The battle had just begun.
From beneath the earth, a hand burst forth, fingers twitching, clawing at the air like a revenant rising from its grave. Then—
PPING!
A sharp, unnatural sound cut through the battlefield.
BOOM!
The entire mountain vanished in an instant. A deafening explosion tore through the land, sending shockwaves across the horizon. Dust and debris churned into a maelstrom, devouring everything in sight.
And when the chaos settled, only one figure remained—standing atop what had once been a towering peak.
Alexander.
His silhouette loomed against the ruined landscape, his body untouched, his gaze burning with an intensity that made the air itself tremble. It was clear—this was no man to be buried.
This was a force of nature.
From the distance, a voice rang out, tinged with disbelief.
"You... survived that?"
Lucian.
Alexander smirked, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off dust was the only inconvenience. "Survive? That wasn't even a tickle."
Lucian's grip on his weapon tightened, knuckles turning white. The sheer absurdity of it gnawed at him—he had just erased a mountain, and yet Alexander stood there as if it were nothing more than a mild inconvenience.
"Tch… always running your mouth."
With a sharp exhale, Lucian vanished.
His blade descended like a comet, splitting the air with a deafening crack—
CLANG!
The strike stopped.
Not against Alexander's arm. Not against a weapon.
Against nothing.
The blade hovered inches from Alexander's throat, held back by an unseen force.
Lucian's eyes widened. "What the—?"
Alexander tilted his head. "See, that's your problem, Lucian. You're too fast, too aggressive."
He raised a single finger and tapped the air in front of him.
And then—
BOOM.
Lucian was gone.
A shockwave erupted, hurling him like a ragdoll. He crashed through the shattered battlefield, skidding across the ruins before slamming into what little remained of the landscape.
Silence.
Then, from the rubble, Lucian groaned. He forced himself up, coughing dust from his lungs. Blood trickled from his lip as he glared at the unmoving figure before him.
Alexander stood exactly where he had been. Unbothered.
Still smirking.
"So…" Alexander cracked his knuckles. "Still think that was enough to bury me?"
Lucian exhaled sharply, brushing a hand through his hair, pushing it back to reveal his forehead. His expression darkened.
"Ha... What was your name again?"
"Alexander. Alexander von Negther. You can call me 'Father.'"
Lucian's face twisted into a look of pure disappointment. "That's so cringe."
Alexander hesitated. "...Yeah. Gotta admit, that one didn't land."
Lucian sighed, shaking his head. "Seriously, man. All that buildup, and that's your big line?"
Alexander rubbed his temples. "Look, I panicked, okay?"
Lucian scoffed. "At least I know you're human after all. Too bad—" His stance shifted in an instant, his aura igniting like wildfire. "—I won't let you live long enough to regret it."
In a blink, Lucian vanished again.
No blade this time. No predictable strike.
Instead—
A sudden, violent implosion.
The ground beneath Alexander collapsed, folding in on itself.
The air distorted.
Lucian's killing intent struck like a tidal wave, crushing everything in its wake—
WHAM.
Lucian stopped mid-air.
Frozen.
Reality itself had betrayed him.
His breath hitched.
Alexander hadn't moved. He simply looked up at Lucian, mildly amused.
"Did you really think the same trick would work twice?"
Lucian gritted his teeth. His body refused to obey.
And yet—he moved.
His muscles tore with every step. Blood spilled from every wound, but he pushed forward, dragging himself against the invisible force.
Then—
"Kneel."
Lucian's voice echoed through the battlefield.
The weight of the command struck like a divine decree.
The force that held him down obeyed. Not by vanishing—but by kneeling itself.
And Alexander felt it.
A crushing, primal authority pressed down on him. His body and mind screamed to submit.
But his pride refused.
Across the realms, the effect was undeniable.
Every being in the Demon World and beyond collapsed to their knees.
Not in worship.
In Fear!
Alexander stood firm, gritting his teeth against the sheer force of Lucian's will.
His smirk returned. "Heh. Not bad."
This time, Lucian didn't vanish.
He simply walked forward, each step deliberate, like a hunter approaching prey that had already been caught.
The sky wept.
Rain poured down, cold and relentless, as if the battle itself had broken nature's rhythm. Water splattered against the ruined earth, trickling through the cracks left by their clash.
Alexander remained locked in place, his body betraying him, his knees trembling under the weight of Kneel. But he refused. His pride burned too fiercely to submit.
And yet—Lucian was already there.
The distance between them had disappeared.
They stood face to face, eyes locked, their gazes sharp as diamond.
Lucian smirked, his hair once again disheveled by the rain. A single droplet trailed down his cheek as he looked Alexander in the eyes.
"Farewell, Alexander von… uh—"
"Negther."
Lucian blinked. "Oh."
Then his smirk widened. "Farewell, Alexander von Negther."
His hand opened.
A fist hovered just inches from Alexander's chest.
A one-inch punch.
"No wa—"
Before Alexander could finish, Lucian struck.
