Sydney faced two Bravo users — a towering lycan wielding a colossal hammer, and a dragoon armed with twin curved blades.

  Her body blazed with fire. Her hair, usually a cool ocean-blue, now streamed like living flame. Heat shimmered around her, her entire frame cloaked in a furious yellow blaze.

  The dragoon smirked as he stepped closer.

  “You’re hot, aren’t you? I wonder… what tier of Seed do you carry?”

  Sydney’s eyes narrowed, flames flickering hotter.

  “Like I’d tell you.”

  The lycan licked his lips, eyes gleaming with hunger.

  “Let’s slice her up.”

  The dragoon lunged first, swinging his right blade downward. Sydney raised both hands, catching the strike with her bare palms. The impact boomed — the ground beneath them split apart, cratering six kilometers wide in a heartbeat.

  The lycan swung his hammer sideways with bone-breaking force, but Sydney shot skyward in a streak of fire, leaving a molten trail behind her. From the heavens her fists swelled, wrapped in enormous fire-cloaked gauntlets. She hurled them downward, a rain of blazing blows.

  The dragoon and lycan weaved frantically, dodging each fiery strike. A single misstep would incinerate them whole.

  The dragoon retaliated, slicing upward with precision. The blade’s arc grazed Sydney’s cheek as she darted aside. Blood trickled down, sizzling against her burning skin.

  “Keep her busy,” the lycan barked, sprinting toward the flame barrier ten kilometers away. “I’ll break through!”

  The dragoon vaulted upward after her, blades flashing. He slashed again and again, relentless, forcing Sydney back. Her body split into flame twice to evade his strikes, reforming only to find his hand clamped around her face. His palm burned, skin blistering, but he refused to release her. With his other hand, he drove his sword into her stomach.

  The blade pierced through fire and flesh alike.

  Sydney’s eyes narrowed, a dangerous smile forming. She seized his arm with blazing fingers.

  “You made a big mistake.”

  The dragoon’s eyes widened—too late.

  Sydney screamed, and her body erupted.

  A sphere of fire thirty kilometers wide consumed the battlefield. The dragoon’s scream vanished inside the inferno as waves of molten heat expanded outward, melting mountains and boiling lakes.

  Inside Eryndor’s castle, Ziraiah wiped sweat from her brow.

  “Why is it suddenly so hot…?”

  The lycan, caught at the edges of the inferno, howled in pain as flames scorched his flesh.

  When the explosion subsided, both Bravo users lay blackened and burned upon the ground, barely alive. Sydney descended slowly from the sky, her form still blazing, though her breath came heavy. She thought it was over.

  But from the opposite end of the castle, two fingers pierced through her wall of flame — and through Malois’s ice barrier as well.

  “No…” Sydney whispered, reigniting herself in desperation.

  She shot forward, streaking through her own flames. Two figures had slipped inside — an Aurellian warrior and another dragoon. They sprinted across the surface of the water, heading straight for Ziraiah’s diamond walls. Then a huge blast of fire met them.

  Ziraiah and Eliana felt the threat instantly.

  “She needs help,” Eliana urged.

  But Eryndor, seated like a king upon his throne, did not rise. His voice was steady, commanding.

  “It is imperative you remain here.”

  Glover stepped forward, expression hard.

  “Then I’ll go. Ziraiah, make me an opening.”

  Ziraiah gave a curt nod. A seam formed in the diamond fortress wall, just wide enough for one man. Glover stepped out of the castle and leaped away. He bolted through the wall and it sealed shut again behind him.

  Out on the water, the Aurellian and dragoon pulled themselves from the trenches Sydney’s flames had carved into the lake. They looked up to see her still floating in the sky, fire raging around her like a sun.

  The Aurellian sneered.

  “Do you really think you can stop us alone?”

  Sydney lifted her hand. Three concentrated beams of fire burst forth, one after another. The Aurellian sidestepped on the water, narrowly dodging two. The third seared past his cheek, vaporizing the water behind him as it plunged into the depths.

  He glanced at his comrade.

  “Let me handle her. You — go after the flag.”

  But before the dragoon could move, another figure slammed down onto the water’s surface.

  Glover.

  “I don’t think so.”

  Sydney blinked in shock as her flames were drawn away, siphoned toward Glover. Her eyes widened as the fire left her hand, condensing into a massive sword in his.

