The fight still continues.
Steel spheres came shooting directly toward the elite soldier at high speed, each one curving through the battlefield from different angles after ricocheting off the surrounding walls and debris.
The elite soldier reacted immediately.
He raised both forearms and blocked the first two impacts head-on, the collisions releasing sharp metallic cracks as the infused spheres slammed against his armor hard enough to force him back half a step.
But the rest came from blind spots.
One sphere smashed into his side.
Another struck the lower part of his back.
A third slammed directly into his shoulder from above before two more crashed into his chest and ribs almost simultaneously.
By Impacts dented sections of his armor completely, the metal caving inward from the force while the skin beneath it tore and bruised under the repeated strikes.
The elite soldier staggered slightly before catching his balance again, dark energy flaring violently around his body as he slowly lifted his head back toward Shay.
Shay was smirking beneath his mask now, clearly enjoying the fight far more than he probably should have.
But unlike the outpost battle before, this time he was taking it seriously, back then, he underestimated his opponent, back then, his arrogance cost him.
The crack running through his old mask had already taught him that lesson.
"Heh…" Shay rolled one shoulder slightly before pointing lazily toward the elite soldier. "So this is the famous elite soldier?"
He tilted his head dramatically.
"More like… e-LITE-rally tripping over your own boots."
Shay burst out laughing immediately afterward, the sound echoing through the damaged street while his dark green and crimson aura flickered wildly around his body.
He embraced the role naturally.
The movements, attitude and the madness hidden underneath the humor.
Shay was The Laughing Trickster after all.
The elite enhanced soldier was visibly pissed now, Shay had completely gotten under his skin and for the first time since the fight started, real emotion showed through beneath that cold exterior.
His fist clenched tightly.
Then he moved, ground cracked slightly beneath his feet as he burst forward at high speed, far faster than before nearly double the speed he had been using earlier.
Shay noticed immediately.
The moment the elite soldier closed the distance, Shay lowered himself into stance.
Then vanished.
A burst of confetti scattered violently through the air where Shay had been standing moments ago, colorful pieces drifting across the battlefield while not a single trace of Shay remained behind.
The elite soldier stopped abruptly.
His eyes moved around the empty street carefully, nothing.
Then laughter echoed from somewhere to his right, elite soldier snapped his head toward the sound instantly.
Nobody was there...
Even the civilians that had been running moments ago were gone now, the atmosphere itself had changed after Shay disappeared, the burning streets suddenly felt quieter in a way that didn't feel natural anymore.
The elite soldier slowly narrowed his eyes beneath the mask.
Something has change...
The thought settled heavily inside his mind while Shay's faint laughter echoed somewhere deeper within the ruined capital streets.
Elite soldier continued scanning the surroundings carefully while the ruined streets around him slowly began to darken unnaturally, shadows spreading across the battlefield like black water consuming everything in its path, buildings, fire, debris, even the distant screams of civilians all becoming swallowed beneath an endless pitch-black void as the atmosphere itself started feeling heavier with every passing second.
Then the laughter returned.
Low-pitched...distorted and creepy.
Crawling through the darkness from every direction at once like something alive moving just beyond sight, the sound echoing through the empty void while cold wind drifted across the broken streets carrying scattered pieces of confetti through the air.
The elite soldier's eyes narrowed behind his mask as his head moved sharply from side to side, searching through the darkness while his light blue and black aura flickered violently around his body, compressed magic flowing beneath his armor as instinct warned him something was deeply wrong here.
Then—He saw him...
Far ahead within the pitch-black surroundings, Shay stood not facing him completely, and motionless at the center of the darkness, his body barely visible beneath the overwhelming shadow surrounding him while his dark green and crimson aura pulsed faintly around his figure like distorted flames burning inside the void itself.
The battlefield had gone silent.
No explosions, no screaming.
Only laughter then slowly...
Shay's head began turning backward.
