With another titanic impact, their blades met once more, the collision releasing a shrill screech that tore through the air itself. Space seemed to fold as they stood locked at a single point, unmoving, the earth beneath their feet trembling violently under the sheer pressure, tension, and intensity of their opposing forces. Cracks spider-webbed across the ground, spreading outward as if the world itself were struggling to endure their presence. Yet neither of them moved.

They remained frozen for a brief moment, as though acknowledging one another, as though recognising an equal standing before them. Then, in a blur that defied perception, they blitzed out of their position, their bodies tearing through the air like living streaks of destruction.

Anthony's katana descended from above, cleaving through air and space alike as if they were nothing more than wet paper. The strike carried apocalyptic intent, its trajectory absolute and merciless. But Lucian was ready. His own katana moved the instant Anthony attacked, his crimson eyes narrowing as they read, tracked, and calculated the incoming arc. With a sundering burst that shook the heavens, metal met metal, sparks exploding outward in violent cascades.

But Anthony was far from finished. Without pause or hesitation, he chained another attack immediately, then another, space and wind screaming as he sliced and slashed relentlessly, his blade leaving faint distortions in reality with every movement.

Lucian's body moved like that of an agile panther, fluid and lethal. His hands blurred in and out of reality as he parried every strike aimed at his body, his speed peaking without slowing for even a fraction of a second. Neither he nor Anthony understood exhaustion. Fatigue was a foreign concept to them, something that applied only to lesser beings. Stamina held no meaning here. They moved because they willed it, and they stopped only when they chose to, not because biology demanded it.

Lucian suddenly thrust forward, his katana tearing through the air with lethal precision, the crimson blade carving a deadly path straight toward Anthony's sky-blue eyes. Anthony's hand blurred upward, meeting the attack with the flat of his blade, deflecting it aside as though it were nothing more than a child's swing. But he did not stop there. In the same seamless motion, he countered, linking defence and offense so perfectly that the two became indistinguishable. There was no separation, no wasted movement, only pure execution.

Anthony's katana flashed diagonally, tearing upward as he aimed to carve through Lucian's ribs, the blade tracing a deadly path from waist to shoulder. Lucian sensed the attack instantly. His reaction was sharp and explosive, his feet slamming into the ground with such force that the earth shattered beneath him. He parried the strike at the last possible moment, the impact releasing a concussive shockwave. But before Lucian could follow up with his own attack, Anthony was already moving again, his katana sweeping in from the side with merciless speed. Lucian deflected it once more, steel screaming as the blades collided yet again.

Anthony's sky-blue eyes lit up with life as Lucian countered, his katana singing toward Anthony's ribcage with killing intent. But Anthony did not panic. Instead, he welcomed the attack, a wide grin spreading across his face, madness and joy burning within his gaze. The moment their blades clashed again, an apocalyptic weight descended upon the battlefield. Shockwaves tore outward in all directions, annihilating everything within several kilometres. Forests were erased, mountains flattened, and the land reduced to nothing but rubble and ruin under the overwhelming mastery of their swordsmanship.

They vanished once more, their bodies ripping through the separate plane itself, leaving behind streaks of light, one pure white, the other pitch black. In the next instant, they leaped into the air, their blades still intertwined as they pushed upward toward the clouds without hesitation or pause. The laws of physics lost all meaning before their monstrous physiques, gravity bending and breaking under their will.

Like panthers that had ruled the jungle for countless years, they landed upon the clouds with effortless precision. The weightless vapour paradoxically supported their immense mass, such was the outrageous level of control they possessed over their own bodies. Lucian's katana flashed through the air, a burning crimson blur, and with a deafening boom, the clouds shattered and parted. They dissipated violently, rain pouring down from the sky as though the separate plane itself were crying out in anguish.

Anthony did not even blink. He shifted his body slightly, blocking the attack with utter ease, tanking its full force while ensuring the cloud beneath his feet remained stable and unbroken. With matching grins etched onto their faces, they tore forward again, their forms becoming blurs as they ripped through the sky and clouds as though they were no different from solid earth. Each shattered cloud sent torrents of rain cascading downward, drenching the world below.

In the next moment, Anthony's katana slashed upward, and immediately the sky cracked. Its blue hue tore apart violently as a massive crimson sword mark ripped through it like a wall of sand. But Lucian paid it no mind. His own katana flashed in response, carving an enormous downward arc through the heavens. Instantly, the land below split in half as a colossal chasm tore open, stretching endlessly across the horizon. A heartbeat later, it erupted in a blinding explosion that swallowed everything in its path.

Anthony and Lucian fell from the sky as every remaining cloud disintegrated around them. Their bodies plummeted freely, yet neither attacked. They simply stood upright as gravity claimed them, katanas gripped firmly in their hands. The next instant, they struck the surface, not earth this time, but the sea.

The moment their feet touched the water, the ocean geysered upward in a maddening explosion of force. Waves towered like mountains as they shot toward each other like bullets fired from a gun. With another world-rending clash, they slammed into one another, the impact tearing the sea open entirely. Sword marks carved deep into the seabed, splitting it apart. The ocean trembled, then the distant shores shattered, seawater flooding outward in catastrophic torrents.

But Anthony and Lucian did not care.

They became nothing more than flickers of sword and body, beings made solely for destruction and devastation, and destruction was exactly what they wrought upon the world. In the next instant, they appeared within a forest. Lucian's katana sang toward Anthony's chest as he moved to tear his heart apart with lethal precision. As always, Anthony met the attack head-on, deflecting it to the side effortlessly. Lucian followed up immediately, his strikes growing faster, heavier, his strength rising in perfect tandem.

Anthony entered a defensive state, his body weaving between trees as he parried attack after attack. It did not matter how many strikes came his way. He saw them all. He read them all. He understood them all. And with ridiculous grace and ease, so overwhelming it bordered on insulting, he deflected every single one.

He had matched Lucian's sudden rise in strength and speed completely. But could Lucian match his?

Suddenly, Anthony's blade flashed, faster than the eye, faster than thought, faster than light itself. Lucian could not follow it. He could not see it. He could not sense it. Only his instincts, honed over countless years of battle, screamed a warning. But even those instincts spoke too late.

A tearing sound split the air as Anthony's katana carved diagonally across Lucian's chest, slicing clean through flesh.

For the first time since the battle began, Lucian bled.

Anthony had drawn first blood.

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