  With one swing, Glover cleaved vertically, Bravo fused with fire. The propagated slash roared outward like a furnace storm, forcing the dragoon to raise his blade in defense. Even so, the flame carved a glowing trench straight through the lake, water boiling away in an instant. The sea floor was laid bare as the trench raced outward, splitting the waters for kilometers.

  The slash didn’t stop there — it carried on until it smashed into the distant shoreline, where it sheared through a ridge and sent half a mountain crumbling into the steaming lake.

  Before the dragoon could recover, Glover charged, swords colliding in furious succession. Each clash blasted apart the waves, exposing the earth beneath.

  “Thinking you can take our flag?” Glover snarled between strikes. “Not while I’m still here!”

  He overwhelmed the dragoon, blow after blow. Then, with a decisive horizontal slash, he ripped across the dragoon’s stomach. Blood sprayed into the air as the burning edge of his flaming Brave carried on, cleaving through nine mountains in the distance.

  The dragoon reeled, but before he could fall, Glover’s fist surged upward in a brutal uppercut. The force hurled the man skyward, the ocean splitting beneath Glover’s feet as if the earth itself recoiled.

  Without hesitation, Glover leaped into the air, chasing his opponent toward the heavens.

  ---

  Below, Sydney clashed against the Aurellian, her body blazing with fire—but his blade kept slipping through her like smoke.

  The man’s eyes narrowed. This shouldn’t be possible. My sword is fortified.

  Then his aura pulsed. Sentinel Bravo flared around him, sharpening his perception, and suddenly he understood.

  “Hmph. So that’s how you’re doing it,” he sneered, sword sparking against her form. “You’re shifting your body where my blade will strike. Making it seem like I’m cutting through you. Clever…” His grin widened, savage. “But what if I move faster? Can you shift quick enough to dodge this?”

  His strikes came harder, faster—each swing detonating like a cannon blast. The lake buckled beneath them, water parting for dozens of kilometers. Each slash that hit the diamond wall caused cracks, fissures zigzagging outward.

  Sydney winced, blood dripping down her cheek. Damn it… I can’t keep up.

  “You transmutus seed users,” the Aurellian roared, blade flashing like thunderbolts, “you think you’re invincible? Well, guess what—Bravo users are your natural enemies!”

  His strikes tore at her flames, his speed relentless. Sydney staggered back.

  Stolen novel; please report.

  “I saw that flashy firework you pulled earlier. Why not do it again, huh? What’s wrong?” He laughed, his voice thunder across the lake. “Out of stamina already? You seed users burn hot—but burn out fast!”

  Sydney tried to retreat, flames bursting from her arms, but he was right behind her—Thunder Stride keeping him on her like a shadow. He leapt off the air itself, blurring, and slammed his foot into her spine.

  “Ghh—AAAH!” Sydney vomited blood as the blow sent her plummeting downward. She smashed into the lakebed with earth-shattering force, a crater thirteen kilometers wide tearing into the depths. The flame walls dissolved. Her fire dimmed, body reverting to flesh and blood.

  The Aurellian hovered above the steaming waters, smirking. “Pathetic.” He turned toward Ziraiah’s diamond fortress and leapt across the air, streaking forward like lightning.

  But Ziraiah had been waiting. Her eyes narrowed, search and accelerated perception feeding her every detail. She clenched her fists. The diamond wall bristled—then unleashed.

  Spikes the size of siege towers burst outward from Ziraiah’s wall, the first few lancing toward the Aurellian one after another in steady rhythm.

  He exhaled sharply, almost unimpressed. So that’s it? With a sneer, he sidestepped the first, then vanished in a blur, Thunder Stride carrying him across the sky. The second, the third, the fourth—each spike he dodged cleanly, lightning flashing at his heels.

  But then Ziraiah’s eyes hardened. Her fists clenched.

  The wall roared.

  This time, the spikes did not come one by one. They erupted all at once—hundreds, thousands—filling the heavens like a storm of crystal spears, converging from every angle.

  The Aurellian’s smirk faltered. “What—?!”

  The sky turned white.

  “Shit—!” He twisted, blurring left, right, up, down—Thunder Stride cracking like drumbeats—but there was no escape.

  His body rang with a metallic BANG as Fortis flared, skin turning red and iron-hard.

  Then the wall itself shifted.

  The first wave of spikes hammered into him—

  SHHHHHK! SHHHHHK! SHHHHHK!

  —propelling him backward in a storm of diamond lances. He smashed through one mountain, then another, explosions tearing the land apart.

  And yet, it didn’t stop.

