The battlefield was a deafening mix of battle cries and feral roars, rising all the way to the clouds.
All around the city walls and the soil beneath them, blood soaked in at a pace visible to the naked eye, turning everything a lurid shade of red. It was both vivid and gruesome.
The war drums pounded low and steady, wave after wave, echoing in everyone's ears.
Amid that thunderous beat, Giant King Orion and Giant King Balor now faced each other.
Balor reached up, unfastening the armor on his body and letting it clatter to the ground. Orion's eyes were cold and remote; the blood-red armor on him receded, returning to its original bone-bead form.
In the first phase of a giant king's duel, it was fist versus fist—a raw contest of strength.
"Orion Stoneheart, this is a battle of honor!"
Orion didn't answer. He merely pounded on his own chest with both hands, roaring all the while. Little by little, his mood and very blood began to burn.
Huff!
Wind whistled in their ears as both Orion and Balor, each worked into a frenzy of emotion, suddenly charged at one another.
Boom!
Their fists collided in midair—a pounding clash of flesh against flesh, strength against strength. Neither Orion nor Balor gave an inch. That opening punch left them deadlocked.
"Impressive. I wasn't expecting the Blackstone tribe to produce someone so powerful!"
Balor was caught off guard. His body was larger and sturdier than Orion's, yet in sheer brute force, Orion had matched him blow for blow.
Orion was even more astonished. He knew perfectly well that in his normal form, the extra might he wielded came from the Heart of Titan. Without that Titan boost, Balor would actually outclass him in raw power.
"The Starveil giants' strength is everything I'd hoped for!" Orion bellowed in reply.
More agile by nature, Orion wasted no time unleashing a second attack. He planted his left foot, thrust forward, then shot out a brutally fast, pinpoint flying knee with his right leg.
Thud!
Balor crossed his arms, blocking the blow at the elbows, but Orion's strike still sent him hurtling backward.
"Not bad. Now it's my turn!"
Landing from his backward flight, Balor smirked coldly. Then he dropped to one knee, both hands on the ground, as though preparing for a sprint.
Rumble…
Even without using any transcendent power, Balor's sheer physical might made a noise like rolling thunder as he charged.
"Let's see how you handle my 'Rapid Ram Fist.' Heh heh heh!"
His laughter sounded almost demented, as if a crazed hooligan had discovered some new joy.
This was a punch Orion couldn't afford to dodge—doing so would throw away all the momentum he'd built. He recognized that immediately. So instead of backing off, Orion barreled straight in.
He activated Berserk Aura, sending himself into a frenzy. In that state, his constitution rose a notch, and he felt less pain. That little edge was exactly what he needed.
"Go to hell!"
Driven wild by his berserk state, Orion's killing intent exploded, cold and rampant in his eyes. He didn't bother hiding it at all.
Crack…crack…crack!
The sound of bones grinding and popping echoed through the air, enough to make any onlooker's skin crawl.
Watching that fist-on-fist brutality from above—Boarfolk Boarion, Gnome Brimli, Lokiviria, Jorik, Gareth, Ironhoof, and Bluehide—found themselves at a loss for words, each swallowing hard. They were all power-based fighters in the Legendary level, but seeing the way Orion and Balor collided left them feeling inadequate.
Especially Lokiviria, who couldn't help feeling relieved that back when he clashed with Orion, he never allowed Orion to fight him that close.
"Heh heh…just wanting to be Giant King isn't good enough!"
Balor was unhinged. Blood was already leaking from his fists, but he paid no attention. Whatever pain Orion caused him only fueled Balor's excitement, driving him to new heights of savagery.
Abandoning his earlier fighting style of trading blow for blow from a distance, Balor now let Orion's fists hammer his body. Plainly, Balor planned on taking hits to land hits, blood for blood. Only that, in his opinion, was worthy of a genuine giant-king duel.
With this shift in style, Balor's giant fists began pummeling Orion right back. But Orion wasn't about to shrink away—especially in his own berserk state.
Smack…boom…slam…splatter…
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Fists struck flesh in a savage, blood-soaked rhythm, their morale feeding off each other's frenzy in a relentless, violent collision.
On top of one of Starveil City's walls, in a nearby watchtower, Kitsune Sylvana stood alone, shutting her foxy, seductive eyes. Yet with them closed, she still "saw" Orion and Balor's every move.
In Sylvana's mind's eye, those two were like outlines drawn in blue lines, locked in an endless night, grappling, beating, and crashing into each other again and again.
"A sudden catastrophe…a world under domination…a fate no one can fight…"
"Change…no answers…an opportunity…"
Sylvana's face grew ever paler as blood trickled from her eyes and nose.
Before long, in that darkness behind her eyelids, the two blue silhouettes turned blood-red. At the same time, an enormous figure that stretched across the entire world seemed to be watching their struggle—so huge that its body alone engulfed an entire galaxy.
Kitsune Sylvana tried to lift her head to gaze upon that towering presence.
But she failed.
At that moment atop the watchtower, she teetered, unable to hold herself upright, and toppled right over the side.
Down below, an old woman of the Fox (Kitsune) Tribe had been keeping a worried eye on Sylvana ever since noticing blood oozing from her seven orifices. The instant Sylvana fell, the old woman caught her.
"Let's get back…this fight is beyond us…"
And with that, Seer Sylvana passed out completely in the elder Kitsune's arms.
Beyond the city walls, in the duel's forbidden zone, horns blared, war drums thundered, and both sides fought like mad.
Orion landed a kick right against Balor's massive chest, caving it in. At the same time, Balor unleashed a devastating punch to Orion's gut, launching him into the air.
"Orion, I'll admit you're strong. I can't kill you in the first phase."