The battlefield was a graveyard of broken stone and rising ash. Thick smoke curled around the bodies of fallen soldiers, veiling the ground in a grey shroud.

  "Haha... you’re tough, aren't you?" Larva Leyo’s voice was thick with blood, yet it vibrated with a stubborn energy. He clutched his chest, where a deep gash leaked crimson onto his once-white uniform.

  Opposite him stood a man who seemed untouched by the chaos. His silver hair shimmered like moonlight against the dark, smoggy sky. He held a blue katana loosely in one hand, his face masked, his blue eyes cold and distant.

  "I told you to retreat, but you didn't listen," the silver-haired man replied, his voice a calm breeze in the middle of a storm. "The famous Red-Haired Captain, Larva Leyo... a pity."

  Leyo forced a bloody smile. "So the rumors were true. I never imagined the Silver Hair of the Dark List would be this strong. Most men would have died from that strike, but look at me... still standing."

  "It is impressive," Aling admitted, his voice smooth and steady. "An ordinary soldier wouldn't even be able to crawl with a wound like that on their chest. You have spirit."

  "Tell me your name, Silver Hair," Leyo grunted, tightening his grip on his weapon. "I’d rather not have to ask the corpses later, and I plan to make you one of them. This cut? It’s just a scratch to a warrior like me."

  "Kill me?" Aling’s eyes crinkled slightly, perhaps a hidden smirk beneath his mask. "I would like to see you try. Since you are determined to die by my hand tonight, I shall grant you that wish. My name is Galickgalium Aling."

  "Aling..." Leyo whispered the name, committing it to memory. He reached down and gripped the hilt of his massive greatsword, Gosuke, which was buried in the cracked earth.

  He knew the truth. "I can’t defeat this man," Leyo thought, his heart hammering against his ribs. "His spiritual presence alone knocked out my men. He wounded me in a single breath." He looked back at his fallen soldiers. "But I am no coward. I won't leave my men behind to save my own skin."

  Leyo stood at a towering 6'7", a mountain of muscle compared to Aling’s slender 5'11" frame. He roared, and the ground began to tremble.

  "Rise, Flame of the Rising Sun!" An explosion of orange aura erupted from Leyo, wrapping him from head to toe in a cloak of heat. His sword, Gosuke, ignited, the steel turning white-hot. The ground beneath his boots cracked as the air began to shimmer from the sheer temperature.

  "Interesting," Aling murmured to himself, watching the display with clinical interest. "Fire Mantra. And that weapon... Gosuke. To release that much raw energy, it must be at least a Level 4 Magic Weapon."

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  "GET READY TO DIE, ALING!" Leyo screamed.

  "If you are this fired up," Aling said, not moving an inch, "then come. Show me what you are made of."

  Leyo charged. He was an orange blur, moving with the terrifying speed of a falcon diving for its prey. Each step shattered the stone beneath him, leaving a trail of dust and fire in his wake. He leaped into the air, bringing his burning greatsword down in a massive overhead arc.

  BAM!

  The impact was like a meteor hitting the earth. A huge dent cratered the ground, sending a shockwave that cleared the smoke for fifty meters.

  "Did the Captain do it?" one of the wounded soldiers groaned, shielding his eyes from the dust.

  As the mist cleared, the soldiers gasped. Aling was still standing. He hadn't dodged. He was holding his blue katana upwards with just one hand, blocking the full weight of Leyo’s two-handed strike. Leyo was still in mid-air, straining every muscle, his flames roaring against Aling’s cold steel.

  "AAAAAARGH!" Leyo screamed again, pushing harder. His aura flared, the flames turning a deeper, angrier red. The crater beneath Aling’s feet grew deeper, the earth groaning and snapping under the pressure—bam, bam, bam!—as the ground gave way.

  With a sudden, fluid motion, Aling flicked his wrist. The strength was unnatural. He parried the massive blade aside and sent Leyo flying back several meters. Leyo skidded across the dirt, landing on his feet but immediately dropping to one knee. He used his sword as a crutch, gasping for air. Huf... huf... huf...

  "Is that all?" Aling asked. He hadn't even broken a sweat. "Your fire is bright, Leyo, but it lacks depth. It is like a candle trying to challenge the ocean."

  Leyo gritted his teeth, the heat from his own aura singeing the air. "I'm not... done... yet!"

  He stood up, his muscles screaming in protest. He knew he was overdrawing his mana, but he didn't care. He poured every remaining drop of his life force into Gosuke. The orange flames turned a blinding white, and the heat became so intense that the nearby rocks began to melt into glass.

  "Sun God's Judgment: Final Ember!" Leyo lunged forward. This wasn't a tactical strike; it was a suicide charge. He swung the sword with enough force to level a building.

  Aling didn't move until the blade was an inch from his neck. Then, in a flash of silver so fast the human eye couldn't track it, Aling moved. He didn't use his sword. He simply tapped the side of Leyo's burning blade with two fingers.

  The sound was like a thunderclap.

  The white flames vanished instantly. The massive greatsword Gosuke was swatted away like a toy, flying out of Leyo's hands and burying itself deep in a distant cliffside. Leyo froze, his hands empty and shaking.

  Aling was now standing directly in front of him, the tip of his blue katana resting gently against Leyo's throat. The spiritual pressure Aling released in that moment was so heavy that Leyo felt like he was being crushed by a mountain. He couldn't even breathe.

  "You have heart, Captain," Aling said, his voice dropping to a whisper that sent chills down Leyo's spine. "In another life, we might have been friends. But heart alone cannot bridge the gap between us. You are a warrior... but I am a disaster."

  Leyo looked into Aling's blue eyes and saw no hatred—only a terrifying, infinite emptiness. It was the look of a man who had forgotten what it felt like to struggle.

  "How foolish of me," Leyo thought, his knees finally giving out as he collapsed into the dust. "To think I could actually take him down."