ShadowBound: The Need For Power-Chapter 620: A Gift From Me To You

Liam landed lightly, already moving again. He didn’t pause to admire the damage he caused. Flames crawled up his arms, condensed and focused, then detonated outward as he thrust both palms forward.

A wave of fire surged across the stage.

Percy clenched his teeth and slammed both hands down. Ice exploded upward in a wall thicker than before, layered and compressed, the temperature dropping so sharply frost bloomed across the stone. The fire crashed into it, steam erupting in a blinding cloud as ice hissed and cracked under the pressure.

The wall held.

Barely.

Percy reinforced it in real time, Myst flowing precisely and carefully, never exceeding the limit he had set for himself. He could feel how close he was skating to the edge—how much more he wanted to pour into the construct.

’No. I must stay true to my word no matter what.’

The wall still shattered anyway.

Not from raw power—but from placement.

Liam burst through the steam at an angle Percy hadn’t accounted for, his foot slamming into the base of the wall where the Myst density dipped ever so slightly. Flames surged into the weak point, detonating outward. The entire structure collapsed inward, and Liam was already inside Percy’s guard.

A punch to the stomach.

Percy grunted as the impact drove the air from his lungs, heat burning through his tank top. But he retaliated immediately, sweeping his leg and freezing the ground beneath Liam in an instant. Ice crawled up Liam’s ankle, trying to lock him in place.

Liam tore free with a burst of flame, flipping backward, but Percy followed, flicking his wrist and sending a cluster of ice blades slicing through the air in a wide spread.

However, Liam saw them before they formed.

Not the blades themselves—but the subtle shift in Percy’s Myst shroud, the way the flow tightened and angled, the way energy gathered along his forearm and wrist. Liam moved as the intention crystallized, twisting midair, flames bursting from his back and shoulders to alter his trajectory. The blades passed where his torso had been, one grazing his side, carving a thin line of blood.

He landed, skidded, then surged forward again.

Percy’s breath was sharp now, controlled but strained. ’What was that reaction just now?’ His eyes tracked Liam desperately. ’It’s like he predicted what I’d do.’

Liam came in low this time, sliding across the ground with flames blasting from his heels, then snapped upward with a rising kick that exploded against Percy’s guard. Ice fractured. Percy staggered back, countered with a downward ice hammer aimed at Liam’s shoulder.

Liam ducked under it by inches.

He felt the cold brush past his hair, then twisted and drove a flaming uppercut straight into Percy’s ribs.

The impact echoed like a cannon shot.

Percy was sent flying, smashing into an ice construct he had formed earlier. He hit it hard, ice splintering behind him as he caught himself at the last second, boots skidding as his breath was ragged.

’This power... it is like getting hit by Sir Kaine.’

Liam didn’t give him time.

Flames roared brighter and wilder, licking up Liam’s body as he launched again, each step cracking the ground, each burst of movement more violent than the last. He attacked relentlessly—punches, kicks, shoulder checks, sweeping arcs of fire that forced Percy to defend, to move, to think faster and faster.

Percy responded with everything he could without crossing the line.

Ice walls rose and shattered. Spikes erupted from the ground only to be melted or kicked aside. Frozen chains lashed out, wrapping around Liam’s arm—only for flames to surge and snap them apart. Percy counterattacked whenever he found an opening, precise and lethal, his experience evident in every motion.

But every time he thought he had Liam cornered—

Liam slipped through.

Not by overpowering him.

By anticipating him.

And Percy noticed it fully now.

The way Liam shifted before an attack launched. The way his flames struck not where Percy’s defenses were strongest, but where they were thinnest. The way Liam moved as if the battlefield itself were whispering to him.

’He was predicting my movements.’ He thought. ’He can see them or probably he is able to feel them. But how?’

A sharp exchange followed—Percy thrusting an ice dagger forward, Liam twisting aside and retaliating with a flaming elbow that shattered it. Percy countered with a point-blank burst of freezing air, coating Liam’s torso in frost...

...and Liam burned through it from the inside, flames exploding outward in a violent ring that forced Percy to leap back.

The heat was suffocating now.

Sweat ran down Percy’s face, steam rising where it met the cold air around him. His Myst churned steadily, carefully regulated, but the temptation to release more was screaming in his veins.

’Come on, just hold it in a little longer. He’ll give out soon.’

With those words said to himself, Percy dug in, forming layered defenses, adapting, shifting his tactics. He fought like a wall being battered by a relentless storm, every block and counter executed with flawless discipline.

And still—

Liam kept pushing.

Flames flared brighter, his movements sharper, his grin feral as Unified Flow flooded his senses. The world was energy and motion and intent, and Percy was a blazing, shifting mass of ice-aligned Myst that Liam carved into and exploited.

A final exchange ended with both of them sliding apart, breathing hard, the stage scorched and frozen in equal measure.

Percy straightened slowly, eyes locked onto Liam, chest rising and falling.

’It’s obvious he is forcing me to violate my word. But that won’t happen.’

Liam stood opposite Percy, flames still coiling around his fists like living things, his eyes glowing with an intensity that bordered on feral as the Ascension continued to rage within him. For a fleeting moment, the world seemed to steady—then warmth slid down his face.

