[Last Episode: Leo: Time to lock in.]
Chapter 147, Episode 147
[Meanwhile at the Wrath of End World]
[The throne room was burning]
[Heat rolled across the floor. The air smelled like sulfur and scorched iron. The stone under their boots hummed like a machine about to break]
[Six Demon Kings stood in a ring]
[Michael, Lord of Red. Black-red hair like flames, red eyes, claws as long as swords]
[Ishtaria, Lord of Pink. A long pink braid, a gold star staff, and a smile that never reached her eyes]
[Moros, Lord of Blue. Gray skin, spiky blue hair, lightning crawling over his shoulders]
[Shura, Lord of Black. Black cloak, glowing blue eyes, a pistol in one hand and chains on the other]
[Malphasia, Lord of Yellow. A black dress with gold flowers, long dark hair, a gold pistol-shaped scepter]
[Belial, Lord of Green. Green chains wrapped around his arms. Two giant shadow wolves growled behind him]
[In the middle stood one man in a black coat was ivarak]
[His sword was still sheathed. His hands were still empty]
Michael: Last chance. Leave my world.
Ivarak: Leave what? It's already ending.
[He glanced at the cracked ceiling]
Ishtaria: You're alone.
Ivarak: That's enough for me to crush yall six Demon Kings myself
Moros: Your an arrogant bastard
Ivarak: Accurate. People mix them up.
[Shura clicked his tongue]
Shura: Let's wipe that smirk off.
Ivarak: Go ahead. Use everything. .. let see you win
Belial: Your confidence throws me off
Ivarak: Thanks
Malphasia: That's an insult.
Ivarak: It's a courtesy. Forms would make this too quick.
[The room went quiet then Ishtaria lifted her staff]
"Ishtaria - Pink Starfall"
[The ceiling disappeared. Above them opened a night sky full of pink stars. A hundred of them fell at once. Each star was the size of a house. They screamed down through the air, leaving trails of glowing dust]
[Every star hit Ivarak]
[BOOM. BOOM. BOOM]
[Each one blew up into a ring of pressure. The marble floor melted into glass. The walls bent outward. The whole castle shook like a drum]
[When the dust cleared, Ivarak stood in the middle of a crater. Not a scratch on his coat]
[The pink light from the stars wasn't gone. It was flowing into his chest]
"Ivarak - Vessel"
[The Vessel inside him swallowed every hit. It turned the energy of each star into power for his body. His skin glowed faintly. His shoulders rolled]
Ivarak: Thank you. That was warm.
[Ishtaria's smile cracked]
Ishtaria: You ate my stars.
Ivarak: With the Vessel I can absorb any attacks in existence
[Moros stepped forward. Blue lightning rolled off his arms and filled the hall like a storm cloud]
"Moros - Blue Thunder Storm"
[Black clouds boiled across the broken ceiling]
[Thousands of lightning bolts crashed down at the same time each bolt moved faster than time itself]
[The thunder arrived after the lightning had already turned the floor to ash. The room smelled like burnt air]
[Ivarak raised his palm]
"Ivarak - Nexus"
[The Nexus woke up inside him. It controlled how energy flowed through matter. Ivarak didn't block the lightning. He just changed where the energy wanted to go]
[The bolts bent around his hand like water around a rock. Then they curved back through the air and flew straight at Moros]
Moros: What?.. he redirected an attack that surpasses even time itself
[The storm he had made crashed into his own chest. He flew backward through a pillar and landed on his knees, smoking]
Moros: That was my lightning.
Ivarak: It still is. I only gave it a new address
[Shura vanished]
[One second he was standing beside Michael. The next, only a streak of black mist hung in the air]
"Shura - Midnight Step"
[He crossed the whole throne room, then the castle courtyard, then two hundred miles of empty void, then came back. All of it happened before a bead of sweat fell from his chin]
[The sound of his first step hadn't even reached the walls yet]
[He appeared behind Ivarak. The pistol was already firing]
"Shura - Void Bullet"
[A black bullet crept out of the barrel. It pulled in dust, sparks, and the light around it. Gravity bent in a small circle around the bullet. Anything it touched would be crushed to a point]
[The bullet hit Ivarak's back]
[Nothing happened]
[Ivarak was standing ten feet to the left]
Shura: What...it did nothing
Ivarak: You think a mere weak attack can hurt me
Shura: You're standing somewhere else!
