[As Wynn was fighting Xavier]
Two men sat silently on the topmost seating platform of the arena, concealed by high-level perception magic as they watched the fight below with calculated intent.
The first man was the all-too-familiar Aldric von Ashford, his sober gaze scanning the arena with utmost precision.
Beside him sat a man whose presence demanded reverence—and rightfully so, for he was the Lord of the entire planet: Duke Edward von Helios, the Empire's Shield.
His salt-and-pepper hair was matched by a neatly groomed salt-and-pepper beard, which impeccably framed his graceful face. His mismatched eyes—one yellow, the other red—burned like twin suns, a symbol of his lineage and his station as the Planetary Lord of Helios.
The arena roared as Xavier unleashed his devastating "Supernova" attack. The sheer magnitude of mana radiating from the boy earned a slight raise of an eyebrow from the Duke. It wasn't entirely unexpected, given that Edward was already aware of the boy's potential.
The two men watched with interest as the attack connected with Wynn, neither batting an eye. After all, the entire fight had been orchestrated by the Duke and Aldric to compel the foreign boy to demonstrate his potential and prowess.
As the dust began to settle, Edward's lips curled into a faint smile--though his gaze sharpened like a blade.
"Interesting..."
His aura shifted subtly, a faint wave of mana radiating from him as his mismatched eyes flared with intensity.
And Then.
For the first time in what had to be YEARS, the Duke's expression contorted to one of pure shock.
"That element…" Edward murmured, his tone carrying a weight that made Aldric turn to him.
"You see something, Duke?" Aldric asked, his tone steady, but beneath the neutrality, a flicker of curiosity stirred.
Edward nodded slowly, his eyes narrowing as he scrutinized Wynn's fiery display of black and red. "It's not just unique. Its purity is.... extraordinary."
"What about it?" Aldric pressed, his posture subtly leaning forward, now a bit further down the edge of his seat.
"Every awakened element possesses a degree of purity," Edward began, his voice carrying an uncharacteristic edge of excitement. "The more refined the element, the greater its potential—to grow, to shape its wielder, and to advance through the stages of mana core development."
He continued his tone sharpening.
"The scale runs from one to ten. Most awakened settle at three and talented awakened settle at six, while we have prodigies like Xavier boasting a purity of seven or eight, which is truly remarkable."
"At the same time, a purity of nine is an almost mythic rarity—seen only in the monsters forged on Earth or the heirs of Atheros and Terran."
"And what does the boy have to do with all this?" Aldric asked, his gaze flickering back to Wynn holding Xavier's seemingly impossible strike at bay with one hand.
Edward's voice dropped, cold yet electrified by a subtle smirk that masked the madman holding nothing but pure hate and psychopathic torture tendencies for the Human Emperor–the man who had publicly humiliated and executed his beloved little sister all those years ago.
"A ten. Absolute, untainted by imperfection. A level of remarkable purity seen in only one other individual"
"You can't mean—"
"Yes," Edward smirked,
"His purity rivals
Arthur Von Scit, Humanity's greatest Genius."
***********
The arena fell into an eerie silence as the image of Wynn gripping Xavier's Supernova mid-flight etched itself into every eye.
Then, as if the heavens had shattered, the crowd erupted in a cacophony of gasps, cheers, and cries of disbelief.
Wynn stood motionless, his fiery aura rippling like a storm. His glowing eyes locked onto Xavier, and he hurled the dissipating remnants of the Supernova back at him. Xavier narrowly avoided the impact, the shockwave knocking him off balance.
In a heartbeat, Wynn was already up on him. A punch, reinforced in hellish fire, connected with Xavier's gut, sending him skidding backward across the arena. Before he could recover, Wynn followed with a mana-reinforced kick to the ribs, the impact loud enough to silence the roaring crowd momentarily, and then to top it all off Wynn's hand moved to the hilt on his waist.
The worn-out katana gleamed ominously as he unsheathed it. The dull metal blade gleamed under the red hues of hellfire, its surface reflecting the absurdly overpowered element. Wynn's stance shifted, his feet grounding, his body lowering into a poised position– a position he uptook on pure impulse, solely based on what he had seen on Television.
The katana slashed like a lightning bolt, a blur of malice. Xavier's eyes widened in disbelief as he raised his arms to block.
The katana collided with his Dawnshiner-reinforced bandaged arms, the shockwave sent a ripple through the arena floor. The force of the blow threw Xavier back, skidding across the arena with his teeth gritted in determination.
But Wynn wasn't done.
He pivoted forward, bringing the katana down in a vertical slash aimed at Xavier's head.
But Xavier was no novice. His body shifted, Dawnshiner pouring into the ground as he spun, aiming a kick at Wynn's midsection before he could bring the Katana down. The blow landed with a bone-rattling impact, knocking Wynn back a few steps.
Xavier's brown eyes locked onto Wynn, his breathing ragged. "Is that all you've got?"