It was subtle at first. A faint trickle at the corner of his lip, another at the bridge of his nose. Liam frowned slightly and raised a hand, brushing his fingers across his skin. When he pulled them back, they were stained red.

Blood.

It dripped slowly from his nose and lips, falling onto the scorched stone beneath his boots.

’So that’s it...’ Liam thought calmly, almost detached, as the strange overlay of energy that had defined his vision finally began to peel away. The tendrils of Myst faded. The anticipatory shifts vanished. The world returned to its normal, imperfect pace. ’Unified Flow’s hit its limit.’

His perception snapped fully back into place, and with it came the weight.

His heartbeat thundered in his ears way louder now. His core burned hotter as well, with strain and relentless grinding pain of the incomplete synchronization. His limbs felt heavier and slower, as if gravity itself had decided to remember him all at once.

’And my body’s next,’ he acknowledged inwardly, lips tightening slightly. ’As much as I don’t care... passing out here would be annoying.’

He stayed where he was, posture loose but deliberate, while his mind recalibrated. Without Unified Flow, the advantage he’d been abusing—staying a step ahead of Percy, reading movements before they happened—was gone. Worse still, his body was nearing the threshold of what it could withstand while his core was still rewriting itself, still breaking down Percy’s refined ice-aligned Myst piece by piece.

It was a dangerous overlap.

Liam’s gaze remained locked on Percy.

’I’m sure he can tell,’ he thought, noticing the subtle shift in Percy’s stance, the way his shoulders squared just a fraction more, the way his breathing steadied instead of strained. ’Yeah... he knows.’

A thin, sharp smile tugged at Liam’s lips.

"Time to end this."

He could feel it clearly now—his Myst wasn’t climbing anymore. It was dropping, draining away faster than it had surged upward. The Ascension was cresting, slipping toward its end. But before it fully settled, before his output dropped to something manageable and mundane, Liam intended to burn what remained.

Then he moved.

He exploded forward in a burst of fire, the stone beneath his feet cracking as flames detonated behind him, hurling him across the stage like a living projectile. Heat rippled through the air, distorting his outline as he closed the distance in a heartbeat.

Percy’s eyes narrowed.

He saw it immediately—the slight delay in Liam’s movements, the absence of that eerie, preemptive precision. ’There it is,’ he thought. ’He’s at his limit.’

Percy surged forward to meet him.

Ice crystallized along Percy’s arms and legs as he moved, his Myst flowing clean and controlled. He didn’t retreat this time. He stepped into Liam’s charge, timing it perfectly, and raised his forearm just as Liam’s flaming fist came screaming toward his head.

The clash was violent.

Fire and ice collided with a deafening crack, the impact sending shockwaves rippling outward. Percy slid back half a step but held firm, immediately twisting his wrist to redirect Liam’s punch while driving his knee upward toward Liam’s abdomen.

Liam barely managed to twist away, the knee grazing his side instead of landing cleanly. He retaliated with a sweeping kick, flames arcing outward in a crescent aimed at Percy’s ribs.

Percy read it easily this time.

He ducked under the arc, ice surging up his shoulder as he slammed into Liam’s center of mass, knocking him off balance. Before Liam could recover, Percy struck again—an elbow to the chest reinforced with dense ice, followed by a sharp backhand that sent shards of frozen Myst screaming through the air.

Liam staggered.

He blocked the backhand with his forearm, flames flaring defensively, but the force still drove him back several steps. His boots skidded across the stone, leaving scorched lines in their wake.

"Tch," Liam clicked softly.

Percy pressed the advantage.

He moved with ruthless efficiency now, each motion clean, precise, and merciless. A feint to the left, an ice blade forming mid-motion, then a sudden pivot into a thrust aimed straight for Liam’s throat.

Liam barely deflected it, the blade scraping past his collarbone and carving a shallow line of blood. Percy followed immediately, his foot snapping out in a low kick that froze the ground beneath Liam, locking his footing for a split second too long.

That was all Percy needed.

He raised his hand, ice spiraling rapidly into a compressed spear, its tip honed to a lethal point as he thrust it forward with killing intent.

This was it.

But Liam vanished.

Not in a burst of flame. Not with a violent explosion.

He was simply gone.

Percy’s eyes widened as the spear punched through empty space.

"What—?"

Then a sudden chill ran down his spine as he felt a familiar presence behind him.

Percy twisted instantly, ice surging over his arms and shoulders as he brought his guard up, layers of reinforced frost forming in an instant. His eyes locked onto the space where Liam should have been...

...and found him still suspended midair, frozen in the awkward, off-balance posture he’d left him in moments ago.

Except now, Liam’s right arm was extended forward.

His index and middle fingers were pointed straight at Percy.

Between them hovered a compact sphere of blackness.

An Umbra Star.

It pulsed softly, the surface fractured with glowing, molten cracks that bled heat and darkness in equal measure. The air around it warped and screamed, shadows bending inward as if dragged by an unseen gravity.

Liam’s eyes burned as he stared straight at Percy, blood still trailing down his face, flames flickering weakly around his body.

A slow, dangerous grin spread across his lips.

"This," Liam said, his voice steady despite the strain tearing through him, "is a gift from me..."

The Umbra Star pulsed harder, the cracks glowing brighter.

"...to you."