BUILDING MY OWN EMPIRE - My Journey from Nothing to Overwhelming Power-Chapter 69 – Two Men

Louis struck the bubble.

Once... then again.

It didn’t work. The water inside continued to rise steadily.

Right, left, above, below... her eyes searched frantically for a flaw.

The Second-Rank Lord laughed, his eyes gleaming with the thrill of victory.

Louis struck harder—again and again.

"This doesn’t seem like ordinary water," she whispered. "It’s more like a flexible shield—something that can’t be destroyed, only cut... Unfortunately, I don’t have a cutting weapon."

The water reached her knees.

The lord approached the bubble.

He extended his hand and touched it from the outside.

"Some weapons—very few—are properties rather than physical arms," he said, beginning to circle the bubble.

"The Bubble is my signature weapon. It belongs to the category of specialized weapons, but I strengthened it using a Shatter Stone."

He paused briefly.

"Perhaps you don’t know what that stone is," he continued.

"It’s a stone that allows a specialized weapon to reach doubled power—the attack it grants."

He smiled and added, "Let me tell you... it’s an overwhelming attack. You don’t stand a chance against it."

The water rose higher.

Louis once again filled her hands with violet energy.

"I have ten," she whispered inwardly.

On one of the tenth floors, Louis had obtained a unique trait as a reward:

{Stacking}

The trait granted two directions:

Her offensive stacking stored part of her punch’s attacking force to be used later in a strike.

Her defensive stacking stored part of her defensive force to be used later for protection.

"I’ve already used two offensive stacks. This bubble doesn’t seem penetrable that way," she murmured, then quickly made her decision.

She raised her left fist.

Her black glove appeared.

The water had already reached her waist.

She leaned back—

Then—

BOOOOOOM.

The water blasted violently against the inner edges of the bubble.

Steam filled it completely.

The Second-Rank Lord narrowed his eyes. He could no longer see inside.

The corners of his lips curled into a sinister smile.

He couldn’t see what was happening within—

But he could see that the attack had failed to destroy it.

"And from here," his voice rang out, "I can say that was a powerful strike. Perhaps even the solid defense of a specialized weapon couldn’t stop it—but..."

His laughter rose as he moved around the bubble.

"I told you—my weapon possesses immense power... equal to an ancient weapon, hahaha!"

"Hahaha..."

From inside the bubble, Louis laughed—though he could not see her.

"You fool," her voice echoed. "Let me tell you something."

She continued, mockery in her tone:

"On the fiftieth floor, you face a Catastrophe Beast. After months of suffering before it, you defeat it—and receive only one reward."

"What?!" The Second-Rank Lord understood nothing.

"Delusions," he muttered.

The water reached Louis’s chin.

She brought her hands forward and clasped her fingers together.

"Explosion," she whispered.

"That was the reward’s name."

The white steam began turning crimson red.

Then the color deepened—darkening toward black.

A powerful aura erupted outward.

The bubble trembled—but remained intact, still filled with water.

The Second-Rank Lord sensed the energy.

Without thinking, he leapt backward.

Dozens of meters away—far.

Louis’s hands—and her smile—were directed toward him.

He couldn’t see her.

But he felt her.

A great danger.

His heart pounded rapidly.

"What is this aura?!" he shouted. "It’s—!"

He raised both hands and released dozens of bubbles.

They shot toward the ominous sphere.

One after another, they attached themselves to it.

They fused together like a reinforced wall.

He continued firing bubbles—

Dozens... hundreds... a thousand.

They surged like a swarm of bees.

They struck the cursed sphere.

The bubble grew heavier.

Larger.

Like a flexible wall ten meters thick.

Inside it—

The aura continued darkening.

The crimson faded.

The black deepened.

The lord stared at that color.

An inner conviction formed within him.

The danger—

Would come when the black was complete.

He panted in exhaustion.

"Impenetrable Defense!" he shouted. "You cannot possibly break through it! Surrender!"

He had poured nearly all his accumulation into the Thousand Bubble attack.

His final absolute defense.

His unwavering confidence.

And yet—

The anxiety remained.

Then suddenly—

The black was complete.

A suffocating silence descended over the area.

Even the birds fell quiet.

BOOOOOOM.

"Damn it!" he screamed.

BOOOOOOM.

BOOOOOOM.

"What’s happening?!"

The oval bubble trembled violently.

BOOOOOOM.

BOOOOOOM.

"Hahaha!" the lord laughed. "My defense succe—"

BOOOOOOOOOOOM. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

The bubble began to ripple like a chest choking for breath.

