The Extra Who Shouldn’t Exist

As Ethan met Alden's eyes, the two shared a brief, silent exchange.

Ethan gritted his teeth, then nodded once and stepped through the portal, vanishing into the swirling portal without another word. His figure disappeared in a ripple of warped space.

Azrael followed right after him, long coat fluttering, shadows trailing from his feet as he passed through the gateway.

Alden lingered for a heartbeat longer.

While stepping into the portal, he glanced back at Alex and smirked. "I'm counting on you, you bastard. Like always."

Alex snorted. "Then prepare to die… I'm not even sure if I can beat him."

"I'll enjoy seeing you get beaten half to death before that happens," Alden replied. The remark carried more trust than mockery.

Alex's mouth twitched. He shot him an annoyed glare just as Alden vanished into the portal's light. The tear in space began to shrink behind him.

"That chicken bastard…" Alex muttered under his breath.

---

Zarvok's voice roared across the frozen world.

"Time's up. I take it you've made your decision?" he said, smiling faintly, as if the outcome had already been decided from the start.

Alex met his gaze, eyes calm and cold. "Yeah," he said. "Let's get started."

Red aura came crashing out from Zarvok's body, surging like a tidal wave of blood‑soaked flamimg aura.

White aura burst from Alex in answer, spilling out in layered waves—time, space, and something far older blending together.

The moment both auras clashed, reality screamed.

Everything around them began to break.

Buildings shattered into dust. The ground split apart. Some unlucky soldiers, who had not yet been fully pulled away by the darkness, had their bodies torn apart instantly—blood exploding into the air before time around them could catch up.

Alicia's sword vanished from Alex's hand, dematerializing as if rejected by the chaos around him.

Zarvok glanced at the empty hand and snorted. "Are you not going to use that weapon?"

"I want to test my newfound strength," Alex answered. "And you seem perfect for it."

Zarvok's grin widened. "Arrogant brat," he said, almost amused.

Then both of them moved.

The world blurred.

In the next instant, their fists met in mid‑air.

The impact echoed like a planet cracking in half.

The destruction that followed their clash did not belong to mortals.

From their joined fists, shockwaves ripped out in all directions. Space collapsed in jagged lines. Several more black‑hole‑like fissures opened around them, swallowing rubble, light, and sound without mercy.

Zarvok's eyes widened slightly. 'The human is matching my strength…?' he thought, disbelief giving way to a feral excitement.

A battle‑maniac smile spread across his face. "Let's test you more, then."

They moved again.

This time, they fought hand to hand—no spells, no weapons, only pure physical might. Each punch and kick carried enough force to level mountains. Their blows blurred into invisible arcs, and every contact sent new shockwaves tearing through the sky.

With every exchange, more of Avaloria crumbled.

Walls collapsed, towers fell like sand sculptures, entire districts sank as the earth buckled beneath the pressure. The empire was being erased under the shadow of their duel.

Alex's fist smashed into Zarvok's jaw, drawing blood.

Zarvok's elbow hammered into Alex's ribs, sending him skidding back—but Alex recovered almost instantly, only a faint bruise blooming before fading.

As the fight dragged on, Zarvok noticed something unsettling.

His hits were landing.

But the damage was… diminishing.

Bruises healed faster.

Cracks in bone faded before the next punch even arrived.

It was as if Alex's body was steadily becoming strong enough that those same blows no longer had any real effect.

A chill crawled up Zarvok's spine.

'So this is why Tiamat sees him as a threat…' he thought. 'Now I understand. His body is adapting to the force I use. What a terrifying power.'

He bared his teeth.

"Fine then," Zarvok roared. "I'll just increase the force with every hit. Let's see how far you can adapt."

He followed through on his words.

Each punch became heavier, each kick sharper, the air collapsing around his limbs as he escalated his strength. The next few blows sent Alex crashing through ruined buildings and skidding across shattered ground.

Alex's body finally started taking visible damage—fresh blood at the corner of his lips, hair matted, muscles trembling.

But even that did not affect him as much as it should have.

'This is just thirty percent of the compression state's power…' Alex thought, feeling his cells screaming and strengthening at the same time. 'Makes me wonder how strong I'll be at a hundred percent.'

Fire suddenly flared around Zarvok, spiraling into an inferno that dyed the sky crimson.

"Hymn of Fire," he intoned. "Okay. Playtime's over. Let's get serious now, kid."

On his left hand, a sphere of green light formed, shining with a sick, sacred brilliance.

"Hymn of Agony," Zarvok said.

Then he raised his right hand, where a dark orb of black light condensed, twisted like a fragment of a dead star.

He brought both hymns together—then hurled the black orb toward Alex at terrifying speed. The air bent around it, as if reality wanted nothing to do with its existence.

"Don't bother dodging," Zarvok said. "It will not disappear and it will tear through this planet's core if you let it fly. You all die either way."

Alex's expression hardened.

Alicia's sword materialized in his hand once more, its molten‑sunlight blade burning brighter than before.

"Astral Void Rend…" Alex whispered.

Cosmic essence burst out from his body, flowing into the sword until its glow shifted from gold to deep, star‑speckled violet.

He raised the blade.

"Sixth Form: Temporal Echo."

Alex swung.

The slash did not simply cut space—it sliced into time itself.

The first strike passed through the incoming hymn, leaving a shimmering arc behind. A second, delayed strike—an echo of the first—followed in the exact same path a heartbeat later, overlapping the point where the hymn's burning effect was trying to manifest.

The same happened to the other one.

Normally, Temporal Echo created a delayed repetition of his attack.

But infused with Cosmic Essence, the second echo did not just repeat.

It overwrote.

The fire tried to exist.

Time disagreed.

The delayed echo cleaved through the future state of the flames, severing their continuation from the timeline. The hymn continued to sing, but its fire could no longer arrive at the moment it was meant to burn.

It was as if the universe had been told, "This burning never happened."

Visually, the flames fractured into countless frozen afterimages, each one hanging in the air like shards of broken glass—then collapsed inward, crumbling into fine stardust that scattered and vanished.

Zarvok stared, stunned.

"You… destroyed my concepts…" he muttered.

For a brief instant, genuine shock broke through his arrogance. 'This mortal… what in the abyss is he?' he thought. 'And that energy… I have never seen anything like it in my life.'

He forced himself out of his daze, tightening his fists.

Alex leveled his sword at him.

"Now it's my turn," Alex said quietly.

Cosmic essence erupted from the blade again, swirling around him like a galaxy being born.

"Astral Void Rend....."

He stepped forward, aura rising.

"Seventh Form: Event Horizon Slash."

He swung.

For a single breath, nothing seemed to happen.

Then the world began to collapse.

Light bent. Space folded inward as if dragged toward an invisible center. The sky darkened, clouds stretching into thin lines as though some unseen gravity was pulling reality itself toward the path of Alex's slash.

----

A/N:

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