Hunter and The Clown

Kai ground his teeth together, trying to focus despite the chaos swirling around Clown. The air felt thick, suffocating—almost as if the very space between them was alive with tension. He took a slow, deliberate breath, pushing the panic down. He wasn't the same person he had been moments ago. He couldn't afford to be.

Clown casually flicked his wrist, directing his attention to the ace of spades. The card shimmered with dark energy, and in an instant, it burst open with a violent explosion of power, unleashing a mass of mist that separated the two.

Kai's instincts kicked in. His blade snapped up, its glow flickering as the fog enveloped him. The world around him blurred and twisted, his breath hitched in his chest for a moment.

This wasn't just a mist. It felt like something far darker—fragments of broken realities swirled within it, flashing with distorted images. And then came the whispers—soft, mocking laughs that scraped at his mind like needles, gnawing at his thoughts.

The clown's voice cut through the haze, distorted and menacing. "You feel that? That's real power. Chaos. Uncertainty. Fear."

Kai's eyes darted through the fog, searching for any sign of movement, but Clown's figure flickered in and out of view, a dark shadow shifting through the mist, unpredictable, unsettling.

"And here you are," Clown's voice came again, this time closer, full of twisted amusement. "Little hero, waving your shiny toy, thinking you can cut through it. Adorable."

The taunting words stung, but Kai forced his grip tighter on the hilt of his sword, breathing through the panic clawing at his chest. The whispers were getting louder now, brushing against his ears like ghostly fingers, but he steadied himself, letting the cold resolve in his gut silence the noise.

"You talk too much," Kai muttered, a faint, almost imperceptible smirk tugging at the corner of his lips. He couldn't let Clown know how much the mist was messing with his mind.

"Oh, but this is the fun part!" Clown's voice was practically dripping with excitement now, his presence closing in, the words coming closer with each breath. "Watching you think you've got a chance... before it all crumbles to dust. Go on, Hunter, impress me!"

"Watching you think that you've got a chance before it all crumbles to dust. Go on, Hunter! Impress me!"

Kai stepped forward, the mist parting slightly as his aura flared in defiance. He moved cautiously, listening for any hint of Clown's location.

His sense felt dulled by the fog's oppressive nature, every sound distorted, every flicker of movement uncertain.

Before Kai could react, a blur of red and black shot out from the swirling fog.

Clown's grinning face materialised in an instant, his fist colliding with Kai's chest like a freight train. The impact sent Kai skidding back, his katana spinning out of his hand and vanishing into the fog.

Kai hit the ground hard, the air knocked from his lungs. He scrambled to his feet, eyes darting through the mist as he tried to regain his bearings. Before he could recover, Clown was on him again, his movements fluid and unpredictable.

Clown's fist came down in a savage arc, but this time Kai ducked, weaving out of the way. The force of the punch cracked the ground where he'd been standing moments before. Kai retaliated with a quick jab to Clown's ribs, but the maniac merely laughed, twisting out of the way with a spin that turned into a backhand strike.

The blow caught Kai across the face, sending him stumbling.

"What's wrong, little hero?" Clown taunted, his voice dripping with glee. "Lose your shiny toy? Guess we'll have to do this the fun way and throw hands."

Kai steadied himself, wiping a trickle of blood from his lip. "You think I need a weapon to deal with you?" he growled, his fists clenching.

"Oh, I know you do!" Clown's eyes glinted with delight as he launched himself forward, closing the gap in the blink of an eye.

The two clashed in a brutal fray, Kai's training took over, his movements sharp and calculated, but Clown's erratic style made him difficult to predict. One moment he was dodging with unnerving speed, the next he was delivering bone-rattling strikes, his strength far greater than before.

Kai ducked under a wild swing and delivered a sharp uppercut to Clown's jaw, the impact forcing the maniac to stumble back a step. But Clown only grinned wider, cracking his neck as if relishing the pain.

"Not bad!" he said with a laugh.

the next moment Clown's voice changed into a serious yet violent tone

"But let's turn it up a notch!"

With a sudden burst of speed, he spun, his movements a blur. Kai braced himself for a kick, only to realise too late it was a feint. The clown's knee slammed into his stomach with brutal force, knocking the wind out of him and sending him hurtling backwards.

Kai twisted mid-fall, desperate to regain control, and lashed out with a swift kick. It arched precisely toward Clown's side, but Clown's hand shot out catching the leg mid-strike. "Nice try," Clown sneered. With a maniacal laugh, he whipped Kai into the ground with bone-jarring force.

The impact sent a shockwave through the rubble, and thick mist and dust blew up around them. Kai's vision blurred as he tried to gather himself, his body aching from the sheer force of the throw.

Suddenly, the sound of cards slicing through the air filled his ears. From above, glowing cards rained down, embedding themselves in the ground on either side of him. The Ace of Hearts and Ace of Clubs pulsed ominously as they landed.

Kai scrambled to his feet as his instincts screamed at him to move. The cards detonated, The twin explosions sent him flying backwards, a wave of heat and concussive force slamming into him.

As he stumbled to regain his footing, coughing from the thick smoke that filled the air, Clown emerged from the mist. His figure was wrapped in a chaotic red and black aura, pulsating like a heartbeat, the energy warping the space around him.

With a cruel grin, Clown mockingly says

"Let's see how long you last, little hero."

a voice appeared in the back of Kai's mind

"Stop hesitating!"

Kai's aura emanating blue and white as a cold yet sharp feeling arose upon Clown

The clown went from manic and enjoying the fray to pure anger as the smile turned into a disgusted and hateful look.

Kai stands firm ready for combat as Clown's hand and eye twitch

in an instant the next exchange starts, Clown closes the gap but Kai teleports behind him and throws a perfect punch that should land but with unnatural speed clown catches it but as he touches Kai a pulse of sharp pain hits the soul of Clown almost as if his very essence itself was attacked

A manic fistfight causes both fighters to forget about their abilities at this moment and to only attack with pure power.

A fray of punches and counters causes the area around the two to start breaking. A ruin of debris surrounds them

The back-and-forth fight forced them both to endure pain and accept it was causing both their auras to instinctively flare brighter as if feeding off each other's energy.

Every step each took when fighting caused the ground beneath him to crack from the sheer force of their presence.

This was no longer a simple fight... it was the collision of two forces, both unwilling to yield, and both ready to tear the other apart

then, amid the chaos, something shifted.

A loud crack of energy ripped through the air, and without warning a series of glowing portals, similar to which of doors started to appear all around the two, glowing with bright, golden magic. From each of them, a figure emerged, moving with purpose and authority.

Tatsuo, his hands glowing, stepped through the door.

His eyes were intense, focused on the two, and without a moment's hesitation, he reached out with a flick of his fingers, sending an invisible force through the air.

This force pulled both Kai and Clown through the door, their bodies felt weightless for a moment.

The light faded as Kai found himself standing in a quiet, isolated room.