I Became an Ant Lord, So I Built a Hive Full of Beauties-Chapter 516: Battle of Blood part four

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The miss cost Kai precious momentum.

It bought him access.

In the same motion, as Vorak’s weight shifted, Kai let go of his spear with his left hand and shot it forward, fingers clawed.

He grabbed Vorak’s injured wrist.

His claws dug into the already bruised flesh around the thumb.

Vorak’s teeth flashed in a brief, tight snarl.

"Cheating," he said. "Hands are supposed to stay on weapons."

"Everything is a weapon," Kai said through his teeth.

He squeezed.

Bones ground under his grip. Something in the joint popped again, worse this time.

Vorak’s fingers spasmed.

His spear dipped.

Kai jerked it.

For a moment, the world shrank to a contest of grips – Kai dragging, Vorak resisting. Sand slipped under their boots; their armor plates scraped.

Vorak let go first.

He released the spear with his damaged hand, switching to a single-handed grip. The movement saved his fingers from being pulped; it cost him leverage.

Kai capitalized.

He yanked the spear free and flung it aside.

The weapon spun end over end, embedding itself point-down in the sand at the very edge of the circle.

The gasp that rolled through both armies was almost comical.

Vorak, the general of the Scarlet Kingdom, stood unarmed in the center of the dueling circle.

For the first time, uncertainty flickered across the Scarlet ranks. A few soldiers half-stepped forward before their officers’ shouted reminders froze them in place.

On the ramp, drones nearly roared. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Luna’s voice burst across the Net in a ragged cheer before she caught herself and clamped her mouth shut.

Miryam’s aura flared so bright it made the air around her shimmer.

Kai did not let the moment go to his head.

He was breathing hard.

His chest hurt.

Blood trickled down his side where Vorak’s last thrust had scraped deeper than he’d wanted to admit.

[Ding! System notification-

HP: 1520 → 1310.

Aura: 3820 → 3440.

Apex Plus remaining safe duration at current burn: 00:06:10.

Advisory: host has gained temporary advantage in weapon control.

Suggestion: end fight now.]

He wanted to.

He wanted to charge, spear leveled, and run Vorak through before the general could reclaim his weapon.

Vorak saw that desire.

He also saw the calculation.

He raised his empty hands, palms out.

For a heartbeat, Kai thought he was going to surrender.

Then the general curled his fingers into loose fists.

Aura condensed around his knuckles, a low, dark red glow.

He stepped in.

"Who needs a stick," Vorak said quietly, "when the contract requires only that I face you with my ’flesh and aura’."

Then he punched.

Kai barely had time to bring his spear across his chest, angling it sideways. Vorak’s fist slammed into the shaft in a hook that would have shattered stone.

The spear warped.

A crack sprang along its length.

Kai felt the force anyway, transferred through the wood and into his ribs. The bruised bones screamed.

He stumbled back, coughing.

[Ding! System notification-

HP: 1310 → 960.

Aura: 3440 → 2980.

Warning: severe thoracic trauma. Structural failure possible with further direct impacts.]

Vorak did not give him space.

He followed, a blur of red and fists. Each punch carried the weight of Formation Echo – the drive of an entire squad condensed into one arm.

Kai parried where he could, using his spear like a quarterstaff.

Wood met aura-hardened bone with bone-rattling thuds.

Splinters flew.

The spear that had carried him through the earlier days thousand people’s battles began to die in his hands.

Cracks spidered along the grain. A chunk flew off near the butt after one particularly vicious block. The next hit sent a jagged splinter up into Kai’s palm.

He grunted, ignoring the blood.

Vorak smiled grimly.

"You are not the only one who can change rhythms," the general said. "You took my spear. Fine. Now we see how you fare against the most basic form of violence."

He spun into a low kick.

Kai jumped to clear it, barely. His side screamed as the sudden movement tugged abused muscles.

He landed badly.

His ankle rolled.

He caught himself on the haft; sand sprayed.

Vorak’s next punch came for his face.

Kai could have tried to block it with the spear again.

He did not.

He ducked inside instead.

The fist grazed his ear.

Heat exploded along the side of his head; his vision flashed white for a heartbeat.

He drove forward, ramming the broken middle of his spear into Vorak’s stomach like a battering ram.

The impact forced a grunt out of the older man.

Their bodies collided.

For a moment, they were chest to chest, close enough to see the tiny cracks at the edges of each other’s eyes, the sweat beading along hairlines, the faint tremble in muscles pushed past their comfort.

Vorak’s breath smelled faintly of mint and blood.

"Stubborn," he whispered.

"Likewise," Kai rasped.

He jammed his mandibles down toward Vorak’s neck.

Vorak twisted, bringing his shoulder up so Kai’s jaws scraped plate instead of flesh. Sparks flew as chitin grated on metal.

Vorak hammered his fist into Kai’s kidney.

Kai’s vision went gray.

[Ding! System notification-

HP: 960 → 580.

Aura: 2980 → 2600.

Critical threshold reached. Any further major trauma risks collapse.

System Advisory: emergency options:

– Crown draw (forbidden by terms)

– Miryam intervention (breaks duel, escalates war)

– Or... improvise.]

He snarled inside his own skull.

"Stop giving me answers I cannot use."

He shoved, forcing a sliver of space between them.

Vorak took it, stepping back half a pace, chest rising and falling more rapidly now. Sweat darkened the edges of his collar. His injured hand hung a little lower than the other, fingers stiff.

A steady trickle of blood ran down his side from one of the gouges Kai had opened earlier. His aura was not as perfectly smooth as it had been at the start. Little frays showed at the edges, like cloth pulled tight over too many nails.

They stared at each other.

The circle around them was a churned mess of sand and footprints.

Around that raw ring, the world held its breath.

In the background, Shadeclaw’s knuckles were white on his weapon.

Silvershadow had both hands pressed flat to the ramp’s stone lip as if he could will the circle tilt in his Lord’s favor.