Clang! Boom!!
The impact of their attack distorted the void around them, producing sharp whistles and numerous explosions.
"Hmm," Koragg was knocked back several meters by the force, while Zayne only took a step back.
"He's gotten stronger?" Koragg asked himself. "Or was our last battle not the full display of his true strength?"
After a moment of worry, he shook off the thoughts and said to himself. "Whether he's strong or not doesn't matter; with the master's blessing, victory is certain."
"Oi, I didn't knock your brains out, right?" Zayne teased from afar after noticing Koragg's prolonged silence.
Koragg ignored his taunt, rising even higher in the air, and charged for an attack the next moment.
"Dark magic strike"
He unsheathed his knight saber and slashed out with incredible momentum.
Slash! Clang!
A dark purple saber arc that seemed to swallow the very light around it whistled through the air as it collided with Zayne in a heartbeat, forcing him to focus on the approaching attack.
"Quite strong," Zayne responded with a blade strike of his own. "But not enough!"
His strike cancelled Koragg's with ease, rendering the attack ineffective.
"How is this possible?" Koragg's was extremely shocked. "I don't believe it."
Not accepting the failure, Koragg used another skill in his vast magic inventory. "Wolf attack"
The concealed center of his shield burst open, the eye within completely exposed. This eye, which had just appeared, seemed to be the root of all evil and looked extremely sinister, giving one the feeling of gazing into an abyss.
It was the 'Eye of the master'.
The amount of dark magic contained within Koragg's seemingly normal shield increased at a horrifying rate.
Following its exposure, phantoms of dark wolves gushed out from within, assaulting Zayne at every angle, with an even more terrifying force, one almost ten times the previous attack.
This attack finally made Zayne serious, as the energy and destructive level approached B (middle) tier. A tier higher than Zayne's normal strength.
With a thought, another weapon appeared in his hands, alongside the Omni-saber. It was the V-blade. This weapon, at B-tier in quality, which Zayne could only use partially before due to lower strength, unleashed its full potential at the moment.
His body bent slightly as he positioned himself for a dash in the air. A powerful force erupted from him, as his strength was fully unleashed.
Zayne held nothing back this time.
He couldn't. Koragg's current attack was extremely strong. If it weren't for his 'innocence skill', buildings would have shattered at its mere pressure.
Boom! Boom!! Boom!!!
Zayne moved, his figure blurring, leaving only flickering phantoms behind him. He skillfully twirled the two weapons in his hands, deflecting the wolf phantoms at each turn.
His figure moved like a skillful artist, appearing here and disappearing there. Each counter was precise, so precise that one would think Zayne had predicted it. Even some blade masters and geniuses would be shocked at this scene.
"This is the first time I've gone all out while using weapons." Zayne thought to himself as he maneuvered around the numerous wolf phantoms. "This is also the perfect chance to test my strength without my ranger skills and power-ups."
"He can even counter an attack this strong. Just who the hell is he?" Koragg thought as he watched the absurd scene. "He wouldn't be the descendant of an old god, right?"
He couldn't help but speculate about various reasons in his mind. One more absurd than the other. Even with his vision, age and vast knowledge, Koragg couldn't understand why Zayne was so strong at such a young age. Before their battle, he had secretly used a minor spell to check Zayne's age. When he found out that Zayne was only eighteen, Koragg was extremely shocked.
Although at his peak, he was countless times stronger than the current Zayne, the age difference between them was still very vast. Before he was sealed, his strength was enough to conquer vast realms. One move of his could shatter a small star. But to attain this strength, he was infused with dark magic for thousands of years.
Not just that, he had fought and bled in countless wars to get that strong.
And that time, at his age, getting to that level of strength at only a few thousand years of age was extremely rare. Only a set of special individuals in the universe could accomplish it.
So, finding out Zayne was only an eighteen-year-old ranger with such a high level of strength truly shocked him.
One must know that in their last battle, they both had been at each other's necks the moment they met. So Koragg had no time to investigate his age, as he was fighting for his life.
He had previously assumed Zayne was also a sealed strong man from many years ago, but now he realized his previous assumptions had been extremely wrong.
"He must have been training for a long time. At least from a very young age." That was the only reasonable explanation Koragg could come up with. "Then again, his potential is extremely high. One never seen before."
If Koragg knew Zayne had only gotten to this level of power after just a few months of training, he would be horrified.
Boom!
An explosion rang out in the air, pulling Koragg out of his thoughts. As he looked at the source, he found out Zayne had already destroyed all the wolf phantoms.
Although it looked slow, the attack, counter, and even Koragg's thoughts only took a few seconds.
