Code Black

Veleno, face to the ground, quickly sprinted out in a burst of speed. Shrarld and Veleno faced off against Fire Dragon. As they tried to co-ordinate their next attack, Fire Dragon blitzed in, wrapped in flames, and gut kicked Veleno to the ground once more.

It was a dirty move, but effective as could be.

One attack had sent Veleno crashing to the ground again. His vision blurred. He had been reckless—again. Damn it, not like this. Not so soon.

For a moment, Veleno's world turned black and white and then he went unconscious. His body was not built for the punches of the second strongest hero in China. This time he did not get up, the force of the kick had incapacitated him instantly.

"How useless you are." Shrarld's words were filled with frustration. He had expected much better. Veleno was supposed to be a deadly weapon, not deadweight. Why was he even here? Shrarld's back stung from the time Fire Dragon used his body as a human shield against Veleno's poison.

Shrarld instantly reacted with a right hook which sent Fire Dragon flying back.

Fire Dragon's figure did flips in the air before his feet drifted on the ground as his momentum slowly died down. A trail of rising dust was left in the wake of his slide across the ground.

Fire Dragon who only had tattered trousers, his lean raw muscles bulging with power, and flames seeping out of his mouth, picked himself up and walked towards Shrarld.

Inside the domain of flames, Shrarld had been overheating. Coupled with all the sustained damage he had already taken, Shrarld looked like half a corpse.

Shrarld had bruises all over his figure, burn marks had spread over his shoulder blades and half the skin on his body. The fresh claw wounds on his chest had yet to heal, and Fire Dragon remained relentless in his assaults.

"Huǒyàn zhī tǐ"

(Body of flames.)

Fire Dragon called down some of the fire from his domain to engulf him, as he covered himself in an aura of flames he charged in once more. Beastly flames covered him gracefully, now his every move was empowered and whenever Shrarld tried to attack, he was burned by the aura of flames.

Both Shrarld and Fire Dragon exchanged several blows, with Shrarld coming off as the blatant loser of each trade.

Slower, Shrarld was broken down. Layers of skin had been burnt black over his knuckles, with one last punch Fire Dragon took Shrarld to the ground and stood victorious.

He raised his arm in the air to signal his win, as his fire domain finally collapsed, setting fire to the village scenery that had been there the entire time.

From hundreds of meters away, people cheered. Setting a lively atmosphere into play, but a strange silence then descended, and the night's cold wind ran rampant through the sky.

As he was about to let out a heroic speech, Fire Dragon felt a hand grip his right ankle. As he looked down, his fears came to life. Shrarld's grinning face snapped a string in his mind, the fight wasn't over.

"Finally, that false domain is gone." Shrarld cackled like a mad-man as he raised his arms into the air, signalling to all the shadows in the vicinity, which were no longer being banished by flames.

Soon all the nearby shadows wrapped around Shrarld and Fire Dragon.

Fire Dragon attempted to break out of the cage of shadows by throwing a ferocious punch, but the shadows did not even flinch. He was trapped.

Shrarld panted, but at the same time he placed both his hands on Fire Dragon's shoulders. His grip was terrifyingly weighty leaving Fire Dragon feel as if he was sinking into the ground.

"Let me show you what a real domain is."

"Shadow Realm."

Both had fulfilled the criteria to enter the shadow realm,as they were both engulfed in shadows and making physical contact. Soon the small cage of shadows expanded into an endless void, with no light present.

As Fire Dragon stood under a sky of shadows, he felt his energy being drained by the second. Surprisingly, as he got weaker he felt as if Shrarld was getting stronger. It was as if the shadows were transferring his energy directly to Shrarld. His power—it was slipping. Like water running through his fingers. What kind of ability was this? 

"Huh?" He looked at his hands which were twitching uncontrollably, the Veleno's poison was reaching it's final stages.

"Have you realised why I'm the strongest? Because your power is my power, and my power is unstoppable." Shrarld breathed in, accepting Fire Dragon's energy.

In the corner of his sight, Fire Dragon saw an old lady several hundreds of meters away, it felt like a mirage yet something in his mind screamed out, knowing it was the truth. His breath hitched. That face—so familiar. So impossibly distant. His heart pounded against his ribs. No, it couldn't be. Not here. Not now. Unless… she had been watching him all along.

"Is that my sister?"

Shrarld followed his gaze.

"Indeed, will you fight for her?"

"Of course, I can't let me younger sister down, after all she's done for us."

Fire Dragon braced himself, his aura of flames died down, it was consuming too much of his energy.

Shrald and FIre Dragon stood against each other menacingly, their bodies collapsing under poison and crippling wounds. With their energy devoured by their battle, even the shadow realm's draining had little effect."

Shrarld commanded his shadows to wrap around Fire Dragon, who responded by coating only his fists in red flames. Like a dancer, Fire Dragon moved around like flowing water, he could not be caught by the living shadows and when his speed proved subpar he would bat away the shadows with the flames on his hands.

More tendrils of shadow began chasing down Fire Dragon, Shrarld began chasing his opponent with his hands.

