74~ Lightning vs Decay II

Wail charged toward Kyle, and the two collided violently, shaking the ground beneath their feet.

Wail seized Kyle's wrists, holding his arms away from his body so he couldn't touch him. But Kyle took advantage of their proximity, suddenly pulling Wail toward him and headbutting him before delivering a powerful kick that sent him flying upward.

Wail regained his balance in midair and raised his arm. Electrical energy gathered around it until a thunderous bow formed between his hands.

He drew the bowstring and released a lightning arrow that pierced the air toward Kyle.

Kyle reached out and caught the arrow. It vanished the instant he touched it.

But Wail didn't stop. He unleashed a barrage of thunder arrows that rained down on his opponent from multiple directions. Kyle began disintegrating them one by one, but there were too many for him to deal with all at once.

Explosions swept across the battlefield, and thick clouds of dust rose, completely obscuring the area.

They didn't last long.

Kyle's aura burst outward, dispersing the dust and revealing his body. In the next instant, Wail descended toward him, and the two collided once more.

Explosions spread in every direction, lightning bolts covered the battlefield, and parts of the ground cracked and disintegrated beneath the force of their attacks.

Amid the chaos, Kyle's laughter rang out loudly.

"This is the best fight I've ever had!"

He charged toward Wail, his fingers coming within a fraction of a second of touching his arm.

But a violent electrical current struck Kyle and stopped him in his tracks. Wail followed with a lightning-charged punch to his face, sending him flying backward.

Kyle regained his balance and raised his head, searching for his opponent, but Wail was nowhere to be seen.

Suddenly, he noticed the thunderclouds above beginning to converge at a single point.

He looked up.

Wail hovered high above him, both hands raised toward the sky as an enormous amount of electrical energy gathered between them. The surrounding lightning bolts streamed into the growing mass until a dense sphere of lightning formed, nearly concealing Wail's body.

Then he unleashed it.

A colossal beam of electricity surged toward Kyle, tearing across the sky.

Kyle's smile widened even further.

He raised his hands, which glowed with a dark gray light, then released a wave of energy directly into the incoming beam.

The electrical beam gradually began to disintegrate. The effect spread through its energy until it reached the source.

In the next instant, the area where Wail stood exploded.

But amid the rising smoke, several figures appeared at once.

They were all copies of Wail, their bodies formed from electricity. They charged toward Kyle from multiple directions.

They attacked simultaneously, raining blows upon him before he could evade them all.

Kyle took several consecutive punches, then began countering with decay, dismantling the copies one after another. Each time a copy disappeared, he moved on to the next, trying to identify the real Wail among them.

Only one copy remained.

Kyle grabbed it, and its body began crumbling in his hands until it vanished completely.

His eyes widened.

That wasn't the real Wail either.

A flash of electricity appeared amid the remaining dust, and Wail burst from it directly toward Kyle, delivering a lightning-fast punch to his stomach.

Kyle took the full force of the blow. His body slid a long distance across the ground before finally coming to a stop.

He propped himself up on one knee and wiped the blood from his mouth.

Wail gave him no time to catch his breath.

He charged again, but Kyle smiled and placed his palm on the ground.

The earth beneath Wail's feet shattered, splitting open into a colossal fissure that extended deep underground.

Wail glanced at the gap, then grabbed a nearby rock and used it to propel himself away from the collapsing ground.

But as soon as he rose, his eyes widened.

Kyle was directly above him, reaching out.

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"Got you..."

His fingers were about to touch Wail's head.

---

Elsewhere on the battlefield...

Adam fired successive red lightning bolts at Mark, but Mark formed an enormous rocky shield around his arm and used it to block the attacks.

He advanced through the lightning, maintaining his defense until he reached his opponent.

Then the shield vanished, transforming into rocks that shot toward the ground and pinned Adam's feet in place.

Mark gave him no chance to break free.

He lifted a massive boulder and smashed it against Adam's head, following up with a devastating kick that sent him flying away.

Mark turned to check on the other fight.

Raouf was dodging Noah's sound waves, barely avoiding their successive attacks.

Raouf was fast and skilled at reading his opponent's movements. He could also launch swift ice spikes, but his offensive power wasn't enough to bring the fight to an easy conclusion.