Zayne, decisive as ever, instantly appeared, shrouding Koragg's vision, and brought down his omni-saber in a massive overhead arc.
Clang!
Koragg, unflustered by the abrupt attack, raised his shield in time, blocking the massive impact. As a knight who valued honor and was also prideful, Koragg's figure was unshaken by the attack. Although the force transmitted was strong, it did not make him kneel or fall to the ground. Instead, he skillfully guided that force outward, using it to propel himself away from Zayne, creating a reasonable distance between them.
Then came the battle of skills.
Zayne and Koragg went blow for blow. Zayne moved beautifully, his attacks sometimes soft and sometimes hard.
Koragg, also an experienced knight who had weathered countless battles, countered each attack and retaliated at each given chance. The force and shockwave of their attack unintentionally destroyed some Hidiacs, Kelzaks, and Chitauri lingering around. Even Thor, who had previously wanted to assist Zayne, was forced to halt and focus on other dark generals from the dark magic forces.
He had no choice; the battle between Zayne and Koragg exceeded his current capabilities.
Boom! Boom!! Boom!!!
The battle reached its critical point, and at this point, Koragg was already overwhelmed by Zayne. His former composure broke as he weaved through the air, trying his best to evade Zayne's ferocious attacks.
"This kid doesn't fight with honor at all. Almost all his moves are filled with murderous intent." Koragg was inwardly panicking. "How is he so vicious? Isn't he just eighteen?"
He, the Knight wolf, was actually fleeing for his life because of an eighteen-year-old kid. If his former rivals knew, they would mock him nonstop.
But who could blame him? Zayne wasn't someone who played around with his enemies when fighting.
No, the moment he moves, it's guaranteed that a life is reaped. His viciousness had been displayed to the Asgardian brothers. Thor had also been utterly helpless against his ferocity, for he felt like he was battling a killing machine.
That was why he called him 'a demon in red'. And looking at Koragg's current state, the title was well deserved.
Shiing!
A cold gleam flashed through Koragg's knight helmet, making him involuntarily lean to the side, dodging an attack by a hair's breadth.
"Stop moving around for a moment," A cool voice echoed behind him. "Let's talk."
"Like hell I would," Koragg swore for the first time in many years, as he felt death loom over him. "Do I really have to use 'that' now? I'm so unwilling!"
Koragg's was now torn between two decisions. One, die by Zayne's hand and have the master reform his body, but that would be losing his and his master's honor, which had previously occurred in their last battle. So, he was very reluctant to lose again.
Second was to use the master's magic to boost his strength and finish Zayne off, but that also had complications. It was supposed to be used to collect life force from the humans and corrode this realm with dark magic for future invasions, not to fight against a single ranger.
"Although some rangers were said to be ruthless, I had never experienced it before. But now it seems the rumors were true; some rangers are just demons in a hero's clothing." Koragg thought grimly as he was once again knocked away by Zayne, almost losing his flight balance.
Zayne had been silent throughout the entire battle. His mind was only focused on Koragg, anticipating his moves from time to time. As someone who had watched these individuals from a 'god' perspective, he knew Koragg still had more skills in his arsenal- extremely powerful ones at that.
So, he dared not be careless and fought at full strength, aiming to decapacitate him as soon as possible.
But it hadn't been easy. Koragg was an extremely talented and skilled knight and possessed more experience than Zayne.
He always had a way to counter him. Although Zayne could have ended the battle a long time ago, he was still waiting for the last chess piece to arrive.
Fwoosh!
Zayne suddenly halted his attacks and looked deeply at Koragg. That unseen gaze made the courageous Knight wolf grip his knight saber more tightly.
His terrifying intuition, forged through thousands of years, made him sense something was about to go wrong.
Then, he heard a faint voice.
"Initiate phase 2. I'm done playing tag with you."
Boom!
Before he knew it, the figure in red transformed to blue and had already arrived before him with a folded fist of fury.
"Fast. Too fast." That was Koragg's thought before he was knocked down, and this time he fell. The knight wolf fell on his back.
Bang!
The force of the impact failed to dent the ground but completely cracked his precious knight saber.
"Hmm!" Koragg only grunted in pain.
Although this might seem like an underreaction, people who had faced Koragg's unyielding will knew he rarely gave an expression during battle.
This was the first since his revival.
Zayne's figure flickered once more, appearing before the fallen Knight wolf with another knuckle.
Bang! Bang!! Bang!!! Bang!!!!
His blows were continuous, sending Koragg's figure sliding across the tiled road of new-york, as if sweeping it with his body.
It was an utterly tragic and humiliating scene to watch. Even the heroes and villains had to stop fighting to watch the battle. The visual impact of the battle was too shocking.
