Real Dream: Infinity

The name hung in the air like distant thunder, charged with an authority that demanded attention.

Aurora turned her head toward Ethan, her eyes glinting with contained curiosity. "Thunder Jaw?"

Ethan nodded, clearly entertained by her reaction. His smile revealed a mix of respect and awe.

"You see him, don't you? He's incredible. He's got three victories. Whenever he shows up, it's like the air gets heavier. It doesn't matter who's in front of him—Thunder Jaw never backs down."

Aurora adjusted the image on her visor, fine-tuning the controls until she had focused on the giant advancing slowly toward where Daeron had fallen.

The first thing that struck her was his enormous size. Thunder Jaw was a mountain in motion—a colossus wrapped in black armor. His knight-like helmet had a single horizontal slit, glowing faintly with reflections of the stadium's artificial lights.

His armor wasn't just functional; it was adorned with intricate electric tattoos that pulsed with energy, as if lightning coursed beneath his metallic skin. Each of his heavy steps made the ground tremble, and the echo of his footfalls reverberated like the beat of a drum, marking the cadence of his inexorable approach.

Aurora furrowed her brow, both impressed and uneasy. "Do you think he can take on Melisfir?"

Before Ethan could respond, Clara chimed in, her tone light but confident. "Face her head-on? Definitely. But with Melisfir, you never know."

Aurora nodded slowly, understanding the implication. Her focus remained on Thunder Jaw as she asked, "Were you watching Thunder Jaw too?"

Clara waved her hand dismissively, pairing the gesture with a mocking smile.

"No, no. I was watching No Limits."

Aurora blinked, surprised. Without hesitation, she adjusted her glasses to switch perspectives, searching for No Limits among the participants. What she found was a striking scene.

No Limits hovered in the air atop a floating metallic platform, surveying the area below without moving. He wore his signature white suit, the emblem of "No Limits" emblazoned on his back, fluttering behind him like a banner of defiance. But what drew Aurora's attention wasn't him—it was the aftermath of his actions.

Aurora spotted three participants near his position. Their suits were completely destroyed, and one of them was impaled against a building—an image so brutal that she had to look away for a moment. No Limits hadn't used excessive force, but the precision and lethality of his attacks were undeniable.

Aurora sighed, a mixture of awe and exhaustion as she averted her gaze. "After Thunder Jaw leaves Melisfir's area, I think I'll check out this No Limits guy."

Meanwhile, the stadium roared like a raging ocean. The stands were packed with spectators who couldn't tear their eyes away from the holographic screens projecting the ongoing battles. Explosions of vibrant energy lit up the sky, marking the violent clashes happening across the arena's different zones.

In one corner, a particularly fierce duel was grabbing everyone's attention: Zephyrin, wielding his thin scythe, skillfully blocked the fiery waves that Inferno Edge was hurling in his direction. The blue flames carved destructive arcs, ripping through buildings and obliterating walls in their path.

It looks like fire, but nothing is burning…

Aurora shifted her focus back to Melisfir. Her silhouette, barely visible under the intermittent light, exuded a chilling calm. The black mask covering her face seemed to absorb the light, as though it were made of pure void.

The tension in the air was almost tangible.

Aurora closed her eyes for a moment, trying to steady her breathing. When she opened them again, her gaze fixed on Thunder Jaw, who continued his relentless march toward Daeron.

"This… this is going to be huge," she murmured to herself.

***

Dominion wasn't a tournament for the weak. Every strike, every movement, and every decision could mean the difference between victory and disqualification. Daeron knew this as he placed the battery into the compartment on his suit. A surge of energy coursed through his body as the system partially activated, repairing the most critical parts. His suit was still dented, scorched, and exposed in some areas, revealing fragments of its inner structure. A crack on his helmet's visor obscured his vision, but he had no time to fix it.

In front of him, Thunder Jaw charged forward like a runaway locomotive. Standing over two meters tall, his massive frame was a fusion of muscle and technology.

Daeron gripped his lance with both hands. His weapon, designed to channel and amplify In, vibrated faintly as it struggled to gather enough energy for a counterattack.

Crash!

The deafening noise rang out like thunder, freezing the moment. Daeron looked up just in time to see a building, several stories high, begin to topple. His pupils contracted, and the world seemed to slow as he calculated the point of impact.

"Damn it!" he muttered.

Flexing his legs, he channeled In into his feet, propelling himself backward with an explosive leap. The ground beneath him cracked from the force, and his body launched out of harm's way just as the building collapsed.

Thunder Jaw, however, didn't retreat. With no room to escape, he planted his feet firmly, spreading his legs for stability. The blue glow in his arm intensified, swirling like a miniature storm. With a roar that shook the air, he struck upward with all his might.

Boom!

A shockwave tore through the falling building, shattering it into hundreds of fragments that rained down around him. The smaller pieces bounced harmlessly off his armor like heavy raindrops, while the larger chunks smashed into the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

Amid the chaos, Melisfir emerged. She leaped from above, her dagger, Sleepy, glowing with alternating white and black hues. With a quick twist and the force of her descent, she plunged the blade directly into the joint of Thunder Jaw's right arm, piercing through his armor and sending a spray of blood onto the ground.

Thunder Jaw roared in pain, but instead of retreating, he twisted his torso to slam Melisfir with his injured arm. She slid to the side in one smooth motion, letting the blow miss her by mere millimeters.

