Brand POV:

Hilda’s flames dyed the ground black, reaching new heights of power through the assistance of Sho’s wind. It set various parts of the desert canyon ablaze while multiple whirlwinds swept across the whole area.

Despite two upper Enryo practitioners going all out, the vast desert canyon barely managed to hold on to its shape. Zane’s refusal to move from his current position and his use of the elements led to this outcome.

‘...’

I watched him slip, block, and redirect attacks from multiple angles with ease. His gaze never left me, but sometimes his body would flicker out of view, leaving behind a shadow that performed a certain action. Zane would then reappear in the same place, and the shadow would vanish.

My lips curved into a smirk at his pitiful attempt to get into my head; I already knew that his actions were draining his Ki Reserves at a rapid rate. He was beginning to tire. All I needed to do was break what many thought was unbreakable: his mind.

I raised my hand. Sho and Hilda acknowledged the signal and appeared by my side seconds later. Zane folded his arms, overflowing with such confidence that I couldn’t help my lips from spreading into a wide smile.

“Zane... No, I should refer to you as ‘The Shadow King,’ shouldn’t I?”

His eyes narrowed more than before, and I felt a slight shift in the air between us.

“Surprised? I have friends in high places, and your name caused quite a stir. To think The Messenger would bestow an epithet on someone so young; it was inevitable that the news would spread like wildfire across the world. I already know you can manipulate and teleport through the shadows.”

I stepped forward, spreading my arms open wide as my eyes peered down at Zane.

“Now let me tell you one more thing: did you know that a lot of people in Enigma want you dead? That’s why I offered them that retard on a silver plate~”

His hands began to fall from his chest; his glare intensified ever so slightly: a sign that my plan was perfect.

‘Heh. One final push and he’ll break.’

“Apparently, she was quite valuable. Valuable enough that they took turns getting a piece of the pie~”

‘!’

Zane folded his arms again, completely unfazed by my words. It was strange... Did he already dump her without me knowing?

‘Tch. Fine. I’ll move on to Plan B.’

“Brand, look at yourself. This isn’t the type of person you wanted to become.”

I chuckled as the distance between us decreased.

“I’ll become that person once you die, Zane. The world isn’t big enough for the both of us to live in it. You can feign confidence all you want, but I know your mind is about to break.

You lost Outer Astril, you lost Hilda, you lost Sho, you lost that weirdo, you lost your disciple, and now, you’re about to lose to the one person who hates you the most in this world: me.”

I snapped my fingers and released the full extent of my Ki. It rose all the way to Boukyaku while I let my very presence force the canyon to bow toward me. It extended beyond the battlefield, making deep valleys deeper and tall mountains taller.

I commanded the wind to carry me into the air. My eyes fell down on Zane, and my lips parted.

“Your death will complete me. It will prove to the world that I alone was meant to stand at the top.”

The earth vibrated as I flexed my fingers. Dozens of thick columns shot out of the ground, forming detailed fists. Sho flickered to the side, drawing an arc in the air with his blade as the wind shot forward towards Zane.

Fists made out of my Elemental Ki rained down on him without rest. Hilda fanned out her fingers, creating several foxes made of flames that howled before dashing toward the target.

It was the start of our onslaught. It was time for retribution.

‘Finally... After all those years...’

I stood atop a pillar, manipulating the earth from above as I examined Zane’s movements. That shadow-like body appeared more than before, while Sho and Hilda would often get pushed back from some sort of high-speed attack.

‘Let’s tire him out faster, then.’

I splayed my hand, creating dozens of large golems that smashed the marred ground further; each blow rocking the entire desert canyon.

“Sho!”

He nodded his head and flexed his fingers, forming a well-defined eagle made of wind. He jumped on top of it and flew into the now overcast sky. The eagle cried out before flapping its large wings. Sho moulded the wind into four large hurricanes that encircled Zane.

Sho dropped to the ground, landing on his toes. He gripped his right hand as the compression of Elemental KI around it continued to increase.

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“Hilda!”

She reluctantly nodded her head, and a burst of flames spread out around her. Hilda took a deep breath; flames conjoined to make a vicious snake that snarled before it flashed forward.

The earth launched me into the air, and I splayed my hand above my head, directly transmuting my Ki into the earth Ki Nature. It wrapped around my arm, and seconds later, a giant fist, large enough to be seen from nearby territories of the Cotis Empire, penetrated the sky.

Zane shifted his gaze toward me, and I smirked. I swung my fist down, roaring with all those years of humiliation and dissatisfaction, fuelling my desire to crush him into a bloody mess.

Sho’s fist shot forward in unison with Hilda’s attack, creating a tornado cannon of violent wind. Zane couldn’t avoid all of our attacks at once. His supreme defence would crack, and he would take damage. That damage would stack, creating an even bigger opening, and once that happens, I’ll use my ability.

An elated grin formed on my face. The time of impact: less than a second away. I watched Zane unfold his arms, stretching out both his hands on either side.

‘What...?’

My pupils dilated; time compressed into that of a snail’s pace. The flaming snake about to rip Zane’s head off split apart from the inside, fizzling out into… nothingness?

The cannon of air that fissured the canyon had been dissected into tiny cubes, forming a… gentle breeze? That brushed past Sho.

‘...?’

Zane raised a finger toward the gigantic earth fist about to crush his body into dust. He tapped it, and my momentum froze. Cube-like cracks spread across my Elemental KI in a flash, separating it from my body. It turned into gravel, then dust before vanishing…?

