The Return Of The Exiled Villain

Ronan did not waste the moment.

Swooosh!

Dark-red fire surged higher around both gauntlets as he planted his scaled feet and drove forward again.

”Dragon Flame Barrage!”

A rapid series of burning punches came in a tight, overlapping sequence, left, right, left, then a heavier cross that trailed a short roar of flame.

Gray slipped the first two, caught the third on his forearm with a solid thud, and leaned just enough for the cross to pass over his shoulder.

Heat washed across his neck.

He stepped inside the extended arm and drove a short elbow into Ronan’s ribs.

Thump!

Ronan grunted, scales flexing under the impact, and immediately opened his mouth.

”Flame Breath!!!”

A dense column of dark-red fire erupted at point-blank range.

Gray turned his torso and let the main force of the breath sear past his chest, the edge of it still hot enough to sting.

Before the flames fully cleared, he snapped a low kick into the side of Ronan’s lead knee.

The scaled leg bent with a heavy crack of impact, but Ronan used the motion to swing a fire-coated backfist toward Gray’s temple.

Swoop!

Gray ducked.

The gauntlet tore a line of heat through the air above his head. He rose with a straight right that landed cleanly on the scaled cheek.

Thud!

Ronan’s head turned with the punch, yet the vertical pupils never lost focus. He planted both feet, crossed his gauntlets in front of his chest, and roared.

”Dragon Scale Guard, Explosive Release!”

The dark-red mana around his arms detonated outward in a short-range shockwave of fire and force.

Gray raised both forearms and took the blast across them, his boots sliding half a meter across the scorched stone.

The heat bit into his sleeves.

The moment the pressure dropped, he pushed forward again, closing the distance before Ronan could reset.

A sharp jab from Gray struck the center of the scaled chest. Ronan answered with a rising, fire-wreathed uppercut.

”Burning Dragon Upper!”

Gray leaned back.

The flaming fist passed close enough that the heat tightened the skin across his jaw.

He caught Ronan’s extended wrist, turned it, and drove a knee into the exposed underside of the arm.

Ronan snarled, twisted free, and exhaled another concentrated jet of fire directly at Gray’s face.

Gray angled his head and let the breath pass, feeling the searing line of it across his ear and neck.

They remained locked in close range.

Ronan’s next combination came faster.

A flaming hook from the left, a cross from the right, then a sudden downward elbow trailing fire.

Gray slipped the hook, parried the cross with an open hand, and stepped in so the elbow landed against his shoulder instead of his collarbone.

The heat flared once again.

He answered with two short punches to the body, then a third that snapped up toward Ronan’s chin.

Thud!

Thud!

Crack!

Ronan’s head snapped back.

”Urgh...” A rough groan tore from his throat.

He staggered one step, then forced the dragon transmutation harder through his limbs. The scales along his arms darkened.

The fire around the gauntlets turned a deeper, almost blackened crimson.

”Don’t get full of yourself! Dragon Fang Rush!”

Ronan lunged with both fists leading, the burning gauntlets aimed to smash through whatever guard Gray presented.

Gray turned sideways, let the first fist graze past his ribs, and met the second with a rising forearm block.

Thump!

The impact rang down his bone.

He stepped through the contact and delivered a clean palm heel to Ronan’s sternum, pushing the transformed fighter back two full meters.

Ronan slid to a stop, boots carving shallow trenches in the blackened stone.

His breathing was heavier now, chest rising and falling under the scaled plates, but the vertical pupils stayed locked on Gray.

He wiped the back of one gauntlet across his mouth and lowered his stance again.

”I’m not done yet!”

He charged once more.

”Flame Spiral Fist!”

The right gauntlet became the center of a short, rotating column of dark-red fire as Ronan threw a powerful straight.

Gray moved offline, felt the spiral of heat tear past his side, and countered with a low roundhouse kick that struck the outer thigh of Ronan’s lead leg.

The scaled muscle absorbed it with a heavy thump, yet the force still disrupted the next step.

Gray followed immediately with a straight left that landed on Ronan’s shoulder, then a right cross that cracked against the scaled jaw.

Thud!

Crack!

Ronan reeled, then answered by opening his mouth wide and releasing a broad, sweeping wave of fire that forced Gray to leap backward.

The flames washed across the platform, leaving fresh molten patches. The moment the wave passed, Ronan was already closing the gap again, both fists burning.

”Continuous Dragon Barrage!”

Punches came relentlessly.

Gray made sure to dodge almost every single one, redirecting the ones that held more force, though, each punch left a trail of heat across his skin or robe.

He returned short, sharp counters whenever a gap opened: a jab to the face, a hook to the ribs, a rising knee that forced Ronan to cross his gauntlets in defense.

Swoosh!

A particularly heavy overhand right came down toward Gray’s shoulder, fire trailing behind it like a comet.

