[40] "Facing Gregory Hayden"

[A few hours later]

"Sir, we've found Ares," announced a man handing over an electronic device containing a detailed map of the organization's territory, with a red dot marking the location of their target.

"Perfect," exclaimed Hayden Gregory with fervor, as he sped off in the direction marked on the map.

The man ran out of the office and shouted. "Come on, those of you who are ready, follow me!"

At the top of the building, a woman suddenly appeared through a doorway.

"He's gone. Ares will take care of him, while I take care of the rest to avoid interference in their confrontation," she explained confidently.

....

[A few minutes later]

On the tallest building in the area, a figure descends from the sky and fixes his gaze on Ares, whose eyes are bloodshot. "Ares...", it says in a defiant tone.

Ares, hands in his pockets, turns around and stares at the figure. "You came faster than I thought. Looks like you still have useful members in your organization," he replies with a sardonic grin.

The figure, identified as Hayden Gregory, seems to have lost his mind.

His murderous gaze bores into Ares as he talks about how Ares has attacked 4 of the 5 main headquarters of his organization and killed his son. "I won't let this go so easily. I'll make sure to torture you and make you pay for what you've done to me when I defeat you," she threatens in a trembling voice.

Ares doesn't flinch. "Destroy 4 out of 5? You think your main headquarters will be safe when you're not there?" he replies calmly.

Hayden Gregory screams releasing his aura, but Ares responds with a powerful spatial isolation technique, enveloping the battlefield in sand and separating it from the outside world.

The battlefield was enveloped in sand and appeared to be separated from the world.

As the tension intensified, Ares spoke with determination, "Oh, you think I'm going to let you use your power of spatial isolation?" As he spoke, beams of light began to cover half of the battle area.

The two powerful spatial isolations violently collided, creating a huge explosion that split the battlefield into two equal parts.

As the immense auras of light and sand spread, the half where Ares stood became a field of bright lightning bolts that fell to the ground, while Hayden Gregory's half was engulfed in a cloud of sand that rose skyward.

Ares, with a smile on his face, launched a powerful beam of lightning.

However, Hayden Gregory, with speed and dexterity, raised a large sand barrier that protected his position.

The impact of Ares' powerful energy discharge destroyed half of the building where they were fighting.

In an instant, Hayden Gregory counterattacked by launching giant columns of sand from both sides of Ares. The latter, with surprising skill, directed two beams of light into the sand columns.

The two attacks collided and created two huge explosions that continued to destroy everything in their path, including more nearby buildings. The battle had intensified and only time would tell who would emerge victorious.

"(Sand icicles)"

Dozens of sharp sand icicles emerged from the ground at incredible speed, heading towards Ares from all sides.

But just as they were about to impact against his shield, a golden light engulfed them and stopped them in their tracks.

The icicles exploded, covering Ares' entire surroundings with a cloud of sand.

A large explosion of light suddenly appeared, destroying nearby buildings and hurling sand toward Hayden Gregory.

Quickly, Hayden raised his arms in the direction of the explosion and formed a sand shield to protect himself. However, dozens of icicles of light began to impact against the shield, slowly piercing it.

'Shit,' thought Hayden as the sand tried to surround the icicles to stop their advance. But suddenly, a massive beam of light fell from the sky, destroying everything in its path.

"Stupid, not caring about the surroundings," Ares sneered, as he concentrated on his attack.

In the sky, a large amount of light beams formed and descended with force, impacting against the sand shield and covering it completely.

Finally, Top 28 appeared on the scene, with minor burn wounds on his right arm.

"Good defense," Ares said with a smile on his face, admiring his opponent's strategy.

"(Spear of Sin)"

But at that moment, rays of light appeared in his right hand and transformed into a towering, magnificent spear.

Hayden stared at Ares' spear, knowing that he had to give his best in order to defeat him and take revenge. 'I have to defeat him, whatever it takes,' he thought as he prepared for the next attack.

The battlefield is covered in sand, and the closer Hayden gets to Ares, the more sand appears.

Suddenly, Hayden disappears and appears in the sky. "You have a lot of destructive power," he tells Ares.

Then, Hayden uses his Sand Wave technique, causing the sand to pile up and form a large wave that heads towards Ares. Ares tries to cut it off with his spear, but only succeeds in slowing it down in size. "You can't stop it, Ares," Hayden taunts.

Ares runs towards the wave and with his lightning-covered spear cuts the wave in half.

"He can't stop it, Ares!" exclaimed Hayden laughing maniacally.

"We'll see," replied Ares as he ran towards the sand wave, his spear covered in lightning bolts.

With a precise cut, Ares split the wave into two equal parts. But the slash continued in the direction of Hayden, who was surprised to see the light beam approaching him.

"What...?" said Hayden, staring dumbfounded at the light slash that was about to impact his body.

In desperation, he generated sand to slow the attack for a brief moment, allowing him to move his body just in time for the slash to impact his arm, instantly severing it and causing blood to start gushing out.