Ivarak: That's different. The place I was standing just changed.
"Ivarak - Vessel: Dimensional Swap"
[The Vessel let him swap locations instantly]
[He just decided where to be, and the world updated to match. Shura had crossed the universe to hit a target that wasn't there]
[Shura's eyes narrowed]
Shura: That's faster than my speed...
Ivarak: Nothing is faster than being there already... crossing the universe to amplify your speed is nothing to me... I can transcend the concept of time and space even speed itself
[Belial raised both hands. Green chains shot from the floor]
"Belial - Emerald Chain Hunt"
[The chains whipped across the room, wrapping around columns and cracking the walls. Behind him, the two shadow wolves charged. Each wolf was as big as a house]
[Their eyes glowed green. Their teeth could chew through planets]
[They leapt at Ivarak from both sides]
[Ivarak didn't move his feet. He lifted two fingers]
"Ivarak - Alpharus"
[Alpharus gave him authority over the logic behind other people's powers. He picked a single rule: the wolves existed to hunt him. Then he overruled it]
[The wolves stopped in mid-air. Their green eyes turned toward Belial instead]
Belial: Down! Stand down!
[The wolves ignored him. They landed on their own master and sank their teeth into his chains. Belial screamed as the beasts dragged him across the floor]
Belial: They're mine! Why are they—
Ivarak: They're nobody's now. I deleted the leash... My Alpharus can overwrite any attack even conceptual itself
[Malphasia fired her scepter]
"Malphasia - Golden Judgment"
[A beam of pure yellow light poured out, thick as a tree. It crossed the room in less than a blink]
[The heat made the floor boil. Everything the beam touched turned to white powder]
[The beam hit Ivarak square in the chest]
[His coat blew backward. His hair streamed. But he didn't slide an inch]
[The beam bent. It spiraled around his body, and the Vessel drank all of it. The gold light poured into his skin like water into a sponge. His eyes lit up faintly]
Ivarak: Did you even hear what I said earlier.. such attacks is nothing to me, the vessel simply absorbs it or eat the attack itself
Malphasia: That was my strongest beam... like How!
Ivarak: I know. Which is why I took it.... surrender Malphasia and join me.. I shall grant you ultimate power than even the creator himself
Malphasia: Never!!!
[Malphasia took a step back.
[Michael raised one clawed hand. The red light in his eyes flared]
Michael: Enough. I'm the Creator.
"Michael - Creator's Decree"
[The whole realm answered him. Thousands of demons in the cities below turned their faces toward the throne room]
[Their eyes lit red. Every one of them heard his voice in their heads: Kill the intruder]
[The ceiling of the castle cracked. A wave of demons poured into the throne room. Horned warriors. Winged knights. Giant beasts with iron skin]
[Ivarak watched them come]
Ivarak: It's useless!
"Ivarak - Alpharus"
[He lowered his hand. A single sentence ran through the air, clear as a bell: The Creator's authority is revoked]
[The demons froze then, one by one, they turned and walked away. Michael's voice still echoed in their heads, but they didn't hear it as a command anymore. It sounded like a stranger shouting in the street]
Michael: Stop! I created you!.. dammit this bastard keeps using the Alpharus to overwrite anything in its path..
Ivarak: And I created the idea of creating. You lose.
[Michael's hands shook.]
[Ivarak drew his sword]
[It was a long red blade with a black edge. It hummed softly. The air around it bent]
Ivarak: Alright. I'm done walking... time to end this
[He swung once]
"Ivarak - Red Blade Cut!"
[The blade moved slower than a wave of a hand, but the cut stretched past the walls]
[A thin red line split the throne room in half, then the castle, then the sky above it. The towers sheared off their bases and slid into the void. Clouds peeled apart like torn paper]
[A shockwave rolled across the Wrath of End World, shaking every stone]
[The six Demon Kings were thrown backward through three walls and into the open dark]
[They hit the floating rocks outside, one after another. Dust rose in the air. The whole realm groaned]
[Ivarak stepped out through the hole he had made]
Ivarak: Get up. That was the warm-up... you called yourself demon kings.Kings.. it's pitiful
[Ishtaria climbed to her feet first. Her braid was half burned]
Ishtaria: He's not even breaking a sweat.
