Kael's fist slammed sideways into the side of Gul's head with bone-shaking force.
The impact was devastating Gul's body was hurled sideways at blinding speed, skipping across the ruined street and building structures.
Each collision leaving behind a trail of massive, smoking craters.
He finally slammed to a halt halfway through the ruins of what used to be a small park, his back cracking against a shattered fountain.
Gul lay there for a few seconds, a deep gash across the side of his head pouring crimson down his face and neck.
His coat was shredded, épée still gripped tight in one trembling hand.
Yet he was still breathing—ragged.
Kael walking forward slowly through the smoke and wreckage, blindfolded face tilted towards the fallen adventurer..
"Give up already, Mason." Voice thick with mocking pity. "It's pointless to keep fighting, look around you—Paris is already swarmed."
"Portals are everywhere, your precious City of Light is drowning in our black tide."
"The Lord of Flies will awaken. What's one more broken man going to change? Just… lie down. It'll be quicker."
The air grew heavier, the distant screams of civilians fading into a hollow echo.
Gul coughed, spitting blood onto the rubble.
Then, slowly he pushed himself up with his épée as a crutch.
A low chuckle escaped his lips— laugh that echoed across the devastated park.
Kael paused, his head tilting in confusion.
Gul wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand, grin slowly returning.
His voice was hoarse, cracked, as he straightened fully, épée humming back to life in his grip. "Give up…?" He laughed again, louder this time.
"Heh… That word isn't even in the rulebook of the Taranis Guild. As an adventurer, throwing in the towel before the fight's over… that'd be the real disgrace."
"We don't fight because we think we'll win every time. We fight for our country, for the people screaming in these streets, for every innocent life that still has a chance to see tomorrow... So long as I'm still breathing, I'm not done yet."
The vibrations around his blade sharpened more, cutting through the smoke.
Kael's grin returned, slow and mocking. "Big words for a man already bleeding out. Your guild's rules won't save you when I crush your skull into dust."
"Also… you seem to forget something." His voice dropped, low and resonant. "I'm a Grade three sorcerer."
Kael's head tilted slightly, the blind titan's muscles tensing as if sensing the shift in the vibrations themselves. "Grade three…?"
Gul's lips curled into a blood-stained smirk.
His entire body began to glow—blazing with pure, sky-blue light.
The ground beneath his boots cracked outward in a perfect circle as his mana surged.
"My law manifest"
"Arcane..." The light condensed behind him.
Seven perfect spheres of radiant azure energy materialized in a slow, majestic orbit—floating in a wide, tomoe-like ring that spun lazily around his shoulders.
"Harmonic Dominion."
The seven spheres accelerated, circulating faster now, leaving faint trails of blue light in their wake.
The entire domain expanded outward in an invisible dome—silent, elegant, absolute.
"Any enemy who dared touch even a single sphere would feel their body lock in sudden, devastating vibration: muscles seizing, bones rattling, nerves screaming as internal shockwaves ripped through them."
Kael took one step forward, fists clenched, the massive scar on his back flaring brighter. "Hoh? New tricks, huh? This is getting interesting..."
Gul didn't wait, he blurred forward, épée, the seven orbiting spheres trailing behind him.
Blade against fist, vibration against raw power.
The first clash sent a shockwave ripping outward, shattering every window in a three-block radius.
They fought across the devastation—Gul leaping from crumbling rooftop, while Kael bulldozed straight through buildings.
Kael laughed, "Your swords tickle, Mason!" In a blur of arrogance, he lunged forward and snatched two of the orbiting spheres right out of the air.
He crushed them into his mouth, black mana flaring around his jaws as he swallowed the condensed vibrations whole.
His body shuddered twice then he grinned wider, muscles bulging even larger.
The duel intensified.
Kael's each punch carving craters the size of cars into the ground
Gul weaved between them like a ghost, his épée flashing in precise arcs that left lingering harmonic trails.
Another apartment complex collapsed when their combined shockwave sheared through its support columns.
Kael leaped skyward in a single bound, rising higher than the surrounding rooftops until he looked like a dark god descending from the clouds.
His right fist reared back, swelling with black mana until it became a colossal fist the size of an entire building.
The air howled around it.
He bellowed, "DIE!!"
The massive fist hurtled downward like a meteor of pure annihilation.
The ground below cracked in anticipation.
Gul stood alone in the cratered park, his hair whipping wildly, the five remaining spheres spinning faster and faster behind him.
He didn't dodge nor didn't retreat.
He stomped with his feet, épée raised high, and slammed the five spheres together with a single, decisive command.
"Converge!"
The five azure orbs fused in a blinding flash, collapsing into one colossal light-blue sphere the size of a bus.
It hurtled forward like a newborn star, positioning itself directly between Gul and the titan fist.
For one frozen heartbeat, the two forces hung in perfect opposition—black meteor above, radiant blue sphere below.
Gul's eyes blazed, his épée slashed upward in a perfect, glowing arc.
The massive sphere shattered like glass struck by a tuning fork.
In an instant it exploded outward—transforming into hundreds of tiny, razor-sharp light-blue notes.
They phased forward like ghosts, slipping straight through the colossal black fist as if it weren't even there
Kael's hand passed harmlessly through empty air… while the swarm of miniature spheres streaked unerringly towards his real body high above.
They struck every single one.
Kael's triumphant roar turned into a blood-curdling scream of agony.
Internal vibrations ripped through muscle, bone, and mana veins at a frequency no human body was meant to endure.
His massive frame convulsed mid-air, blindfolded face contorting in pain as every nerve ignited like lightning, but he refused to fall.
"GRAAAAAHHH!" An enraged scream tore from his throat.
He forced his body downward, slamming his remaining fist into the ground with every ounce of remaining power.
"Zephyr Veil!" In that instant, a shadowy figure appeared in front of Gul.
Regis long coat flapping dramatically. Wand raised high as a green barrier materializes between them.
The impact was pure annihilation.
A mushroom cloud of black-and-crimson energy erupted skyward, visible across the entire horizon through Paris.
The explosion carved a crater the size of a city block, sending shockwaves that flattened entire streets and hurled debris for half a kilometer.
The dust began to settle.
Kael, his limbs refused to obey. Every muscle locked in harmonic agony. He could still think but his body had betrayed him completely.
As he plummeted through the choking haze, his mind roared with furious denial.
"Impossible… This cannot be… I am Kael Zaytsev... How… how does a mere adventurer's… make my blood scream like this?!"
His voice cracked into a guttural snarl. He plummeted faster, the wind howling past his ears.
"I… will not… lose… to a mortal—!"
Kael dropped, crashing through the ruined office building.
Dust billowed outward once more, swallowing his body in a tomb of rubble and silence.
Regis lowered his wand, breathing hard, and turned on Gul with that scolding glare.
"Gul Mason, you absolute fool!" he snapped, voice cutting through the ringing silence.
"Going off alone against a monster like that? You could've been paste! What part of 'team protocol' did your thick skull forget this time?!"
Gul leaned on his épée, chest heaving, blood dripping from his chin, but that same grin still can be seen in his face.
The remaining spheres of Harmonic Dominion slowly faded behind him, their light dimming as they dissipate.