Both fighters stepped into the arena. Nova on the left, Enigma on the right. The tension between them was palpable. Both had carved a path through their opponents to reach this moment, each victory adding to their reputation as the fiercest contenders in the tournament.
Enigma's mask remained unchanged, still bearing the same cold, impassive expression it had during his brutal fight with Marc. The scars of their clash were still visible in the arena, despite the repairs. The ground beneath them was a silent testament to the destruction that had unfolded, cracks and scorched earth reminding everyone of the raw power at play.
Nova, on the other hand, stood tall and unflinching. Confidence radiated from her with every step, her posture flawless, solid, yet fluid. There were no weak points to be found in her stance, no sign of fear. Her air of self-assurance might have come off as cocky to some, but to her, it was simply the truth. She was ready, unshaken, and determined to emerge victorious. The stage was set, and both warriors were prepared for what was to come.
The crowd buzzed with anticipation, the air thick with excitement as all eyes fixed on the arena. Every spectator leaned forward, eager for the clash that was about to unfold,
Nova versus Enigma, a battle no one wanted to miss.
"Both fighters ready... Set... G—!" the judge shouted, but before he could even finish the command, Enigma and Nova collided in a blinding flash of speed and power.
The force of their impact shook the very arena, far surpassing the ferocity of Enigma's earlier battle with Marc. The ground trembled beneath them, shockwaves rippling out from the point of contact.
In the heat of their clash, Nova grinned, her eyes flashing with arrogance. "I won't fall as easily as the other fighters you've faced, Enigma," she taunted, her voice dripping with confidence, her smile sharp and cocky.
Enigma's reply was as cold as the shadows that clung to him. "We will see, Number Two," he said, his tone calm but laced with challenge. Without hesitation, he charged a punch, his fist moving with brutal precision, aimed to end the stalemate.
But Nova was quicker. With a fluid twist, she dodged his blow, breaking free of their deadlock. Her smile widened, and she raised her hand, manipulating the forces around them. Suddenly, the air thickened as the gravity in the arena intensified, growing 20 times stronger. The ground groaned under the immense pressure, and the spectators gasped in awe. Nova sought to slow him down, to crush him under the weight of her control.
Somehow, Enigma resisted the crushing force. Nova's eyes widened in disbelief, her mind racing as she struggled to comprehend what was happening. The gravity around them had increased twentyfold, enough to bring any normal being to their knees. Yet, Enigma stood tall, unfazed. How? How can he withstand this? He shouldn't be able to. Who is this man? she thought, her mind spiralling with questions. Time seemed to slow as she wrestled with the impossible.
In that fleeting moment of distraction, Enigma closed the distance between them, his movements swift and precise. Nova snapped back to reality just in time, instinctively dodging his attack by mere inches. Her heart pounded in her chest as she narrowly avoided his strike, and for the first time, she got a closer look at him.
Then it hit her. He's not resisting the gravity, she realized, eyes widening further in astonishment. He's nullifying it. The weight of the revelation made her gasp. The gravity doesn't affect him at all, it's as if he's cancelling it out around his body while still allowing enough to keep himself grounded. The realization left her both shaken and intrigued, knowing that she was up against something far more dangerous than she had imagined.
"Did you figure it out yet" enigma asked mockingly, With a single, powerful motion, he shattered a boulder the size of a human body and hurled it at her.
Nova didn't flinch. She raised her hand, effortlessly deflecting the massive rock. "Yeah," she muttered, her voice laced with irritation, "I figured it out." Her expression mirrored the frustration in her tone, but beneath it, a flicker of confidence shone through.
She had more than one power to draw from, and despite the growing challenge, she was convinced she still had a chance to win.
"Don't think you can defeat me just because you've managed to nullify my ability to manipulate gravity," Nova said, her voice steady but charged with determination. As she spoke, she shifted her stance, her body moving with fluid precision, preparing for the next attack. There was something undeniably powerful about the position she took, an energy that radiated from her form. Enigma could sense it, but he couldn't quite decipher what it meant.
In an instant, Nova launched herself forward, her speed suddenly amplified beyond anything Enigma had seen before. She moved like a blur, faster than even her previous strikes. Yet, Enigma's reflexes remained sharp, and he narrowly dodged her punch, the force of it whistling past his ear.
But something caught his eye in that split second. As he evaded her blow, he saw the unwavering confidence in Nova's gaze. Even with her attack missing its mark, her eyes gleamed with an unsettling certainty, as if she had already planned her next move. And then, before Enigma could fully process it, a force slammed into him from seemingly nowhere, sending him flying across the arena.
The crowd erupted into cheers, astonished by the sudden shift in the battle. No one had expected Nova to land such a blow, not even the judge, who stood momentarily speechless. The entire arena buzzed with excitement, but there was a quietness to it, as if no one dared to speak, for fear of breaking the spell of the moment.
Enigma rose to his feet, brushing the dust from his clothes, a low chuckle escaping his lips. His laughter grew, echoing across the arena, a sound both amused and dangerous. "At last," he said, his voice dripping with satisfaction, "someone in this tournament who isn't weak. Good." The laughter faded, but a glint of excitement remained in his eyes as he looked at his opponent.