It bulged on one side and collapsed on another—as though in pain.

The lord stepped back anxiously.

The sound of fists striking echoed like deep thunder.

Successive tremors coursed through the massive sphere.

Then—

It began—

Fine cracks spread across its surface,

thin and delicate,

like veins in glass on the verge of shattering.

The strikes intensified.

Each blow more violent than the last.

Each tremor closer to the end.

Then—

A fleeting moment of silence.

A terrifying stillness.

And in the next explosion—

The flexible walls could no longer withstand the accumulated pressure.

A white fracture streaked across the surface—

Then tore apart.

The water burst outward in a single surge—

Like a flood freed from its prison.

It rushed in every direction,

heavy, roaring—

as if an entire sea had been hurled into the air.

Liquid shards scattered like crystalline fragments,

slamming into the ground, into the lord, into the empty air itself.

At the heart of the storm—

Louis’s body was hurled outward with the torrent,

falling into the newly formed pool,

gasping for air as though returning from the abyss of a bottomless ocean.

The water slowly began to settle...

But the violence lingered in the air like suspended rain.

.....

Joe stopped moving.

A massive wall of ice surged from the Second-Rank Lord’s position, encircling the cold mountain peak.

"Are you trying to stop me?" Joe turned his head. "I don’t wish to fight you. You should respect that—if you’re truly a priest."

The wall continued rising until it sealed into a complete enclosure.

Then it rose higher and higher.

"Thirty meters," Joe murmured. "No... perhaps more."

He turned and pressed his axe.

Swoooosh—

He hurled it at the wall.

BOOOOOOM.

The collision thundered.

Part of the wall shattered—

Then immediately regrew, healing itself.

Joe raised his hand and recalled the axe.

He approached the wall.

Reached it—

BOOOOOOM.

It shattered again.

And again it regenerated.

"I see," he whispered. "It’s not an attack—but a defense. Environmental creation. That explains why this thing radiates freezing air in all directions."

Joe smiled.

"It’s a strong defense," he admitted.

He stepped forward.

"Unfortunately, I’ve faced an opponent like this before. Unlucky for you."

The Second-Rank Lord did not reply.

The air around him grew heavier.

Then—

Joe gripped his golden axe

and stood upright.

In that stance, his massive frame appeared like a towering pillar.

The air screamed—

and surged toward him.

It lashed against his face.

"Oooh," he muttered with a shiver.

A sudden intense cold struck his body.

Then—

A cut.

Blood leapt from his skin.

The lord remained far away—

yet Joe was already wounded.

"The air itself is a weapon," he whispered.

Another cut struck him.

Still he stood firm.

His smile remained.

The wind grew fiercer.

It surged harder.

Large wounds began appearing across his massive body.

In moments—

Joe’s body was covered in gashes.

"Fine then—let’s see!" Joe shouted. He didn’t know whether his voice reached his opponent through the dense storm—

But his smile certainly did.

He raised his axe, ready.

Joe moved—

One step.

Then another.

He was merely walking.

With each step—

The wounds increased.

With each step—

The wind intensified.

Until his steps grew heavier.

Yet they did not stop.

The wind tried to push him back—

It failed.

Instead of being driven away—

He drove through it with enthusiasm.

"There you are," Joe said, stopping before his opponent.

He smiled.

Raised his axe—

BOOOOOOM.

The shockwave blasted the air aside.

A violent impact roared.

"Hahaha! Just as I expected!" Joe shouted. "I didn’t expect more than that!"

His strike was blocked—

The yellow-clad lord lifted his own axe with one hand.

Then—

BOOOOOOM.

The lord struck back for the first time.

The sound roared even louder.

It too was stopped.

The freezing air once again surrounded them both.

They each raised their axes.

Silence swallowed their voices—

Replaced by the roaring clash of steel.

BOOOOOOM.

BOOOOOOM.

They struck savagely.

The wind screamed.

Metal thundered.

The earth began to crack.

Their battle was purely physical.

Even so—

The ground could not endure them.

Feet sank deep.

Joe leapt to another spot.

The lord followed.

He raised his fist and descended with his enormous body—

BOOOOOOM.

Joe sank to his knees.

He retaliated with a counterstrike.

The lord leapt back—

Joe pursued.

He struck.

The lord too was driven into the ground above his knees.

Blows rained down.

They were evenly matched.

Neither allowed himself to use any attack beyond his raw, inherent strength.

Their eyes met—

Clashed—

Contested.

Yet silently agreed:

The stronger one—

Would be the one who wins by physical might,

Not by abilities.