The field was silent.
No wind.
No birds.
No distant cities or marching armies.
Just tall grass flattened into a wide circle, as if the earth itself had bowed away from what stood at its center.
Ace sat atop a lone stone, elbows resting on his knees, his posture relaxed in a way that felt wrong for a battlefield. Across from him, several paces away, stood a creature wreathed in purple flame.
Its head burned like a dying star, violet fire twisting upward where a face should have been. A blackened sword rested across its back, the metal glowing faintly as if remembering countless deaths. Heavy armor clung to its frame, scarred and ancient, every plate carrying the weight of centuries.
The creature did not move.
Neither did Ace.
After a long moment, Ace spoke.
"Hey," he said casually, eyes lowered, voice carrying easily across the field. "Do you know what runs this world of ours?"
The flames flickered.
"What makes the cogs in society turn, huh?"
He paused, as if genuinely expecting an answer.
Silence answered him.
Ace exhaled softly and continued.
"Well… the answer's obvious. Strength."
His fingers curled slightly against his knees.
"The only thing that actually matters in this world is one's ability to impose their way of life through a show of strength." His voice didn't waver. "Everything else, laws, morals, ideals, they're just decorations people hang on power to make it look pretty."
He lifted his head, eyes sharp now.
"When I was younger, people loved to telling me things like violence doesn't dictate life… that an honest way of life would be enough to fulfill anyone."
A faint, humorless smile touched his lips.
"But that's not true."
The purple flames across from him pulsed once.
"The only principle that matters," Ace said, rising slowly to his feet, "Is one's own might. Because in this world, might makes right."
The flaming figure finally moved.
It reached back and drew its sword in one smooth motion. Purple fire bled along the blade as it was planted point-first into the earth between them. The ground hissed softly where metal met soil.
Then, deliberately, the creature began to remove its armor.
Piece by piece.
The sound of buckles and clasps echoed in the open field.
Ace stepped down from the stone.
"I figured that out early," he continued, voice calm as he reached for the weapons at his waist. "I tried walking the honest path. Tried avoiding violence. Tried telling myself that taking a life was crossing some invisible line I could never come back from."
He unfastened his curved short sword and let it fall into the grass.
"But then a group of people very close to me died."
The memory tightened his chest, but he didn't slow.
"And I realized something."
His daggers followed, clinking softly as they hit the ground.
"If I wanted to keep living, if I wanted to protect anything that mattered, I had to be willing to kill… I had to abandon my humanity"
The last piece of the creatures armor dropped away.
Bare steel. Burning skull. Nothing left to hide behind.
Ace met the creature's gaze, if it could even be called that.
"And then," Ace said quietly, "the first time I met you… you killed my sensei right in front of my eyes."
The air grew heavier.
"That's when I understood. Resolve alone wasn't enough. Being ready to abandon my humanity wasn't enough."
He straightened fully.
"I needed the strength to back it up."
For the first time since the field had gone silent
The creature spoke.
Its voice was deep, hollow, layered with something old. Not rage. Not fear.
Acceptance.
"I can hear it, the flame of life, I will die here."
Purple fire rolled higher.
"You are stronger than me, boy. Not yet in power… nor in technique."
It stepped forward.
"But your soul pierces mine as if it were the talon of a mighty dragon."
Ace did not respond.
"And I am content with that. There is nothing left for me here, and if i were to leave this earth by your hands it would be all the more fitting"
The creature placed a hand over its chest.
"So before we begin, I will tell you my name."
The flames steadied.
"Please remember me. To be remembered by a man who has grasped this truth, a truth ignored for millennia, would be an honor."
It lowered into a fighting stance.
"My name is Whispher," it declared. "King of the Dullahan."
Essence surged.
"I offer you a fair duel, Ace. Now"
Its stance sharpened.
"Show me the strength you have built to empowers your way of life."
The earth cracked.
Both figures vanished
and the field erupted as they dashed toward each other.