Standing before one another, Momo and Rancour prepared to face one another again. Momo threw his glaive at maximum force, forcing rancour to use an underwhelming fire arrow, just barely slowing it down enough for his to evade.

Momo fired three arrows at Rancour as he reclaimed his glaive, launching himself at him with immense speed. Rancour evaded two swings of his glaive, countering with a stab at his face, which Momo ducked under, punching Rancour as he skirted backwards, slightly dazed.

Three slashes hit Momo on the back from his Dominion, causing him to spew up blood, as he quickly regenerated them, closing the gap and locking his blade onto his sword.

“I can tell you think this is unfair, that’s because it is unfair, war isn’t meant to be fair, and you’ll learn that now.” Rancour goaded, breaking their deadlock.

Firing multiple compressed spheres of Spectral Energy at Momo, they each exploded, ragdolling him as he stabbed Momo through the shoulder.

Momo screamed in pain, as he launched a punch from his right hand.

I recognise that icy glow, it can’t b- Rancour thought as the fist connected.

The Ardour’s Spark, the release of the maximum current potential of one, focused at the exact microsecond before one’s strike, if correctly enveloped in the will to fight, kill or become victorious, one can break the fabric lying between the Spectral World and the Physical World, realising their current potential, and creating a strike beyond any they could’ve imagined before.

As the hit connected to Rancour, he reeled in a feeling he hadn’t felt in a long time, pain.

“Grgh-” Rancour coughed as he was thrown miles away to the edge of the Dominion.

His power. It is overwhelming, perhaps even comparable to mine, I will have to tread carefully, one with the Ardour’s Spark will not listen to reason for some time. Rancour thought to himself, unleashing the full power of the Sanctum of the Vengeful, as it rained explosions, slashes and shockwaves toward Momo, who could now perceive them, creating a barrier as he stood, awaiting the onslaught to slow, but it did not.

The barrier broke. Raining attacks upon Momo, forcing him to his knees under the sheer weight of his injuries, his regeneration couldn’t keep up.

“You must visualise the Spectral Energy within you Momo. Harness it to create a barrier around your body and get up!” Rancour yelled to Momo.

Momo yelled in a fury of incomprehensible power, creating exactly what Rancour had wanted, the barrier technique: Resonance.

The essential the counter to the effects of a Dominion, it shielded one from attacks or conditions of a Dominion and Spectral Attacks so long as one can sustain the barrier. More advanced Dominions, however, could break a Resonance barrier quite easily.

Momo sped after Rancour, now fortified by his barrier. Rancour dodged and blocked his furious strikes, shooting arrows at Momo’s barrier, creating slight cracks in it.

Rancour smiled, as he amplified his Dominion’s attacks, exploiting the damaged portions of his Resonance barrier, breaking it. The Dominion fired hundreds of piercing projectiles that tore apart Momo’s flesh alongside the slashes carving him apart. He yelled in the rage of revenge, staying alive through sheer willpower as he continued running toward Rancour, despite his body and regeneration being unable to keep up.

With his Spectral Energy nearly depleted upon the Resonance technique and his regenerative and durability expenditures, Momo continued forward grunting in pain as he swung at Rancour with inconceivable force, knocking his sword out of his hand, he impaled Rancour upon his glaive, slamming him to the ground.

“Die!” He shrieked lifting his glaive for the finishing blow.

Before he could finish Rancour, he had both his arms cleaved off, being burnt out of Spectral Energy, his regeneration completely stopped, making him collapse from sheer loss of life.

Momo awoke, gasping in air as his body was fully reconstructed. He looked around, unaware of what had happened.

“Welcome back, Momo.” Rancour conversed, walking toward him.

“What happened?” Momo asked, feeling woozy.

“You returned from the dead, kid, this would be the second time, but this time, you likely don’t remember it, right?” Rancour inquired.

“N-no, not really, what happened?” Momo queried.

“You reached your potential, with an ability called the Ardour’s Spark. Your anger and willpower to win forced one out of you, if you had chanted Ardour’s Spark when you hit me, you would’ve replenished your Spectral Energy, controlling the attack instead of it controlling you as it lingered, most likely leading to you defeating me. Whilst under the effects of Ardour’s Spark, your potential is maximised and that remains this way, meaning your power has increased by effectively four times what it was before. The Ardour’s Spark also gave you access to a quarter more than your potential could unleash in the moment, for those few minutes the Ardour’s Spark lingered, you were nearly my equal.” Rancour explicated.

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“So, you’re telling me, at the moment we first fought, you were more than five times my power? Why then was the fire arrow not more potent?” Momo interrogated.

“We did not have my ring. It contained far more of my soul than my crown or weapons combined. We are significantly more powerful now.” Rancour reassured.

Momo was unconvinced, standing up, he walked toward where Amirah rested, but was stopped by Rancour.

“We have an issue to attend to first. The throne of England was recently contested, the new king was murdered by one the English have named Raúl the Usurper. He has recently begun moving toward York after securing his hold over the throne, seemingly to meet Ellanher. We cannot allow this.” Rancour instructed.

“Where are we going?” Momo asked briskly, annoyed at not being able to see his sister.

