THIS CHAPTER CONTAINS VIOLENCE THAT MAY NOT BE SUITABLE FOR SOME READERS.
The arena was rebuilt after months of training for Damon, polished, and brimming with anticipation. It looked wider now though, much wider, wide enough for hoards of great dragons to play.
Three banners of three kingdoms flapped above: Woewyn's crest, the blazing Sunspire emblem, and the obsidian mark of the Kargath Dominion.
Zaro shot out of a pillar of flame, literally rolled out, and landed with both arms raised like a rockstar who tripped but played it off.
"WOOOOEEWYNNN!! WELCOME BACK TO CHAOS!!"
The crowd exploded. Zaro paced with exaggerated swagger.
"In this corner—FROM SUNSPIRE—THE FIRE DEMON HIMSELF, RHEON VARKUS!"
Rheon cracked his neck, sparks flickering across his shoulders. Heat radiated from him like a furnace proud of itself.
"And from the KARGATH DOMINION—our lovely metal suit menace—GRAVITY SPECIALIST ZENRO KHAIL!"
Zenro's suit hummed with neon lines. When the visor opened, his eyes were calm, cold, calculating.
"And in the last corner…"
Zaro swept his cape dramatically and pointed behind him.
"Our prince. The one who traumatized a colosseum. Damon. Vale."
The crowd screamed so loudly the arena shook. Damon didn't wave. He just adjusted his gloves and breathed out, quiet.
Daichi barked once from the stands, wagging his tail like this was a family outing.
Zaro raised a hand. "Three warriors."
He brought it down sharply. "NO alliances allowed. NO rules. NO mercy."
A thunderous— BWOOOOOM!
"BEGIN!"
Rheon ignited instantly. Flames spiralled around him, red shifting to orange, orange to white, white to blinding blue. Whilst shifting colour, they grew larger and got hotter.
"BLAZEBIRTH: FIRST ASCENT!"
Zenro clicked his gauntlets together. "Gravity Construct: Compaction Field."
Damon sighed.
"…They're announcing attacks again."
But the fire and gravity hit first. A tornado of solar flare fire slammed toward Damon from his right. A crushing gravitational pulse collapsed toward him from the left.
Damon made a dome of light in hexagons around himself.
BOOOOOOM!
The explosion threw him backward across the arena into a stone wall. Dust swallowed him.
Nyra stood instantly. "Damon!!"
Thessa's eyes widened, but she forced calm. "He's fine."
Thorpax leaned forward, knuckles white. "He better be."
Bravira muttered, "If he dies, I'll kill him."
Varnex hissed. Draven put a hand on his shoulder. "Control yourself, shorty. Not yet."
Zaro cupped his mic dramatically.
"Oooooh the prince got LAUNCHED! SOMEONE CHECK IF THE WALL SURVIVED!"
The dust settled and Damon stood up. He looked mildly annoyed.
Above him, Rheon and Zenro were already clashing, fire and gravity twisting the sky. Damon watched them for a moment.
Then he leapt up. Straight into their fight. Time seemed to slow before and as they turned towards him.
Rheon roared, "SECOND ASCENT—SO—"
Zenro shouted, "Gravity Throne—"
Damon appeared between them like a quiet thought. "Must you always say your attacks…" He flicked his wrists. His blades appeared. Black hilts, now with gold veins of light.
"…please be quiet."
Two clean slashes. SHAAAAK — SHAAAAK
They both thought "What...just happened?"
Both men were thrown back, blood spraying in elegant arcs. They landed in sharp rhythmic impacts across the floor. Hitting the ground in heavy staggered thuds.
The colosseum erupted. Zaro screamed into the mic,
"OH MY ETERNAL ONE—HE JUST TOLD THEM TO SHUT UP!?!? AND THEY LISTENED WITH THEIR SPINE!!"
"Is he taking this match seriously?" Thorpax asked "Surely he had a chance to create a stronger attack, his blades weren't even lit."
"He's trying to figure out a way to beat gravity that bends light." Bravira explained sternly.
"I never took you for a smart one." Thorpax taunted.
She flared.
Rheon wiped blood from his mouth, furious. "You want to see real fire! FINE!"
His body expanded in fire. Flames engulfed him. His flames swelled from a controlled devastation to continental destruction in seconds.
Zenro wasn't far behind. His suit cracked open, revealing inner layers of darker plates.
"Graviton Core: Full Unlock."
Gravity warped. A circle of bent light formed around him. The ground beneath his feet cracked violently.
Nyra whispered, "Oh no…"
Thessa exhaled sharply. "It's happening again."
