The Path Of A True King.
Chapter 49: Team Work.

Chapter 49: Team Work.

Chapter 88

The top floor of the Azura Gang’s hotel was no longer just a symbol of authority—it was now a battleground.

Glass crunched under Lucas’s boots as he stood beside Kevin, the once-pristine lounge now a wreck of torn leather couches, shattered pillars, and flickering lights.

The Moon spilled through the destroyed windows, staining the chaos silver.

Their opponent stood before them, lean and composed, with short-cropped black hair and a long tan coat that flapped in the breeze.

His name was Renji Varn, a Middle Intermediate Knight affiliated with the Stray Dogs.

His presence was suffocating—not just in power, but in the calm assurance of someone who had already decided how this would end.

The wind stirred unnaturally around Renji.

Not from the open windows—but from him. It coiled around his legs, circled his wrists, and bent the air with invisible tension. Lucas narrowed his eyes.

This man had used Wind Ki the moment he stepped onto the floor, slicing open their defensive lines like paper.

The Tiger Gang had cleared the path, but Renji was here to crush the heart.

Lucas’s knuckles whitened.

The pressure from Renji’s aura wasn’t overwhelming, but it was

Focused.

Calculated.

Renji raised a hand. The wind screamed to life.

A flash.

Kevin vanished, reappearing behind Renji with his fist already swinging.

The gust caught him mid-motion.

A violent spiral of air crashed into Kevin’s ribs, twisting his trajectory and slamming him into the wall.

The impact cracked the concrete. Lucas moved in—low, fast, silent.

He ducked under a horizontal wind blade that cleaved a metal table in two and charged through the backlash.

Renji turned, but too late—Lucas’s elbow struck his side.

He followed up with a knee to the gut, then a punch to the throat.

It landed—but it felt off.

Like punching mist.

Renji didn’t move.

The moment Lucas stepped back, he felt it.

The wind had wrapped around Renji’s body like armor.

A barrier that absorbed shock, reduced force, and gave him time to react.

Renji’s counter came swift—a palm strike lined with rotating wind.

Lucas crossed his arms to block, but the wind slipped around his guard like a snake, cutting his cheek and slamming his body across the room.

He rolled midair and landed on one knee, coughing.

The taste of iron filled his mouth. Kevin was already back up, his expression unreadable, jaw tight.

They didn’t speak.

They never needed to.

Lucas went left, Kevin right.

The wind howled as Renji raised both arms, directing two horizontal currents like guillotines.

Lucas slid under his, sparks flying as it clipped the floor tiles.

Kevin jumped over his, twisting mid-air and striking downward.

Renji blocked it with one forearm, but Kevin’s leg rippled with Ki and cracked through the wind shield, smashing into his collarbone.

Renji staggered, but didn’t fall. "Well, that was a good hit."

He exhaled—and the entire top floor pulsed.

A vortex erupted at the center was Renji.

Lucas felt his feet lift.

The air itself had turned hostile, pressing, pulling, tearing.

He gritted his teeth and poured Ki into his legs, forcing gravity back onto his side. "Kevin!!" Lucas shouted

Kevin wasn’t as lucky—he was yanked off the ground and into a spiraling current. "Damn it."

Lucas shot forward, leaping through a crosswind that cut deep into his arm.

’Keep moving Lucas.’ He told himself.

Blood sprayed, but he didn’t flinch.

He slammed into Renji with full force, grabbing him by the waist and driving both of them through a column.

Dust and debris exploded outward.

The wind broke for a moment.

Kevin landed, rolling to safety.

He was breathing hard now, sweat trailing down his jaw, blood on his knuckles.

"I am running out of Ki we need to finish this."

Lucas stood from the rubble, chest heaving.

"Yeah I know but the Element ki his covering with his body is protecting him."

Renji emerged too—coat torn, lip bleeding.

But smiling. "Let’s Keep Going."

Lucas didn’t smile. "Why does this remind me of Jack."

Neither did Kevin. "Because he’s doing the same expression when Jack is fighting."

The advantage of Wind Ki wasn’t raw power it was control.

Renji didn’t overwhelm them with brute force.

He suffocated them with superiority in movement, in defense, in terrain.

But that was fine.

Lucas had never needed superiority to win.

He motioned to Kevin.The other nodded.

They surged at once—two blurs moving through the aftermath.

Kevin struck from above, Lucas from below.

Renji caught Kevin’s leg and parried Lucas’s elbow, but then came the second strikes.

Lucas’s foot hooked Renji’s ankle while Kevin slammed a double-fist into his shoulder.

The timing was perfect.

Renji stumbled—first time he had lost footing.

Lucas dove in.

He slammed his palm against Renji’s ribs, Ki erupting point-blank.

It forced Renji back a step—then Kevin came in from the side with a sweeping kick that sent Renji skidding across the floor.

Cracks spidered beneath him.

Blood trailed down his arm as his wind barrier was removed when he used that Vortex.

Renji stood, slower now.

The wind had dulled.

The shield was flickering.

Lucas knew what came next.

This was when the stronger Knight realized they couldn’t win with control alone.

When pride tilted into desperation.

When they revealed their true hand."Don’t die yet."

Renji took a deep breath as he jumped back and his next exhale was sharp.

The wind exploded.

Not controlled.Not shaped.

Just raw pressure.

Furniture flew.

Kevin flew.

Lucas dug his heels in, but even he was pushed back.

Cuts were appearing on their bodies—small, sharp, as if the wind had gained claws.

Then—Renji vanished.

Lucas turned—barely in time.

A full-force punch drove into his chest, lined with Wind Ki rotating like a drill.

BAM

He blocked, but the impact lifted him from the floor and hurled him through the far wall.

BOOM

Lucas stepped back into view, blood dripping from his lip, ribs bruised.

But his eyes burned.

He’d felt it—that punch had torn through his Ki guard and still carried more than just physical power.

The spinning Wind Ki had drilled into his muscles, not slicing, but grinding.

’He’s reinforcing his limbs with spiraling currents....’

Renji turned toward Kevin—only to feel something behind him.

Lucas was already there.

A blow struck Renji’s back—a precise strike into the joint of his shoulder.

His arm went limp.

He spun, but Lucas had already slipped away.

Kevin attacked again, using Lucas’s feint to land two rapid blows to the side of Renji’s neck.

Now the wind was erratic.

Sharp in bursts.

Weak in waves.

But still dangerous.

Kevin’s thoughts burned behind his cold eyes: We can hurt him—but only if we overwhelm the reaction time that Wind Ki gives him. Lucas disrupts, I hit. I disrupt, Lucas hits.

Lucas ducked, dodged a wild slice of air, and struck Renji in the gut.

Once.

BAM

Twice.

BAM

Three times.

BAM

Kevin mirrored from behind—spinning kick to the side, elbow to the spine.

BAM

The two vice leaders of Azura moved in tandem.