The expected sound of a final collapse never came.
Instead, a low, structural grinding noise vibrated through the steel hilt. Zer0RUIN's central eye, bloodshot and burning with a frantic, animalistic fury, locked directly onto Zarek's face.
The crimson cross on his chest plate flared one last time.
*BOOM.*
The close-range shockwave blasted outward, ripping the greatsword violently out of Zarek's grip and launching the 4th Division Captain backward across the shattered stone floorboards.
Zarek flipped mid-air, his boots scraping hard against the loose gravel as he skidded to a halt beside Zorin Lyx.
In the crater, Zer0RUIN forced his body back to its feet. The deep, diagonal cleave across his chest plate began to knit itself together, But the regeneration was slow, erratic, and visually straining. The halo of organic, demonic eyes around his shoulders suddenly flickered, their pupils dilating before three of the floating eyes completely dissolved into harmless grey ash, unable to maintain their physical forms.
Zer0RUIN staggered, his chest heaving as he clutched his torso. The air around him, which had been hot enough to melt glass a moment ago, rapidly cooled back to the valley's freezing temperatures.
*Damn it,* Zer0RUIN thought to himself, his teeth grinding so hard they threatened to shatter. *If I had killed that glitcher from the start, this wouldn't have happened. His glitch didn't just disrupt my body— It completely drained my reserves.*
Zorin Lyx, standing ten yards away, let out a ragged, breathless chuckle. His nose was still bleeding, He wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand, a tired but triumphant smirk cutting through the exhaustion on his face.
"Looks like you survived," Zorin rasped, his voice barely carrying over the wind. "But either way... you're dead."
Zarek Solis didn't say a word. He looked down at his massive greatsword, which lay twenty feet away, cracked and smoking from the energy repulsion. Without a hint of hesitation, the captain unbuckled the heavy leather scabbard from his waist and let it drop heavily onto the stones. He reached into his utility belt, pulling out a pair of dense, reinforced matte-black titanium alloy knuckles.
He slipped his fingers through the rings, clenching his fists until the metal teeth click-locked perfectly over his knuckles.
Zer0RUIN took a heavy, deliberate step forward out of the crater. His long, spectral white hair hung limp against his shoulders.
He looked at Zarek's knuckles, then at Zorin's trembling stance.
"We all know we can't use our evoliths," Zer0RUIN spoke,. "We are all out of energy, So that means..."
" we throw hands," Zorin said.
The battlefield fell into an absolute, primitive silence.
Zer0RUIN closed the distance first, He launched a heavy, straight right cross aimed directly at Zarek's face.
Zarek ducked underneath the trajectory of the massive fist, stepping deep into Zer0RUIN's guard.
With a guttural roar, Zarek drove his titanium-clad left fist directly into Zer0RUIN's ribs.
*BANG!*
The sound of metal hitting dense, petrified flesh echoed through the trench. Zer0RUIN grunted, his breath catching, but he countered instantly by bringing his left elbow down in a vicious hacking motion toward Zarek's spine.
Zorin Lyx intercepted the strike, surging forward to catch Zer0RUIN's forearm with both hands, using his entire body weight to pivot and execute a sharp, martial shoulder throw.
Zer0ruin was flipped over Zorin's shoulder, crashing heavily onto the stone floorboards.
Zer0RUIN scrambled backward on the gravel, sweeping his long leg out in a low, devastating kick that caught Zorin across the ankles, sending the vice-captain crashing to the ground.
Zer0RUIN rose instantly, launching a brutal downward stomp aimed at Zorin's chest.
Zarek Solis stepped into the gap, cross-blocking the bottom of Zer0RUIN's boot with his reinforced forearms.
The pure downward force drove Zarek's knees hard into the dirt, but he held the line, his teeth bared as he pushed zer0ruin foot upward.
"Get off him!" Zarek roared, using the upward leverage to drive a devastating right uppercut straight into Zer0RUIN's jaw.
The titanium knuckles connected with a sickening crack. Zer0RUIN's head snapped backward, blood spraying from his lip as he stumbled three steps into the loose gravel.
Zorin Lyx rolled to his feet immediately, sprinting past his captain. Without his glitch active, Zorin relied on pure, combat speed.
He delivered a rapid-fire three-punch combination—left hook to the liver, right jab to the throat, and a spinning back-fist that caught Zer0RUIN squarely across his remaining floating eyes, shattering another one into ash.
Zer0RUIN howled in pure, mortal frustration.
He was a child of Malkor, a being designed to erase civilizations, yet he was being systematically dismantled by raw human boxing and martial art.
Refusing to fall, Zer0RUIN grabbed Zorin by the front of his vest mid-strike, utilizing his superior mass to drive his forehead forcefully into Zorin's face in a brutal headbutt.
The impact fractured Zorin's nose, sending the vice-captain stumbling back blindly as blood poured down his chin. Zer0RUIN lifted his fist to deliver a final, crushing blow to zorin , but Zarek Solis was already there.
Zarek closed the distance with a fierce, heavy step. He slipped inside Zer0RUIN's extended arm, weaving past his guard with perfect defensive positioning. Zarek unleashed a relentless, short-range barrage of hooks and body blows, his titanium knuckles ripping into Zer0RUIN's abdomen and chest plate.
*BANG! BANG! BANG!*
Every single strike from the 4th Division Captain carried the absolute weight of his division's pride. With a final, explosive pivoting cross, Zarek's right fist smashed into the center of Zer0RUIN's face, breaking he's nose and forcing him down to both knees in the dirt.
Zer0RUIN knelt in the pulverized stone, his chest heaving violently as blood dripped from his ruined face onto the ground.
His vision was blurring, his muscles shaking, He looked up through his swelling eyes at the two humans standing before him.
"This... this is impossible," Zer0RUIN wheezed, his voice cracking with a raw, desperate vulnerability. "You are insects... how can you endure this?"
Zorin Lyx stepped forward beside Zarek, his breathing incredibly ragged. He wiped the blood from his eyes, a strange, electric spark suddenly flaring deep within his pupils.
"Because we don't give up, eye man," Zorin muttered.
Zorin triggered a micro-second *Final Glitch*. His body didn't split into copies, and he didn't lag the environment. Instead, he glitched his own fist forward through space, bypassing the air resistance entirely to deliver a lightning-fast, high-velocity straight right punch that materialised directly against Zer0RUIN's temple.
*BUZZ-BANG!*
The localized digital impact rattled Zer0RUIN's brain inside his skull, completely short-circuiting his brain and sending his massive frame tilting backward, utterly defenseless.
Zarek Solis didn't let the opening slide. Dropping his weight, the captain lunged past the falling god toward where his greatsword lay embedded in the earth.
He grabbed the hilt with both hands, his eyes burning with a fierce, golden fury as he ripped the heavy blade from the stone.
Turning on his heel with a perfect, sweeping martial arc, Zarek brought the massive greatsword across in a devastating, horizontal execution slash.
*SHREEEIING!*
The heavy steel edge tore cleanly through Zer0RUIN's neck.
There was no explosion of energy. There was no catastrophic firestorm. The head of the second child of Malkor severed cleanly from his shoulders,
Zarek Solis let the tip of his greatsword rest against the stone floorboards, leaning heavily against the hilt as he gasped for air, his uniform soaked in sweat and blood. Beside him, Zorin Lyx collapsed straight backward onto the ground, and then a tired, victorious laugh bubbling up from his chest.
They had given absolutely everything t
hey had. , they had relied on each other, and they won.