Damon froze as a pulse hit him. Then his muscles bulged grotesquely, then shrank. Then grew twice as large and then shrank again.
Veins of blueish light crawled under his skin as he fell to one knee.
Daichi howled, "NO NO NO DON'T PURGE HERE—DAMON—DAMON!!"
Queen Thessa lurched forward but Bravira grabbed her arm. Calm and Strong.
"Please let him. He needs this. Besides... we cannot interfere."
Damon's jaw clenched. His bones cracked like branches.
Since when do my muscles get purges? He thought. "Come on… come on…" he hissed. "Natsuki— hates big guys… keep it—togetherrr…"
Zaro whispered into his mic "Folks… our prince is experiencing every gym transformation in seconds."
Rheon cracked his neck. Zenro adjusted his gauntlets. Damon staggered forward, purge already shaking under his skin, muscles tightening in long pulses.
The two opponents exchanged a tiny nod.
Nyra exploded up from her seat. "ZARO! THEY'RE TEAMING—!"
Zaro panicked. "I—I didn't see anything! Without proof I can't do a thing!"
Queen Thessa forced Nyra back down with a hand on her shoulder.
Damon lifted his head to stare at Zaro, purge twitching through him, and Zaro mouthed helplessly,
"I can't help you."
Rheon's flames hit first, Zenro's gravity right behind it. Damon tried to guard, but a purge spike threw off his timing and both attacks slammed him across the arena, carving a wide and long skid through the stone.
Nyra yelled, "They're hitting him during a purge!"
Zaro groaned, "I KNOW—BUT IT'S TOO LATE TO STOP IT—!"
Damon pushed himself up, breath sharp, limbs unsteady, purge still flickering through him.
The combined force felt like standing between two large trains moving. The searing heat of Blazebirth fusing with the crushing depth of Gravity Crush.
Damon choked on a mouthful of blood and dust, his vision momentarily blured. The Purge, trying to force the growth, seized his muscles in a violent spasm, making him drop his guard and absorb the full impact of their attacks.
It wasn't just a physical hit, it was a systemic shock that tore through his ability to even think. He was forced to focus purely on survival, not offense.
The crowd stared. The generals of all opposing kingdoms stared. Queen Thessa quietly sighed.
Zaro whispered into his mic, "…Someone please help Draven, he's losing the battle against Varnex's core strength—"
Varnex roared again, dragging Draven another two steps like an unwilling sled. "I WILL NOT WATCH THE PRINCE BE ASSASSINATED MID-PURGE!"
Draven wheezed, "CAN—SOMEONE—ANYONE—GRAB—HIS—LEGS—?!"
Rheon and Zenro didn't wait.
"Blazebirth!"
"Gravity Crush!"
Damon steadied himself, straightened his arms and shifted his legs muscles.
"AGHH!"
He screamed in unison with the pain. Yet despite everything, a pained lopsided smirk as he steadied his breathing.
The purge got to its peak and Damon rose. Slowly. Calmly. Stronger. Much stronger.
Rheon charged, a solar storm in human form. "THIRD ASCENT: CATACLYSMIC FORM!"
The heat alone melted some sections of the arena.
Damon vanished. Reappeared behind him. Grabbed Rheon by the throat, and threw him upward.
Far upward, surpassing the clouds. Rheon tried stabilizing but Damon was already above him. Light spiralled around Damon's hand,
"I'll end this quickly. Lightbreaker: First strike. Full output."
He gathered his maximum light output and slammed Rheon downward.
KRRAAAAAAAACK!!
The nearest moon cracked and fractured on impact.
Zaro screamed, "DID HE JUST…USE A MOON…AS A PILLOW!? SOMEONE PUT UP THE MOON SCREENS!!"
Rheon still twitched, though bloodied and scarred. Embedded in the fractured moon's surface. Damon conjured another.
"Lightbreaker: Second strike."
He slammed it again. Rheon tore through the land of the moon. He collapsed into the second moon that formed large webcracks on impact. The initial moon fell apart though gravity held it up.
The other kingdoms kings stared at Thorpax.
Thorpax sighed. "I'll fix it later."
Damon grabbed Rheon, at least the broken left of him and took him back to Eternum's ground, the arena.
Zenro planted his feet wide, grounding himself against the pressure in the air as if forcing the himself not to tremble.
His voice, horrified but determined. "GRAVITON SINGULARITY!!"
A black dome formed. Gravity bent light itself, curving Damon's beams away.
The entire colosseum—everything but the stands—felt the pull. The rebuilt arena began to sink inward again, the ground bowing under the gravity as if the entire land itself was kneeling to the force.