‘An... Elementalist?’

My feet crashed against the ground. Sho and Hilda arrived by my side, and like myself, they were unable to comprehend what had just happened.

Even the hurricanes confining Zane’s movements had seemingly disappeared into thin air, almost as if they were never there in the first place.

‘Zane...’

My eyebrows sank while I replayed that scene in my mind several times. It was different. He hadn’t overpowered our Elemental Ki with his own; had he… reversed the Flow of Ki itself??

No. That wasn’t possible for him to do.

I inspected the scene once more. Zane had matched the timing, speed, power, and other various factors to completely separate and break down the Ki Natures to their natural base form: nothingness.

The knowledge necessary to achieve such a result went beyond what the average Elementalist could do. Zane… Zane had just performed this feat on 3 Ki Natures at almost the same time.

“...Magi... When did you become a Magi?...”

Sweat drenched my forehead, and my lip quivered. I stared at Zane, who appeared much larger than before. A Magi was an existence that very few, almost no one, could become.

In addition, Zane had achieved this feat without using Elemental Alteration: a cultivation technique that forcefully converts the Ki in your Ki Center to Elemental Ki, bypassing the transmutation phase that would normally occur without it.

In other words, not only was Zane born with access to four Ki Natures, which I didn’t even know was possible. He could also control them on a level that dwarfed Elementalists, who dedicated their whole life to just mastering one element.

“You don’t know what a Magi is, Brand.”

Cold sweat dripped down my neck as his powerful voice shook me to the core, reminding me once more of just how incredible Zane was. I clenched my teeth, struggling to accept that the gap between us had only increased after all these years.

“Up until this point, I took everything that you threw at me only because of the precious time the four of us spent together in the past.”

Zane took a step forward, and I moved back. A shadow crept over his face, highlighting his rich brown eyes.

“If you continue this any further, I will fight seriously. This is your first and last warning.”

I tightened my trembling fists as Zane released a small portion of his Ki. It was impossible; there was no way he had gone so far beyond me. I... I couldn’t accept it... I wouldn’t accept it!

“Your arrogance... I will get rid of it today! Sho!!”

I glanced at Sho, who was sweating bullets. My voice snapped him out of the fear that washed over us. He crouched down into a sword stance, placing his hand against the hilt of the blade.

“Are you sure?”

The air trembled from Zane’s voice, echoing across the canyon. His eyes turned golden brown, and the pressure rose.

It skyrocketed.

And Sho faltered; the blade rattled from his quaking hands. His bloodshot eyes peered down at the hand unwilling to draw the sword in front of Zane.

“SHO! DO IT NOW!”

Sho bit his lip hard enough for blood to spurt out as the sword left its scabbard. He drew an arc down from the sky, and a powerful blade of wind split the earth, revealing the darkness below. It flashed forward, ignoring everything in its path.

Zane pulled out a stick from his pocket and pointed it towards the sky in response.

“Watch carefully.”

He gently lowered his hand, leaving behind a faint afterimage as the air responded to his command. It rushed in front of him, willingly forming an arc of wind that pierced through the overcast sky, dwarfing the size of Sho’s attack.

My mouth dropped open in disbelief while the thick wind blade exploded forward, splitting both the sky and earth in half before I could even stretch out my hand. There was no time to hesitate; an attack that powerful would obliterate the entire canyon and the area around it.

“Seal him, Sho!!”

A burst of light flashed over the entire area as Sho activated his ability. The sky, the earth and the amalgamation of turbulent wind that almost reached us vanished. They were replaced by a pure white scenery with not a trace of a shadow to be found.

“Sanctum: Seal.”

Sho coughed up mouthfuls of blood while dropping to one knee. His body trembled all over as more blood gushed out of his nose, dying the white ground red. It was the result of stopping that one attack...

“Territory? You’ve improved, Sho.”

Zane stepped forward, and Sho instantly splayed his hand. White chains erupted from the ground, wrapping around Zane’s arms and legs, halting his movement.

Sho had expanded his ability, creating a territory in a fixed area where certain rules had to be followed, and certain bonuses or debuffs were granted to everyone within that zone.

“Haha...”

I ran my hand through my hair, unknowingly laughing in relief at managing to avoid that unfavourable situation.

“Zane, it’s really over now. No shadows, no Elemental Ki, and in your case, no movement.”

I shifted my gaze to Hilda, who was still terrified by Zane’s earlier attack. I grabbed her by the neck and licked her cheek in front of Zane.

“Hilda... Make him bleed.”

I threw her forward, watching the tears stream down her face as she struggled to stand properly. She had become so pitiful because of the very person in front of her. I needed to set her free from those shackles; the burdens of her feelings from the past that weighed her down.

Her body was already mine, but parts of her heart refused to accept me, no matter how much love I gave her. It was frustrating, but today I could put everything to rest.

“Z-Zane...”

My eyebrows twitched at the sound of her shaky voice. The gap between the two of them gradually closed as Zane stared at me with a solemn expression on his face.

I watched Hilda’s trembling hand rest against his chest. Her lips moved, but I couldn’t hear what she was saying. However, I noticed the slight furrowing of Zane’s eyebrows when I flickered forward.

“Get out of the way.”

I slapped Hilda to the side and peered down at Zane. It didn’t matter what she told him because the real show was about to begin.