magnus flipped mid-air and landed on his feet—sliding.
Boots carving trenches in dirt.
He stopped and looked up.
Elya was already moving.
Spada raised—golden light blazing.
Magnus grinned.
Stomped both feet.
Atomic shockwave ripples through ground.
Earth erupted between them.
Wall of debris—rocks, dirt, shattered stone.
Elya's view blocked for one second.
Magnus moved left.
Around the debris wall.
Fist pulled back—charged to maximum.
Aimed where Elya would be when he cleared the wall.
But—
Elya wasn't there.
He went right.
Read the same move.Now they were flanking each other.
Behind the debris wall.Then—
BOOM.
Shockwave annihilated the debris wall.
Stone turned to dust.
Both pushed backwards.
"You predicted my flank."
Elya gave a cold smile.Then charged again.
CLASH.
Spada met reinforced fist.
BOOM.
Exchange after exchange.Each faster than the last.
Magnus punched—Elya dodged.
Elya slashed—Magnus blocked.
Atomic explosion—Force counter.
The wasteland shook and more mountains collapsed.
Debris raining like snow.
Elya noticed Magnus's reinforcement wasn't constant.
Each time he blocked a slash—
Green energy surged to that spot then faded half a second later.
Elya's eyes sharpened.
"Found you."
He attacked , A high slash aimed at Magnus's head.
Magnus reinforced his neck.
Elya pulled back immediately.
Magnus's reinforcement dropped.
Energy dispersing for half a second recovery.
That instant—
Elya struck again but this time Magnus's throat.
SLASH
But the cut wasn't fatal.
Magnus gasped.
Hand going to his throat and stumbled backward.
Elya didn't stop.He swept Magnus's legs.
He hit the ground—hard.
Before he could move—Elya's boot slammed onto his chest pinning him down.
Magnus looked up.At Elya's golden eyes.
He tried to reinforce—
Elya's free hand pointed.
"Catena."
Golden chains erupted and wrapped around Magnus's arms,legs and chest.
Elya looked down at him.
"It's over."
Magnus's breath came in gasps.
Blood pooling beneath him.
"Just... kill me..."
Elya tilted his head.
"Kill you?"
"No. Not this way."
He crouched down.
Close enough that Magnus could see his reflection in the blade.
"You wanted to erase me from existence, remember?"
"Let me show you what that feels like."
He raised his free hand.
"Pesante."
Gravity tripled on Magnus's right arm only.
CRACK.
His bone shattered
Magnus screamed in extreme pain.
Elya's expression didn't change.
"One."
He pointed at the left arm.
"Pesante."
CRACK.
Another scream louder this time.
"Two."
Magnus was sobbing now.
"STOP—PLEASE—"
Elya looked at him.
"Did Silva beg?"
Then he pointed at Magnus's right leg..
"Pesante."
CRACK.
"Three."
Then the left leg.
CRACK.
"Four."
Magnus couldn't even scream anymore.
Just sobbing.
Elya stood and looked down at him.
"Your reinforcements are coming. I can hear them."
He tilted his head.a0
"Five minutes away. Maybe less."
He raised his hand again.
Palm glowing faintly.
"That's enough time for ribs."
Small force explosions.
One at a time and methodical.
CRACK.
"Five."
CRACK.
"Six."
CRACK.
"Seven."
Magnus couldn't breathe. His lungs collapsing.But alive, barely though.
In the forest—
Nana covered her ears and eyes.
Tears streaming.
She could hear the screams and Elya's cold voice counting.
Puma pressed against her and wouldn't let her look.
Three minutes passed.The screaming stopped.
Not because Elya stopped,because Magnus couldn't scream anymore. He jus laid there
Gaspsing and whimpering.
Elya stepped back and wiped his Spada clean.
Then—Movement.
From two directions.
From the east:
Soldiers,dozens of them.Crimson Guards and more Inquisitors.
And at the front—
A man in a military coat with pale grey eyes appeared.
King Darien Nai.
From the west:
More soldiers appeared. About three hundred of them.
Elite guard in dark military uniforms.
And leading them—
A man with shadows rippling around him like living things.
Possessive eyes and a cruel smile.
King Lucian Vaelcrest.
Both forces stopped.
Seeing the flattened mountains and the wasteland.
Silva's body—still pinned to the wall.
Magnus—broken on the ground, gasping.
And Elya standing over Magnus.
Both kings looked at each other with brief acknowledgment.
Then both turned to Elya.
Magnus tried to speak.
"Y-Your Majesty... he's... he's..."
Darien looked at Magnus and at the state he was in and at the destruction around them.
Then at Elya.
"You did this?"
Elya tilted his head.
"Did I?"
Vaelcrest's stared at him.
"Where. Is. She."
Looking for Nana.
"Guess for yourself. "
Vaelcrest's eyes narrowed.
"You dared to take what's mine."
Elya's smile was sharp.
"Tell me how you want die."
Darien raised his hand signal.
Soldiers spread.
"Two kings. Three hundred soldiers. Multiple Inquisitors."
Elya's lips curled in excitement.
"Finally. A challenge."
Darien's expression didn't change.
"You won't leave here alive."
Vaelcrest's shadows surged.
"I'll make you wish for death."
Elya raised his Spada.
"Then stop talking."
Silence swallowed the area for three seconds.
Elya started jumping lightly.
"Do your worst weasels".