Moros: He's absorbing our attacks... the vessel is the problem
Shura: He's swapping locations faster than I can see.
Belial: He turned my wolves against me.
Malphasia: Michael's own authority didn't work.
[They looked at Michael]
[Michael was on his knees. His red hair was stuck to his face. His claws had cracked]
Michael: He's right... that kid is right
Ishtaria: What?
Michael: I'm the Creator. He just proved there's something bigger than the Creator.
[Nobody spoke]
[Ivarak walked toward them across the floating stones. Slow. Calm]
Ivarak: Do you understand now? You were built to fight angels. To break barriers. You never fought something that ignores the rules.
[Michael slowly got to his feet]
Michael: You're stronger than anything I've seen.
Ivarak: Thank you.
Michael: But I won't kneel.
Ivarak: Then I'll make you fall.
[Ivarak vanished]
"Ivarak - Vessel: Dimensional Swap"
[He appeared in front of Michael. His fist hit Michael's stomach]
[The punch didn't just hit. It carried the whole weight of the Vessel inside it]
[A shockwave rolled out in a circle, cracking the stones around them. The air itself folded]
Michael flew backward, crashed through a floating mountain, and smashed into a second one.
[Ivarak appeared next to him. He hit him again. Then again. Then again]
[Every punch landed at a different spot. Every punch made a sound like a cannon. Every punch sent a new shockwave through the void]
[The mountains around them shattered into dust. Michael hit the ground]
[He didn't move as he dust floated down. The sky was quiet]
[In the dark, Michael lay on his back, staring up at the broken stars. Blood ran from his mouth. His chest barely moved]
[He remembered something]
[A boy standing in his throne room. A boy with long black hair and a torn coat, who had just beaten the six strongest Demon Kings in existence. Who could have crushed them all. Who didn't]
[The boy had held out his hand and he had smiled. A real smile. Just a boy who thought maybe, maybe, there was something better than a war]
[Nobody had smiled at Michael like that in a billion years]
Michael: Heh.. what an interesting guy I must say
[His fingers curled in the dust.]
Michael: I'm not giving up.
[He stood up slowly. Every bone in his body cracked. His eyes burned red]
[Ivarak raised an eyebrow]
Ivarak: You're still moving.
Michael: I have a reason.
Ivarak: What reason?
Michael: A kid I met. He smiled at me... I don't want to waste it
[He wiped blood from his lip.]
Ivarak: Sentimental. Disappointing.
Michael: You wouldn't understand.
Ivarak: I understand strength. This isn't it.
Michael: We'll see.
"Michael - Crimson Genesis"
[He slammed his palm into the ground. Red light spread across the floating stones like spilled paint. From the light rose a thousand blades, each one forged from his own blood]
[They hung in the air, glowing, humming, trembling with hunger]
[He pointed]
[The blades flew]
[A thousand red swords streaked through the void]
[They crossed the distance in a single heartbeat. They struck Ivarak from every directio].
"Ivarak - Alpharus"
[Alpharus tried to overrule them. It worked on nine hundred and ninety-nine blades. They crumbled into red dust]
[One blade kept going]
[Ivarak turned his head]
[The last blade scraped across his cheek. A thin line opened on his skin. A single bead of blood rolled down his face]
[It was silence]
[Ivarak touched the cut with two fingers. He looked at the blood on his fingertips]
Ivarak: A wound.
Michael: Your Majesty.
Ivarak: That hasn't happened in a very long time.
[Michael grinned through the blood]
Michael: Welcome to the fight
[Michael dashed forward]
"Michael - Red King's Claw"
[His right hand turned into a red claw twice the size of his body. It glowed like molten metal. The air around it screamed. The stones under his feet cracked and floated upward]
[He swung straight for Ivarak's throat]
[Ivarak caught the claw with his bare hand]
[The impact blew a crater a hundred feet wide. The shockwave knocked the other Demon Kings back a step. The floating mountains nearby turned to gravel]
[Michael pushed. Ivarak didn't budge]
Michael: Hold on a second. You're stopping me with one hand?
Ivarak: Four fingers, actually.
Michael: That's insulting.
Ivarak: It's accurate. But you did well.
[He tilted his head.]
Ivarak: That cut was worth something. Let me return the favor
"Ivarak - Alpharus: Final Edit"
[Ivarak looked Michael in the eye. His voice was calm]
Ivarak: You are not the Creator.
