Awaited Battle

Chapter 38 – The Awaited Battle

The flames of Ascor roared around them, but for a moment, the battlefield grew quiet.
On one side stood Lucas, Hiroshi, and Sofia, their weapons ready, faces hard with resolve.
On the other, King Jhones "the Ripper", clad in his white suit and fur cloak, stood flanked by Vice Admiral Malric and Ming.
 The three carried themselves with the arrogance of predators who had already decided the outcome.
For the villagers and soldiers fighting in the distance, it was as if the world itself had split into two halves—the weak clashing in chaos, and the titans preparing to decide the fate of the land.
Lucas narrowed his eyes, voice sharp with contempt.
"You all are pathetic. Hiding behind your walls while others bleed, pulling strings from the shadows. And now, when everything burns, you come to gloat?"
Jhones smirked, tilting his head as though amused."Pathetic? No, hero. What's pathetic is this little farce you call resistance. You're not heroes. 
You're children playing with fire."He tapped the hilt of his blade with lazy fingers. "And you don't even know who you're fighting."
Lucas gripped his sword tighter, his mana flickering with restrained fury."Then let's find out."

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Jhones's gaze slid past Lucas, fixing on Hiroshi."The black-haired one," he said, eyes narrowing with intrigue. "You're the one who defeated a king, aren't you? Show me if the rumors hold weight."
With a flick of his wrist, Jhones drew a dagger from his belt and hurled it.
Clang!
Hiroshi's blade swept the weapon aside, sparks scattering. He didn't hesitate—he surged forward, blade crackling with lightning.
Jhones grinned, and in the next breath they collided.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Their weapons rang like hammers striking anvils. Each blow forced shockwaves across the broken street, scattering dust and fire. The speed of their exchange grew faster, too fast for the untrained eye to follow.
Then—both vanished.
The ground where they had stood cracked under the force, and the air shivered with their movements as they reappeared mid-strike, then disappeared again, their duel carried into a blur.

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Ming vs Lucas
Chains rattled as Ming spun his sickles, laughter wild on his lips."You think you can win, Lucas? You'll be torn apart!"
The sickles whirled through the air like vipers, snapping forward in unpredictable arcs. Lucas parried one, ducked under another, then lunged forward, his silver blade flashing.
Sparks burst as chain met steel. Lucas pressed hard, his strikes clean and precise, but Ming fought like a madman, twisting his weapons in reckless patterns that forced Lucas to defend from every angle.
Each clash sent vibrations into the earth, their fight a deadly rhythm of control versus chaos.

---
Sofia vs Malric
Sofia moved next, her twin swords gleaming as she leveled one at Malric.
He grinned, weapon shifting in his hand. With a pulse of mana, it reshaped itself into a gun-like structure, glowing at the barrel.
Bang!
A mana bullet tore through the air. Sofia twisted aside, rolling across the dirt as the shot exploded against a wall. Stone shattered, spraying shards across the street.
Another shot. Then another. Malric fired relentlessly, each blast carrying enough force to punch through steel.
But Sofia was faster. She weaved through the storm, her blades cutting down the air itself. Sparks burst as one bullet struck her sword, split cleanly in two.
She lunged forward, blades flashing, but Malric vanished in a blur of movement.
Bang!
A shot rang from above. She spun, eyes sharp, and slashed upward—splitting the bullet before it reached her heart.
Her gaze locked on Malric perched atop a rooftop, smoke curling from his weapon.
He smirked. "Not bad. Try dodging this, then."

---
A thunderclap split the sky.
Hiroshi and Jhones reappeared, weapons colliding mid-air. Sparks scattered across the flames as Hiroshi roared, forcing lightning through his blade. The strike resembled something Shinra himself would one day wield—an incomplete form of a future technique.
Jhones countered, twisting his weapon into a brutal downward arc. Hiroshi blocked, the force rattling his bones.
Again and again they struck—clang, clang, clang!—the sound like storms colliding. Hiroshi slipped under one blow, countering with a slash across Jhones's chest. Blood sprayed.
But the king only laughed, staggering back with a smirk. He wiped the blood with his thumb, eyes gleaming with delight.
"Interesting," Jhones muttered. "You're stronger than I expected. Now I see why the others hesitated."
He muttered something under his breath—words Hiroshi couldn't catch—and his aura spiked, the ground itself trembling under his feet.
Then he lunged again, their weapons colliding with such force the shockwave blew burning debris across the battlefield. In the blink of an eye, both vanished once more, their duel carried beyond mortal sight.

---

The streets of Ascor became three different worlds.
Hiroshi and Jhones, their battle shaking rooftops and sending flashes of lightning and steel across the sky.
Lucas and Ming, chains whipping and blades flashing as sparks rained around them.
Sofia and Malric, a deadly game of bullets and swords fought from ground to rooftops.

Around them, soldiers and villagers paused, too afraid to step close. Even the flow of the larger battle bent around these titanic clashes.
Shinra, still bound by the glow of his ring, could only watch. His heart pounded as he realized the truth: this was the moment that decided everything.
The battle that broke Wisdom.
The battle that shaped his fate.

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To be continued…