The Extra's Rebellion
Chapter 102: Clash of Titans (2)

Chapter 102: Clash of Titans (2)

The wind stilled.

The moment the chain clicked taut between Zephyr’s katana and scythe— Noctis vanished.

Zephyr moved an instant later.

A sharp crack ruptured the silence as both blurred forward, blades drawn— one made in darkness, the other etched in hollow violet.

Theorically it was impossible, the both of them were performing tricks only available to those as Delta.

The way darkness bled from Noctis hand to form a blade to the way Zephyr wrapped his blade in his Aether, it was impossible for them at Elpison to grasp it, it was a natural limitation and no one would spare time to solve something that would natural resolve itself.

But they were able to do it. Why? In Noctis’s case it was talent, he was a favoured by the world. While Zephyr in the other hand, was a product of talent and his new strange eye.

Their weapons clashed.

CLANG—!

Steel met steel, sparks flying, snow blasting outward from the force of impact. Zephyr twisted his blade, trying to hook Noctis’s wrist, but Noctis flowed around it, his own blade sweeping low for Zephyr’s legs.

Swipe—!

Zephyr leapt, dragging the chain taut behind him as he flipped over Noctis, the scythe dragging behind in a wide arc.

Tenebrae— Mantle Of Madness

Four extra limbs made of pure darkness burst out of Noctis’s back, along with two extra head, wailing silently as if they had gone mad.

Noctis caught it—two of his six arms anchoring the scythe mid-air while another came for Zephyr’s throat with a short dagger.

Zephyr kicked off his own chain, flipping midair and narrowly avoiding the blade by a hair. He landed, spun, and lashed the scythe like a whip, tearing a trench in the snow.

Noctis ducked under the spinning crescent and advanced again.

Blade against blade.

Zephyr’s katana flicked out— three swift jabs toward Noctis’s ribs. Noctis blocked all three with separate weapons in his many hands, and countered with a heavy downward slash that rattled Zephyr’s shoulder on the block.

Their movements began to blur, motion overtaking form.

Step— parry— twist— strike.

Every blow carried lethal intent, yet neither gained ground. Noctis’s extra limbs gave him overwhelming angles—but Zephyr’s chained weapons gave him fluidity, unpredictable arcs, and tight control.

Zephyr ducked under a spinning axe— lashed the chain across Noctis’s legs.

Noctis jumped.

Midair, Zephyr yanked—pulling himself forward, scythe gleaming as it caught the edge of Noctis’s coat.

But Noctis twisted unnaturally— limbs curling like vines— and slammed all four of his lower hands down in perfect unison.

Zephyr was driven into the snow, knees bending—but he pushed back, face grim, and swept the katana low.

Clang— clang— clang—! Every blow parried. Every counter met.

They moved like twin storms. One built from steel and pressure. The other, from darkness and precision.

One slash— two steps— four blades— nine collisions in a second.

Neither spoke.

There was only the sound of steel shrieking. Of snow crunching apart beneath their boots. Of breath sucked through clenched teeth.

And blood—thin lines across their skin.

A cut on Zephyr’s cheek. A tear along Noctis’s side.

Perfect symmetry. Perfect malice.

They broke apart.

A pause.

Both stood, breathing quiet but strained, blades still raised, neither retreating.

In that breathless silence, the world dared not move.

Two silhouettes amidst the snow. Equally still. Equally deadly.

Then—

They lunged again.

Zephyr spun, chain arcing out, scythe dragging behind him like a serpent’s fang.

They collided mid-stride.

CLANG—!

CLANG CLANG CLANG—!

A fury of blades.

Noctis’s arms moved like a storm—twelve strikes in a second. Three blades came from above, two from the flanks, and a sixth jabbed straight for Zephyr’s throat.

Zephyr blocked the first with his katana, redirected the flankers with his chain and then.

Limbo— Hollow Breath Transition.

The rest of the strikes passed through his body, but his katana found it’s mark.

—shk—KRAK!

Zephyr’s blade drove upward as his katana carving a shallow violet arc through ribs and shoulder. Blood hissed into the cold air, red and hot against the snow.

Noctis had leaned back at the last minute, he didn’t cry out as the blade tore through his chest. He grinned.

Tenebrae — Unbound Echo.

Two shadowly hands on his back peeled away from his form with a sickening twist, splitting and elongating as they lunged, intercepting Zephyr mid-step, one aiming for his throat, the other for his side.

