Chapter 45: Who Is Worthy To Rule
"Power does not decide the outcome of a fight—resolve does. And resolve is always tested when the rules stop existing."
— Miyamoto Musashi
The first strike did not land where it was aimed.
Adrian was already moving before Marleen's lightning even finished forming.
A crack of white light tore through the air—
and the mountain ridge behind him disintegrated instead.
Marleen stood in the sky, suspended above fractured terrain, her gaze locked forward.
Adrian reappeared hundreds of meters away.
Blood ran down the side of his cheek.
"Fast," Adrian muttered.
Marleen did not respond.
She simply vanished.
_ _ _
The world split.
Everywhere Adrian stepped, lightning arrived first.
Left foot—strike.
Right pivot—strike.
Air displacement—strike.
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—
Entire town blocks collapsed as collateral shockwaves tore through the battlefield.
Adrian's eyes narrowed.
<
Another strike descended.
Adrian raised his hand.
"I had a dream once." She said.
Silver energy formed, thin, compressed – faith.
_Phase_
He disappeared.
The lightning hit nothing.
Marleen tilted her head slightly.
And frowned.
_ _ _
Adrian reappeared inside a ruined plaza.
Instantly—
Lightning followed.
He clicked his tongue.
"So that's how you want to play."
He lifted his hand.
Silver energy expanded outward like veins.
Not blocking.
Mapping.
He began reading her rhythm.
One step.
Two step.
Strike window.
Delay gap.
He moved again.
This time—he met her attack halfway.
BOOM—
Their collision erased the plaza.
Adrian slid back, boots carving trenches into stone.
Marleen finally spoke.
"Of a boy who would one day ruin the heavens."
Adrian wiped blood from his lip.
"And you think that boy is me."
She raised her hand again.
The sky dimmed.
The atmosphere changed.
Lightning turned gold.
The air itself began to compress under divine pressure.
Entire towns below went silent.
Adrian's expression sharpened.
"I don't think."
A pause.
"I know."
Golden lightning erupted.
In hundreds.
Each one creating more chaos than the last.
Adrian moved—but slower now.
<
Adrian exhaled.
His eyes spun slightly.
_ _ _
Adrian began retreating across counties.
Marleen followed.
Each strike erased terrain—
rivers split, hills collapsed, towns disintegrated under the divine pressure.
But Adrian always remained just ahead.
"Running?" Marleen asked.
Adrian didn't turn.
"No."
A pause.
"Building momentum."
_ _ _
Across the northern ridge—
A pulse.
Then another.
Then another.
Marleen sensed it.
Her gaze sharpened.
"Anulian."
Adrian smiled slightly.
"Good. You noticed."
The sky cracked open.
Space tore.
Three distortions appeared above the battlefield.
Arrivals.
Anulian Queens.
Their presence bent the air itself.
Marleen stopped.
For the first time.
"So this was your intent." She said.
Adrian turned slightly, a smile on his face as he wiped blood from the edges of his lips.
"Power is good."
He looked up.
"But excess attracts predators."
The Queens descended.
The battlefield became unstable.
Marleen shifted.
Golden lightning intensified.
"Then I end it now."
Her body became a conduit.
Divine energy stopped flowing externally.
It began burning internally.
Adrian's eyes sharpened instantly.
Xiao spoke urgently.
<
Adrian exhaled.
"I know."
He stepped forward.
_ _ _
Marleen raised her hand.
The sky disappeared.
Only gold remained.
A single judgment strike formed.
Adrian didn't move away this time.
He moved toward it.
The moment impact occurred—
Silence.
The Anulian had been hit,
But that wasn't all –
Marleen's expression changed for the first time.
"You—"
Her sentence stopped.
Marleen froze mid-air.
Then fell.
_ _ _
Silence returned to the battlefield.
No lightning.
No air pressure.
Only proof of the battle stretching across multiple regions.
Adrian stood still.
Breathing heavier.
Inside his eyes —
Golden energy rotated slowly.
Alive.
Marleen's body hit the ground far below.
Adrian looked down.
"Never lose guard in a fight." He said.
She turned into particles of dust and flew into his eyes.
Marleen vanished
Adrian closed his eyes.
And for the first time since the fight began—
he did not move immediately.