The Saint King (Holy King) 4

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Kwaaaaaahng!

Bang, kwaaaahng-!

An untimely earthquake erupted across Labyrinthe’s capital city.

No, those emanated from the shockwaves of two Apostles’ clashing – Doyun and the Saint King himself.

Throughout the palace gardens, servants and knights clung to the quaking earth, awestruck as they witnessed the monstrous exchange unfold.

Their dizzying speeds and overwhelming forces far outpaced mortal perception as the two traded strikes indiscernible to the naked eye.

Kwaaaaaaahng!

Zzzzzoooong-

“M-, My word. That His Majesty could not subdue him in a single strike…!”

“Just who is that man?! Could Vanguard Generals have truly infiltrated here?!”

To their eyes, the cataclysmic battle appeared akin to a natural disaster itself.

Doyun thrust the Hecreaux style’s fists as the Saint King deflected them.

Kwaaaaaaaaah-

The deflected force generated windblasts shearing apart the gardens’ vegetation indiscriminately.

Spacious enough to accommodate their ferocious clash, the palace gardens proved sufficiently expansive as their battleground – yet the surrounding citizenry posed an issue.

Even as the gardens disintegrated however, no harm befell the city or outer walls – the Saint King carefully adjusted his force trajectories to avoid endangering bystanders despite assailing Doyun relentlessly.

Naturally, Doyun reciprocated that same consideration in kind.

“Huwhp-“

Inhaling sharply, the Saint King unleashed a furious combination chain.

Surveying his surroundings, Doyun shifted leftwards – every time evading one of the Saint King’s thrusts, the next attack would home in on his prior position seamlessly.

Gale forces ravaged the area indiscriminately, yet the servants’ and knights’ vicinity remained untouched – courtesy of Doyun’s precautions.

“…”

Sensing Doyun’s meticulous control, the Saint King furrowed his brow quizzically.

Yet their ferocious exchange never ceased as both relentlessly traded blows in offensive and defensive volleys.

Then, evading another Saint King assault, Doyun faltered momentarily before telepathically warning:

[Luna, don’t!]

Luna swiftly retreated from her attempted ambush on the Saint King’s blind spot.

At that very moment, the Saint King glanced upwards sharply before lashing out with a sweeping backhand aimed where Luna had materialized.

Phwoong-

That vicious windblast uprooted the surrounding flora as his fist unerringly sliced through Luna’s former position.

Had Doyun not intervened, she would have sustained that devastating strike.

[Do not engage him directly, Luna.]

[…]

While wordlessly acquiescing, Luna harbored no intent defying her father’s instructions regardless.

Doyun felt utterly astonished by the Saint King’s instinctive reaction:

‘The preternatural senses of a wild beast.’

He represented the first to pierce Luna’s stealth so unerringly – undoubtedly a paramount combatant never to underestimate lightly.

Putting some distance between them, the Saint King muttered aloud:

“…An assassin of monstrous skill. That miasma I briefly sensed…”

Oh dear – Doyun realized he had been mistaken for a Demon Lord operative.

The Saint King’s stoic countenance hardened as his entire physique expanded with an inhuman, guttural rumbling ominously akin to a Simian Sage’s manifestation.

Swiftly appraising his adversary’s might, Doyun reached an unfavorable conclusion:

‘Stronger than me.’

Despite sharing the same close-quarters fighter archetype, the disparity with Lei felt akin to earth and sky itself.

Before him stood one of the current Alliance’s paramount Two without question.

As their brief lull ended, the Saint King launched another devastating strike.

Evading it, Doyun lunged into his towering reach towards the solar plexus – yet swiftly altered his mana patterns mid-motion rather than unleashing techniques.

‘I shall not use other skills.’

Instead of the Overlord’s Divine Palm formulae, he drew upon the Hecreaux style’s overflowing might.

[Hecreaux Style Martial Arts – Force Projection]

Zzzzzzzoooooong-!

Inflicting devastating internal injuries to create exploitable openings – the Force Projection technique struck the Saint King’s solar plexus directly.

Yet Doyun frowned at the jarring recoil reverberating through his arm from the sheer countering resilience.

Fortified by reinforcing ki, the Saint King’s torso had partially negated that technique.

‘Both Toughness and Vitality at Level 8.’

Indeed – regardless of its untraceable origins, did this confirm the Saint King as a Hecreaux style inheritor after all?

The Saint King refused surrendering any momentum.

Gripping Doyun’s extended arm viciously with both hands in a merciless clinch – somehow targeting the unarmored forearm section above his gauntlet.

Despite penetrating so deeply, Doyun had failed inflicting sufficiently decisive damage to seize the advantage, enabling this reversal.

