The Path Of A True King.-Chapter 36: I Won’t Lose

Chapter 75 – Awaken:

BOOOOM!

The thunderous explosion reverberated through the splintered remains of the forest, each echo a testament to the savagery of their clash.

Trees quaked from the shockwave, and wildlife scattered in panicked disarray, the natural order shattered by the battle between two titans.

Lucas tore through the treeline, his movements swift and serpentine.

His legs blurred with every step, kicking up dirt and snapping branches as he weaved between trunks with uncanny reflexes.

The air around him sparked green—his Ki flaring like an untamed wildfire.

His shirt, ragged and soaked with sweat and blood, clung to him like a second skin.

Each inhale was a gasp, each exhale a defiant refusal to yield.

Every nerve screamed.

Every muscle begged for reprieve.

But he couldn’t stop.

Not while Jack was still standing.

In the eye of the chaos, Jack stood like an immovable monolith.

His towering frame was marred by battle—cuts trailed down his chest, blood painted his knuckles, and his pants were in tatters—but his posture remained unbroken.

Strips of cloth fluttered from his waist like ancient banners of war.

He didn’t chase Lucas.

He didn’t need to.

His eyes, glowing faintly red, tracked him not by sight—but through Ki.

He felt every pulse, every shift in Lucas’s aura.

But Lucas had changed.

His movements now held precision and finesse.

His aura, once wild and unfocused, had evolved into something potent—controlled chaos.

A spiraling cyclone of vibrant green that clung tightly to his body and cracked the earth beneath his feet with every motion.

And yet, that wasn’t what Jack noticed.

It was the will behind the power.

He wanted to rise.

He wanted to match Jack.

The clearing—if it could still be called that—was decimated.

Uprooted trees littered the area like scattered toothpicks.

The earth was cracked, torn as if by the hands of giants.

Sparks of residual Ki danced in the air, clinging to the wind like fireflies.

The battleground itself breathed with energy.

Jack rotated his neck slowly, cracking it with a sound that seemed to echo too long in the broken silence.

His head tilted. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

"He’s close," he muttered.

A rush of wind.

A whisper behind him.

And then—

CRACK!

Lucas emerged from the blur, twisting mid-air with a spinning heel kick aimed squarely for Jack’s jaw.

Jack ducked fluidly, his reflexes instantaneous.

Lucas’s leg sliced through the air, but he didn’t pause.

A follow-up punch arced toward Jack’s ribs, charged with concentrated Ki.

Jack caught the fist mid-swing.

A shockwave burst outward from their contact point—leaves and dirt spiraling into the air like a mini-storm.

Lucas grinned, sweat rolling down his temple. "Caught me, huh?"

Jack’s lips curved into a half-smirk. "Barely."

Lucas twisted his wrist and launched his knee toward Jack’s chin.

Another block.

This time with a bone-jarring thud.

Jack shook his head. "Still predictable."

He rotated, using Lucas’s momentum against him, and flung him like a missile.

WHAM!

Lucas’s body smashed through two trees before crashing into a jagged mound of rock and dirt.

The impact sent dust spiraling skyward.

He lay there, groaning, blood trickling from a fresh wound on his forehead.

His arms trembled as he pushed himself up, face contorted in pain—but his eyes burned brighter than ever.

No words.

Just fire.

Green Ki flared violently around him—unstable but potent.

Jack approached with steady steps.

The ground crunched beneath his boots—splinters, rocks, shattered roots.

"You’ve gotten stronger," Jack admitted, halting just short of him. "Stronger than I expected. You might be catching up to Kai... maybe just behind him."

Lucas smirked through a bloodied lip. "So that means I win, right?"

Jack chuckled. "Not even close.

But I’m impressed.

Kai probably saw this coming.

You went toe-to-toe with Elijah when he had just stepped into the Beginner Knight stage, and you weren’t even there yet.

And your cultivation speed... that’s something else."

He raised one hand.

Golden Ki erupted from his palm—burning, focused, alive.

The pressure that came with it pressed on Lucas’s lungs like invisible chains.

