The forest was dense enough that the first few seconds gave Lucien cover. He moved between the trees at a low angle, putting trunks between himself and the open ground behind him, and listened.
What he heard was magma hitting timber. A sharp crack, then a hiss as the wood split, and then the smell of burning pine reaching him before the heat did. Sakazuki had walked straight in after him.
Lucien moved left and a column blew through the tree he had been standing next to, the trunk separating at the point of impact and the top half crashing into the undergrowth. The fire caught immediately, running up the dry brush at the base of the surrounding trees and spreading outward in both directions.
He kept moving.
The smoke thickened fast. What had been a clear sightline through the trees thirty seconds ago was now broken up, grey and shifting, and Lucien used it. He circled wide to the right, putting more trees between them, and waited until he heard Sakazuki's footsteps pause.
Sakazuki sensed movement to his left and answered with magma instantly. The blast carved through the trees and lit the ground on fire.
Lucien hit him from the right a heartbeat later. Armament Haki hardened over his knuckles as the punch connected with Sakazuki's jaw. The impact jolted through his shoulder.
Sakazuki's head turned slightly. Slightly was enough.
Lucien was back into the smoke before Sakazuki had fully turned.
He rolled his shoulder and shook out his hand. The Haki had held clean. His knuckles ached from the contact but the drain was slowly sitting in, barely noticeable after all the almost inhuman training he put himself through. He could work with that.
Another column tore through the forest.
Lucien felt it through Observation before he saw it and shifted around the blast as magma ripped past his left side close enough for the heat to bite through his sleeve. The tree behind him ignited instantly. Flames climbed upward through the canopy and spread sideways with alarming speed, smoke thickening across the eastern side of the forest.
Sakazuki walked through it without slowing.
"You're fast," he said, voice carrying cleanly through the fire and smoke. "It won't matter."
Lucien circled wider instead of answering. Low stance. Controlled breathing. Observation stretched through the burning forest around him.
Sakazuki moved in straight lines. No hesitation. It was almost like he was going to bulldoze everything that was inbetween him and Lucien. Heat rolled off him constantly now. Trees were beginning to catch fire without even being touched directly.
Lucien pushed at his Observation again.
A presence from Sakazuki's left. Fast approach. Aggressive.
Sakazuki reacted instantly. Magma erupted sideways and swallowed burning undergrowth in a violent wave.
Lucien came from behind.
His elbow slammed into Sakazuki's shoulder blade, Armament Haki hardening at the moment of impact, and Lucien was already clearing distance before the counter came.
Sakazuki turned sharply.
Not angry.
Adjusting.
His eyes tracked through the smoke for a moment before settling somewhere slightly off from where Lucien actually stood.
"The smoke doesn't hide you as well as you think."
"It's hiding me fine," Lucien replied.
The voice came from the right.
Sakazuki attacked the right immediately.
Magma tore through two trees and blew burning debris across the forest floor. But nothing was there like the past few times before he felt the impact come from the left.
A straight punch across the cheekbone. Haki-coated impact. Clean connection and disappeared back into the smoke before Sakazuki fully completed the turn.
Lucien landed several metres away and flexed his hands once. The Haki was holding, but the strain was beginning to settle into his legs now. Sustained use of Arnament Haki and Observation Haki. Too much output for too long.
Behind him, another burning tree cracked and collapsed.
The fire was spreading faster than he'd planned.
The route back toward town was nearly gone already, flames curling inward through the dry forest. Lucien noted it once and moved deeper instead, forcing Sakazuki further into the smoke with him.
A blast hit the ground nearby hard enough to throw dirt and burning splinters across his path. Lucien pushed through without stopping, heat catching his forearm briefly before he vanished back into thicker smoke.
Sakazuki noticed the pattern after a few exchanges.
Every false opening pulled his attention too cleanly, like it was placed there. A sound from one side. Pressure from another. By the time the real attack came, Sakazuki was already reacting to something else.
Not concealment.
Manipulation.
Interesting.
Lucien found an opening between the trees and waited.
Sakazuki emerged through the smoke and Lucien pushed another false read toward him. Low attack. Right side. Fully committed.
Sakazuki shifted to intercept.
Lucien attacked high from the left instead.
Two rapid strikes landed before Sakazuki recovered position. One into the ribs. One across the jaw. Both reinforced with Haki.
Lucien pushed away instantly before Sakazuki could close the distance.
This time Sakazuki took a single step backward.
Only one.
But Lucien noticed it.
So did Sakazuki.
"You hit hard for someone without a sword," Sakazuki said.
"Working on that."
Sakazuki rolled his neck once. Magma gathered across his forearm in a heavier mass than before, thicker and denser, heat distortion rippling violently through the air around it. Trees nearby ignited from proximity alone.
Lucien stayed where he was.
Sakazuki drove the attack forward.
Lucien read the trajectory through Observation and shifted left just before impact. The blast missed him and obliterated another section of forest behind him, flames surging outward hard enough to erase one of his escape angles entirely.
Too much fire now.
Too much smoke.
The battlefield was closing.
Sakazuki came through the smoke again, closer than before.
Lucien pushed a sharp sound behind him. Sudden. Close. The same kind of distraction that had created openings earlier in the fight.
Sakazuki didn't even glance toward it.
His eyes stayed on Lucien.
For the first time since the fight began, Lucien felt the timing fail.
Sakazuki stepped in hard and swung.
Lucien ducked under the attack and drove a Haki-coated knee into Sakazuki's midsection, putting everything he had behind it before launching himself backward again.
Sakazuki barely moved.
He looked down once at the point of impact.
Then back up.
"You're slowing down."
Lucien said nothing.
Because Sakazuki was right.
The drain had spread through his shoulders now, heavy and persistent. Observation was taking more effort to maintain cleanly. His legs were slower recovering position.
Sakazuki had noticed.
Magma spread across his arm in a dense molten mass from elbow to fist, heat distortion rippling violently through the smoke around him.
Then he stepped forward.
No feint. No adjustment. No hesitation.
Just force.
The punch came straight toward Lucien's chest.
Lucien planted his feet and crossed both arms in front of him as Armament Haki surged across them at once.
The impact detonated against his guard.
He was driven backward through burning undergrowth, boots carving trenches through the dirt before he finally stopped himself. Pain hit a second later. Heat surged through both arms hard enough to numb his hands briefly, followed immediately by the crushing strain of sustained Haki use dragging at the edges of his focus.
But he was still standing.
Lucien raised his head slowly.
Across the burning forest, Sakazuki stood motionless within the smoke and flames, magma dripping from his arm onto the scorched ground beneath him.
Neither of them moved.
The forest burned around them anyway.
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1 Chapter For Every 50 Power Stones. Please Do Support.