Fire Dragon masterfully avoided all of Shrarld's shadow attacks and physical blows, and a small grin etched into his face. Shrarld blitzed Fire Dragon, but before he could throw a punch, a claw ripped off the skin on his right cheek. The agony was excruciating but his mind zoned out the pain, as it had been doing for years.

Tired of this game of cat of mouse, Shrarld roared out in agony, commanding all the nearby shadows to follow his command.

"It's too late now, you've already died." His words were spoken as if they were a royal decree, a death sentence of sorts.

Soon, a tidal wave of shadows formed, it was like a beautiful painting, each part of the shadow wave was alive and thousands of shadows tendrils wove into one another. Shrarld made the wave follow his hand and swoop down.

As the sea of shadows wrapped over his vision, Fire Dragon accepted this was an attack he could not avoid. Despite the poison bleeding into his organs, despite the shadows wringing his energy stores bleak, he knew he still had enough for one flashy move.

In the middle of his palm, he created a small orb of flames brighter than anything he had ever formed. It lit up the entire shadow realm, turning the blackest hell into heaven for a flicker of a moment.

"Hé xìng"

(Nuclearity)

As the world of shadows came crashing down he detonated the tiny orb of fire. An explosion that broke the ear-drums of both Shrarld and himself ensued. As blood streamed from their ears, the aftermath of nuclearity became clear. The tidal wave of shadows had been blasted apart, and tendrils of shadow lay lifeless in the realm of shadows, like weeds in a garden. 

Fire Dragon laughed, his body failing. The poison crept through him like a ticking bomb—and he could tell the last ticks were on their way.

He had a minute left at most, so he wasted no time in blitzing Shrarld, who was still surprised his ultimate moved had proved futile.

Since his energy was so depleted, Fire Dragon could only let out brief bursts of fire-power, in order to emphasize his already lethal damage.

He jumped around, dodging walls of shadows, landing scratches and kicks against Shrarld. Using the last of his shadows, Shrarld trapped Fire Dragon in a coccoon of shadows. He then took Fire Dragon into a choke-hold and tried to crush him from the neck. The pressure of the choke-hold made Fire Dragon feel as though the world was ending. Shrarld ripped off a chunk of Fire Dragon's hair with his free hand.

"How is the pain? I can tell life has treated you kindly, so I will graciously bring you back to reality. You challenged the strongest, and you reap what you sow. You cannot save anything."

Fire Dragon responded by heating his body to the extreme, to the point that Shrarld had to let go just to ensure his hand wasn't melted into oblivion.

From Shrarld's perspective, he was fighting someone as godly as himself. Despite everything he had done, the figure in front of him was still fighting. He was too fast, whenever Shrarld went for an attack, he always hit second.

For every deep wound Shrarld inflicted, he recieved three. Shrarld was being torn from flesh to bone, never had a human's wounds etched so deep into his skin. The scars in Shrarld's skin reopened as they were met with claws, it felt like he was reliving his past, where his father tortured him into becoming the perfect fighter.

Every punch and kick from Fire Dragon lit up the shadow realm, as his bright flames combusted into the void, causing greater bleeding in Shrarld's body. 

"What power is this? Where is it from? You have no energy! You should be dead." Shrarld's deep voice held power, but the frailty of his body made him look weak. Shrarld's mind raced. This was impossible. His dark domain, his shadows, his full power—none of it was enough. Was this what it felt like? To be hunted? To face an opponent you felt was insurmountable?

Fire Dragon took no time to respond, instead he pounced forward and jabbed at Shrarld's nose. 

Crack.

Shrarld's nose bursted with blood, and it's shape had been dislodged freakishly. Crack. Crack. Crack. One by one, Fire Dragon broke Shrarld's bones, he struck at Shrarld with brutal precision, leaving every aspect of Shrarld crippled.

Finally, the two stopped for one moment. For Shrarld it was a relief, he was no longer being hunted by Fire Dragon's onslaught. For Fire Dragon, he needed to recoup his energy for one last attack, he looked down and his body was bruised from head to toe. His claws and face were dyed red, in the blood of his opponent. He tried to breathe, but his throat had been crushed by Shrarld's choke-hold from earlier, making even breathing an excruciating task. His golden eyes blinked calmly in the darkness, he had to save his sister, he had to win this final bout.

"Wǒ huì jì zhù nǐ"

(I'll remember you.)

His body was breaking. His vision blurred at the edges. But none of it mattered. If this was the last thing he did, then so be it. He would make sure the world remembered his name.

"Let this moment decide the strongest." Shrarld swallowed down his fears, as he moved he could feel the screeches of his broken bones. His body wept as it remained soaked in it's own crimson blood. "Will your heroism live on? Or will I destroy you here?"

"Haha." Fire Dragon grinned, his body on the edge of despair.

Shrarld was a living Frankenstein, his grotesque burn marks and wounds made him look far more dead than alive as his green eyes shifted around in the darkness.

In the realm of shadows, the last bout would mean everything.