[The words weren't just words. They were a rule]
[They rewrote the line in the universe that said Michael had built every demon. In an instant, the claim vanished. The red glow in his eyes dimmed]
[The power that made him special dropped out of his body like water through a cracked cup]
Michael: What did you...
[Ivarak drove his sword straight through Michael's chest]
[No scream. No shockwave. Just a quiet sound, like a page being torn]
[Michael looked down. The red blade stuck out of his heart. His mouth opened]
Michael: Tell the boy...
[Blood ran down his chin]
Michael: Make it count.
[His eyes closed]
[Ivarak pulled the sword free. Michael's body dropped to the stones. The red light inside him flickered, floated up, and hung in the air like embers]
[Ishtaria screamed]
Ishtaria: MICHAEL!
[Her staff flared pink. Moros gritted his teeth until his jaw cracked. Shura raised his pistol. Malphasia's scepter shook in her hand. Belial's chains rattled]
Moros: He killed the Creator.
Shura: He killed our king.
Malphasia: We're not done.
[Ishtaria wiped her eyes]
Ishtaria: No. We're Demon Kings. We don't go down like this.
[One by one, they stood. Bleeding. Burned. Barely breathing]
[Ivarak watched them with a little smile]
Ivarak: Good. I was getting bored.
Moros: Everyone. Together.
Ishtaria: The one move we never used.
Shura: It might destroy the whole world.
Malphasia: Then the world pays for it.
Belial: Ready.
[They stood in a circle around Ivarak]
[Pink. Blue. Black. Yellow. Green]
[Each of them raised both hands]
[Their power poured upward in five colored pillars of light. The pillars bent toward each other, spun, and merged into a single black-and-white sphere floating above their heads]
[It was small at first. A marble]
[Then it started to grow]
Ishtaria: Ultra Void World Bang!!!
[The sphere exploded outward]
[It was an idea turned into a weapon: the idea of nothing]
[The blast spread in a silent ring, erasing everything it touched. Laws of physics unraveled. Gravity forgot to pull. Time stopped for a moment, then dropped like a rock]
[The floating mountains around them disappeared, the castle, what was left of it, vanished]
[The demon cities in the void below winked out like candles. Millions of demons that hadn't even looked up were erased from existence in a heartbeat]
[The stars of the Wrath of End World flickered, then went dark. The sky became a flat black sheet at the center of it all stood Ivarak)
[The blast hit him dead on]
[The Vessel absorbed what it could. The rest tore through his body. His skin cracked. His coat burned away. His bones turned to dust, then to light, then to nothing]
[For one full second, there was no Ivarak]
[Then a single thread of silver light rose from the empty place where he had stood
[The Nexus bond woke up]
"Ivarak - Nexus: Rebirth"
[The silver thread spun into the shape of a man. First the bones. Then the muscles. Then the skin. A new body formed out of nothing, perfect and clean. His white hair fell over his shoulders. His blue eyes opened]
[A fresh black coat settled around him as if it had never been burned]
[He stood in the middle of the empty void, whole again]
Ivarak: That was a good one.
[The Demon Kings stared]
Shura: He came back.
Moros: From nothing.
Malphasia: How?
Ivarak: The Vessel is tied to the Nexus. If one breaks, the other builds a better version.
[He stretched his neck.]
[Ishtaria's knees shook]
Ishtaria: That was everything we had.
Moros: We erased half the realm.
Belial: And he regrew.
Shura: He's not just stronger than us.
Malphasia: He's operating on a different rulebook.
[Ivarak walked toward them]
Ivarak: You asked earlier if I was using forms.
Moros: Yes.
Ivarak: I haven't. This entire fight was about a tenth of what I can do.
[Nobody spoke.]
Ivarak: I'd like to show you the rest. Quickly.
[He raised his sword toward the dead black sky]
"Ivarak - Decree of End"
[A line of red light cut across the void]
[The line unfolded into words, written in a language older than any demon tongue. The sentence stretched from horizon to horizon]
[THIS ENDS!]
