The battlefield held its breath.
Luke stood in the center of the ruined street, hand resting on his sword, face empty of emotion.
Drace stepped forward from the left, katana raised, toothpick somehow still in his mouth despite the chaos. "Two on one seems excessive," he said, grinning. "But you did interrupt our fights."
Sera emerged from the right, water coiling around her arms like living serpents. "This should be quick," she said dismissively. "He's just—"
"You don't understand."
Luke's voice cut through the air—flat, certain, different.
Not the chaotic, loud Luke who yelled at rats and complained about toothpicks.
This was someone else.
Golden energy began spiraling around him, but not like before.
It wasn't wild. Wasn't explosive.
It was structured.Taking shape. Forming patterns.
Constellations.
Faint golden lines appeared in the air behind Luke, connecting like stars in the night sky, forming the unmistakable shape of a hero—muscular, powerful, wielding a club.
Hercules.
Luke's voice remained calm.
"Star Manipulation."
The constellation pulsed once, brighter, and Luke's presence shifted.
The air around him grew heavy, dense, oppressive in a way it hadn't been moments before.
Drace's grin faltered.
Sera's water trembled slightly.
Luke raised his sword.
"Hercules."
The constellation behind him flared—not a glow on Luke's body, just the star pattern intensifying—and when Luke moved—
BOOM.
His blade met Drace's katana with enough force to crack the street beneath them.
Drace's eyes widened.
What—
Luke's strength had multiplied.
Magnified.
Drace was forced backward, boots skidding, arms trembling from the impact alone.
"What is this?!" Drace gasped.
Sera didn't wait.
Water lances erupted from every direction, dozens of them, converging on Luke simultaneously—
Another constellation appeared beside Hercules.
A winged horse. Elegant. Swift.
Pegasus.
"Pegasus."
Luke vanished.
Faster than Sera could track, faster than the water lances could adjust, leaving only afterimages and displaced air.
He reappeared beside her—sword already mid-swing—
Sera barely formed a water barrier in time—
CRACK.
The barrier shattered like glass, and Sera was sent tumbling backward, crashing through rubble.
Drace attacked from behind, blade aimed for Luke's spine—
Luke twisted without looking, parrying with casual precision—
BOOM.
Drace was launched upward, flipping through the air before catching himself on a rooftop.
He landed hard, breathing harder.
His pressure...
Sera pulled herself upright, blood trickling from her lip, staring at Luke with wide eyes.
...it's the same as Kael's.
"How?" she whispered.
Luke didn't answer.
He just stood there, sword raised,expression unchanged.
Drace's jaw clenched. "Sera."
"I know."
They moved together.
The fight exploded.
Drace descended from above, katana wreathed in green energy—Phantom Cleave—
Luke raised his sword—Hercules.
CLANG.
The impact sent shockwaves rippling outward, shattering windows, cracking walls, the street beneath them spiderwebbing from pressure alone.
Sera attacked from the side, water forming massive pressurized spheres—
Luke's eyes flicked toward her—
He moved—
So fast Drace lost sight of him for half a heartbeat—
Luke appeared in front of Sera, sword already descending—
She created a water cocoon defensively—
Luke's blade struck—Hercules strength behind it—
BOOM.
The cocoon held for one second.
Then shattered.
Sera was thrown backward, gasping, barely managing to dissolve into water and reform ten meters away.
Drace came in fast, multiple slashes, each one precise, deadly—
Luke met every single one.
Not dodging.
Blocking.
Steel sang against steel, sparks flying with each collision, but Luke wasn't being pushed back.
He was matching Drace's technique with raw strength.
"Impossible," Drace hissed, disengaging. "Your swordsmanship isn't this refined—"
"It's not."
Luke's voice remained calm.
"I'm just stronger and faster than you now."
He switched.
Luke blitzed.
Three strikes in half a second—each one from a different angle—Drace barely parried two, the third grazing his shoulder, tearing fabric, drawing blood.
Sera sent a tidal wave crashing forward—
Luke leapt—impossibly high, impossibly fast—
Landed behind her—
Swung—
She spun, creating a water whip to intercept—
Luke switched mid-swing.
Pegasus dimmed.
Hercules blazed.
His strength surged—
CRACK.
The water whip was obliterated, and Sera was sent skidding backward across broken asphalt, boots carving trenches.
Both Drace and Sera stood twenty meters away, breathing hard, battered, bloodied.
Luke stood between them.
Untouched.
Both constellations glowing steadily behind him.
"This is insane," Sera whispered, staring at him. "How is he—"
"His mantra pressure," Drace said quietly, eyes locked on Luke. "It's not just strong."
He tightened his grip on his katana.
"It's the same as Kael's."
Sera's blood ran cold.
Luke raised his sword, golden energy flooding the blade.
"I'm not done yet."
He channeled everything into the steel—Hercules strength, Pegasus speed, his own mantra—until the blade screamed with barely contained power.
"Shatter Slice!"
The crescent of golden energy that erupted was massive—twice the size of any he'd released before, tearing through the air with a sound like reality breaking, carving a trench into the street as it roared toward them.
Drace and Sera moved simultaneously—
Drace's katana ignited with green fire—Phantom Cleave—
Sera's water spiraled into a compressed drill—Aqua Spiral—
Both techniques launched forward, colliding with Luke's Shatter Slice mid-air—
BOOOOM.
The explosion consumed the entire street.
Light. Sound. Pressure.
Everything.
When the dust began to settle—
Luke stood in the crater, sword raised, breathing slightly harder but still standing.
Drace and Sera were on opposite sides, barely upright, battered, exhausted.
