MIGHT AS WELL BE OP

Chapter 473: Kaelrix

With a deafening roar, the two attacks clashed, tearing through the air with cataclysmic force.

The very ground beneath them caved inward from the impact, while the wind shrieked in a piercing wail, as though the world itself cried out in agony.

Amidst the chaos, two figures stood locked in fierce confrontation.

The first, one of the fabled Three Warlords, was Kaelrix.

The second, a being cloaked in dark authority, was Drekhal, one of the Demon Monarchʼs foremost subordinate.

The moment their attacks collided, time seemed to fracture into fleeting frames of motion.

Hammers clashed with fists.

Sonic booms burst in rapid successions as the two figures separated and collided again, neither yielding so much as a step.

One stood tall with blazing crimson hair, his face devoid of expression, his eyes detached, dispassionate, as if locked in battle on a routine day.

Opposite him was a figure crowned in pitch-black hair, his features twisted with unhinged madness, eyes gleaming with a cold, lethal intent.

They were polar opposites, discipline against chaos, silence against fury.

And yet, their contrasting natures did not soften the conflict.

It only made the violence more savage.

Kaelrixʼs hammer swept in from the side like a falling meteoroid, blindingly fast, devastating in force.

But Drekhal was no mere adversary to be overwhelmed. With a subtle shift of his stance, the sand beneath his feet scattered, lending fluidity to his motion. His arm curved with unnatural precision before lashing out in defiance.

Another sky-splitting detonation followed as his elbow met the hammer mid-swing. The resulting shockwave fractured the air itself.

Sound lagged behind their movements, unable to match their speed.

Each thunderous echo rang out in the wake of empty space, for by the time it reached the ear, they had already vanished, clashing elsewhere in a storm of motion.

Drekhalʼs black fist shot forward like a bullet, aimed straight for Kaelrixʼs face.

But Kaelrix, unshaken, merely shifted his stance, his shoulder dipped, and with seamless precision, the blow tore through the space where his head had been just moments before.

Yet he did not stop at evasion.

In the same breath, Kaelrixʼs hammer surged upward from below, its broad, flat surface howling through the air as it tore toward Drekhalʼs jaw with deadly force.

But Drekhalʼs instincts, honed through countless battles, flared to life.

He didnʼt think. He reacted.

His left hand snapped up, palm unfurling in a blur, catching the hammer mid-flight with jarring precision, halting its momentum just inches from impact.

But Kaelrix wielded not one, but two hammers, and the second came crashing down like a judgeʼs gavel, descending with finality toward Drekhalʼs ankle, threatening to shatter bone and balance alike.

In that split-second, Drekhalʼs inhuman reflexes surged to life. With one hand still braced against the flat face of the first hammer, he twisted his body upward in a fluid pivot, narrowly evading the devastating strike.

An instant later, the second hammer struck the ground with earth-shaking force.

A thunderous impact rang out as the hammer collided with the terrain, sending fractures racing outward.

The ground split and groaned beneath the blow, cracks spiderwebbing across the landscape for kilometers, effortlessly, violently, as though the earth itself had buckled in submission.

Drekhal was already transitioning into his next move, his evasion flowing seamlessly into offense, a single fluid motion devoid of hesitation.

His knee drove downward like divine retribution, aimed unerringly at Kaelrixʼs head.

Fast. Precise. Lethal. Final.

Kaelrixʼs eyes remained impassive, unmoving, unreadable.

His body exuded a chilling calm, as though thought itself were beneath him.

And then, with a single mental command, his Talent awakened.

CREATION.

Reality shuddered beneath his will. Space warped, and in the blink of an eye, a gleaming metal shield materialized above his head, summoned into existence by sheer thought.

Drekhalʼs knee slammed into it with titanic force.

The shield trembled violently, groaning under the pressure, metal warping, its surface buckling.

But it held.

Fragile in appearance, unbreaking in essence.

It stood.

Seizing the brief moment of reprieve, Kaelrix vanished, his form blurring into motion, a streak of speed that tore through the air as he crossed the distance with near-impossible velocity.

Drekhalʼs cold gaze snapped toward the fleeting silhouette, his muscles coiling in readiness, prepared to give chase.

But then, his instincts screamed.

A primal warning surged through him.

His jet-black eyes darted upward, and in that instant, his mind registered the impending catastrophe: countless hammers, forged from glistening ice, descending from the heavens like guided missiles.

An avalanche of destruction, cold, merciless, inescapable, came crashing down around him.

Drekhal didnʼt waste time with curses, there was no point. He knew all too well that Kaelrix create various things from nothing, at any moment, without warning.

