Chapter 15: Once Excited. Now Ecstatic.
June 15th 2026
Harith dashes at Shagahf, but his movements aren't fast enough.
With ease, Shagahf grabs his wrist.
"Is that the fastest you can go, fam?"
In a moment's notice, Shagahf knees Harith in a savage manner, sending him flying high into the air.
Then, Shagahf crouches down slightly before launching upward.
The ground vaporizes beneath his boots, shattering into a crater with a deafening crash and leaving behind a blazing trail of magmatic aura.
While midair, Shagahf lands a brutal punch directly on Harith's cheek, followed by another sickening blow to his chest, before ending the combo with a heavy double axe handle that slams Harith back down toward the concrete.
"What's that,"
Still suspended in midair, Shagahf mockingly sniffs the wind.
"The smell of disappointment?"
Shagahf then charges downward, rapidly pursuing the falling Harith with a loud sonic boom.
Before Harith can even hit the pavement, Shagahf intercepts him, grabbing the back of his blue shirt while the debris from the earlier impact is still raining down around them.
"Let me beat it out of you."
He hurls Harith straight up into the air once more.
While waiting for him to drop, Shagahf plants his stance and prepares himself. As Harith falls, Shagahf drives his shin into Harith's ribs with a brutal kick, sending him flying horizontally across the block.
Harith crashes straight through a large apartment building. The structure itself loses balance and collapses, the entire environment shaking from the weight of the falling building.
Shagahf shades his eyes with his hand, peering into the distance toward the wreckage.
"Must've beaten that fatigue out of him, along with some bones."
Meanwhile…
Harith lies on the ground motionless inside the rubble. His clothes are torn, he is bleeding from everywhere, and the dust has caked his face in grime.
(…)
(…)
(…How the hell… am I supposed to beat him… No, how am I supposed to even fight him normally…)
Harith pushes himself off the ground, struggling against his own weight until he stands on his feet.
"No… the fight hasn't even started. I gotta go back and man up."
Then, Harith crouches down into a low running stance and explodes forward at the speed of thunder, leaving behind fervent trails of pure electricity.
Harith skips across the sides of buildings with sheer speed. The wind pushes hard against him, yet Harith refuses to back down.
///
With Harith's incredible speed, he manages to cut through half of the city in a matter of seconds!
The right half of his body flashes with electricity while doing so.
As Harith reaches Shagahf's spot, he finds him standing there, still looking toward the wreckage where he had kicked Harith.
Everything slows down. While running toward Shagahf, Harith's fist rises, seeping visibly with electricity.
Harith is about to hit Shagahf for the first time…
Until…
Shagahf turns around just in time and blocks the punch. The sheer force released by Harith is enough to knock them both back as the concrete shatters and a shockwave of dust erupts beneath their feet.
Shagahf's lips crack up into a smirk.
"So I did actually beat that weak part out of ya, didn't I?"
Harith doesn't reply to him. He instead rushes at him again with the same, newly obtained speed.
As Harith rushes in, Shagahf easily grabs Harith's wrists once again while still keeping the same smirk.
Harith stares directly at Shagahf's face with his brows furrowed and a frown.
Before Shagahf can react, Harith overwhelms his own body with electricity, creating a violent electric grid on the very wrist Shagahf grabbed.
The high-voltage surge zaps Shagahf, forcing him to reflexively release his grip and stumble back.
As Shagahf clutches his hand and looks back at Harith, he is instantly met with a heavy fist diving straight into his face.
A sickening crack echoes through the street.
Shagahf actually stumbles backward from Harith's punch, and for the first time in a long time… Shagahf's nose bleeds slightly.
Shagahf smirks even more.
"Not bad… But I expect more from you."
Then, Shagahf instantly blurs, reappearing directly in front of Harith with his fist raised.
Harith copies Shagahf, throwing a direct counter-strike straight against his volcanic fist.
The collision of raw lightning and magmatic heat rings out like a thunderclap.
But Shagahf is eventually overpowering Harith, a struggle shown by Harith's fist slowly being forced backward.
