The two titans stood before one another, Leon of Hive and Wesley of Tribe. White aura crackled out of Wesley’s body, surging around him. Electricity sparked, his hair flapped along with his Tribe Coat. The power’s dance carried it high to the ceiling while it vined outwards around him at the same exact moment. His men stepped back, shaken, their guns clacking just as were their boots.

Before them there was the cold roar of Leon’s black aura. It drifted like smoke, racing to the above ceiling while also slowly breathing around him like mist. Bursts of purple and blues popped with red appearing every so often. His eyes gleamed within the darkness, his ear to ear grin quite visible. The red stars of his coat, glowing with their own brilliance, set off his position in the dark which now took way the rest of his color, leaving only his eyes and smile.

Wesley’s head turned a slight to the right, eyes darting back towards his men, “Stand down. This is not a foe you have any hope of matching. Reinforce the rest of the compound.”

“Y-yes sir!” one choked.

Their boots clattered and stomped as they tore off, leaving the two warriors to square off. Light and Dark, Warmth and Chill, Life and Death. That was all that stood in that hallway now. The darkness broke from Leon as the light shattered from Wesley, their forms returning to complete visibility, their heads tilting with eyes locked dead shot. Their feet twitched, gliding across the ground as they prepared their charges.

“Let’s go, Light Star Strike!” Wesley called out.

His hands clapped together, upon which sparks of white light appeared all around him. The Light Energy whirled, flying off as spinning arrows towards Leon, leaving behind speckles of electricity which crackled in said air. Leon’s grin widened even further, parting only when his mouth flapped with speech, “This is too easy!”

His feet bolted, his body launching ahead. Knees bent and sprung, his form shot high into the air straight over the first batch of arrows. The wind whirled around him, his coat flapping, his hair flailing. The light had closed the many meter gap in seconds, and in only that time he had effortlessly dodged, “Reaper Strike!”

His arms shot ahead, his sleeves flapping. From them launched multiple chains of Dark Energy which shrieked as they flew through the air. Wall panels and floor tiling alike shattered as the chains struck through with the force of anti-tank rifle bullets; though the bulk continued ahead straight to Wesley. His eyes lit up as they neared. A step back, hesitation.

BLAM

Wesley flew back as the chains blew straight into his torso and out of his back, crashing through the walls behind him seconds after. His center, his lower abdomen, his right side, and his left shoulder, all struck followed by others which danced around, “Gyah-”

“Ha, trouble already? My how times of peace can make one grow so weak, eh Wesley? Huh?”

Much of the color left Wesley’s form in a heartbeat, becoming a pasty dark brown. Said brown began to pool off of his body, splashing along the ground and walls, his entire form melting with all features leaving. The chains detached from Leon’s sleeves, clanging along the ground now solidified as he dropped down to the ground, “A Mud Replacement?”

His eyes remained on the replacement as it splashed to the ground. It was after that they shifted, drifting left to one of the intact walls.

“You face the challenge that is Wesley the Earth Dragon, now you shall be swept away,” Wesley’s voice echoed.

The wall shattered, a torrent of mud and water sent blowing out of a giant hole the size of a minivan. It swept into the hall, gushing its way down and straight into Leon in seconds. The Dark Warrior was blown back, the current taking him along as right ahead the entire hall was filled with the roaring waters. He growled, his body squirming against the waves as the space filled up more and more, “You call that an attack?!”

“No, I call that a diversion,” came Wesley’s voice from right ahead.

The water and mud dropped, revealing the other side of the hall dry as can be. There stood Wesley, his arm out, his right leg swinging and his foot slamming down to the ground shattering tile, “Now, Liger Bomb!”

Leon’s eyes widened, locked to Wesley’s out stretched right arm. With palm facing him, the Dark Warrior watched as there came a spark of white, followed by a sphere which quickly began to swell. As quickly as it appeared it shattered, doubling in size once. Two more times followed, the entire sphere practically filling the hall. It fired.

The sphere of Light Energy launched forward at two hundred Kilometers Per Hour, blasted right through the waters, and came right up upon Leon. His arms crossed as it struck. The blast went off immediately, filling the hall with a blinding white light and a colossal blast. A dome of white surrounded Wesley as the power swept him away, engulfing his shield with a flood that washed him away.

The entire ceiling erupted with the force of a volcanic eruption blasting its way up. It traveled wide, pushing out everything around it, forcing itself upwards especially. It was a blast that would easily penetrate the rocks above and blow open a hole straight into the depths of Nospheross. Leon’s wail could be heard only momentarily as his form was washed away in the blast itself as well.

The attack subsided not more than eight seconds after, leaving behind only a minimal amount of dust and smoke. The hall had been obliterated, a blast radius of sixty meters having pushed way dirt and the facility, vaporizing practically everything. Above light shined down with a rain of falling rock and panels, a hole punched straight up all that way to the surface.

Wesley stood in a section of the destroyed hall, the very end of it, a branch of halls right behind him. His dome of energy dissipated seconds following the end of the blast, leaving him standing tall with a smug grin. His eyes glanced around, “How’s that, welp?”

Wesley huffed, steam drenching off his body following those words, “Liger Bomb, a technique in which I expel all of my power into a single blast as quickly as I can for maximum kinetic damage. Practically an unstoppable bomb if you think about it. That should’ve packed a… what the fu-”

“Heh heh heh, not bad General,” came the call of Leon.

Smoke disappeared the moment those words finished to reveal Leon standing firm at the epicenter of the blast, hovering, his arms still crossed. Dark Energy flowed off of his body, like a shedding skin. His Long Coat was torn, muddy and burned; overall though his form was intact. His arms lowered to his sides to reveal a smug expression.

His head tilted, his neck cracking audibly, “Liger Bomb, been awhile since I last tanked one of those. Have to say, yours sucks compared to the Princess’s. Then again, I haven’t been hit by her in at least twenty thousand years.”

“Hmph! That was just an opening attack,” Wesley growled as the light of the base and of the surface shined down upon him.

Once more his aura crackled, the light warping around him, appearing to be sucked right in, “So long as I draw breath, I will not let you out of here alive!”

“My my you appear to be underestimating me. I do hope you’re right though about this only being the beginning. If peace had made you that weak, well hell, do I even need to say it? You’d be better off quitting now, General Ezdorth.”

“Arrogant much?” Wesley growled.

“I digress. Shall we just get to it? Might I recommend taking this fight to the surface so we have more room to play? I’d hate to reduce Nospheross to ruble while my troops are still inside.”

“I don’t take requests from scum.”

“That is so like you. So be it General Wesley Ezdorth. Please, try to make this interesting for me will you? Now… come!”