Halo Fulmo, once the crowned champion of the Colosseum in the City of Champions, followed the Dark Paladin down the silent cathedral corridor. His steps were light, measured, his breathing steady. Beside him, the Paladin walked like a mountain in motion, slow, deliberate, impossible to ignore, the massive greatsword strapped to his back scraping sparks whenever it brushed the stone walls. Neither spoke. Halo's hand hovered near his sword, but he didn't draw. Not yet. The Paladin stopped at a heavy wooden door bound in iron. Without a word, he pushed it open, hinges groaning under the weight of centuries. Halo stepped inside… and immediately hated everything he saw. The room was massive, wider than a warehouse, and filled with pillars. Dozens of them. Fat columns of stone rising from floor to ceiling, arranged in uneven rows like a forest made of marble and shadow. Some were cracked, others chipped, all of them close enough that Halo couldn't swing freely… and far enough apart that a single mistake would leave him exposed. This wasn't a dueling arena. This was a butcher's maze. A room meant to limit movement, choke footwork, block escape routes, and punish even a momentary lapse in awareness. The kind of place where a greatsword could carve through stone, creating blind corners and debris… while a speed-based swordsman like Halo fought for survival. Halo's jaw tightened. The Dark Paladin walked past him, boots echoing against the stone, and entered the center of the room. He reached behind his back and grasped the greatsword's hilt with one hand. He drew it slowly. The metal sang, a low, heavy note that vibrated through the pillars and into Halo's bones. The Paladin rotated the blade, testing the space. It whistled past a nearby pillar, shaving off stone like carving bark from a tree. Halo felt the pressure immediately. Not fear. Not hesitation. But a cold, sharp respect. "This room…" Halo muttered under his breath, eyes narrowing. "Of all places…" The Paladin planted the tip of his greatsword into the floor and leaned on it slightly, staring at Halo through the shadow of his helm. "This chamber," the Paladin rumbled, "is for warriors. Not spectators." Halo stepped forward, hand finally closing around his sword's hilt. "I fought in the Colosseum," he said quietly. "This? …this is worse." The Paladin lifted the greatsword onto his shoulder with one smooth motion. "Good," he said. He walked into the forest of pillars, blade trailing behind him, sparks kissing the stone. "Then die well." Halo exhaled once, deeply… and followed him into the maze. The Paladin gripped his greatsword with one hand, holding it low, the blade dragging sparks against the stone floor. Halo drew his own sword in a single motion and tossed the sheath aside, eyes narrowing as he fell into stance. For a heartbeat, the world was still. Then the Paladin vanished. Halo barely reacted in time. The first strike came from nowhere. Halo's sword met the greatsword, CRASH! The impact was pointless. The force behind the blow lifted Halo completely off his feet and sent him crashing through a pillar, then another, then another. Stone shattered around him as he hit the ground hard. Halo tried to roll to his feet, but the Paladin was already above him. He front-flipped midair, greatsword raised overhead, roaring like a beast as he brought the blade down with enough force to shake the entire chamber. Halo threw himself sideways at the last second. The ground where he'd been exploded into a crater. Halo staggered back, desperate to create distance, but his spine slammed into a pillar. No room. No momentum. Nowhere to breathe. The Paladin swung again. Halo blocked out of instinct, BOOM! The blow launched him like a ragdoll. He tore through more pillars, then a wall, then another, until he was blasted clean into the main chamber where Helios and Belanor stood. Halo skidded across the marble floor, rubble chasing behind him in a cloud. The thunder of footsteps followed. The Paladin burst through the hole Halo created, charging straight toward him. Helios and Belanor reacted instantly. Helios drew his sword in a flash and lunged at Belanor, but Belanor's eyes sharpened.
