Chương 74: The Clash of a Flaming Heart against Earthen Tiger Skeleton!

We had one full week to prepare for the epic clash between two powerful warriors, each possessing a formidable Animo in their own right. Anticipation across the Dao lands was electric; people talked of nothing else. Because word had spread of how Feng-Dao initially defeated me, some spoke of me with disdain. However, those who had been in Moyonge shared tales of my deeds and achievements, restoring my reputation for someone that lost recently.

I returned alone to Daoshi's Hills, while Feng-Dao went back to the conquered territory to oversee the cleanup and train. From the moment I arrived, I trained with a single-minded obsession that consumed every waking hour, determined to claim victory in the rematch. On the very first day of my preparation, with only seven days left before our clash, I began my training at the bottom of the cliff in the early morning. I climbed the rock face at a frantic pace, carrying heavy weights on my back.

It reminded me of the island training Master had introduced to me, though I had customized it with this brutal added weight. The climb took two hours and eleven minutes. I was far from satisfied; I wanted to cut that time down to under two hours within the next three days. The burning in my legs and lungs only fueled my resolve. Right after that, I ran toward the first mountain, which rose three thousand meters above sea level, its massive peak practically daring me to challenge it.

Though it was a relatively small peak, the wind up there was fierce and refreshing. I seized the opportunity to strike with high intensity at that grueling altitude. For three exhausting hours, I shadow-fought a vision of Feng-Dao, while Siegfried's dark presence materialized behind me, laughing in the back of my mind. His emerald eyes grinned, mocking me for being so weak that I resorted to fighting a shadow, something he claimed he had no need for.

I snapped back at the ethereal bastard, telling him to shove it up his ass as I hurled a snowball that went right through his phantom form.

"I will win this time," I snarled, telling him that soon enough, Siegfried himself would get the beating he deserved. Glaring fiercely into the empty air, my inner fire burned hotter, driving me like a man obsessed. Fueled by this overwhelming motivation, I sprinted back down the mountain while clutching a massive boulder against my chest, forging arms that would never let go of my weapon again against an equal opponent. After that I took a break at a river.

Some amber-hued females and children from the nearby village stood there, offering fruits and water. I took them gladly and gave them some flashy sword moves as thanks. A small child came to my frontside and pulled my gi, asking if he could get as strong as me. I picked the boy up, circled him around, let him go, and said with a smile, "Even stronger than me. As I am still very weak. There are so many ways to get stronger. Do not stop training first and push yourself, and then learn to experience life itself."

The child smiled with snot running down his nose.

"Yes!" I smiled happily for a short moment, then continued. Night greeted me soon after. I followed the same routine with even higher intensity, pushing my body and soul to their limits under the stars with that ending my short yet fruitful training period. The day of the clash finally arrived. Many people came from all over the Dao Region to support their newly high-ranked General of whom received a bigger outpost and more soldiers under him. The capital square was packed.

Over forty thousand watched from every rooftop, wall, and open space. The city, now mostly repaired, buzzed with excitement. Feng-Dao stood opposite me with fiery passion in his eyes. He had trained hard for this battle of ours as well, but I knew my crazy training had been more fruitful. I took the stage, moving exaggeratedly, shaking my legs in freeing motion. I looked right at my target with glaring obsessed eyes.

The referee, the Sect Leader himself, introduced both of us and our respective attributes to the watching gallery, giving the crowd a clearer picture of the upcoming clash.

"Let us begin with our General, Feng-Dao! He is a warrior above all others, wielding the Earth Attribute, and his Vestuto is the Mountain Tiger Skeleton. Within that Vestuto, creating craters is a mere joke, yet his destructive capability goes far beyond that. In this battle, you will witness the true depth of his mighty power. When Feng-Dao activates his Vestuto, his body is clad in a majestic Mountain Scale Armor, consisting of overlapping black iron-coal scales arranged in a flowing mountain ridge pattern.

Crimson red silk and bright gold accents run through the plates like veins of molten sunlight and thats not all folks. The most striking feature is the manifestation of ancient, glowing tiger bones that appear as natural armor extensions on his shoulders, spine, and forearms, giving him a feral yet regal tiger-warrior silhouette.

