"Hunter!"
I turned as Zayn jogged over, the others close behind.
He stopped a few feet away, raising an eyebrow.
"Were you trying to kill us with that last attack too?"
A nervous chuckle escaped me.
"...That wasn't exactly the plan."
I scratched the back of my head.
"Didn't think it'd get that out of hand."
"You almost carved the whole battlefield in half," Katara muttered.
"And us with it," Jace added, folding his arms.
Before I could defend myself, Cody let out a quiet sigh.
"Fortunately, I anticipated we'd be fighting."
He glanced toward the town behind us.
"I distorted the space around the outskirts before the battle began. Otherwise..."
His eyes drifted toward the distant rooftops.
"...your slash would've reached the town."
A chill ran down my spine.
I slowly turned.
Only then did I notice the faint, fractured shimmer surrounding the battlefield.
Beyond it, the town remained untouched.
Scattered along the barrier's edge lay the Purge officers, thrown unconscious by the relentless shockwaves.
Emma was among them.
She hadn't moved since Zayn pulled her away.
The blood beneath her had finally stopped spreading.
For the first time since the battle began...
The battlefield was still.
Then—
BOOM!!
The earth lurched beneath our feet.
Our heads snapped.
Master Xavier...
He was still fighting.
I narrowed my eyes, but they could barely follow the exchange.
The two figures vanished and reappeared in bursts of impossible speed.
Every collision painted the air with streaks of gold and black.
Each clash birthed a shockwave powerful enough to shake the forest.
Neither of them was giving an inch.
I swallowed.
"...This is a battle on an entirely different level."
---
The valley quaked beneath another collision.
CLANG!
Golden light erupted between Aurelion and the black blade, illuminating the mountains for a fleeting instant.
Neither warrior yielded.
Their swords slid apart.
Then—
They vanished.
The earth where they had stood exploded a heartbeat later, fractured stone launching skyward beneath the force of their acceleration.
High above the valley, two streaks—one gold, one black—crossed the heavens before colliding once more.
The thunder that followed rolled across the mountains like the roar of a sleeping god.
Xavier pressed forward relentlessly.
Aurelion danced through the air, every strike flowing seamlessly into the next.
A downward slash.
A thrust.
A reverse cut.
A spinning horizontal arc.
Each movement was precise, calculated to herd Zarin into a position with no escape.
Yet...
Zarin yielded nothing.
His blade never strayed farther than necessary.
Every parry required only the slightest motion.
Every sidestep carried the exact distance needed.
Nothing was wasted.
Nothing was excessive.
It was perfection.
Steel shrieked.
Golden crescents carved through the valley while rivers of black mist swallowed them whole.
Another deafening collision sent both men skidding backward, carving trenches through solid rock before finally coming to a halt.
A wide silence settled between them.
Zarin rested the dark blade casually upon his shoulder.
A crooked smile spread across his face.
"Entertain me, Xavier."
His crimson eyes gleamed with amusement.
"You've had twenty years."
His smile widened.
"Tell me..."
The pressure around him intensified.
"...this isn't all you've got."
Across the valley, Xavier remained silent.
Sweat traced slowly down the side of his face.
His breathing had become heavier.
His muscles burned.
Every exchange reminded him of a truth he desperately wished to deny.
The battle...
Had been one-sided.
Every attack he landed had been answered.
Every opening had vanished before he could exploit it.
And yet—
He refused to falter.
Not before his students.
Not before the Guardians.
And certainly...
Not before Zarin.
His grip around Aurelion tightened.
Golden light pulsed along the dragon-shaped hilt.
"Yield unto me..."
His voice remained calm.
"...your greatest power."
"Aurelion."
The ancient sword answered.
A low resonance echoed through the valley as brilliant golden markings awakened across its silver blade.
The air shimmered.
The world itself seemed to hesitate.
Xavier lowered his stance.
One foot slid backward.
His breathing steadied.
"...Temporal Fracture."
