After the Avian Punch training – Hanging Mountains, now a little quieter. The group sits around jagged stone seats made from the rubble of their own training.
Henry (grinning, wiping sweat from his brow):
"Okay… I get it now. When they said the guy's the Ruth bomb—they weren't joking. Man dropped discipline like it was an Avian nuke."
Laughter ripples through the group.
Sonia (teasing):
"At least he didn't vaporize anyone with a stare this time."
Kennedy (stroking his chin like a sage, pulling out a sliver of framework energy):
"Behold…"
He crafts a tiny animated version of Aprexion, arms crossed, brows eternally furrowed.
Mini-Aprexion (in a deep, exaggerated voice):
"'Good… but you require more focus. Let your instincts flow with you, not own you.'"
Kennedy (glancing at Osei with a smirk):
"Sound familiar?"
Osei Jerry (arms crossed, deadpan):
"I meant for the shockwave to loop around time. Artistic delay. You wouldn't understand."
Henry (chuckling):
"Sure, Picasso. Remind me not to stand near you next time."
Yyvone (smiling softly, leaning back):
"We're getting stronger. Not just the punches… it's like the Avia inside us leveled up."
Jack (quietly, watching the sky):
"Yeah. But strength without clarity can still miss the mark."
The others go quiet for a moment, the mood shifting—not heavy, but thoughtful.
Sonia (softly):
"One punch at a time… we're figuring it out."
High Temples of Airious – Afternoon haze, wind whispering through floating leaves.]
Ian stood alone in the sacred groves behind the High Temples, his body calm, his eyes calculating. One by one, the trees surrounding him split into clean, diagonal halves—though he hadn't taken a single step forward.
His sword glinted beside him in the grass, untouched for now.
Fists clenched, he stepped forward. Avian Punch—his version. No weapon, just intent.
Each punch curved with invisible slashes, cutting not just air, but the concept of distance. Trees fell in precise rhythm.
Then came the interruption.
Klexis, swagger sharp as his grin, emerged from behind a pillar, his twin hammers slung over his shoulders like gods daring the sky to challenge them.
Klexis:
"You know… some of us were trying to meditate. But hey, if you're handing out shockwaves like candy, I might as well take a bite."
Ian didn't turn immediately. His knuckles crackled with residue Avia.
Ian (quietly):
"Didn't know you needed an excuse to lose."
Klexis (laughs, then drops into a low stance):
"Ohoho! Alright then, Slash boy, let's test whose Avia leaves a louder echo."
---
[Clash begins]
Boom.
Klexis's impact punches met Ian's slashing force midair—energy recoiling like thunder colliding with lightning.
The ground didn't just crack—it screamed, mountains in the distance disintegrating as tremors rippled through the horizon.
Klexis spun, bringing both hammers down like judgment.
Ian weaved, launching a crescent slash-fist that curved around Klexis's shoulder—grazing his armor, not enough to slow him.
Klexis (grinning):
"Fast. But can you cut what you can't hold?"
He slammed his hammer into the air—impact Avia distorted the laws of momentum, and suddenly Ian was flying backward, carving trenches in the earth with his feet.
But Ian smiled.
Ian (charging forward):
"Can you withstand what doesn't stop?"
He punched. Not one. Not two. But seven curved slashes in a single breath. They looped, danced, then came from behind like spiraling blades.
*Klexis crossed his hammers just in time—BOOM!
The entire mountain they were on cracked apart, floating debris caught in a storm of raw Avian force.
---
They stood, panting, bruised but grinning.
Klexis:
"Not bad… for a guy who names his moves after poetry."
Ian:
"You should try it sometime. Might help you stop swinging like a brick with rhythm problems."
They both chuckled—blood on their lips, respect in their eyes.
Still the High Temples, now dusk—golden mist drapes the mountaintops, the air thrumming with Avian energy.]
Ian's sword blurred, slashing so fast the air bent into summoned avian silhouettes—blades shaped like hawks, falcons, wind-bound crows.
But Klexis?
He moved like he was born after the strike, like time hadn't caught up with him yet.
Each swing Ian made should've hit—should have—but Klexis danced around them like a ripple dodging rain.
Ian (breathing hard):
"What the hell…? That speed isn't normal."
Klexis smirked, twirling his hammer like a baton.
Klexis:
"It's not.
They call it Flash Instincts—an advanced Avian art. Moves your body before your thoughts finish forming.
You're still thinking, Slash-boy… I'm already reacting."
Ian's eyes narrowed, that analytical mind ticking faster than his fists.
Narration (internal Ian):
He's not just brawn… That smile is a mask. Every swing, every dodge—it's like he's counting vectors.
Muscle? Sure. But this guy? This guy's a tactician wrapped in gym thunder.
---
The battle raged—impact met slash, philosophy met instinct. A ballet of chaos and clarity.
Klexis leapt into the sky, twin hammers spinning like the rings of a new planet.
Ian launched a slash arc, curving it midair.
—CLANG!—
The shockwave split the clouds. Mountains wept their stones into the air.
