Titan Rumble Ch 34: The Fist That Can Destroy The World!

Aurora looked down at her missing arm and to Cains surprise she didn't seem to panic like most people did.

She looked up at him and Cain could see that she was more on guard.

She changed her fighting stance, bringing her left fist in front of her body, instead of her right hand which proved to be her more dominate.

"Ya know you can give up." Cain said with a small laugh. "End this now and you will be all the closer to getting that arm back.

Aurora smiled, "why would I do that?" She asked. "When things are beginning to become all the more fun?!"

Aurora's smile widened, teeth flashing as crimson light rippled across her body like molten steel beneath her skin. Without another word, she lunged—her speed somehow sharper, more vicious than before. The ground cracked under her launch, chunks of stone and dust whipping past Cain's face before he could even breathe.

Cain barely had time to brace before she was on him. Her left fist came in hard, forcing him to twist sideways. The impact of her missed strike still sent a blast of air hammering into his ribs, lifting him half a step off the ground.

She didn't give him room to recover.

Her knee came up next—he blocked with his forearm, but the force drove him back, boots grinding trenches into the dirt. A hook from her left followed instantly, and Cain dropped low to avoid it, only to feel the ground quake as her punch smashed through the wall of a half-collapsed building behind him.

"Dammit," Cain grunted, already short of breath.

Aurora's eyes glinted. "I'm just getting warmed up."

The next barrage came faster—jabs, elbows, low kicks—each one carrying enough force to make his bones ache even when he blocked clean. Cain tried to find an opening, to slip in another use of his ability, but she was crowding him mercilessly, keeping the distance close and the pressure unrelenting. Every time he thought he could fade out her next strike, another one was already there.

She's adjusting, Cain realized, jaw tightening. She's not panicking about the arm—she's fighting like it's nothing, able to adapt in the middle of battle all the while making sure I don't have time to focus.

A straight punch caught him in the shoulder, spinning him halfway around before she slammed a kick into his side. The blow blasted him across the street, his boots carving a jagged path through the cracked pavement until he crashed into the frame of another broken wall.

Cain coughed, one hand gripping his side, the taste of copper thick in his mouth.

Aurora rolled her shoulder and stalked forward, her crimson aura flaring hotter with every step. "C'mon, Cain," she called. "You can't tell me this is all you've got."

Cain wiped the blood from his mouth and smiled faintly through the pain.

Because deep down, the pressure, the pounding heartbeat, the razor's edge between survival and defeat...

...was exactly where he fought best.

Cain's vision swam, the edges of the world threatening to go dark, but his breathing slowed as he forced himself into focus. Through the blur, he caught the shape of Aurora launching skyward, her entire frame cutting through the air like a meteor. Her left fist was drawn back, the weight of it radiating through the mindscape as if she could punch a hole through a mountain.

He exhaled once—long, steady—then let go. His existence bled away, the edges of his body turning ghostlike until the entire form of him slipped from the battlefield.

Aurora's fist struck.

The ground detonated under the blow, a deafening boom tearing through the air as the earth split open. The shockwave blasted outward in a spiraling burst, ripping apart the cracked pavement and throwing debris into the air like shrapnel. Buildings in the distance shuddered, walls collapsing in on themselves as a plume of dust swallowed the sky.

And Cain wasn't there.

He reappeared a heartbeat later—behind her, untouched, the haze of his power still clinging to him like smoke.

Aurora turned slowly, a small smirk tugging at the corner of her mouth. "Same old tricks, huh?" she said, voice carrying over the ringing silence that followed the blast.

Cain said nothing. Words here were just wasted breath, and he needed every bit of strength he had left. Deep down, he knew—there was only one way to end this without dragging it into a war of attrition he'd lose.

His fingers curled tight into a fist as he muttered under his breath, "I have no choice."

He shifted his stance, planting his right foot firmly into the broken ground. His left arm reached across his body, gripping the wrist of his right hand—holding it steady like it was something more dangerous than a weapon. The air between them seemed to grow heavier.

Aurora's eyes narrowed. She tilted her head, studying him. "...It would seem you have something else to show me," she said, the excitement in her tone barely restrained.

Cain gave a dry laugh. "I guess I do."

Her smirk widened into a grin. "Well then—shall we end this?"

Her crimson aura exploded outward, doubling in size, tendrils of heat and light swirling around her frame. The very ground at her feet cracked apart as if the city itself was shrinking back from her presence.

Cain tightened his grip on his own wrist, feeling his pulse hammer through his knuckles. Whatever happened next... one of them wouldn't be walking away from this.

Aurora lunged first, a crimson blur tearing across the ruined street. Her fist cut through the air like a warhead, slamming down where Cain's head had been a fraction of a second earlier. He slid out of range, boots grinding over shattered concrete, his stance resetting instantly—left hand gripping his right wrist, body coiled like a spring.

Again she came at him. Again he moved. Sidestep. Reset.

Aurora's strikes came faster, sharper, her footwork a constant, predatory rhythm. But no matter how her angle changed, Cain's posture remained the same after every dodge, his body locked in that coiled stance like he was just waiting.

Her frustration started to show. "You'll never win like that," she growled, spinning into a backhand that ripped the air open with its force.

Cain didn't answer. He slipped away again, but this time the wind from her punch tore across him like a storm. The shockwave hurled shards of rock, twisted bits of rebar, and jagged pieces of glass into the air. They tore at his skin, slicing shallow cuts into his arms and face. Blood beaded and streaked down his cheek, but he didn't falter—just reset his stance once more.

Aurora's eyes narrowed. Something was wrong. He wasn't phasing anymore—no flicker, no ghostlike shimmer. And his right hand... it was different. The air around it shimmered, warped, like heat haze off burning asphalt. Even from here, she could feel something heavy in that clenched fist, something far denser than it should be.

Her instincts screamed at her. She needed to end this now.

Her aura surged violently, the crimson light compressing tighter and tighter until it pulsed around her like a second skin. She drew that power into her left hand, the air snapping with static as her energy coiled into one devastating strike.

"Stop," Cain's voice cut through, low but firm enough to halt her advance for just a breath.

She frowned, thrown off for the briefest moment.

"Your fist may be able to destroy a city," he said, tilting his head, "but mine can destroy the world."

Aurora's confusion lasted only a second before she roared forward, the ground shattering under her feet as she closed the distance. Her left fist was aimed straight for his skull, ready to tear through him in one blow.

Cain's grip tightened. His right arm blurred into motion, his entire frame twisting with the force.

"Shin Ryūken!!!" he shouted, unleashing the punch.