Yet the Saint King’s speed too proved so blindingly swift as to defy reaction.

‘Agility Level 8.’

Overflowing ki saturated the Saint King’s grip as his precisely articulated musculature hardened inconceivably.

[Hecreaux Style Martial Arts – Max Constriction]

That overwhelming constriction mangled Doyun’s arm like a wet dishrag.

Splutch-

Shattering bones and pulverized flesh exploded outwards in grotesque eruptions as the skeletal shards protruded – yet Doyun’s expression remained utterly impassive.

Rather, the consummate martial artist calmly continued his analysis:

‘Strength too rates Level 8.’

Simultaneous to that assessment, Doyun’s leg lashed out in a wide arcing low roundhouse kick towards the Saint King’s thigh.

Zzzzyurhk-

Shredding muscle fibers howled in agony as the Saint King’s knee joint convulsed, yet he refused releasing Doyun’s mangled arm.

The Saint King considered severing it outright with another [Max Constriction] finisher to cleanly snap Doyun’s limb like a twig.

‘…!’

Yet in that instant, he faltered upon glimpsing Doyun’s other leg suddenly extending skywards in a straight vertical trajectory at an impossible angle defying its prior momentum.

The same leg that had just launched that low roundhouse kick – yet now reclaimed and whipped overhead in one seamless, incomprehensible motion through partial localized acceleration control, Doyun’s signature technique.

Without further ado, he brought that verticalized leg crashing downwards in an axe kick.

[Hecreaux Style Martial Arts – Log Crusher Strike]

His heel slammed directly into the Saint King’s shoulder.

Zzzzzyurhk-!

The same leg still reeling from that prior low kick could not withstand the shockwaves – the Saint King’s knee buckled, cratering the earth upon impact with a resonant boom.

Kwaaaaaaaaahng!

“Y-, Your Majesty…!”

“No…!!”

Despite their cataclysmic clash, the knights rushed forward to aid their king.

However, before they could even take that first step, Doyun and the Saint King traded another fleeting high-speed exchange wordlessly in that split second interim.

The Saint King attempted severing Doyun’s arm he still gripped by mustering his ki once more.

Yet before he could manifest [Max Constriction] again, Doyun’s sublime mana mastery and Hecreaux skill proficiency pulled far ahead.

The A-Rank skill [Armor’s Blessing] acquired by consuming Berthe’s heart:

Doyun’s mana flooded his arm’s circulatory system in an instant as localized acceleration control concentrated immense output into reinforcing and hardening that specific limb.

The Saint King’s senses recoiled in shock at this sensation as he attempted that maiming strike.

Kwaahk.

“…!”

Doyun’s already shattered arm had hardened to a density rivaling the Skull Diamond gemstone renowned across the continent.

And that represented merely the opening salvo.

His right palm still pressed against the Saint King’s solar plexus amid that grappling lock.

An incomparably condensed maelstrom of overflowing ki suffused that hand – not the Saint King’s variation, but the original, archetypal Hecreaux Style [True Form] accessible solely to its founding progenitor himself:

[True Hecreaux Style – Force Projection]

Zzzzzzzzoooooong-!

“—…!”

The Saint King’s mouth burst open, vomiting blood profusely.

That shockwave pierced straight through his back, shearing the very earth and air behind him asunder. Its overwhelming force sent those knights rushing forward tumbling backwards collectively.

Though fundamentally shattered, Doyun’s hardened right arm had momentarily reinforced enough to channel the [True Hecreaux Style] directly.

While the Saint King could potentially continue fighting, his grievous internal injuries effectively decided that outcome.

‘My arm though…’

Reduced to an utterly mangled, pulpy mess.

Only by attaining Toughness Level 8 had he barely accessed those degraded Hecreaux techniques at all.

Yet the [True Form’s] recoil still overwhelmed his current limitations – recklessly channeling that original pinnacle had thoroughly ruined his right arm’s condition.

Hunched over clutching his lacerated torso, the Saint King struggled mightily to stabilize his ruptured insides through sheer willpower.

Doyun gazed down at his ragged remains of an arm with evident satisfaction:

‘Not a bad application, all things considered.’

Utilizing [Armor’s Blessing] in such makeshift improvisations proved quite the fortuitous discovery indeed.

Observing the Saint King unable to recover from those internal injuries for the time being:

The current Doyun would undoubtedly fall short against the Lion King himself.

And the Saint King rated on par with that paramount sovereign in sheer might – under normal circumstances, he should never have proved such a straightforward adversary.

However, Doyun represented the original founding disciple of the Hecreaux style itself.

