The wind screamed as their fists collided again.
No words.
No hesitation.
Only fury and discipline sharpened into movement.
They spiraled mid-air—Riku catching Akuma's arm, twisting it, aiming a brutal hammerfist into his gut. Akuma tanked it with a growl and retaliated with a headbutt that cracked Riku's forehead open slightly—but Riku didn't flinch. He answered with a rising uppercut that lifted Akuma straight through another layer of cloud.
The sky split.
Their bodies spun through the heavens like two comets without tails—driven not by energy, but sheer physical mastery.
From the ground, even the most powerful Essence Warriors could no longer follow the movements. It looked like the sky itself was being torn apart, thunder booming from nowhere, shockwaves spiraling outward in expanding rings.
Akuma crashed down through the side of a jagged mountain, but rolled out of it instantly, dragging a trail of dirt and stone with him. He came to a halt and looked up just as Riku descended with a flying knee aimed at his temple.
Boom—!
Akuma caught it with both forearms but skidded back miles from the sheer force.
The landscape cratered behind him.
Riku landed, crouched, his fists still clenched tight.
Blood on his face.
Veins bulging in his arms.
But no glow.
No divine aura.
Just the Celestial Nexus body, operating at pure physical perfection.
Akuma cracked his knuckles.
"You're breaking through your own limits."
Riku exhaled hard, voice steady. "Then so are you."
They ran at each other again.
Every impact was earth-shaking.
Flesh struck flesh.
Legs swept and blocked.
Palms deflected elbows.
Knuckles shattered boulders when they missed.
Still, no one faltered.
Akuma lunged—Riku ducked and slammed an open palm into his sternum, launching him into a glacier ridge. Akuma burst back out of it like nothing, dust trailing behind his sprint.
And they clashed again.
And again.
And again.
Until the mountains broke.
Until the rivers cracked.
Until the sky forgot how to stay still.
They were no longer just fighting.
They were reshaping the land.
Hand-to-hand.
No powers.
Just two beings who had walked through death and come out stronger.
And the battle still didn't end.