  Even as the barrage carried him away, the wall regenerated. Each spear that shot free was instantly replaced, the surface reforming like flowing crystal. The entire fortress aimed itself toward him, all its fury concentrated to a single point—his body.

  The sky thundered with their release.

  DOOM-DOOM-DOOM-DOOM!

  A ceaseless torrent of spears hammered into him, not chasing but driving.

  Each impact slammed like a boulder to the chest, piling into him without pause.

  He was pushed, forced backward through the air, body rattling under the unending pressure. It was like being buried beneath a rockslide made of living steel—one strike after another.

  The storm carried him, battering and grinding him forward, blasting him through mountain after mountain, until at last his body smashed into the final peak.

  The mountain cratered a full kilometer deep, stone collapsing inward under the colossal force.

  Blood spilled from his mouth as his Fortis Bravo flickered. His skin steamed, his breath ragged. If not for Fortis, I’d be dead.

  But then—his hair rose. His body tingled. The sky above blackened, clouds spiraling.

  Lightning.

  He leapt away just as a colossal bolt ripped the mountain apart, vaporizing stone into glass.

  Ziraiah lowered her hand, lightning still dancing across her skin.

  Eryndor’s voice carried with composed authority, resonating behind her.

  “Conserve your mana, Ziraiah. We cannot indulge the luxury of waste. Should you run dry, the cost to us all would be untenable.”

  “Don’t worry,” she replied coldly, eyes locked on the battlefield. “I still have plenty in the tank.”

  The Aurellian landed hard, carving a trench into the earth as he skidded. His teeth clenched. How…? Diamonds shouldn’t hurt me like this. They should’ve shattered against my skin.

  He glared up.

  Meanwhile, in the sky above, the duel raged on.

  The Dragoon’s left eye bled, his face twisted with fury.

  “You damn leporid! How dare you wound me!”

  Glover’s blade clashed against his, sparks and flames tearing the clouds apart.

  “Looking down on me because I’m a demi-beast…” Glover growled. “I expected nothing less from you so-called ‘higher races.’”

  The Dragoon spat blood, eyes burning. “You filthy beast!” He roared, voice shaking the heavens. “I’LL KILL YOU!”

  But Glover’s aura erupted, his hand shimmering purple with a metallic clang. He caught the Dragoon’s blade in his bare grip, yanking him close.

  “What makes you superior to me, huh?!” Glover snarled, head-butting the Dragoon. Blood spattered as the man’s nose broke.

  A knee hammered into his gut.

  “Are you more intelligent than me?!”

  An elbow smashed into his throat.

  “Stronger than me?!”

  The Dragoon gagged, his sword snapping under Glover’s grip. Glover grabbed his head and drove his knee into his face, then hurled him back with a punch to the stomach.

  The Dragoon flew, body breaking through the clouds, blood spraying.

  Glover roared after him, leaping into the sky. His voice thundered across the battlefield.

  “What gives you the right to persecute us?! What makes you better, huh?! Is it because I have fur?!” A fist to the face.

  “Because I bear the face of a beast?!” Another crushing blow.

  “You call us animals—but it is you who are the beasts!”

  Glover’s rage exploded. He pummeled the Dragoon mercilessly, fists purple, blows landing like divine hammers. The sky shook. The lake below quaked.

  Finally, he vaulted high, triple-kicking through the air with sonic cracks—BANG! BANG! BANG!—before driving his heel down into the Dragoon’s chest.

  The impact boomed like a cannon, hurling the man earthward in a storm of broken clouds.

  The Dragoon screamed as they tore across the sky like falling meteors, smashing through mountain after mountain until the world itself cracked beneath them.

  BOOM.

  They hit the ground in a cataclysmic impact, stone shattering in every direction. Dust clouds mushroomed into the air.

  Glover stood over the broken Dragoon, chest heaving, eyes narrowed. For a long moment, he simply stared down at his beaten foe, the silence heavy, final. Then—with a grim nod—he turned and leapt away, bounding toward the diamond wall.

  As he neared, a gap shimmered open just wide enough for him to pass. He dashed through, the fortress’ defenses sealing tightly behind him.

  But before he could even travel a hundred meters—

  Silence.

  The battlefield stilled for a breath. Even the lake seemed to hold its waves.

  Then—

  CRACK!

  The wall behind him ruptured like glass. Something tore straight through the diamond as though it were paper.

  Before Glover’s sentinel could even flare, a single boot, wreathed in scarlet Fortis, crashed into his jaw with a thunderclap.

  ---

  To Be Continued...