The Baron didn't hesitate, not even for a heartbeat. He didn't care why the Goblin was frowning. Though mildly surprised by the monster's regenerative ability, the revelation did not slow his movements in the slightest. His Astra veins pulsed violently, the energy within them radiating outward in rhythmic waves that bled into the surrounding sky. The sheer pressure of his energy distorted the air, and that force alone was enough to snap the Goblin out of its thoughts.

With a single thought, the sand scattered across the battlefield responded to Baron Rivelle's will. It stirred, trembled, and then surged forward like an enormous tidal wave. The ground erupted, and a vast torrent of sand swept toward the Goblin with cataclysmic momentum, crashing forward like a living tide intent on consuming everything in its path.

But the Goblin was not idle prey. It vanished in a streak of motion, its body bursting backward in a blur of speed. Within an instant, it had already reached the side of a nearby mountain, its movement so fast it seemed to flicker through existence itself. Yet the sand tide followed just as swiftly, its shifting waves chasing after the creature as though alive.

Seeing this, the Baron swiftly altered his tactics. His mind commanded the battlefield with cold precision, and under his control, the tsunami of sand morphed and reshaped. The surging waves twisted into defined forms, blades, spears, arrows, and axes, countless weapons made entirely of compressed sand. Each one shot forward with deafening speed, tearing through the air with destructive force.

But as before, the Goblin danced through the onslaught. It sidestepped effortlessly, avoiding every weapon without bothering to parry or block. The green monster's movements were sharp and fluid, its body weaving through the attacks like a leaf drifting between raindrops. It was too fast, too agile, an opponent that moved faster than instinct could follow.

The Baron, however, was far from finished. He closed his eyes for a fraction of a second, then opened them sharply, his intent deepening. The sand on the battlefield began to rise once more, swirling upward in vast currents until it surrounded both combatants. The currents twisted, condensed, and slammed together, forming a massive sand dome that encased both the Baron and the Goblin within a sealed arena.

The Goblin immediately understood his intention. Since it could evade the sand attacks freely before, the human sought to limit its mobility, to corner it where it couldn't rely on speed alone.

But the Goblin had no intention of dancing to Baron Rivelle's rhythm. It vanished instantly, erasing the distance between them in a blinding burst of speed. In less than a blink, it appeared before the Baron, its katana flashing like a guillotine as it sliced through the air, aimed directly at the human's neck with merciless efficiency.

The Baron didn't even move. At the exact moment the Goblin's blade closed in, a wall of sand erupted from the ground in an explosive burst, intercepting the strike. The Goblin's katana collided with the barrier, sparks flashing from the impact. But the sand did not merely block, it retaliated. The moment the sword met resistance, the barrier surged outward, transforming into a violent wave that shot toward the Goblin like a living beast attempting to devour its prey.

The Goblin vanished once more, reappearing several meters away. It had barely escaped the crushing tide, its instincts saving it in the nick of time. But before it could even stabilize itself, the dome above shifted again.

The sand reconfigured into countless small orbs, condensing tighter and tighter until each one gleamed with dense, compressed weight. Then, like the relentless rotation of a machine gun, they fired. Thousands of sand bullets tore through the air, each one carrying enough force to pierce through solid steel. They filled the dome with a storm of death, raining down upon the Goblin with ferocious precision.

Baron Rivelle knew full well that the Goblin possessed regeneration. Yet he didn't stop. He understood something fundamental, no ability came without limits. If regeneration were truly endless, the Goblin would not struggle so hard to avoid injury. The Baron pressed his assault, determined to force the creature beyond its limit.

The Goblin watched as thousands of sand bullets streaked toward it, each one humming with deadly force. Despite being a monster, it understood the way of the sword, perhaps even better than many humans. The sword was not a weapon reserved for mankind; it was a universal path of will and discipline.

The Goblin's gaze sharpened. It sheathed its katana calmly, and for one heartbeat, the world fell silent. Then, shing!, it unsheathed it once more in a flash of golden light. Astra energy flared around its body, coating it completely as its speed peaked beyond measure.

Golden flashes filled the air as the Goblin's arms blurred. Its blade slashed with impossible precision, cutting down every incoming projectile one after another. Its ears tracked the sound of the sand bullets tearing through the air, its instincts and senses working in perfect harmony. Every motion was a dance of lethality and grace.

The Baron did not alter his attack. He continued the endless bombardment, his control unchanging. To him, the Goblin may have found a temporary solution, but endurance was finite. No creature could maintain that kind of movement indefinitely.

The Goblin began to sense it too. The human before it wasn't letting up, the attacks continued without pause. The strain began to build in its limbs. Realizing this couldn't go on forever, it shifted tactics. Its muscles coiled tightly like compressed springs, and with an explosive burst, it shot upward, vanishing from its spot in a streak of gold.

The sand bullets struck the ground in its wake, scattering upon impact. But almost immediately, they reoriented and streaked upward again, homing in on the Goblin as though guided by unseen will.

The Goblin's crimson eyes narrowed. It knew what it had to do. If it couldn't evade, it would destroy the very structure trapping it.

Astra surged once more, roaring through its Astra veins and into its blade. Its cutting power, speed, and force all amplified to their absolute peak. Its hands blurred. In less than a second, it slashed over a hundred times.

The air froze for a moment as more than a hundred golden, Astra-forged sword lines materialized midair, illuminating the dark space within the sand dome in divine brilliance. A heartbeat later, those sword lines tore through the sand structure from every direction. The dome collapsed instantly, disintegrating like a castle made of wet sand.

The Baron reacted swiftly. The ground beneath him sank as he vanished into the earth, reappearing outside the collapsing structure in a flash. Astra flared from his body once more, and with a flick of his hand, the remnants of the sand dome twisted and compressed into a new form, a sand coffin that rushed to entomb the Goblin alive and crush it from within.

But before the construct could fully close, an intense golden radiance exploded from within. The sheer pressure that burst forth tore through the sand like paper, scattering the grains across the battlefield.

Through the cloud of dust, a golden streak emerged. The Goblin reappeared before the Baron, its katana gleaming with killing intent. In less than an instant, the blade was already at the Baron's neck.

For the first time in the battle, Baron Rivelle's eyes widened in genuine surprise. He hadn't expected the creature to break free so violently, or so quickly. But surprise meant little now. The Goblin's katana was already mid-swing, its edge less than a breath away from his throat.

At that moment, time itself seemed to slow, the world reduced to two beings, one human, one monster, standing on the edge between life and death. Fate, it seemed, was about to decide whose existence would end first.

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