Zeke held his grip around Monty’s throat as he flew through the air at insane speeds. They were flying over the hundreds of thousands of duplicates below them. Some of the duplicates tried towering to reach their original body in the sky. Others tried throwing their weapon and shooting their bow. However, not a single thing made it towards them, 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

It was as if a rift in reality was separating the two as they floated. Zeke was donned in his enchanted, black armor. Even as he was trying to get Monty away from the battle scene, he tired crushing his throat in his hand. It felt like he was trying to destroy a mountain in his grip.

When Zeke finally disappeared far beyond the reach of his clones, he crashed Monty in the ground with all his might and drew his sword.

"You’re going to pay for what you did to me bastard. Your first mistake was daring to show your face on our front doorstep."

Monty seemed completely unaffected by the long journey and being slammed into the ground. He stood up from the ground and stretched his body slightly.

"Why are we even fighting? Aren’t you tired of living under that king’s rule? Why don’t we join forces in taking him down?"

Zeke smiled darkly.

"I’m leaving that part to my friends back at the palace. They should be able to handle it with your friend helping. However, you were the one who made this fight personal by scarring my face. For that, I can’t allow you to live any longer."

Monty scratched his chin and looked at Zeke confused.

"Why even bother harboring such a grudge in the first place? It just makes no sense to me."

"You made me look weak, you made me look like a fool, you ruined my pride as the king’s strongest soldier. Now enough buying yourself time. You’re going to die. My only mercy for you is making it a quick death."

Monty grunted and threw his hands down.

"Ugh. You’re so annoying sometimes. I can’t believe I have to kill such a powerful rend user."

Monty started slowly duplicating himself dozens of times. Almost immediately, hundreds of copies were surrounding Zeke, ready to attack. One of duplicates towards the front started talking to him.

"Last chance blondie. What will it be?"

Zeke smiled.

"Release."

Miles around him, everything turned into fine dust being pushed against the ground. Stray animals that were caught in the radius turned into red mist along with the duplicates. Instead of letting go of his ability, Katra continuously release his energy to keep the area around him impenetrable. Every clone and every living thing in his radius would be eviscerated in seconds.

The original Monty was still standing up, fighting against the gravity while being pushed into the ground.

"Wow. You really are annoying. Impenetrable armor, a busted rend ability, you must be popular with the ladies. However, I think you are missing an important part of how my ability works. That will be your end. If you survive long enough, I’ll share the secret with you."

Zeke was not surprised to see the original handling the empowered gravity just fine. He knew the original had to be the strongest by leaps and bounds.

"What good is strength going to do against this black iron?"

"Hm... Quite a lot I would say! But there’s only one way to find out."

Zeke’s heart began to slow down, his vision became more focused, he could feel every muscle in his body working in perfect harmony. Even his breaths felt perfect with every inhale and exhale. His focus was beyond perfect. He was ready.

He leaned forward and closed the distance between them, throwing his sword down, aiming to cut the man in half from his torso. Monty simply tried to jump over his blade to dodge the attack...

"...What?!"

Zeke concentrated the gravity around Monty’s legs before he tried to jump as well as around his sword to give it more speed.

"Dumbass."

Zeke’s sword collided with Monty’s right leg perfectly. The impact shattered the surrounding area into bits. The ground beneath them shook violently, dust was kicked up all around, and both of them seemed to lose balance for a moment.

When the dust settled, Katra studied how deep his blade cut. Looking at his sword, his face dropped a little behind his helmet. His dark blade only left a small cut on Monty’s left thigh but still left a wound deep enough to have some blood start streaming out.

Monty studied the blade with curiosity.

"That’s it? So much for the king’s strongest soldier."

Monty sent a kick soaring towards Zeke. When it collided with his armor, a deafening rang soared throughout the air. Another kick hit his helmet... then another... soon, a barrage of kicks and punches rained on to Zeke.

The armor withstood every blow, but it was creaking under the pressure. Zeke threw a counter punch that landed perfectly with Monty’s jaw, but he simply ignored it and kept up his assault. He raised his blade and blocked a punch with it. Monty’s momentum, combined with Zeke’s power, sent his fist flying toward its sharp side, causing it to open slightly.

More blood gushed out of the wound. Monty started licking his wounds and stared at Katra with anger in his eyes.

"Bastard. So attached to your sword. That can change."

Monty slipped passed another swing of Zeke’s sword and land a massive uppercut. Even with the gravity holding him down, he was sent three feet in the air from the force. He spit up blood through a slit in his armor.

Katra decided to try something he hadn’t before. He started manipulating gravity so heavily on his sword that the alloy could hardly keep up. Using this opportunity, he started swinging widely at Monty. The swings were so fast that Monty couldn’t track them with his eyes. Using his arms to block himself, Monty’s wrists and forearms started to get completely shredded.

After realizing he was going to lose his arms at a devastating rate, Monty slid underneath Zeke, put both his hands on the ground and kicked upward as hard as he could. The force sent Zeke flying in the air.

Monty started flying into the air after him. Right as he was above Zeke, he uttered something that Zeke had been waiting for the full fight.

"Release."