GAIA

Chapter 14: Destiny

The fire that had been surrounding them subsided and it barely left a mark in the concrete. The Regalia ring beneath Severide's feet began to fade and so did Asura's.

"You made a grave mistake, kid." Severide smirked, cracking his knuckles. "Its time to show you how the big boys play."

"Zero can only be passed when both parties have fully powered down." Zerah said, eyeing Asura, waiting for a reaction. "I will be the proxy for this match."

Asura nodded and so did Severide. They both understood the rules of Zero and did as they were told to do so.

"Each of you have 30 seconds to ignite your Zero form. The one that can generate their form first may strike the other. The defending party may choose to either defend himself or forfeit the match." Zerah gritted her teeth. "The person who loses Zero - loses the right to bear Regalia. And the other party may take their Regalia from them."

"On my count, one, two, three!"

As the last word left Zerah's lips the air became thick with power. Her skin crawled with the sheer intensity of two King-class cores coming to life at the same time. A Regalia bearer's core reached Zero, also known as it's the Absolute form, when the power of the core can be focused into a single point of pure energy. Each bearer's Zero form was different and unique to their potential. There was always the risk of not being able to reach Zero potential as each generation took a great amount of energy to summon. Each Zero was close to indestructible.

Zerah knew immediately the difference in power output. Asura's power felt like a warm tickle as he struggled with stabilising the output. Severide was on a different level altogether. The Hades bearer's power scorched her skin, sending tremors through her bones and she knew he was merely powering up. The light blue of his crest and sign of Pluto had begun to shift from blue to a bright scarlet.

Severide held his hands out and grounded his foot as if he were drawing a blade. A red bean had begun to form lining his hands. Zerah glanced down at her watch, 15 seconds had passed and there was still no sign of Asura's Regalia stabilising. The other male was having trouble trying to get a good focus.

"You've never even tried Zeroing with your so-called Regalia, haven't you?" Severide's voice was somber as his power spiked even more. A long red katana blazed to life in his hands. The blade was a deep crimson, the blunt edge of the blade barely touching Severide's left palm and his right clasped firmly over the handle. "Too late."