Chapter 92 — Fighting Victor II

Victor stared at the axe in Damian’s hands, his confident expression faltering for just a moment before he forced it back into place.

"So you do have a melee weapon. I was starting to think you were just going to embarrass yourself fighting barehanded against my blade."

His sword shifted in his grip, brown Aura intensifying around the steel.

"But it doesn’t matter what weapon you use. The gap between our ranks is still absolute.

You’re going to learn a very painful lesson today about why the ranking system exists in the first place."

Damian said nothing, just adjusted his stance slightly, the axe held comfortably in both hands.

Victor’s eye twitched at the continued silence.

"You know what your problem is, Valcor? You think being strong makes you special. You think having talent means you can ignore the rules everyone else has to follow.

But talent without discipline is just wasted potential. Power without control is just dangerous stupidity."

He pointed his sword directly at Damian.

"I’m going to beat that arrogance out of you. I’m going to show everyone watching that your little reign of terror was just a fluke.

That when faced with a real opponent, someone with actual training and resources and family backing, you’re just another commoner who bit off more than he could chew."

Still nothing from Damian. His crimson eyes were calm, almost bored.

Victor’s face flushed red with anger at being so thoroughly ignored.

"FINE! If you won’t talk, then let your defeat speak for itself!"

He charged forward, his sword blazing with concentrated Aura.

"Earth Splitter Style: Second Form - Mountain Cleave!"

The blade came down in a diagonal slash that carried the weight of a collapsing mountain behind it. The Aura was so dense it was almost solid, creating visible distortions in the air.

Damian’s axe came up to meet it.

CLANG!

The impact created a shockwave that knocked students in the front row backward.

Sparks flew where blade met axe, both weapons screaming against each other.

Victor pressed harder, using his full C rank strength.

"You can’t match my power! You don’t have the raw output to–"

Damian’s muscles bulged slightly as he pushed back.

Victor’s eyes went wide as his sword was forced away, his attack completely negated.

’Impossible. My rank advantage should make this easy. Why is his physical strength so absurd?’

Damian finally spoke, his voice quiet but carrying easily in the sudden silence.

"Are you done talking? Because I’m getting bored."

Victor snarled and launched into a flurry of attacks, his sword work becoming a blur of steel and brown Aura.

"Third Form - Earthen Cascade! Fourth Form - Stone Rend! Fifth Form - Crushing Mountain!"

Each strike was faster and stronger than the last, a combination attack designed to overwhelm opponents through sheer volume and pressure.

It was an advanced technique that Victor had spent years mastering.

Damian’s axe moved to intercept.

But he wasn’t fast enough to block everything cleanly.

Victor’s blade soon found some openings as a cut appeared across Damian’s shoulder, another across his ribs and a third along his thigh.

Blood began staining his uniform.

But Damian didn’t retreat. He didn’t even slow down for a second!

His axe found its own targets in return.

The crescent blade caught Victor across the forearm, opening a deep gash.

The bottom blade hooked behind Victor’s knee, nearly taking his leg out from under him.

They were both bleeding now, both injured, both pushing through pain that would have dropped most students.

The crowd watched in absolute silence, transfixed by the brutal exchange.

"You’re good, I’ll admit that much!"

Victor shouted over the sound of clashing weapons.

"But you’re still losing! Every exchange costs you more than it costs me! My family’s recovery techniques will heal these wounds in days!

What do you have? Nothing! You’re burning through your life fighting a battle you can’t win!"

Damian’s response was to swing his axe in a wide arc that forced Victor to jump backward to avoid being bisected.

When they separated, both were breathing hard, both dripping blood onto the platform.

Victor wiped his mouth and grinned through the pain.

"Time to end this. I was saving this because I thought you’d be stronger, but clearly I overestimated you."

His brown Aura changed quality entirely, becoming denser, heavier, almost gravitational in its presence.

"Imperial Skill of House Cross: Earth’s Dominion!"

The very ground beneath their feet seemed to respond to his will. The platform cracked and shifted, chunks of stone rising up and orbiting around Victor like satellites around a planet.