Lying on the ground, Ares looked at Hayden with satisfaction, "It's over. That's it for someone so high in the world rankings."

But Hayden didn't give up. "This won't stop me in my quest for revenge. Only death can do that."

Suddenly, sand began to pour out of his body and collect in his wound, rebuilding his lost arm with the force of the sand.

Hayden moved his sand arm, checking to make sure everything was in order.

"Ohh... good idea," Ares exclaimed.

"(Sand Tsunami)"

Hayden gave off a terrifying aura and a huge amount of sand began to pile up behind him, forming a wave tens of meters high that overtook all the buildings in the area.

In a small fraction of a second, the wave arrived in front of Ares, who made dozens of slashes with his spear to slow it down.

"It's not enough," Ares said.

Two golden lights covered Ares as the sand completely covered him. The sand covered the entire battlefield and Ares appeared with cuts all over his body.

"Only small cuts?" said Hayden, dissatisfied.

"That attack was good, I'll give him that," admitted Ares.

"Let's go for round two," Ares proposed.

"(Hurricane of lightning bolts)."

Many dark clouds appeared behind Ares and millions of lightning bolts began to fall as a strong wind formed a huge hurricane.

Hayden looked in shock at the hurricane and then smiled.

"(Sandstorm)"

Behind him, a strong wind rushed up and lifted the sand. The buildings that were still standing were increasingly cracked until they crumbled, and the battlefield was divided by a huge golden light and a large reddish stain.

The hurricane of lightning bolts began to spin rapidly in Hayden's direction, and the huge sandstorm headed for Ares.

Right in the middle, the two attacks collided, forming a huge explosion that completely rumbled the place.

A few seconds later, Ares was seen with his clothes badly shredded and his body in bad shape, and Hayden with his arm of sand, his face pale and his body full of cuts.

"Whew... Whew... not bad, Hayden," Ares said, trying to catch his breath after the last exchange of attacks.

For his part, Hayden looked at him with bloodshot eyes, aware that he would have to finish the fight with his next attack or he would lose.

Then, Hayden launched his powerful attack "(Jupiter Storm)", forming a large red blob behind the top 28, with terrifying 200 km/h winds and large amounts of sharp sand that would pierce through everything they touched.

Ares smiled and deployed his "(Divine Punishment: Dragon of Calamity)", creating a golden dragon head that roared loudly.

The sky split into two colors, one golden and one red, and both attacks were directed towards his opponent.

"But that won't happen," Ares said with confidence in his voice, and the huge explosion that occurred when both attacks collided attested to his words.

The battlefield was destroyed, reduced to a cracked floor covered in dust.

When the dust dissipated, a deep silence took over the battlefield.

Ares, covered in blood and with terrifying cuts all over his body, coughed violently and vomited blood.

Hayden's last attack had been truly terrifying.

With great difficulty, Ares got to his feet and, staggering, walked over to Hayden's lifeless body, burned and cut in countless places, and with one arm severed. "I must go," Ares said sadly. "He was much stronger than anyone knew."

A woman descended from the sky with concern and approached Ares.

"Ares..." she said, examining his condition, "look how you are, you're in bad shape."

A dragon came out of her back and looked at Ares seriously. "We need to find a safe place for you to recover quickly. It's not safe for you to be in that state. You need urgent treatment," he said.

Ares laughed. "Hehehehehe, don't worry, I'll heal fast with my healing skills. I just need to rest..." he said with a smile, before collapsing in Rebecca's arms.

"Damn... this is bad. We need to leave quickly. The noise and impact we caused will alert the stronger enemies, and with Ares in that state, it's not safe," Rebecca said, worried about her unconscious friend.

"Let's find a safe place first and then we'll focus on healing Ares as quickly as possible," said Silvia.

....

[A few days later]

[At the world academy of the awakened]

Garis Lutherine carefully examines the information in his hands, his face full of concern and discomfort. 'This is getting out of hand,' he thinks to himself. 'Another high-ranking organization has fallen, this time it's BlackWater led by Hayden Gregory. Things are getting more and more complicated.'

After putting that information aside, his eyes fall on another document and his expression becomes even more unnatural. 'Using his powers without space isolation?' he wonders. 'What is Ares thinking, does he want ordinary people to find out about us?'

Garis is distressed as he remembers that some important members of the government and other millionaires have already learned about his existence and now, with Ares acting recklessly, he fears that soon everyone will know about it. 'Does he want to start another war with his fighting craze?' he wonders. 'Kayden is already a problem and now another one just like him showed up, this could become uncontrollable.'

'I just wish they could do their own thing without interfering with each other,' Garis laments.

'But, there's nothing we can do about it. We must continue to maintain the balance of the world and make sure that we are the ones in control. Its passage through countries has brought global instability. We have to be careful.

....

1934 words.

Next Chapter "Silvia's little demonstration of power"