Chapter 60: Respect
The words had barely left Monday's lips...
When the world changed.
Not gradually nor violently but absolutely.
The blue lightning surrounding his body stopped crackling.
It stopped raging.
Instead, every current folded inward, compressing into impossibly thin streams of energy that flowed across his skin like living veins. Each bolt moved with perfect discipline, circulating around his body without wasting even the smallest fragment of power.
The heavens darkened.
Clouds spiraled toward him as though gravity itself had shifted. The atmosphere bent. The air warped. Even the light seemed reluctant to pass near him.
Far below, the shattered streets of Gregor Naught fell eerily still.
WHOOSH!
Dust remained suspended in the air. Loose stones floated inches above the ground.
The entire city seemed caught between one heartbeat...And the next.
Daito felt it immediately.
His enhanced senses sharpened by Aerin's ritual were already operating beyond ordinary comprehension.
Yet this...This was something else.
Monday had gone beyond him.
Not by a little but by an entire level.
"...He's..."
Daito whispered.
"...Still getting faster."
Cassian slowly lifted his chin.
The grin spreading across his face was unlike any he had worn before.
There was no amusement, no arrogance, only excitement.
"...There you are."
Monday disappeared.
SWIISH!
Not with an explosion, not with a burst of lightning.
He simply...Was no longer there.
No trail, afterimage, nothing.
For the first time since the battle had begun...Even Daito's enhanced eyes failed to follow him.
Then—
Thoom....
A sound so soft it was barely audible.
Cassian's forearm had already risen to block.
A split second later—
KABOOOOOOM!!
The delayed shockwave erupted across the heavens.
The clouds tore apart in a perfect ring stretching for kilometers.
Air exploded outward with enough force to flatten forests beyond Gregor Naught.
Cassian slid backward through the sky only a few meters.
But he had moved.
Monday appeared beside him, then vanished again.
Another collision.
No flash or roar.
Only the delayed aftermath.
BOOM!!
BOOM!!
BOOM!!
Every impact reached the world long after the fighters had already exchanged dozens more.
Daito stared upward.
He couldn't see them anymore not even fragments.
Only destruction.
A mountain in the distance suddenly split in half. A second later, the thunder reached him. A river changed course without warning. Moments later, the pressure wave arrived.
BOOOM!
Clouds burst apart.
Buildings shook.
BRRRMMM!
The sky itself groaned beneath invisible collisions.
"...I can't..."
Daito clenched his fists.
"...I can't follow them."
His enhanced perception had reached its limit.
For the first time since awakening through the Seontaekdoen ja ritual...
He had become the slowest person in the fight.
* * *
He closed his eyes not to surrender but to think.
If I can't follow them...Then I follow what's left behind.
His eyes snapped open as he stopped looking for Monday and Cassian.
Instead, he watched the world.
A warehouse roof suddenly folded inward.
They were there.
A boulevard erupted into a trench stretching several hundred meters.
Now they're there.
The sky fractured. The pressure shifted. Wind reversed direction.
BZZZTLE!
Another collision.
Another path.
Daito wasn't chasing the fighters anymore.
He was chasing...their consequences.
Like tracking lightning by listening for thunder. Like finding an invisible blade by watching the wounds it left behind.
Slowly...Patterns emerged.
Not in their movements but in their destruction.
A blur shot toward him as his instinct screamed.
He twisted.
WHOOSH!!
Something passed close enough to slice several strands of hair from his head.
A hand caught his shoulder.
Firm and steady.
It was Monday.
He was already moving away.
"...MOVE!"
The voice echoed directly inside Daito's mind.
He froze.
"...What?"
Another burst of thought struck him instantly.
No sound, vibration, spoken words, only pure intention.
"Use your head! We can't talk anymore so think louder!"
Monday was already gone before Daito could answer.
A heartbeat later, Cassian's thoughts pierced the same mental channel.
Calm abd almost playful.
"Stop babysitting him."
KRAAAAAK-KOOOOOM!!
Another invisible collision shook the sky.
The two vanished once more.
Daito stood perfectly still. His mind raced.
Not voices...thoughts.
Innermost voice...his breathing slowed.
He reached inward.
Past fear, past instinct and past conscious speech.
"...Monday."
The response came instantly.
"Finally."
Even through thought, Daito could hear the grin in his friend's voice.
"Took you long enough."
Something clicked.
The faster they became...the less useful spoken language was, thought itself had become communication.