The movement twisted unnaturally until his neck completed a full three hundred and sixty-degree rotation, the smiling mask locking directly onto the elite soldier while his head tilted sideways afterward in a way no human body should ever move, the atmosphere around them becoming heavier the moment it happened.
The elite soldier didn't fear easily.
But even he could feel how unnatural this was, laughter became louder.
Closer, more unstable.
Then Shay vanished again.
Confetti exploded outward through the darkness as his figure disappeared completely, leaving nothing behind except drifting pieces of colorful pieces caught within the cold wind.
The elite soldier reacted instantly.
Compressed magic surged violently through his arm before he sensed movement directly in front of him then Shay's reappeared infront his face and launched a full-force punch forward without hesitation, the impact tearing through the air hard enough to crack the ground beneath his feet.
His fist connected directly with Shay's face, but there was no resistance...
No impact...
The figure shattered apart instantly into fragments of illusion and scattered confetti before dissolving completely into the darkness itself.
A trick, another illusion.
Then laughter echoed directly behind him, looking over behind him, no was there.
The elite soldier spun around, compressed magic surging violently through both arms as his aura flared outward in every direction, searching, scanning, trying to locate something that refused to stay in one place long enough to be found.
Nothing moved inside the darkness.
Only confetti drifted slowly downward through the cold air, each piece catching the faint light of Shay's distant aura before disappearing into the void beneath their feet.
Then a hand settled gently onto his shoulder from behind.
The elite soldier twisted with full force, magic detonating outward from his fist as he swung toward the contact, the shockwave alone cracking the stone beneath him, but his knuckles passed through nothing, through scattered shadow and dissolving light, the figure shattering apart into fragments before his strike even completed.
Another illusion.
The laughter returned immediately, lower than before, slower, crawling through the darkness from directions that shouldn't have existed inside a battlefield, wrapping around the elite soldier's perception like something alive pressing inward from every side at once while the cold wind carried broken pieces of confetti past his mask in complete silence.
Then Shay appeared.
Not suddenly, not dramatically, simply there, standing several paces ahead with both hands clasped loosely behind his back, his dark green and crimson aura burning quietly around his frame while the darkness itself seemed to lean slightly toward him.
Drawn inward by something invisible radiating off his presence, the battlefield going utterly silent the moment he fully materialized.
He walked forward slowly.
Unhurried, completely unbothered, each step deliberate against the cracked stone while his mask reflected nothing from the surrounding darkness and his aura pulsed steadily outward like a heartbeat that didn't belong to anything human.
"You keep looking where I was," Shay said quietly, his voice calm and low beneath the mask while he stopped walking and tilted his head sideways by a fraction, the smile hidden underneath it carrying something far heavier than humor. "Never where I am."
The darkness beneath the elite soldier's feet shifted.
A presence surged violently upward from directly below before massive shadow constructs erupted from the ground and wrapped around both his legs, pulling downward with tremendous force as the void. Itself opened beneath him like something that had been waiting patiently the entire time, the stone cracking and splitting apart around the impact while cold air rushed inward from every direction at once.
The elite soldier drove magic through his entire body, resistance flaring outward as he fought against the pull, armor groaning under the pressure while his aura screamed violently against the encroaching darkness.
But the shadows held.
And the ground swallowed him whole.
The darkness closed over him completely, the street above going still in an instant as debris settled slowly through the cold air and the distant sounds of war returned one by one from far beyond the void, bleeding back into the world like something muffled finally becoming audible again.
Confetti drifted downward across the empty battlefield.
Shay stood alone at the center of it, his aura dimming gradually back to its resting pulse while the darkness around him slowly receded, pulling away from the ruined street like water draining from stone.
Leaving nothing behind except broken ground, scattered light, and the faint echo of laughter still hanging somewhere just beneath the silence.
He tilted his head once toward the spot where the elite soldier had been standing.
Then rolled his shoulder back casually, his mask still forward, his posture still loose, the battlefield around him completely empty and completely his.
"Took long enough," Shay muttered quietly to no one.