The ground shook beneath us as our domains clashed.

As they intertwined, they spewed blue-gold lightning and heavy black smoke, an unimaginably impressive sight. At the center of those colliding powers, the two challengers’ movements had already surpassed what any living being could perceive.

They had inevitably broken the sound barrier, causing their motions to seem momentarily silent. Metallic impacts erupted across the battlefield in constant bursts, the sounds overlapping chaotically. Of course, those echoing clangs came from dozens of exchanges ago.

This fight would even confuse some of the most powerful swordsmasters, the dissonance alone enough to shake their senses.

Rumbleeee.

A deep, rolling vibration spread slowly through the earth and gradually swallowed the layered metallic echoes. Each collision between axe and sword intensified the struggle between the domains. As one tried to push forward, the other forced it backward with an equal force, this pattern repeating again and again.

Tendrils of blue-gold lightning and streaks of black smoke stretched behind each combatant, leaving long, shimmering trails that almost looked as if they were splitting the earth.

Kwon Su-Hyeok was the first one driven back.

It was only to be expected. Kalain had experienced the same grueling trials Kwon Su-Hyeok had. Not only that, but he had even spent more time on the hundredth floor, and four thousand years had passed since then.

Even accounting for the power Kwon Su-Hyeok had gained, the difference in experience between them was overwhelming.

Kalain struck the moment a tiny opening formed between the axe and blade.

Damn it.

By the time Kwon Su-Hyeok realized the gap existed, Kalain’s sword was already arcing through it. It was too late to block with Soulbound, so he let go of the axe with his left hand and caught the blade directly.

Crash!

The impact released a massive blast, so strong that Kwon Su-Hyeok’s hand would have exploded under normal circumstances. He had managed to withstand it only because, in terms of causality, he held the advantage.

The recoil launched him through the air.

He could have stopped, but chose not to—retreating was the better option. His blue-gold domain accompanied him in his backward trajectory, though it didn’t waver.

The smoke signaling Kalain’s position chased after him immediately.

Although perceiving their movements was out of the question, a theoretical spectator would have read the battle through their ever-shifting domains. While retreating, Kwon Su-Hyeok quickly reset his stance.

His left arm felt like it was tearing off and throbbed numbingly, but he didn’t have the time to even consider healing. Pushing forward despite the pain, he activated Flash Strike again. Immediately after, he stopped his backward flight with a step in the air and charged forward. His cloak snapped behind him as he activated the blink ability.

Thud!

Appearing behind Kalain had thrown their domains into turbulent disarray. Blue-gold lightning bloomed inside the swirling black fog. Kalain twisted at the waist, barely blocking the incoming axe. Unfortunately for him, Kwon Su-Hyeok had imbued an immense amount of causality into that strike, causing him to lose out on that blow. Kalain slid back, though he regained his balance rapidly and counterattacked without delay.

Their domains settled into place again, clashing repeatedly.

Kwon Su-Hyeok brushed past several extremely dangerous situations, but as time passed, he stopped giving away easy openings. Due to their identical strength—except for causality, of course—victory depended entirely on who could use their techniques more efficiently.

Because of that, the longer the battle continued, the more evenly matched they became.

If anything, this situation works in my favor.

While fighting on a razor’s edge, Kwon Su-Hyeok realized it clearly. Kalain’s only true advantage was experience. He knew how to use a given power with greater efficiency, how to secure technical superiority in each exchange.

It was an advantage Kwon Su-Hyeok couldn’t just erase, so he compensated by using causality. However, from another perspective, Kwon Su-Hyeok was gaining that experience in real time. He was absorbing Kalain’s mastery over various martial disciplines at a terrifying speed with every clash.

There was nothing better at improving technique than real combat. On top of that, Kwon Su-Hyeok was facing someone who had thousands of years of insights and tricks up their sleeves, under almost equal conditions.

The number of openings Kwon Su-Hyeok left grew smaller and smaller. If he could continue learning from Kalain at this rate, he would turn the battle around.

Plus, I still have my awakening technique left.

Perhaps Kalain possessed similar, but Kwon Su-Hyeok hadn’t sensed one up to this point.

