With a sigh, Darian turned to face his opponents. He stepped forward. His red eyes were glowing, full of resolve.
Darian's clone gave a faint smile. At that moment, Darian narrowed his eyes. 'Wait… is that really what I look like? I look like some kind of maniac… must be just my imagination.'
"So you finally got the basics down, huh? Let's end this. You won't get another chance." The female voice spoke, waving him on.
The clone scoffed, and his whole body was wrapped in a dark aura. Darian watched it closely.
Then he finally noticed something—around the clone, there seemed to be a thin invisible layer, creating ripples in the air.
'That… is that the planet's natural elements?'
That confirmed his theory. The clone didn't have the seven stars—if he could control the elements so easily, even better than Darian himself, it had to be coming from the curse. Darian just didn't know how to use it yet—but with the seven stars, everything became simpler.
On Earth and in his universe, the elements were so weak you couldn't even sense them, let alone use them. But in other places, they were everywhere—especially on planets.
Since learning the Seven Elemental Star Physique, this was his first time in a place with even a bit of elemental power. Now, it was either learn to fight with just that—or die.
'The elements… he's twisting the wind… his feet are warping the ground. That's how he moves so fast.'
*Whoosh!*
No time to think. The clone turned into a blur, rushing in at full speed.
Darian stepped back nimbly. The black punch tore through the air, missing him by inches.
He could feel every move the clone made, tracking the dark energy. It was like predicting the Risen, but the close range and brutal speed made dodging multiple strikes nearly impossible.
'A fake punch from the right, then a kick from the left,' Darian thought in a flash.
The first was a trap—dodging it would mean getting nailed by the second. And with no healing power, every injury mattered. There was no easy way out.
"Tempest Blink!"
He burned through a lot of power. His body crackled with streaks of lightning.
*Vwoop!*
Darian used the winds to open a channel to the left, barely dodging the first strike.
*BANG!*
A heavy thud rang out. The next kick slammed into his side. Several ribs snapped, and he was sent flying through the air.
Midair, Darian coughed up blood—but his eyes still burned with wild determination as he moved his hands.
"!"
Fire and lightning runes flared to life behind the clone. He turned in surprise.
**BOOOM!**
A wave of destruction erupted in all directions. The clone didn't have time to react properly. It was a calculated trade—Darian giving up flesh for a shot at damage.
Dust filled the air, clouding everything.
Darian crashed to the ground, coughing more blood. The ring on his forehead—his only energy source—was now at 40%.
As the dust cleared, he saw his opponent with some light injuries.
The damage Darian took was at least three times worse. This enemy was fast, tough, and hit like a beast.
"All happy just from that? Did you forget I weakened him so he's actually below your level?" the female voice snapped. "That average-ass physical technique that C… anyway, gave you helped a bit, but that's still your own power. I'll only count this as your win if you beat him in two minutes. Go!"
The clone vanished in a blur, reappearing dozens of meters away. He raised his hand, and a white and black aura flowed around him at the same time. Right then, several small glowing points started rising from the ground, floating and shining around him.
They were runes of the five highest-level natural elements. Darian sighed. Just with the curse's power, the clone already had that much potential?
He stood up slowly, struggling, coughing more blood. That exchange had nearly taken him down. As he focused his gaze forward…
The runes pulsed and transformed into multicolored spheres, spinning menacingly around the clone.
'He's gonna attack like a mage!' Darian knew it instinctively. Hundreds of magic missiles were about to rain down on him. This was the end of the line.
The clone stood still, gathering a bit more energy.
"Fuck it. If he can control it, so can I."
Darian stopped too. Trying to rush in and strike fast wasn't the answer. His body was way too messed up. If he charged, the clone would crush him with the power he already had. His only shot at winning... was this.
The clone gave a slight smile — smug and villainous.
Darian burned everything he had left, gathering the planet's elements just like the clone.
But instead of going for raw power, he pulled in only the purest and strongest fire and wind elements he could reach. Numbers didn't matter. It was something he'd learned fighting in the Array: better to have a small, razor-sharp dagger than a big, dull, uncontrollable sword.
His Mithril Dagger materialized in his hand. The flying daggers only worked with the black power, and he had none of that left.
It took ten seconds.
The world around Darian was tinted red and green, with just a dozen incredibly powerful elemental runes floating around him.
On the other side, a bunch of multicolored spheres the size of a head pulsed, brimming with destruction.
The clone waved!
Darian took a deep breath. His seven stars flared to their max. The elements he'd gathered flowed into his dagger.
The spheres shot at Darian like lightning bolts. A multi-elemental attack with so much raw power it made him break into a cold sweat.
'Lucy, Lucius… Niara… I have to make it back alive.'
His mind locked in. Every bit of his will to live, to pull this off, was pushed to the absolute limit.
Everything he'd done up to now was just abusing weird powers, or trying to fake it like he was some protagonist from a book.
He tried to act cool, all bold and aggressive... but smarts and pretending weren't really his thing. He wasn't a total idiot, but he sure as hell couldn't fake being some tactical genius.
Maybe if he'd focused more on those two rings, studied the right stuff and done actual tests, he'd have figured out more of what he could really do. Instead, he got caught up in general knowledge, hand-to-hand training, or crap that didn't help in this kind of fight.
You couldn't say it was a totally wrong path; it was the path he chose. But every path means leaving others behind.
Then something strange pulsed through him… it was the seven stars. His eyes lit up.
He might not have followed the path that led to the clone's power, but he'd gotten other things. He'd walked a different road.
So...
The elemental attack hit. Instead of exploding on impact, the spheres fused together, forming a huge destructive elemental sphere focused on a single point.
It was like getting hit by a storm of burning blades, one after the other.
Darian had insane elemental resistance, but the damage was still massive, and he was already wounded. His eyes, ears, mouth, nose — everything started bleeding. His skin split open. The pain was unreal. His whole body felt like it would explode.
But his eyes stayed locked in, and his dagger was glowing… all the elemental runes he'd gathered were inside it.
*Crack!*
His Mithril Dagger cracked. That was its limit.
He moved his hand. The dagger shot forward like an arrow.
"Whirlwind Flare!"
The moment the clone saw the dagger, it pulsed with a speed and cutting power like nothing else. It didn't have even 10% of the elemental force the clone had used, but it was a focused strike, combining the speed and finesse of wind with the raw offense of fire.
The clone couldn't dodge after unleashing such a huge attack. Maybe he could heal himself, but that hit landed with no defense — made to kill in one shot.
*BOOM!*
It was like a balloon bursting, the explosion loud and sharp.
Darian's resistance to the full frontal attack let him pull off a precise and totally unexpected counter. The power of the rings alone couldn't have given him that.
He actually won using what he'd learned so far — not just relying on his curse.
Right after the win, the silhouette waved her hand. All the destructive energy still hitting Darian vanished.
He felt all the air rush out of his lungs in a deep, involuntary sigh of relief.
He dropped to his knees. His vision went dark...
...his body was completely red and raw, flesh exposed. Not a drop of energy left in the ring — or anything else.
He was alive… by a thread. Straining, he forced his eyes toward the female silhouette watching him.
Obviously, this wasn't over.
How the hell was he supposed to deal with her now?