Damon momentarily went lower, only because the ground did. But then, he stepped forward. One step. Two steps. The gravity crushed the floor but he didn't stop.
Zenro gasped. "Wh—what—!?"
Queen Thessa turned to Bravira. "How can he do that? Did you teach him?"
"It has something to do with the purge he just had but...I don't know."
Cythera crossed her arms, her eyes fixed on the spectacle.
"Zenro's Graviton is designed to use his little eterna to apply the force of thousands of tons on bodies — except his own. Damon absorbed the mirror version of himself a few days ago, so he's stronger, which triggered the purge he just had."
Nyra leaned forward. "But that made him strong physically. I saw the blue glow under his skin, so his eterna definitely increased. But… did you see how his muscles were moving?"
"That's the point," Cythera said. "His muscles and bones grew larger, then compressed because he doesn't want to look huge. The same way some people awaken telepathy, I think Damon's ability is… that. He doesn't look overly dense, but he's far stronger than his frame suggests."
Bravira frowned, and tilted her head. "So he can shrink his muscles during a purge. I get that. But how would it feel? All of us are stronger than we look, but our muscles feel normal. Would his feel the same?"
Queen Thessa answered, "If you touched him, he'd feel normal, just tighter. Like every muscle fibre was packed closer together. Not hard like stone. Just dense, controlled strength under the skin. Think of it this way: his body looks kind of lean, but the power inside it is compressed. Stronger than he looks."
Draven broke the seriousness in the atmosphere. He spoke softly, but his tone carried that familiar playful edge. "Why exactly are we analysing him? Because we saw his muscles bulk and shrink? Come on, he's like Varnex. Small frame, stupidly strong. People like us just don't look as physically powerful as we actually are."
Thorpax nodded slowly. "So Cythera, he's not resisting the energy of the field… he's resisting the force?"
Cythera answered "Yes. He's now physically stronger than the force Zenro is capable of generating. To Damon right now, Zenro's singularity feels like a headwind."
Damon walked in the singularity like it was water. Unbothered, his expression was blank. He grabbed Zenro's arm and crushed the metal and arm beneath it.
Zenro screamed. "AGHHHHKKK!! How can you walk through this?! No one of our age should be able to!"
"I guess I'm older then." Damon said calmly... Then crushed the other.
Then kicked him downward into the arena with enough force to send the ground beneath them even lower. Zenro coughed blood, suit sparking as he tried to drag himself up on broken arms. The gravity singularity stopped and intense anticipation captivated the air and peoples hearts.
Damon grabbed Zenro and threw him close to Rheon. Rheon crawled back, barely able to move. Both wounded. Both defeated.
Damon stood over them, blades ready. His blue aura filled the arena, as intense as a star compressed into a young man.
Both men froze. Damon summoned and spun his daggers and light flared as a final attack formed. But then, he stopped. Blinking and lowered his daggers.
"Yield," he said softly. He swallowed "…please."
Silence stretched. The entire arena froze, no one daring to breathe, as if even a single sound would drown the defeated's response.
Rheon nodded, terrified. Zenro bowed his head.
The arena erupted.
Zaro threw his mic into the sky.
"HE SAID PLEASE AND THEY SAID YES LIKE THEY WERE SIGNING A CONTRACT!!"
Damon crouched and light gathered in his palms. Soft. Warm. Healing. He touched Rheon's chest and Zenro's suit and light flowed into them, knitting wounds, sealing fractures, soothing pain.
The crowd never fell quiet.
Thessa watched, a hand over her heart. Nyra smiled softly and Bravira exhaled in relief. Daichi wagged his tail proudly.
Damon lifted both opponents—one over each shoulder—and carried them toward the healers. Not as a conqueror but as a prince. As Damon Vale.
Damon handed the last unconscious fighter to the healers and exhaled, shoulders finally relaxing.
That was when the air changed. A cold ripple swept across the arena. Thin, sharp, familiar to only one person.
Draven's eyes snapped toward the sky.
"…No. It can't be—"
A voice drifted through the wind. Soft. Amused.
"So that's how it is."
Damon froze. He felt it. It wasn't eterna, or aura, but intent brushing against his mind. His breath hitched. In the next heartbeat, the presence vanished completely.
Damon shot upward in a blink, light spiraling under his feet as he scanned the sky, eyes searching, pulse racing.
Nothing. Just empty air and fading echoes. Draven was already in the air. Floating still, jaw tight, fists clenched. Damon moved slowly, floating beside him.
"Did you feel that…?" he asked quietly.
Draven didn't look at him.
"…Yeah," he murmured.
But his eyes weren't on the sky. They were on the shadows.