CHAPTER 65
Fwiiiiiish—!
Two concentrated fireballs immediately shot out of his hands and rocketed towards Kai at blazing speed.
With lightning-fast reflexes, Kai's hands shot up to protect his face just in time as the incendiary spheres crashed against his raised guard.
The flames detonated with a massive boom, sending the Aspirant skidding backwards.
His group members hurriedly scrambled out of the way, making clear paths as they had no intention of being caught in the crossfire of this escalating battle.
Ray pulled Van back with him, ensuring they stood several safe metres away from the violent clash that was about to unfold.
The others from Berg's group followed suit, and soon enough, the Aspirants had formed a massive, spectator-filled ring around the two combatants.
"You have been meaning to put me in my place? Fine! Let's settle the score here and now where no militant will be able to stop us!" Berg roared in a fit of rage as he vaulted off the ground.
He launched forward with predatory velocity, crossing the remaining distance within a heartbeat.
His fist, blazing with intense orange flames, cut through the air aiming to blast Kai into oblivion.
But with a deep scowl on his face, Kai manifested crystals beneath his feet, aiding him to slide away smoothly from the punch that smashed into the empty air with a deafening bang.
"... Listen, Berg. There is absolutely no point in fighting amongst ourselves. Let's finish this mission and—."
Berg wasn't listening to a single word.
He had already spun around with fluid momentum, unleashing a brutal backhand punch toward Kai's head.
The strike landed solidly.
But to his immense surprise, purple crystals had already formed a protective shell around the exact spot he was aiming for on Kai's skull.
"Fine then. If you refuse to listen to reason and choose to act like a spoilt brat, have it your way."
Bang—!
Kai pushed off from his position, streaking towards Berg at great speed.
His gauntlet-encased fist shot towards the flame meta, but with his palms pointed downward, Berg unleashed a burst of fire with enough force to veer himself away from the incoming punch.
A secondary fireball left Berg's fingers and smashed into Kai's side, causing him to skid a metre away while his clothes began to char and smoulder from the heat.
However, Kai didn't seem to care about the minor burns.
Ray watched the entire exchange with a calm, analytical expression on his face.
His eyes alternated between each clash, recording the movements of both fighters.
"Won't you do anything to stop them?" Van worriedly questioned, his voice trembling as he watched Kai and Berg trading blows at full speed.
"What can I possibly do? I am just a grade 1 human. I don't even possess any abilities to intervene," Ray lied through his teeth, his tone perfectly flat.
Van blinked for a second, processing the statement before letting out a defeated sigh;
"That's true."
Bang, Bang—!
The collision of their fists sent balls of residual flames and small, jagged cracks of crystal flying in all directions like shrapnel.
The two combatants could be seen glaring at each other, their teeth grinding back and forth in a show of pure animosity.
Together, they leaped back—putting significant distance between one another.
Slamming his foot into the earth, Kai caused crystalline spikes to erupt from the ground, chasing after Berg at an astonishing speed.
Left with no other choice, the fire meta kicked off the soil, launching into the air for a moment.
He swung his palms down, raining twin fireballs upon his opponent.
Kai crossed his hands in front of his face as the projectiles slammed into his gauntleted forearms, causing a detonation that sent a thick plume of smoke into the air.
Berg was about to take advantage of the visual cover to strike again.
But before he could act, Kai exploded through the grey smoke and took to the skies himself.
He materialized in front of Berg in the blink of an eye, catching the fire user mid-air.
Without a shred of hesitation, he hammered his fist right into the meta-human's abdomen with crushing, bone-deep force.
Saliva sprayed from Berg's mouth as his breath hitched for a moment.
His body was sent hurtling from the air, crashing into the hard ground with a thunderous boom that kicked up a cloud of debris.
Everybody gasped in unison as they watched Kai landing smoothly from the sky, his eyes fixed on the crater where his rival lay.
Ray smiled calmly at the unfolding spectacle, his mind cataloging every move.
'So, one of the big four legacy abilities is flames, eh? That is definitely good to know.'
Berg could be seen twitching in the crater, his fingers digging into the dirt before he steadily rose from the ground.
Crimson blood dripped from the corner of his lips, staining his chin, but the fire in his eyes didn't die down one bit.
In fact, with the heavy hit Kai had just dealt him, the flames seemed to intensify, burning with a more volatile hue.
"Aaaaaaarg~!" Berg howled into the air, a sound of pure, unadulterated fury.
He launched forward, blitzing through the atmosphere while flames oozed from his hands like a high-velocity rocket.
He appeared before Kai for a fleeting moment, watching as his opponent braced himself, ready to execute a counterattack.
But in the next heartbeat, Berg's boots activated with a hiss of gas, and he veered sharply to the side, effortlessly avoiding the strike.
He then smashed his leg into Kai's face with immense, bone-shattering force.
The impact sent the crystal-user tumbling across the ground for several moments until he dug his hands into the soil, clawing himself to a jagged halt.
Ray felt a surge of genuine anxiety.
On the surface, it appeared that the two were evenly matched in terms of raw strength, but deep down, it was becoming clear that Berg held a more dangerous edge.
And it was starting to manifest in the fact that he was about to do something he might truly regret.
"There's a saying," Berg began, his voice dripping with malice as he launched another fireball at Kai.
The meta slid forward, allowing the sphere of flames to whiz past and collide with the ground behind him.
But that move was merely a feint; Berg materialized in front of him in the twinkle of an eye, his momentum unstoppable.
"... What happens in a gate, stays in the gate."
Flames wreathed around his hands, burning with a terrifying intensity that went far beyond his previous attacks.
Ray's eyes widened in horror as he realized the lethality of the situation.
'Shoot! Kai is in mortal danger now!'
Trisha had already noticed the shift in energy too, a deep frown carving itself across her face.
She was poised to interfere, her ice already beginning to manifest, but before she or anyone else could move—
"Humph. I knew I could feel humans crawling around here…"
A booming, guttural voice resounded all around them, shaking the very foundation of the earth beneath their feet.
The voice was so deep and resonant that for a moment, everyone was forced to cover their ears.
Even Berg recoiled, taking several staggering steps away from Kai as the pressure in the air spiked.
Ray's heart pounded against his ribs like a trapped bird as a sense of overwhelming foreboding filled him.
Cold sweat trickled down his skin immediately, and his mouth went bone-dry.
Then…
— Up above! Look up!
Every head snapped upwards in unison to stare at a dark shape plummeting toward them from the sky.
— Is that the boss?
On seeing this familiar, terrifying scene, Ray's breath hitched painfully in his throat.
'Wh-why am I getting such a terrifying sense of deja vu?'
CRASH—!
Whatever had been in the air landed directly in the middle of the gathered Aspirants.
The weight of the impact was so massive it felt as if the entire world had shifted for a moment.
The shockwave was instantaneous, throwing the teens off their feet.
A thick, massive cloud of dust billowed into the skies, blanketing their views in a grey shroud of grit and debris.
"Ack…!"
Painful groans escaped from every throat as the students collided with the hard ground, many still wondering what force had just leveled them.
Peering through the haze, the dust finally began to settle, and when it did, every person there immediately shared the same paralyzing dread as Ray.
"... Now, this will be much more fun."
— AHHHHH!
— It's an Aberrant!
___
A/N: As Promised, this is the extra chapter for this week's challenge. The next challenge will commence after reset and I will communicate the criteria afterwards.
Thank you for reading 🤝☺️