Instead, he adapted.

His feet sank into the earth, grounding him.

His stance shifted subtly, aligning with the cadence of the chaos around him. Muscles tightened, coiling like compressed springs, his entire form attuned to the rhythm of his next explosive motion.

He was ready, not to endure, but to strike back.

[Drekhal Martial Technique: Fist Style: Dark Lightning Resonance]

A surge of black lightning erupted across Drekhalʼs body, crackling through his muscles, his spine, his nervous system, his very veins.

Even his eyes lit with an ominous charge, arcs of darkness-infused lightning dancing across them as his speed spiked to inhuman heights.

Then came the assault.

His fists blurred into motion, each punch a streak of concentrated force laced with lightning, driving upward in rapid, devastating succession.

He did not shift his stance. His footing remained rooted, unshaken.

Only his muscles moved, surging with explosive precision. Each knuckle met an incoming ice hammer with a thunderous crack, one after another.

The air shattered with sound. Shards of ice burst outward with every strike, scattering like crystalline shrapnel.

Lightning flickered violently, painting the battlefield in pulses of light and shadow, the sky itself flashing with every impact.

But Drekhal did not falter.

Not a single ice hammer required more than one blow. Each collapsed beneath his fist, destroyed in a single, decisive strike.

A white, icy mist spread like a veil across the battlefield, intertwining with a black, thunder-laced storm that crackled and churned above.

The clash of elemental forces warped the very air, shifting both temperature and tone, turning the once-neutral terrain into a battleground of extremes, painted in pale frost and seething shadow.

As the final ice hammer exploded into shards and vapor, Drekhalʼs eyes snapped toward Kaelrixʼs position, sharp, focused, unblinking.

He was ready, to engage, to devastate.

But what Drekhal saw halted him, Kaelrixʼs hammer was vanishing into a swirling portal.

Before his mind could fully register what was happening, space quivered behind him. A second portal tore open directly at the back of his head.

From it, the hammer came, blurring forward like a judgment stroke, aimed straight for his skull.

Drekhalʼs thoughts raced with brutal efficiency.

Too fast. Too close. No time to dodge.

He had been caught nearly off guard.

But instinct and will kicked in.

From the depths of his core, chaotic energy erupted in a violent surge, spiraling outward and condensing into a shimmering barrier around his head.

The air distorted with pressure, a vortex of raw, refined force protecting the most vulnerable point.

With bone-rattling blunt force, the hammer crashed against the barrier like a battering ram striking a fortress gate.

A shockwave detonated outward, ripping the air apart on the far side of the barrier.

The brutal inertia yanked Drekhalʼs body violently to the side, tearing him through the air like a scissor slicing through silk.

Though the hammer never made direct contact, the reverberation of the impact slammed into him with immense force.

Yet, despite the violent jolt, dizziness refused to claim him. His will remained unbroken.

His body twisted effortlessly midair, then, without a hint of hesitation, he brought himself to a sudden, precise stop, suspended as if time itself had bent to his will.

His black hair whipped around him, flowing with the rhythm of the raging battle.

His piercing gaze locked onto Kaelrix, who stood calmly, eyes steady, devoid of any trace of killing intent.

With a single deliberate thought, Drekhal descended, landing softly upon the earth as if gravity were a mere suggestion.

The instant his feet met the ground, Drekhal flowed seamlessly into another martial stance.

His right leg stepped forward, leading ahead of the left, while his body and waist dipped low into a coiled, ready form.

His right hand stretched forward, fingers poised like a blade, while his left hand remained just behind, never crossing the elbow-length of his right arm.

Lightning crackled and danced across his entire being, sparking over his skin and swirling through his aura.

His breathing slowed and deepened, focus sharpening to an almost supernatural precision, every nerve and sinew primed for the next strike.

Kaelrix remained silent, no words, no shift into any formal stance. He simply stood, still as a statue.

Then, without warning, a searing, blazing heat burst forth from him.

Phoenix flames fiery and radiant, ignited in an instant, as if the very air caught ablaze.

The flames burned with such intensity they seemed capable of melting space itself. The earth beneath Kaelrixʼs feet began to liquefy, cracking and glowing red-hot as molten lava seeped upward.

The flames coiled tightly around both of his hammers, wrapping the weapons in a living inferno ready to unleash devastation.

Both stared at each other, one with emotion, the other without.

No words were spoken. No signals were given.

They didnʼt blink. Then they did.

They vanished. Frames of motion.

A Black Fist. A Red Hammer.

Black Lightning. Phoenix Flames.