Ali’s offer still hung in the air like a promise...and a challenge.
Logan rolled his shoulders once, feeling the dull throb along his ribs fade beneath the steady flow of internal energy. The cracked shards of his old mask lay scattered near the crater his fall had created. "Fine," he thought, eyes sharpening. "I’ll take the new one with my own hands."
"Ready?" Ali asked lightly.
"Always," Logan replied.
The dust had barely settled, yet the tension in the air felt fresh, heavier than before. Logan’s shirt was torn at the edges. A faint trail of blood ran from his lip to his chin. But his presence... it felt stronger.
Ali took one step forward, and the stone cracked underfoot. His gravity magic began to pulse again. Not a sudden wave this ti. It was building slowly, layer by layer, like a mountain waiting to fall.
Logan’s mana reacted. Like a sleeping beast slowly raising its head.
No words were exchanged.
Both had already said enough.
Ali raised his hand slightly, wind twisted around his body, lifting dust in swirls. Logan mirrored the motion, gathering energy in his right palm. Lightning crackled.
Then they moved.
Ali lunged, stepping into the air, using wind to propel his body forward like a cannonball. Logan blurred toward him at the sa ti, air magic boosting his speed. They collided mid-air.
Boom!
Fist t palm. Fire t lightning. The explosion split the sky.
Ali flipped back, landing with a graceful skid. Logan twisted mid-air, kicked off an invisible wall of wind, and dove again.
Ali raised his arms, crossing them as a swirling barrier of fire and gravity layered like a rotating shield. Logan didn’t stop. He roared forward, switching mid-attack. His movent seed so fast that it looked like he had vanished and reappeared behind Ali in a blink.
His fist buzzed with lightning as he threw a punch.
Ali turned just in ti, catching the punch—but not entirely. The lightning-infused strike still grazed his shoulder, sizzling through fabric and leaving a burn mark.
"Good!" he laughed, spinning and countering with a kick layered with fire.
Logan blocked it with both arms, water swirling around them.
Bam! But the impact sent him flying across the arena.
Logan didn’t crash.
He spun mid-air, twisted, and launched himself back like a whip. A concentrated ball of lightning ford in his left hand following a narrow cone of ice in front of it, shaped like a drill.
Ali responded with a jet of fire, layered with air. It scread through the air like a cannon.
Boom!
Ice and fla t, bursting apart in a shower of steam and shards. Logan burst through the mist like a bullet, a spear of fire-and-lightning hybrid aid at Ali’s chest.
Ali’s grin widened. "Your magic layering is becoming more Swift with each passing mont."
He reached forward—and caught the spear.
The energy burst, pushing both of them apart again.
Logan landed with a roll, steam rising from his hands. He was breathing heavier now—but his eyes burned with clarity. "You really don’t plan on making this easy, do you?"
Ali flexed his arm, the skin slightly reddened. "You can’t expect to hand over a treasure that easily, can you?"
Suddenly, the air began to tremble. Logan’s pupils shrank slightly.
Gravity.
Ali wasn’t holding back anymore.
The ground around Logan cracked. His knees buckled for a second as the weight surged. The pressure was multiple tis stronger than the pressure he had practiced with.
Ali raised both hands, and for a mont, it looked like the entire arena was tilting. He pressed down with everything, fire circling around him, wind sharpening like blades, the gravity compressing the very space.
Even the air seed hard to breathe.
Logan stood straight.
He didn’t fight the weight. He embraced it.
With a calm breath, he tapped into his internal energy. The invisible power supported his fra as he moved forward. His own gravity manipulation started resisting against Ali’s. Water surged up around him, negating Ali’s fire. And a wind barrier ford that started deflecting Ali’s wind blades.
Even in that situation, against a powerhouse like the guild master, a S-class hunter, Logan showed no sign of fear, hesitation, or tension.
Ali blinked. "You’re... countering them all?"
And then.....
Logan’s aura flared up. As if a beast were released from its cage.
"I told you," Logan said, stepping forward, fire and lightning coiling around both fists. "I’m stronger now."
Ali’s smile turned sharp. "It seems so. Let’s see just how much you have improved."
They clashed again.
This ti it wasn’t just explosive, it was beautiful.
Fire twisted with water. Wind collided with ice. Sparks of gravity pulled and pushed with chaotic rhythm. The arena was a storm of elents, with Logan and Ali dancing at its heart. Every movent was calculated, every strike layered.
Ali’s palm slamd toward Logan’s chest, air twisting like a drill,.
Logan ducked, used his montum to spin and sweep. Ali jumped, only to et an ice spike erupting from below.
He twisted mid-air, avoiding it...but Logan was already behind him.
A lightning fist roared forward.
Ali parried with a burst of wind, but Logan’s other hand glowed.
The air shimred.
A tiny fire-lightning combo ball ford, barely visible, compressed to the size of a marble.
Ali’s eyes widened. "Wait, that’s—"
Too late.
Logan detonated the small sphere at close range.
Boom!
Ali’s balance broke.
And in that exact mont...Logan moved.
A clean uppercut.
Crack!
His fist connected straight into Ali’s jaw... fire and lightning bursting at the sa ti.
Ali flew back.
He crashed against the barrier of the training hall, smoke curling from his clothes.
Silence.
Then the guild master let out a short laugh. "Hah... Now that’s a hit."
Logan stood in the center, chest heaving, electricity still dancing on his skin.
"You owe a treasure now," he said quietly.
Ali wiped the blood from his mouth and stood, smiling. "I do. But the fight isn’t over yet."
The mont his last words left his mouth, sothing happened....
A low hum resonated. The ground started to shake.... Slowly at first but the intensity kept rising. The dust and debris were trembling in the ground....
And then....
Ali moved...
He vanished from his place...
And the next mont....
To be continued....
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