While the Saint King too utilized those same Hecreaux techniques, Doyun’s mastery utterly eclipsed his inherently.

That overwhelming skill discrepancy had enabled Doyun to seize the perfect elemental advantage decisively.

Which decisively reversed their prospective victory conditions.

The Labyrinthine citizenry remained utterly shell-shocked from witnessing that cataclysmic spectacle:

“U-, Unbelievable… Just what transpired here…?”

One of the Alliance’s paramount Paladins – moreover the Saint King famed for his unrivaled one-on-one specialization unlike the more versatile Lion King…

…Had suffered an utterly humiliating defeat.

“A nightmare…? Could His Majesty have truly…?”

“This cannot be…”

Admittedly, the Saint King had held back considerably to avoid endangering bystanders, only committing around 50% of his full might.

Yet Doyun too had operated under those same constraints – their genuine respective peaks would likely have decided an identical outcome regardless.

Simply put, against any other adversary or circumstances, the Saint King would never have fallen in such dishonorable fashion as the Alliance’s foremost powerhouse.

Doyun observed the Saint King wordlessly as he collected himself.

Despite kneeling in a semi-crouched stance nursing his injuries, the man’s towering stature met Doyun’s eye level directly.

Hands clutched over his ravaged torso, the Saint King struggled stabilizing his internal condition in grim silence.

Yet unlike Berthe or his other subordinates, he had not uttered a single anguished cry throughout that one-sided beatdown from start to finish.

His actual fighting style too – the man radiated an undeniable hardiness reminiscent of Hecreaux himself in many respects.

‘Just like that brutish bastard used to be.’

Doyun found himself warming to this figure’s distinct presence the more he witnessed.

Slowly raising his bowed head, the Saint King regarded Doyun with evident bewilderment:

“You are…”

Wielding martial arts resembling yet eclipsing his own techniques by such overwhelming margins…

The Saint King could not reconcile this unprecedented situation unfolding before him as lingering disbelief and confusion clouded his gaze.

Doyun clicked his tongue – thanks to the Hecreaux style and Luna’s appearance, he had been completely misidentified as a Demon Lord operative.

This opponent adhered to inflexibly staunch convictions – verbal persuasion would undoubtedly prove an arduous, protracted undertaking.

Yet Doyun knew precisely how to communicate with such uncompromising men all too well.

‘Comes from being cut from the same Monkeyking prodigy cloth as that surly bastard, I suppose…’

His dialogues with Hecreaux had always unfolded through sheer physical exchanges without words.

Lowering his stance, Doyun firmly rooted his center of gravity before chambering his remaining functional left fist at his waist.

An unprecedented torrent of Hecreaux-style overflowing might emanated from his entire being at an intensity utterly transcending prior displays.

The Saint King’s eyes widened sharply upon witnessing this sublime manifestation.

“…!”

His grievous injuries precluded evasion, yet that paled beside the revelatory epiphany unfolding before him.

This represented the zenith pinnacle his own enigmatic martial arts had been pursuing – its quintessential truth materialized tangibly in the flesh.

‘Reinforcement.’

From shoulder down to fingertips, Doyun’s arm hardened like some mythical dragonscale armor.

Soon after, a hallowed luminescence permeated his fist as his willful intent of ‘striking mightily’ bolstered that physical manifestation directly.

Openly aghast despite agonized straining, the Saint King forced out:

“You are…?!”

Rather than nodding, Doyun answered by clenching that illuminated fist tighter as his gauntlet creaked audibly.

Between men of action – sometimes fists spoke louder than mere words.

[True Hecreaux Style Quintessence]

[Manifest Blade]

Just as Hecreaux had imbued his own martial art with heartfelt yearnings for his fallen friend…

So too did Enoch Razvolnic convey his departed comrade’s legacy unto this new generation’s protector Paladin – the inheriting disciple who had mastered Hecreaux’s sacred techniques.

‘Listen well, my junior successor.’

His fist would speak in his stead.

[Paladin’s Strike (Războinic’s Fist)]

Doyun thrust out that luminescent fist.

---

The Saint King beheld that fist approaching – its overwhelming presence consuming his entire field of vision like a towering mountain itself.

An incomparably gargantuan force of pure willpower, a true unleashed onslaught.

‘Ah…’

That overbearing aura engulfed his senses, paralyzing the Saint King as he gazed dumbfounded upon that colossal fist dwarfing any mere mortal peak.

The quintessential truth his own martial path had long pursued.

As if time itself dilated during those extended seconds elapsing…

Kwaaaaaaaaaaaaah-!!!

That radiant fist loomed before the Saint King’s eyes, its presence utterly inescapable.