Chapter 61: Overdrive
The world had stopped measuring them.
Distance no longer mattered.
Neither did speed.
The three figures soaring high above Gregor Naught had crossed a threshold where concepts that governed ordinary existence simply ceased to apply.
They were no longer moving through time. They were moving instead of it.
Every exchange existed inside fractions of moments so impossibly small that reality struggled to acknowledge they had happened at all.
A single ten-billionth of a second...Contained an entire battle.
Within that microscopic instant....
POW—PANG—KA-POW!
THWACK—SMACK—POW!
A thousand fists collided. A thousand strikes were launched. A thousand attacks were dodged. A thousand life-or-death decisions were made.
Every heartbeat held enough combat to decide a war.
The heavens above Gregor Naught had become an arena where cause and effect constantly chased one another, forever arriving too late.
* * *
Three streaks tore across the sky.
Gold.
Blue.
Distortion.
They collided.
BOOOOOOOOM!!
The shockwave spread outward like a second atmosphere, tearing apart clouds that had only just begun reforming from the previous collision.
Before the explosion had finished expanding.....They had already clashed again.
KRAAAAAAK!!
The sky cracked beneath overlapping bursts of compressed air.
BZZTLE!
Lightning flashed.
SHING!
Golden light scattered across the heavens.
WHOOM!
Air bent around Cassian's distorted presence.
To anyone below...Nothing was visible.
Only circles of exploding clouds racing across the sky.
Only distant thunder arriving from battles that had already ended thousands of exchanges earlier.
The true fight existed beyond sight.
Beyond hearing.
Beyond understanding.
* * *
Daito and Monday moved as one.
FWOOSH!
There were no commands, no hesitation and no uncertainty.
Times of fighting together had forged an instinct deeper than language itself.
Daito attacked high, anf Monday struck low.
POW—PANG!
THWACK—PANG!
Before Cassian adjusted they switched.
Monday rose overhead, and Daito slid beneath him.
KA-POW!
THWACK!
One attacked from the front and the other emerged behind.
Their movements overlapped with flawless precision, each creating opportunities the other exploited before they even existed.
They weren't fighting beside one another anymore. They had become two halves of the same intention.
Cassian stood at the center of the storm. Completely relaxed. Every motion he made was economical. There wasn't a single wasted movement.
FWOOSH!
His shoulders barely shifted. His breathing remained slow. His expression never changed.
A jab came for his throat. He tilted his head. A kick targeted his ribs. He redirected it with the back of his wrist.
FWOSH!
A blow swept toward his neck.
He leaned just enough for the edge to whisper past his skin.
Monday's fist immediately followed. Cassian's elbow intercepted it.
The impact echoed across the heavens.
THOOOOM!!
He wasn't overwhelming them. He wasn't escaping.
He was simply...Always where he needed to be.
No more and no less.
* * *
Daito narrowed his eyes.
Something's wrong...The realization settled inside him like a stone.
We're faster.
We're stronger.
We're perfectly synchronized...
The attacks were flowing relentlessly towards Cassian.
Again, blocked.
BZZTLE!
Monday descended from above, wrapped in a cyclone of refined lightning.
Another perfect angle. Another flawless opportunity.
Cassian stepped sideways barely.
FWOO!
Monday's strike passed harmlessly through empty sky.
The opening vanished.
Again.
Daito's breathing remained steady, but his thoughts accelerated beyond comprehension.
This doesn't make sense.
His perception replayed the last several thousand exchanges.
Every feint.
Every dodge.
Every counter.
Every minute shift in Cassian's posture.
Nothing.
No wasted movement. No hesitation. No hidden weakness.
Even under relentless pressure...Cassian remained perfectly composed.
Not barely keeping up but comfortably keeping up.
* * *
Their thoughts connected.
No voices and no sound.
Only pure intention flowing directly between their minds.
"...Monday."
The answer came immediately.
"...Yeah."
A pause.
One so small it existed only as a shared understanding.
"...You see it too."
Monday's response carried none of his usual confidence.
Only certainty.
"...He's still not serious."
Another exchange erupted around them.
POW!
Daito drove his elbow toward Cassian's jaw.
FWOOSH!
Monday simultaneously attacked the back of his knee.
Cassian pivoted between both strikes. One hand redirected Daito. The other brushed Monday aside.
The attacks missed each other by less than a centimeter. Even failure had become perfectly measured.
"...We're not fast enough."
The thought echoed between them.