The air thickened.

The ground beneath Jack’s feet cracked.

Then Jack moved.

BOOM!

He vanished.

Lucas barely managed to raise his arms in time.

Jack’s fist collided with his guard—an explosion of force that launched Lucas backward.

He flew like a ragdoll, bouncing off the ground before slamming into a half-fallen tree.

Bark splintered, and birds fled in a shriek of panic.

Still, Lucas rose.

Spitting blood. Chest heaving. Vision blurring.

Just one more hit... just one more...

Jack landed nearby, his expression unreadable.

Gone was the amused smile.

Now, there was silence.

Weight.

Power restrained behind calm eyes.

"You’ve earned something," Jack said softly. "A glimpse of what I’ve been hiding."

Lucas blinked. "You weren’t serious before?"

Jack exhaled deeply, and then his voice dropped, low and absolute:

"Awaken."

The world stilled.

Wind ceased.

The trees stopped swaying.

Even time itself seemed to hold its breath.

Then—

WHOOM!

Golden Ki erupted from Jack’s body—but it had changed.

No longer warm or regal.

Now, it was savage.

Raw.

Primal.

It screamed like a beast set free.

The ground trembled violently as if rejecting the energy.

Birds scattered into the sky, and the very trees bent away from him.

Jack’s aura twisted—gold stained with crimson, embers rising like sparks from a wildfire.

Lucas’s breath hitched.

Then he saw them.

Scales.

Faint at first, then more vivid—black-gold scales crawling across Jack’s shoulders, forearms, and chest like dragonhide.

His eyes, once gentle and perceptive, now gleamed with slitted pupils—feral and ancient.

He didn’t look human.

He looked like a force from a myth long forgotten.

Lucas stumbled back, overcome not just by the power—but by what it represented.

This wasn’t Jack.

This was something more.

Something terrible and awe-inspiring.

"What... are you?" Lucas whispered.

Jack didn’t answer.

BOOM!

A gut-wrenching blow to the ribs—Lucas felt it before he even saw the blur of movement.

His body rocketed skyward, air forcibly expelled from his lungs.

Jack appeared above him mid-flight.

A hand-axe strike to the chest sent Lucas hurtling downward, the sky vanishing as the earth came rushing up.

CRASH!

The impact shook the world.

A crater formed, dust and rock exploding outward like a volcanic eruption.

Lucas lay motionless in the center.

Blood dripped from his mouth, bones cracked under the strain, and consciousness slipped like water through his fingers.

Jack landed gently beside him.

The monstrous energy had already begun to subside—the scales fading, his aura calming.

"It’s not a form I use often," he murmured. "Takes more out of me than I like to admit. But you... you earned that."

Lucas coughed, chuckling despite himself. "Damn... you cheat."

Jack knelt, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"That was restraint," he said with quiet intensity. "If I didn’t pull back, you’d be dead."

Lucas wheezed. "You’re such a warm-hearted monster."

Jack stood, gazing over the wasteland their battle had forged. "You’ve come far.

That Burst Technique? Solid.

Your instincts? Sharpening.

But you’re still reacting.

Until you learn to predict—to feel the fight before it unfolds—you’ll always be a step behind."

Lucas closed his eyes, the pain pressing down like gravity itself.

But inside, a storm was brewing.

He had seen the gap. Now he had to close it.

"I’ll train harder," he said through gritted teeth.

"I’ll get there."

Jack looked at him and nodded once.

"Good. You’d better—because next time, I’m not holding anything back."

Sunlight broke through the battered clouds, casting golden light over the ruin.

And in that silence, Lucas whispered a thought that refused to leave him.

"Can you... beat Elijah?"

Jack was quiet for a long moment.

Then, with a faint smile, he replied, "Not sure."

Lucas furrowed his brows. "What do you mean?"

"Elijah’s stronger than you think," Jack said, eyes distant. "But I know one thing for certain."

Lucas pushed himself up slightly. "What?"

Jack turned, his grin widening into something almost feral.

"I won’t lose."