The battle had just begun.
From beneath the earth, a hand burst forth, fingers twitching, clawing at the air like an undead rising from its grave. Then—
PPING!
A sharp, unnatural sound cut through the battlefield.
BOOM!
The entire mountain vanished in an instant. A deafening explosion tore through the land, sending shockwaves across the horizon. Dust and debris churned into a maelstrom, devouring everything in sight.
And when the chaos settled, only one figure remained—standing atop what had once been a towering peak.
Alexander.
His silhouette loomed against the ruined landscape, his body untouched, his gaze burning with an intensity that made the air itself tremble. It was clear—this was no man to be buried.
This was a force of nature.
From the distance, a voice rang out, tinged with disbelief.
"You... survived that?"
Lucian questioned, his regenerated arm twitching strangely.
Alexander smirked, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off dust was the only inconvenience. "Survive? That wasn't even a tickle."
Lucian's grip on his weapon tightened, knuckles turning white. The sheer absurdity of it gnawed at him—he had just erased a mountain, and yet Alexander stood there as if it were nothing more than a mild inconvenience.
"Tch… running your mouth."
With a sharp exhale, Lucian vanished.
His blade descended like a comet, splitting the air with a deafening crack—
CLANG!
The strike stopped.
The blade clanged against a hard metal, it was a vambrance. The mythril vambrance that had fell down from Alexander's forearm just a minute before.
The upper part of the blade hovered inches from Alexander's head, held back by an unmoving grit.
Lucian's eyes widened. "What reflex!"
Alexander tilted his head. "I get that a lot."
He raised his arm a little more, forcing Lucian to open his guard.
And then in the blink of an eye, a swift kick landed right on Lucian's face. It was so fast, that only the aftermath could be seen.
BOOM!
Lucian was gone.
A shockwave erupted, hurling him like a ragdoll. He crashed through the shattered battlefield, skidding across the ruins before slamming into what little remained of the landscape.
Silence.
Then, from the rubble, Lucian groaned. He forced himself up, coughing dust from his lungs. Blood trickled from his lip as he glared at the unmoving figure before him.
Alexander stood exactly where he had been.
"So…" Alexander cracked his knuckles. "Still think that was enough to bury me?"
Lucian exhaled sharply, brushing a hand through his hair, pushing it back to reveal his forehead. His expression darkened.
"Ha... What was your name again?"
"Alexander. Alexander von Negther."
Lucian's face twisted into a look of pure disappointment. "Alexander.."
Alexander hesitated. "...i don't like that way you repeated that."
Lucian sighed, shaking his head. "I don't like the way you are fighting me nonsensically."
Alexander rubbed his temples. "Oh c'mon. It's all your fault we are fighting."
Lucian scoffed. "Hmph! You came from nowhere, asking for the land that i myself seized. How selfish! Too bad—" he picked up his sword, his aura igniting like wildfire. "—I won't let you live long enough to be even more of it."
Lucian gripped his sword tighter, dragging the tip on the ground as he slowly walked towards him.
Each step he took ignited a strange flame in Alexander's heart. Was it anticipation? Maybe.
Fighting the king of demon's was one thing, but Lucian was an entirely different subject.
A being so utterly powerful to the fact Alexander was beginning to use his True Mana, while Lucian only had slight physical injuries. On top of being at his weakest according to the myths.
All these thoughts kept crossing Alexander's mind as Lucian slowly closed the distance. And even though, Lucian was just a few metres away, Alexander patiently stood there.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
With each new step the thunderous sound of the ground grew louder and louder. The dark blade roughly dragging through the barren land, and the demon holding it. Alexander could see it all so clearly.
He, too, turned left and walked a few steps picking up his sword. His metal sword, now gently resting on his palm. It was damaged, small cracks at the middle, rough edge on the tip.
Fighting against a mythical being must have been too much for it. Alexander muttered something, something apologetic of sort.
Then turned to face Lucian, standing right in front of him.
"You have manners, i see." Lucian said while slowly raising his blade high up to his head. His stoic face showed some kind of warm emotion, yet it was hard to tell what it actually was.
"Not really. A blade's best wish is to die in a battle. I am just sorry for it's real owner." He took a slow stance. A text book stance. Sword in front, slightly crouched, and yet breathing heavily.
For the first time, Lucian smiled. A small, warm smile with his eyes completely shut.
He has fought many. So many that it he counted, it would be more than the stars one could imagine. He fought not just humans, but demons, elves, dwarfs, fairies, angels, and dragons.
These were just categories of those whom he considered opponents. Fighting the other demon kings, the intellectual humans, the cunning dwarfs, the mythical elves, the magical fairies, and the heaven itself.
Fight. fight. fight. That was his entire life.
One would think he loved fighting.
But Lucian would reject that claim. He would simply say it's fate and walk away.
But for the first time, he had a feeling. No matter how small, but yet there was just a tiny bit of something in his heart.
"Alexander. I will remember your name."
Lucian's blade swiftly fell onto Alexander. Alexander brought a step closer, and striked right onto the blade from below.
At first, it was a simple clang of metals. Then—
BOOM!
The ground sank. At first, just a few metres, then the magnitude increased rapidly.
BOOM!
Another shockwave, the whole plain sank inwards, spreading to tens of kilometres.
Alexander was losing in the battle of strength, he was being pushed back with each stroke of time.
He put more strength, pushing with both his hands and then—
His sword broke.
Eyes widened, he quickly backstepped. The hunk of metal smashed into the ground.
Even though he had quickly retreated, Lucian's blade had already sliced his chest. It was a large cut, from the top of his chest to almost his waist. Dark red blood poured down from it, tainting his golden clothes with the crimson shade.
They both stay still. Alexander knew that the wound was extremely disadvantageous, and so did Lucian.
