Chapter 36

WARNING.

HIGH IMAGINATIVE POWER REQUIRED.

CLANG!

Vivi deflected a thrust from Gin’s glaive with one arm, launching a flaming punch with the other.

Flames erupted from her fist, surging toward Gin, who flipped over her mid-air, spinning like a tornado.

Vivi gritted her teeth, sweat beginning to bead on her brow as she braced against the whirlwind of slashing strikes. Her arms moved on instinct, parrying the rapid, unpredictable flurry of the spinning glaive.

Gin landed smoothly on his feet and immediately thrust his glaive again, a blur of motion.

But Vivi reacted fast. She caught the blade mid-strike, her muscles flexing as she lifted Gin over her head and hurled him like a sack of sand.

Gin refused to let go. He tucked his legs, forcing himself back down with sheer strength.

Now the momentum had turned. Vivi, still gripping the glaive’s blade above her head, found herself pulled off balance. With a hard yank, Gin reversed the throw, sending Vivi crashing to the ground.

She skidded on her back, concrete scraping at her spine, but flipped upright in a practiced roll just as Gin’s glaive came whistling through the air.

She ducked, narrowly avoiding decapitation. Then she countered, her fist arcing up in an uppercut,.

Gin’s greenish-blue aura pulsed, extending through his weapon. With swift precision, he blocked the strike using the glaive’s butt.

Their arms blurred. Fists and steel clashed in a storm of color, blue and red lines streaking across the air like strokes from a mad artist’s brush.

A sudden sting split Vivi’s cheek. Her hands snapped up on reflex, guarding her face. Just in time, Gin’s glaive slammed into her crossed arms with punishing force.

But she’d left her body open.

“Gah!” she gasped, her breath bursting out of her lungs as Gin’s fist smashed into her stomach.

The impact blasted her back like a cannonball, air and blood leaving her mouth in a sharp spray.

Boom!

Raaaargh!" Gin roared as he stabbed his glaive into the ground. A pulse of green light surged from the weapon, racing across the cracked concrete beneath him.

Crack!

The ground split apart. Massive green-tinged spears burst forth like an eruption, each several meters tall. They exploded upward in a wave, covering more than half of the sewer floor with jagged, crystalline spikes.

"Now! die!" Gin shouted, swinging his glaive skyward.

With a ripple of force, every spear launched from the ground in unison, hurtling toward the airborne Vivi like missiles.

She recovered just in time to see the first one screaming toward her. Eyes wide, she crossed her arms in front of her chest, catching the impact dead-on.

The blow knocked her off balance, spinning her in midair. Vulnerable and with nothing to push off from, she couldn't dodge the next.

“Gaaah!” Vivi cried out as a barrage of spears struck her, one in the ribs, another in her gut, one slamming into her lower back. Each hit hurled her higher, driving her upward like a ragdoll caught in a storm.

The final blow sent her crashing through the ceiling with a deafening crack.

A split second later, dirty sewer water burst from the breach in a surging waterfall, the pressure from above collapsing more of the ceiling.

Gin narrowed his eyes. Without hesitation, he crouched low, then launched himself upward into the cascading torrent, using shards of broken concrete as makeshift footholds.

Chunks of the collapsing ceiling fell all around him, crashing down in tandem with the flood. Gin leapt from one slab to the next, rising steadily through the chaos.

At the heart of the falling water, suspended in the center of the collapse, was Vivi, her body limp, dazed, and tumbling downward.

Vivi’s instincts flared. Mid-fall, she twisted her body just in time to avoid Gin’s strike, his glaive slicing past her ribs by inches. She countered with a blazing punch, her fist wreathed in red fire.

Gin, already committed to his thrust, reacted fast, catching her fiery punch with his free hand. The two locked in a mid-air struggle, suspended briefly above the chaos as they fell.

With a surge of force, they shoved away from each other.

Red and blue streaks flashed across the air as they darted from one collapsing chunk of concrete to the next, zigzagging across the debris in a dazzling display of speed and power.

They collided again at the center.

CLANG!

The shockwave rattled the broken ceiling slabs. Gin was blasted backward, crashing through a chunk of debris. Vivi, knocked upside down, caught a glimpse of her opponent already hurling himself back at her.

'What’s going on here?' Gin thought, eyes narrowing even as his body closed the gap. 'The insect,' He recalled the power that now surged within him 'it boosted me beyond anything I’ve felt before. At minimum, I’m at the peak of A-Rank... No, maybe even at the doorstep of S-Rank.'

