"One was born with light in his hands...
The other, with shadows in his soul.
This is not a fight between good and evil.
It's a reckoning.
A test of will, fate, and everything in between.
One was chosen by destiny.
The other condemned by the world.
Now, they stand face to face.
And only one will walk away."
— The Chosen vs. The Condemned
Let the storm decide who deserves to survive.
******************
**BOOM!**
With the crack of thunder, the rain intensified moment by moment over the Giant Wall. The ground of the barrier turned into a swamp and scattered puddles; no one knew when this heavy downpour would stop.
The figure in the white cloak stood, with the Commander lying on the ground behind him, breathing laboriously... dying.
But the figure didn't turn to him. Instead, he focused entirely on the one standing against him.
He was in pain, yes, from what Korgami had done to him moments before... but he endured it.
He looked at him with his blue eyes, stunned, disbelieving.
"How... how did you grab me while I was in my light form?! Impossible! Wasn't he weak just a year ago?!" He bit his tongue in frustration, then muttered:
"He was just a weak insect... everyone abandoned him, just because he injured a Class B hero with some unknown force that erupted from his body... Oh, right, he showed his power at the Heroes Union a few days ago, but... this is unbelievable!"
He was trying to accept the reality... that Korgami had now become stronger than him, in just one year.
Suddenly, Korgami spoke mockingly:
"I knew one of you would come... but I didn't expect it to be *you*."
"What does he mean? Was he waiting for us? Did he plan everything?" Jeff was unable to believe the extent of Korgami's growth. Just one year?! Impossible.
But Korgami interrupted him again, this time with a threatening tone:
"O Hero... or should I say, Jeff... do you want to join the party?"
"You lunatic!" Jeff screamed, and the pressure of his light power surged forth to collide with Korgami's darkness.
Korgami didn't respond, he just looked at him with cold eyes.
"Answer me, you fool!" Jeff's anger grew when he got no reply, but he suppressed his agitation, replacing it with deadly calm.
**BOOOOOOM!**
The thunder cracked again, louder than before, illuminating the entire stone floor of the wall... and revealing the massacre.
Jeff looked around, left and right... and froze in place.
It was a true massacre.
The guards' corpses were scattered, their limbs thrown across distances, some headless, others gutted. The giant guard... had been split vertically, his internal organs divided in half. Though dead, his hands still gripped his massive, ornately engraved hammer.
Jeff felt disgusted... but he knew well: in this world, if you lower your guard against someone... you die.
"But... how did Korgami kill them?! They were all SS-rank! This is insane..."
Then his gaze shifted to what was behind Korgami... that thing.
It stood ten meters behind him, a creature of shadows, standing straight. Its eyes... pulsed with purple patterns, surrounded by suffocating gloom, its gaze devoid of humanity.
"A Shadow Soldier...!" Jeff felt an even greater shock. Shadow techniques were forbidden... because they reanimated the dead and turned them into killing tools.
"The greater the power, the greater the side effects... that's what I learned at Varion Academy. But this..."
His thoughts were interrupted by Korgami's voice:
"O Hero... I'll ask you one question. Answer me, and I'll grant you a painless death." He said this while raising his hand and beginning to gather dark energy around him.
"Are you threatening me now, you pile of darkness?!" Jeff screamed, his blue eyes flashing with anger. "How about we start fighting instead of these trivial questions?!"
Golden energy exploded from his body, and a pure sword of light formed in his hands... His mana control was precise, professional, despite his youth.
"I like your bluntness, Hero..." Korgami smiled a cold smile, and his pressure rose again. But this time... he wanted to finish off the genius of the Heroes Union before any help arrived.
"Ragnar... give me your sword now!" Korgami shouted, pointing towards the shadow behind him.
Ragnar drew the sword from his back and threw it towards Korgami...
And the moment Korgami caught it...
An immense surge of dark energy erupted from his body.
Jeff shot towards Korgami at high speed, raising his sword, aiming for his left arm.
But Korgami twisted his body skillfully, then delivered a powerful kick towards Jeff's right foot.
Jeff staggered backward, trying to regain his balance...
But the wet floor of the barrier made matters worse.
He slipped slightly, losing focus for a moment.
He snapped his head up, searching for his opponent, but...
Korgami had vanished.
And suddenly...
He appeared right behind him!
He swung his dark sword swiftly towards Jeff's back, attempting to finish him with a single strike.
