CHAPTER 437: CLASH (1)

The battlefield was silent and full of tension and anticipation for what was to come. A battle between mortal gods. The Saint Realm was the start of divinity and godhood, so any Saint Realm being was akin to a god for mortals.

The fight between Lilith and Malgarius was subtle because it was more one-sided, and Helheim was in another dimension. But Ethan and Leon’s own were bound to be heard, seen, and experienced by kingdoms and empires.

Ethan’s breath fogged the air as heat rolled off him in violent waves. Flames licked along his skin, devouring fabric and leaving nothing but embers drifting to the frozen ground. What remained beneath the ashes was the armor he rarely allowed the world to witness.

A sleek crimson suit molded flawlessly to his physique, the plates smooth and sharp like a predator’s scales. Silver circuitry traced across the surface in elegant patterns, pulsing faintly as if the armor itself possessed a heartbeat. Gold accents lined the edges, shoulders, torso plates, and greaves, glimmering like a crown forged into battle-worn metal. Every segment interlocked with perfect synchronicity, granting movement as fluid as exposed muscle. It was crafted from divine-tech alloys and nanometal that shifted and repaired itself with each breath he took, alive yet loyal.

Angular gauntlets wrapped his forearms, their surfaces etched with runes that shimmered when his aura flared. The chestplate bore a crest, three golden interlocking rings; intentional symbolism, fitting for someone who refused to stay broken. And despite not being a true divine artifact, the armor gave the impression that it desperately wanted to evolve into one along with him.

The ground trembled as he extended his hand.

His hammer responded to the call.

The metal darkened, shifting from its raw silver to a deep blood-red, perfectly matching the armor’s hue. Golden lines threaded through the hammer’s head, intersecting in geometric shapes that crackled with restrained power. The shaft tightened and reformed to fit his grip, the silver veins along its length glowing brighter with every thump of his heartbeat.

The weapon wasn’t just reforged, it was reawakened.

When Ethan raised it, frost cracked beneath his feet, and the air rippled outward, as if reality itself was bracing for impact.

He looked up at Leon in the distance.

Armor gleaming.

Hammer humming.

Rage simmering just below the breaking point.

The Monster of Ice had revealed himself... and the Beast of Order was finally ready to burn the world to reach him.

...

The wind howled like a wounded beast as Leon stepped from the balcony, boots crunching against the ice that had formed a throne beneath him. Frost coiled around his legs. Each step downward warped the air, like the world itself recoiled from his presence.

He spread his arms wide.

Fire-like sparks ignited across his back, but instead of flame, icy blue energy erupted outward. His clothing crackled and disintegrated, burning away into frozen particles that drifted upward instead of falling. Beneath the fading cloth was the body he now called his own.

Metal.

Cables.

Pale skin grafted to smooth alloy plates that pulsed with a cold, artificial heartbeat.

His right arm twisted, plating locking in place as white light traced every seam. His chest expanded, revealing a core hidden under layers of reinforced armor that reshaped itself into dark, sleek plates trimmed with blue luminescence. His legs elongated, joints tightening with a mechanical hiss as his gait shifted into something inhuman and refined.

From his back unfolded wings. They were not feathered or graceful. They were jagged constructs of crystal ice and sharpened steel, edges dripping frost so cold the droplets froze midair. When he flexed them, they stretched wide enough to eclipse the sun overhead.

A greatsword emerged from a ripple of reality behind him. It was almost as tall as he was, forged of dark glacial metal with veins of white energy shimmering like frozen lightning. It settled into his grip as though it had always been part of him.

He stared down at Ethan, eyes swimming with hate and memories as toxic as venom.

"Ethan... you know... I’ve always wanted you to disappear. You should never have existed. From the very first day I saw you... I recognized something was wrong. A nobody walks into our academy, and suddenly, you outshine everyone."

"I saw it in our first fight. You were holding back. You could have taken my life, just like that. I was nothing. Just a stepping stone."

His voice cracked. The ice beneath him trembled.

"And yet... that was your mistake. Because I refused to remain beneath your feet. Every time I got close to breathing the same air as you, something happened. You became the disciple of Miss Carmen. Then her fiancé. Then the son of her master. Then the brother of Trevor Smith. A noble. A prince."

"But the universe wasn’t done. You became heir to the Smith Clan. Rulers of Anbord."

His wings slammed outward. A blast of freezing air tore across the ground.

"Do you know what that did to me? While I was screaming under a psychopath’s scalpel, begging for death... that news reached me. I heard them talking. That I was just trash compared to the future king."

His voice grew raw and broken.

"I killed her. I killed the only person who ever tried to help me... because by the time I realized... I wasn’t me anymore. I was a machine. A mockery. A weapon."

His mechanical eye flickered, then burned bright with feral rage.

"And every second of that agony... was because of you."

Ice cracked under Ethan’s feet as Leon’s aura exploded. The sky itself shivered. His hate twisted into power that roared outward like a blizzard erupting from hell.

His final scream echoed across the frozen land.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR ALL MY SUFFERING!"

Ethan’s hammer pulsed with burning light, flames shooting up in a pillar around him. His aura surged in answer, golden heat clashing against Leon’s glacial storm.

Fire and frost collided.

The collision birthed a violent shockwave that carved a crater into the earth and launched a storm of steam and shattered ice skyward. Their energies roared, clashing like ancient gods carving a battlefield into existence.

The world trembled.

The war between what Ethan became...And what Leon was forced to become...Had finally begun.