Ats unleashed waves of water and a storm of liquid spears, sm the searing magma across the battlefield. The molten flow lost its fiery edge, cooling visibly. Ragnor's face twisted in surprise for a moment, and his soldiers mirrored his rea, though their determination remained firm. The battle was on, and they pushed forward, relying on their greater numbers.

  Ats shot ahead, his body crag with water and lightning energy that boosted his every move. The Mountain Leaper Bands on his wrist powered him forward in explosive bursts. Beside him, Manna ran with her scythe ready. She cast a fleeting gnce his way, her usual faint smile fshing—cool and fident, with a hint of the bloodlust that gleamed in her eyes.

  The Vampire Queen surged ahead, ign the enemy's ander entirely as she hunted for her targets. But before she could strike, something zipped past her and smashed into an enemy soldier’s chest with brutal force.

  It was Mira. The rabbit-eared gardener darted into the chaos, her crimson eyes burning with iy. Wielding her hoe like a on of precision, she moved with uny speed, slipping through attacks as if untouchable. Each swing of her bde-like tool ended another life, leaving a growing trail of bodies in her wake.

  Farther off, anure hurled into the air with an unhinged scream. Mid-flight, his body ed grotesquely, morphing into a massive form cloaked in writhing shadows. Raze had joihe fray.

  He smmed into the enemy ranks like a wreg ball, scattering soldiers on impact. His roar thundered across the battlefield, veins bulging as shadowy tendrils shed out.

  The ground quaked beh him, and the sheer force of his presence sent waves of fear rippling through the opposing troops. Several faltered, their resolve wavering under his ferocious dispy.

  Raze didn’t hesitate, unleashing a torrent of devastating punches in every dire. He seized one unlucky soldier, lifting them effortlessly before smming them into the ground with bone-crushing force. The earth trembled uhe impact, and Raze’s fists kept poundilessly until the soldier’s body was driven deep into the dirt.

  Eroops swarmed him, attag from all sides in a frantic bid to take him down. But Raze seemed impervious to their strikes, shrugging off the blows without fling. Each attack he absorbed only fueled his fury. He retaliated with raw, urained power, his fists smashing through the chaos like wreg hammers. Every swing shattered bones and ce alike, leaving anyone who dared approach him crushed in body and spirit.

  Ats surged forward, closing the distaween himself and Ragnor, the opposing Lord. The decision of his elite subordio hold back, leaving him to face Ragnor alone, was a testament to the gravity of the challenge before them. This battle was anything but simple—it demanded everything Ats had and more.

  With his spear in hand, Ats moved at an incredible speed, the water and lightning elements swirling around him like an uorm. He could feel the abundant elemental particles saturating the battlefield, but as he moved closer tnor, it was as though they were momentarily disrupted, their flow distorted.

  Ats closed his eyes, tering himself. This wasn’t o him—he had fought many battles blind before. With his upgraded abilities sharpening his senses, he felt ready for whatever Ragnor would unleash. The csh ahead would defihe course of the battle.

  Ragnreeted Ats with a fierce grin, charging forward with startling speed. Despite the massive size of his greathammer, his swings were quid punishing, eae sending tremors through the ground.

  Ats dodged nimbly, leaping bad weaving uhe crushing blows with fluid precision. Spotting an opening, he spun his spear and sshed at Ragnor's side, aiming to exploit a gap in his defense.

  Ragnor reacted immediately, dropping his arm to block the strike with the ft edge of his greathammer. The etal rang out, but Ats didn’t pause. He pressed forward, ung a rapid series of strikes. Each thrust, swing, and ssh was met with skillful defles, Ragnor using different parts of his colossal on to parry the relentless assault.

  Their battle was a breathtaking dispy of porecision, every exge lighting the battlefield with sparks. The iy mounted until Ragnor unleashed a heavy ter strike. Ats sprang backward just in time, avoiding the devastating blow. Without hesitation, he called forth his spirit beast, summoning it into the fray in a brilliant fsh.

  "Zefyros!"

  The water beast materialized.

  CREAAKKKK!

  A massive surge of water, crag with electricity, erupted toward Ragnor. The attack struck with overwhelming force, the bined elements smming into the enemy Lord. He roared in pain, his massive frame staggering uhe assault.