“Nottingham, rebels of the old Kings’ guard have amassed, he will go there to defeat them first. That is where we shall join the rebels and kill him, perhaps, we may instil a new ruler to the throne, or persuade Raúl to join us. Either way, we must tread with caution, Raúl is touted to be an intelligent man, and many rumours describe him to be brutally cunning, and a genius of unmatched skill, his origins are unknown too, none know of his birth, nor noble lineage, not even those whom helped him take the throne from Richard’s successor. The one thing that ties him to the nobles is his wife, Liana the Fair, a claimant to the English throne.” Rancour commented.

Momo nodded, taking in what was said and preparing to run to Nottingham.

The two quickly approached an onlooking hill, seeing Nottingham under siege. Spotting Raúl, the two descended to the moat around Nottingham, arriving before the enemy army. Raúl saw them, beckoning fourth a man, non-native to England to fight.

He sported long black hair, tied into a ponytail, an eye covering resembling a Hachimaki and a complete garment, with light armour to prevent slashing attacks. He was Japanese, a mercenary, most likely the constable chosen to protect the King.

Momo analysed his opponent, he had a calm demeanour, a katana of elegant make and a well-tempered build, telling of high discipline. The swordsman moved forward slowly, as Momo followed his steps, the man drew his katana.

“燃えるような正しさの証明.” (Blazing Vindication) The man chanted, as a slight spectral aura befell him, igniting his sword with purple flames.

Interesting, he seems to be augmenting himself with spectral energy, however, he doesn’t seem to possess a vast quantity of it, just an incredibly high amount of control over it. Rancour communicated to Momo inside of their soul, to which Momo silently agreed.

Drawing his glaive, Momo prepared to open the fight.

Momo rushed at the man, closing the gap and swinging his glaive at him in rapid succession, to which he was parried thrice, Momo pulled back, firing three spectral arrows at the man, to which he blocked, sprinting at Momo as the two traded blows. Momo attempted to use a spectral slash, to which the warrior chanted:

“穏やかな権限” (Serene Authority)

The slashes were reflected, hitting Momo and lacerating his body with cuts, he quickly regenerated his damaged tissue, blocking the onslaught of attacks by the calm man.

We must change strategy, it’s obvious his defences aren’t easily broken. We’ll have to overwhelm him in an attack too powerful for him to defeat. Momo communicated to Rancour who agreed.

Momo leapt at the man, Rancour supporting him. The two slashed at him with the glaive in unison, throwing his katana far away as they continued pressing him with attacks in quick succession. Igniting his fists, the man parried two strikes from Momo’s glaive before launching a spinning kick, knocking the glaive out of his hands.

I’ll handle this fight; you survey the battle. Momo implored, as Rancour left his body to gain intelligence upon the wider battle.

Pouring Spectral Energy into his body, Momo charged at the man, trading a few hits with him, as none broke the defences of the other. Seperating, the two stared at one another, their shallow breaths creating mists on the slowly lighting sky, as the fog began to retreat, as the rays of the sun slowly illuminated the battlefield.

The man sped towards Momo, catching him off guard as he barely blocked an attack aimed at his head. He continued by punching him once upon the midsection and kicking him on the leg, forcing him to his knees as he prepared to strike his face. Momo countered before he could get a chance to finish him, landing a blow upon the man’s ribs, shattering them as he landed a kick upon his shoulder, spinning around and striking his midsection as he quickly followed up by tackling him to the ground, picking him back up and slamming him into the ground.

The warrior got up, dashing to his katana, and returning, throwing Momo’s glaive back to him.

Before he could react, Momo launches several spectral slashes upon him, lacerating him as Momo closed the gap. The two duelled, trading offensive and defensive strategies upon one another, the man called upon fire, blasting Momo with it to no effect, but appearing from it and slashing him twice, creating deep wounds as he swept him from the legs, raising his katana to kill him.

Momo hurled his glaive into the man’s shoulder, striking him with his fist in the midsection, as he felt the exact microsecond before its impact.

“Ardour’s Spark!” Momo yelled at full force, curling the man around his fist as the maximum force possible entered his body, throwing him away as Momo chased him down.

The warrior knelt, unable to stand from the intense wounds that had amassed throughout the battle. Momo retrieved his glaive and stood over him, looking down toward him.

In broken English, the man spoke: “You have bested me, warrior, my life is yours. You may finish the fight.”

He raised his katana, to die an honourable death by his defeater’s hand.

“What is your name?” Momo asked.

“Takahiro Genji.” He replied, his head bowed.

“I have no intention of killing you, it is unjust to kill one who is wounded and bested.” Momo stated, extending a hand to Takahiro, placing it upon his shoulder, healing his wounds as he helped him up.

“Why?” Takahiro questioned.

“You are honourable, you have been nor unjust nor brutal, your life is not mine to take.” Momo responded.

Takahiro sheathed his katana, thinking of a way to repay the merciful warrior before him.

“What is your name, merciful warrior?” Takahiro queried.

“Momo, Momo Elric. Son of Rowan Elric.” Momo answered.

“By oath upon my name, I pledge myself to your service Momo Elric.” Takahiro declared, kneeling before him once more.

“Once the wraith returns, we shall decide the course of this war.” Momo instructed, as the two watched the sun rise over the brutal battle before them.