Chương 66: Episode 11: Gravity vs Earth

The atmosphere was still as Eddy, T-Ex, and I stood at the crest of the massive dune. We were pinned under the shadow of a figure far more powerful than any of us. Eddy panicked, his eyes darting back and forth as he searched for an escape route. He knew he could not abandon us, forcing him to stand his ground at my side. I glared at the massive figure looming before us. He thundered through the gale, his torn cape dragging across the sand as the storm blew harder.

The crimson glow of his eyes sliced through the fog, revealing a glare colder and harsher than before. His fists were clenched tight and his wings spread wide as he stared at me across the dune. I held my ground and took a firm step forward, shaking the valley beneath us for a split second.

"What are you doing here, and what do you want?" I demanded, my voice cutting through the wind. I could not immediately tell if he was a Celestianite or a Lunaranite. Given the magenta wings and the glowing chest emblem, he had to be a Lunaranite, yet the insignia burned red and his eyes matched. Lunaranites did not normally have red eyes. It was a bizarre sight. Perhaps he was a hybrid, though that made no sense since hybrids were wiped out a century ago. Was he an outlaw?

An alien from another world who sought to join the Lunaranites? My eyes widened as the realization hit. I had read the news reports claiming the Lunaranites had crowned a new ruler named King Dominator. What if this was him?

"It is I, child," Dominator said, taking a few heavy steps toward the dune. He looked up at me, red eyes glinting through the storm.

"I have walked this cosmos for more years than your first full-blooded Celestianite, Vigilzante himself." I clutched my axe tightly, knowing an attack against someone on par with King Dreadixz might be useless. Yet an Earthnite warrior never backs down, and I refused to yield. I slowly raised my weapon as he stepped closer, his heavy footsteps shaking the earth. My eyes narrowed into a glare.

"I will face you on my own if I have to. I have no problem with that." My feet crunched into the dirt and my tail lashed. T-Ex spread his claws wide while Eddy stayed back. Air blasted behind us as we shot toward Dominator, screaming with all our might. T-Ex roared with his jaws wide open as earth energy zapped and crackled around my fists. Magenta energy crackled around Dominator's hands as he clenched his fists tight. Gravity suspended us mid-air, and Dominator instantly dropped low as the wind lashed back.

I sat there frozen, unable to feel the air around me. T-Ex could not do a thing either, trapped in the exact same position.

"Tch…" Dominator muttered as he thundered toward our suspended bodies. His ripped cape whipped in the wind while his talons dug deep into the sand. He kept a stone-cold expression, glancing at both of us before making a move. He turned to me and pressed a massive claw against my head.

"Earthnite…" he growled. Gravity released its hold, and we dropped. With a sharp whip of air, Dominator vanished. I looked around frantically, but his massive fist slammed straight into my cheek. A wave of gravity blasted both of us into the sky from the impact, spilling blood from my mouth and nose. T-Ex looked unconscious from the force of the blast alone. My head rang and my vision blurred, but I managed to open my eyes and look down.

The ground below had already been peeled open, featuring a massive crater split in half. This time, I did not waste time looking around. Earth energy crackled around my fists and snapped across my body as my eyes began to glow. The storm intensified, but Dominator was nowhere in sight. T-Ex was already descending toward the ground when a streak blazed by, launching him across the battlefield with a gravitational blast that split the earth beneath me.

"EX!" I screamed out of worry. The air rattled as I blasted downward, nearing the land in a blur. I tore over the terrain as the background dissolved into speed, but gravity instantly blasted me back, slamming me into the ground and unleashing a colossal shockwave across the battlefield. A massive crater snapped into existence, pinning me down as the crushing force of gravity pressed from above. I heard the air shift around me as Dominator hovered toward the crater.

His feet gently touched the earth, causing the ground to rattle. He walked toward me and raised his palm, surrounding it in a bright magenta aura. His red eyes bled with crimson light, glowing brighter and brighter as he closed the distance. I struggled to get up, my body sprawling against the dirt. I was too weak to open my mouth or command the earth to defend myself. My shaking head turned in his direction. I kept my mouth shut to save my strength, though I wished I could tell him I was not trying to run.

I was trying to fight. The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. After a few seconds, a small fraction of my strength returned. I struggled onto one knee, but a fresh wave of gravity slammed me back into the dirt as Dominator stepped closer.

"Don't get up now, Earthnite…" The heavy pressure drove me deeper into the ground, threatening to crush me entirely. I forced my shaking head up to look at Dominator's massive frame as he leaned over.

"This is taking too long," he said, energy charging in his irises until they shone a blinding red. He was preparing to fire a laser, a trait I thought only Celestianites possessed. The light burned brighter until T-Ex suddenly slammed his jaws around Dominator's forearm, biting hard enough to dent the armor metal. Dominator looked unfazed. He slowly turned toward the beast and reeled his fist back, swirling with magenta gravitational energy.

"This is not worth it, reptile." His fist blurred forward and struck T-Ex, sending him flying far across the battlefield. Dominator stood up and turned back to me, his eyes glowing brighter. I tried to crawl away, bleeding from my mouth and ears as the atmosphere grew scorching hot. The wind hurled itself forward, and the glow in Dominator's eyes vanished. The dust storm continued to rage. I dared not look back, digging my hands into the sand as grit stung my eyes. Getting away was now my top priority.

