The Juggernaut Howlback blurred forward with a momentum that betrayed his massive size. One step cracked the earth. The second closed the distance between us. By the third—

WHAM!

A bone-plated fist slammed toward my ribs like a siege hammer.

I barely twisted in time — the blow grazed me instead of crushing — but the shockwave alone sent me flying backward, scraping across the stone floor and bouncing twice before I rolled to my feet.

"What?! Too fast..."

He didn’t let up.

He charged again, his movement fluid, terrifying. Not the lumbering strength of a brute. This was a trained beast. Efficient. Tactical.

His fists blurred. One — two — three strikes in a heartbeat. I evaded narrowly, each punch brushing air past my skin like cannonballs.

"Alright..." I exhaled sharply, flicking into Precision Flame Stance. "Let’s dance."

He lunged — I ducked, spun, delivered a palm strike to his side.

[Burn Stack: 1]

Barely made him flinch.

He twisted mid-swing and retaliated with a spinning backfist, using centrifugal force to add speed.

I blocked with both forearms — and was still sent skidding backward ten feet, boots carving a trench in the stone.

’My arms are numb. If I eat another direct hit like that, something snaps.’

I moved again — this time circling. Using terrain.

I leapt off a broken pillar, rebounded, and struck downward at his shoulder with a flaming elbow.

[Burn Stack: 3]

He caught me mid-air.

"—!"

His massive hand closed around my leg, and with a whip-like swing, he smashed me into the ground like a ragdoll.

BOOM!

Stone shattered. Pain flashed white-hot through my spine. My HUD glitched.

But before he could crush me again, I expelled a wave of flame from my core — mana burst, point-blank.

He staggered a step back, just enough.

I stood, wincing, coughing blood, but still alive.

"Come on," I growled. "I’ve fought worse than you."

[Burn Stack: 4]

[Emberfang Style: Explosive Ember – Switched]

I surged forward, this time feinting — striking twice to the arms to trigger a parry, then sliding under his legs with a low sweep and driving a strike up into the exposed joint behind his knee.

[Burn Stack: 6]

He faltered.

capitalized.

I leapt behind him and slammed three flaming jabs into his lower back — just beneath the largest rune sigil.

[Burn Stack: 9]

He finally roared.

A deep, guttural, bone-rattling sound. The runes across his chest pulsed violently — not red, but violet flame now. His body started to crackle.

"Mana Surge? No... Overclock. He’s powering up."

I retreated as the ground around him began to melt, the air distorting with heat.

He vanished from sight.

No—!

WHAM!

He appeared behind me — almost teleporting from raw speed — and uppercut me with both fists, sending me flying a full thirty feet into the air.

Before I could even fall, he leapt up after me mid-air.

And hit me with a diving axe-handle slam that sent us both plummeting into the canyon floor in a thunderous explosion.

CRASH!!

The crater was massive. My body screamed in pain. My regeneration ticked wildly to stabilize.

I rolled, coughing, dragging myself up.

Blood. Smoke. Tremors.

But I was smiling.

"Heh... you hit like a damn asteroid."

I stood.

My mana surged one more time.

[Burn Stack: 12]

[13]

[14]

I blurred behind him as he roared again — then slammed my fist into his spine with all the weight of my body.

[15!]

[Burn Stack Maxed. Target debuffed: Defense and Healing -30%]

’Now.’

I slammed both hands to the ground, channeled every remaining ounce of fire mana in my core, and launched it straight upward into him.

A pillar of flame erupted from below — consuming him entirely.

He screamed.

The runes short-circuited. His gauntlets cracked. His body staggered, smoldering — but still standing. Barely.

Smoke curled off his shoulders as we both stood there breathing, burning, and the edge of collapse.

"Let’s end this," I muttered.

-

We moved.

He lunged with murderous speed — I mirrored it.

The canyon floor trembled as we collided mid-charge, fists slamming into each other with such force that the shockwave shattered the nearby pillars and sent dust spiraling upward like a sandstorm.

My fist struck his jaw — his own punch dug into my ribs.

We staggered back, both bleeding. Both reeling.

He recovered first.

The Juggernaut spun, backhanding me with a flaming fist. I raised my forearm to block, and even then I was launched back, sliding across stone with a sharp grind.

Pain bloomed. Bones creaked. My vision blurred.

"He’s burning mana to overload his physical strength...! Damn—he’s entering a berserk phase!"

He stomped toward me, picking up speed, faster and heavier with each stride. The violet runes across his body began to fracture, leaking unstable mana like cracks in a dam.

I coughed blood, forced my stance to realign.

’No time to think. React. Or die.’

He dove forward again, a leaping hook aimed straight for my skull — no feints, just raw execution.

I ducked beneath it — barely. But he was already turning.

A knee slammed into my abdomen.

I doubled over — he brought down a double-fist hammer blow toward my spine.

I braced. My back lit up with flame counterforce — Emberfang Style’s final reactive layer activating as a survival reflex.

BOOM!

We both flew apart from the detonation. My vision tunneled.

’I’m losing blood. Mana almost dry. If I don’t end this in the next exchange...’

He panted, smoke trailing from his shoulders.

His eyes — once bestial — now sharp. Calculated.

He knew too.

One more clash. One would rise. The other... would burn.

[Emberfang Style – Final Adaptation Engaged]

[Switching: Explosive Ember → Precision Flame] 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

[Combining Stance: Fusion Sequence – Crimson Recast]

The world slowed.

Every motion I made now shimmered with afterimages — not from illusion, but overclocked mana residue trailing behind my limbs.

I saw his twitch.

Left leg tensing. Arm coiling. He was going for a shoulder tackle into power slam.

I timed it as he charged, and I vanished.

I ducked under the tackle, turned, grappled his arm, flipped over his shoulder mid-momentum, and snapped his elbow joint inward with a flaming heel drop.

He roared in agony — but spun, trying to crush me with his other hand.

’Too late.’