Chapter 121: Born To Fight
Roughly ten blocks away, Mardale's situation had deteriorated into a living nightmare.
The king was no longer fighting with calm precision.
He had abandoned strategy and restraint. Only one thing remained inside him now.
Rage.
Pure, overwhelming rage, as every movement he made carried enough force to demolish buildings. Every step split the streets beneath his feet, and every swing of his arm produced shockwaves powerful enough to send abandoned vehicles tumbling through the air.
He had become a natural disaster wearing a human face.
Mardale gritted his teeth.
FWOOOM!!
Space folded around him as he teleported to the King's left.
A fist obliterated the spot where he had been standing only a heartbeat earlier.
Without pausing—
FWOOOM!!
He blinked behind the King, then above him, then several meters away.
His body flashed from one position to another so rapidly that afterimages lingered throughout the ruined street, but it didn't matter.
Every time he thought he had escaped... the King found him.
BOOOOOOOM!!
A golden fist crashed into his ribs, sending him skidding through an overturned truck. Mardale coughed violently, forcing himself upright before teleporting again.
"No...!"
Another desperate attempt to create distance.
Yet somehow... the King was always there.
"What is this monster?!" Mardale thought, panic finally creeping into his mind.
He narrowly avoided another devastating punch, only for an invisible wave of pressure surrounding the King's arm to slam into him anyway.
CRAAAAAAAAASH!!
The impact launched him through the side of an apartment building before he bounced violently across the road below, leaving a trail of shattered asphalt behind him.
His breathing grew increasingly unstable. His vision blurred. Blood stained his clothes, but still... his mind refused to stop working.
Even while being overwhelmed, Mardale forced himself to think.
He activated the team communications.
"...Everyone available..."
He coughed blood before continuing.
"... Go help Champagne."
Another explosion echoed behind him as he teleported away from the King's next attack.
"He's alone against the Boss..."
His voice grew quieter.
"And I think..."
He swallowed hard.
"...he's a Noble–Rank Numerator."
For a brief moment, the communication channel fell silent, and then it erupted with replies.
Aerin answered first.
Heavy breathing filled the line while violent explosions echoed behind her.
"We can't!"
The unmistakable sound of blades colliding rang through her communicator.
"I'm fighting one of the Silver Moon brothers and the King's bodyguards at the same time!"
CLAAANG!!
Another explosion and another scream. Her battle was just as desperate.
A moment later, Wei-Wan's voice cut through the comms.
"We've got upgraded Freakers everywhere!"
RATATATAT!!
Gunfire roared behind him, people screamed, and buildings burned.
"And one of the Silver Moon brothers is controlling the entire outbreak!"
His breathing was ragged.
"We can't leave the civilians!"
The line was filled with static before another voice joined.
Brandon.
Calm as always, but Mardale didn't hesitate.
"Brandon..."
"Can you reach Champagne?"
Several seconds passed, and then Brandon finally answered.
"...Negative."
His tone remained composed despite the situation.
"It'll take me at least thirty minutes to reach . Playmore from the border."
Thirty minutes, Mardale closed his eyes.
Champagne didn't have thirty minutes, he probably didn't even have ten.
Then suddenly, Nyx's voice burst through the channel.
"Where's Fah-jin?!"
RATATATATAT!!
Gunfire answered her question before Fah-jin herself replied.
"I'm trying to reach everyone!"
Her breathing was frantic.
"But there are too many enemies!"
Automatic rifle fire erupted in the background.
"I'm surrounded!"
Silence for only a few seconds. Yet those few seconds felt unbearably heavy. For the first time since entering Playmore...Fear settled inside every member of the team.
Mardale slowly looked at his trembling hand, his teleportation energy... was almost gone.
One jump, that was all he had left.
One final teleport and nothing more.
The realization hit him harder than any punch.
"...No..."
His voice barely escaped his lips.
"...No..."
Before he could think further—
BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The king grabbed him by the throat and slammed him through another reinforced wall. Concrete exploded around them.
POW–PANG–SMACK–THWACK!
Mardale fought back desperately using spatial distortions. Teleport-assisted punches. Rapid combinations. basically everything he had.
But unfortunately, nothing worked.
The King endured every strike without flinching, like an immovable mountain, and like an unstoppable force of nature.
* * *
Far away, at the emergency aircraft platform overlooking the Political District...
Fwooosh....
Nyx stood frozen.
The briefcase rested firmly in her hands, yet it felt impossibly heavy.
VWOOSHH!
The evacuation aircraft waited only a few meters away. Its engines had already begun warming up. Her manager leaned from the open hatch, desperation written across his face.
"MISS NYX!"
He stretched out his arm toward her.
"PLEASE!"
"BOARD NOW!"
But Nyx couldn't move as her feet refused to obey.
It wasn't because she feared dying, but it was because she feared herself. If she activated her Savage Power inside Playmore...people would die.