Zephyr didn’t flinch. He twisted, the scythe roaring out from his grip as the chain extended like lightning—cleaving through the first clawed hand that lunged for his side.

The limb burst into black smoke—but Noctis was already on top of him, his blade clashing against Zephyr’s katana with a thunderous shockwave.

Clang!

The blow sent Zephyr skidding back, boots dragging long trenches through the ice.

Before he could recover—

CRACK!

One of the wailing heads launched from Noctis’s shoulder like a cannonball, spiraling toward Zephyr with its jaws wide. He ducked, the scream causing snows to flip into the sky.

Zephyr rolled, chain whipping, and brought the scythe around in a low arc—cleaving through snow and catching one of Noctis’s approaching arms mid-swing.

Blood? None. Just darkness and pressure.

But the severed limb didn’t die—it crawled, fingers digging into the snow, reaching for him again.

Noctis stopped to mock him.

"You’re bleeding already, Zephyr."

And it was true.

A thin line of crimson ran down Zephyr’s temple—from the scream, a rupture in his eardrum. His balance wavered slightly, but his eyes remained calm.

’tsk! Why does this bastard’s art have so many effect’. Normally Arts have only one effect, but Noctis was different, apart from the normal effect of expelling the dark figures from his body, he could reshape them. And the heads on his shoulders also have a sonic effect— the reason for his bleeding ear.

Although Noctis stopped to mock him, and Zephyr stopped to think, the battle was still ongoing.

The severed arms and both heads lifted from his body—then burst apart into a swarm of smaller limb-like shadows and gaping mouths, forming a ring of autonomous predators.

They surrounded Zephyr in a spiral of chaos, snapping and hissing.

He moved.

A blur of silver and violet—the katana sliced downward while the scythe shot up in a mirrored arc, catching two of the flying hands in an X-shaped trap. They shattered into dark mist— but more surged in.

Something slashed across his side—another claw.

Blood sprayed the snow.

Zephyr grunted, dropping into a low stance.

The swarm attacked barely giving him time to rest.

Scythe flew wide—catching three limbs at once and pinning them to a tree. Katana spun backward, carving into a screaming beast’s open throat.

Darkness spattered across his face, momentarily obstructing his vision. Then a hand grabbed his ankle.

He looked down. One of the autonomous limbs had slithered beneath the snow.

He didn’t hesitate.

He sent his katana into the snow, Peircing the hand and desolving it into black mist.

But Noctis was already above him.

Sword raised, his two original arms and the darkness created arms now holding different weapons— axes, spears, black blades made of darkness.

A storm of slashes rained down.

Zephyr blocked the first two—then the third drove through his shoulder, pinning him to the snow.

"Agh—!"

Blood jetted out. But Zephyr grinned through it.

"This again? You’re predictable."

He tugged hard on the chain.

The scythe, still lodged in the tree behind Noctis, ripped free in a perfect return arc.

And it slammed into Noctis’s spine, the blade sinking deep.

Noctis coughed, blood mist spilling from his mouth. He stumbled into Zephyr’s raised katana.

Puti

Zephyr grinned directly at Noctis’s face, as he twisted his katana that was lodged in Noctis’s body, but he was forced to jump back when one of the heads perched on Noctis shoulder bit at him.

Noctis didn’t follow through with his attack, all the arms and creatures vanished into dark mist that flowed back into his body.

Zephyr’s eyes twitched at the sight. ’Broken bastard’. Another effect of Noctis art was that, he could restore his Aether back as long as he was the one who desolved it. But Zephyr still grinned.

"Ran out of Aether?". Zephyr stared at him with a teasing smile. Noctis has been burning through Aether, looking like a Noble trying to impress a girl.

He was trying to impress a girl— the third princess, by hunting him down.

But the main reason Noctis desolved his creations was that he had been monitoring Zephyr and he had noticed that apart from cladding his blades in his Aether and going ghost for a few seconds, he hasn’t used any hollow Arts or even his usual arts.

"You have gotten stronger". Noctis said as darkness bled around his new wounds stopping the flow of blood.

Normally Zephyr would have been killed by now, the swamp of darkness creatures would have overwhelmed him, no matter how powerful he was, at the end of the day he was one man, and Noctis was a one man army.

But what he didn’t know was that, Zephyr was the one who purposely held back ever since.

Noctis clenched his black blade tight in his hand.

’doesn’t matter if he has more Aether then me. Am still stronger".