A drop of water fell on top his head. Then another, and another. Dark clouds had gathered in the battlefield.
The sky wept.
Rain poured down, cold and relentless, as if the battle itself had broken nature's rhythm. Water splattered against the ruined earth, trickling through the cracks left by their clash.
Alexander remained locked in place, his body betraying him, his knees trembling, his blood mixed with the rain to cover the earth.
They stood face to face, eyes locked, their gazes sharp as diamond.
Lucian smirked, his hair once again disheveled by the rain. A single droplet trailed down his cheek as he looked Alexander in the eyes.
"Farewell, Alexander von… uh—"
"Negther."
Lucian blinked. "Oh."
Then his smirk widened. "Farewell, Alexander von Negther."
His hand opened.
A fist hovered just inches from Alexander's chest.
A one-inch punch.
Before Alexander could speak, Lucian struck.
The impact didn't ripple outward. It didn't explode in a grand shockwave.
This time, the force condensed.
A single point. A single strike.
And from Alexander's back—golden energy erupted.
The beam of energy was blinding.
It tore through buildings, mountains—even realms. The blast carved a path straight into the Beastkin lands, its sheer force rewriting the landscape in an instant.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
What others couldn't see was far more terrifying.
The beam didn't stop at the horizon.
It escaped the planet!
Ripping through the void, it defied all logic. It needed no medium to travel—it was the medium. The raw energy sustained itself, refusing to dissipate, as if existence itself bent to its will.
In mere moments, it had already left the solar system—a system of five planets, orbiting a sun far larger than the one seen from Earth.
Yet even that was insignificant.
The beam kept going Faster. Beyond the speed of light.
It was headed toward the great devourer of the universe.
A black hole.
Then—impact.
At first, there was nothing. No explosion. No blinding light. Just a deep, unnatural silence.
Then the universe shook.
Not the ground. Not the sky. The universe itself.
Space twisted. Reality bent. The sheer force of the collision didn't just rival the death of a star or the clash of planets—those were insects in comparison.
This wasn't destruction.
It was creation.
From the point of impact, a spiral began to form—growing, expanding, pulling matter into its orbit.
A galaxy was born.
Back to earth.
The impact on Alexander's stomach was massive, his clothes burned away, revealing his battle-scarred physique. His muscles tensed, his breath shallow, as golden embers flickered across his skin. The rain hissed against the searing heat of the blow, steam rising in ghostly wisps around him.
Lucian took a step back, shaking his hand. "Damn. That actually hurt my wrist."
Alexander exhaled, slow and controlled. His body hadn't moved an inch from the sheer force, but the internal damage was undeniable. He could feel it—his organs rattled, his ribs fractured, his very core trembling from the concentrated might of that single-inch strike.
And yet—he laughed.
"Heh."
Lucian raised a brow. "What's funny?"
Alexander rolled his shoulders, the motion sending another ripple of heat into the air. His smirk widened, even as blood dripped from his lips. "Just wondering..." He lifted his gaze, eyes burning with raw defiance. "Was that your best shot?"
Lucian's smirk twitched. "You tell me."
"Well, it did hurt quit- no. It hurt a lot. This is the first time someone has injured me this much"
Lucian chuckled as he heard Alexander's response. Though it was surprising he was still standing with that strike. He was injured, not just a little. It was actually if a little child had been hit by a truck. He was covered in red with somewhat blue blood all over his body.
There was one more thing, lucian was also heavily injured. He's left arm, which he had regenerated was no longer able to move. Blood was flooding from his nose and mouth.
"They both are insanely injured now, i don't think they should still fight." Renaya watching from the observation window stated. Magnus simply nodded.
"But I am not happy with this.". Lucian took power to say those words as he punched Alexander in the guts, this punch wasn't with the use of authority, mana or qi. This was pure strength.
It was a punch born from sheer will—a defiant refusal to fall before his rival.
That punch sent Alexander flying, fast, as if he were a meteorite entering the Earth's atmosphere. As he flew through the sky, battered and bloodied, Alexander's mind flickered back—to a promise, a face, a reason to rise again. He soon fell to the ground inside a forest. Bleeding, with shattered bones, scratched skin and with nothing but his pants as a cloth to cover his skin.
Lucian on the battlefield turned his back and stared towards his castle. He dragged his feets on the ground and walked towards his castle.
"I acknowledge you, Alexander. You are worthy of being second to me."
Inside the floating castle far, far from the battlefield, the storm still roaring outside, the throne room was dead silent.
Magnus leaned back in his chair, sipping from a chipped teacup. "Well… that escalated quickly."
Bob blinked. "Did we just feel an earthquake? That wasn't normal."
Renaya gripped the edge of the armrest. "It wasn't just an earthquake. That shockwave… I thought the world was ending."
Magnus casually poured himself another cup. "Honestly, felt like that one punch Sait*ma used to swat Bor*s into orbit."
Bob squinted. "Who?"
Renaya frowned. "What are you talking about?"
Magnus blinked innocently. "No one."
They stared at Magnus, but he just took another sip, unfazed.
"…You sure you're not making those names up?" Bob asked, brows furrowed.
Magnus shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. Could just be fever dreams from a lazy afternoon nap."
Renaya leaned against the window, watching the rain blur the battlefield. "Still… to think someone could survive that."
"Two someones," Bob muttered. "They looked like corpses trying to keep walking."
"Yeah," Magnus murmured, his eyes narrowing just slightly. "That's the terrifying part. They're not done."
Outside, the storm began to fade. The winds settled. The clouds thinned.
But the tension in the air remained—heavy, crackling, unspoken.
Somewhere in the distance, Alexander lay broken but alive. Somewhere else, Lucian dragged his battered body back home.
The fight was over.
But something else had woken up because of this.