They burst through the final curtain of water, falling free from the collapsing ceiling above.

Vivi twisted midair and landed in a three-point stance, her momentum dragging her across the floor in a deep, gouging slide that tore through cracked tiles and sludge.

Gin landed a heartbeat later, his own landing a mirrored skid of force and grit.

'So why!?' Gin's mind screamed as a snarl twisted across his face. His eyes flared an unholy green. 'Why can she keep up with me!?'

Vivi slowly lifted her head.

Wet strands of her pink hair clung to her cheeks, dripping with sewer water. Then, as she raised her chin fully, her crimson eyes glowed like molten torches.

Gin’s aura erupted like a wildfire, an intense blaze of blue laced with sickly green. It surged around his body in a violent storm, growing in size and intensity with every heartbeat.

Vivi answered in kind.

Her aura exploded into a searing inferno, her entire figure outlined in molten red. For a moment, she looked as though she had been carved from magma, her heat distorting the very air around her. Her aura surged outward, matching Gin's in ferocity.

Then they collided.

A thunderous shockwave erupted as both Hunters slammed into each other. The sewer trembled violently. Cracks spiderwebbed through the thick stone walls, and the entire tunnel groaned in protest. The network of massive pipes surrounding them shuddered under the pressure, but miraculously held firm... for now.

Two streaks of pure light, one crimson, the other blue-green, tore through the air.

They weaved around each other at impossible speeds, ricocheting off pipes and walls, vanishing and reappearing across the chamber as they clashed again and again. Each impact sent bursts of flame and force in every direction.

They darted across the giant sewer pipes, using them like stepping stones in a deadly dance. Sparks exploded each time they met, blurs of movement so fast the eye could barely follow.

Then, like twin serpents, the lights twisted around one another and slammed into one of the support pillars.

For a brief moment, the pillar became the center of a chaotic light show. Red and blue streaks flashed across its surface, zigzagging in every direction, first dozens, then hundreds, then thousands of times within mere seconds.

With a deafening crack, the pillar collapsed, unable to withstand the pressure of their battle.

But the fight didn’t pause.

The streaks launched off toward another support column, continuing their high-speed war. The second pillar crumbled even faster than the first.

Then, in a single explosive descent, the lights smashed into the sewer floor, creating a crater that burst apart with a shockwave of heat and pressure.

From the cloud of dust and energy, Vivi and Gin emerged, locked in a brutal, unrelenting exchange of blows.

Their fists, glaive, and flames clashed in rapid succession, each strike throwing sparks, shockwaves, and sparks of pure power into the air.

With the two major support pillars destroyed, the ceiling finally gave way.

It collapsed with a deafening roar, crashing down onto the massive sewer pipes. The impact sent the heavy metal tubes toppling like felled trees, smashing into the ground and each other in a chaotic chain reaction.

But the two Hunters didn’t flinch.

As the world crumbled around them, their focus remained locked on each other.

Gin lunged forward, grabbing Vivi’s leg mid-motion and slamming her into the cracked ground with brutal force. The floor groaned, shifting beneath her like a massive seesaw threatening to tip.

Vivi twisted with the momentum, flipping away just as Gin’s glaive stabbed down, piercing the stone exactly where her head had been moments before.

Without hesitation, she launched a bicycle kick at his chest.

Gin blocked with his forearm, absorbing the blow, then immediately retaliated with a forward thrust of his glaive.

Boom!

The first of the collapsed sewer pipes hit the ground, shaking the entire chamber. Chunks of the shattered floor broke apart and churned like rubble in a storm.

Vivi and Gin shot forward, turning once again into streaks of red and blue light.

They raced through the collapsing tunnels, weaving between the falling pipes and debris. A massive chunk of the ceiling plummeted, only for the two streaks to dart beneath it in perfect synchrony. They spiraled between twin pipes, then slipped through the opening of another before splitting off.

Each streak danced along opposite sides of the ruined chamber, hurtling through the wreckage before converging again in the center with a thunderous CRACK.

The clash lit up the broken sewers like lightning.

The battle didn't slow.

They traded blows in a storm of fists and fury. Vivi’s eyes burned with raw aggression as she struck with speed and force.

Right hook. Left jab. Overhead punch. Elbow strike.

Gin’s glaive danced in response, guided by eyes that flickered wildly between blue and green.

Left thrust. Right swing. Spinning slam. Low sweep.