Thousands perhaps even more. Her ability wasn't simply powerful. It was uncontrollable, wild, and catastrophic.
Especially in her current emotional state. Her fingers tightened around the briefcase until her knuckles turned white.
"...Why..."
Her voice trembled.
"...Why am I so weak...?"
At almost that exact same moment... Miles away... Mardale was asking himself the very same question.
The king slammed him against another wall.
CRAAAAAAAAASH!!
Pain exploded through his body as his vision faded in and out.
He couldn't win and he couldn't even escape.
Then—
SSHHK..
Through all the despair... A calm voice suddenly broke through the communications.
"Mardale."
It was Aerin.
BRRMMM..
CLANG.
"Yuaaah"
Behind her, explosions continued to shake the battlefield, metal clashed, enemies shouted, and yet her voice remained perfectly steady.
"Don't worry about Champagne."
Mardale blinked.
"...What?"
A faint smile crept onto Aerin's face despite the blood running down her own forehead.
"Because that idiot..."
She laughed softly.
"...is a fighting prodigy."
Mardale frowned.
"...What does that even mea—"
His words never finished.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
A gigantic explosion swallowed the city.
KRRRRRRRSHHHHH!!
The shockwave rolled across district after district, cracking windows and shaking skyscrapers throughout Playmore.
Even the King stopped attacking.
For the first time since losing control... he turned toward the source of the blast. As Mardale slowly lifted his head.
Through the towering walls of smoke.. and through the burning ruins... he saw it.
Greenish-blue dragon energy, it was wild, violent and alive. It spiralled through the sky like an awakened dragon, leaving glowing trails behind as it crossed the city at impossible speed.
Residual energy?
No...not residual, but momentum.
Then—
FWOOOOOOOOOM!!
Champagne appeared directly between Mardale and the King. His aura had changed completely. The dragon energy surrounding him was no longer unstable.
VWOOSHH!
It had become dense, compressed, and way violent beyond reason. The sheer pressure radiating from his body caused the asphalt beneath his feet to soften and melt.
The King barely had time to react.
SWOOSH!
Champagne swung one arm sideways. Dragon energy instantly compressed around his palm until it resembled the head of a roaring dragon.
"MYSTIC..."
The aura screamed.
"...DRAGON WAVE!!"
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!
The attack connected squarely with the King's face. The explosion that followed swallowed the entire street. The King became a streak of golden light, blasting through building after building like a meteor.
CRAAASH!
BOOOM!
BOOOM!
One skyscraper split cleanly down the middle, another collapsed entirely, the final impact erased several city blocks beneath a cloud of smoke and debris.
But Champagne... never stopped moving.
Before the explosion had even finished expanding—
SWOOOOOOOOOSH!!
He was already gone.
His dragon aura erupted behind him like massive wings, propelling him across the city with unbelievable speed.
Seconds later he arrived at Fah-jin's battlefield.
She was surrounded by upgraded Freakers, royal guards and members of The Stars.
Bodies littered the streets.
BANG–BANG–BOOOM!
Her rifle barked continuously as she desperately fought to keep the monsters away.
Then a dragon crashed into the battlefield.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!
Champagne tore straight through the center of the enemy formation, everything in his path exploded, freakers burst apart into sprays of corrupted flesh.
SKREEETCH!!
Cars flipped through the air, and members of The Stars were launched like ragdolls. Nearby buildings cracked under the force of his passing.
The battlefield simply...opened before him.
Before Fah-jin could even process what had happened—
FWOO.
Champagne scooped her effortlessly onto his back.
"Hold on tight."
She stared at him in disbelief.
"...WHAT?!"
Then—
SWOOOSH!
He ran.
Not like a man but like a dragon. Every step detonated beneath his feet. The faster he accelerated, the larger his aura became.
VWOOSHH!
It spread from his arms... across his torso... over his entire body... Until a colossal dragon silhouette enveloped him completely.
The city itself seemed to shake beneath his momentum, and the truly terrifying part wasn't his speed, but it was what happened to everything around him.
Champagne wasn't avoiding enemies. He wasn't stopping to fight. His dragon aura had become both weapon and shield. Anything foolish enough to enter its path was annihilated instantly.
SPLAAT!!
CRACK!!
TWHACK!!
VWOOSH!!
Freakers disintegrated on contact. Members of The Stars were blasted away before they even realized he had passed.
TWISH!
Streetlights exploded.
CRAACK!
Roads fractured.
Concrete was pulverized beneath the dragon's unstoppable charge. Champagne himself had become a living shockwave.
Miles away, Mardale watched the trail of destruction with stunned disbelief.
His eyes slowly widened.
"...He advanced..."
Now he understood that was what Aerin had meant. Champagne wasn't simply talented.
He evolved mid-battle, every opponent taught him something, every exchange made him stronger.
He learned, improvised and perfected.
Instinctively.
Like he had been born to fight.
To be continued.....