Harith reaches out with his left fist to do the same, but Shagahf predicts his actions, catching Harith's fist out of the air with the sharp crack of a slap.
Shagahf is pressing down on Harith easily, crushing his momentum.
That's when Harith charges his foot with electricity and kicks Shagahf with his sparking boot directly between Shagahf's legs.
Shagahf completely freezes in place as the excruciating pain registers.
"D-dirty move, bro!"
"It's a street fight. Rules ain't identified here."
Harith blinks, instantly closing the gap between himself and Shagahf.
He heavily charges his feet and fists, raining down a relentless flurry of punches and kicks all over Shagahf's body.
Every strike lands with a deafening metallic clang, sounding like a massive sledgehammer striking an anvil due to Shagahf's dense, iron-like body.
It is all fun and games until Shagahf suddenly cuts through the storm of blows, clamping his massive hand directly over Harith's entire head and violently lifting him off the floor.
"You weren't too bad… but definitely disappointing, Harith… Guess 'he' wasn't up to his promise about finding a worthy challenger."
Zzz… zzz… ZZZZZZZZZ!
A blinding, blue-white flash erupts across the entire block, overloading the grid to the point where nearby streetlights spark and short out.
A massive explosion of electricity detonates from Harith's body, tearing Shagahf's grip away and sending him flying backward through the air until he crashes deep into a building.
As Harith is released, he drops heavily to the floor on one knee.
His body is visibly scorched from the sheer volume of voltage he just unleashed, leaving his skin marked with raw, reddish-brown patches of electrical burns.
"So it's like that, huh?"
Shagahf's shoulder displays thin burn marks from Harith's kamikaze attack, the scorch marks running down underneath his blue maid dress.
Shagahf raises his foot from the floor.
Harith pays close attention to what Shagahf is about to do.
Then, with a sudden slam, a deafening crash echoes through the air as Shagahf stomps his foot onto the pavement, unleashing a visible, devastating shockwave.
"!!"
Harith instantly commands his electricity to quickly send himself flying upward with a loud, sudden crackle as fierce trails of lightning follow him through the air.
The shockwave is immense, causing violent earthquakes that ripple across the entire city. Buildings struggle to hold their ground and collapse, while nearby onlookers are instantly crushed by the sheer, unbridled force of the shockwave.
Even after a few seconds, the entire environment shakes heavily from the collapsing structures, and massive clouds of debris completely fog the area.
Harith looks down in astonishment, his eyes widening, but he quickly snaps out of it.
(If I hadn't dodged that… he would've GG'ed me.)
While suspended midair, Harith realizes something.
(Wait… I have a great advantage here… the area is fogged… he doesn't know where I am… but I can see him from here…!)
Harith grabs onto a building behind him that is still falling, using the collapsing structure to plant his stance.
Harith crouches low, his feet and lower body violently sputtering with blue electricity.
A sharp explosion rings out.
Harith leaps into the air with serious force, shattering the wall into a small crater behind him as he flies through the smoke like a bird of prey.
He extends his foot, which is charged with an immense, blinding amount of electricity—his boot completely invisible beneath the roaring current covering it.
Zzz… hiss… ZZZ… ZZZZZ!
"I know you didn't die, Harith. Face me like a man and stop hiding."
Little does Shagahf know… Harith is already falling rapidly directly above him.
Then, Shagahf hears a sudden crackle from above. He quickly glances up, spotting Harith diving down toward him.
Shagahf quickly raises his arms to block the incoming hit.
A thunderous detonation shatters the silence.
The charged kick from Harith completely obliterates Shagahf's guard, easily breaking his right arm.
Shagahf stumbles backward from Harith's dominant attack.
His arm snaps with a sickening twist.
Shagahf looks down toward the floor, closing his eyes while clutching his broken arm momentarily.
He then looks back up at Harith, his eyes slightly shining with the same, dangerous orange aura.
Shagahf smiles in pure joy.
"Now we're talking, Harith. I ain't holding back either."
The earthquakes around them were still going strongly, the debris clouds had only gotten denser and foggier.
To be continued..