Flow of Existence

Ash flakes were still flying all throughout the valley where Frax and Romun were facing off against each other. The ground of the valley, which had been green before, was now barren and gray, covered with numerous flakes of ash.

The old village chief was struggling quite a bit, but not as much as Romun was. The man clad in crimson was now bleeding from several wounds on his body. The old village chief had cleverly mixed in sharp concentrated blades of ash throughout the hurricane and shot them at him. These had cut Romun's flesh, even though it was only barely, and formed wounds all over his body.

It all came down to experience in the end, and the old village chief had a lot more battle experience than the young man clad in crimson. His attacks had cleverly gained him the upper hand.

But even though the old village chief had the upper hand he wasn't happy about the current state of the battle, his innate element was close to running out. He wished to do a lot more damage and deplete a lot more Flow before this happened. But looking at the crimson anomaly standing within the storm of ash flakes, barely damaged, he wasn't happy with the results.

He shuddered at the thought of how many people this man had killed at his seemingly young age.

Of course the man could be a lot older than the old village chief suspected, this was possible with Flow after all, but he had his reasons for suspecting otherwise.

The ashen hurricane subsided as the village chief stopped forming copious amounts of ash, he decided to fight him normally, without any element.

He still saved up a bit of innate element in case he needed it for the upcoming close quarters battle, wasting all of his long range attack power was not a wise decision, even though he was going in for close quarters combat now.

Romun let out another bellowing laugh letting it resound all throughout the valley as he saw the ashen hurricane subsiding.

"Are you finally done old man, let's fight, straight up."

The old village chief didn't need to be told that twice as he dashed swiftly towards Romun, seemingly catching him off guard.

The village chief didn't know if he was expecting some sort of honorable battle with their fists, but he wasn't going to give up the initiative he currently held from the ash flakes that still floated throughout the air, giving him ample cover to land a good blow.

And land a good blow he did, the village chief's fist plunged deep into Romun's abdomen. Romun was flung backwards but he quickly recovered through sheer grit.

He recovered fast enough, he was already back in position before the village chief was upon him again. 

The ash floating through the air was making his vision hazy, so Romun formed a large wall of magma pushing the ash out of the air and trying to hit the old village chief.

The village chief shifted and got out of the way of the magma wall, he decided against rushing straight through it even though he could have, but the wounds he would have sustained were not worth it to him. This made him lose quite a bit of ground, Romun now held the initiative.

And he didn't let this initiative go to waste, he moved quickly running towards the position where the village chief had just landed.

The two exchanged blows but Romun came out slightly on top in this exchange. The village chief moved his hand and formed a cloud of ash dropping his guard for a little bit, this was a risky move but it paid off.

Romun lost his vision for a very short moment because of the cloud of ash, but this very short moment was critical. 

The hand that had just formed the cloud of ash was now balled up and flying towards Romun's temple. Because of the cloud Romun was unable to see it, but he could still sense it through his Flow.

He swiftly shifted his body and raised his arm, barely blocking the devastating punch that was launched towards his temple.

The force that was exerted on his arm felt like a mountain was ramming straight into him, but the block did not give in. Romun strengthened his body as proficiently as he could, burning away Flow rapidly as the devastating force was blocked out.

He pulled his arm back as he felt the immense pain throbbing all throughout it. But he bit through the pain, leaned forward and released a flurry of his own punches.

The village chief hadn't expected him to recover so quickly but was still prepared, he dodged, weaved and blocked all the punches coming his way. The retaliation barely hurt him at all.

The village chief used his superior combat technique and experience to gain the upper hand, after another exchange of punches he was the one that came out with the initiative.

Romun was now desperately fleeing backwards, but the village chief wasn't allowing him to get away.

The arm that had blocked the punch earlier had completely broken now, it was waving in the wind throbbing with surreal levels of pain. To force the village chief back Romun had no choice but to form another wall of magma.

The village chief disengaged as he stared down the formidable crimson clad attacker that had raided his village. He had won this battle, there was no way for the raider to win anymore. He could sense that there was no one nearby lying in ambush either, there was no one to back Romun up. All he could do now was desperately run and try to delay his death for as long as he possibly could.

Romun looked around and scanned the surroundings. "It seems no one is watching here, to think I would be forced to do this."

The village chief instantly became warry, he didn't know if Romun was bluffing or not but it was better to stay on guard. He put his guard up and prepared for an attack.

That was when something unimaginable happened, Romun formed a clump of magma, but the clump of magma didn't get formed from him, instead it formed directly at the spot where the village chief was standing.

This was normally impossible, one could only form directly in front of their body, it was impossible to form your Flow into an element far away.

Luckily the village chief was on guard, he dodged the clump of magma that suddenly appeared on top of him. But the magma still hit his body, burning away his old flesh.

The village chief's eyes widened in disbelief. "Impossible, you have been acknowledged?"

"Oh, you really are a knowledgeable old monster. Luckily I'm going to kill you today." Romun said in a surprised voice.

He stopped holding back as he continuously formed magma clumps directly above and around the old village chief.

He managed to dodge it one last time, but while the village chief was busy desperately dodging the magma, Romun was already upon him. He delivered a devastating punch of his own, straight into the old village chief's gut.

The village chief spat out blood as he stumbled backwards.

He stood there in the now ashen gray valley, ash flakes still hung around in the air coloring it gray, he stood there surrounded by magma as he looked upon the crimson demon. His long crimson red hair was waving in the wind, contrasting deeply with the gray atmosphere.

His face had not a single sliver of shame on it, it was simply a look of pride and joy of having won a hard fought battle. And also respect for his enemy, the strong enemy that had forced him to reveal his hand.

The village chief sighed as he raised up his right hand. He rotated it and placed his middle finger exactly in the middle of his forehead and his pointer finger directly below it. Then he closed his eyes as he let the flood of magma wash over his head. Usually he would be able to survive for some time within the magma, but the sheer flood of boiling hot magma was too much for him.

'It seems this is how I go out, a fitting end for someone such as me. In the end I didn't leave a legacy at all. I didn't leave my name in history, I wasn't important at all. I can't believe I changed so much, why didn't I just run away and leave this village behind. It didn't even matter in the end, I lost anyways, what was the point, why did I die, the village will fall, I didn't save anyone.'

The village chief let out one last loud sigh as he opened his eyes, lowered his hand and looked into the sky.

"I hope you are happy."

Those were his last words as he melted underneath the wave of boiling magma, standing there, looking towards the sky.

Romun looked at the sight of the old village chief melting and burning away. As the Flow he gained from the kill entered his body he couldn't contain himself as his face shifted into an incredibly euphoric expression.

He stood there, his crimson red hair streaked with gray ash waving wildly in the wind, bathed in the incredible euphoria of his fresh kill.