For the first time...It felt heavy.
Monday almost laughed, not because it was funny.
Because it sounded insane.
"...You're out of your mind."
Blue electricity burst around him as he twisted through another exchange.
"...We're already moving beyond sound."
Daito never stopped attacking.
Never stopped thinking.
"...Then we move beyond that."
Silence.
Then...Monday smiled.
A genuine smile.
"...Heh..."
Lightning burst from every pore in his body.
"...Fine."
* * *
He stopped, not physically, but internally.
Something deep inside him...broke.
No, it evolved.
His heartbeat changed.
Once rapid. Now perfectly measured.
BZZZT!
His breathing synchronized with the flow of electricity racing through his body. The lightning no longer wrapped around him.
WHOOM!
It entered him. His skeleton illuminated beneath his skin. Every bone became a conduit. Every muscle transformed into compressed electrical fiber.
BZZZZZZZTLLEE!!
His nervous system abandoned biological limitations entirely, replacing them with pathways of pure lightning. Blue veins radiated across his arms.
Fwooo....
His hair lifted slowly, each strand standing upright beneath the immense electrical pressure before settling into a sharper, wilder shape.
The heavens darkened.
KRAAAAAK!
KRRRK!
Thunder gathered from impossible distances. The atmosphere bent toward him. Even Daito instinctively looked over.
The transformation wasn't explosive, It was absolute.
Monday slowly exhaled.
Tiny arcs escaped from the corners of his mouth.
"...God Speed..."
Lightning flashed behind him.
KRAAAAAAAK!!
His eyes opened.
They no longer reflected electricity.
They were electricity.
"...Version Two..."
The blue aura compressed until it became almost invisible.
HUMMM!
BZZZT!
Only faint distortions in the surrounding air hinted at the impossible amount of energy condensed within his body.
Then—
Fwoo...
He smiled.
"...Overdrive."
* * *
Cassian's eyes widened only slightly.
But Daito noticed.
It was the first genuine reaction Cassian had shown since the battle began.
Monday disappeared, not with speed, not with acceleration, but with inevitability.
The distance between himself and Cassian simply ceased to exist.
Cassian barely managed to block it.
BOOOOOOOM!!
The impact echoed across the heavens.
His forearm blocked the strike but imperfectly.
SWOOSH!
His body slid backward.
Several meters. Clouds burst apart beneath the pressure.
The sky itself rippled.
For the first time...Cassian had been forced to yield ground.
He looked at the mark left across his sleeve.
Then...He laughed.
Not mockingly. Not arrogantly. From genuine exhilaration.
"Hahaha!"
The sound rolled across the endless sky.
"...Now we're getting somewhere!"
Monday didn't answer. He was already attacking again.
Punch.
Kick.
Elbow.
Shoulder.
Knee.
Each movement flowed seamlessly into the next without pause or wasted effort.
BZZZTLE!
Blue lightning traced every strike, illuminating the heavens with blinding flashes.
Cassian blocked, dodged and countered.
Yet unlike before...He had begun moving more.
His feet shifted. His shoulders turned. His breathing changed. The difference was subtle.
But Daito saw it.
He's adapting...Monday continued his relentless assault. He wasn't trying to win. He was buying something.
Buying...Time.
* * *
"...DAITO!"
The thought struck his mind like a bolt of lightning.
"...Go!"
For the briefest instant...Daito hesitated.
His eyes shifted downward.
Far below.
Toward Iron Bastion.
Toward the lone figure still standing within the ancient ritual circle.
Aerin.
Still completing the impossible. Still carrying all of their hopes. Monday's attacks intensified.
BOOM!
BZZTLE!
Every punch forced Cassian farther from Daito's path.
BRMMMM!
Every collision filled the heavens with thunder.
Cassian smiled wider.
He understood exactly what was happening. Yet he made no attempt to stop it. His eyes briefly met Daito's.
There was no hostility, only anticipation.
As if he, too...Wanted to see what lay beyond this point.
Daito took one last look at Monday.
Their thoughts crossed one final time.
"...Don't die."
Monday grinned without looking back.
"...Hurry up."
Daito turned.
And vanished toward Iron Bastion.
Behind him...
BZZZZZZZTLLEE!
Blue lightning and warped space collided over the heavens.
KABOOOOOOOOOM!!
The battle between Monday Valhalla and Cassian had begun in earnest.
While below...Fate waited in the hands of a single girl...Drawing one final circle.
To Be Continued...