But Jeff, by instinct, spun around quickly and raised his sword at the last moment!
"Aghh!" He groaned from the impact.
Had he been a fraction of a second slower... the sword would have torn through his spine.
A deadly warning.
Jeff spun around rapidly and fired several bursts of light towards Korgami.
But Korgami wasn't there...
He had dodged them easily... his speed was terrifying.
"Dammit!" Jeff muttered. "Seems like I have to go all out... or I'll lose?!"
Korgami charged again, but this time threw a direct punch towards Jeff's stomach.
Jeff blocked it with his arm, but at the same instant, Korgami's sword in his other hand moved towards his back.
It was a double trap... but Jeff had anticipated it!
He threw his sword high into the air, then swiftly grabbed Korgami's sword-wielding hand with his free hand, slammed it into the ground before Korgami could tighten his grip, and drove his fist into Korgami's stomach.
"Oughh..." Korgami grunted from the force of the blow, but he didn't retreat.
He clenched his fist and punched rapidly towards Jeff's jaw, like a bullet!
But Jeff, with his shining blue eyes, read the trajectory and dodged it with deadly precision.
A violent airwave exploded from the force of Korgami's punch.
Jeff's white cloak fluttered violently,
while the rain poured relentlessly over their heads.
No, he charged again, and the two continued exchanging punches and kicks at an incredible speed, their movements becoming invisible to the naked eye.
A massive energy ball exploded around them,
half bright light... half utter darkness.
The clash between them created a terrible pressure, making the ground tremble and the barrier creak as if it would collapse.
In one moment, Jeff's sword flew high into the sky, glinting amidst the rain.
But Jeff didn't wait for its return.
He pressed hard against the ground and shot upwards like a rocket of light!
Jeff wanted to retrieve the sword mid-air.
But...
Korgami jumped too!
His launch force was terrifying, as if the wall itself had spat him towards the sky.
When they reached roughly the same height...
Korgami channeled a portion of dark energy into his foot,
and delivered a direct kick towards Jeff!
"What?! How did he get here so fast?!" Jeff whispered, then screamed inwardly:
"No... don't tell me he wants to smash me into the ground?!"
But he didn't finish the thought.
Before he realized what was happening...
Korgami had already aimed a kick completely encased in darkness at him,
a kick carrying pure crushing intent.
Jeff tried to block it with both hands...
But it was too late.
**BOOOM!!**
Korgami's foot collided with Jeff with devastating force,
The light around Jeff's body exploded, and the rain scattered in the air as if the cloud itself had detonated.
Jeff plummeted at tremendous speed from the sky,
his body like a collapsing missile, hurtling towards the wall's ground.
"Dammit...! What is this?!"
"Am I losing...? To someone who was a nobody?! To that boy who couldn't even compare to his sister?!"
"His sister... who has SS-grade talent... while he? He was nothing!"
"Is this how...? Is this how I'll fall?!"
"I... am the genius of the 'Varion' Heroes Union...!"
"No... this is impossible...!"
"I won't allow this... impossible!"
Jeff screamed, every cell in his body resisting the fall.
And suddenly...
An immense energy burst from his body,
exploding from his spine towards the sky,
an aura of pure light swept across the entire area, halting his fall in mid-air.
From high in the sky...
The scene was breathtaking and terrifying.
Jeff floated at the center of a massive sphere of light,
as if a star had ignited amidst a wall of darkness.
The radiant aura split the storm's gloom,
illuminating what remained of the barrier, while the rain scattered around him… unable to touch him.
And below him, Korgami looked directly at the light.
He raised his head, his eyes gleaming with a dark violet…
His nerves pulsed as if the darkness within him was boiling.
"What is this?"
He whispered, his eyes fixed on that overwhelming aura.
"Why didn't he fall... why wasn't this farce crushed?"
Then he laughed a short laugh… devoid of joy:
"Oh... right."
"I forgot..."
"It's that ridiculous thing... they call hope."
His eyes ignited completely.
Not just violet anymore; darkness began seeping from the edges of his body.
"Ragnar."
He stretched his hand back and shouted in a guttural tone, carrying an echo from unseen realms:
"Return to my body."
"The time has come..."
"To extinguish this star... with my own hands."
"Your command..." Ragnar replied to his master before vanishing from the wall's floor, as if he had never been there.
"Then... let the party officially begin."