A purple vortex spiraled open beside him, and from it he drew a silver-and-gold staff shaped like a ceremonial club. He intercepted Helios's strike mid-dash, CLANG! The sound shook the stained glass. The two locked, blade against staff, mana sparking violently between them. Meanwhile, Halo tried to push himself up. The Paladin reached him first. He grabbed Halo by the head and slammed his skull into the marble floor, cracking it. Halo groaned, barely conscious. The Paladin hurled him upward, spun with monstrous torque, and used his greatsword like a giant paddle, backhanding Halo midair with such force that the shockwave tore cracks along the walls. Halo flew. Not just back into the pillars. Not just through the chamber. He rocketed all the way down the hall, and smashed straight into the corridor Bow had been walking out of. Halo burst through the wall like a cannonball, skidding across stone, leaving a trail of shattered debris. Bow froze mid-step, eyes wide. "Dude…" Bow blinked. "No way… Did Halo just fly past me? That's insane. He's getting cooked." Then he saw the blur behind Halo. The Paladin. Charging. Fast. Bow's eyes hardened. "I gotta help him. Now." He sprinted full speed after them, dust exploding behind him. Halo's body tumbled through another archway, then out into the open courtyard behind the cathedral. The Paladin followed, merciless, relentless, as Bow closed the distance. The fight was far from over. Halo was being dragged to the edge of death, and Bow was racing straight into the storm. The Paladin raised his greatsword for another crushing blow, CRACK! Bow arrived in a blur, driving his fist deep into the Paladin's ribs. The impact sent the armored warrior skidding across the courtyard, carving a trench through the stone. "Hey, Halo! You good?!" Bow shouted. Halo staggered to his feet, blood streaming down the side of his head. His breathing was ragged. His jaw clenched. And then, his temper exploded. "How… dare you." Bow blinked. "What?" Halo roared, voice shaking the courtyard: "HOW DARE YOU HELP ME! I AM HALO, HALO FULMO! THE CHAMPION OF THE COLOSSEUM! THE ONE WHO STOOD ALONE AGAINST TEN THOUSAND!" He pointed his sword at Bow, eyes blazing with fury and humiliation. "DO NOT INTERFERE! THIS IS MY FIGHT! MY CHANCE TO PROVE MY WORTH AS A WARRIOR! MY CHANCE TO PROVE THAT MY TRAINING, MY YEARS OF BLOOD AND SWEAT, WERE NOT IN VAIN!" He staggered, but his voice only grew louder. "THIS IS MY CHANCE TO SHOW I AM A WORTHY RIVAL FOR HELIOS! SO BOW, DO. NOT. HELP. ME!" Bow opened his mouth. Halo cut him off with a furious scream: "YOU HAVE INSULTED MY HONOR!! LEAVE ME!" Bow stared for a moment… Then nodded, resolute. "…I know you'll beat him, Halo Fulmo. I trust you." Bow sprinted back toward the cathedral, leaving the duel to its rightful owner. The Paladin rose, armor cracked, staggering back toward Halo. "You are weak, child," he growled. "I will make this quick." Halo spit a mouthful of blood at the ground. "Quick?" Halo muttered, trembling with rage. Then he screamed, "DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE ME!" Electricity cracked through the air. "I WILL SHOW YOU TRUE POWER! TRUE SWORDSMANSHIP! I WILL BECOME THE STRONGEST WARRIOR ALIVE! AND I WILL CARVE YOUR HEAD FROM YOUR SHOULDERS AS PROOF OF MY STRENGTH!" His laughter twisted, manic, trembling with battle-lust. Mana surged from his body, wild, unstable, explosive. His aura sharpened.
Mana condensed. Lightning coiled around his arms, wrapping his sword in a storm of electric current. The Paladin froze, stunned. "You… you are Halo, correct?" he muttered. "I see now. You truly are powerful. I will offer you as a greater sacrifice to Azazel." Halo slid into his stance, feet rooted, sword trembling under the weight of raw power, lightning tearing grooves into the stone around him. His voice dropped to a crazed whisper: "This… this is my greatest HIGH." Lightning erupted upward like a pillar engulfing him. His Apex Gem pulsed. Thunder roared. And from the edge of death, fueled by pride, fury, and his desperate hunger to surpass Helios. Halo began to draw out the true power of the Thunder Gem. Halo dropped into his stance the moment the Paladin settled into his own. Then, he moved. So fast the Paladin's instincts lagged behind. The Paladin slammed the greatsword into the ground, bracing behind the massive blade like a steel wall just in time, CRAAAACK!! Halo's sword collided with the towering blade, lightning exploding out in violent arcs that danced over the stone. The shock slammed through the Paladin's arms, cracking the greatsword's surface. He staggered back, gripping the weapon with both hands. Without a breath wasted, he swung the sword like a massive boomerang and hurled it. The greatsword screamed through the air, Halo dropped low, sliding beneath it in a clean, lightning-backed glide. He rose just as the blade circled back to its master. The Paladin caught it with one hand and slammed the weapon into the ground with such force his mana erupted outward, splintering the earth. Stone columns tore free. Boulders lifted into the air. The ground convulsed under the weight of his power. Halo weaved through the debris, instincts sharpening. An idea hit him. Lightning surged across his skin, joining his mana instead of merely coating it. Electric veins crawled up his arms, around his shoulders, across