---
They landed on opposite cliffs, panting.
Klexis (chuckling):
"Okay… okay. You're better than I thought. I came to smack the noise out of you but damn—I might've actually learned something."
Ian (smirks):
"You sure? You talk like you teach a philosophy class in a gym."
Klexis:
"Hey. Wisdom and biceps, my guy."
They both laughed. And in that moment—student and student—no rivalry. Just respect.
The cliffside arena. The clash echoes through the high temples. Wind howls, mountains tremble.]
One by one, the crew arrived.
Osei landed first, arms folded, eyes locked in.
Kennedy followed, hands in his pockets, already smirking.
Charles adjusted his gloves, Henry raised an eyebrow, Sonia crossed her arms with a grin, and Yyvone stood still—sensing something deep in the fight.
Jack and Merina stood beside her.
BOOM—Klexis's hammer met Ian's redirected slash, and the resulting wave turned the sky purple for a second.
Charles:
"Man... that's not a duel. That's two gods having an argument in physics."
Henry (snorting):
"And we're just here for the lightning show."
Merina:
"You don't get it... That's Klexis.
Top three in the academy.
He's not just cocky—he reads the battlefield like a composer reads silence.
Every pause? A trap. Every grin? A feint."
Osei (tilting his head):
"But Ian's different. His strikes…they feel intentional. Like he's rewriting the rules with every swing."
Klexis dashed, Ian countered—slash and smash colliding in an upward spiral of force. Debris floated like stardust around them.
Kennedy (waving a hand dramatically):
"This is like…
The ultimate edge lord fighting the next-gen edge lord.
I can't tell who's more emotionally mysterious and devastatingly cool."
Sonia (rolling her eyes):
"They're both dangerous. But Ian…
He's quiet, yeah, but his quiet feels like it's hiding a war."
Jack said nothing. He just watched. Watched as Ian started smiling through the fight—not a smile of ego, but of clarity. Like something was unlocking in him.
---
Narration (internal - Jack):
This isn't just training anymore.
This is where heroes are measured—not by power, but by how they wield it.
The battlefield is no longer just earth—it's an arena carved from pressure, pride, and power.]
Klexis narrowed his eyes, stepping back—then to the left—then to the right.
He wasn't just fighting anymore… he was calculating.
Every punch he didn't throw was a message. Every pause in his rhythm was a drumbeat of dread.
Merina (whispering):
"He's storing it… impact energy. Choosing when to unleash. He's playing chess while throwing meteors."
And then—
WRAAAK
Two Avian constructs, shaped like glowing fists of cosmic architecture, reached out from the void.
They grabbed two moon-sized mountains like they were apples plucked from a cosmic tree.
Klexis:
"Let's see your blade cut through this…"
The team gasped.
Osei's jaw unhinged.
But Ian…?
He just breathed.
Inhale.
Exhale.
Then—
SLICE.
A single arc. Silent. Clean.
The mountains didn't explode.
They evaporated into ribbons.
Sliced so fast, reality needed a minute to catch up.
Osei (shouting):
"YOOOOOO! My boy's built different!"
Before anyone could blink—
THOOM.
Klexis appeared in front of Ian.
He had combined his twin hammers.
The air around him began to spiral, crackle, distort.
Klexis (grinning):
"Let me show you why they call me the Corequake…"
He slammed both fists forward.
"IMPACT NOVA!!"
The ground screamed.
The sky cracked like glass.
A wave of white-hot energy erupted—wide enough to dwarf a nuclear detonation.
The entire crew was blown off their feet.
Even Aprexion, watching from the tower above, took a step back and whispered:
"...Now that's a punch."
The smoke hadn't cleared. The mountains weren't done falling. But Ian... was already gone.]
He had been sent flying—
Not through air.
But through self.
The world blurred out as his body skidded through obsidian dust, unconscious before he landed.
And then—
Light. Soft. Familiar.
Eve Maid stood there, in a place between memory and dream.
Eve (gently, a voice like silk):
"Come to me, Ian...
You always carried the weight.
But you were never meant to."
He reached for her, but she stepped back, hands clasped.
Eve:
"I don't need saving.
You do.
Let go. Let yourself be whole again…"
And then—
GASP.
He woke.
Eyes wide. Heart thundered.
The battle wasn't over.
Klexis, that cosmic juggernaut of impact, descended like a meteorite, screaming heat and gravity, both hammers fused like a god-tier warhead.
But Ian... he leaped.
A streak of silver above the ruin below.
His body still shook from the vision.
His Avia flickered—something was... different.
More raw. More honest.
Just when it seemed like the clash would reach its divine finale—
A red pulse split the sky.
SCHHHK-BOOM!
A dimensional tear twisted open midair—
A figure stepped through, veiled in unnatural stillness.
Black cloak. Eyes like butchered suns.
A presence like corrupted silence.
Redan.
Redan (smirking):
"Time to hunt."
The temperature dropped.
Klexis blinked.
Ian tensed.
The team watching from the cliff froze—every instinct screamed.
Something... ancient... and broken had entered the game.