Gray stepped in early, turned the force aside with a rising block, and drove an uppercut into the underside of Ronan’s chin.

The scaled head snapped upward.

”Arghh!!!” A clear groan escaped Ronan’s throat.

Gray did not step back.

He stayed close and delivered a rapid series of body blows.

Thud!

Thud!

THUMPP!

Ronan folded slightly around the third punch and tried to create space with another point-blank fire breath.

Gray dropped his level, let the flames pass over his back, and swept Ronan’s lead ankle.

The transformed fighter hopped the sweep, landed heavily, and immediately swung a wide, fire-coated backfist.

Gray leaned away, felt the heat sear past his cheek, and answered with a straight kick to the center of Ronan’s chest that pushed him back again.

Ronan’s boots scraped across the scorched stone.

Dark-red mana still poured off him, but the output was beginning to show slight fluctuations.

The continuous use of fire techniques and the accumulated impacts were taking their toll.

Even so, he lowered his stance once more, gauntlets raised, and refused to yield the center of the platform.

”Dragon... Transmutation... Second Surge!”

A fresh wave of molten crimson light flared across the scales.

The fire around his fists intensified.

Ronan drove forward with renewed power, leading with a blazing cross, then a hook, then a rising knee wreathed in flame.

Gray met the sequence with the same calmness he had maintained throughout, slipping the cross, catching the hook against his forearm, angling so the knee glanced off his side.

The only problem was that the heat was sharper now, but thankfully, Gray’s mana was powerful enough to block most of it.

He returned a short elbow to the side of Ronan’s neck, then a palm strike to the chest that forced another step of distance.

Ronan snarled and exhaled a concentrated lance of fire directly at Gray’s midsection.

Gray turned, took the edge of it across his ribs, and closed in the same motion.

His fists struck the scaled body precisely, aiming at most of Ronan’s weakpoints.

Ronan blocked some, absorbed others, and kept answering with his own burning punches and sudden bursts of flame.

The exchange stretched on without pause.

Swooosh!

Fire flared around them; their fists met whatever place they could land, kicks landed agianst scaled legs just to be returned.

The platform beneath them grew darker with every passing exchange, scorched and cracked under repeated heat and force.

”Ourgh... fuuck!” Ronan’s breathing came in heavier pulls.

Occasional rough groans escaped him when a clean counter found a thinner section of scales.

Yet the vertical pupils never wavered, and the dragon transmutation held.

Gray continued to read Ronan’s rhythm, adjusting the angle of each block and the timing of each counter.

The improvement in Ronan’s output was clear as the fire was much denser, the combinations of his attacks turned tighter and faster, but even so, the previous gaps remained.

Every committed technique still left a narrow window.

Ronan forced another close exchange, gauntlets swinging in heavy, overlapping arcs of dark-red flame while a continuous low roar of fire breath poured from his mouth to limit Gray’s movement options.

Gray moved through the heat in short, efficient steps, letting excess flame trail past him. A burning fist grazed his shoulder.

Another was parried with an open hand. He stepped inside the third and drove a knee upward into Ronan’s midsection.

Thump!

”Kugh!” Ronan’s breath hitched.

The fire breath cut off.

Gray stayed in the pocket and delivered two sharp punches to the body, then a third that rose toward the chin.

Ronan blocked the last one with a crossed gauntlet and tried to shove Gray back with raw strength.

Gray angled off the shove, let the force pass, and reset his stance only a single step away.

Ronan’s chest heaved.

The dark-red mana around him pulsed unevenly now. He still raised both fists.

”I’m... not finished!!!”

He lunged one final time, both gauntlets flaring with the last concentrated surge of dragon fire, mouth opening for another breath attack meant to cover the advance.

Gray’s eyes stayed calm.

He moved forward to meet the charge rather than away from it. The flaming fists came in, and the flame breath rushed towards him.

Swoop!

Gray slipped the first fist, turned his shoulder through the edge of the breath, and planted his rear foot.

His right hand drove forward in a single, clean palm strike that landed squarely against Ronan’s solar plexus.

THUMP!

The impact traveled through scales, muscle, and the core of the dragon transmutation in one focused line.

”Kurgghh...” Ronan’s eyes widened.

The fire around his gauntlets snuffed out as if drowned.

The dark-red mana covering his body flickered once, then collapsed inward. A rough, choked sound left his throat as the air was driven from his lungs.

His knees buckled.

Thump...!

The scaled body staggered backward two steps, then dropped heavily onto the scorched platform.

The horns and scales began to recede almost immediately, the dragon transmutation unraveling under the precise, decisive strike.

”Ahha... haah? Uhgh...” Ronan remained on one knee for a moment, breathing in short, difficult pulls, before the tournament’s elimination threshold finally registered the accumulated damage and the finishing blow.

Light wrapped around him.

He vanished from the stage.