They had nothing to do except clutch at the very hearts of their opponents' unchallenged supremacy.
After the spear stopped spinning, the Guardian immediately dug its steel heels through the solid earth of the bridge of stone and lowered its sparking spear.
The knight's armor creaked and rattled as they gathered momentum, their muscles straining with effort as they pushed their feet to their limits.
"RUN!"
Seeing the sheer potency of this unmatched aura, Asahi and Kendra dropped their confidence and hurriedly sprinted toward a path leading over to the grassy plains.
However, thundering footsteps echoed across the cavern before they even reached the border of stone and grass. The sight of The Guardian became a blur of motion as it hurriedly sprinted downward toward the fleeing two.
As it closed in on their target, The Guardian released a fierce battle cry that matched the sound of a loud tuba, their voice rising above the din of battle.
"ALL YIELD THE GLOW!"
With a burst of energy, as the slow footsteps of time caught up to the present, The Guardian thrust their spear powerfully forward to Asahi and Kendra; the weapon's tip glowing with a fierce, almost blinding light.
(BOOM)
Then, it released a tremendous blow across their bodies, sending shockwaves rippling throughout reality as the spear pierced through a strand of Asahi's hair. Following the strike, a teal-green strike painted the air red with its attack, sending Asahi tumbling backward several kilometers into the air.
Kendra screamed, watching Asahi's body collapse into a cloud of dust.
At that moment, a battle unlike any other began.
. . .
"AGH!"
After that unimaginably powerful attack tossed him, Asahi crashed onto a soft, grassy floor and hurriedly clutched his blade. Without gathering any time to think, he closed his eyes. And with a stroke of luck, he swung and felt his sword scrape the knight's spear.
A loud, earth-shattering clang sounded across the cavern's walls from the attack, sending Asahi and The Guardian away.
Surprisingly, the attack didn't slay the hopeless boy in one swing, which slightly concerned The Guardian.
Blurry. Streaks of its presence flashed and flickered. Its speed was unfathomable, with the physics around the knight unable to keep up with its pace.
In the center of a grassy marsh beneath the shadow of the stone ceiling, a battle between a cosmic, unknown knight with unmatched power, bearing a spear, and a weak, lost white-haired god holding a frail, nearly powerless black sword began to unfold.
The Guardian stood tall and imposing, their armor gleaming in cyan light. Their spear crackled with momentous energy, ready to strike at a moment's notice. The Guardian wanted to attack Asahi first before Kendra.
At this point, it dared not speak anymore and only wanted one thing: to slay the criminal.
Asahi, on the other hand, seemed almost feeble by comparison. He felt the weight of thousands of stones pushed against him. And yet, he remained standing, trembling at the knight's power.
He thought his sword would be mighty, but it rusted and dulled after that attack, just like Asahi's confidence.
Despite his apparent weakness, the god's eyes burned with fierce determination as he stood his ground against The Guardian. He was outmatched but refused to back down because of those memories and visions.
With a sudden surge of energy, Asahi charged forward, his sword raised high. Right after one strike, The Guardian remained still, almost amused by Asahi's feeble attempt at an attack.
As Asahi drew near, The Guardian swung their spear with incredible force. The clash of the two weapons echoed again with a sonic boom across the field and the expanse, sending several bolts of light across the cavern's ceiling.
After Asahi blundered on the attack, The Guardian charged, struck, and unleashed a storm of slashes at Asahi.
His white hair was painted with glowing blue streaks as he stumbled onto the ground, enshrouded with long, swift strikes. Bruises covered Asahi's body.
After he endured the attack, Asahi bore no heed, and with his burning pain, Asahi crippled the vortex of strikes by piercing his sword through the wind. He hurtled and lunged his blade at the arm of The Guardian before it clanged and impaired its surface.
But then, with a sudden storm, a rush of water parried The Guardian's attack.
Approaching from a distance, Kendra arrived. Asahi's eyes flashed with a fragment of hope.
"KENDRA!"
Smiling, she captured a magical blue luminance in her hands and freed a surge of water toward The Guardian as she sprinted down the hill.
However, before any more distracting liquid affected it, the knight's gauntlets caught the stream.
In an instant, the rippling liquid froze and ground into droplets before hastily tossing it into the air, stunning Kendra. She drew her head back in shock.
'Huh?"
Now that Asahi was injured, the knight showed no care. It rebounded, threw glowing strings at her, and dropped Kendra to her knees, throwing and piercing its spear straight through her clothes.
Dread twisted her gut, and her eyes focused on the armor of The Guardian. She quivered and trembled, shutting her pale eyes, her heart beating.
"H…Help."
Suddenly, from behind, an agile swing battered its back before it could slaughter the helpless girl. In reaction, The Guardian threw its fist straight at Asahi's chin and knocked him into the air, several kilometers away.
Kendra's eyes shrank in horror as she watched Asahi again fly into the air, but she was too afraid to interfere.
As The Guardian observed the figure disappear into the dim plains, he propelled himself up and followed it, soaring across the underground plains like a bird.
"No..." Kendra mumbled tremblingly. "Asahi..."
* * * * *
The wind rushed past his face.
Gravity yanked him down faster and faster.
A loud thud echoed across the entire expanse.
His body bounced and rolled across the hills until, finally, he was left lying down on the ground near the outskirts of a village, bruised but strangely not injured. His wimpy sword skidded across the land, bouncing and sliding back to his hand.
Confused, Asahi tried to push himself up with his arms. But just as he could get up, he saw a blur of cyan and felt a heavy weight push against his body. The sound of steel clanging against his chest echoed, followed by the scraping of dirt pinching his ear. Great shuddering seized him as he felt his limb bleed out. He couldn't stop the pain.
