Once Scott has disappeared, Enjela floated over to Jessica and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. Using her power, she connected Jessica's vision to Scott's vision, so that she would be able to see through his eyes in real time. In some ways, this would be harder on Jessica than not knowing what was going on with Scott, since she would be forced to see every blow that Scott received in his battle against Vizharr and Jukei. However, in other ways it would be easier on her, since she would be able to witness the very second that Scott triumphed over his enemy.
"We have absolute faith in Scott and Valor, and you should, too. Cheer him on with faith and love no matter the adversity, for that is what he would want you to do."
Scott soon touched down on the planet Grym, which seemed to be harsh, barren wastelands as far as the eye could see. However, miles away, Valor could sense the power being exuded by Vizharr as he was clad in the Armor of Jukei. It was clear that they intended this to be a beacon, guiding their foes to the location of the duel.
It's time to settle this.
Valor used Quick Armor to clad Scott in the Armor of Valor, and then they glowed with the Destructive Aura of Crusader, silently communicating to their foes that they were on their way. From there, they began confidently striding in the direction of Vizharr's Destructive Aura of Annihilation.
After two hours of walking, Scott entered a dense jungle that seemed completely out of place on what otherwise seemed to be a dry and dusty planet. The roots of these trees went deep underground, where they were kept hydrated by swiftly flowing underground rivers. The trees were additionally helped by the Sun of this dimension, which shone for twelve hours a day the entire year. These conditions had once caused all of planet Grym to be covered in dense primordial jungle just like this, but the Grymwar's war of supremacy upon re-discovering Blood Magic led to the extinction of every other living being on the planet and caused the destruction of ninety-five percent of the world jungle. Scott's Destructive Aura wiped out the dense foliage and slippery mud that stood in his way, allowing him to step back into the barren wastelands ten minutes after his entrance. He was grateful that his Valor Armor and Destructive Aura also protected him from whatever insidious alien diseases were lurking in there.
Another two hours walk saw him enter the primitive capital city of the Grymwar, which was known simply as Grym City. From an aerial view, it could be seen that the city was laid out like a wheel, with earthen walls separating each of the six districts from each other. Each district was ruled by a different Grymwar clan, and each clan competed against each other to make one of their warriors the next Chief. War was the most prized value of this race, and so neither agriculture nor architecture flourished here. Each Grymwar family, composed of men, women, and children, lived in simple earthen huts and subsisted on strange fruits gathered from the jungle to the south of the city. When not eating or sleeping, the Grymwar men not stationed on other planets fought each other to the death for supremacy in the Arena of the Ancients while their wives and children watched; the wives and children of the slain became the wives and children of the victor.
Such a barbaric culture, Valor remarked, but yet so beautiful in its own way.
What they do amongst themselves is their own affair, but I will never approve of their imperialist aim to make all of existence this way.
Scott began heading for the Arena of the Ancients, which was at the center of Grym City and as such, had an entrance to it in each district. Along the way, his sense were becoming more and more filled with the strength of Vizharr's Destructive Aura. It was as he got closer to the arena that he began to see the black and silver colored aura filling the entirety of the arena, energizing the crowd who had come to watch this clash of champions. Vizharr had been sitting in a meditative fashion, but smoothly got to his feet as Scott came through the district entrance and set foot on the arena floor.
Scott smiled behind his helmet as his eyes fell on Vizharr clad in full Jukei Armor, having to admit that he made for quite the fearsome sight. Just as Scott had battled the students of Shadowgreen and Wintergreen to increase his fighting experience and gain new techniques, Vizharr had done the same with both his own people and with the great warriors of conquered planets. Taking the heretical step of forsaking Blood Magic in combat with other races, he had waged true tests of endurance and skill against his opponents. Just as Scott had learned martial arts from Alan and spirituality from Chiang, Vizharr had learned alien martial arts from the masters among his empire and faithfully embraced the spirituality of Blood Magic. While Scott had built a trust with Valor over friendship and a desire to protect all existence, Vizharr had built a trust with Jukei over revenge and a desire to enslave all existence. The Grymwar Chief's alien physiology and culture allowed him to fight longer and much more often, which cut his formation of full Jukei Armor down to five years compared to Scott's ten years. However, Vizharr and Jukei would be stuck at their Annihilation form, while Scott had achieved Destroyer form by being the one chosen by God to fulfill that role. Vizharr would be the most challenging foe that Scott would ever face in Crusader form, but with Destroyer form now in play, the outcome of this battle had already been decided.