Dozens more exchanges passed, and then suddenly, Kwon Su-Hyeok noticed a certain uniqueness about Kalain’s domain. Originally, Kalain had the clear upper hand in domain control, and Kwon Su-Hyeok could only hold him off with his advantage in causality.

However, now that he had regained some space to breathe and analyze the situation, he began to more deeply understand how Kalain controlled his domain. Each wisp of black smoke shifted as if it were alive, moving perfectly in sync with Kalain.

It is similar to when I transform into lightning, but still different.

It was complete synchronization between self and domain, more refined than the way Kwon Su-Hyeon used his domain. Actually, Kalain wasn’t just syncing with the domain. He was taking it a step beyond that. At the same moment, Kwon Su-Hyeok understood how to apply it. If the domain adjusted with even the slightest action, then he could also control the resulting shockwaves from the collision between the two domains.

Once he realized that, everything just clicked into place. Kalain was moving through the force generated by the clashing domains without the slightest strain.

As Kwon Su-Hyeok’s perception captured more and more, the link between self and domain, along with the flow of power created at every collision point, became sharply defined in his senses.

He applied the realization immediately, and although he wasn’t as precise as his opponent, he could now respond properly in the battle between domains. Moreover, because he no longer needed to pour as much causality into merely holding Kalain back, he could redirect that power into the fight itself. The tempo of the battle rose to another level.

Little by little, almost imperceptibly at first, the gap between them continued to narrow. Of course, they traded countless strikes in that time. Another hundred blows passed, then thousands. Their weapons clashed endlessly, and the longer it continued, the more the advantage shifted toward Kwon Su-Hyeok.

The weapon forged from the Star Devourer played a decisive role.

Kalain frequently used causality when on the defensive, but that didn’t completely prevent the wear on his blade. The once razor-sharp dark longsword had dulled from the relentless impacts. Kalain could feel the cracks forming from within the metal itself.

Kwon Su-Hyeok wasn’t unscathed either. Despite the equalization of their strengths, Kalain had possessed far more before. Even with perfect efficiency, the disparity between them grew more noticeable as time passed. To keep up, Kwon Su-Hyeok had to push both his strength and causality higher and higher.

A long time passed, and the battlefield grew dark—night had fully settled in.

From the outside, it looked as if Kalain’s domain was overwhelming Kwon Su-Hyeok, but the younger challenger was the only source of light in this otherwise dark world. Inside that glow, both of them were nearing their limits.

Even with his superior reserves of causality, Kwon Su-Hyeok had spent an enormous amount of it bridging the gap. He could feel his strength reaching its end. The battle would finish soon, one way or another.

He tried to conserve what little he had left for a final moment, but he couldn’t.

Kalain had shifted the momentum in his favor.

Shhhhk!

Their weapons collided, and Kalain’s domain pressed down on Kwon Su-Hyeok with renewed force. Thinking it was another type of attack, Kwon Su-Hyeok tensed.

During that moment, Kalain stopped thirty meters away from his opponent. He didn’t utter a word and simply stared at Kwon Su-Hyeok in complete silence for a few seconds. It was long enough for their eyes to meet, for everything between them to settle into place.

Only after that brief pause did Kalain release his pressure.

He had used an amplification skill fueled by causality, a technique strikingly similar to Thunderbird. Even though Kwon Su-Hyeok had already activated Flash Strike, now wasn’t the time to ponder. He gathered every remaining strand of causality and forced it into his mana circuits. The causality wrapped around divinity and mana alike, accelerating the entire flow.

For both Kwon Su-Hyeok and Kalain, that was all the preparation they needed. Nothing more remained. They charged toward each other.

As soon as Kwon Su-Hyeok pushed off the ground, the divine horn attached to Soulbound flushed a vivid burning red. A wavering heat descended over the weapon and coated the axe blade. The glow deepened into a fierce, resonant magenta.

Vrrrm.

Soulbound let out a deep, resonant cry.

Kwon Su-Hyeok hadn’t just achieved unity with Souldbound. No, he was in complete harmony with the countless souls bound within it. The weathered axe, which had traveled through countless floors at Kwon Su-Hyeok’s side, traced a path forward. AS they were truly in sync, that path matched the one he envisioned.

