Bruno…
My brother in arms. My rock. The one who had already taken a knife to protect Pedro, sacrificing part of his sight forever. He who had gone through hell just like me was standing there, and I still had no idea why.
As for me… stretched out on the floor, coughing up my insides, unable to do anything at all, I was nothing but the shadow of what I had managed to become…
My body shook with pain, but even more with fear. It was my mind that was truly burning, not my flesh.
Every fiber of my being screamed at me to convince Bruno to run, to stop this at any cost. But I couldn't do a thing, pinned to the floor.
Cassian had reduced me to the state of a corpse. Not just through his blows, but through his words. He had ripped away my illusions one by one, leaving me naked and fragile.
And now… Bruno had come to fill the gap my weakness had left.
I felt, and still feel, a great deal of shame about that day.
Because he was risking his life for something I hadn't been able to handle myself. I wasn't supposed to lose anymore. I was supposed to be the one who succeeded, who shocked and impressed with his power, who carried the rage to win, to always go higher and further…
But none of that mattered anymore from the moment I was torn apart by the rightful heir of this world.
Cassian shot me a brief look, amused by my patheticness.
A look that said: Neither of you will leave here unharmed, I guarantee it.
— Iron…, Bruno murmured, outraged.
— Oh, another Vongold? Wasn't expecting that. But as they say, the more the merrier…
— Cassian… what exactly do you think you're doing right now.
— What needs to be done, in everyone's best interest.
— In your own interest, you mean…
— Same thing…
— You want to start a war?!
— War has been looming over us for some time now, Bruno, and if you can't see that, then your House is even more stupid than I thought.
My fist hit the floor weakly.
I had never felt a humiliation this brutal. And deep inside me, one certainty took root:
If anything happens to Bruno… it will be my fault.
— Someone has to take control of things, Cassian declared. Our kind is getting weaker. We do nothing but fight over scraps of power like children. My own father, who has the world at his feet, would rather bury himself in his research than actually lead us. This situation needs to be fixed.
— By you?
— Kehehehe, you know… I don't even know why I'm talking about this with you. You're just another frog they were kind enough to take in out of charity, in the end.
— Fine! Now we can finally get to the real thing.
The air thickened as their auras broke free, and the ground shook.
Bruno's body cloaked itself in a dense aura, green and red. His muscles swelled, his veins pulsed like they were about to burst. And then in an instant, Cassian came at him with a shattering blow that sent the entire house flying apart. When the dust settled, Bruno didn't have a single scratch.
I had had many doubts about Bruno's abilities, but now I was certain: he had the power to absorb the force of any blow, make it his own, and redirect it against the enemy.
Cassian remained perfectly composed.
— Interesting.
For the first time I was seeing Cassian Montclair truly in action, but my surprise became dread when he drew his gleaming blade… from a portal just like mine. His golden aura took shape. And behind him… appeared a kind of angelic avatar armed with what could only be called a divine sword.
The clash was immediate. Bruno charged and swung his fist, unleashing a devastating wave of force that tore through several buildings. The ground imploded under the impact. The shockwave pulverized what was left of the house. The entire neighborhood shook, windows shattering in a wide radius. You could hear the stunned reactions of residents and the panic growing before everyone's eyes.
Cassian was launched backward but landed gracefully on a rooftop, his smile widening.
— Not bad for a frog, though the outcome of this fight will be the same.
Bruno shot one last look at me.
— Whatever you do, don't move from here, little brother. I'll wrap this up fast and we go home, he said.
Cassian struck back, his sword cutting through the air followed by his avatar. A strike impossible to predict, covering two angles in a single movement. Bruno blocked it all the same, but the combined force sent him flying backward, through two trucks before crashing into the street.
The West district was now nothing but chaos, dust, and screams.
Bruno burst out of the rubble roaring.
He struck again, absorbing the shockwave to throw it back at him. The ground tore open under his hits, every blow ringing out like a thunderclap.
Cassian parried everything with an infuriating grace.
Every dodge was perfect. Every counter attack was precise. His invocation struck in sync with him in an almost perfectly coordinated way, making any real defense nearly impossible.
And yet, Bruno held on. He absorbed each blow.
Every hit he took grew his strength, every impact fed his rage. The fight unfolding before me was on a completely different level.
Bruno slammed both fists into the ground, creating a titanic shockwave that shook the entire district and swept Cassian and his specter back in its blast. Buildings were collapsing, cries of distress could be heard with nothing anyone could do. The fact that this fight was exposing the existence of Thorns, of superhuman power and supernatural abilities, to the world would surely change things forever, as we knew them.
I saw Cassian take off his coat, his smile, once just amused, now euphoric.
— Finally… a little spectacle. I'll admit, you're stronger than I expected. I'm really having fun!
The duel became monstrous.
Bruno threw punches that easily cracked concrete, made everything collapse. Each of his blows would have crushed any other heir.
But Cassian… Cassian was not just anyone.
His avatar struck at inhuman speeds. Cassian's dodges were promises of retaliation. His blade shone with an unfathomable purity, and every time he struck, Bruno managed to absorb it, but his body was starting to crack, to hit its limit. For a power that could absorb anything, the one carrying it also needed perfect mental and physical condition. But faced with a transcendent force, even such a power would eventually be surpassed.
Blood was flowing from his ears and eyes. My brother was fading. I could hear his bones cracking, on the verge of snapping.
And yet, he still moved forward, despite the fatigue, despite the pain. Bruno was incredible.
— It seems like you're starting to reach your limits, Vongold… What a shame.
— YOU TALK TOO MUCH!!! Bruno roared, and at an unbelievable speed he was nose to nose with Cassian, delivering a world-ending blow straight to his face.
The shockwave annihilated what remained of the entire street, sending Cassian flying. The surrounding buildings collapsed. Flames erupted everywhere.
The district was nothing but a burning field of ruins.
A true hell.
In the dust, a silhouette rose. Cassian had nothing but a light graze on his cheek while his sword was still immaculate, his clothes barely ruffled, and his avatar more real than ever.
He seemed to delight in the effort being made to reach him.
— Impressive, I'll admit, but all that effort for one graze? If I were your Patriarch, I'd be ashamed of you.
He vanished in a flash.
The next instant, his fist drove into Bruno's stomach, making him vomit a pool of blood. At the same moment, a blade sliced off his arm.
Then a few more exchanges sent him spinning through the air as the blows grew heavier and heavier, until his invocation delivered the finishing strike, sending him crashing to the ground with a heel to the head.
— BRUNO!!!! I screamed.
Bruno could barely absorb the blows anymore. He coughed up blood, but he was still getting back up. Because as long as a Vongold has the strength, they never refuse a fight.
Cassian shook his head.
— I'll admit… you're tenacious. But tenacity is not the same as strength.
The duel ended in one final burst.
Cassian and his angelic guardian raised their blades and struck in unison, a perfect, almost divine strike that brought Bruno down, unable to block an attack pulled straight from a nightmare. His knee hit the ground hard. His bloodied body was ready to give out.
And me, completely powerless, watched my brother fall before my eyes.
Cassian raised his sword, calmly, almost gracefully.
— That is the difference between you… and me.