The Greatest Fight [progression cultivation isekai]

Failure

The dam on Tar Lake loomed massive beneath them when the Shadow halted abruptly. Roa, unable to control his momentum with the same precision, shot past him, several meters ahead. Dangling vertically, his grip tight on the iron, the boy screamed into the wind.

"Stop messing with me and tell me where to find her!"

"You're a joke—look at you. Is that a household appliance?" he laughed, "and you're supposed to be the great hero? The hero who can't even fly?" taunted the man with scorn.

"If I'm a joke, what does that make you? You can't even beat a guy stuck to the ground," the boy said, noticing the Shadow clenching his fist, tensing his body.

Mr. Briteside let out a loud groan, then lifted his hands up in the air and began to gather a bright, white ball of aura above him. The thing grew and grew, until Roa was dwarfed by its size.

"It's no use—I'll just evade it," the Sunflower said, his heart pounding in his chest.

The enemy slammed his hands down with brutal force, releasing a deafening roar as he hurled the ball of energy at the boy. To his surprise, however, it didn't strike its target, instead bypassing Roa entirely. The energy shot downwards, slamming into the dam below. A massive explosion erupted, blinding him as debris rained down in every direction.

"What have you done?" Roa's eyes shot open as he flew down; water began to spew out with great force from the widening cracks. "You are going to kill thousands!"

"This is your fault, Sunflower. You are weak and irresponsible. Had you just accepted my request to surrender, this would have never happened. Now, let's see you try to stop the inevitable," Briteside laughed, as he floated above the crumbling dam with his arms crossed and his chest out.

The hero from Earth glanced at the hole opening wider by the second, as pieces of reinforced concrete began to crumble down the immense ravine. His eyes darted in all directions, calculating his next move, when he noticed a large tree. He wrapped his arms around it and his whole body began to glow. At first, a flame of aura enveloped him, changing color as he strained, until his body began to glow with a bright, white light that blinded even the enemy above. The boy groaned and shouted with a fury he had never felt before. The enemy's words had cut deeper than any of his strikes did, burrowing into his fears and insecurities. Guilt washed over him for putting others at risk during his battle. Most of all, he felt a crushing guilt for failing to escape with Eralay that day—powerless to protect her, or himself, from an enemy so merciless and cold.

"I won't let this happen—I will not fail this time," he thought. "I won't let them down."

His legs shook under the terrible weight. His fingers clung onto the wood with such force, they sank through the bark like talons shattering bone. He screamed until the giant roots tore, one by one, out of the ground.

"How—" said the enemy above, "how can he still have so much power inside—after so long?"

The Sunflower's body trembled. He tilted the tree until its top sank into the dam's hole, then pushed with all his strength, his feet sinking into the dirt until they were buried up to his knees. With determination transforming into rage, at last he managed to plug it, slowing the relentless flow.

"Pathetic," said his opponent, appearing on the other side of the sky.

Briteside pointed his Gunhand and blasted the dam, again and again, with several powerful shots of pure light, until eventually the structure gave in completely. Roa leapt out of the way, frozen at the sight. Staring at the gargantuan waterfall roaring before him, his eyes revealed a sea of fear and regret. He wasn't able to stop it. The water exploded out all at once, swallowing the giant tree and everything along with it. The dark, polluted waters rolled through the valleys below, destroying towns, hills and forests, erasing everything they touched. Smashing onto the giant walls of the rooms of the Palace, they channeled in the distance into other immense chambers and halls, carrying with them the same destruction and death.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

"What have you done?" thundered Roa, his voice quivering in shock.

"You have done this. Look what you made me do," roared the Shadow, pointing his index finger towards the boy.

The Sunflower chased the Shadow, as it flew towards the center of Grayshroud. Landing back in the plaza where the fight had begun, Mr. Briteside looked up at the multitude of eyes.

"Great Patriarch," he said frantically, raising his hands to the sky. "Where is the Exit? I need it now!"

"Finish the job first," said the thundering voice.

Roa landed as well.

"This ends now," shouted the boy with a look of determination in his eyes.

He glided in his opponent's direction, wrapping the electrical cord of the magical iron around the Shadow's neck. He threw him to the floor, but before he could land a decisive blow, the enemy moved behind him. The fight seemed to be inching toward the Sunflower's victory—at least until the boy let his guard down for just a split second. Unable to pick up on his opponent's energy, Roa left himself open. A kick of monstrous force landed, his fainting aura braking with a blinding flash. The shattered shield let the blow pass through, the enemy's kick smashing against his body at full speed, landing unto his ribcage. Although the hero had put up a formidable fight, in that instant, his heart sank and was filled with dread, as he heard a loud noise coming from within.

Crack!

Time seemed to pause. "Shit..." he thought to himself.

He fell hard, face down onto the pavement with a thud. He let out a loud groan as he tried to push himself back onto his feet—no luck. A piercing pain shot through his body, forcing him to collapse back onto the floor.

"That's what you get for getting me filthy," the masked man shouted with a tone of disgust, patting the mud off of his sleeves. "Failure, after failure, after failure. You never give up, for what? Just so that you can fail again? What is the point?"

Roa screamed until his lungs were emptied. He could not believe he had lost.

"Tell me if she's alright. Give me that at least..." he pleaded with his cheek on the ground.

Briteside kicked him, rolling him over onto his back. He stood on top and bent down. The grin on his mask taunted the boy as he stood there in silence.

"She is," the Shadow said, his eyes narrowing behind the mask.

Roa took a painful sigh of relief and closed his eyes. Breathing became excruciating, as his shattered ribs moved inside like rusty knives juggling in his bowels.

"She is—I made sure of it myself. However, you can be certain—that you will never, ever see her again." The enemy paused. "I will make sure of that myself."

"Please—I'm all she has. She doesn't have any family."

The Shadow roared, suddenly filled with rage, kicking the boy on the ribcage over and over again, until he began to spit up blood.

"Shut the hell up—you insignificant worm," the enemy's breath was fast, coming in and out of the mask. "You, forsaken filth," his voice shaky as the kicks landed onto the same spot. The boy went into shock. "I don't want to hear anything out of you anymore," Briteside said, panting, as he tried to catch his breath. "Forget she ever existed."

"I can't—" the boy's voice quivered, as a drop of blood and saliva ran out of the side of his mouth and down his face. "She's the only home I know. You erased everything else." He closed his eyes, and began to cry. "You already took everything else from me..."

"You have no home," the Shadow roared. "You do not belong anywhere—especially with her. A failure like you belongs with no one."

The masked man placed his shoe on the boy's chest and pressed on it with great force. Roa shrieked in agony as he began to suffocate. His head began to spin and his sight blurred. He struggled to break free, but the enemy was too strong—and he was too weak. As he was pinned down, he felt that uncomfortably familiar void within—that old, life-long companion he was often and unwillingly accompanied by. That emptiness that had filled so much of his past. Tears ran down the Sunflower's face, as he was overwhelmed with hopelessness. He had gotten so far, only to lose to the very man who destroyed his life in the first place. What a failure. He would never see her again. Nothing but darkness waited for him now. Mr. Briteside was right.

"I failed—again—all I do is fail," he thought.