Chương 30: Episode 28: Dust of Duke

Overbrawl and Krane lay half-buried in scorched earth, the ground still glowing where repeated impacts had rewritten its structure. Firestorms rolled behind them, painting the sky in unstable shades of orange and ember red. Duke stood over both like a verdict that hadn't finished being delivered. His cannon was raised. The Power Gem pulsed in his grip like a stolen heartbeat refusing to settle. Neon green eyes narrowed, precise and cold. A quiet laugh slipped out.

"Perfect. Another win." He tilted his head slightly.

"And consider yourselves lucky. If either of you were Lunaranite, you'd already be ash." Krane pushed himself up just enough to glare through blood and dust.

"What do you mean?" Duke's expression shifted immediately, cooling into something flat.

"Not your problem." He turned away like the conversation had already ended, stepping through broken stone and burning wind as if the battlefield had already been reassigned to him. Overbrawl shifted beside Krane, voice rough.

"Bro… we can't just let him walk off with the Power Gem." Krane coughed, trying to rise and failing halfway.

"We don't have the strength to stop him." A beat of silence stretched between them. Then Overbrawl forced himself up anyway. Cracked armor. Shaking legs. Breath dragging like a collapsing engine.

"Here we go again…" Duke stopped mid-step. Slow turn. That same half-smirk returned, but it wasn't playful anymore. It was dismissive. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"So you're still standing." His voice lowered slightly.

"Why. You can't even scratch me like this." Overbrawl tightened his fists until his knuckles trembled.

"I'm a mercenary." He exhaled once.

"I chase paychecks. I don't stop until I can afford the future I want." His eyes sharpened.

"Even if it kills me." Duke lifted his cannon again. Clean aim. No hesitation. No doubt. End condition ready. Krane staggered up beside Overbrawl.

"I'm not letting him fight alone." Another beat. They both lifted their fists.

"Come on. Try us." Something shifted in Duke's stance. Not fear. Interest.

"Fine," he said quietly.

"One more round." The world broke open. They moved. Krane hit first. His fist buried into Duke's midsection, ripping air and balance out of him in the same strike. A follow-up uppercut ignited immediately, snapping Duke's head back and launching him upward like a malfunctioning star.

"These gems." Duke roared midair, voice cracking under pressure.

"They're mine." Overbrawl appeared above him instantly and drove him back down with a meteor-like smash. Duke slammed through jagged spires, skidding across molten rock before Krane was already there again. Blazing punches. Spirit-infused strikes. Each impact stacked like a chain reaction that refused to stop once it started. A brutal kick sent Duke spinning across the battlefield. Overbrawl warped behind him and landed a crushing blow to the spine. Duke shot upward again.

Krane met him mid-flight and drove him straight back into the ground with a thunderous impact that split the terrain and scattered burning debris into the sky. Duke hit. Rolled. Twisted. Overbrawl dropped from above and buried him into a crater with a full-force overhead strike. Dust exploded outward. Still, Duke pushed up. Neon light leaked through his skin like pressure trying to escape a cracked container.

"The gems aren't treasures," he snarled.

"They're survival. They're the only reason I'm still moving forward." Overbrawl stepped forward immediately.

"Then your future ends here." The clash resumed. Duke surged upward in a blur, neon fists cutting through the air like blades. Krane intercepted with rapid spirit-formed strikes, but Duke slipped through the pattern and cracked him with a hook that sent him spinning into debris. Overbrawl rushed in. Duke vanished mid-step, reappeared behind him, and drove an axe kick straight into his back, slamming him into the ground. Teleport forward. Both fists. Impact.

The explosion painted the battlefield in green and white light.

"Without them." Duke slammed Krane into the earth again and again, each impact deeper than the last.

"I'll have nothing." Krane coughed blood into the dirt.

"Then you've already lost." That snapped something loose. Overbrawl erupted with red energy, beams carving molten lines across the battlefield. Duke charged straight through it, glowing like a collapsing star refusing to die.

"The future will belong to me." Overbrawl blinked in front of Krane, seized the opening, and detonated a final strike that launched Duke skyward in a spray of blood and light. Duke twisted midair. Then vanished into a neon streak across the horizon. Silence dropped hard. Overbrawl and Krane stood alone in the ruin, barely upright, bodies shaking like stability was something they had to relearn. Then, from the smoke, calm and distant.

"Hand over the Power Gem…"