Ravyn slowly pushed himself off the wall, his black hoodie concealing his tensed frame. "You're an Executioner, aren't you?"
"Of course." Heron replied, a condescending smile forming on his lips. "And you're the Anomaly. Something that's not supposed to be in the Game at all."
"I know what an Anomaly is." Ravyn said.
Heron spread his hands. "Then you know what happens. You broke the rules, kid. And a fracture in the rules can cause significant damage to the order. It requires immediate, surgical erasure."
Ravyn exhaled slowly, his gaze dropping for a second before meeting Heron's. "You know what I've realized? No one ever listens to my side of the story. People say every story has two sides but when I'm involved, there's only one and it's never mine."
He clenched his fists. "And you know what? I'm done pleading to be heard. So let's get on with it."
Heron's smile widened. And he blurred, a silent flash of motion as his force propelled him across the distance. His hands drew the Twin Chained Cleavers in a single motion.
Ravyn's body flared with the deep red aura. He slammed his left foot down, channeling immense negative gravity directly beneath the Executioner.
CRACK-BOOM!
The ground erupted inward from a sudden, violent implosion. A deep, jagged crater formed instantly.
Heron lost his balance, his attack faltering for a crucial fraction of a second. Ravyn seized the opening, blurring forward. He threw a punch. And Heron, realizing he couldn't dodge, instantly crossed his Cleavers to block.
Heron was hurled backward, his feet tore deep gouges into the gravel, as he was skidding violently across the street.
Heron walked forward slowly, dragging his blades against the ground and their edges shrieking. "Impressive." he muttered.
Ravyn grabbed a broken lamppost beside him, then it twisted violently into the air before he launched it forward. It ripped through the air like a missile.
Heron exhaled once and swung his right blade upward. The lamppost clanged off the steel. He spun his second blade to deflect the rebound.
Ravyn raised his hand and redirected it.
The lamppost snapped mid-air, spinning backward and came slashing again. Heron moved like a dancer with every motion exact, his blades crossing and parrying as the twisting lamppost came alive.
And the moment he found rhythm, he used it. He pressed feet against the cracked pavement, then suddenly he vanished.
He'd jumped off the very shockwave of his own deflection.
In an instant, Heron was running along the wall of a ruined building, blades spinning in his hands. He twisted mid-run, flipping from the wall in a blur of motion.
Ravyn's eyes widened, barely a fraction of a second to react. He jumped back. Heron's blades cut through where he'd been standing and splitting the concrete.
Ravyn didn't get to land cleanly.
As he reached the peak of his jump, Heron spun midair, his heel whipping and kicked.
The impact landed on Ravyn's ribs. And his body was sent spiraling backward, crashing through a streetlight and slamming into the side of a parked truck.
A trickle of blood slid down from the side of Ravyn's head, tracing over his face and down his jawline.
Ravyn retaliated, launching himself up the side of a wall. He lowered the gravity beneath his feet to zero while increasing the gravity ahead of him, allowing him to run vertically on the wall.
Heron, looked up and threw a Cleaver straight up at Ravyn, reeling it back instantly with the chain.
Ravyn skidded on the wall and dodged. He reached the rooftop and he ripped a loose, an air conditioning unit.
He focused his Gravity Control to crush and compress the unit until it was the size of a watermelon. Then threw it down at Heron.
Heron swung and blade in a rapid arc. The cleaver met the falling metal block and bisected it with a blinding flash, sending the two halves crashing down on either side of him.
Ravyn used the dust cloud to launch his next attack. He pushed his own body mass to ten times normal and dropped from the roof like a meteor.
Heron, anticipating the impact, whirled his cleavers around him in a protective force barrier, creating a dome of impossibly fast-moving metal.
Ravyn crashed down and the blow slammed into the barrier. The force was so immense that Heron's ribs cracked and forcing him on one knee also.
Ravyn jumped back and stood a few meters away, panting, his mana flickering weakly.
Heron rose, slowly. "Not bad, kid."
He flash-stepped forward and he was faster now. Ravyn reacted by throwing a fist but Heron sidestepped and countered with an upward slash that caught Ravyn's hip. Ravyn screamed, blood spraying but twisted his body mid-motion and slammed his other fist into Heron's ribs.
Heron coughed blood and stumbled back, clutching his side.
Ravyn planted his feet in the ground, pushing his power beyond limits. He slammed his hand into the street and everything around him began to violently twisted up. And massive section of concrete, larger than a bus tore free from the ground, hovering high above them.
Then raised both arms.
Heron looked up, sweat trailing down his temple. "Tch… impossible."
"LET'S END THIS!" Ravyn roared as he thrust both palms forward. And the massive block shot forward like a missile.
The exertion was too much. Ravyn staggered back, puking a violent stream of blood and suffering a major nosebleed. He collapsed to one knee, the exertion leaving him momentarily blind.
Heron stared at the incoming attack. And gathered every last ounce of mana into his Cleavers.
He launched a vertical spinning assault, moving into the path of the block like a whirlwind. The Cleavers singing met the center of the block.
Heron sliced through it, creating an explosive separation. The block was bisected into two massive chunks, which flew past Heron on either side and crashed into the buildings behind him.
Heron landed in the center of the wreckage, and instantly launched himself toward Ravyn, the Cleavers raised for the final blow.
But before he could reach Ravyn, a thunderous, barefooted kick slammed into Heron's guts. Sending him flying through a wall and landing in the debris inside.
Ravyn blinked through the haze. And standing before him was Kenneth.
Heron scrambled out of the rubble, grabbing his Cleavers. "Get out of my way!"
Kenneth tilted his head. "I can't do that, the boy's mine to kill."
He blurred and grabbed Heron's head slamming him into the remaining wall.
Heron tried to swing his cleavers but Kenneth let go of his head and seized both of Heron's hands with a monstrous grip.
And devastating headbutt landed, shattering Heron's nose and instantly filling his mouth with blood.
Heron's grip on his blades loosened instantly. And Kenneth threw the disarmed Executioner onto the ground.
Before Heron could even attempt to stand, Kenneth picked up both blades and stabbed him through the chest.
Heron let out a choked cry and his body going instantly limp.
Kenneth turned back to Ravyn, who was weakly pushing himself up, his red aura flickered and ready for a last stand.
He vanished and appeared in front of Ravyn and punched him with a massive swing to the gut. Blood exploded from his mouth as he was thrown backward, crashing into a parked car. And the car screeched, pushed several meters before stopping.
Ravyn slid to the ground, collapsing completely. And puked more blood, clutching his stomach and his eyes filling with tears of sheer pain.
Kenneth approached the broken boy slowly and picked him up effortlessly by the head.
He stared at him for a moment, then a low amused exhale escaped him. "Are you… crying?" he asked.
And began to apply pressure, slowly squashing Ravyn's skull. "You're still not strong enough. What a shame."
Then as suddenly as he started, he stopped. He dropped Ravyn to the ground.
Kenneth looked around simply sighed.
"I will never find joy in fighting, if you guys keep breaking this fast."
He turned and walked away, disappearing into the alley, leaving the broken and bleeding Anomaly alone.