Valdren did not wait for Zuriel to prepare himself.
He lunged, his katana drawing a clean silver line in the air as it flashed toward Zuriel’s neck.
Zuriel did not hesitate.
His body twisted to the left, letting the katana miss him by a hair’s breadth.
His own katana slashed forward, aid squarely at Valdren’s chest.
Valdren seed to have anticipated this.
His katana was pulled back with the speed of a veteran who had spent his entire life mastering the way of the blade.
Sparks flew through the air as steel kissed steel.
Neither side stopped.
They struck again, Zuriel targeting the neck this ti.
Valdren pushed the attack back with the flat of his blade, driving the tip of his own katana toward Zuriel’s chest.
Zuriel ducked beneath it and swung upward at Valdren’s chin.
Valdren stepped backward with minimal movent, creating just enough space to avoid the attack.
They locked eyes with burning intensity.
They had used neither skills nor essence, relying solely on their physical abilities and weapon mastery.
The duel felt more personal than the rest.
As if it were a match to determine who was the superior katana user.
Zuriel drove one foot backward, steadying himself.
Valdren mirrored the motion.
Boom.
The earth beneath them exploded as they lunged.
Clang.
Clang.
Clang.
The sound of tal crashing against tal was the only thing that existed in the reality they had carved out for themselves.
Both fighters were equally matched.
Every slash was answered with an equal slash.
Every thrust t with a thrust.
Every attack parried.
They stopped for a mont, eyes locked.
Exhaustion had begun to hit them like a wave, their breathing growing heavier.
As if in tandem, they erupted with essence, flooding every part of their bodies with its power.
A massive slab of earth tore apart as Zuriel drove his feet harder into the ground.
He flashed forward, slashing toward Valdren’s neck.
As he attacked, light condensed in the sky above, forming bullets that shot toward Valdren’s head.
Valdren raised his katana, blocking Zuriel’s strike.
His knee buckled, his body driven downward from the force.
He held his own, shifting his focus to the incoming bullets.
Lightning tore downward like a storm, covering the entire area in superheated bolts.
Zuriel tore backward in a flash of golden light.
His eyes were fixed on Valdren as he erged from the heart of the explosion.
The earth was scorched across a wide radius, reduced to ash.
Valdren walked out, his body wreathed in pure lightning.
His eyes crackled with energy that jumped between them.
Lightning streaked across his fra in serpentine lines.
Zuriel squinted as he studied Valdren.
"How powerful is this?" He asked himself quietly.
He did not have to wait long for his answer.
Valdren tore forward, leaving trails of orange lightning in his wake.
Zuriel moved quickly, light flooding his body and replacing his blood montarily.
His eyes turned completely golden as every system in his body was taken over by light.
He did not have ti to appreciate the transformation.
Valdren appeared before him, his katana already descending in a brutal arc aid at his chest.
Zuriel raised his own katana, catching Valdren’s blade by the edge.
A tremor swept through the air itself.
Zuriel did not falter.
He leapt back, then flashed forward again.
His body was a streak of gold as he moved.
Valdren did not flinch.
As Zuriel closed in, Valdren bent at that exact mont, his body moving before his mind could catch up.
A golden silver line was carved into the space above Valdren as Zuriel’s sword sliced through it.
Ti slowed to a crawl.
The blade passed, and Valdren watched it move as if through water.
As it cleared, ti snapped back to normal.
Valdren did not hesitate.
He drove his foot into Zuriel’s chest.
Crack.
A shield of light stopped the foot from advancing further.
Valdren looked into Zuriel’s eyes, as if asking whether to continue.
Zuriel nodded.
"During spars, no holding back," he said.
With those words, his body twisted, delivering a kick straight into Valdren’s cheek.
Valdren’s head snapped to the side from the force.
As if that were a trigger, lightning began to tear from the sky, threatening to devour Zuriel whole.
Zuriel weaved through each bolt. One slipped past his guard, closing in faster than he could avoid.
Swoosh.
A beam of light tore upward, colliding with the bolt.
The space detonated violently, sending both fighters flying backward.
Valdren landed, finding his footing quickly.
Zuriel did not land at all. He did not need to.
His body moved through the air as if it belonged to him.
From above, his sword began to glow with an ethereal golden light as he raised it high.
Valdren looked up at the sword charging with the light elent.
He did not panic.
Lightning crackled to life along his blade’s surface, from flat to edge.
As if connected by a shared instinct, both fighters swung at each other at the sa mont.
Their energies t almost instantaneously.
For a mont, ti seed to stop, skipping over that single point entirely.
Then it resud.
Boom.
As light and lightning collided, an explosion tore through the entire space, sending both fighters crashing into the barrier walls.
The barrier shimred with a silver light from the impact.
Zuriel and Valdren lay unmoving, their breathing ragged and disoriented.
"I..." Valdren uttered the words with a tired voice. "Guess you won then."
From the other side, Zuriel looked at Valdren’s body, then nodded slowly.
A single word fell from his lips, calm and subtle.
Imdiately, a white light descended over Zuriel.
His injuries vanished. His core, nearly drained of essence, was refilled instantly. The pain and soreness that had spread across his entire body disappeared as if they had never existed. Even his clothes, torn apart from the fight, were restored.
"I guess I did," he replied.
His voice was cold and distant.
His gaze peered through the barrier, at the last spar match still ongoing.
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