The two warriors stared each other down for several minutes, each sizing each other up and thinking about the opponent's motives for having this battle.
"I am pleased that you have come to my planet to have a proper battle. I had feared that I would have to come and find you as Dulzak did."
"I was eager to have this battle and didn't want to wait any longer."
"Then let's not waste any more time!"
Scott took his Muay Thai stance and Vizharr took an Alamadi stance, which was similar to a Wushu stance. Alamadi was a martial art belonging to the Tulatec people that lived on the planet Tula six planets closer to the Sun in this dimension. Alamadi was a martial art that utilized rapid striking to completely destroy an opponent's body, leaving nothing behind but a large pool of blood. For a race that valued brute strength like the Grymwar, this martial art was a perfect fit. Vizharr's mastery was complete, and his augmented power from Jukei's shell made his fists even more lethal. When Vizharr was using it while encased in his Destructive Aura, he could use a technique similar to Scott's Million Punches of Valor that had never failed to defeat an opponent no matter their size.
For Vizharr's Alamadi stance, his left leg was forward and bent at the knee while his right leg was back and bent at the knee, showing he was right-handed. His left arm was up by his right shoulder with his left hand open and curled into a claw, while his right arm was down by his waist with the same open claw hand. This stance was surprisingly defensive for such an aggressive martial art, but it made Vizharr an impenetrable fortress, especially when wearing Jukei Armor and surrounded by his Destructive Aura. The aura began to expand outward, pushing Scott back toward the exit of the arena. Scott responded by expanding his own aura and stepping back into place, making it so that fifty percent of the arena was covered by Scott's aura while the other fifty percent was covered by Jukei's aura. From this point, it would be a battle to see whose aura could overtake the other's body, since both had a plan to trap the other in a cage made of Destructive Aura.
To keep the clashing auras from destroying the area around them, Scott formed a time-space dimension in his hand and expanded it around himself, Vizharr, and their Destructive Auras. They were now in a new dimension slightly out of sync with Vizharr's home dimension, which would allow them to be seen but keep the damage contained in their own dimension.
"Your desire to save lives is distracting you, Crusader," Vizharr said with a smug look as his aura started to absorb some of Scott's aura.
"Yeah, but you've got my full attention now!" Scott snapped back as his aura became more powerful and started to rapidly eat up Vizharr's aura.
"Ha, that's the spirit!"
Vizharr increased the power of his own aura and they were soon back to the stalemate they had started in.
From here on, the two ceased talking and simply increased their own powers to mind-boggling levels. The power that they were both putting out was now easily enough to destroy planet Grym ten times over, but neither was getting the better of the other. All four participants in this battle had unshakable beliefs in their own convictions, and with the unlimited power of the Destructive Aura, neither would gain any ground. They would simply continue to power up until their dimension was destroyed, thrusting them back onto planet Grym with devastating consequences for those around them. Scott knew that he could not let this happen and decided to imbue his Destructive Aura with Sacred Energy, which would oppose the evil in Vizharr's aura and destroy it. The strategy worked and Vizharr was soon enveloped in Scott's aura, which was both pushing down on him and stinging him due to the evil in his heart.
Scott knew that he now had the upper hand, but the physical battle would still be unpredictable. He began shrinking the size of his aura, which pulled Vizharr toward him and would not only put him in range for striking but would also restrict his movement. His strategy was to batter his opponent with the Million Punches of Valor technique until he knocked a hole in the Jukei Armor at either the solar plexus or the face. From there, he would do a spear hand strike through either part and use his Shockwave of Valor technique to slice him in half either one way or the other. Of course, Vizharr would not just let this happen, attacking with his own strategy to kill at close-range. As Vizharr came within each of his arms, Scott's arms glowed to ready the attack, and he saw Vizharr do the same thing. Scott calmed himself, remembering that no foe would best him as long as he and Valor had faith in each other. Even so, it was crystal clear that the real battle had just begun.
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