The storm raged on, thunder rolling across the heavens as rain lashed against my face. How many years had it been since I'd felt something like this? Not just the storm itself, but the raw, unfiltered power saturating the air. My Terrastone shivered faintly, its essence reacting to the pure aura emitted by the rune before me. This wasn't an ordinary rune—it was sharp, alive, and vibrant. The gleaming yellow stone in his possession crackled with energy, its edges sparking like miniature arcs of lightning.
He floated in the air, his body weightless yet commanding. Slowly, he descended, his presence grounding itself with an ominous finality. The dark clouds above churned, swirling as if bowing to his arrival. Giant arcs of yellow lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating the battlefield of corpses below.
I couldn't deny it: this rune he wielded—no, this power—was equal to mine. Maybe more.
A smirk curled on my lips. "So, this is what you were hiding behind that pathetic face," I sneered, letting my voice carry over the storm. "Were you lying to these corpses? To her? What was the plan, huh? Snitch them out to the Sable Order and swoop in at the last minute as the hero? Did you have a crush or some twisted savior complex?"
He landed, his feet touching the ground with deliberate grace. Raindrops hissed and danced off the yellow aura surrounding him, evaporating before they could reach his skin. But he didn't answer. Not with words.
Instead, he gave me a grin.
It wasn't intimidating, nor was it particularly malicious. No, it was something else entirely—a grin born from the absurdity of our surroundings. Blood smeared his face, corpses littered the ground around him, and yet he stood there, grinning at me like a child caught in a game.
I felt a flicker of doubt creep into my thoughts. Something about him—this boy—was off.
"Who are you?" I asked, though I didn't truly care about his name. Names were meaningless here. What I wanted to know was what he was.
He didn't reply. His shoulders remained hunched, his hair clinging wetly to his face, eyes half-lidded as though he were still half asleep.
I tightened my stance, preparing for any sudden movement. If he thought he could pull off some kind of surprise attack, he'd soon find out why they call me The Destroyer. His hand moved, and I didn't hesitate.
Raising my own hand, I summoned a sharp-edged rock from thin air. The Terrastone glowed faintly, feeding off my essence as the projectile formed. With a flick of my wrist, the jagged stone shot through the air with deadly precision, aiming straight for his heart.
It hit its mark.
The rock pierced through his chest, tearing a gaping hole where his heart should be. Blood sprayed into the air, staining the ground below in crimson streaks.
But he didn't fall.
He didn't even flinch.
I watched, my eyes narrowing as his grin widened ever so slightly. His body stood unnaturally still, rain dripping from his bloodied frame, the yellow rune around his neck glowing brighter.
"What?" I muttered under my breath.
This was impossible. That fatal wound in the chest should at the very least use up his rune, make him flinch.
And yet, he stood there, unbroken.
And then, it all started with a single raindrop, falling slow and deliberate through the stormy air. As it descended, his figure blurred slightly through the refraction of the droplet, bending reality just enough to give me pause. It was a fleeting moment—a fraction of a second, perhaps less.
Before I could fully grasp what was happening, he was in front of me.
His fist was raised, barreling toward my face with an absurd velocity. I should have been able to dodge it—no, I should have dodged it. He was just a random guy from this level, wasn't he? But no. His fist connected, slamming into my face with a force I could hardly fathom.
My body flew.
The sheer impact launched me through the air, crashing me into the remains of a collapsed building. The rubble shattered under my momentum, the debris groaning as I smashed through not one, but three walls. Dust and smoke erupted in thick plumes, obscuring my fall.
Pain flared in my jaw. I spat blood and felt the sharp sting of broken teeth rattling in my mouth. Even through the haze, I forced myself to act, channeling a fraction of my essence to repair the damage to my face.
But the smoke didn't linger.
It cleared suddenly, as though torn apart by a gust of unseen wind. He was there again, midair, descending toward me with his fist primed for another strike.
This time, my body reacted on instinct. My mind might not have fully processed the threat, but my Rune had. It screamed at me to move.
With a wave of my hand, I summoned a massive stone wall from the earth, thick and solid, to intercept his attack. His fist smashed through it effortlessly, shattering the stone into a rain of debris. But I was no longer there.
I had already repositioned, crouching atop the remnants of another building. My face was almost fully healed, my gaze locked on him.
He turned to me, his movements slow and deliberate. His grin hadn't faded, not even slightly. The hole I'd blasted through his chest earlier? It was gone, as if it had never been there. His body healed at an unnatural speed.
Superhuman regeneration, I thought.
And still, he hadn't used his rune.