Vivi darted inside his guard, catching the shaft of his glaive with one hand. With a sharp twist and a palm strike to his wrist, she disarmed him in one fluid motion.

Before Gin could react, she spun and hurled the glaive back at him.

Unarmed and off-balance, he barely managed to deflect the spinning weapon upward, the blade narrowly missing his shoulder.

But it left him wide open.

Vivi surged forward, closing the distance in a blink, slipping into a low, tight boxing stance.

Ratatatat!

Vivi's fists became a blur as she launched a flurry of strikes into Gin's chest. Each blow cracked his armor, the hardened plating fracturing under the relentless force. Even the green, scale-like flesh beneath began to shatter, splintering from the pressure.

But she wasn’t finished.

With a final step forward, Vivi slammed her palm against his now-exposed chest. Her eyes glowed with heat.

“Inferno!!”

Flames erupted.

A colossal pillar of fire engulfed Gin, spiraling upward like a slow-turning tornado. It devoured the air, the sewers illuminated by its searing glow. The heat was blinding.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!" Gin's scream echoed within the inferno. The fire tore at his body, scorching flesh, peeling away at skin and armor alike. He writhed inside the storm of flames as it threatened to incinerate him entirely.

But then, his eyes flashed, glowing like emerald fire. His body contorted unnaturally. More scales burst from beneath his skin, especially around his face, thickening like living armor.

BOOM!

The flame pillar exploded outward, extinguished in an instant as Gin's fist struck the ground with seismic force. The floor beneath them liquefied, turning into a churning sludge of broken stone and molten debris.

At the center of the impact, Vivi.

She hadn’t been fast enough.

The blow hit her like a meteor. Her body screamed in protest as her insides were crushed together, bones bending, organs compressing under the pressure. She was slammed downward into the molten slurry of wreckage, gasping as pain overwhelmed her senses.

Gin didn’t let up.

He raised his other hand, and with a crackling surge of lightning, his glaive materialized once more, summoned by sheer force of will.

Time slowed.

The weapon gleamed in the flickering light, its blade descending in a deliberate arc.

Right toward Vivi’s left eye.

The world narrowed to a single point of light.

The edge of the glaive loomed closer, inch by agonizing inch, and in that instant, Vivi felt it.

Her death.

---

Burning Spirit

Description: Every time an Ignivar takes damage, they gain Fury Heat (up to 30 stacks).

Effect: At 30 stacks, the Ignivar is empowered, gaining a 70% increase to all stats for 60 seconds.

Bonus: Immunity to fear, chill, and sleep effects.

---

Gin gasped, the breath torn from his lungs as Vivi’s Flash Fire Fist exploded into his gut. A plume of fire burst out through his back, searing flesh and cracking bone.

The force launched him backward.

Vivi didn’t waste the momentum, she surged forward, fists blazing.

But it wasn’t just her fists.

Dozens of fiery phantom fists materialized beside her, each mimicking her motion, each one glowing with an infernal light. In less than a second, they struck Gin from every direction, an overwhelming hailstorm of flaming blows.

He never had time to recover.

By the time the assault ended, Gin was on his knees, his body ruined. Both of his arms were gone, torn clean off. His torso was riddled with gaping, cauterized holes, his organs exposed and twitching beneath the blackened skin.

He stared down at himself, stunned. Disbelief warred with rage in his wide eyes.

‘What... just happened?’ He looked up at Vivi, who had landed a few feet away, her burning red eyes locked on him without a hint of mercy.

‘Did I just lose? To her? She was barely a nuisance the first time we fought. Just a C-rank… trash.’

His wounds had already begun to regenerate. New flesh writhed where his arms had been. But Gin didn’t notice. His pride had taken the deeper wound.

‘Did she reawaken? Is that what this is? How dare she... think she can look down on me!’

His aura detonated, a storm of energy erupting from his broken form. Blue and green flames rose into the air, merging into a writhing haze above him.

“YOU C-RANK TRASH!!!” Gin bellowed, his voice raw with hate.

The haze twisted, compressing and condensing.

Then it flashed.

From its heart, a single object emerged.

A spear.

It was impossibly massive. The air trembled around it, and the sewer warped and groaned, too small to contain the massive weapon.

Then it launched.

The world seemed to blur as the colossal spear surged toward Vivi.

Vivi didn’t speak.

Her chest heaved, her heart pounding like a war drum. The next moment, pain bloomed deep within her core, raw, scorching her alive. Her hand rose slowly, trembling with effort.

