The Juggernaut Howlback blurred forward with a montum that betrayed his massive size. One step cracked the earth. The second closed the distance between us. By the third—
WHAM!
A bone-plated fist slamd toward my ribs like a siege hamr.
I barely twisted in ti — the blow grazed instead of crushing — but the shockwave alone sent flying backward, scraping across the stone floor and bouncing twice before I rolled to my feet.
"What?! Too fast..."
He didn’t let up.
He charged again, his movent fluid, terrifying. Not the lumbering strength of a brute. This was a trained beast. Efficient. Tactical.
His fists blurred. One — two — three strikes in a heartbeat. I evaded narrowly, each punch brushing air past my skin like cannonballs.
"Alright..." I exhaled sharply, flicking into Precision Fla Stance. "Let’s dance."
He lunged — I ducked, spun, delivered a palm strike to his side.
[Burn Stack: 1]
Barely made him flinch.
He twisted mid-swing and retaliated with a spinning backfist, using centrifugal force to add speed.
I blocked with both forearms — and was still sent skidding backward ten feet, boots carving a trench in the stone.
’My arms are numb. If I eat another direct hit like that, sothing snaps.’
I moved again — this ti circling. Using terrain.
I leapt off a broken pillar, rebounded, and struck downward at his shoulder with a flaming elbow.
[Burn Stack: 3]
He caught mid-air.
"—!"
His massive hand closed around my leg, and with a whip-like swing, he smashed into the ground like a ragdoll.
BOOM!
Stone shattered. Pain flashed white-hot through my spine. My HUD glitched.
But before he could crush again, I expelled a wave of fla from my core — mana burst, point-blank.
He staggered a step back, just enough.
I stood, wincing, coughing blood, but still alive.
"Co on," I growled. "I’ve fought worse than you."
[Burn Stack: 4]
[Emberfang Style: Explosive Ember – Switched]
I surged forward, this ti feinting — striking twice to the arms to trigger a parry, then sliding under his legs with a low sweep and driving a strike up into the exposed joint behind his knee.
[Burn Stack: 6]
He faltered.
capitalized.
I leapt behind him and slamd three flaming jabs into his lower back — just beneath the largest rune sigil.
[Burn Stack: 9]
He finally roared.
A deep, guttural, bone-rattling sound. The runes across his chest pulsed violently — not red, but violet fla now. His body started to crackle.
"Mana Surge? No... Overclock. He’s powering up."
I retreated as the ground around him began to lt, the air distorting with heat.
He vanished from sight.
No—!
WHAM!
He appeared behind — almost teleporting from raw speed — and uppercut with both fists, sending flying a full thirty feet into the air.
Before I could even fall, he leapt up after mid-air.
And hit with a diving axe-handle slam that sent us both plumting into the canyon floor in a thunderous explosion.
CRASH!!
The crater was massive. My body scread in pain. My regeneration ticked wildly to stabilize.
I rolled, coughing, dragging myself up.
Blood. Smoke. Tremors.
But I was smiling.
"Heh... you hit like a damn asteroid."
I stood.
My mana surged one more ti.
[Burn Stack: 12]
[13]
[14]
I blurred behind him as he roared again — then slamd my fist into his spine with all the weight of my body.
[15!]
[Burn Stack Maxed. Target debuffed: Defense and Healing -30%]
’Now.’
I slamd both hands to the ground, channeled every remaining ounce of fire mana in my core, and launched it straight upward into him.
A pillar of fla erupted from below — consuming him entirely.
He scread.
The runes short-circuited. His gauntlets cracked. His body staggered, smoldering — but still standing. Barely.
Smoke curled off his shoulders as we both stood there breathing, burning, and the edge of collapse.
"Let’s end this," I muttered.
-
We moved.
He lunged with murderous speed — I mirrored it.
The canyon floor trembled as we collided mid-charge, fists slamming into each other with such force that the shockwave shattered the nearby pillars and sent dust spiraling upward like a sandstorm.
My fist struck his jaw — his own punch dug into my ribs.
We staggered back, both bleeding. Both reeling.
He recovered first.
The Juggernaut spun, backhanding with a flaming fist. I raised my forearm to block, and even then I was launched back, sliding across stone with a sharp grind.
Pain blood. Bones creaked. My vision blurred.
"He’s burning mana to overload his physical strength...! Damn—he’s entering a berserk phase!"
He stomped toward , picking up speed, faster and heavier with each stride. The violet runes across his body began to fracture, leaking unstable mana like cracks in a dam.
I coughed blood, forced my stance to realign.
’No ti to think. React. Or die.’
He dove forward again, a leaping hook aid straight for my skull — no feints, just raw execution.
I ducked beneath it — barely. But he was already turning.
A knee slamd into my abdon.
I doubled over — he brought down a double-fist hamr blow toward my spine.
I braced. My back lit up with fla counterforce — Emberfang Style’s final reactive layer activating as a survival reflex.
BOOM!
We both flew apart from the detonation. My vision tunneled.
’I’m losing blood. Mana almost dry. If I don’t end this in the next exchange...’
He panted, smoke trailing from his shoulders.
His eyes — once bestial — now sharp. Calculated.
He knew too.
One more clash. One would rise. The other... would burn.
[Emberfang Style – Final Adaptation Engaged]
[Switching: Explosive Ember → Precision Fla]
[Combining Stance: Fusion Sequence – Crimson Recast]
The world slowed.
Every motion I made now shimred with afterimages — not from illusion, but overclocked mana residue trailing behind my limbs.
I saw his twitch.
Left leg tensing. Arm coiling. He was going for a shoulder tackle into power slam.
I tid it as he charged, and I vanished.
I ducked under the tackle, turned, grappled his arm, flipped over his shoulder mid-montum, and snapped his elbow joint inward with a flaming heel drop.
He roared in agony — but spun, trying to crush with his other hand.
’Too late.’
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