A thunderous flash lit the sky, and in an instant, he was in front of me again. Nearly fourteen floors above the ground, hanging in the air like gravity itself had given up on him.
I was ready this time.
My finger extended, aiming at his head as if it were the barrel of a gun. With a flick of essence, I shot a pebble at his face, sharp and fast as a bullet. He didn't even flinch. The pebble struck him cleanly, blood spraying from the impact, but he didn't bother to dodge.
And, as I expected, the wound was gone almost instantly.
His punch followed—a vicious, calculated strike aimed squarely at my chest. But this time, I caught it.
My hands, reinforced with solid stone like gloves, clasped his fist midair. The force still traveled through me, sending a tremor of pain shooting from my palms to my elbows, but I held firm.
I tightened my grip, twisting his arm as I spun him in an arc, intending to hurl him back to the ground. Mid-spin, however, he did the unthinkable.
He severed his own arm.
The clean cut was immediate, and before I could even process it, his detached arm dangled uselessly in my grip. His other fist was already flying toward me, a fresh one regenerated in its place.
The strike was fast—too fast—but I managed to duck just in time, narrowly avoiding the blow. The air around his punch howled as it passed mere inches from my head, the sheer force enough to make the building beneath us tremble.
I summoned another wall in front of him just as his fist connected with it.
The impact from his fist sent cracks spidering through the stone wall I'd hastily summoned. Before it could collapse entirely, I reinforced it, layering it with dense rock until his arm was firmly trapped. For a moment, he seemed almost puzzled, as if deciding whether it was worth severing his arm again. But he didn't act immediately.
That hesitation was my chance.
In an instant, I summoned a stone sword into my hand, its jagged edges glinting with an unnatural sharpness, and swung it at his neck. The blade cleaved cleanly through, severing his head with a single stroke.
His head spiraled into the air, a trail of blood marking its path above me.
But then, it happened.
The headless body didn't crumble, nor did it start regenerating as I had anticipated. Instead, it exploded.
A blinding burst of lightning arcs erupted from the torso, surging outwards in chaotic streaks. The energy slammed into me, searing my skin and filling the air with the sharp, acrid scent of burnt flesh. I stumbled back, clawing at my face and arms as the crackling remnants of the attack sizzled on my body.
My essence surged, desperately working to heal the burns as fast as they appeared, but it took a toll. I could feel my reserves thinning, the essence draining faster than I wanted to admit.
When my vision finally cleared, he was there again, standing just a few meters away.
His head was intact. His body was untouched.
And he was smiling.
It wasn't a victorious grin, nor a sneer. It was calm, deliberate—a simple curve of his lips that mocked me in its serenity. He wasn't even trying to hide it. He was waiting.
Letting me make the next move.
As if to say, go on, I'll give you a chance.
I clenched my jaw. Pride stirred in my chest, urging me to answer his mockery with sheer force. But deep down, I knew better. This wasn't a gift. It was mercy.
Still, arrogance has no place in battle, I reminded myself. If an opponent willingly gives you an opening, don't see it as your shame but as their mistake. And if it's not a mistake, make it one.
I exhaled deeply, focusing on the ground beneath my feet.
The issue was clear. I wasn't in contact with solid earth. Floating above the ground meant I couldn't summon my most powerful boulders or barriers. Still, that didn't mean I was defenseless.
Channeling my essence, I reinforced my body, encasing myself in an armored shell of dense rock. The layers hugged my frame tightly, rough and uneven, but sturdy enough to absorb direct hits. My stone sword, too, evolved—its edges sharpened to razor precision, intricate cutting patterns etched along its blade.
But my rune…
A quick glance confirmed the truth. It was already a quarter disintegrated, the once pristine stone now marred by cracks along its surface. Every action I took brought it closer to breaking entirely.
His rune, in contrast, appeared nearly untouched. The lightning-shaped emblem gleamed with an otherworldly intensity, not a trace of wear—except...
A crack.
Barely perceptible, a hairline fracture near the edge of his rune caught my eye. It was tiny, but it was there. Likely a result of the self-detonation from earlier.
It wasn't much. But it was something.
I exhaled again, slower this time, steadying my breath and preparing myself for what was to come.
This wasn't a moment for reckless pride or futile rage. This was a moment for precision.
And now, it was time.
The rain fell heavier now, drumming against the ruins of the cybercity, washing blood and soot into crimson rivulets that snaked through the shattered streets. The towering neon lights, once flickering symbols of progress, were dimming one by one as the storm raged above. Arcs of yellow lightning lit up the sky, their intensity rivaling the glaring red of the cybercity's distant warning sirens.