  But Ragnor was far from defeated. With a furious yell, he spun his greathammer in a wide arc. The sheer force of the swing broke through the torrent. Taking advantage of the disruption, he dashed clear of the attack zone, narrowly esg Zefyros's wrath.

  As Ragnor repositioned, Zefyros dissolved bato the Wavebreaker Spear, its energy flowing into the on and supercharging it once more. Ats gripped the spear tightly, ready to strike again.

  Ragnor's face was no longer as posed as before. His expression twisted into a snarl as he let out a deafening roar, his body enveloped in a bzing red aura that made his skin appear even more fiery and intense.

  Suddenly, he moved with blistering speed, swinging his massive greathammer toward Ats in a series of brutal, rapid strikes.

  Ats, however, responded with a faint smile. With practiced grace, he shifted his spear behind him, leaped into the air, ducked low, and somersaulted, effortlessly dodging each nor’s fretacks.

  Seizing the moment, Ats spun tnor’s side and delivered a precise overhead strike with his spear. The attaded ly, carving a deep gash intnor’s left arm.

  "I’ll kill you, you bastard!" Ragnor roared, his movements being even more savage aic. His speed increased, his strikes growing fiercer with each swing.

  Is he a berserker?

  Unfazed, Ats kept moving, cirg around him, occasionally summoning Zefyros to unleash powerful attacks. Yet this time, Ragnor braced himself, gritting his teeth and managing to ehe spirit beast’s strikes as he tinued his relentless assault on Ats.

  "How are you able to fight in this volic terrain?" Ragnor bellowed.

  "This kind of enviro," Ats replied, parrying an ining blow before being forced to flip backward from the sheer force, "is a pyground for use."

  "Are you the ones who train at Fre Peak?"

  "We didn’t knoere so famous.”

  Gradually, Ragnor’s movements began to slow. The injuries he had sustained were taking their toll, and his once-blistering speed waned. Ats noticed an opening nor’s left side—a critical vulnerability.

  He dashed forward, aiming a sweeping ssh from the left, his spear angling directly toward Ragnor’s nebsp;

  "Any st words?!"

  But just as his strike was about to ect, Ragnor suddenly dropped his on and raised both hands into the air.

  "I surrender!" Ragnor shouted, his voiing across the battlefield, drawing everyone’s attention.

  Ats’s eyes darted to the timer on his HUD—it had just reached 2 minutes exactly.

  Warning!

  A notification fshed in his mind. His eyes narrowed as Ragnor's lips curled into a sinister grin.

  In Ragnor's outstretched hand, a massive fireball ignited, growing rapidly in size and iy. Before Ats could react, Ragnor lunged forward, hurling the fiery sphere straight at him.

  “You’re dead now, Ats!”

  But Ats moved with blinding speed, stepping back just enough to evade the bzing attack. As the fireball flew past him, he redirected his spear in a swift, lethal arc. The bde struck true, severing Ragnor’s hand ly at the wrist.

  Ragnor froze, his eyes wide with shod terror as he staggered babsp;

  But Ats didn’t give him time to recover.

  In a single fluid motion, Ats swung his spear again, aiming fnor’s neck. The bde struck with precision, slig through the outer yers of flesh and leaving a deep, gaping wound.

  “ARGHHH!”

  Ragnor’s scream ripped through the air as blood gushed from his neck. He colpsed to the ground, writhing and clutg desperately at the wound.

  Seeing their Lord brought to his knees, Ragnor's troops were ed by fear. Without leadership or dire, they became easy targets for Ats’s forces.

  One by one, soldiers were struck down as they tried to flee, many falling to swift attacks from behind. Bdes found their marks, and the battlefield was soon littered with the remnants of a shattered army.

  Ats didn’t spare Ragnor annce. He turned his ba the fallen Lord, walking away slowly as the defeated warrior bled out on the scorched ground. Behind him, his troops moved with cold precision, dismantling what remained of the enemy force.

  Stopping for a moment, Ats closed his eyes and drew a deep breath, steadying himself. His fists tightened as he let the weight of the momele.

  In the Lord’s Battle World, only one w mattered: kill or be killed.

  Victory or Nothing!