But, gathering all his scattered impulses into a passionate act of courage filled with dreams, refinements, and intense abstractions, Asahi grabbed his sword and swung it in a straight, crisp line before dropping it.
All his confidence.
All his rage.
All his frustration... composed this one attack.
And yet, despite all the force he had unleashed, all the attack sent ripples on The Guardian's armor's surface, leaving it untouched despite the pressure.
Silence.
While the winds of danger picked up, the knight reacted by unleashing fifty consecutive strikes with its spear at him.
From all directions, Asahi was impaled and pierced by vicious attacks. He bounced back and winced in pain. The bitterness flew in his unquiet glare as the charges overran him.
With his blade slightly torn and chipped, Asahi tried again to thrust his sword at The Guardian. Only a swing followed, with a gash from the knight's cosmic spear and a tumble.
A sense of suffocation and heaviness pressed him terribly.
(What can I do? What can I do?! WHAT CAN I DO?!)
Each ineffective swing Asahi threw had not skimmed or touched the knight. A strain weighed down on him with each thrash the knight made. Relentlessly pushed down to the brittle ground, his eyes floundered to keep up with the pace, and his hope nearly dwindled. No matter what he could do, Asahi struggled to push himself up, with the weight countering him, almost crushing his bones.
(I... can't... take it.)
At full length, he gripped the hilt of his blade and welled up a sweat in agony as he felt a searing, burning pain struggle to consume him. Warmth encompassed every corner of his body, and his ears rang with the deafening clashes of his blade; many attacks overwhelmed him.
He wrestled with The Guardian's grasp before tightly maintaining his grip on his weapon.
Then, he threw all his strength into the knight and shoved it away. But as he stood up, the knight forced him back down, preparing to slaughter Asahi full force.
"I can't… move."
The knight finally seized his arm. Hope was coming thin.
Echoes of Kendra's worried cries rolled from afar as he got overpowered by the knight's unimaginable strength. Yet, despite being pressed on and overrun, hearing those cries reminded Asahi of something.
(Kendra... has a life ahead of her.)
And so, he dared not break free and ruin his position as a past god. He tried everything in his power to distract it by throwing stones and kicking it, despite causing it any damage.
After two seconds, his eyes noticed something. A ribbon had poked out from the knight's armor.
Without hesitation, Asahi pulled the ribbon and threw it to a nearby hill covered in waterfalls. In reaction, The Guardian hurriedly dashed over to it and bent over to grab the ribbon, distracting The Guardian. Then, Asahi barrel-rolled out of the area, hoisted his sword, and took a deep breath.
Now was his moment.
Although powerless, he had to take advantage.
He locked his gaze on The Guardian's presence. With its black steel, cyan edgings, and concealing helmet, Asahi observed as the knight grabbed the ribbon and the spear.
But before he decided to attack him, Asahi felt something sharp stab through his feet that matched the pain of glass piercing your skin. The air crackled with power as his black sword started to glow. White lines unfolded across the steel surface, emitting a dazzling aura that flushed the cyan light away.
His eyes bulged in shock as he heard a loud, deep drone gradually grow louder.
"W... What's going on?" Asahi mumbled to himself, speechless.
A tingling feeling started to pinch his limbs. Watching as the glow grew more assertive, The Guardian ceased all movement, stepping backward and lowering its spear, possibly in shock.
"This power…"
Feeling the pain of the sharp object impaled through his feet, Asahi stepped away, sensing the warmth of luminance consuming him. He dropped his shoulders and felt a power course through his veins—unimaginable power.
Something had awoken him when he had touched that sharp object.
A power he had never felt in years.
"It could only mean one thing…."
His eyes glowed with an intense white light, and the air surrounding him shimmered and distorted.
With a sudden burst of motion, Asahi lunged forward and felt his fists and blade crackling with intense energy. He witnessed light follow his swing to The Guardian's helmet like strings attached to a puppet. And then, with the intensifying power of Asahi's ability reaching its summit, the moment Asahi's shining blade's tip skimmed The Guardian's chest, their body flickered backward rapidly, sending a shockwave so strong enough that it froze time ITSELF.
. . . . . . . .
Within these eight still seconds, Asahi witnessed a breakdown unlike any other. The Guardian's presence was stretched and contorted into a blurry straight line. Particles froze in place like icicles. The shifting rocks stood like statues. Even the lights appeared as if they were strings.
Before freezing still, the ground beneath him trembled vigorously, forcing the plates to shift a centimeter, uncovering the object that had pierced his feet moments ago.
He found an opaque shard embedded in the ground. It shone an unidentifiable luminance as if infused with every color, its sharp edges displaying a droplet of dust and blood. While sounds around Asahi distorted from the halt of time, a trembling response was uttered from his lips.
"Is this... The..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Asahi watched the particles and stone rain down to the ground, felt a tremor shake his body, and heard absolute silence consume the noise.
After time caught up with the pace, Asahi hurriedly tilted up and saw The Guardian fly thousands of kilometers from him into the cavern's darkness without any melody to go along with it.
. . .
Silence.
The attack rate was so unimaginably quick that no sound could catch up for a minute.
Long after The Guardian vanished into the distance, sound returned. It gradually increased in intensity until it finally became a deafening roar that shook the entire world.
Everyone's eardrums vibrated painfully at the sound, including Asahi's.
As the flickering white luminance on his body faded into darkness, Asahi felt his blade slip away from his sweaty and clammy hands. His eyes forgot to blink. Just seeing that attack alone was enough to take his breath away.
As he watched what he thought was an impossible opponent to match with swiftly fly away from him, the pressure of fear in Asahi began to lift...
And slowly, he felt all his stress drain away.