[Every demon, every world, every shadow in the Wrath of End World felt it]
[The idea of continuing, of going forward, of tomorrow, stopped. The floating stones fell apart. The air stopped moving. The black sky started to crumble like burnt paper]
[Ishtaria, Moros, Shura, Malphasia, and Belial were caught in the middle. Their bodies lit up with red cracks. Their power burned off them like smoke]
[They screamed but they were Demon Kings. Their bodies knit themselves back together. The cracks closed. The smoke thickened. They fell to their knees, but they were still alive]
Moros: We... we regenerated.
Ivarak: Demon Kings are tough. I'll give you that.
Ishtaria: You can't win like this.
Ivarak: Then why are you shaking
[Shura wiped blood from his face]
Shura: I'll prove you wrong.
[He raised his pistol. Chains wrapped around his arm. His blue eyes burned]
"Shura - Midnight Step: Final Charge"
[He vanished. A trail of black mist stretched across the void. He crossed two worlds in the space of one breath. His pistol roared. His chains lashed out. His fist swung]
[But the moment he stepped inside Ivarak's aura, everything stopped]
[The aura wasn't an attack. It was just presence]
[The weight of someone who had been here before the universe had a name. It pressed on Shura's body like a mountain pressing on a leaf]
[His bullet dissolved before it left the barrel. His chains turned to ash. His hand, then his arm, then his chest, started to fade, thin as smoke]
Shura: No. I'm... I'm Shura...
[His voice thinned then nothing]
[Shura was gone. Not killed. Not defeated. Erased by standing too close
[Ishtaria, Moros, Malphasia, and Belial didn't move]
[Ishtaria's lip trembled]
Ishtaria: He didn't even lift a finger.
Ivarak: I did lift one. It's your fault you missed it.
Ishtaria: What do you want?
Ivarak: Nothing from you.
Ishtaria: Then why...
Ivarak: Because I need the energy.
[He raised his hand]
"Ivarak - Nexus: Drain"
[The Nexus opened inside him like a mouth. Four silver threads shot out. One for each Demon King]
[They wrapped around Ishtaria's chest, Moros's throat, Malphasia's heart, Belial's spine. The threads pulsed]
[Their power poured out]
[Pink light drained from Ishtaria. Blue lightning leaked out of Moros. Yellow glow stretched out of Malphasia's scepter. Green fire dripped out of Belial's chains]
[All of it flowed into Ivarak]
[His skin glowed brighter. His eyes burned. His aura expanded until the void itself trembled]
Ishtaria: Please...
Ivarak: Thank you for the meal.
[The four Demon Kings collapsed. Their bodies lost color. Their hair turned gray. Their skin turned to dust]
[A moment later, the dust blew away in the dead wind]
[Ivarak turned his head. A few red sparks still floated near the spot where Michael had fallen]
[He walked over, closed his hand around them, and absorbed those too]
[The Wrath of End World was silent]
[No castle. No stars. No cities. Just a flat black plain stretching out forever]
[Ivarak looked around once. He flexed his hand. His power was higher than when he started]
Ivarak: Six kings. Twelve minutes... pathetic.. everything is going according to my plan
[He sheathed his sword]
Ivarak: One front closed.
[Meanwhile Leo visits the Valley of Dragons]
[Red sky. Hot wind. The smell of sulfur and burnt stone]
[The valley shook. Rocks rolled down the slopes. Far above, the clouds rippled like water]
[Two giant dragons stood over the broken ground]
[Ashgor, black as midnight, smoke rolling off his back. Velkara, pure white, glowing cracks running across her skin]
[Between them stood a small figure in a black coat was Leo, he is back]
[His eyes had changed. No more jokes. No more grid]
Leo: Okay. Let's test your armor.
Ashgor: Insect. You still talk.
Leo: It's a coping mechanism.
[He drew Shatter Nebula. The blade glowed pale blue. He ran straight at Ashgor's front leg]
"Leo - Shatter Nebula: Spatial Cut"
[He swung hard]
[The blade carried the power to cut through space itself. A line of blue light flashed across the black scales of Ashgor's leg. The air rippled]
[CLANG!]
[Sparks flew in every direction]
[The sword bounced back. Leo's arm went numb to the shoulder. He skidded backward across the dirt, boots carving two lines in the stone]
[Not a scratch on the dragon]
[Leo shook his arm]
Leo: That's a tough scale to penetrate
Ashgor: You'll find our scales are... above your reach.
Leo: Above is relative.
