As the silence between the two opponents deepened, something shifted.
Before Xavier could react, Haruki moved.
A blazing red palm rocketed across Xavier's face with terrifying speed. The force of the slap cracked like thunder, and Xavier's body shot through the air like a missile. Trees blurred past him before he crashed violently into the side of a distant mountain, the impact booming like an explosion across the land.
Coughing through the dust, Xavier staggered to his feet, blood gushing from his nose. A searing handprint burned across his skin, stretching from chin to neck, shaped perfectly like an adult's palm. The pain wasn't just physical—it spun his world. The moment he tried to move, vertigo sent him crumbling back to his knees.
Did he just slap me out of RealmHeart? Xavier thought, dazed. His vision twisted and blurred, like the world itself was warping around him. I didn't even see it coming... His heart sank. Don't tell me I have to survive another monster. My life really can't get any worse.
Every nerve in his already-broken body screamed in agony. The internal strain from his battle with Reginald had never truly healed. Worse, the ethereal energy that powered him barely trickled through his veins now. His body was still feeling the relentless strain of early-stage Core Corruption—a creeping affliction that twisted his internal energy channels, disrupting the natural flow of ethereal power through his veins. It was like trying to breathe through cracked lungs, every draw of energy unstable and painful. Now, he was paying the price, caught in a battle his body was barely holding together for.
I should've rested... He clutched his head as a wave of cosmic pressure slammed into his skull. And now my mind's overtaxed from using my Cosmic Eyes...
How the hell am I supposed to beat this guy? he thought bitterly, doubt crawling into his gut.
Then, angrily, Xavier slapped his own face—only to recoil as his fingers struck the fresh burn mark, sending a jolt of pain through him.
"Tch… that hurts," he muttered.
Still, he gritted his teeth, planting Excalibur into the ground and using it to push himself upright.
Alright... No more relying on Master's techniques. They're too draining, and my focus is wrecked. If I try to use them again, I might just drop dead.
He glanced at his blade, its surface dim but unbroken. I have to use my own gifted abilities. Even if they're weakened... Even if they're not enough.
Sweat dripped from his brow. Still, he smirked.
"Guess I got too comfortable hiding behind Master's powers," he whispered. "This is my fault... for forgetting how strong I actually am."
Before he could finish the thought, the air grew heavy.
A silhouette emerged from the shadows nearby. Silent. Sudden.
Haruki.
Xavier's instincts screamed. Danger. Lethal danger. His muscles reacted on instinct alone.
"Why so tense?" Haruki mocked, his voice low and needling.
Xavier didn't answer. Instead, he blurred forward, invoking Vector Acceleration—twisting gravity, bending momentum. His figure snapped through space, closing the gap in a flash.
Steel sang.
Haruki met him blade-to-blade.
The clash detonated the forest.
A shockwave erupted, ripping apart the terrain in every direction. The mountain behind Xavier cracked and crumbled. Trees splintered, and earth tore like paper.
As the dust began to settle, Xavier stood with his chest heaving. His cosmic eyes burned through the haze, locked onto the figure walking calmly toward him.
Each step Haruki took felt like a countdown.
"Do you really think you stand a chance, child?" Haruki asked, his glowing eyes peering through the smoke.
Xavier didn't respond. He focused instead on the Dragon Seed deep inside him. Just activate... RealmHeart... please...
But the connection faltered. His body trembled and rejected the call. Blood spilled from his mouth.
He coughed, staining his hand crimson.
Still, he clenched his fist.
"Yes," he said. Firmly. "Yes, I do."
Haruki raised a brow, then laughed—not in amusement, but in disgust.
"I'm amazed someone so arrogant shares blood with His Majesty."
Xavier blinked. Majesty?
Then it clicked. That name again. The one that always lingered in whispers.
"You mean... Percival Ashford?"
Haruki's expression darkened. He didn't deny it.
"To speak his name so casually... you really are an insolent little bastard."
Xavier stepped forward, more serious now. "So, you're another one of his pawns? Did he send you to kill me?"
Haruki scoffed. "Don't lump me in with those weak mercs. I'm no hired blade."
He drew himself up proudly. "Let me repeat it once more for you, so listen closely, brat. I am Haruki Saito. Soldier of the New Grand Empire under Lord Percival. Member of House Valebrand, one of the Four Pillars of His Majesty's Kingdom."
Xavier tensed.
Haruki's expression turned cold.
"And to be clear—I didn't come here for you. You might be famous in the Empire because of your link to His Majesty, but I couldn't care less. I came for that witch of a maid you call a companion."
Xavier's eyes narrowed.
"Anastasia..."
"Your king knew about my past," Haruki said, voice sharpened by years of hate. "He knew who took everything from me... and he gave me her name."
Gripping his fist in a salivating thirst for blood and vengeance, Haruki's eyes bulged with barely-contained hatred. His voice cracked like fire, "And today, I'll make sure she pays for her crimes. I'm not leaving until her head is laid before me. And you? You won't do a damn thing to stop me, you arrogant brat."
Suddenly, the atmosphere around Xavier shifted. The air warped.
He staggered.
The temperature surged in an instant, his clothes clinging to his body as if they had been scorched by the sun itself. His grip on Excalibur slipped—the hilt searing hot, branding his palm. Each breath felt like swallowing fire. The heat wasn't natural; it was suffocating, pressurized, deadly.
Haruki raised a single finger, and his eyes flared like molten steel.
His aura exploded outward, wild and consuming—like standing at the surface of a star.
"You won't live to see tomorrow's sun, Xavier," Haruki sneered. "The moment we crossed paths, your fate was sealed."
Xavier's nerves screamed, but he didn't waver.
He charged forward, a calm azure aura cloaking his body, trailing behind him like mist in motion. But before he could close the gap, Haruki simply lifted his hand.
The air around his finger began to shimmer.
He manipulated the kinetic energy of the atoms surrounding it, forcing them into a frenzy on a subatomic level. In that instant, the heat burst forth like an eruption.
A shockwave of thermal force screamed across the battlefield—a blazing ripple of destruction.
Xavier barely had time to react. The inferno slammed into him.
Excalibur met the brunt of it.
The blade glowed white-hot as it absorbed the first impact, saving Xavier from instant incineration. But even then, the sheer pressure flung him backward through the scorched earth.
He crashed, tumbling like a ragdoll, steam rising from his arms.
Pain.
Unimaginable, searing pain.
He gasped, teeth clenched, lungs burning. If Excalibur hadn't taken the hit... I'd be ashes.
Looking at his forearms, red blistering welts marred his skin—deep but not fatal. Still, the agony throbbed in waves.
My skin hurts so bad... he thought. One second later, and I wouldn't even be standing.
Without hesitating, Xavier lifted his arm and fired a volley of vector bullets—each round humming with spatial force. They raced through the air.
Haruki didn't flinch.
He slapped the first few aside like flies, tanking the rest with nothing but a condescending grin.
"Tickles," he muttered.
Then he stepped forward.
With that single step, the surrounding forest ignited.
Flames burst from the ground. The trees withered, their trunks turning to charcoal and ash. The earth itself cracked and glowed, melting under his presence.
"Ironic, isn't it?" Haruki mused darkly. "That my power—the very flames that disfigured me—are now the instrument of my executions."
Each word cut like a blade. The ground beneath him oozed like molten glass. Heat shimmered in waves across the field.
But Xavier didn't back down.
As Haruki drew near, Excalibur responded.
A razor-wind began to spiral around the blade's edge, as if the sword itself rebelled against the coming heat. Xavier's aura reignited, forming a protective veil of energy, flickering like wind through blue fire.
The real battle had begun.