CHAPTER 1199: CROWNING EFFORT.

The air was heavy with the smell of rain and smoke. Clouds rolled low and swollen, pressing against the fractured horizon as the remnants of a once-living city trembled beneath them. Buildings stood like bones, hollow and scorched, half-swallowed by creeping vegetation. From afar, it might have looked peaceful—a monument reclaimed by nature—but up close, the silence was broken by the dull rhythm of boots scraping against wet concrete.

Lucien moved slowly through the street, coat torn and hanging loosely from one shoulder. His breathing was shallow, each exhale forming a faint mist in the cold air. The weight in his hand was a broken blade, its edge chipped and faintly glowing with residual energy. It hummed like a dying engine.

He stopped before a collapsed sign half-buried in rubble. "Central Sector, Gate 9." The words were almost invisible now. He touched the sign with two fingers, and faint blue sparks trailed along his skin, reacting to the latent mana etched into the metal. He could feel the residue—an aftertaste of the destruction that had swept through.

"Still chasing ghosts," came a voice from behind.

Lucien didn’t turn immediately. He recognized the tone—dry, detached, carrying no particular emotion. "And yet here you are," he said, finally glancing over his shoulder.

A figure emerged from the haze: Selene, hood drawn, eyes glowing faintly beneath the shadow. Her armor bore new scars, lines that hadn’t been there the last time he saw her. The faint hum of energy around her fingertips betrayed that she’d been preparing for this encounter.

"Don’t act surprised," she said. "You knew it would come to this."

Lucien’s lips twitched. "I didn’t know you’d still be standing."

Selene stopped a few feet away. "And I didn’t think you’d still be breathing. Seems we’re both bad at expectations."

For a long moment, the world seemed to hold still. The faint drizzle that began to fall hissed against the ruined ground, sizzling wherever it touched traces of unstable magic. Between them, tension coiled like a living thing.

Lucien’s blade shifted in his grip, emitting a pulse of dim light. "You came to finish what he started, didn’t you?"

Selene said nothing. The silence was answer enough.

A gust of wind tore through the street, scattering ash and dust. Lucien moved first. His feet slammed against the broken earth, and he surged forward with speed that blurred the edges of reality. The ground cracked behind him as if rejecting his passage. His blade came down in a sweeping arc, cutting through the air with a metallic wail.

Selene caught the blow on her forearm guard, sparks bursting in a cascade of gold and blue. The impact forced her back a step, but she twisted her body smoothly, retaliating with a surge of energy from her other hand. A sigil formed midair—three overlapping circles of light—and from it, a bolt of condensed mana erupted.

Lucien ducked low, the beam grazing his hair as it detonated against a building behind him. The structure collapsed instantly, swallowed in a shockwave that sent a cloud of debris rolling over the street. He didn’t stop to look. He pressed the attack, slashing upward with an energy-soaked strike that split the mist apart.

Selene deflected it, pivoting with precision, her movements calculated and fluid. She countered with a short-range burst of pressure that threw Lucien backward. He hit the ground, slid several meters, then rose again, bleeding from the temple but smiling faintly.

"You’ve improved," he said.

"Don’t patronize me."

She launched forward this time, her movements faster than before, the ground beneath her feet cracking as glyphs burned into existence with each step. Her strikes came in rapid succession—short, vicious, almost surgical in their precision. Lucien parried two, dodged one, but the fourth slipped through, cutting a deep line across his ribs.

He gritted his teeth and retaliated with a backhanded slash. The blade howled, a shockwave erupting from its path. Selene blocked again, but this time, the force shattered the ground beneath her feet and hurled her several meters into the air.

Lucien raised his hand, drawing in the surrounding energy. Dust and debris swirled upward, converging into a sphere of golden light above his palm. The air vibrated. "Let’s see if you can still stand after this."

Selene didn’t hesitate. She extended both hands, her aura flaring white-hot. Her magic responded like a living creature—wild, bright, uncontained. The clouds above tore open as streams of raw energy converged toward her position.

They unleashed their attacks simultaneously.

Lucien’s blast carved through the street like a cannon of divine fury, while Selene’s magic erupted upward, splitting into tendrils of light that arced downward like lightning strikes. The collision painted the sky in blinding gold and white. For several seconds, sound ceased to exist—only the violent hum of energy devouring itself remained.

When the light finally faded, both stood among ruins that barely resembled the city that once was. Entire blocks had been flattened. A crater stretched between them, glowing faintly from residual heat.

Lucien’s breathing was ragged. His right arm trembled from the recoil of his own attack. Across the crater, Selene knelt, one hand pressed against the ground for support, blood trickling from her nose.

Neither spoke.

Then, faint laughter broke the silence—soft at first, then rising into something bitter.

Selene looked up, her eyes cold. "What’s so funny?"

Lucien wiped the blood from his lip. "You. Me. All of it. We’re just reenacting the same damn play."

She stood slowly. "Then maybe this time, we end it properly."

The rain intensified. Lightning forked above them, illuminating their silhouettes. Without a word, they surged toward each other again, blades and energy colliding in another eruption of force.

Their movements grew sloppier but fiercer, each strike carrying desperation rather than precision. The earth split, buildings crumbled under the shockwaves. Every clash was a memory resurfacing, every wound another confession left unsaid.

Lucien roared as he drove his knee into Selene’s side, sending her skidding backward. She coughed, spat blood, and raised a trembling hand. A circle of runes spun into existence behind her—unstable, flickering, but powerful.

Lucien braced himself, eyes narrowing. "You’re going to destroy everything left."

Selene’s voice was hoarse. "Maybe that’s the point."

The runes expanded, glowing brighter, humming with unstable resonance. The world around them warped.

Lucien charged again, refusing hesitation. His blade screamed through the storm.

And as they collided once more, the ruins of the city trembled beneath the weight of their fury, swallowed by a blinding surge of light that turned the rain itself into shards of fire.