Nova's eyes locked onto Enigma with fierce determination, her resolve burning brighter than ever. She wasn't just aiming to fight, she was aiming to win. With a sudden burst of speed, she launched herself at him, her movements now surpassing even the breaking of the sound barrier. The air itself screamed as she transcended beyond the speed of sound, her acceleration tearing through the ground beneath her, leaving cracks and shattered earth in her wake.
Her fist was drawn back, every muscle in her body coiled like a spring, ready to strike. She aimed straight for Enigma's face, her intention clear, one decisive blow, a knockout that would end the fight in an instant. The force of her charge was unstoppable, and with it, Nova sought to finish the battle as swiftly as she had begun it.
Back inside the cave, John stood before the ancient gate, staring in awe at what lay beyond. The intricate carvings and the faint glow emanating from the other side drew him in, as though he were standing at the threshold of something legendary. As he gazed into the unknown, a memory surfaced, one from a time before the black-coated figure had transported him into this strange world.
He remembered sitting in quiet moments, poring over books about different mythologies, immersing himself in their rich tales. One mythology had always captured his imagination more than the others, Chinese mythology. His thoughts drifted to the stories of gods, demons, and warriors, but one figure stood above them all, Sun Wukong, the Monkey King. And above all, John had admired Sun Wukong's legendary weapon the Ruyi Jingu Bang, a staff that could grow and shrink at will, capable of shaking the heavens themselves.
Inside the ancient gate, John found himself staring at something extraordinary. Embedded in the rocky ground of the cave was a staff, glowing faintly with an aura of power. Surrounding it was a massive, shimmering bubble, its surface rippling with hues of green, blue, and gold, as if reflecting the colours of the cosmos itself. The bubble seemed alien, otherworldly, like a fragment of space torn from the heavens and placed here on this Earth.
John immediately sensed something strange. The bubble was the source of the fierce winds howling through the cave. Intrigued, he stepped closer, the gate clanging shut behind him as he advanced toward the swirling vortex of colour. As his hand reached out to touch the strange bubble, it passed through effortlessly. His fingers met no resistance.
"What is this? Why can I go through it?" John muttered to himself, glancing at his hand in disbelief. He stepped inside the bubble fully, and immediately, a wave of familiarity washed over him. It was an eerie feeling, like stepping into a forgotten dream. He couldn't place it at first, but then, it clicked.
This was the same sensation he had felt when he was drifting through the void of outer space, the very moment when he had been granted the unnatural abilities to breathe in the vacuum of space and to heal faster than any ordinary human. The air around him seemed alive, filled with the same cosmic energy that had once enveloped him among the stars.
John realized with a start: this bubble wasn't just an illusion. It was a fragment of space itself, a chunk of the infinite, missing from the ever-expanding void and somehow transported here, contained within this cave.
After lingering for a moment in thought, John refocused his attention on the staff embedded in the ground. As he stepped closer, his heart skipped a beat. The staff looked exactly like the Ruyi Jingu Bang, the mythical weapon he had read about in ancient Chinese texts. According to legend, this staff had belonged to the Monkey King, a weapon of unimaginable power capable of shifting size and weight at its wielder's command.
Reaching out, John let his fingers graze the staff. Power surged through him the moment his skin touched the ancient artifact. Energy pulsed from the staff and into his body, a force that felt raw, unbridled, like touching the essence of creation itself. His body shuddered under the weight of its energy, but he wasn't deterred.
He wrapped his hands around the staff and pulled with all his strength, but it wouldn't budge. The staff remained rooted in the ground, immovable, as if it was part of the very mountain itself.
John gritted his teeth and tried again, summoning every last ounce of strength left in his body. The ground beneath him cracked and buckled under the pressure, his feet sinking into the earth as the weight of the mountain bore down on him. Rocks tumbled around him, debris crashing from above, but he refused to let go. His hands, wrapped tightly around the staff, pulled with relentless force.
Minutes felt like hours. It was an eternity of struggle as John fought against the very earth that sought to bury him. Slowly, the staff began to shift, inch by inch. It still refused to come free, stubbornly lodged in the ground, but John did not stop. He could feel the strain in every muscle, his body shaking from the effort, but he pulled harder, unwilling to let his grip slip.
With one final, desperate heave, the staff wrenched free from the ground. "Yes, finally!" he exclaimed, his voice filled with victory. But his celebration was cut short as the mountain, weakened by his efforts, began to crumble around him. The ground gave way, and in an instant, tons of rock and earth came crashing down, burying him beneath the wreckage.
For a few moments, there was only silence.
Then, the pile of stone shifted, and slowly, John emerged from the debris. Pushing aside what remained of the fallen mountain, he stood, battered but victorious, the staff clutched firmly in his right hand. He climbed to the peak of the collapsed mountain, the ruins of his struggle lying all around him.
John gazed at the staff in his hands, a satisfied smile crossing his face, the same kind of joy one sees when a collector finally holds a prized relic. It was more than just a weapon—it was his triumph. With that thought, he turned and began his descent, walking toward the distant city where the tournament still raged, the staff now his prize to wield.