His helmet is ornate and imposing, featuring a tall white feather plume and sharp tiger-ear motifs, while a long, dark grey-black cape trimmed with white fur and golden dragon emblems flows behind him and his green-golden Glaive becomes infused with fierce grey earthen energy. The massive crescent blade glows powerfully as intricate golden dragon engravings pulse along the shaft.

So in simple terms, Feng-Dao in Vestuto looks like an ancient mountain tiger spirit given human shape, heavy, durable, and overwhelmingly powerful. The armor emphasizes defense and crushing counter-attacks, perfectly matching his personality as a steadfast, honorable warrior of our Dao Sect." Then the Leader introduced me, gesturing with wild excitement.

"And now, for his opponent! A young rising star... for many of you just a suren... no, for us who seen this one in action a true hero of our Dao Sect, Erumes Flamma! He wields the devastating power of the Fire Attribute, and his blazing Cor Flamma Vestuto is the ultimate transformation of his heart's inner flame. Unlike others, when he unleashes his Vestuto, he does not manifest physical armor or transforms it.

Instead, deep within his body, his heart pumps a scorching, molten mix of yellow and orange blood through his veins, turning him into a living, burning force of pure destruction accompanied with a sword-axe a fusion of a wide sword plus a pickaxe into one! Let us hear a thunderous round of applause for this hero of our Dao! He deserves it."

"Are you both contestants ready?" the Sect Leader asked, while looking at us both. With over forty thousand watching, we both looked at each other weapons on the ready and said "Yes!" at the same time. Before activating Vestuto, we clashed like a raging wildfire crashing into an unyielding mountain.. His strong force thrust toward my lower area like a falling mountain, but I dodged smoothly, spinning low and countering with a blazing horizontal slash that forced him to block with his body momentum in mind.

The impact sent shockwaves that cracked the repaired walls, creating wide tears so the crowd could see even better. The six minutes that followed were pure martial poetry of combat. He was ahead on me, landing heavier hits that pushed me back, each strike carrying the weight of the earth itself. I kept coming back with faster, fiercer strikes, refusing to fall behind pushing recklessly. Glaive met sword-axe in ringing explosions of sparks. Every block rattled my bones. Every counter left fire trails in the air.

The crowd roared with every exchange, chanting our names like war hymns. Sweat flew. Breath came in ragged gasps. The six minutes felt like an eternity of pure will, each second a test of who wanted victory more. I landed a solid flaming strike on his side that made him grunt, but he absorbed it and retaliated with a crushing overhead strike that i could not dodge so I barely blocked it, the force driving me to one knee. The arena trembled. The people screamed in awe.

As the roaring cheers finally began to fade, I pushed myself up, having just dodged a low thrust from Feng-Dao—a sneaky tactic he hadn't used in our last encounter. I backed away to my corner on the left, leaving him standing broad-shouldered in the center of the arena. He gloated, smirking with supreme confidence.

"Come on, show me your FIRE again! I will extinguish it just like I did last time. I will prove to everyone here that you are still beneath me!" I clapped back to his overconfidence, "This time be careful, as this flame will burn so much hotter on which you have experienced. Beware, you might be getting burned until you turn charcoal!"

"VESTUTO!" we both simultaneously shouted. Our energy of Animo released and reached new heights. He went to 26, 769 Animo as I went to 26, 840 Animo. Our battle went nuts. The area got destroyed the moment we clashed. My aura on his aura engulfed the battlefield, destroying the ground leaving craters behind. We then decided to fight outside the city at the mountain top that stood closest to us. As I suggested, we fought while running there. He air-walked quickly.

All the others followed in mass not wanting to miss the conclusion. As we made it to the top and continued our battle. The mountain's heavy top flattened as I cut it with my Ultimate Elsa di Fuoco (Hilt Fire Blaze). The blade left a trail of roaring yellow-hot flames that carved through stone like butter. He countered it with his Tiger Eyes looking ahead and countered again with his Aerial Thrust from a bit further than last time. But I knew he would do this.

