The air around them was cold. Not the simple chill of evening, but the kind of cold that pressed into the bones. If anyone stood between their glares, they would have frozen long before the first strike. Rudeus felt the weight of that stare carving into him. His heart thudded so hard it felt like it might burst out of his chest. To him, the silence stretched into a lifetime.
He broke first. He hated that he broke first.
Everyone always said never to move first against a Water God style swordsman. But his nerves were jittering , every breath shaking. He lunged anyway, hoping movement would drown out fear.
His blade was deflected immediately, very casually. The impact rattled his arms. He recovered, pivoted, and dashed again, aiming for her midsection. Another deflection. This time faster and more precise. She didn't even blink.
"Had my training not taught you anything boy." She said unamused.
He scoffed and cast Quagmire beneath her feet. She simply sidestepped.
"Tch…" He clicked his tongue and shifted his mana again, manipulating the rocks under her steps, trying to lock her down.
He dashed behind her, unleashing a furious flurry. His blade met hers over and over, a barrage of ringing steel. She blocked every strike without even facing him. Only when she felt her foot sink did she glance down, eyes narrowing as the mud froze around her ankle.
He had her, even if for a moment.
Rudeus charged fire magic into his sword. Heat pulsed through his grip. He swung three blazing slashes toward her. Reida exhaled sharply and used Flow, disrupting the magic mid-flight, the flames sputtering into nothing.
Then she sensed it nothing behind her.
Her instincts screamed she looked up.
Rudeus was high in the air, wind blasting him upwards a spell forming above his palms. A stone, spinning at a violent speed that made the air hum. Reida had never seen this spell in her long career.
"Hmph. Whatever trick this brat thinks he has—" The Stone Cannon fired.
Her eyes widened.
This speed wasn't normal things way too fast. She brought her sword up and slashed, splitting it, but the impact pushed her back across the soaked earth. She steadied her stance, teeth clenched.
"To think a brat like you could fire magic that strong…" Her lip curled. "Disgusting."
She darted forward, intending to knock him unconscious and drag him back to her dojo in chains if she had to.
Halfway through her dash, a heaviness slammed against her body her stride drooped. Her muscles screamed at her.
"What…? Have I been eating too much lately?" she muttered, but the pressure increased with every step. It felt like a mountain had dropped on her back.
She saw Rudeus with a hand outstretched. It was that damned gravity magic.
"That damned spell…" She hissed. She'd heard complaints about it from veteran swordsmen who had fought Kalman III. It was difficult and annoying to deal with.
Rudeus was already charging another spinning rock.
"Shit."
If she took that hit directly, the damage would be bad real bad.
She braced her blade. The second Stone Cannon shot. Slower this time, but heavier. She shattered it… just in time to see three more forming behind him.
Her jaw tightened. He fired again.
Reida deflected one, broke another, twisted, and shattered the third. She felt her arms trembling slightly. Annoying. This pest was forcing her to put in more effort than necessary.
Rain began to fall.
Rudeus' breathing steadied as the storm built around him. The rain soaked into her clothes, weighing her further under the gravity magic.
"Hey brat," Reida barked, blade raised, "how long are you planning to keep this up? Your reserves can't last all day!"
She mocked him, but her steps were slower than before. She could feel it getting heavier.
A gust of wind hit her back. He was behind her.
She tried to turn, but coldness locked her in place. She shifted her eyes downward. Ice crawled up her legs, chest, shoulders.
"Tsk… too focused on the barrage." She inhaled, expanded her Touki, and shattered the ice in a violent burst.
Her body felt lighter she was pushing back against his magic now.
She flashed forward. Rudeus' eyes widened. He cast a powerful wind spell. She sliced through it like ripping cloth, riding the momentum forward, blade angled toward the boy's right arm.
He created an earth wall faster than she expected. It rose between them, her blade slicing it in half, and she dodged aside before the broken chunks collapsed.
She searched through the dust and rain. He was running.
"Trying to escape?!" Her temper rose. "I won't let you!"
She sprinted, closing the distance quickly… until the winds around her began to howl. Faster and faster. She felt resistance building.
