Chapter 14: The King of the Valley
Aerin took a step forward—
STEP!
The shaman held her back.
No Retreat.
SWISH! SLASH!
The King swang his blade in wide arcs.
Daito didn't stop.
Didn't slow.
He charged through the arcs.
SWOOSH
SLING!
Sliding beneath a wide swing—
Rolling behind Bugardi's massive frame.
Before the king could pivot—
GRAB!
Daito grabbed the animal skin cloak.
Twisted.
And lifted.
The entire valley froze.
Bugardi's enormous body left the ground.
Daito slammed him down.
Once.
SLAM!
Stone exploded.
Twice.
SLAM!
The mat fractured.
Three times.
SLAM!
The impact shook the huts nearby.
SLAM!
Four times—
The ground beneath them cracked like a spiderweb.
Even Bugardi's eyes widened.
The watchers stared in disbelief.
"That strength…"
"How can could he have that…"
Bugardi gritted his teeth as Daito lifted him again—
And smashed him down a fifth time.
The valley floor cratered.
BOOOM!
CRACK!
SWOOSH!
Dust rose like a battlefield fog.
Both men were bleeding heavily now.
Breathing harder.
Aura distorting around them.
Bronze flickering.
Depth folding inward unpredictably.
They were not just damaging each other.
They were tearing the valley apart.
And still—
Neither yielded.
RIPP!
The animal skin cloak on Bugardi's back split in the middle.
The sound was small.
But the meaning was enormous.
SWOOSH!
FWOOSH!
The king's massive body was thrown upward from Daito's repeated ground smashes, muscle mass absorbing damage that would have shattered normal bone structure.
Blood ran across his chest and arms.
His breathing was heavy.
But his eyes were sharp.
Alive.
CATCH! CLING!
Bugardi reached backward mid-air and grabbed his traditional sword.
Then—
THWISHH!
SWOOSH!
He threw it.
Not casually.
Not tactically.
With everything he had.
SWOOSH!
The blade screamed through the air toward Daito's head.
Daito reacted instantly.
CATCH!
FLIP!
He grabbed the sword.
Did a backflip to redirect momentum.
Then—
SWOOSH!
He climbed onto the sword's handle using both legs.
Balanced.
Still mid-motion.
Then pushed downward—
Driving the sword deeper into the stone ground.
Using it as a springboard.
Daito launched upward.
Knees first.
Aim: Bugardi's head.
BAM!
Bugardi crossed his arms and blocked the impact.
The collision reverberated through his skeletal structure.
Daito immediately shifted.
SWIISH!
FWOOSH!
Rotated his body upside-down in mid-air.
Grabbed Bugardi by both ankles.
Bent his own legs—
THUD! THUD!
And delivered two devastating horse kicks to Bugardi's skull.
Bugardi's vision blurred.
The world tilted.
Dizziness spread through his brain.
Daito flipped again—
SWOOSH!
THWISHH!
And threw Bugardi violently backward.
Bugardi was sent toward the pair of previously rolling boulders.
BOUNCE!
He bounced once.
SLIDE!
Dragged across stone.
Then slid.
FRRSHH!
Dust and gravel followed his path.
Daito landed.
No hesitation.
SWOOSH!
He dashed.
Each step exploding stone fragments outward.
He closed distance and unleashed a chained assault:
KICK!
PUNCH!
Body shove.
Upward pressure.
Driving Bugardi toward the boulders.
Bugardi finally found timing.
He twisted his torso—
SWISH!
THWACK!
And struck Daito with a heavy right hook.
CRASH! BOOM!
The impact crashed Daito downward onto the ground.
Hard.
Heavy.
Dust rose.
SWOOSH!
But Daito expected it.
The boulders had reached their predetermined trigger point.
There was a stone on the ground directly before them.
The first boulder hit it.
Force redirected upward.
THWISHH!
The second boulder collided with the first at high velocity.
Momentum combined.
Direction shifted.
Trajectory changed.
SWOOSH!
FWOOSH!
The massive rock mass accelerated sideways—
Straight toward Bugardi.
BAM!
The boulder smashed into him.
The king was launched in the opposite direction.
Daito stood up.
CLING...
Picked up his sword.
Then removed the native bandages from his wounds.
Slow.
Careful.
Faithful.
The Wildmen's medicine fibers were unusually strong.
They had not torn even during brutal combat.
He wrapped them around the back of his blade.
Tied them tight.
