The battlefield looks like a war crime.
Skyscrapers folded in on themselves like paper. Roads shredded like cheese. Fires flicker from broken vehicles. The sky? Torn open, flashing like a broken television signal.
Amidst the wreckage—Veyrith Alzair walks, hands in his jacket pockets, shoulders relaxed. He's calm. Too calm. His boots crunch across what used to be a six-lane freeway, now reduced to fragmented slabs.
Behind him, silence.
But the camera pans backward—
KAELSTRYX, hunched over, breathing erratically, seated on the crushed remains of a concrete bench. Blood leaks from his mouth, his ribs cracked, one eye swelling shut.
Kaelstryx (low, guttural whisper):
"…It's not over. It's never over until one of us stops breathing."
Vey (without turning, casual):
"You already stopped moving. That's close enough."
He takes two more steps. Then pauses.
Vey (quiet, sarcastic):
"…Unless you've got another stupid trick—"
That's when his eye twitches.
A spark. A hum. A change in air pressure.
Kaelstryx's body begins to radiate. Not glow—radiate.
The ground beneath him shatters, symbols of red and black spiral into the air, orbiting his form like war gods awakening.
Kaelstryx (gritting teeth):
"Stupid trick? Nah. This one's personal."
Vey turns.
His eyes narrow—serious now. Not afraid. Just… processing.
Vey:
"…That aura. Don't tell me you're—"
Kaelstryx (roars):
"CRIMSON BURST!!"
WHOOM.
Time skips a frame.
The ground splits in a perfect circle. A nuclear-sized blast of red energy erupts, swallowing Kael whole. Vey's eyes widen—not in fear, but calculating.
Vey (thinking fast):
"Tch. I won't make it in time—"
BOOOOOOOOOM!!!
The explosion ignites the sky. It doesn't just destroy buildings—it disintegrates reality in its radius. Half of Nox Altair's skyline vanishes into red dust. Shockwaves rip through 10 districts. Heat tears the oxygen from the atmosphere.
Everything fades red.
Then—silence.
AFTERMATH – MINUTES LATER – GROUND ZERO
Nothing but a giant black crater, still glowing. Ash falls like cursed snow.
In the middle of it, Kaelstryx is kneeling, panting hard. His skin is burned, muscles twitching. He chuckles between coughs of blood.
Kaelstryx (smirking, exhausted):
"Got him... that had to finish it…"
Suddenly—A RUMBLE.
A slab of cracked metal shifts.
A hand pushes it aside.
Veyrith walks out.
Shirt half-burnt. One eye slightly bleeding. Cheek marked by a red slash. But his aura? Untouched. In fact—it's now spiking.
Vey (calm but dark):
"…That was supposed to kill me?"
Kaelstryx (shaken):
"What—? That was a direct—"
Vey (voice drops, no smile):
"I blinked a second too slow… and now my jacket's ruined."
He holds up a piece of it—charred, tattered. Lets it fall.
Vey (steps forward, voice colder):
"You scratched me. That's rare."
He cracks his knuckles.
Vey:
"...Now bleed for it."
Scene ends with Vey disappearing in a blur, pulse shockwaves trailing him like afterimages.
"To be continued" -