Chapter 61: Killing the 2nd Echelon Rank

Darrox stamped the ground and vermilion glyphs spread in a circle as he used his [Molten Bastion] skill—lava-like plates crawled over his armor, doubling thickness, boosting Physique and fire resistance.

Kai lunged. Their blades met mid-street with a thunderous clang that cracked asphalt.

Kai’s raw power shoved Darrox three meters back, gouging twin trenches beneath his boots.

Darrox swung his twin axes outward, chanting. Fiery crescents arced away, curving midair and converging like jaws.

Kai sidestepped as one blade scraped sparks off his vambrace, but the second whistled toward his neck.

He ducked, twisting into a low sweep. Emberstorm’s edge hissed through air, clipping Darrox’s thigh guard.

Sparks erupted as the molten coating absorbed most damage, yet Darrox still grunted. He retaliated with a shoulder charge. Kai hopped back, flipping once, landing on a delivery truck’s hood.

Darrox raised both axes overhead. Runic tattoos along his forearms pulsed crimson as he used his [Seismic Sundering] skill—he slammed both blades into concrete. Shockwaves rippled outward, shredding the roadway and sending cars tumbling. Jagged spikes shot toward the truck.

Kai’s Sense kicked in. He jumped high, spinning while using his [Inferno Splitting Slash] skill.

Emberstorm flared as a half-moon of blazing scarlet shot downward, colliding with the onrushing spikes. Explosion! Super-heated fragments rained.

Kai landed behind Darrox as smoke billowed. A flicker of surprise crossed the merc’s visor. “Your strength is ridiculous for a 1st-Echelon Rank.”

“You look disappointed,” Kai quipped.

Darrox exhaled, steam mingling with dust. Mana roared through his core as he activated his trump card.

As he used his [Vulcanic Overdrive] skill, scores of ember runes ignited around him. His Strength spiked, his Agility skyrocketed, heat shimmering from his armor like a mirage. Pavement sizzled underfoot.

Kai’s lips curled. ’Good. I need to feel my ceiling.’

He answered by releasing limits on his own stats. Muscles tightened and a fire aura flickered up his arms and along Emberstorm’s fuller. His Mana and Magic surged, fueling the blade’s flame attribute to a white-gold heat.

They collided again.

Axe blades blurred, weaving twin spirals of fiery steel. Kai met them stroke for stroke.

Sparks blossomed like miniature suns. Every exchange rattled storefront shutters and blasted shockwaves through empty offices.

Darrox spun, using centrifugal force to cleave vertically. Kai parried with his sword’s spine, but the force still cratered the ground beneath. He slid back half a step, bracing against jarring torque.

“Not enjoying that leisurely pace anymore?” Darrox jeered, axes whirling.

Kai exhaled, a thin smile on his lips. “Leisure’s over.”

Kai slid his right foot back, point angled low—anopening stance that looked almost lazy compared with the molten brute in front of him.

Darrox answered with a roar, surging forward, magma splashing from the gaps in his plates. One axe flashed down in a brutal chop.

Kai snapped Emberstorm up with both hands, edge perfectly vertical.

Clang!

Sparks burst like fireworks, but Kai’s wrists barely trembled as he absorbed the force and twisted, slewing Darrox’s blade harmlessly aside.

Before the mercenary could reset, Kai lunged, tip darting for the right armpit joint. Darrox jerked away as the thrust scraped a scarlet groove across heated steel instead of biting flesh.

Even so, molten slag dribbled from the wound. Darrox retaliated with a sweeping backhand—an attack that would decapitate a lesser foe.

Kai bent his knees, torso folding at an impossible angle to let red-hot metal whistle a fingerbreadth above his hair. He sprang up again and carved a shallow crescent across Darrox’s thigh guard, carving off a plate the size of a dinner tray.

Darrox stumbled, boots skidding over liquefying asphalt. Rage flared as he smashed his axe haft into the ground, triggering a localized quake. Chunks of pavement burst upward like land mines.

Kai hop-stepped across the debris, every movement as fluid as running water. He darted in at a diagonal, blade whispering across Darrox’s gauntlet to peel back another layer of lava armor.

“Stand still!”

Darrox bellowed. His free hand punched out, fingers wreathed in magma. Kai slapped the wrist with the flat of his sword.

thwap!

Detouring the blow, then twisted his hips and sent a reverse-grip slash along Darrox’s forearm. Flesh sizzled as runic tattoos fizzled out like dying embers. The axe wavered as tendons half-severed.

Breathing harsh, Darrox staggered and braced the axe with both hands. He pumped mana—embers erupted, forging the weapon into a pole-cleaver twice its length.

He lunged, red blade arcing in a lethal full-moon swing meant to bisect everything in front of him. Kai pivoted clockwise, letting the giant edge skim less than an inch from his chest.

As it passed, he counter-cut—an upward diagonal that sliced through the halberd shaft three feet from the hilt. The severed head spun away, trailing molten droplets.

Wide-eyed disbelief flickered behind Darrox’s visor. Kai didn’t give him time to regroup. He advanced, unleashing a six-beat flurry.

Each stroke targeted a joint or exposed ligament: left knee, right hip, inside elbow, shoulder seam, and finally the narrow chin guard.

Steel screamed as armor shards flew in glowing arcs. Darrox reeled, every plate cracked and leaking scarlet blood mixed with cooling magma.

Desperation kicked in. Darrox slammed both fists together, gathering the last dregs of his mana.

A blazing sphere the size of a cartwheel formed between his palms—[Core Detonation] skill. He meant to blow himself up along with Kai. Heat blasted outward, warping air, turning distant street signs to puddles.

Kai exhaled, centering his stance. White-gold aura coalesced along Emberstorm’s edge. He stepped in, ignoring blistering heat, and drove a precise thrust straight through the forming core.

The sword tip punched out Darrox’s back, releasing the unstable mana in a sideways vent rather than an explosion. Fiery energy fountained harmlessly into the sky like a misfired volcano.

Darrox coughed blood, eyes wide in shock. Kai ripped the blade free, reversed his grip, and raised it over one shoulder and used his [Inferno Splitting Slash] skill.

A flame crescent erupted, traveling scarcely a meter before contacting its target. The slash cleaved Darrox diagonally from clavicle to opposite hip.

The upper half of his body slid away, thudding onto the molten street, while the lower half collapsed in a hiss of steam.

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