The impact didn't ripple outward. It didn't explode in a grand shockwave.
This time, the force condensed.
A single point. A single strike.
And from Alexander's back—golden energy erupted.
The beam of energy was blinding.
It tore through buildings, mountains—even realms. The blast carved a path straight into the Beastkin lands, its sheer force rewriting the landscape in an instant.
But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
What others couldn't see was far more terrifying.
The beam didn't stop at the horizon.
It escaped the planet!
Ripping through the void, it defied all logic. It needed no medium to travel—it was the medium. The raw energy sustained itself, refusing to dissipate, as if existence itself bent to its will.
In mere moments, it had already left the solar system—a system of five planets, orbiting a sun far larger than the one seen from Earth.
Yet even that was insignificant.
The beam kept going Faster. Beyond the speed of light.
It was headed toward the great devourer of the universe.
A black hole.
Then—impact.
At first, there was nothing. No explosion. No blinding light. Just a deep, unnatural silence.
Then the universe shook.
Not the ground. Not the sky. The universe itself.
Space twisted. Reality bent. The sheer force of the collision didn't just rival the death of a star or the clash of planets—those were insects in comparison.
This wasn't destruction.
It was creation.
From the point of impact, a spiral began to form—growing, expanding, pulling matter into its orbit.
A galaxy was born.
Back to earth.
The impact on Alexander's stomach was massive, his clothes burned away, revealing his battle-scarred physique. His muscles tensed, his breath shallow, as golden embers flickered across his skin. The rain hissed against the searing heat of the blow, steam rising in ghostly wisps around him.
Lucian took a step back, shaking his hand. "Damn. That actually hurt my wrist."
Alexander exhaled, slow and controlled. His body hadn't moved an inch from the sheer force, but the internal damage was undeniable. He could feel it—his organs rattled, his ribs fractured, his very core trembling from the concentrated might of that single-inch strike.
And yet—he laughed.
"Heh."
Lucian raised a brow. "What's funny?"
Alexander rolled his shoulders, the motion sending another ripple of heat into the air. His smirk widened, even as blood dripped from his lips. "Just wondering..." He lifted his gaze, eyes burning with raw defiance. "Was that your best shot?"
Lucian's smirk twitched. "You tell me."
"Well, it did hurt quit- no. It hurt a lot. This is the first time someone has injured me this much"
"They don't call me the king for no reason."
Lucian chuckled as he heard Alexander's response. Though it was surprising he was still standing with that strike. He was injured, not just a little. It was actually if a little child had been hit by a truck. He was covered in red with somewhat blue blood all over his body.
There was one more thing, lucian was also heavily injured. He's left arm, which he had regenerated was no longer able to move. Blood was flooding from his nose and mouth.
"They both are insanely injured now, i don't think they should still fight." Magnus watching from the observation window stated.
"But I am not happy with this.". Lucian took power to say those words as he punched Alexander in the guts, this punch wasn't with the use of authority, mana or qi. This was pure strength.
It was a punch born from sheer will—a defiant refusal to fall before his rival.
That punch sent Alexander flying, fast, as if he were a meteorite entering the Earth's atmosphere. As he flew through the sky, battered and bloodied, Alexander's mind flickered back—to a promise, a face, a reason to rise again. He soon fell to the ground inside a forest. Bleeding, with shattered bones, scratched skin and with nothing but his pants as a cloth to cover his skin.
Lucian on the battlefield turned his back and stared towards his castle. He dragged his feets on the ground and walked towards his nest (pfft).
"I acknowledge you, Alexander. You are worthy of being second to me."
Inside the floating castle above the battlefield, the storm still roaring outside, the observation room was dead silent.
Magnus leaned back in his chair, sipping from a chipped teacup. "Well… that escalated quickly."
Bob blinked. "Did we just feel an earthquake? That wasn't normal."
Renaya gripped the edge of the table. "It wasn't just an earthquake. That shockwave… I thought the world was ending."
Magnus casually poured himself another cup. "Honestly, felt like that one punch Saitama used to swat Boros into orbit. Or maybe like when Goku punched Jiren so hard the void trembled."
Bob squinted. "Who?"
Renaya frowned. "What are you talking about?"
Magnus blinked innocently. "No one."
They stared at Magnus, but he just took another sip, unfazed.
"…You sure you're not making those names up?" Bob asked, brows furrowed.
Magnus shrugged. "Maybe. Maybe not. Could just be fever dreams from a lazy afternoon nap."
Renaya leaned against the window, watching the rain blur the battlefield. "Still… to think someone could survive that."
"Two someones," Bob muttered. "They looked like corpses trying to keep walking."
"Yeah," Magnus murmured, his eyes narrowing just slightly. "That's the terrifying part. They're not done."
Outside, the storm began to fade. The winds settled. The clouds thinned.
But the tension in the air remained—heavy, crackling, unspoken.
Somewhere in the distance, Alexander lay broken but alive. Somewhere else, Lucian dragged his battered body back home.
The fight was over.
But the war?
It hadn't even started.