His physical presence multiplied several times over, the pressure he radiated forcing students even further back.

"This is the inherited ability of the Cross Imperial Family. We don’t just use earth element techniques. We command the earth itself. Every piece of stone, every grain of dirt, every mineral in the ground becomes our weapon."

The floating stones suddenly shot forward like bullets, dozens of them converging on Damian from all angles while Victor himself charged with his sword raised high.

"You’re finished, Valcor! This is the difference between you and me! This is what it means to be born into greatness!"

Damian stood perfectly still as the attack converged on him.

His dark crimson Aura began to pulse.

And then... it shifted.

That same dark red energy mixed with something else. Something that made the air itself feel wrong, oppressive, suffocating.

His Slaughter Intent.

"Boy... Just shut the hell up. Even listening to you yapping feels so embarrassing!"

After saying that, Damian’s voice became low, almost gentle.

"And you fundamentally misunderstand what’s about to happen here."

His grip on the axe tightened, both hands positioning perfectly on the obsidian handle.

"I don’t need to outlast you. I don’t need to slowly wear you down. I don’t need to exchange injuries until one of us drops."

His eyes locked onto Victor’s with absolute certainty.

"I just need... one strike."

The Aura around his axe exploded.

Not just his normal crimson energy. Something qualitatively different.

The circular hole in the axe blade began to whistle, a high-pitched sound that grew louder and more unsettling with each passing second.

In the crowd, those who understood what they were seeing went pale.

"That’s... that’s a weapon art activation."

"But the density of that Aura... that’s not a low-level technique."

"What the hell is he about to do?"

Damian’s voice rang out clearly, carrying a weight that made everyone listening feel cold.

"Abyssal Slaughter."

The name itself seemed to carry power.

Every person watching felt something fundamental shift in the atmosphere, like reality itself was holding its breath.

Victor’s stone bullets were almost upon him now, his sword descending toward Damian’s head.

Damian swung his weapon without any fear in his eyes.

The axe moved through the air with impossible weight behind it, the blade cutting through Victor’s stone projectiles like they were made of paper.

Each stone that touched the axe’s path simply disintegrated, not shattered or deflected but completely and utterly erased.

Victor’s sword met the axe blade.

And for a fraction of a second, they hung there, weapon against weapon, will against will.

Then Victor’s family heirloom, the sword that had been passed down through generations, that had been forged by master craftsmen and enchanted with expensive techniques, that had survived countless battles–

Shattered.

Piece by piece... the precious weapon shattered Irreparably.

The blade broke into dozens of pieces that scattered across the platform like rain.

But the axe didn’t stop.

It continued its arc toward Victor’s exposed torso, the dark Aura around it promising absolute devastation.

Victor’s eyes went wide with genuine terror as he realized he was about to die.

His Earth’s Dominion was already failing, his defensive techniques crumbling under the sheer weight of Damian’s attack.

This wasn’t supposed to happen. He was a C rank awakener! He was an Imperial heir! He had trained for years, had access to the best resources, had inherited abilities that should have made him untouchable!

How was this commoner about to kill him with a single strike?!

CLANG!

Two figures appeared between Damian and Victor in a blur of motion.

Gareth Blackwood, his massive frame absorbing the force of the axe blade against his Aura-hardened forearm.

Arielle Voss, her grey Aura forming a barrier that helped deflect the strike away from Victor’s body.

Both of them were pushed backward several feet from the impact, their boots leaving trails in the platform.

Gareth’s arm was bleeding where the axe had connected despite his defense.

The strike stopped just inches from Victor’s chest, the dark Aura dissipating slowly.

Victor collapsed backward, his legs giving out, his face white as a sheet.

He’d felt death. Really, truly felt it for the first time in his life!

Gareth turned to face Damian, his expression furious.

"What the hell do you think you’re doing!? This was supposed to be a sanctioned match, not an execution! You were going to kill him!"

His voice carried genuine anger and shock.