Chapter 58: Beyond Iron Bastion
The instant they moved...
Fwoo...
They disappeared.
Not because they had become invisible, not because they had hidden themselves, but the world itself simply failed to keep up.
The moment Daito Greyhell, Monday Valhalla, and Cassian collided, the battlefield of Iron Bastion erupted beneath them.
BOOOOOOOOOM!!
The earth split apart in a violent explosion of stone and dust. The stone pillars crumbled into clouds of debris as concentric shockwaves tore across the ruined fortress, flattening everything in their path. The crater they left behind widened with terrifying speed before collapsing into itself, unable to withstand the force released in a single exchange.
Then...They were gone.
No footsteps, no afterimages and no sound.
One moment they existed within the ruins of Iron Bastion...
The next—
Fwoo....
The battlefield had lost them.
* * *
Several miles away...
The sky above Gregor Naught suddenly folded inward.
KRAAAAAK!!
Space rippled like the surface of disturbed water before three streaks of light erupted from the distortion.
A streak of brilliant gold, streak of crackling blue and a streak so warped that it seemed to bend the clouds around itself.
Daito.
Monday.
Cassian.
Their fists collided in midair.
BOOOOOOOOM!!
The impact didn't merely create a shockwave.
It ripped open the clouds themselves.
White masses scattered in every direction as compressed air exploded outward, creating a circular void high above the city.
Before gravity could reclaim them—
SWOOSH!
They vanished again.
The streets below erupted.
THOOOOOM!!
Three figures crashed into the heart of Gregor Naught with enough force to make the city tremble. Cobblestone roads shattered into countless fragments, windows burst outward from surrounding buildings, and entire intersections collapsed beneath the pressure.
Yet none of them remained there.
The instant their feet touched the ground—
SWOOSH!
They accelerated again.
The city became their battlefield.
A marketplace disappeared beneath overlapping sonic booms. A cathedral lost its bell tower before anyone realized a fight had passed through it.
Towering buildings split cleanly down the middle, collapsing seconds after invisible forces had already moved on.
Nothing made sense.
There were no visible opponents only destruction, thunder, and violent gusts of wind powerful enough to rip rooftops from homes.
Some people who were already evacuated the tiwn looked toward the sky and saw nothing.
Others swore they had witnessed flashes of blue and gold streaking across the horizon before disappearing entirely.
No two people saw the same thing.
Because no ordinary eyes could.
* * *
Far above the city...
Cassian's voice echoed.
Not through the air but through impact itself.
His fist buried itself into Daito's ribs.
KRRRAAAK!!
Bone cracked.
The force erupted through Daito's body before multiplying into something far more devastating.
His entire frame folded around the blow.
Before he could even react—
FWOOSH!
He was launched backward like a cannon shell.
The sky shattered behind him.
"...No Give..."
Cassian's calm voice somehow reached him despite their impossible speed.
Monday appeared above Cassian in a storm of crackling lightning.
Blue electricity wrapped around his body like a living thunder as he descended with enough momentum to flatten a mountain.
"RAAAAHHH!!"
His fist came crashing down.
Cassian merely glanced upward as he sidestepped.
Barely.
Monday's strike missed by less than an inch.
Instead, his fist pierced straight through an abandoned office tower.
KABOOOOOOOM!!
The entire structure exploded into thousands of fragments before collapsing in on itself.
Cassian calmly raised one leg.
"...No Take..."
His kick connected only once.
THUD!
That single impact multiplied beyond comprehension.
Monday's body blurred across the city.
SWOOSH!
CRASH!
He smashed through one building.
Then another.
Then another.
Concrete and steel disintegrated around him before gravity could even begin pulling the rubble downward.
The city skyline was permanently scarred by one casual kick.
Cassian slowly lowered his foot.
"...Only..."
Daito reappeared.
His fists screamed through the air.
SHIIIIIIING!!
The punch was flawless.
Precise.
Silent.
A killing strike aimed directly at Cassian's spine.
Without looking...Cassian threw a punch behind him.
BOOOOOM!!
Steel met flesh.
The collision was frantic.
The fist vibrated violently as Daito's entire body absorbed the multiplied impact.
The world around him fractured into countless shimmering reflections.
For one horrifying instant...He ceased to be seen.
Not because he had died.
Because normality itself had rejected him.
Then—
WHOOOM!!
He snapped back into reality hundreds of meters away.
PSSSSH!
Blood sprayed from his mouth.
His vision blurred, his arms trembled violently from absorbing the impossible force.
Cassian calmly finished his sentence.
"...Multiply."
Silence.
