"Gahhk!"
Fresh crimson sprayed violently from his mouth, painting the scorched earth of the crater.
Vargos's body screamed in agony.
His bones felt as though they had been ground into powder. The golden aura, once an absolute shield that defined his pride, vanished without a trace.
'Damn it... this body has reached its limit.'
Vargos spat out a shard of a broken tooth. In truth, he had long surpassed the boundaries of his own existence. His physical form had not yet stepped into the realm of a Master; he had merely been a charlatan, forcefully extracting Mana beyond the critical point to manifest that golden radiance. Now, the Mana inside him was a raging river breaking its banks, threatening to leak out and tear his very nerves apart.
'I only meant to test my strength, but to think I've pushed myself for four whole minutes...'
Vargos winced, feeling the stinging pain in his muscles.
'I got too excited facing that little dog.'
'I can't believe... that kid could keep up with me for three full minutes.'
With a sickening crack, Vargos forced his broken legs to straighten. He wrenched his spine upright, staring at the figure floating serenely above him.
He wiped the blood covering his eyes and smirked.
"Hey, Lady..." he called out with a raspy voice.
"Is it too late for me to kneel and say I'm sorry?"
"Regret?" Sylvia replied coldly.
"Time has no mercy for the foolish. It only flows forward, dragging the ignorant toward the consequences they chose for themselves.."
She looked down at him, her purple eyes reflecting the moonlight.
"And where did that fire go? Where is the arrogance you wore like a golden crown a few seconds ago?"
"Did it just fade away... the moment you realized the absolute inequality between us?"
A faint, hauntingly beautiful smile touched her lips.
"Hope is a poison you brewed yourself the moment you decided to challenge the heavens. And now, you dare ask the brewer for an antidote? How pathetic."
Vargos looked up, staring directly into Sylvia's purple eyes without any more hesitation.
'So basically... my fate of death is already set, huh?'
'Nothing else I can do.'
***
Vargos closed his eyes for a moment, then...
BOOOOM!
The ground beneath his feet cracked from the sudden explosion of energy from within him. The golden aura returned.
But this time, it wasn't a pure, bright gold. It was a deep, reddish-gold that flickered wildly.
'To hell with this body,'
He could hear his muscles screaming. He could feel his blood vessels bursting one by one because they couldn't hold the pressure of the Mana he forced into a single point. He pulled every drop of Mana in his body, even burning his own 'Life Force'. The pain was extraordinary, as if his entire body was being doused in hot oil from the inside.
'At least... this pain keeps me conscious.'
"I'M COMING!!!"
Vargos's roar split the night. His body shot forward like a reddish-gold comet, hitting the air with supersonic speed. Sylvia didn't dodge. She raised her hand.
BLARRRR!
The first clash happened in the sky.
Vargos's sword hit a giant crystal rose wall that formed in front of Sylvia. Thousands of purple petals made of solid Mana rotated and hardened like diamonds, blocking Vargos's deadly strike. The shockwave instantly cleared the clouds within a five-kilometer radius.
'This monster...'
'even with everything I have, I cannot pierce her reach!'
"FUCKKK YOU!"
He twisted his body in the air and pressed his sword forward to create momentum, leaping high into the sky.
ignored his shoulder muscle that tore from the forced movement.
From that height, Vargos raised his sword high above his head.
With a loud roar, he swung the weapon with all his might—a crushing downward slash meant to split Sylvia and the earth beneath her into two.
A massive golden energy wave shot down, slicing through the air.
Sylvia just stared blankly and flicked her finger.
[FALL]
BOOOOM!
Right before touching the tip of Sylvia's nose, the energy wave was pulled down by massive gravity. Its path broke, slamming it straight to the ground with unnatural speed. It was as if the attack itself was forced to "kneel" to the earth before it could touch the Queen.
The strong wind from the explosion blew upward, making her short hair dance around her cold face.
The fight continued without pause for two full minutes.