Luke took one step forward.
Then—
His instincts screamed.
He twisted—
Too late.
Drace had moved during the explosion—hidden in the debris—katana already descending toward Luke's blind spot, green energy flaring—
The blade was inches from Luke's neck—
[CUT AWAY]
PART 2: ASCENDED
Fifty meters away.
Sora stood in the ruins of the building he'd crashed into, red and white energy spiraling around his body in steady, controlled streams.
The V-shaped mark on his forehead glowed with quiet, terrible certainty.
His crimson eyes—pupils marked with golden plus signs—stared through the darkness at the figure walking toward him.
Kael.
Hands in pockets. Flames coiling lazily around his arms. Expression calm.
But his eyes...
His eyes were alive.
Not with malice.
With excitement.
"That mark," Kael said quietly, stopping ten meters away. "That energy."
He smiled.
Just barely.
"Show me."
Sora stepped forward.
Not rushed. Not desperate.
Measured.
When he spoke, his voice was different.
Not the determined, emotional Sora who'd been fighting desperately moments ago.
This was colder. Calmer.
Certain.
"You were blabbering too much."
Red and white energy flared brighter around him—thermal heat distorting the air, electromagnetic sparks crackling along his skin.
"Is this what you're capable of?"
Kael's smile widened.
"Oh, I like you now."
Flames erupted around both his arms, spiraling upward like living infernos.
"Come."
Sora moved.
BOOM.
The ground where he'd been standing exploded, asphalt vaporizing from the force of his launch.
He closed the distance in a heartbeat—faster than before, impossibly fast—
Fist ignited with red-white plasma—
"Plasma Platinum Punch."
Kael raised his forearm to block—
CRACK.
The impact created a shockwave that flattened everything within twenty meters.
Cars were thrown aside. Rubble was pulverized. The air itself shrieked from pressure.
But Kael—
Didn't budge.
His grin widened.
"That's better."
He pushed—
Sora was forced backward, boots skidding, but he didn't fall.
Kael came in fast—fist wreathed in surgical flames—
Sora twisted, dodging by millimeters, countering with a plasma-enhanced elbow—
Kael blocked with his other arm, flames flaring—
They disengaged simultaneously, sliding backward.
For three seconds, they stared at each other.
Then—
They moved.
BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-BOOM.
The battlefield became a warzone.
They clashed in the center of the street—fist against fist, flame against plasma—each impact creating deafening sonic booms that echoed across the entire simulation.
Sora's movements were precise now—not wild, not desperate—every strike calculated, efficient, deadly.
His red-white aura pulsed with each attack, the V-mark on his forehead glowing steadily.
Kael matched him step for step, grinning wider with every exchange.
"Finally!" Kael laughed, deflecting a plasma punch and countering with a flame-wreathed kick.
Sora blocked, the impact rattling his bones, but held firm.
He twisted, launching a Plasma Barrage—ten rapid strikes in two seconds—
Kael weaved through half, blocked the rest, flames intensifying—
"More!"
Sora disengaged, creating distance—
Raised his hand—
Red-white energy condensed into his palm, but this time—
Lightning.
Pure white electricity crackled between his fingers, arcing outward, ionizing the air.
Kael's eyes narrowed.
Electromagnetic manipulation.
Sora thrust forward.
"Plasma Bolt."
A spear of concentrated lightning launched forward, moving faster than sound, tearing through the air with a sound like reality tearing—
Kael crossed his arms, flames spiraling into a dense shield—
BOOM.
The lightning struck, and for half a second, the entire street was bathed in white light.
When it cleared—
Kael stood, arms smoking slightly, grin undiminished.
"That actually stung."
He lowered his arms.
"Good."
Flames roared around him—not just his arms anymore, his entire upper body wreathed in red-orange fire.
"Let's go faster."
He vanished.
Sora's eyes tracked him instantly—
There—
They collided mid-air.
CRACK.
The shockwave shattered every window in a three-block radius.
They rebounded, landed on opposite rooftops, and launched again—
Meeting in the center—
BOOM.
Again—
BOOM.
Again—
BOOM.
Faster.
Harder.
Neither giving ground.
Sora's plasma punches were devastating now—each one carrying thermal heat that burned and electromagnetic energy that disrupted—and something else.
Something Kael was beginning to feel.
Not externally.
Internally.
His cells.
The plasma wasn't just burning his skin.
It was affecting him at a molecular level.
Gradual. Subtle. But there.
Kael's grin widened even further.
This kid...
He blocked another plasma punch, feeling the heat seep through his guard.
...is actually dangerous now.
They clashed again—Sora's fist met Kael's palm—
And this time—
Neither was pushed back.
Perfect equilibrium.
Flame and plasma grinding against each other, neither yielding.
Sora's crimson eyes stared into Kael's red ones.
The V-mark on his forehead pulsed once.
"I'm not falling this time."
Kael's grin was feral now.
"Good."
They pushed—
BOOOOM.
The explosion sent both flying backward—
Sora flipped mid-air, landed on his feet, plasma already charging in his fist—
Kael touched down across the street, flames spiraling higher, hotter—
They stared at each other across the ruined battlefield.
Both breathing slightly harder.Both battered.
Both grinning.
For different reasons.
Kael because he was finally enjoying himself.
Sora because he'd finally reached him.
Equal footing.
50/50.
Kael raised one hand, flames condensing into a single point.
"Let's see what you've really got."
Sora clenched both fists, red-white plasma spiraling around them, lightning crackling between his fingers.
The V-mark blazed brighter.
They moved.