Clang!!!
Arthur's blade scraped against polished marble as he parried another strike.
Boom!!!
The chamber echoed with chaotic clashes of flames roaring, steel singing and magic cracking the air like thunder. But Arthur saw none of it.
Only his simulant.
The copy before him stood tall, armored in the same gleaming silver etched with void black markings. The same stance, same calm expression. But the eyes… those weren't his.
Those were a mirror of perfection.
Unyielding. Flawless.
"Come on, is that all you've got?" Arthur growled.
Slash!!!
His blade swept forward with raw aggression. The simulant moved like a shadow predicting, countering, slicing back with machine like precision.
Clang!!!
Sparks flew as metal clashed again. Arthur slid back, boots screeching against the stone floor.
His breath came ragged. His shoulders ached. And the fire in his chest that burned like crazy. It wasn't from exhaustion.
It was fury.
Whoosh!!!
The simulant lunged again, blade flickering with violet light. Not normal flame. Not simple magic.
Voidfire
Arthur gritted his teeth. "You think you can use that better than me?"
Crack!!!
The next strike came in low. Arthur jumped, spinning mid air. His sword arced down, coated now in a wreathed flame as black as a starless sky.
Voidfire, his forbidden inheritance.
Boom!!!
The impact sent both fighters skidding back. Arthur landed hard on one knee, voidfire dripping from his blade like burning ink. The simulant barely staggered, adjusting its stance with eerie calm.
Arthur wiped blood from his lip. "Guess you are not gonna let me win just because I am prettier."
Behind him, Arthur heard another crack of magic. Lia screaming, Sasha darting through shadows, Ryker coughing amid fading light. Lucas… a sharp buzz of lightning flared across the chamber and a crash followed.
Arthur's grip tightened.
He couldn't afford to worry about them. Not now.
His simulant raised its sword and Arthur's breath hitched.
Arthur wasn't afraid. No, this was something else.
Doubt.
Because every movement it made. Every parry, every thrust was what he should be doing. What he could be.
"Is this what I am without fear?" Arthur muttered.
The simulant charged.
Clang!!!
Steel rang against steel. They locked blades, faces inches apart. Arthur snarled and voidfire exploded from his hands forcing them apart.
Slash!!!
Arthur struck again, wreathed in black flame. But the simulant mirrored the movement, blade crackling with the same dark fire.
"Fine," Arthur spat. "Let's see who burns hotter."
He surged forward, flame erupting from his boots.
Boom!!!
He collided with the simulant mid dash, the chamber flashing with the violent release of power.
Their blades met in a wild series of strikes, parry, counter, thrust, dodge.
Clang!!
Slash!!
Clang!!
Crack!!
Arthur twisted his wrist, deflecting an overhead strike then slammed his knee into the simulant's chest. It barely moved.
"Damn it!!" He ducked a follow up swing.
Whoosh!!!
The blade narrowly missed Arthur's head.
He rolled up, came up behind the simulant and lashed out with a crescent wave of Voidfire.
The simulant didn't dodge.
Boom!!!
Smoke and dust exploded outward. Arthur squinted through the haze.
A shape emerged.
Still standing.
A single burn mark on its chest. That was all.
Arthur's heart pounded.
"Is that really… me?" he asked aloud.
For the first time in the fight, the simulant spoke.
"No," it said. "I am what you refuse to become."
Arthur froze.
"What?"
The simulant lifted its sword. "You hesitate. You fear your own flame. I do not."
Crack!!!
Voidfire gathered at the simulant's feet and surged upward.
Arthur's instincts screamed. He rolled back just in time to avoid a vertical blade of searing dark flame that split the floor like paper.
Boom!!!
Stone exploded, rubble flying.
Arthur scrambled up. "So now you talk?"
"That's new!"
But the voice lingered in his mind. I am what you refuse to become.
Arthur's hands trembled slightly.
Not from pain.
From memory.
His father's voice.
"You will not wield it recklessly, Arthur. Voidfire consumes everything. It will corrupt you, just like it did to your sister. If you falter, it will destroy you."
Arthur's jaw tightened. "No," he whispered. "That's not true."
He lifted his sword, and the voidfire flickered across its edge, not wild, not angry. Focused.
Controlled.
"I am not afraid of it," he said aloud.
The simulant didn't answer. It struck.
Clang!!!
Their swords locked again. But this time, Arthur didn't flinch.
He stepped in.
Closer.
Their shoulders touched.
And then
Boom!!!
A point blank burst of Voidfire exploded from Arthur's chest.
The simulant flew backward, crashing through a broken pillar.
Arthur fell to one knee, panting hard.
The chamber spun.
His vision blurred.
But his grip was steady.
He looked up just in time to see the simulant rise again. Cracked. Scorched. Slower now.
Arthur stood.
"This power," he murmured, eyes blazing, "isn't meant to be locked away."
He raised his blade.
Voidfire pooled around him, spiraling up his arms, legs, and chest. A vortex of controlled darkness.
"I'm done holding back."
The simulant lunged.
Arthur met it halfway.
Slash!!!
Clang!!!
Crack!!!
Each blow struck with the weight of something greater.
Not just fire or strength.
But resolve.
"I am not fighting you," Arthur roared. "I'm fighting the chains I wrapped around myself!"
Boom!!!
A final explosion lit the chamber.
The simulant flew back this time not rising.
It lay on the ground, flickering. Its body cracked like porcelain. Light bled through.
And then
The copy dissolved into wisps of light and vanished.
Arthur fell to one knee again.
Sweat rolled down his face.
His blade dropped beside him with a metallic thud.
But he smiled.
Even as his body screamed and his magic flickered at its limit.
Arthur smiled.
Because now… he understood.
Voidfire wasn't just destruction.
It was potential.
Behind him, he heard Ryker groan, still recovering from his fight.
He turned slightly and his gaze caught Lucas across the battlefield. Lightning crackled across the boy's shoulders, his simulant still standing untouched.
Lucas hadn't fought yet.
But he would.
And Arthur saw something in his eyes, an unspoken pressure. A weight even heavier than Arthur's own fire.
He didn't know what it meant.
But Ryker watched Lucas too.
There was something there.
Unsaid.
Unfolding.
Arthur stood slowly, retrieving his blade.
Whatever was coming… he would be ready.
Because this wasn't about surviving anymore.
It was about rising.
About becoming more.
And Arthur blazing with black flame and bloodied pride, he wasn't afraid of the fire anymore.