Then chaos.
Time itself began falling behind.
* * *
Time no longer flowed naturally.
Milliseconds stretched into entire battles.
Microseconds became opportunities.
Every decision had to be made before ordinary thought could even begin forming.
Cause no longer preceded effect.
Sometimes destruction appeared before the strike that caused it.
BOOOM!
Sometimes buildings collapsed before anyone touched them.
CRASHH!
Sometimes shockwaves arrived long after the fighters had already vanished elsewhere.
WHOOOOM!
The laws governing the world struggled desperately to keep pace.
They failed.
Every step Daito took cracked the ground beneath him.
BOOM!!
Every burst of Monday's lightning split the atmosphere apart.
KRRRRAAAAK!!
Every movement Cassian made left fractures in the air itself, as though invisible glass were continuously breaking around him.
SKRRRRRRT!!
The three warriors no longer traveled through Gregor Naught.
They carved pathways across it.
SWOOSH!
FWOOOSH!
SWIISH!
They sprinted along the vertical walls of skyscrapers before launching themselves toward distant rooftops.
They dashed beneath collapsing bridges moments before those same bridges crashed into the rivers below.
CRASH!
They burst through abandoned factories, entered one wall and exited another before the first hole had even finished forming.
WHOOM!
At one point they raced through an underground subway tunnel so quickly that the pressure alone launched an entire train onto the surface above.
Nothing remained untouched and nothing remained stable.
* * *
To everyone watching from afar...
Only three lights remained visible.
A brilliant ribbon of blue lightning, a golden streak that flashed like sunlight reflected from polished steel, and a warped distortion that resembled the world tearing itself apart.
They crossed the skies over Gregor Naught like meteors.
BOM–POW–PANG!
BAM–BOOM–SMACK!
Separating, colliding then separating again.
Each encounter unleashed another devastating shockwave that echoed for miles.
The battle had surpassed visibility, it had surpassed sound, it had even surpassed understanding.
And despite all of that...one undeniable truth slowly revealed itself.
Dorector Cassian Vanderbi...was winning.
* * *
Daito inhaled sharply as he reappeared above a collapsing communications tower.
His enhanced perception raced through countless calculations.
Wind speed, trajectory, distance and timing.
His body moved before conscious thought could interfere.
He lunged.
The attack swept through the air in a flawless diagonal swing aimed at Cassian's neck.
A perfect strike.
One that should never have been stopped.
Cassian caught the punch...using only two fingers.
"...Nice."
His voice carried genuine admiration.
"...Almost."
The hand refused to move another inch.
Daito's eyes widened.
"Impossible!"
Monday arrived from directly above.
FWOOSH!
Lightning erupted around his descending kick.
The atmosphere screamed.
KRAK-KOOOOOOOM!!
The attack carried enough force to split the entire building in half.
Cassian tilted his head.
The kick missed.
SHOOM!
Barely.
He pivoted effortlessly before driving his heel into Monday's abdomen.
THWACK!
One kick, one motion and one impact.
Monday disappeared.
SWOOSH!
The multiplied force hurled him across the city faster than the eye or even enhanced perception could follow.
He crashed through an elevated highway.
CRASH!
Then through an office complex.
CRASH!
Then through a mountainside, several kilometres beyond the city limits.
BOOOM!
The explosions merged into one continuous roar.
Daito refused to stop.
He vanished from Cassian's front, appearing directly behind him.
SWOOSH!
The punch was thrust forward.
A fatal strike.
Cassian didn't even turn.
His fist shot backward.
THOOOOM!!
The multiplied impact detonated against Daito's chest.
His body folded violently before reality once again rejected him.
The world dissolved into fractured colors.
For a heartbeat...He floated inside absolute nothingness.
Then—
He crashed back into existence.
BOOOOOOOM!!
His body slammed through the center of a skyscraper before skidding across the city's streets, carving a trench hundreds of meters long through asphalt and concrete.
Smoke billowed into the sky.
The fight remained tightly clenched within his hand.
He forced himself upright. Blood dripped steadily from his chin. His breathing had become heavier. His muscles trembled uncontrollably.
Across the ruined district...
BZTLEE!
Monday emerged from a mountain of rubble, arcs of unstable lightning flickering wildly around him.
The two warriors exchanged a glance.
No words.
There wasn't enough time. They understood each other without speaking.
One heartbeat later...They attacked together. Two directions. Perfect synchronization. Perfect timing. Perfect trust.
And for the first time since the battle had begun...
Cassian smiled wider.
Because this...Was exactly what he had been waiting for.
To Be Continued...