The drive to protect someone you love was said to be the strongest motivation ever known.
But what was such drive in the face of absolute power?
Raphael's vision blurred as he moved. The wind slapping against his face was brutal in many ways.
It tried to slow him down, blind him, and some times Raphael felt like it was slicing at his flesh and doing damage.
In truth, that was really happening. His body had gone well and beyond its limit, and it was breaking down. Due to that, something as trivial as air was dealing damage to him as he moved.
Though that didn't stop him.
He couldn't afford to lose. It was either he won, or he lost everything.
On the other hand, the Ena'Ori wasn't as driven as his human opponent, but he was not going to tarnish his reputation by losing to a human. Not now, not ever!
Raphael lunged forward, swiping his hand like a wild beast. A wide arc of energy shot forward, ripping a straight line path towards the target.
The Ena'Ori reacted even before the attack came, raising his hand and deflecting the energy arc.
'Wrong move.' Raphael grinned.
The Ena'Ori knew what was to come, but there was no other way.
He gritted his teeth, expecting an explosion immediately, but the explosion came a split second later, and he registered what happened only after the strike hit.
With his high perception, he witnessed the blade arc curving to his back, before exploding afterwards, sending him sprawling forward in an embarrassing pose.
Shock was written all over his face, but that expression was wiped away by an embarrassing kick to his head, breaking his neck on impact.
'What a way to go out.' Those watching thought, before they saw the Ena'Ori's neck snap back into place as he hopped back to his feet.
His arm moved like a possessed appendage, bending at odd angles and whipping forward.
Raphael caught the arm—not surprised by his immediate comeback—spun, and threw him over his shoulder. He dropped to a knee and punched the Ena'Ori right on the head, burying it into the ground.
He jumped a few meters into the air and fell back like a guillotine. His fist connected with solid ground, breaking it and shooting rocks outward.
Though the Ena'Ori escaped, he hadn't done so unscathed. The broken rocks wounded his temple, and took out one of his eyes. One was swollen from Raphael's earlier punch, and now one was completely useless.
Both stood facing themselves. Raphael was basically running on fumes at this point. He could barely stand, but he didn't dare fall either.
The Ena'Ori meanwhile looked to be at his peak, if one ignored the two wounded eyes that is.
However, he knew that Poison Engine didn't show signs when it was about to end. Once it was over, he was dropping to the ground knocked out cold immediately, no prior warning. So he was just as pressed for a victory as Raphael was.
The two hundred metres stone platform had suffered cracks and fractures from their battle.
A dome of translucent energy blocked out all sounds coming from outside, but they both knew their races were cheering them on with all they got.
And true to their thoughts, that was happening…
"YOU CAN DO THIS, RAPHAEL!!!"
"C'MON!!! WE BELIEVE IN YOUUUU!!!"
"SHOW THAT DEMON WHAT HUMANS ARE MADE OFF!"
"GIVE HIM HELL!!!"
The humans in the stand were going totally bonkers, screaming out loud and cheering on. Some didn't care how they were seen by the rest and screamed, spittle flying out of their mouths and their voices turning hoarse; what mattered the most to them was their win.
The stadium had more humans than Ena'Ori, simply because the Ena'Ori didn't see this match as very important. They expected every Ena'Ori to pass this round and reach the big leagues quite easily.
But in spite of this, the few Ena'Ori in the stands had terrible expressions on their faces.
The humans were really giving it their all, and it looked like they were going to lose.
The high echelons of the Ena'Ori tasked to supersede this fight wore tight frowns. They couldn't fathom how Kuzane was forced to use Poison Engine against a human, yet still losing.
If he returned, they are going to give him a piece of their mind and bench him for the next matches.
Their image as a Tier 1 race mustn't be dirtied, or the Gods were going to knock them down the rankings.
Unfortunately, not in their wildest dreams did they expect what would happen next.
Poison Engine lost power, and Kuzane fell to the ground, face first, his mind blanking out afterwards.
Silence descended like the world has been paused. No one said a word, not even daring to breath.
Was this some sort of treachery? Was this a sick ploy enacted by the Ena'Ori to make Rapheal drop his guard?
Raphael, though, didn't look as tense as those watching.
The moment he saw the Ena'Ori fall, a small smile spread across his face.
"W..we…wo.n," he whispered inaudibly just as he fell to his knees, his head lowered, and his hands falling to his sides lifelessly.
At the same time he fell, what he had been preparing activated, and the object in his chest, alongside his gauntlet, vanished in a swirl of energy, traveling through the cosmos and landing in the hands of a young boy—a young boy whose face resembled his greatly.
Logan Hunt, the only child of Raphael Hunt and Emilia Hunt, stood with the three objects in his hands.
A pair of iron gauntlets, appearing to have been thrown through a meat grinder then dumped into a raging inferno, and a crystal orb glowing with a dim light.
Logan stared at the objects with a hard to read expression.
The gauntlets in his hand were really hot, so hot that the smell of burnt flesh was already wafting through the air, yet he didn't drop them. He only continued to stare at the three objects like he had been hypnotised.
A few feet away, Emilia had her hands clasped over her mouth, her eyes already filled with tears as she stared at the screen before her. She refused to believe that Raphael was dead.
Alas, the screen didn't lie. It showed the two fighter's vitals. The Ena'Ori's was critical, but he was barely alive. And as for Raphael, the Herald of the human Race, his only showed a bloodied skull… and everyone knew what that meant.
He won… But at what cost?