[Ashgor's tail swept sideways]
"Ashgor - Mountain Breaker"
[The tail was longer than a train. It cut across the valley at the speed of a thrown spear. A whole mountain next to Leo exploded into gravel]
[The shockwave rolled outward and made the red sky ripple. In the distance, the stars flickered, as if the whole universe felt the blow]
[Leo vanished]
"Leo - Satanael Genesis Flash Step"
[He skipped the distance between two points like erasing the space between them. The tail passed through the spot where he had been standing a heartbeat earlier. He reappeared on a ledge a hundred feet above]
Leo: what... they reacted to my speed..
[Velkara turned her long white neck toward him]
Velkara: You're quick.
Leo: Thanks. You're pretty.
Velkara: Don't flatter me.
Leo: I wasn't. Okay, a little.
[Velkara opened her mouth]
[A pale light gathered inside. Not fire. Not lightning. Something quieter]
"Velkara - Frozen Verdict"
[The breath rolled out as a white fog. Everything it touched stopped. A falling boulder froze in mid-air]
[A gust of wind hung motionless like a painted line]
[The mountain behind Leo, which had been collapsing, stopped collapsing. Even the sound of the rocks went silent]
[The fog touched Leo's sleeve. The cloth stiffened. His fingers locked in place]
[Satanael]
「Leo. It's freezing motion itself.」
Leo: Yeah. I noticed. My arm can't move
[He raised his free hand]
"Leo - Taiji Collapse of Authority"
[His voice was calm]
Leo: Your authority to stop things here is revoked.
[The fog cracked. The frozen boulder fell again. The air moved. The mountain finished collapsing with a long rumble. Leo's arm came back to life]
[Velkara's golden eyes narrowed]
Velkara: He revoked my authority.
Ashgor: He is annoying... how can a slop like him even match us..after our Majesty Ivarak created us and granted us immense power
Leo: I'm a little annoying. Fine
[He gripped Shatter Nebula in both hands]
"Leo - Shatter Nebula: Galaxy Divide"
[He swung straight down. A huge vertical slash opened across the valley. It was a crack in the world itself, glowing blue and white]
[The sky split. The ground split. Rocks on each side of the crack drifted apart into different dimensions]
[The slash hit Velkara dead center]
[For a moment, nothing happened then the light faded. The crack closed]
[Velkara stood in the same place. Unharmed. Her scales gleamed like polished pearl]
Leo: That should've worked.
[Satanael]
「Her scales are facts, not laws.」
Leo: Facts?
[Satanael]
「You can revoke a rule. You can't revoke what something simply is. Remember Karnak.」
Leo: Oh. Right. That one.
[He stared at the white dragon]
Leo: So I need a different angle.
Velkara: You are out of tricks.
Leo: I have a long list.
[Leo threw his arm up]
"Leo - Constellation Chain: Bindings of the Zodiac"
[Suddenly twelve glowing chains dropped from the dark red sky. Each one carried the weight of an entire constellation]
[They crashed into the ground, wrapped around Velkara's wings, her neck, her legs. The chains hissed like red-hot iron. The valley floor cracked under the pressure]
[Velkara roared. She tried to flap her wings. She couldn't]
Leo: Hold.
[One second. Two seconds. Three]
[The first chain snapped. Then the second. Then all twelve burst into stardust]
[Velkara shook herself free and flared her wings. A burst of wind knocked Leo across the valley]
Velkara: Cute... such constellation don't work
[Leo spit dirt]
Leo: Impressive
[Ashgor's mouth opened wide]
[A black sun grew inside it. It crackled. The light around it bent inward. The air tore itself to shreds]
[The whole valley began to lean toward the dragon's jaws, as if the sun were a drain]
"Ashgor - Black Sun Collapse"
[He spat the sun upward. It floated above the valley like a black coin. Then it fell]
Leo: What the!!
[When it touched the ground, it didn't explode. It simply unmade. Rocks, trees, and even the shadows on the ground faded to white nothing]
[A circle a mile wide emptied itself out, leaving a smooth, blank crater]
[The edge of the circle raced toward Leo]
Leo: Okay. That's a concept attack.