He needed a blizzard to obscure their vision and allow him to launch surprise attacks from within it.

But Noah's sound element posed an obstacle. His waves could tear through the blizzard, ruining Raouf's attempts to use it to his advantage.

Noah continued pursuing him, trying to land a hit with his relentless waves.

Suddenly, Raouf froze the ground in front of him.

Noah's feet slipped, and he lost his balance for a moment, causing his attack to veer off course.

Raouf seized the opportunity and fired an extremely fast ice arrow.

Noah destroyed the arrow before it could hit him, but that hadn't been Raouf's real objective.

While Noah was occupied destroying the attack, ice spread around his feet and froze them in place.

Noah lowered his head, then unleashed a deafening scream that shattered the ice around him.

But the moment he broke free, his eyes widened.

Mark was standing beside him.

Noah tried to release another sound wave, but ice suddenly covered his head, preventing him from directing his attack as intended.

Mark seized the moment and delivered a tremendous punch to his head.

The ice shattered beneath the blow, and Noah's body flew backward before crashing into the ground hundreds of meters away.

Raouf suddenly shouted,

"Mark, watch out!"

Mark turned toward the source of the warning.

A red light was glowing in the distance. Adam had gathered his energy into a dense electrical beam, preparing to fire it at them.

Mark charged straight toward him.

As soon as he approached, Adam released the beam.

The energy within it was so dense that a direct hit would have pierced Mark's body and torn him apart.

But the ground froze beneath Mark's feet.

He crouched and slid across its icy surface, evading the beam as it passed overhead.

Adam lowered his arms, trying to track Mark's movement and aim at him again.

But Mark smiled.

The ground suddenly rose in front of him, forming a rocky barrier that propelled him upward. Mark leaped over it and reached Adam before he could react.

At the same moment, Raouf froze Adam's body.

Mark delivered a devastating kick to his opponent, shattering the ground beneath him and sending his body plunging downward.

Mark landed beside Raouf and looked at their opponents.

"I think we've beaten them."

Raouf exhaled wearily.

"Huff... I don't know why you dragged me into this when you could've beaten both of them on your own."

Mark smiled.

"Stop complaining. You need to..."

His eyes suddenly widened.

He launched himself forward at tremendous speed, cutting through the air as he prepared to deliver a powerful punch.

He arrived just in time. Before Kyle's hand could touch Wail's head, Mark struck him directly in the face.

The blow sent Kyle flying backward.

Mark caught Wail and lifted him up, then looked at him with concern.

"Are you alri..."

A small red electrical beam pierced Mark's chest.

His expression froze, and he coughed up blood.

Wail stared in shock and turned toward the source of the attack, but before he could move, Noah seized him from behind.

Noah screamed directly at him.

Blood burst from Wail's nose and ears, and his transformation immediately vanished. The sound pressure was immense, and Wail began losing consciousness beneath its force.

Yet Noah didn't stop.

He grabbed Wail by the neck and lifted him, preparing to unleash another scream at point-blank range to finish him off.

Wail tried to resist, but his body wouldn't respond as he wanted.

Suddenly, Noah stopped when a voice came behind him.

"I never asked you to interfere in my fight..."

A gray arm touched Noah's face.

In the next instant, his features began to disappear. Grayness spread across his head, and his body started crumbling into dust until nothing remained.

Wail fell to the ground, shock filling his face.

Meanwhile, Kyle approached Adam, who was still nearby, and spoke irritably.

"You too, you idiot."

He reached out toward him.

But his hand wasn't there.

Kyle froze and looked down, discovering that his arm lay severed on the ground.

He spun around.

Wail was already standing behind him, veins bulging beneath his skin as steam rose from his body.

He gave Kyle no chance to react.

Wail punched him in the face, but before Kyle could be sent flying, Wail seized his remaining arm and pulled him closer, then kicked him powerfully upward.

Wail followed him in an instant and unleashed a barrage of punches, driving him higher into the sky.

Then he appeared above him and slammed both fists into his stomach, sending him hurtling toward the ground.

Adam rushed toward Wail, attempting to attack him, but Wail didn't even bother turning around.