* * *
KABOOOOOOM!
Another explosion echoed overhead.
Daito instinctively looked toward the battlefield then stopped.
No, not there. Something else had drawn his attention.
Someone.
Far below...standing alone amid the ruins of Iron Bastion...
Was Aerin.
She was still exactly where he had left her. Her body remained locked in the final motion of the ritual.
One hand extended. The Traditional Blade glowing before her.
The final circle...Only inches away from completion.
To everyone else...She was moving insanely fast.
To Daito, She was almost completely frozen.
A single strand of her hair drifted through the air so slowly it seemed motionless.
One bead of sweat rolled down her cheek over what felt like minutes.
The final circle descended...Barely.
His mind calculated instinctively.
0.00000001 seconds...
Then recalculated.
Again.
Again.
Again.
His perception stretched that fraction of a second into what felt like eternity.
I only have to wait just one more instant.
The world around him became impossibly still.
Then—
KABOOOOOOM!!
Monday crashed through three skyscrapers before smashing and getting trapped in their rubble.
His mental voice exploded into Daito's consciousness.
"THE HELL IS TAKING SO LONG, DAITO?!"
Even without sound...The frustration was unmistakable.
Daito clenched his fists.
Almost...Come on...Just a little further...Aerin's hand moved.
One inch, then another.
The final circle aligned perfectly above the Traditional Blade.
Time seemed to hesitate.
Then She struck.
THOOOOOOM!!
The glowing circle fused into the blade.
The heavens erupted.
Golden light engulfed everything.
* * *
Daito disappeared.
Not because he accelerated, not because he vanished, but because he became motion itself.
The distance between himself and Monday simply...stopped existing.
Before the collapsing rubble surrounding Monday could settle Daito was already there.
He caught Monday beneath one arm, and pulled him free.
Set him back on his feet. All within a single seamless movement.
Monday blinked.
"...No way..."
Daito didn't answer.
His eyes were already fixed elsewhere.
Cassian.
For the first time since their battle began...Cassian's smile faltered.
Only slightly but it was enough.
He saw Daito coming. He raised his arm.
Too late.
Daito's fist struck.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The impact detonated across the heavens.
Cassian's head snapped violently to one side.
WHOOOSH!
A shockwave spread across the atmosphere, scattering clouds in every direction.
For the first time...Cassian had been hit cleanly.
The force carried all three fighters skyward.
Higher, past the cloud layer and higher still.
Until Gregor Naught became a collection of tiny lights beneath them. The mountains disappeared below the horizon. Only endless sky remained.
Monday floated beside Daito.
BZZTLE!
The unstable electricity from before had vanished completely. Every current obeyed him perfectly. His breathing was calm and controlled.
His eyes burned with absolute focus.
Daito stood beside him.
WHOOSH!
The glow of the completed ritual surrounded him like a second skin. His breathing matched the rhythm of the wind itself.
There was no hesitation and no confusion.
Only clarity.
Across from them...Cassian slowly rubbed the side of his jaw.
Then...He laughed.
A quiet laugh, one born from genuine satisfaction.
"...Now..."
He rolled his shoulders.
KRRRK...
The warped aura surrounding him surged once more.
Space distorted beneath his feet.
"...This..."
His smile returned.
Wider than ever before.
"...is exactly what I wanted."
No one spoke after that. They no longer needed to. Their intentions flowed freely through thought.
Monday disrupted. Daito analyzed. Cassian adapted.
Three minds. Three monsters. One battlefield.
SWOOSH!
ZAAP!
SHWOOTH!
They moved.
Three streaks tore through the heavens.
Gold.
Blue.
Distortion.
They collided, separated and returned.
Strike.
Block.
Counter.
Adapt.
Cassian multiplied his movements.
But now...Monday disrupted the rhythm before it could fully bloom.
Daito entered the smallest opening created by that disruption, forcing Cassian to adjust instead of simply overwhelming them.
For the first time...Cassian wasn't merely responding through instinct.
He was now calculating, thinking and learning.
The smile on his face never disappeared but something else had joined it.
Respect.
The battle had changed. It was no longer a predator playing with prey. It was no longer survival. It had become a contest between equals.
High above Gregor Naught...Beyond sound, sight and ordinary reason...
BRRRMMM!
Three forces clashed with enough power to make the heavens themselves tremble.
And somewhere beneath those endless collisions...
The true battle...Had only just begun.
To be continued ....