"This—How dare he?!" Rage burned in Koragg's dark heart as he was continuously battered. From birth to this day, he had never suffered such severe humiliation as this.
To be beaten to such a state was not acceptable for him, the knight wolf. It was not his way, Koragg.
He would never accept this.
"Eye of the master!" He roared as the eerie eye of his shield opened once more.
This sudden change made Zayne's pupils contract as he flickered away the next moment. The second he dodged, a terrifying shockwave of dark magic erupted from that area, rushing towards the escaping Zayne at a speed unseen.
Boom!
Zayne was swept away by the attack, tumbling backward like a broken kite, before steadying himself a few meters away.
"He's finally gotten serious. I—" Before he could continue, a tearing sound echoed throughout the battlefield.
"Hmm?" Zayne and Koragg both looked up, discovering that a blue portal had appeared in the sky. Behind it was a shattered screen film, which was the barrier Koragg had set up before arriving. And not just anyone could break in, so Koragg was a little surprised, but Zayne wasn't.
Fwoosh!
A moment later, a gaunt figure appeared in front of the portal. In his right hand lay a glimmering blue cube radiating a vast amount of cosmic energy.
"He's finally here," Zayne thought to himself. "Mesogog."
Koragg's thought also stalled for a second, not because of Mesogog, but because of the cube in his hands.
"Is that what I think it is?" Koragg, usually calm, became anxious. "How did it appear here? On this small planet."
As a conqueror of realms from many thousands of years ago, Koragg naturally knew about the infinity stones. It was one of the powers the master… his master, had coveted but couldn't get his hands on.
According to his master, if he could obtain even only one, being on par with other high-ranking dimensional gods would be a breeze.
Now seeing one appear before him, Koragg was extremely shocked. 'The master,' who had also been watching the battle, naturally sensed it from his pit and immediately sent a message to Koragg.
"Get that stone for me now. If you succeed, I shall unseal more of your power at any cost." The voice spoke in an unfamiliar language that seemed to stem from the very depths of madness.
Ordinary people would not be able to understand and might even get lost in the sound alone, but someone like Koragg, who is blessed by the abyss and his master, understood them perfectly.
Therefore, for now, his anger towards Zayne had to be put aside. He then cast his gaze upon the newly arrived Mesogog with faint greed and murderous intent.
Zayne noticed the shift in the atmosphere and instantly understood what was about to happen.
"Exactly what I wanted." Zayne thought to himself
Mesogog noticed Koragg's undisguised gaze of greed. His lips curled up in an ugly smile as he looked at the cube in his hands and spoke.
"Oh…you want this?" He stretched the tesseract in a teasing manner, intending to enrage the knight below him.
Koragg ignored him for a moment and looked at Zayne. "We'll settle our grudges later, and I shall reclaim my honor."
These words were filled with suppressed anger, which Zayne heard but didn't take seriously. He already knew Koragg's mission had been changed midway and concluded it was 'the master' who intervened.
Even if they continued, he was still guaranteed to win, no matter what Koragg pulls out later. After all, he had simulated this battle countless times.
Now that the new target was Mesogog, or rather the tesseract in his hands, the plans had changed, but not by much. Everything was still within his expectations.
And regarding the tesseract, Zayne also had plans for it, so he would make sure none of them leave with it today.
Koragg's attention was already back on Mesogog. Both Cyborg and Knight stared at one another with an ill gaze.
Shiing!
The knight blade was drawn again as it gleamed under the sun, ready to reap souls. Koragg's figure blurred, moving at extreme speed and arriving before Mesogog with a blade pierce.
Mesogog dared not relax and prepared to unleash a mental attack.
"Die!!" They both screamed as they charged at one another.
Suddenly—
Bang!
"You haven't forgotten I was here, right?" Zayne somehow had mysteriously appeared between them, blocking both incoming attacks with his palms.
Boom!
An even more terrifying aura burst out from him at the moment, and a chaotic domain stretched forth, covering the entire city.
The domain seemed to have a suppressive force on all his enemies (villains), as it reduced their power by forty percent.
Such a large decrease was terrifying.
This powerful domain was one of Zayne's A-tier skills, the "Grid sovereign manifestation".
Zayne, clad in his phase 2 suit, hovered slightly above the two, his visor gleaming coldly under the midday sun.
"Now that you are all here. It's time to end this."
--- ✦ ---
Another chapter down. Only at most two chapters remaining for the first arc, then the second arc would begin. I'm planning to make it more interesting than this, since this one was a little chaotic.
As a new Author, I consider improving my writing skills very important. So updates might be slower. I hope ya'll understand. Thanks for the love.
Please donate power stones!