"Alright….. so who the hell are you?" Boros asked, eyes locked on the stranger.
"Who I am doesn't concern you," the man replied smoothly. "But tell me – how did you manage to see me?"
Boros shrugged. "I saw you. I stopped you. Simple as that."
The stranger smirked, then launched forward with a sudden punch.
Boros reacted instantly, swinging a counter – but his fist hit nothing but air as the man flipped back out of reach.
"So it wasn't a fluke. You really could track my speed…." The man's grin widened. "Heh. This might actually be fun."
Boros slid into his stance – left foot dragging back, right foot steady, body low and ready.
"Come on," he said, his voice a challenge. "Try and kill me."
"Hmm…. are you an adventurer?" the man asked, eyeing Boros.
Boros loosened his stance slightly. "Huh?"
"Do you belong to any guild?" the man repeated.
"Nah. Trying to join one, actually," Boros said.
The man gave a short nod. "Then join me."
"What? Yeah, no thanks," Boros replied flatly.
"Come on," the man insisted. "We could really use someone like you."
Boros straightened, his expression darkening.
"You…..did you just say you were gonna use me?" he said coldly.
Silence fell for a beat – then Boros dropped back into his stance, sharper, deadlier than before.
"This time I'm serious." His voice dropped, low and lethal. "Come at me like you mean it….. or you're gonna die."
Boros slid into his stance while the man remained standing there – lazy, almost bored.
Boros exhaled slowly. A cloud of vapor escaped his lips, curling like smoke in the cold air. He formed a fist with his right hand.
Then, on his left, he pressed his middle finger over his index, folded the other two, and left his thumb jutting out, like some kind of arcade trigger.
"What's he doing with his hands?" the man thought, eyes narrowing. "Is this what he meant – needing his fingers to activate his power? And what's that fog coming out of his mouth?"
Before he could finish the thought, Boros shot forward like a bullet.
"He's coming!" the man realized, eyes going wide. He threw a punch – but Boros deflected it with his strange left hand formation like it was nothing.
A heartbeat later, Boros' right fist slammed in for the counter. And just like that…. It began.
The man snapped back with a punch that cracked across Boros' jaw, forcing him to drop his strange hand formation.
Instantly, both clenched their fists, and the air was filled with the sound of fists colliding – blow for blow, neither giving an inch.
But Boros broke the rhythm with a sudden kick to the man's head. The impact sent him crashing through the trees – and the force was so strong, it launched Boros backward too.
The man groaned, blood dripping from his mouth as he staggered to his feet and drew his blade.
"Tch…. You've got power," he muttered.
Boros emerged from the shadows, cracking his neck and bouncing on his feet, hyped and grinning like a fighter at the bell.
"Not gonna make a weapon out of your Metal Longinus?" the man asked, tightening his grip. "You'll die if you keep underestimating me."
Boros stopped. Calm. Focused. He formed the same left hand gesture again – middle finger pressing down the index, thumb pointed out.
Then, in a flash, he released it. Two massive projectiles – more thick than long – launched toward the man with terrifying speed.
"Who said my power was Metal?" Boros said with a grin, a ghostly mist curling from his mouth.
The man froze, stunned. He hadn't expected projectiles – let alone two to be fired at him out of nowhere.
They wizzed past, missing by inches. Almost as if Boros missed on purpose.
"Ice?" he muttered, shaken.
In the hierarchy of Longinus abilities, there were two primary classes: Planetary and Cardinal. Each came in high and low grades.
Even the low-grade ones were immensely dangerous in their own right. The reason they were considered "Low" was because of the power of the High grade Longinus variants, compared to them, they were sparks next to stars.
The high-grade Longinus abilities were in a league of their own. Especially the Planetary types. Rare, volatile and often lethal to the wielder.
It was a power that many would spend years chasing..... only to burn out on awakening because of the latent Nexus of the ability.
Some never survived the initial surge.
They were called Planetary for a reason. Rumor had it, in the hands of someone who could truly harness their power, they could erase an entire planet.
Even within the Planetary class, there was a spectrum. But Ice? Ice was top-tier. A High-Grade Planetary Longinus.
The man's eyes narrowed. "No way….. He's a high-grade Longinus user?" He scoffed, wiping sweat from his brow.
"Tch. Just my luck. This is gonna be a pain in the ass."
The man dropped into his stance eyes locked on Boros. No words. Just pure intent. In the next instant, they exploded toward each other-blurs of motion, fists crashing knuckle to knuckle with raw force.
The impact echoed like thunder. They broke apart, then launched again without hesitation. This time, the man drew his blades mid-arc, slashing in a clean arc.
Boros evaded, leaping back with fluid grace, exhaling a thick fog from his mouth. He darted along the perimeter, then came in fast – driving a kick into the man's ribs with bone-cracking power, launching him across the field.
No pause. No Mercy.
Boros followed up immediately, forming a quick, precise hand sign. Ice burst forth with every flick of his fingers, sharp and relentless.
The man barely had time to recover before Boros leapt back again, mouth steaming, the fog thickening into a swirling cloud around them.
Dust billowed everywhere, turning the battleground into a storm.
"He dead?" Boros muttered, eyes scanning the haze.
"Not a chance." The voice came through the fog, low and steady. A figure emerged, hand sweeping aside the dust like it was nothing.
He stepped forward, eyes blazing, blades in hand, a grin tugging at his lips."This is getting good."He tightened his grip on both swords. "Let's keep it going."
...
Boom.
"Captain, you hear that?" Seth asked, eyes narrowing.
"Yeah," the captain said quietly, rising from the blood trail he'd been inspecting. He turned toward the source of the blast –then another bang echoed, louder this time.
And another. Closer.
"What the hell is that?" one of the men muttered. The Captain didn't answer right away. His gaze sharpened, sensing the shift.
"This Nexus fluctuation…. someone's fighting," he murmured under his breath.
"Captain?" Seth called, noticing his Captain had gone still, lost in thought. The Captain snapped back. "We're heading that way."
"What about the investigation?" Seth asked."It can wait." The squad nodded and fell in behind him without question.
As they moved, the Captain muttered just loud enough for himself to hear,
"Whatever's fighting out there ...I hope it's finished by the time we arrive." He glanced ahead, the tension in his voice unmistakable.
"The Nexus I'm detecting is insanely large, I don't even want to find out who it is."