The night sky became an abstract canvas painted with flashes of gold and purple light.
Vargos never stopped attacking. Like a living corpse covered in golden fire, he kept attacking. Slashing, kicking, hitting, firing aura—anything to touch the edge of Sylvia's dress.
'Just one hit...' his mind shrieked. 'Let me strike her... JUST ONCE!'
The scream echoed repeatedly in his head, drowning out the pain burning his nerves. Meanwhile, Sylvia moved back calmly, dancing amidst the storm of destruction. Every one of Vargos's attacks was parried, deflected, or destroyed before it could touch her.
BLARR!
Vargos was blown back, his body hitting the mountain cliff until the rock cracked, then he rose again.
DHUAR!
He was swatted down, crashing into the forest and destroying dozens of giant trees, then shot back up.
His body was already wrecked. His ribs were probably powder, his internal organs shifted, and blood wouldn't stop flowing from his pores. When he was blown back for the tenth time, despair finally seeped into his heart.
'Why...?' he gasped. 'Why can't I touch her? Not even one scratch!'
His red eyes stared at Sylvia, who was still floating gracefully, clean without any wounds or even a tear on her dress. He realized one important thing about this woman.
All this time, his arrogance had blinded his own logic. He remembered how he kept looking down on her. But now, he realized all those insults were just a pathetic defense mechanism.
Vargos finally accepted the bitter reality: From the start, Sylvia was in a different dimension.
"Hah... hahahaha..."
A hollow laugh echoed in his darkening mind.
'The world is truly unfair.'
There are people who have to climb a mountain with their bare hands until their nails fall off, and there are monsters born already standing at the peak.
Sylvia von Vespera.
The only daughter of the legendary Duke Vespera. One of the Generation of Miracles—someone who, since her first breath, was blessed by the Gods with talent beyond human logic.
At the limit of his consciousness, Vargos suddenly remembered the raspy voice of an old mage. "Hard work... is just a joke in front of those loved by the Gods, huh?"
"Hahaha... HAHAHAHAHA!"
Vargos laughed. A laugh so loud that fresh blood sprayed from his broken teeth.
Sylvia frowned slightly, staring at the wrecked man. "Did you go crazy because I kept slamming your head into the mountain?"
Vargos ignored her words.
With a single flick of pure will, he pulled all of his existence. He gathered the remains of his life, every memory of torturous training, every drop of sweat, into a single point of blinding golden light at the tip of his sword.
"Oh, you who are blessed by the Gods..."
"I am Vargos. And what you see at the tip of my sword isn't just aura."
He raised his sword, looking at the reddish-gold light with affection.
"This is the summary of every step I took while crawling in the mud. This is the pile of thousands of days I spent swinging blunt iron under the sun. If your talent is the holy light of dawn, then this is the fire from trash burned to survive."
Vargos stared directly into Sylvia's purple eyes.
"This is my life's struggle. And I will end it with this!"
Sylvia fell silent for a moment. She could feel the extraordinary heat from Vargos's sword—an impure energy, but it had a weight that couldn't be ignored. It was the weight of a "life".
Hearing Vargos's words, Sylvia slowly spread both her arms. The purple aura that was calm earlier exploded out, covering her body until her black dress fluttered wildly.
Then, she smiled.
"Burning trash, you say?"
Sylvia threw away the condescending look she had used all this time.
For the first time, she looked at Vargos as an equal.
"The Gods might love me, but they never knew the beauty of a fire born from despair. If your whole life is that fire, then I will be the night that puts it out."
She raised her index finger to the sky.
A pitch-black ball surrounded by crystal rose sparks formed, sucking the light around it. The absolute mana pressure crushed the crater rocks into dust even before being touched.
"Come, Vargos. Let me witness the peak of your life."
Vargos smirked. The golden light and the purple darkness were now two poles ready to destroy reality. It was no longer just a fight, but a clash between a blessed fate against a will that refused to submit.