Chapitre 234: Chapter 233
[Third Person's PoV]
Baran was upon Claire, rapidly swinging his sword. With every swing, a powerful gale was unleashed, creating shockwaves that tore through the battlefield. His narrowed eyes and blurring arms moved faster than the eye could follow. All anyone could see were the afterimages of his strikes and the white arcs of wind slicing through the air around Claire.
Multiple cuts appeared on Claire's body as she struggled to defend herself. However, she wasn't doing a terrible job, managing to hold her ground against the onslaught.
The two combatants moved across the battlefield with incredible speed, becoming nothing more than fleeting afterimages with every clash of their blades.
Chunks of earth were torn apart and scattered. Any piece of rubble that came too close to the combat zone was shredded into fragments by the sheer force of their strikes.
Suddenly, black armor, crackling with electricity, materialized around Claire's legs. With a burst of speed, she teleported, reappearing a few steps away from Baran. Even Claire seemed surprised by this development.
"Oh wow, that actually worked…" she muttered, sheathing her sword. Leaning forward, she placed a hand on the hilt, preparing for her next move.
Realizing Claire was about to attack, Baran prepared as well. He opened his mouth, and the white flames surrounding his head intensified, condensing into a ball of white lightning that grew more compact with each passing second.
Meanwhile, more pieces of black, lightning-infused armor appeared on Claire's body, forming an imposing figure that resembled the Shadow Monarch's legendary armor.
"I'll call this move The Black Queen's Armament," she said aloud. "It boosts both my speed and strength simultaneously."
Claire chuckled to herself, thinking, 'The Jin-Ah in me is beaming with excitement at this chunni moment… Anime, don't fail me now.'
As she unsheathed her sword slightly, it became coated in black lightning that intensified into plasma, crackling with dangerous energy.
Baran's attack finished charging. The glowing ball of energy in his mouth compressed further before erupting in a devastating beam of pure electrical force. The blast carved a massive crevice in the earth, the air itself splitting with deafening cracks as the sound barrier shattered. Rings of wind spiraled outward from the beam, adding to the chaos.
Claire vanished with a manic grin, leaving behind a trail of black lightning. Energy surged from her eyes as she thought, 'I'll call this move The Hundred-Million-Volt Dragon.'
With a single swing of her plasma-coated sword, she cleaved the beam in two. From the arc of her strike, a massive black electrical dragon roared to life, bursting forth from her blade.
Two massive explosions erupted behind her as the bisected beam impacted the ground. Meanwhile, the black dragon surged toward Baran, engulfing him in its electrical fury.
For a moment, it seemed Baran was consumed by the dragon. However, he fought back, his sword clashing against the beast as it pushed him back. His feet dug into the ground as he resisted its force, gritting his teeth with effort.
Finally, his sword gave way, a crack running down its length before it shattered completely, disintegrating under the dragon's power. The black dragon opened its maw and swallowed Baran whole, sending him crashing into his castle, which crumbled under the impact.
"I don't understand…" Esil said, turning to Cid.
"What don't you understand?" Cid asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The dragon isn't interfering. Shouldn't Claire be fighting both Baran and the dragon at the same time?" Esil asked, confused.
Cid smirked. "Dragons are intelligent creatures, especially ancient ones. They know when to interfere and when to mind their own business. Isn't that right?" he asked, looking at the ancient dragon.
The dragon lowered its gaze, unable to meet Cid's eyes. Its pride was wounded, and it instinctively feared him. Earlier, when Baran and Claire weren't looking, Cid had given the dragon a warning—a silent promise of a fate worse than death if it dared interfere. Fighting a Monarch was one thing, fighting a Monarch and an Ancient Dragon? That was a bit too much for Claire.
Baran staggered to his feet amid the rubble of his ruined castle. Blood dripped from his body, and his skin flaked away, revealing raw muscle underneath. His armor and most of his clothes were destroyed, leaving only his tattered pants.
The white flames surrounding Baran flared, healing his superficial wounds but leaving the damage inside his body untouched.
Claire walked toward him as Baran clenched his fist, igniting it with white flames. Raising his burning fist, he glared at her with hatred.
"You're about to find out why they call me the Monarch of the White Flames!" he snarled.
Claire calmly returned her sword to its sheath and assumed a martial stance. "And you're about to learn why I'm called the Monarch Slayer," she replied with a wicked grin.
Baran appeared before Claire fist back, burning hot, his eyes glowing with a feverish white glare. Baran's fist came down like a meteor, the sheer force of his swing causing the air to combust into white-hot flames. Claire met him head-on, her own fist cloaked in the black plasma of her lightning armor. Their fists collided with an explosion of light and sound, the ground beneath them cratering violently and sending debris flying in every direction.
The impact sent shockwaves through the battlefield, uprooting anything within a hundred meters. Both fighters skidded backward, their feet digging deep trenches into the ground. Claire's grin widened as she wiped the blood trickling down her lip.
"You hit hard," she said, flexing her hand. "But it's gonna take more than that."
Baran snarled, his white flames flaring around him, licking at his wounds as they began to mend. "You talk too much," he growled, launching himself forward with an explosion of flame.
