Sora hit the pavement hard.
Not gently.Not gracefully.
His body skipped across broken asphalt like a stone on water before finally rolling to a stop beside a crushed car.
He coughed.
Blood splattered onto the street.
His vision swam, ears ringing with the distant echo of collapsing concrete.
Every breath felt like glass in his lungs.
Kael didn't rush him.
He never rushed.
Boots crunched slowly over debris as Kael approached, hands buried in his pockets, red eyes calm, unreadable.
"You recover quickly," Kael said flatly.
Sora forced himself upright, trembling.
"Had to," he rasped. "You don't give breaks."
Kael stopped five meters away.
"No."
Sora wiped blood from his mouth and suddenly—
Ran.Sideways.
Straight down the ruined street.
Kael tilted his head.
"Running?Interesting."
He vanished.
Sora felt it before he saw it.
Pressure.Heat.
Instinct screamed.
Kael reappeared beside him mid-stride and drove his knee into Sora's ribs.
CRACK.
Sora flew sideways through the lower floors of a nearby skyscraper.
Glass detonated.
Steel supports bent.
He smashed through two internal walls before slamming into a pillar, barely catching himself.
Dust poured from the ceiling.
Sora dropped to one knee, gasping.
Good.
Right where I wanted him.
He didn't hesitate.
Sora launched himself deeper into the building, weaving between columns, leaping up broken staircases, rebounding off walls—using the vertical space, forcing Kael to follow through confined angles.
Kael stepped inside.
The temperature rose slightly.
Sora burst from behind a pillar, Platinum Punch flashing—
Kael caught his wrist.
Twisted.
Sora spun out, kicked off a wall, and came in from above—
Kael blocked with his forearm.
Sparks flew.
Sora flipped backward, landing on a collapsed beam, immediately throwing debris forward to blind Kael—
Kael walked through it.
Unbothered.
Sora appeared behind him, fist glowing—
Blocked.
Again.
Kael backhanded him through another column.
Concrete exploded.
Sora rolled, sprang up, used the falling dust as cover, struck from Kael's blind side—
Blocked.
Kael's grip tightened on Sora's arm.
"Your angles are improving," Kael said calmly.
Then he slammed Sora into the floor hard enough to crater it.
Sora coughed, barely rolling away as Kael's heel came down where his head had been.
The entire floor gave way.
The building screamed.
Structural supports failed in sequence.
For half a second, everything went weightless.
Then—
The skyscraper gave one final groan— split.
Right down the center.
One half began sliding away from the other.
Kael and Sora landed on the same falling section.
Wind roared past them as the city rushed upward.
Chunks of concrete tore free, spiraling through open air.
Rebar snapped and whipped like metallic serpents.
They were fighting on a dying building.
Mid-descent.
Sora launched forward, golden energy flaring.
Kael met him head-on.
Punch.
Block.
Kick.
Deflect.
They exchanged blows as gravity dragged them down, shockwaves ripping through the fractured structure.
Sora rebounded off a broken wall, came back with a spinning strike—
Kael ducked and drove his elbow into Sora's stomach.
Sora folded, but forced through it, headbutting Kael—
Kael barely shifted.
He grabbed Sora by the collar.
For the first time—
Flames ignited along Kael's knuckles.
Tight and controlled.
Surgical fire wrapped around his fist.
Kael drove that burning punch straight into Sora's chest.
BOOM.
Sora was launched backward—
And Kael followed through.
He punched again.
This time, he didn't stop at Sora.
The entire half of the building went with him.
Both Sora and the massive slab of concrete were driven straight into the street below.
The impact was apocalyptic.
A crater erupted outward.Cars were thrown aside.
Nearby windows shattered simultaneously.
Dust and smoke swallowed everything.
Silence followed.
Slowly, Kael descended through the haze, landing lightly at the crater's edge.
He walked forward casually.Hands returning to his pockets.
Inside the crater, Sora lay half-buried in rubble.
His body twitched.
He tried to move.
Failed.
Blood pooled beneath him.
His golden energy flickered weakly, barely holding shape.
Kael stopped beside him and looked down.
"You planned for the kick," Kael said.
Sora coughed weakly.
"Yeah…"
"You used terrain."
"…yeah…"
"You adapted mid-fight."
Sora forced one eye open.
"So… I'm learning."
Kael studied him for a moment.
Then nodded once.
"You are."
He turned slightly, flames fading from his knuckles.
"But learning doesn't mean winning."
Sora tried to push himself up.
His arms collapsed.
His forehead hit the broken pavement.
Kael stood over him, shadow stretching long across the ruined street.
"Stay down."
Sora didn't answer.He couldn't.
His body finally gave in.
Golden light faded to embers.
And Sora lay still on the battlefield.Kael stepped forward.
Slow.Unhurried.
Sora forced himself upright, blood dripping from his chin, legs shaking.
Kael raised his hand.
Sora moved first.
He scooped loose debris from the ground and hurled it straight at Kael's face.
Sand exploded outward.
To distract.
Kael's eyes narrowed instinctively—
That half second was enough.
Sora turned and ran.
Not retreat.Reposition.
Kael recovered instantly.
"You're running now?"
He vanished.
Behind—
He dove sideways as Kael appeared where he'd been, a flaming kick tearing through empty air and obliterating the street.
Sora rolled, came up breathing hard.
Lucy's voice echoed in his head.
Mantra isn't just power.It's circulation.
Condense it.Shape it.
Don't let it leak.
Sora disappeared into the shadows between collapsed buildings.
Kael stopped moving.
His red eyes scanned the ruins.
"Hide-and-seek?"
Sora pressed his back to a broken wall.
Closed his eyes.
Focused.
Mantra surged through his veins—not outward—inward.
He pulled it all into his palm.
Compressed.
Condensed.
Golden light formed a small sphere in his hand, vibrating violently, screaming to be released.
His skin burned.
Veins glowed.
His fingers trembled.
Condensed Mantra: Aurum Pulse.
Sora moved.
He burst from cover and slammed his glowing palm straight toward Kael's chest.
Kael reacted instantly—caught Sora's wrist mid-strike.
Too slow.
Sora twisted his arm and drove the sphere upward.
Point-blank.
Straight into Kael's face.
"NOW!"
The blast detonated.
BOOOOM.
Golden light swallowed the street.
The shockwave ripped outward, tearing chunks from nearby buildings, sending shattered glass raining like meteors.
Sora was thrown backward, skidding across concrete.
Kael was launched through two storefronts before crashing into a wall.
Smoke rolled through the battlefield.
Sora stared, breathing hard.
Did I—
Kael stepped out of the smoke.
Walking.
His uniform was scorched.
His cheek had a shallow burn mark.
That was it.
"Just…A scratch."
Sora's blood ran cold.
Kael wiped his face once.
Looked at the burn.Then looked at Sora.
"…That was your plan?"
Sora's eyes widened.
That didn't even slow him down.
Kael rolled his shoulder.
Fire began crawling up one arm.
Controlled.Focused and dangerous.
"Good attempt," Kael said flatly.
Sora swallowed.
I hit him with everything I had…
And all I did was scratch him.
Kael took one step forward.
Then another.Sora braced himself.