his jaw. He vanished. The thunder behind him cracked a full second later. A thin line of blood appeared on the Paladin's cheek. He froze. He hadn't even seen the attack. He only realized Halo had struck when he spotted him, crashed into the side of a nearby building, bricks falling around him. Halo pushed himself off the wall, lightning fizzing along his blade. "I see now…" he exhaled. "This is how fast I am." He disappeared again. This time the Paladin barely reacted, redirecting his greatsword downward in a desperate block as Halo's blade came for his legs. The steel caught the lightning slash by milliseconds. Halo drifted past the Paladin's head upside down, so fast he was a smear of blue light. He whispered, voice brushing the Paladin's ear: "You're too slow." The blade came in a reverse arc. The Paladin dropped into a full split, barely surviving. But not unscathed. A finger flew. Blood splattered across the stone as Halo landed lightly on the far side, lightning rolling off him in waves. The Paladin stared at his missing pinky, chest heaving, eyes wide with the first spark of fear. Halo just turned his blade, letting the blood drip from the edge. His eyes sharpened. The Paladin gritted his teeth, refusing to back down, lifting his greatsword in both hands despite the blood dripping from his missing finger. His mana swelled again, wild, violent, cracking the stone beneath him. Halo vanished. BOOOOM! A thunderclap shattered the air as he reappeared behind the Paladin mid-air, blade descending. The Paladin spun with unnatural speed for a man his size, greatsword sweeping upward in a brutal parry. Steel met lightning, KRAAANG!! The force blasting both fighters apart. Halo skidded back, lightning sparking under his boots, but the Paladin recovered first. He charged. A full-body dash, explosive, reckless, tearing trenches into the ground as he dragged his greatsword behind him like an executioner's guillotine. He swung upward in a violent rising slash. Halo leaned back, electricity bending around him, the blade missing his nose by inches. But the Paladin wasn't done. He spun with the momentum, blade carving a vicious circle. Halo ducked, but a shockwave erupted from the swing, catching him in the ribs and hurling him sideways. He flipped, caught himself, but the Paladin was already on top of him. The greatsword came down in a vertical chop meant to split him in half. Halo caught it on his blade, lightning exploding between them, veins glowing bright blue. The Paladin roared and pressed down harder. The ground beneath Halo cratered. But Halo grinned. Electricity gathered around his feet. He disappeared. The Paladin's sword slammed into empty stone. A bolt of lightning slammed into the Paladin's spine. A second bolt hit his ribs. A third struck his thigh. Each bolt was Halo, appearing, slashing, and vanishing. Over and over, attacking from every angle faster than the Paladin could blink. The Paladin swung blindly, roaring in frustration, but Halo was already somewhere else, his movement a barrage of thunder cracks echoing around them. When Halo finally reappeared, standing tall behind him, the Paladin collapsed to one knee, armor scorched, cuts carved deep across his body, steam rising from every joint. The Paladin tried to rise. Halo lifted his sword, now wrapped in a spiraling vortex of lightning that climbed to the sky like a storm-bound spear. Thunder rumbled. "Stay down," he warned. The Paladin didn't listen. With a violent heave, the Paladin forced himself upright, gripping his shattered greatsword with both trembling hands. He let out a ragged war cry and dashed forward in a desperate last attempt to overpower Halo. Halo exhaled. The storm around him contracted, then burst outward. He met the Paladin's charge head-on. For a moment, in the heart of the battlefield, lightning and steel clashed in a blinding explosion of blue light. The shockwave cracked the ground for miles. The Paladin skid backward, armor breaking apart, breath knocked from his chest. Halo didn't move. Arcs of blue lightning danced around him, crawling up his blade, across his shoulders, through his hair. His eyes glowed with an electric calm. "I'm ending this." Halo growled. He gathered every last drop of mana left in his body, then launched himself. The ground detonated beneath his feet as he shot forward, turning himself into a human projectile. The air screamed, the stone floor cracked open behind him in a straight line of destruction, and in a single blinding flash. Halo tore through the Dark Paladin. The upper half of the Paladin vanished in an eruption of blood and smoke. The lower body flipped into the air and hit the ground with a wet, sickening splatter. Even the Paladin's greatsword, caught in the path of Halo's strike, was cleaved cleanly in two, its edges melted, slag dripping like liquid fire. Halo skidded to a stop, chest heaving. The transformation faded. His mana was gone. His legs buckled. He dropped to his knees, gasping, instinctively trying to rebuild his mana reserves… but exhaustion hit harder than any blade. His vision blurred. Before darkness took him, he saw Bow, climbing the side of the cathedral, scaling higher and higher toward the rooftop. What is he doing…? Halo thought hazily. With no mana left to keep himself awake, Halo collapsed, slipping into a deep, helpless sleep.