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The scene was a city in ruins.
Charred buildings and twisted structures formed a suffocating battlefield.
At the center, two impossible presences collided in silence—
Mei Nuhay, fire in the shape of a woman.
Dante, the king who had conquered death.
They didn't move.
Not yet.
The tension was unbearable—as if the universe was holding its breath.
Dante took the first step.
The ground sank beneath his foot.
His black eyes gleamed, analyzing her.
"She doesn't hesitate. Every strike of hers aims to kill. She doesn't hold back, not even out of pride."
"And yet, she improvises as if the fight were a stage."
"Arrogant. Unpredictable. Annoying. But there's always a hidden pattern, even in madness."
— Are you dancing for me or waiting to die? — Mei taunted, rotating her wrist, letting sparks drip from her hand.
— Come on, let's give your daddy a welcome.
He answered with silence.
And then attacked.
The impact of Dante's punch against Mei's forearm sounded like dry thunder.
The air shuddered.
She slid two meters back, her feet digging into the ground.
But she smiled.
— Good. There's weight in that.
She returned with a flaming hook.
Dante blocked with his forearm wrapped in a dark barrier—but even so, the impact exploded the wall beside them.
BOOOOM!
The structure collapsed.
Shards of concrete rained down, and both vanished in the dust.
Dante reappeared above, striking with his elbow.
Mei spun her body at the last instant and countered with a knee to the abdomen.
He retreated.
She didn't let up.
— Imaginary Technique – Solar Trail!
A line of fire was left on the ground like a horizontal cut.
Mei used it as propulsion and charged like a living spear.
Dante responded with a snap of his fingers.
The space between them bent.
She hit nothing.
He appeared beside her and murmured:
— Twisted Void.
A black sphere emerged from his palm and exploded in silence.
Mei was thrown against an intact building, crashing through concrete, iron, and glass.
KRRRRRRSH!
But before the debris could fall, she flew back, her eyes glowing deep red.
— Techniques that mess with space? Try to convince me this is a physics lesson and I'll run.
— I'm testing your limits — he replied coldly.
— You'll need more than dimensional tricks to study me.
Mei slammed her hands on the ground.
Flaming circles formed under Dante's feet.
— Collapsing Constellation.
Pillars of fire rose around him like teeth of a celestial trap.
Dante didn't move.
Raised his hand and whispered:
— Dilution.
And the flames… were swallowed by the local gravity itself, vanishing into nothing.
A structure behind him was pulled into a black point and disappeared with a muffled roar.
Mei's eyes widened—and she laughed.
— Now we're talking.
— You're showing me what daddy gave you?
The world watched.
The drones trembled.
— That… explosion… that house disappeared!
— My God… is this real?
— Mei vanished in the rubble!
— I-Is she alive?
Back on the battlefield, Mei emerged, walking slowly through the ashes, her body with open wounds.
Part of her right shoulder was torn away.
She looked at it.
And with a gesture, time reversed locally on her arm.
The flesh returned. The bone reconnected.
— Solar Cycle: Temporal Regeneration.
— Impressive — Dante murmured. — That's not just regeneration. You reverse the body's timeline to an undamaged point. That consumes absurd energy.
— A star burns and produces energy, you know?
Dante stared at her thoughtfully...
She spread her arms, her entire body a live ember.
— Is that all you've got?...
Dante responded with another technique.
— Call of the Abyss.
From the ground, two entities rose.
Made of shadows, faceless, moving with multiple arms as if defying logic.
They charged at Mei with inhuman screams.
Mei leaped, spinning in the air.
— Spinning Supernova!
She enveloped herself in a flaming mantle and spun like a solar whirlwind, piercing one of the creatures, which melted on contact.
The other grabbed her leg.
She fell with a thud—and Dante appeared above her.
— Elemental Pressure.
All forces—wind, water, earth, lightning, and fire—collapsed on the point where Mei was.
"Cosmic Belt."
BOOOOOM!
A crater swallowed city blocks.
Silence.
Ashes.
For a second… nothing.
But then, a muffled voice:
— …made me… sweat.
The ground exploded.
Mei emerged from within, glowing like a star in agony.
Her hair floated with a life of its own.
Her aura was no longer common fire—it was condensed plasma.
— I'm loving this — she panted, smiling with blood trickling from her nose.
— But you're still too… calculated.
She charged with her fists.
— Let's get these hands dirty, Dante.
And the combat turned brutal.
Punch. Elbow. Kick. Impact. Technique.
Dante defended with spatial bending.
Mei created solar impulses with her feet, bursting each time she touched the ground.
One building fell.
Another exploded.
Windows shattered for miles.
The fight was a compact storm.
And in the midst of it, Dante retreated half a step.
Thoughtful.
"She learns during combat. Every technique I use against her becomes inspiration for her next move. There is no fixed formula."
"She is… adaptation in the form of fire."
Back in the battle, Mei pummeled Dante with various blows and techniques.
— Come on, little king. Where's that threat you used to be?
He smiled.
For the first time.
— I was just warming up.
And then… the abyss within the crown spun.
And the air lost sound.
Gravity collapsed around them.
Everything darkened.
Mei was thrown far away—and didn't move for a moment.
A deadly silence fell.
To be continued...