I overcame his counter, clashing with the new higher intensity of my Hilt burning so hard my arm muscles cramped from the power. The burst hit him down to the ground, sending him skidding across the flattened peak and leaving a trail of scorched rock. He regained his spirit quickly even under the shock of having lost the clash. He came at me with his glaive with new earthly power as the ground and snow rose above his weapon and armor, adding a second earthy layer on his Skelet Armor.

He named this hidden move he learned recently Hou Tu Pi (Thick Earth Skin). The earth and snow around him responded instantly. The ground cracked and rose like living clay, swirling upward and fusing onto his Mountain Tiger Skelet armor giving it like he said it would a second, thicker earthy layer over his existing tiger-bone armor which now stood rough, dark brown-grey plates that looked like hardened mountain rock, making him heavier but also slower. In the next round, we continued clashing.

I thought to myself that this hidden technique of his was... was making him look worse, as I kept hitting him much easier and landing many more connections. But after one minute of him being heavier and slower, the earth skin fell to the ground and his armor bones changed color to brown. His face was now under a recently formed full mask, and his air puffed through it.

"This is my strongest move. I have yet to master it. Hou Tu Pi Cannon!" From his glaive, a brown-yellow beam shot right at my shoulder. The beam was the charged bones using the stone minerals as fuel to shoot at his target from a distance. However, he could not handle the recoil to keep it aimed at his target, which was my stomach. Therefore the direction changed as he tried to fire at my upper shoulder, hoping to make me unable to continue.

Behind us, the people saw the beam pass my shoulder and reach another mountain, exploding upon it. Stones flew like dust clouds formed 100 km away from our spot. I knew instantly that if he managed to fire that cannon again, I was finished. Charging forward with my weapon drawn, I threw myself into the fray. Our brutal struggle raged on, but my sheer tenacity and relentless pressure began to overwhelm him. Every time he locked onto me to aim that devastating blast, I ducked beneath his line of sight.

The immense recoil made it impossible for him to stabilize his weapon, and I seized those openings to strike. After three successful slashes, the accumulated damage was clearly taking its toll on him. As he gathered earth energy to load his next shot, I lunged forward, aiming to cleave his glaive this time and disrupt the attack. Anticipating my move, he feinted and surged ahead, throwing his weight into a brutal shoulder bash.

I braced myself and countered with my own shoulder, a heavy collision that rattled us both, but it only shattered his balance completely. He went down hard, crashing onto the cold stone floor, while I managed to stand my ground, a sharp, tingling shock radiating through my shoulder. Seizing the moment, I closed the distance and landed two deep heavy hot cuts across his shoulders, leaving his flanks bleeding heavily. His breathing grew ragged, far more desperate than my own.

Summoning the last of his strength, he struggled to his feet to face me, only for his legs to give out. He dropped to his knees, his Mountain Tiger armor shattering as he forcibly detransformed from his Vestuto. My Cor Flamma was still blazing, albeit weak, but the battle was over. He could no longer fight, yielding the match with fierce, defiant eyes. His body reached its limit, but his spirit never did, I thought, looking down at my fallen rival.

Letting out a heavy sigh of relief, I finally allowed my own transformation to recede. I knew the terrifying truth, if the fight had lasted just three exchanges longer, I would have been the one tasting defeat. As the lingering despair vanished from my mind, an overwhelming rush of victory flooded my brain. I screamed at the top of my lungs, "I GOT THE WIN! LET'S GOOOOOO!" The Sect Leader clapped in absolute awe of how intense our battle had been.

Around him, everyone who had been fortunate enough to witness it live declared that this fight would be recorded in the Dao Chronicles as one of the most epic clashes between two powerful individuals. I let out a breathless laugh, a bright smile breaking across my face.

"It better be!" Chuckling, I dragged Feng-Dao's arm over my shoulder to support him.

"Now we're tied at 1 to 1. Someday, we will have our final conclusion and see who truly is the stronger warrior, but privately next time." With the win in hand I went back home that I got as reward a week ago, took my newly received coin, my prepped food which i bought the day before, and in the night went out of the city. Time for me to experience more battles on this beautiful nation, with a smile on my face as I took my journey elsewhere.