Reality folded.
Not across the battlefield.
Only around Xavier.
Time slowed.
Leaves drifting through the air became motionless.
Fragments of shattered stone floated lazily like stars suspended in the night sky.
Even the wind ceased to move.
Only Xavier remained untouched.
He stepped forward.
Just once.
The distance between them vanished.
Zarin's eyes narrowed.
CLANG!
The impact echoed like thunder.
For the briefest instant—
Even Zarin looked surprised.
Before the realization could settle—
Xavier struck again.
Then again.
Then again.
His sword became a stream of golden light, every attack flowing into the next with impossible speed.
A hundred strikes descended like rain.
Vertical.
Horizontal.
Diagonal.
Each one arrived before the last had fully ended.
To everyone watching...
Xavier had disappeared.
Hunter's eyes widened.
"I... can't even see him..."
Only bursts of golden light revealed where Aurelion had passed.
For the first time since the battle began—
Zarin was driven backward.
Steel screamed against steel.
Each collision forced another step.
Another.
Another.
The relentless barrage left no room to retaliate.
Only to defend.
Hunter clenched his fists.
"He's pushing him back..."
Tyra watched in silence.
"...No."
Hunter frowned.
"What?"
"Look carefully."
Her expression hardened.
"...He's adapting."
The words barely left her mouth before Zarin's movements changed.
The frantic rhythm disappeared.
His breathing steadied.
His sword no longer chased Xavier's attacks.
It waited.
Measured.
Calculated.
One strike.
Parried.
A second.
Deflected.
A third.
Redirected.
The impossible barrage that had overwhelmed him moments earlier...
Was slowly becoming readable.
Xavier noticed.
He pulled away before Zarin could seize the initiative.
Landing several meters away, he exhaled sharply.
"...Already?"
No...
He couldn't allow Zarin time to adjust.
Raising Aurelion once more, Xavier swept his blade across the air.
A brilliant crescent of golden light roared toward Zarin, cleaving through everything in its path.
Zarin answered immediately.
The black blade rose to intercept it.
Then—
The arc stopped.
Frozen.
Not in space.
In time.
For a single heartbeat.
Zarin's sword met nothing.
His counter passed harmlessly through empty air.
His eyes widened.
"...!"
The suspended arc resumed its course.
Too late.
He threw himself backward.
The blade of light grazed across his chest, carving a deep crimson line through his dark attire.
The force hurled him across the valley.
Before he had even regained his footing—
Xavier was already there.
Time around him remained fractured.
He emerged beside Zarin in a flash of gold.
Aurelion traced another radiant arc through the air.
BOOM!
The strike crashed into Zarin, launching him through a wall of ancient trees before he finally skidded to a halt.
Silence reclaimed the valley.
Dust drifted lazily through the air.
Zarin stood.
Slowly.
Calmly.
He lowered his gaze to the wound stretching across his chest.
His fingers brushed the blood.
A single black drop rolled across the back of his hand.
For several long moments...
He simply looked at it.
Then—
He smiled.
"...So."
His voice was almost thoughtful.
"This..."
He lifted his gaze toward Xavier.
"...is the authority of dragons."
His grip tightened around the black blade.
Darkness spread from beneath his feet like an endless sea.
The air grew heavy.
The pressure that poured from his body became suffocating.
Hundreds of meters away, Hunter instinctively stepped backward.
Every Guardian did.
Even Xavier's expression changed.
The wound across Zarin's chest...
Closed.
Not quickly.
Not slowly.
It simply...
Ceased to exist.
As though the darkness itself rejected the idea that Zarin could be wounded.
He raised his sword once more.
His crimson eyes never left Xavier.
"This has been..."
A faint smile returned to his lips.
"...educational."
The valley trembled.
And for the first time since the battle began...
Xavier understood.
He had forced Zarin to acknowledge him.
He had even drawn blood.
Yet despite everything...
He still hadn't reached the monster's limit.