He extended his arm toward him and spoke coldly.

"Get out of my way."

A wave of red electricity burst from his arm, driving Adam into the ground. Adam lost consciousness upon impact.

Wail turned his attention back to Kyle and began gathering electricity above him until an enormous sphere of energy formed.

He launched it at his opponent.

Kyle stood still for a moment, watching the incoming attack.

Then he suddenly smiled and shouted excitedly,

"You're the best, Wail!"

He extended his arm and fired a gray beam that pierced the electrical sphere, causing it to decay before it could reach him.

The beam continued forward until it engulfed Wail's entire body.

But Kyle didn't stop there.

He turned and extended his hand to the side, then shouted,

"There you are!"

A flash of electricity appeared beside him, and Wail found himself directly in front of his outstretched hand.

Kyle had anticipated that Wail would appear there and prepared to touch him.

But what happened next wasn't part of his calculations.

Wail's hand moved in a flash, severing Kyle's remaining arm with a single sweep.

Then he clenched his fist and delivered a brutal punch to Kyle's stomach.

Kyle coughed up blood, his body folding beneath the blow.

Black sparks of electricity appeared around Wail's arm.

After his fist struck Kyle's stomach, a delayed surge of black lightning followed, exploding inside Kyle's body and tearing a hole through his abdomen. The force sent him flying until he crashed to the ground.

Kyle tried to get up, but without either arm, the task was extremely difficult.

Nevertheless, he managed to stand, then began shouting hysterically.

"I... I don't need my hands to defeat you, Wail! ... if I don't finish you of..."

His voice suddenly faltered, and he coughed up blood again.

A hand pierced his chest from behind, stopping where his heart lay.

A calm voice came from behind him.

"No... your part is over, Kyle."

Kyle slowly turned his head, a faint smile appearing on his face.

"S... so I was... the next... one..."

Vale stood behind him, smiling faintly.

A transparent aura began forming around the fist that had pierced Kyle's chest, gradually expanding.

In the next instant, the aura exploded.

Kyle's body was torn apart, leaving nothing but blood scattered through the air.

The droplets flew toward Vale but stopped before touching his body. An invisible aura surrounded him, vaporizing them all.

Wail watched what had happened, astonishment and anger mingling on his face.

Vale turned toward him.

"It seems I have to teach you how to react with others, little brother."

He smiled provocatively.

"I know you were stronger than him, and that you would've killed him yourself... But I spared you the trouble. Shouldn't you thank me?"

Wail clenched his fists.

Aetherion's image returned to his mind. He remembered how that conflict had ended and how he had been denied the chance to settle it the way he wanted.

He spoke in a quiet voice, charged with anger.

"It was my fight alone... I'll never forgive you for taking my revenge away from me."

Vale's smile widened.

"Revenge is a fools game, little brother."

But Wail quickly regained his composure and ignored the provocation.

"What now? Are you going to run away like a coward again, or have you finally come to finish this?"

Vale's expression changed, and a frown appeared on his face.

"Little brother, you understand nothing. I don't want to kill you. In fact, I hadn't intended to come here at all, because I never expected Kyle to kill the sound-element user."

He then put on an expression of feigned sadness as he watched Wail's reaction.

"Was he your friend? Or just a random fightsr? It doesn't matter. His death seems to have planted a little despair inside you... which makes this the perfect opportunity to sink you even deeper into a vast sea of despair."

Wail answered angrily,

"If you think what happened has weakened me and made me easier to defeat, you're wrong."

Wail opened his eye.

It was pitch-black.

In the next instant, a red aura erupted from his body, mingling with black sparks. It engulfed him completely before dissipating to reveal his transformation, with red hair and red energy.

This transformation was no longer unfamiliar to him. But it was no longer a power he couldn't control, as it had been before. He had begun learning to bring it under his will.

He raised his head and looked directly at Vale.

"He has only made me stronger."

Vale's Bloody Eyes glowed, while hatred and resentment darkened Wail's right eye.

The two brothers stood facing each other, separated by years of conflict, anger, and secrets yet to be revealed.

Their next battle was about to begin.

A battle that would determine the fate of what remained of their family.