Then a word formed in her mind.

One word.

A name.

And with it came a vision, of someone she knew... and yet didn’t. A reflection? A shadow? A memory of something buried too deep to recall.

“Daybreak,” she whispered.

And the sun was born.

From her outstretched palm, a blinding sphere of incandescent light roared into existence. It writhed like a living star, a miniature sun conjured into the heart of the sewers.

Its light drowned the world.

Solar flares snapped and coiled around it, tongues of annihilation lashing out with divine fury. The walls of the sewer screamed as they were bathed in pure energy, the air itself trembling under the sheer heat and radiance.

Gin’s eyes widened, the spear still in mid-flight as the blazing star erupted before him.

The air twisted violently, warping with heat as Daybreak surged forward, pulled by gravity itself like the birth of a new sun falling from the sky.

The colossal spear met the sphere of light.

KRRAAAAAAANG!!

The clash detonated the air between them, a shockwave ripping through the entire sewer. Pipes burst like veins under pressure. Concrete shattered. Water and steam hissed into nothingness.

Gin raised his arms to shield his face, but they hadn’t fully regenerated yet. What was left of them disintegrated under the glare of Daybreak.

He screamed.

His voice was swallowed by the roaring light, by the pure force of celestial fire that drowned everything else.

The spear cracked.

Thin at first, barely a spiderweb across its massive form, then wider. The cracks raced along the length of the weapon like breaking glass.

BOOM!

It exploded.

The entire sewer caved in on itself as the radiant sphere consumed what was left, dragging the fragmented spear into its core.

Silence.

Both Hunters stood in the smoldering crater that had formed. While Vivi was okay due to her incredible resistance to fire, Gin was scorched beyond reason. He was barely a husk now, and his regeneration had slowed even further.

Ash rained down like grey snow.

'What the hell…?' Gin’s broken thoughts clawed through the haze as he shakily pushed himself upright. He had no arms, just cauterized stumps where they used to be. He staggered once, twice, nearly collapsing under his own weight.

'This can’t be happening.'

He turned, limbs trembling, and began to stumble away. Each step was a struggle. Each breath a shallow rasp.

'I have to run… escape… I can’t die here…'

He limped forward, dragging his maimed body like a ghost trying to flee the living world.

Vivi stood still, watching him with a hollow, distant expression. Her breath was slow, steady. Cold.

She raised both hands, palms facing each other, fingers spread with purpose.

A small flame formed between them, flickering gently. Then, it began to shift, twisting, elongating, obedient to her hands as they moved with slow, deliberate precision.

Like dancers weaving a story, her palms guided the fire in elegant arcs, tracing invisible patterns in the air.

The red flame shimmered.

Then turned blue.

Vivi’s hands stilled. She drew one hand back like a bowstring, the other arm extended forward, her fingers forming a perfect line of sight.

The blue flame stretched taut between her fingertips, shaping itself into a narrow, gleaming arrow of pure, burning silence.

Gin groaned as he dragged himself forward. He could barely see. His vision blurred at the edges, darkness curling in like ink in water.

Behind him, the only sound was the soft crackle of flame and the whisper of death.

A single molten tear fell from Vivi’s good eye. The other, bloodied and half-blind, stared forward with quiet fury.

She released the arrow.

---

Ding.

Shiya Station bustled with its usual rhythm. Commuters flowed in and out, trains roared through tunnels in timed intervals, and the overhead lights hummed in their steady cycle.

Then, the lights flickered.

A murmur rippled through the crowd as heads turned upward, confusion spreading like static. Some checked their phones. Others paused, eyes scanning the platform for an answer.

Then came the scream.

All eyes shifted to the far end of the station, and that's when the crowd saw them.

Two figures had appeared from nowhere.

One was a girl, barely standing. Her pink hair was matted with grime and streaked with blood. Her clothes were torn, her limbs trembling with exhaustion. She reeked of filth, of smoke, sewage, and something worse.

Across from her, something knelt in silence.

Not a person. Not anymore.

It looked like a charred skeleton, frozen mid-kneel, with only scraps of blackened flesh clinging to bone. Blue flames danced along its ruined frame, eating what little remained.

Gasps spread like wildfire. Someone dropped their coffee. Others backed away instinctively, fear gripping the air.

The girl looked up one last time, eyes unfocused. Her body swayed.

Then she collapsed.

And Shiya Station fell into stunned silence.