Fighting him alone had been foolish, and I should have known better against the new King of the Lunaranites.

"OLSEN, GO!" a familiar voice shouted. Behind me, heavy grunts came from Dominator as if someone were strangling him. I glanced back to see Strength holding Dominator's forearms in the air. Dominator strained against the grip, but Strength looked me dead in the eyes and yelled, "GET OUT OF HERE!" I crawled away faster, emerald light swirling across my body and slicing through my wounds, healing them almost instantly. I was lucky to have enough energy left to recover.

Struggling to my feet, I finally managed to stand on both legs. Up ahead on the horizon, T-Ex and Eddy stood waiting for me. T-Ex roared, telling me to hurry. I limped through the storm, my skin itching as sand cut through my unhealed wounds with a stinging pain. Behind me, a powerful blast of air echoed across the dunes, and I caught a glimpse of Dominator staggering backward from Strength's blow. Strength hooked Dominator, weaved around a counter-attack, and caught his incoming fist.

The two locked eyes as the wind began to billow around them. Dominator's hair flew as he roared and blasted himself backward, shooting across the air before twisting and rocketing into the sky. A shockwave rolled across the dunes. Strength clenched his fists and looked up as Dominator ascended toward the atmosphere, vanishing into the upper storm. Strength gritted his teeth, muttering under his breath, "Using the storm for a surprise attack, huh? Alright then. I've already seen this move a million times before."

He bent his knees and leaped into the air, only to find himself moving in slow motion. Zero gravity hit him; he had jumped straight into Dominator's trap. Strength watched his body slowly hover in the air before beginning a sluggish descent. Gravity was suspended. A blast of wind cut through the fog as Dominator appeared, flying at hypersonic speeds before slamming into Strength and launching him skyward.

The background blurred as Strength soared through the air, but he managed to regain his footing before Dominator intercepted him again. Strength spun, but Dominator caught his jaw with a backhand hard enough to make his vision swim. Strength floated backward, held in place by the manipulated gravity. Dominator hovered in the sky, his cape and hair flapping wildly as he fixed Strength with a deep glare. The armor on his forearm was already dented.

His expression twisted into a sour frown before he used gravity to yank Strength toward him. He delivered an uppercut powerful enough to blast the wind outward, grabbing Strength by the head as he shouted, "THIS IS WHAT YOU ZENITHS ARE ABOUT, EH?!" Dominator vanished in a streak of motion, a shockwave ripping through the sky as he dragged Strength downward like a magenta comet. He held Strength tight by the head, but mid-air, Strength unleashed a powerful burst of red energy that blasted Dominator away.

Strength twisted in the sky and stabilized himself, hovering in the clouds opposite his opponent. He wiped the blood from his mouth.

"A Lunaranite powerful enough to go toe to toe with a Zenith. King Dreadix is easy, but this… this is something else." Dominator instantly launched himself forward, but Strength caught his fist mid-flight. The impact detonated the surrounding storm, clearing the sky entirely. Below them, the ground split from the force, fracturing repeatedly into a massive earthquake. Strength smirked at Dominator as he gripped his head tight.

"A Zenith's true power comes from within a Zenith, not from an imitation." Dominator struggled to break free, but Strength unleashed a surge of force that hurled Dominator toward the earth. A massive dome of energy rolled across the land upon impact, shattering the ground and hurling massive boulders into the air. Strength smirked as a red light suddenly pierced through the fog. A massive crimson laser tore through the wind and slammed into Strength's body, swallowing him entirely in an explosion of light.

Below, the red beam firing from Dominator's eyes fizzled away, smoke curling from his sockets. His hair whipped in the wind as he struggled to stand, landing on his knees before finally managing to pull himself up with a heavy limp. He was feeling the full weight of that single exchange. A hand tapped him on the shoulder from behind. Dominator turned, and a fist smashed the armor straight off his face.

He staggered from the blow, blood pooling out of his mouth, but tried to rise before another red fist blurred forward and struck his jaw. His vision blurred as Strength pressed the offensive without mercy. A jab to the chest was followed by a right hook, a left hook to the face, a spin, a backhand across the head, and another strike to the jaw. Strength drove a knee into Dominator's gut and delivered a kick to his head, transitioning into a rapid barrage of red punches.

His fists blurred into smears of speed, slamming into Dominator's armor repeatedly, sending massive dents into the metal and driving shockwaves outward with every hit. Dominator staggered continuously under the relentless assault, unable to keep up with the movement yet refusing to yield. Reeling his fist back, Strength shouted, "FINAL STRIKE!" The blow snapped Dominator's jaw sideways as air blasted through the canyon. The dust parted, and the land split into two halves.

Strength shot into the sky before dropping into the massive opening created by the impact. Deep beneath the shattered earth, glowing orange lava churned. Dominator fell downward into the abyss, unable to even scream after taking the full brunt of the beating. He plunged into the magma with a hiss, then hit the far wall of the trench as the earth quaked, the two landmasses grinding back together to seal the gap. Strength landed on the re-formed earth as wind blew past him.

He dusted off his armor, his red eyes scanning the newly sealed terrain.

"He really was an opponent. Disappointing to see him go." Slowly, Strength turned his gaze forward. Seeing that Olsen was gone, a subtle smile tugged at his lips. In a flash of brilliant red light, he vanished into thin air.