I took a step forward, my stone-encased feet crunching against the broken concrete. He mirrored me, stepping with deliberate calm, his movements eerily fluid. The yellow rune on his chest glowed brighter with each step, the crack along its edge pulsing faintly, as though mocking my observation.
"Let's end this," I growled, my voice barely audible over the storm.
He tilted his head, still grinning, before vanishing in a blur of yellow.
I felt the disturbance before I saw him. The air crackled, charged with static electricity, and I twisted instinctively. A bolt of lightning streaked from above, and he appeared within it, his fist descending like a meteor aimed for my head.
I raised my arm, summoning a shield of stone just in time. The impact shattered it instantly, sending shards flying in every direction. The force pushed me back, my feet carving deep trenches into the ground as I slid.
Before I could recover, he was already moving, zipping across the battlefield with bursts of lightning. A flash to my left, then to my right—he was everywhere and nowhere.
I spun, slamming my hands into the ground. The earth beneath us trembled, and massive stone spikes erupted from below, spearing toward him like jagged teeth. He dodged most, his movements leaving trails of light in the air, but one caught his leg.
Blood sprayed as the spike tore through his calf, but he didn't falter. He grabbed the spike with his bare hands, the stone sizzling as lightning coursed through it, and snapped it clean in half before hurling it back at me.
I deflected it with a wave of my arm, the projectile embedding itself in a nearby building, collapsing it in a cloud of dust and rubble.
"Is that all you've got?" I taunted, even as I felt the strain on my rune.
His grin widened, and he raised his hands to the sky.
Thunder roared, and the heavens answered his call. Lightning struck down in rapid succession, each bolt hitting the ground with enough force to crater it. The strikes chased me as I dodged, leaping across the ruins, my rocky armor cracking under the relentless assault.
I landed on what remained of a skyscraper, panting as I gathered my essence. With a sharp inhale, I thrust my hands forward.
The entire building groaned before tilting forward, collapsing in a controlled avalanche of stone and steel. The debris surged toward him like a tidal wave, forcing him to halt his assault and focus on dodging.
For a moment, I thought I had the upper hand.
Then he appeared above the collapsing skyscraper, his body surrounded by a crackling aura of electricity. He raised his arms, and the aura expanded, forming a massive sphere of pure essence that hummed with destructive power.
With a roar, he hurled it downward.
The sphere struck the rubble, and the resulting explosion was catastrophic. The shockwave flattened everything within a hundred-meter radius, and the ground itself seemed to split apart. I was thrown back, slamming into the remnants of a concrete wall.
Coughing, I climbed to my feet. My rocky armor was in pieces, my essence drained further from the constant healing. He emerged from the smoke, unscathed, his rune glowing brighter than ever.
Enough.
I slammed my hands into the earth, pouring the last of my essence into the ground. The entire battlefield rumbled, and a massive fissure split the earth open. From its depths, a colossal golem of stone and steel rose, its eyes glowing with molten light.
"Let's see you dodge this," I muttered.
The golem roared and charged at him, each step shaking the ground. He leaped to meet it, his body a blur of light as he darted around its massive fists, landing blow after blow. The golem swung wildly, its massive arms crushing buildings and sending shockwaves through the city.
In the distance, a few surviving citizens peeked from behind the wreckage. Some screamed, others sobbed as they clutched their loved ones. A child whimpered in the arms of an elderly woman, their eyes wide with terror at the destruction unfolding before them. They were ants caught in the crossfire of giants, and they knew it.
I couldn't afford to care.
The few survivors scattered, their screams lost in the chaos. Some ran into the storm, their silhouettes swallowed by the rain, while others fell to their knees, praying to gods who wouldn't answer.
Despite the golem's power, he was relentless. His strikes grew stronger, each one chipping away at the creature's form. I joined the fray, flanking him and forcing him to split his focus. My sword clashed against his fists, each impact sending sparks and shards flying.
Finally, he made a mistake.
Distracted by the golem, he didn't see the spike of stone I summoned beneath him. It pierced through his abdomen, pinning him in place. I didn't waste the opportunity.
Leaping forward, I drove my sword into his chest, aiming for his rune.
But just as the blade made contact, his body exploded again, the lightning surge more intense than before.
I was thrown back, my vision swimming. When I looked up, he was there, standing over me, his grin replaced by a cold, determined glare. His rune was cracked further, but it still pulsed with power.
I struggled to rise, but my essence was nearly gone.
"The Golem was clean," he finally said, with a grin.
The last thing I saw was his rune glowing brighter than ever, a blinding light enveloping everything.
Far away, the surviving citizens of the cybercity watched as the skyline disappeared in a burst of light, their world reduced to rubble.