This time, Claire met him halfway, the ground beneath her disintegrating as she pushed off with her electrified legs. They exchanged a flurry of blows, each strike sending out ripples of destructive energy. Baran's fists burned with the intensity of a star, each hit searing Claire's armor and leaving scorch marks on her skin. Claire's counterpunches crackled with black lightning, her strikes fast and precise, each one drawing blood from Baran as his regeneration struggled to keep up.
Their movements became a blur to the onlookers, mere flashes of white and black light colliding in an intricate dance of destruction. Every missed blow carved deep scars into the earth, while every hit landed with the sound of thunder and fire.
Claire suddenly ducked under one of Baran's fiery haymakers, her body twisting with the fluid grace of a predator. She planted her foot into the ground, using her momentum to drive her elbow into Baran's ribs. The crack of breaking bone echoed as Baran spat blood, but he retaliated immediately, bringing his knee up into Claire's abdomen and knocking the wind out of her.
She stumbled back, coughing, but didn't hesitate. Lightning surged around her body as she unleashed a barrage of punches, each one faster than the last. Baran crossed his arms to block, his flames forming a barrier, but the sheer force of her attacks drove him backward, his feet dragging against the ground.
With a roar, Baran swung his fist downward, a wave of white flames erupting outward in a wide arc. Claire jumped back, avoiding the worst of the attack, but a stray flame licked at her arm, burning through her armor and charring her skin. She grimaced but didn't falter.
"That all you've got?" she taunted, electricity crackling as she flexed her injured arm.
Baran didn't reply, instead rushing her with renewed fury. His fists became a flurry of white-hot blurs, and Claire met them with her own lightning-charged punches. The two were locked in a brutal exchange, their fists colliding again and again, each impact drawing blood and sending shockwaves across the battlefield.
Finally, with a loud cry, Claire feinted to the right, causing Baran to overcommit to his punch. She capitalized immediately, slamming an electrified uppercut into his jaw. The force of the blow lifted Baran off his feet, sending him crashing into the ground with a resounding boom.
Baran struggled to rise, blood dripping from his mouth as his flames flickered weakly. Claire stood over him, her armor sparking and her body battered, but her grin remained.
"AHHHHHHHH!!!" Baran yelled, amplifying his flames with his emotion for one last attack. His hair stretched towards the skies, he moved his hand to the side and got into a charging position. He unleashed a small amount of flames from his mouth as he concentrated, his fist burning brighter and brighter.
Meanwhile Claire seeing Baran give an all out attack decided to do the same, she held the wrist of her hand that was aimed downwards when suddenly the sound of birds chirping began to appear, her hand was expelling an unusual amount of electricity, which was far from normal.
The battlefield went silent for a moment, the only sounds being the crackling of Baran's flames and the piercing chirps of Claire's electricity. Both fighters locked eyes, their expressions fierce and determined. Then, without hesitation, they vanished from their spots, leaving craters in their wake.
Baran's fist burned with an intensity that rivaled a dying star, the white flames consuming the very air around him. Claire's hand crackled with violent black lightning, the sound of a thousand birds chirping growing deafening as her Chidori reached its peak. They moved so fast that even the sharpest eyes could barely keep up, their afterimages blurring across the battlefield.
They met in the center in an earth-shattering collision, Baran's flaming fist clashing with Claire's electrified strike. The sheer force of their meeting created a blinding explosion of light and energy, engulfing everything in its radius. The sound was deafening, a mix of thunder and roaring flames that sent shockwaves ripping through the battlefield, uprooting buildings and shattering the ground for miles.
The explosion gave way to silence, the battlefield covered in a dense cloud of smoke and dust. As it began to clear, the scene became visible. Claire stood, her body heavily damaged. Her left arm and a significant portion of her torso were charred and burned away, exposing the muscle underneath. Black lightning still flickered weakly around her form, her armor shattered and sparking. Blood dripped from her wounds, pooling beneath her feet.
Baran knelt before her, his flames flickering weakly, his body trembling. His mouth opened as if to speak, but no words came out. Claire's hand was embedded in his chest, electricity crackling around her fingers. In her grasp was his still-beating heart.
Baran's glowing eyes widened in disbelief as blood trickled from the corner of his lips. He looked down at Claire's hand, then up at her face. She met his gaze with a somber but resolute expression.
"You fought well," Claire said softly, her voice strained from the pain of her injuries. "But this… is the end."
With a final surge of black lightning, Claire crushed Baran's heart in her hand. The Monarch of White Flames let out a strangled gasp as the last flickers of his flames extinguished. His body fell limp, slumping forward until Claire released him, letting him collapse onto the ground.
Claire staggered backward, barely able to remain on her feet. She looked down at Baran's lifeless form, her expression unreadable. The battlefield was quiet once more, save for the faint crackle of her dying lightning.
She raised her head to the sky, taking a shaky breath. "Monarch of White Flames, huh?" she muttered, her grin returning, though weaker this time. "Not bad..."
And with that, her knees buckled, and she collapsed backwards, however before she fell she crashed into the chest of someone standing behind her. She strained herself to look only to see Cid holding her broken body.
She gave him a weak grin as she said, "I was pretty cool, wasn't I?"
Cid only grinned, "The Coolest"
With that Claire went unconscious with a smile on her face.
État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
-- Classement
Power Stone 
-- Power
stone