From her new position, Melisfir drew her pistol with her left hand and aimed directly at Thunder Jaw's left knee.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Three shots rang out in quick succession. Two of them hit their mark, piercing through the weakened armor and causing blood to gush out. Thunder Jaw staggered but refused to fall.

With a guttural growl, he channeled In into the ground through his left arm, slamming it down with a clenched fist. A shockwave rippled outward, hurling debris like projectiles and creating a chaotic battlefield.

Melisfir reacted instantly, leaping backward to dodge a rock the size of her torso. However, she couldn't avoid the wave of energy barreling toward her. As it closed in, her mask remained expressionless. She raised Sleepy, slicing through the energy and splitting it into two halves that passed harmlessly on either side of her.

Thunder Jaw seized the moment. With a swift motion, he pulled a battery from his belt and slotted it into his suit. Energy surged through his body, partially repairing the damage to his knee and reinforcing his cracked armor.

"Got you!" he roared, raising his left arm to block another shot from Melisfir.

Without hesitation, he charged toward her, his footsteps pounding against the ground like hammer blows. Melisfir, ever nimble, leaned forward, gripping Sleepy in her right hand and her pistol in her left.

Swish! Swish! Swish!

From a low stance to Thunder Jaw's left, she unleashed three energy slashes, each a different color. Thunder Jaw sidestepped the first, but ignored the other two, letting them collide with his armor and leaving visible cracks.

Using his momentum, he spun, delivering a wide horizontal swing with his injured arm. The movement covered every possible escape route, forcing Melisfir to react.

She braced herself, bending her knees and raising both arms to shield her side. The impact sent her flying like a projectile, crashing through a nearby building. The shockwaves from the strike shattered walls, leaving cracks and a cloud of dust in their wake.

Thunder Jaw was breathing heavily, but he wasted no time. He stepped forward, ready to finish her off, when a smoke bomb exploded in front of him.

His helmet began to display interference, and he growled in frustration.

"Damn you, Melisfir…"

Reaching for another battery on his belt, the air around him shifted. A suffocating pressure filled the space, and his visor detected an intense vibration, forcing him to concentrate all his In in one spot.

A figure shot out from the debris like lightning: jet-black hair whipping in the wind, a crown adorned with white diamonds supporting a multicolored crystal blade that ended in a guillotine-like edge.

No Limits.

His radiant white suit flared violently with his speed. The ground cracked beneath him, and a brilliant blue glow traveled down his right arm to his black, abyss-like metallic fist.

Bang!

The impact was instantaneous and devastating. His fist collided with Thunder Jaw's side with superhuman force. The brutal sound, amplified by the stadium's audio system, echoed throughout the arena, making the metal platforms tremble. Thunder Jaw's armor groaned and fractured before shattering into metallic fragments that flew in all directions.

Thunder Jaw's body was hurled like a projectile, slamming into a nearby wall with such ferocity that the structure collapsed in a cloud of debris.

"OOAAAHHH!" The crowd's roar was deafening. The Nexar Stadium erupted into a frenzy of cheers and applause. Flags waved wildly, and the commentators were left speechless.

Aurora, who had been quietly observing until that moment, leaped to her feet, her eyes wide with disbelief.

"When… how!?" Her voice trembled with astonishment. "How did no one see that coming!?"

She frantically searched for No Limits. That was when she noticed the platform he had been standing on mere seconds ago, now racing past the collapsed building as if it had never stopped.

"Did you see that!?" Clara clutched her sides, laughing hysterically.

"Of course, I saw it! No Limits took him down in one strike!" Aurora nodded repeatedly, her heart pounding.

Ethan, sitting on the other side of Clara, buried his hands in his hair, exasperated. "Damn it, No Limits! Why'd you go straight for Thunder Jaw? He was my favorite bet!"

"Look, look! It's not over yet!" Clara shouted, pointing to the massive screen where cameras tracked No Limits' movements. "Look at him!"

Aurora sank back into her seat, focusing her glasses. The auto-tracking system, which had been locked onto Thunder Jaw moments ago, now followed No Limits as he moved.

Bang! Bang!

No Limits smashed through two walls like an unstoppable force, his silhouette wrapped in crackling energy. The batteries on his belt glowed brightly, releasing bursts of light that illuminated the dust he kicked up with every step.

Suddenly, a participant with a flowing blue cape emerged from the side, wielding a long sword that radiated a crimson glow.

"Stop right there, No Limits!" the man roared, charging forward with a precise strike aimed at the crown.

But No Limits didn't stop. Lowering his stance slightly, like a predator stalking its prey, he pushed forward with even more speed. He crossed his arms in front of his chest, letting his metallic fist lead the charge.

In the blink of an eye, he struck the opponent's torso with brutal precision before the sword even came close to touching him. The man let out a choked gasp as his body was hurled aside, rolling uncontrollably across the ground.

Bang! Bang!

No Limits tore through two more walls, emerging into a new section of the arena. Another battery disappeared from his belt as his suit glowed even brighter. He was an unstoppable war machine, advancing without mercy.

***

"What's happening!? What's happening!?" Aurora shouted, clutching her face in disbelief. The entire stadium chanted in unison:

"NO LIMITS! NO LIMITS! NO LIMITS!"

Suddenly, Ethan shot to his feet, his eyes wide with realization. "It's Melisfir! No Limits is chasing Melisfir!"

Aurora froze for a second before switching her visor's perspective.

There she was—Melisfir, her short white hair streaming behind her, running at full speed and dodging obstacles as the holographic map confirmed what Ethan had said:

No Limits was following her in a straight line.