Weapon reinforced.
Symbolically and practically.
He trusted the tribe's craftsmanship.
Bugardi flew stuck to the boulder.
Anger was visible now.
Not controlled.
Not philosophical.
Raw.
Dominant.
He wanted Daito dead.
Humiliation burned deeper than wounds.
He slapped the accelerating boulder with one open palm.
BOOM!
The stone disintegrated into fragments under Bronze Aura compression.
Dust spread outward.
Bugardi's voice thundered across the valley.
"When I reach my sword…"
"…it will be over!"
The tribe felt it.
Dominion-tier pressure began stirring faintly inside him.
Muscle fibers tightened.
Aura condensed around his frame like storm clouds forming around a mountain.
SWOOSH!
VRRMM!
Daito stood still.
Sword ready.
Eyes calm.
Blood dripping.
Waiting.
The battlefield had reached its true phase.
Not testing.
Not exchange.
Termination stage was approaching.
Because now—
Both warriors understood one terrifying truth.
The next successful strike might decide the valley's future.
VRRSSH!
VRRMM!
Bronze pressure changed.
The valley felt it first.
Then the warriors.
Then the wind itself.
Bugardi's aura expanded violently.
Dominion-tier release.
Full control.
No restraint.
No test.
Only survival dominance.
Bugardi ran toward his traditional sword at maximum speed.
DASH!
FWOOSH!
Muscles compressed.
VRRSSH!
Aura pressure locked around his body like hardened bronze armor.
Meanwhile—
Daito Greyhell drove his blade into the lower stone platform.
Then lifted the second boulder.
He considered two options.
Throw it directly at Bugardi.
Or throw it at the sword.
Because Bugardi's destination was obvious.
The king's survival doctrine was simple:
Weapon first.
Body second.
Five seconds.
CRASH!
BBRRFF!
Bugardi reached his sword.
He pulled it from the ground using every fiber of muscle mass he possessed.
"Haargh!" he shouted.
VRRSSH!
VRRSSH!
Dominion Aura exploded outward in bronze shockwaves.
He did not hesitate.
He slashed the incoming boulder.
SPLIT!
The stone mass fractured cleanly into upper and lower halves.
The upper fragment passed and collapsed harmlessly.
The lower fragment scattered to dust across the valley.
Bugardi scanned the battlefield.
Dust.
Stone fragments.
Silence.
Then—
FWOO!
Black shadow.
Two glowing white eyes.
Rising slowly from the rubble behind him.
Predatory.
Unclassified.
Gravity-like pressure.
Bugardi already knew.
He turned anyway.
Too late.
Daito's blade moved.
Clean.
Perfectly aligned.
SLASH!
From Bugardi's right shoulder—
Diagonal downward—
To the left rib.
THWISH!
BREAK!
The traditional sword in Bugardi's hand disintegrated from shock stress and Aura disruption.
Bronze Dominion energy collapsed violently.
Bugardi's upper body slid downward slowly.
PSSSH! PSSSH!
Blood erupted outward in fountain-like arcs.
Red painted the cracked stone.
Boom...
collapse....
His massive frame collapsed to its knees before falling forward.
Daito stood behind him.
Blade held casually but firmly.
White and purple jacket torn and blood-stained.
FWOO!
Wind moved through the valley.
Silence followed the king's fall.
Daito spoke quietly.
"You were the strongest swordmaster I have ever fought."
Pause.
"You should rest with pride."
Bugardi's eyes remained open.
Not fear.
Not hatred.
Recognition.
Respect.
The Wildmen stood frozen for several heartbeats.
Then Aerin stepped forward first.
She stood before Daito.
Placed her fist over his heart.
"Seontaekdoen ja."
The shaman followed.
Then the hunters.
Then the farmers.
One by one.
They approached Daito.
Not as conqueror.
Not as tyrant.
But as successor.
"YEAH!"
"SEONTAEKDOEN JA!"
"CHOSEN ONE!"
They lifted him slightly—traditional victory celebration forming around him.
Some placed animal skin garlands on his shoulders.
Others shouted ancient valley chants.
The prophecy had been witnessed.
The Valley's New King
Bugardi's body remained where it fell.
Not dishonored.
Not buried immediately.
Because among the Wildmen—
Death was not rushed.
Honor was allowed silence.
Daito stood among them.
But he did not smile.
Because somewhere deep inside—
The abyss still moved.
And the world above the valley was still preparing war.
to be continued.....