Wynn's reply was a cold smile, his katana still humming with Hellfire. He straightened up, his breath steady, his body recovering from the hit.
"You should've stayed down the first time, Xavier."
He charged again,
His katana sliced in a horizontal arc aimed at Xavier's ribs. The blade gleamed brighter than before, Hellfire swirling around it like a fiery tempest. The slash was faster than before, too fast for Xavier to react with his agility. The katana thrashed through the air, ripping through Dawnshiner and cutting through Xavier's side, leaving behind a deep gash.
Blood sprayed from the wound; Xavier staggered back, the air now thick with the crackle of Hellfire intertwining with Dawnshiner.
Xavier's mana surged even stronger, lashing out, his multi-colored aura flared to life with blinding intensity. He leaped forward, his body moving faster than the crimson eyes could follow.
SHIT
Xavier's fist collided with Wynn's chest, sending him hurling backward. His katana, still in his grip, was forced to the side as he was slammed into the ground yet again.
The crowd gasped in unison, sensing the tide turning. Xavier loomed over him, his multicolored waves swirling in the air.
But the Boy from Zerith still had fight left in him.
His hand gripped the debris on the ground, his body shaking as he forced himself to rise. The flames surged up his limbs like serpents, wrapping around his body in a fluid motion—now with much more control and his mind pertaining much more clarity.
It finally makes sense now.
Xavier surged forward with explosive speed.
But the fiery cyclone that had once been Wynn's unrefined power was now already a controlled, focused inferno.
Xavier's fist came suckering forward, but Wynn was already on the move, his body twisting and sidestepping with effortless grace. Then he countered with a quick jab, his flames pushing outward like claws of fire,
But Xavier spun, his body turning with a flash of unnatural speed, narrowly avoiding the strike. He then retaliated, aiming a kick at Wynn's ribs.
But Wynn anticipated it.
He ducked low, his body shifting in a perfect arc, and he connected with a crushing elbow strike to Xavier's side.
Xavier spat blood, clutching his side, as he rolled sideways on the ground, in a fetal position.
"Get up."
Wynn said, his voice echoing with the resonance of his authority, toe in toe with scarlet and black flames that danced around him, their intensity growing with every passing moment.
**********
The crowd was on its feet, half screaming for Xavier to retaliate, the other half roaring the underdog Wynn's name.
"HOLY BLOODY SHIT! WHAT IN THE BASTARD DERELICTUS BULLSHIT IS GOING ON?!" Alyssa asked "calmly".
"THAT SHIT WAS SO GODDAMN EPIC." came Jack's voice from the side.
"Darn….. Sniff…. that stupid…..sniff…. whitey, making me lose all my…..sniff…. shitty allowance money," said Gabriel, his head in his hands, hiding a flurry of tears,
"But hey who do you think is winning?" came a tiny unknown voice from behind the kids.
"Is that still a question? Xavier duh." Said Alyssa as if merely stating the obvious.
"And why is that?" asked the timid voice.
"Because if there's one thing I'm certain about Xavier, then it's that he never loses."
**************
Xavier, beaten but not broken, raised his head, his brown eyes gleaming with an unsettling intensity. He let out a blood-choked, low, guttural noise.
"You're good," he rasped, blood being spat onto the floor with each syllable,
"But I'm afraid this is it for you."
The atmosphere shifted as Xavier's body began to glow. A kaleidoscopic aura emanated from him, swishing violently in the air. And his mana which had previously been depleting, suddenly wretched through.
It was then that an copper tinge began swirling around Xavier's mana—the defining feature of a core breaking through from warrior stage one to warrior stage two.
**********
The crowd stilled, and then a collective gasp of disbelief rippled through the stands.
"No way," someone whispered. "He's... he's forcefully advancing his core!"
The Duke Of Helios leaned forward from his concealed vantage point, his mismatched eyes narrowing. "He's forcing a breakthrough mid-battle? Reckless, but brilliant,"
Aldric's gaze remained fixed on the scene, his expression unreadable.
***********
Xavier roared, his aura surging as his core shattered its limits, propelling him into the second stage in a cataclysmic burst of energy. The ground beneath him cracked and buckled, fissures radiating outward as his polychromatic lights flared brighter and fiercer, threatening to consume everything around him.
"I've held back long enough," he muttered.
The earth trembled under his feet as all of his mana surged, condensing into his right fist in a familiar flow. This attack wasn't just stronger than his previous Supernova—it was leagues above and vastly more destructive.
Across the battlefield, Wynn stood dauntless, watching as Xavier prepared to give it his all with what little he had left.
Wynn's own body was battered and bruised, yet his eyes too burned with an undying flame.
"Now or Never," Wynn whispered under his breath.
Tendrils flared, their black-red hues slithering higher with each heartbeat.
The fire surrounding him obeyed his command, converging in a violent typhoon around his blade. His pulse synchronized with the inferno, the weapon now an extension of his very soul.
Words weren't needed between the two.
All that remained was the final strike that would reshape the weaves of fate.