He leapt to the right.
Reida followed his movement and froze as a massive tornado tore toward her.
"What the hell—? When did he cast this…?"
She didn't know whether to block or flee. Her instincts screamed both commands. She vaulted backward. But Rudeus slashed his fire-coated sword into the tornado's edge, igniting it. Flames spiraled upward, twisting into a roaring inferno.
The fiery tornado shredded everything in its path.
He didn't care.
He didn't care if the whole kingdom burned. Right now, survival was the only thing he could afford to think about.
Reida watched the flames spiraling, her heartbeat pounding. The ground beneath the tornado charred instantly. The heat was blistering.
If he had aimed this earlier… She mentally cursed herself.
If she had killed the brat the moment she sensed trouble, this wouldn't be happening.
The tornado veered wildly from the winds, slamming into Darius's manor with explosive force. The building collapsed instantly.
Reida grabbed Isolte in the chaos, shielding her with her own body. Wood and stone crashed behind them.
"Damn you… You almost killed little Isolte!" Her voice cracked not with fear, but rage.
Rudeus froze mid-step.
Right.
Isolte.
"Damn… I forgot she was here…" he whispered. He hadn't meant to involve her. She was innocent. But his life was on the line. If he hesitated, he would die.
He thrust his arm forward, redirecting the tornado remnants, firing them toward Reida again.
He wasn't trying to win anymore.
He was trying to overwhelm her enough. To escape.
But his mana was burning out. He felt the dizziness creeping in. His lungs tightened. His fingers twitched uncontrollably. He wasn't the original Rudeus. He didn't have infinite mana.
He deepened the rain. The air grew colder. Wind speeds surged. As Reida dodged the tornado's remnants, he fired lightning down from above.
It struck her.
"Yes—!"
His celebration froze. His spine tingled.
"You…" Her voice came from behind him. Cold. Quiet. Deadly. "That could've killed Isolte."
Cold steel pressed against his neck. His breath caught.
When had she—
He didn't think. He cast lightning again, rolling desperately away. His chest burned. Spots clouded his vision. His spells were tearing him apart from the inside.
They clashed again, Rudeus running, dodging, firing weak spells, forcing distance. She pushed through everything. He counter-attacked only when he had no other choice.
His breathing worsened. His chest tightened. His legs shook. He stopped running.
Reida halted too, rain dripping from her blade.
"So," she said with clear irritation, "you finally stopped. Ready to give up?"
Rudeus didn't answer.
"You know," she continued, voice sharpening, "I don't understand you. You have power most people could only dream of. You could do great things. I offered you something people would kill for. And you still chose to run. You cling to this pathetic idea of being righteous when all you are is greedy."
The words hit deeper than her blade ever had.
Rudeus lowered his gaze.
He had been greedy. He should've left the moment she sensed his intentions. He stayed because he wanted more. Because he thought he could handle it. Because he believed he could bend the situation into a story where he was the hero.
Reida stepped closer, voice rising.
"I see sense is finally reaching your thick skull. Your actions show a failure of critical thinking. You are overconfident. Reckless. You dragged your friends into a task you knew might fail. That alone is stupidity."
Her words were knives.
"Look around you." She pointed her sword to the ruins surrounding them. "This is total destruction. You destroyed homes. You destroyed lives. Families will starve. Children will cry. People will lose everything. And who did you think about when you cast that tornado?"
Rudeus swallowed hard.
"You didn't think of them. Not once. Because you're not a hero. You're just a boy who wanted to feel important." Her eyes narrowed. "You call yourself the good guy?"
Rudeus felt the world tilt.
The rain poured harder.
He looked around at the scorched earth, the flattened buildings, the torn ground.
A barren field where a neighborhood once stood.
Smoke drifted upward.
He had done this.
His hands trembled.
And for the first time in the entire fight…
He wondered whether he really was the villain here.
Then he heard a voice a voice that he hadn't heard in ages a creepy voice he never wnated to hear again. "Elijah..."
A/N: This is the second chapter for the ps reach 20 and I'll drop 2 more that day this is going be a good finale