At the very front of his blue-gold domain, a streak of red traced forward, stretching like a mark of fate.

Thud!

The two challengers’ domains collided first. Lightning and smoke tore into each other violently, writhing at the point of impact. Neither Kwon Su-Hyeok nor Kalain flinched. They pushed forward without losing momentum.

Diagonal arcs crisscrossed the battlefield as they exchanged blows.

Kwon Su-Hyeok swung Soulbound, and Kalain responded in turn, longsword and axe shooting toward each other. The gap between them vanished, and steel met steel.

Kwon Su-Hyeok felt the harsh, grinding pressure of metal shattering travel from Soulbound’s handle into his palms and fingertips—Soulbound had broken through. Kalain’s longsword fractured with a sharp, discordant ring. Fragments of the dark blade grazed Kwon Su-Hyeok’s cheek. Before the droplet of red blood could even fall, however, the young challenger had already pierced Kalain’s chest.

Crack!

Kwon Su-Hyeok felt his cheek sting as the heavy impact reverberated through the axe’s handle, and with it came the unmistakable weight of victory.

Kalain let out a short, strained breath as his strength gave out. He slammed into the ground, Soulbound still buried in him. The impact extinguished Kalain’s domain entirely. Dust rose in its place, illuminated by the glow of Kwon Su-Hyeok’s light. The battlefield vanished amid the swirling dust and radiance. Kwon Su-Hyeok swept the haze aside with a gust of wind and looked down at Kalain.

At the distant edge of the darkened horizon, a faint sunrise began to rise.

***

Even though I had won, my heart wasn’t at peace.

There was a vague discomfort lingering inside me, a point I couldn’t ignore. I had secured victory in the final clash, but the more I thought about it, the more something felt wrong.

If Kalain had used that awakening skill from the very beginning and pushed relentlessly, I wouldn’t have won. Truth be told, I had even sensed it during the fight. Kalain had definitely realized how quickly I had been growing. Considering that, it would have made much more sense for him to strike me before I adapted.

Maybe the fairness he spoke of mattered that much to him.

The thought crossed my mind, but deep down another certainty kept surfacing. Kalain hadn’t thrown the fight on purpose. The way the battle had ended almost felt like he had paved the way to it. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Kalain let out a long breath, “Haaaaa.”

It wasn’t a groan of pain, despite the fact that he was still lying on the ground with Soulbound lodged in his chest. He stared up at the slowly brightening sky with an expression that looked strangely relieved.

Even with the axe blade buried deep enough to anchor him to the ground, he could move if he truly wanted to. Regardless, he didn’t. He didn’t even possess the slightest flicker of resistance.

I stood over him in silence. It had been a long, grueling battle, but something about it left a faintly sour aftertaste. It was similar to the hesitation we had both felt right before the fight began.

“Haha.” Kalain looked at my face and let out a soft laugh, only to cough up blood a moment later. Dark red streaked down from the corner of his lips.

“What’s so funny?”

“Nothing,” he answered succinctly, almost too simple to count as a real reply.

Strangely, though, he sounded relaxed. Remaining silent, he turned his gaze toward the lightening sky as if following a distant memory.

I could tell what that memory was.

The ones he loved. The ones he didn’t save.

“Why didn’t you save them? You could’ve.”

Kalain didn’t look my way, merely closing his eyes. “Because I intended to destroy everything. I wasn’t confident in myself back then.”

Each of his words had sounded labored, with long breaths between them.

He coughed repeatedly but continued speaking with calm resolve, “If I saved my kin and failed, I would be condemning them to a suffering worse than death.”

I couldn’t grasp the weight behind those words, nor decide whether they were right or wrong. His leaking blood was spreading over the earth beneath him.

I stayed silent and watched him.

His expression didn’t contain any regret. If anything, he looked relieved. Perhaps Kalain had forced himself to shoulder every burden alone, clinging to it with a kind of desperate resolve. That didn’t make his choices right, but it explained the man he had become.

In the quiet, Kalain opened his eyes again. His reptilian gaze rose to meet mine.

“Can you do me a favor?”