Primordial Heir: Nine Stars-Chapter 287: Fighting to a draw

Clangs! Clangs!

The relentless clash of steel had reached a fever pitch, a stalemate of sheer skill and willpower. Both men were breathing hard, their bodies marked with the proof of the other’s prowess.

"This is fun!"

A wild, exhilarated grin spread across Nero’s face, cutting through the pain and fatigue. This was the push he needed.

"Using Laws is allowed!" Nero shouted, his voice ringing across the training grounds.

"Let’s make it more fun!"

A glint of fierce agreement flashed in Alexis’s eyes. He gave a single, sharp nod.

And the world changed.

Alexis didn’t just move; he became light. A brilliant, blinding white aura erupted around him. His form seemed to lose solidity, blurring into a streak of pure radiance. His rapier was no longer a piece of steel, but a solidified sunbeam. The Law of Light granted him not just speed, but a transcendent swiftness that made his previous movements look slow.

Nero met transcendence with storm. He didn’t hold back. Golden lightning, fierce and crackling, exploded from his core. It wreathed his body and sword in a furious, dancing energy. With a thunderous CRACK, he used Flash Step.

What followed was a spectacle that left every onlooker gasping, their eyes struggling to track the combatants.

They were no longer two men fighting. They were two forces of nature colliding.

Alexis, as Light, was everywhere at once. He would appear to Nero’s left, his rapier thrusting with the speed of a photon. Before the thrust was complete, he’d vanish and reappear above, striking downward. His movements were clean, straight lines of devastating speed, impossible to predict with normal senses.

Nero, as Lightning, was chaos and instantaneous reaction. He didn’t try to out-predict the light. He reacted to it. He Flash Stepped not to dodge, but to intercept. The training ground echoed with a rapid-fire series of CRACK-BOOM sounds as he teleported around the arena, his lightning-charged sword meeting the solidified light of Alexis’s rapier in mid-air, in corners, on the walls. Each collision was a miniature supernova—a blast of white light and golden electricity that scorched the air and shook the ground.

It was a battle of fundamental opposites. Light was constant, pervasive, swift. Lightning was sudden, violent, unpredictable.

Alexis launched a technique, "Rays of Judgment." Dozens of needle-thin beams of condensed light shot from his rapier, homing in on Nero from all angles.

Nero responded with "Storm Wall," a spinning barrier of forking lightning that vaporized the light beams on contact in a sizzling haze.

Nero countered with "Heaven’s Spear," throwing a massive javelin of lightning. Alexis didn’t block it. He dissolved into light, letting the spear pass through his ethereal form before reforming and closing in with a blinding flurry of a thousand thrusts

—"Starburst Flurry."

Nero Flash Stepped through the barrage, appearing behind Alexis and swinging his sword in a wide, crackling arc. Alexis bent backwards at an impossible angle, the lightning blade passing over him, then snapped forward, his rapier aimed at Nero’s heart.

For ten straight minutes, the training ground was a disaster zone of after-images, light bursts, and thunderclaps. The spectators were in awe, but also in terror, forced to shield their eyes and retreat from the concussive waves of energy.

Finally, after a cataclysmic exchange where Nero’s "Divine Wrath" met Alexis’s "Final Dawn," creating an explosion that turned the center of the arena into a glassy crater, both figures were thrown back.

They landed on opposite sides of the crater, their auras sputtering and dying. The brilliant light around Alexis faded, revealing a man panting heavily, his uniform singed, his rapier dim. The golden lightning around Nero vanished, leaving him on one knee, sweat and soot covering his face, his sword tip resting on the ground.

Both were utterly spent. Their prana reserves were drained to the last drop. They had thrown everything they had at each other, and neither had been able to secure a victory.

Slowly, Nero pushed himself to his feet. Across the way, Alexis did the same. They looked at each other, and a mutual, profound respect passed between them. There was no need for words.

The fight was over. It was a draw.

The silence that followed was deafening, then erupted into stunned murmurs and applause. They had just witnessed a Red Knight—officially—fight a Purple Knight to a standstill. The rumors about Nero Adams were not rumors. They were a terrifying, exhilarating fact. The young man with the lightning in his soul was real, and he was a force to be reckoned with.

•••

The incredible tension of the duel was finally washed away, quite literally, under streams of hot water. Nero and Alexis, covered in sweat, soot, and the faint metallic scent of ozone and scorched earth, went their separate ways to the estate’s bathing facilities. The steaming water was a bench on tired muscles, soothing the minor cuts and bruises that their enhanced bodies were already beginning to heal.

Cleaned up and changed into fresh, casual clothes, they found themselves drawn to the same place: the academy-style cantine within the training grounds. It was a no-nonsense hall with long tables, smelling of hearty stew and fresh bread. Without a word, they got their food—thick meat pies, roasted vegetables, and mugs of cold cider—and sat across from each other at a quiet corner table.

For a few minutes, they just ate, the comfortable silence of two warriors who had given each other everything they had. The exhaustion was deep, but it was a good exhaustion.

Finally, Alexis took a long drink and set his mug down.

"Your Flash Step," he began, his voice thoughtful. "It’s not just speed. It’s a true spatial displacement. My Law of Light gives me near-instantaneous movement through space. Yours is a skip across it. It’s... disorienting to fight against. I kept anticipating a trajectory that wasn’t there."

Nero nodded, cutting into his pie. "And your light," he replied.

"I thought I could track it, but it’s not just visual. It messes with perception itself. Half the time, I was reacting to after-images. I had to sense the prana build-up instead of trusting my eyes."

They fell into a detailed, technical breakdown of the fight. Alexis pointed out moments where Nero’s raw power had created openings he could have exploited with more refined footwork. Nero, in turn, highlighted sequences where Alexis’s relentless speed had forced him into predictable defensive patterns.

"You have the strength of a Purple Knight already, maybe more," Alexis said, shaking his head in admiration.

"But you’re still fighting with a Red Knight’s instincts in certain situations. You expect your power to overwhelm, so you don’t always plan the move after the overwhelm."

"And you," Nero countered with a grin, "rely so much on your technique being perfect that you didn’t have a solid answer when I did something completely stupid and unpredictable."

A short laugh escaped Alexis. "A fair point."

The conversation wasn’t about pride or victory. It was an exchange of data, a mutual sharpening of blades. They were two craftsmen discussing their trade. Alexis offered insights from decades of experience at a higher level of combat. Nero provided a fresh, unpredictable perspective that challenged conventional tactics.

By the time they finished their meal, the respect in the room was a tangible thing. The fight had ended in a draw, but they had both won something far more valuable: a deeper understanding of their own strengths, weaknesses, and the vast, terrifyingly beautiful landscape of high-level combat. They parted with a firm nod, not as victor and loser, but as fellow warriors who had exchanged pointers and would undoubtedly grow from it.