Dancing on the golden ashes

My feet moved on their own. I had never been this fast. Never felt this powerful. And when the impact came—when my body collided with the original demon—I felt my arms go numb from the sheer force. She was strong. Too strong. But I refused to back down. That wasn't me. I don't retreat. I don't surrender.

Everyone's future was riding on this. If I win… I can lead them to victory. But if I lose—she'll trap them all here. Keep them caged in this broken realm until the day the angels descend and wipe this planet clean of life once again...

"She's trained in martial arts since she was a baby—for years you can't even imagine. If you want to win, we'll have to get creative," the eerie voice whispered in my mind.

That might be true. I smirked, exchanging another blow with her. But you forgot one major thing. I spoke back in my thoughts, like I used to long ago.

"What do you mean?" I felt her presence falter—just slightly. A ripple of unease.

She hasn't fought in years. And I'm not like you. She doesn't know my movements. My rhythm. My rage. And... I will never lose again. Once was enough. I have people I need to protect. Therefore… she will die for their lives.

Suddenly, the demon spun. Her tail whipped like a cyclone, and her entire body twisted into a bladed whirlwind—fast, precise, and devastating. She became a living tornado of claws and bone, tearing through the air with such speed that the very space around her howled. Even the particles of flame in this core realm twisted around her body in submission. I knew—if I took that hit head-on, I'd be shredded into a million glimmering fragments, each piece of me scattered across this cursed battlefield.

But I wasn't standing still.

I clenched my fingers, and gold bloomed from beneath my skin. Brilliance erupted—pure, holy flame radiating from my bones like the wrath of a dying sun. My hands ignited. Ten golden lotus flames bloomed at my fingertips, spinning outward, petals flaring with divine intensity. The fire wasn't just hot—it was sacred. It howled with my will.

And when her attack was almost upon me—when I felt the cold shadow of death riding her spiral—I moved.

The lotuses snapped into place around her. Ten perfect blossoms of golden death. They formed a ring, a blazing trap that bloomed shut with a hiss. Her claws crashed through them a second later, slicing through the petals like paper. But that was never the point. This wasn't a cage. It was a trigger.

The moment her momentum tore through the outer flame, all ten lotuses pulsed—then exploded in perfect synchronicity. The shockwave shattered light, blasted heat outward in a violent nova. I distorted the space beneath my feet and vanished, reappearing just beyond the blast radius.

The detonation devoured everything in its path.

Golden fire surged like a divine tide, consuming the battlefield and feeding the very flame that breathed in this planet's core. The surrounding magma pulsed brighter, like it was awakening—drinking in the power. This world wasn't shaking… no, it welcomed it. The explosion didn't fracture the crust. It empowered the realm. But if we had fought like this on Earth?

That fragile little rock would've burst like popcorn.

KABOOM!

A violent explosion tore at everything—the world howled, space rippled, and the flames warped into unstable spirals. When it all settled, the silence only lasted a heartbeat. She burst from the smoke like a beast unchained, her silhouette slashing through the burning air. In her hands, she now held a long sword—its jagged edge forged from bone, gleaming in a wet crimson sheen. It looked like it had been ripped from her own spine and soaked in blood—or worse, maybe it was still bleeding. I felt its sharpness through the air alone, the pressure slicing at my skin before the blade even touched me. My scythe screamed to clash, hungering for violence, and I summoned it without hesitation—its obsidian edge shrieking into the void as I met her blow head-on.

CLANG!

Metal struck metal like thunder cracking through steel skies. She came from the left, low and brutal—I twisted and blocked with my hilt. I countered from the right, my scythe cleaving a black arc through the haze, but she vanished like a phantom, my blade slicing only wind and smoke. And then again. And again. A long and savage duel began. One attack after another—an endless storm of strikes, parries, feints, and counters. We had already been clashing like this for ten days straight. Days. No sleep. No pause. The world around us groaned, torn by each collision of our divine weapons, yet neither of us fell. Neither gave in.

But something was shifting.

I felt myself growing faster. Sharper. Stronger. The sins rotated faster inside me, syncing with my instincts. Every movement became more refined, more deadly. And her pace—though still furious—was beginning to slip. She was falling behind, bit by bit, her strikes a fraction slower, her footing slightly less perfect. But instead of despairing, she only laughed—wildly. Her smile stretched wide, ecstatic. Her eyes glowed like twin stars in a storm. She was loving this. Every cut, every dodge, every breath of combat made her grin like a lunatic bathed in war.

And… so did I.

It had been too long since I felt this alive. Since my blood boiled with such purpose. But I knew one thing—this wasn't just a dance of blades. I wasn't here to enjoy the thrill.

I was here to win.

"You should just die already and let me eat you!" I roared, my voice slicing through the chaos like my blade.

In that moment, my scythe began to change—shifting, warping, reshaping into something even deadlier. It morphed into a massive cannon, its frame laced with cosmic veins pulsing with unstable mana. My mind was lightning, my movements faster than thought. I had gained so much insight during this eternal battle—read her rhythm, learned her patterns, devoured her habits—and now, it was time to end it.

Inside the cannon's core spun a compressed black hole. A singularity of destruction.

And I fired it straight into her chest.

The impact was catastrophic.

The beam struck true, and instantly, the gravitational pull began to tear at her body. Her armor cracked. Her flesh convulsed. She howled, struggling as the swirling force at her core devoured her inch by inch—skin, muscle, bone, soul. It didn't just damage. It consumed.

And for the first time since our fight began—

She looked scared.