"Leo - Void-Walkers Aura"
[A dozens of pale spirits rose around him. They were the forgotten dead of the void between universes]
[They linked arms in a ring and faced the black sun]
[The edge of the blank circle crashed into the ring]
[The spirits trembled. One by one, they forgot the attack. The spreading circle lost its shape. It thinned. It shrank. It collapsed into a small black speck on the ground]
[But some of it leaked through]
[A thin line of black light brushed Leo's shoulder. His coat tore. The skin underneath went gray, then slowly turned pink again]
[Leo hissed through his teeth]
Leo: That'll leave a mark.
Ashgor: You're still alive.
Leo: Don't sound so disappointed.
[Leo raised his free hand, and a second sword flashed into it]
"Leo - Kaos Star Sword"
[It glowed gold. A star ten times the size of the sun formed at the tip. The heat made the red sky turn white]
[The whole valley glowed like the inside of a furnace. Stone on the ground liquefied into rivers of orange lava]
[He hurled the star at Velkara]
[It hit her chest. The explosion lit up the planet from space]
[A shockwave rolled across the horizon, melting everything for a hundred miles]
[When the light faded, Velkara still stood]
[Her scales glowed orange. Steam rolled off them. But they didn't melt. They didn't even crack]
Velkara: Destroying almost the planet is quite an impressive feat..
Leo: That was ten times a sun.
Velkara: It was nice.
Leo: These dragons are not easy to deal with
[Leo gritted his teeth]
[He raised Shatter Nebula, and a tiny blue sphere formed at the tip]
"Leo - Nebula-Finite"
[The sphere was no bigger than a marble, but it held infinite density. Light bent around it. Sound disappeared near it. Even the gravity of the valley bent toward it like a compass needle]
[He flicked it]
[The marble shot across the valley faster than light. It hit Ashgor's chest]
[A localized Big Crunch tore through the valley. Mountains, rivers, and sky collapsed inward toward a single point. The ground tilted. The horizon folded]
[The dragon's body started to slide toward the point where the marble landed]
[Ashgor dug his claws into the stone]
[The Big Crunch lasted five seconds]
[Then it faded. The collapsed space snapped back]
[Ashgor stood in the same place. Breathing hard. Still unharmed]
Leo: That's my best trick.
Ashgor: It is good.
Leo: But?
Ashgor: But not enough.
[The dragons looked at each other]
Velkara: Let us finish this.
Ashgor: Together.
[Both of them opened their mouths at the same time]
[Ashgor's black light and Velkara's white light poured out and twisted into a single spiral]
[The spiral stretched across the valley, hitting every mountain, every stone, every grain of sand. The sky above it split in half, black on one side, white on the other]
"Ashgor and Velkara - Edge of Everything"
[The beam crossed the valley and hit Leo]
[He raised both hands. Shatter Nebula flared. The Void-Walkers formed a ring around him]
[The Taiji Collapse of Authority pulsed. All three powers hit the beam at the same time]
[BOOM]
[The ground exploded]
[The ring of spirits shattered. The sword in Leo's hand cracked with blue light. He flew back through a mountain. Then a second. Then a third. Each one burst into dust as he passed]
[He crashed into a pile of broken stone and lay still for a second]
[His coat was burned. Blood ran down his temple. Smoke rose from his shoulder]
[The dragons walked toward him]
[The ground shook with every step]
Ashgor: You fought well.
Velkara: You lasted longer than most.
Ashgor: But you cannot scratch us.
Velkara: Accept it.
[Leo coughed. He spat blood]
Leo: That's a lot of talking for creatures who just lost a free hit.
Ashgor: You are broken.
Leo: Maybe. A little.
[He pushed himself up on one elbow]
Leo: I have a question.
Velkara: Ask.
Leo: Do you have a weak spot?
[Ashgor laughed]
Ashgor: We are made of the same material as the sky.
Leo: That's not a no.
[Leo wiped the blood off his chin and sat up]
[His eyes narrowed]
Leo: Boss with a damage cap. Immune to everything. Classic.
[Satanael]「Do you have a plan?」
Leo: Yeah. Every boss has a hitbox. We just haven't found it.
[Satanael]
「Then use the Eye.」
Leo: Good call.
[He closed his eyes for a second. When he opened them, a third eye had opened in the middle of his forehead. It glowed a deep, calm gold]
"Leo - Satanael's Final Eye"
[The valley looked different. The world turned into outlines and thin glowing lines. Numbers floated beside the dragons like a game screen. He could see every stat, every resistance, every weakness.]
[Their scales glowed solid white all over, no gaps, no cracks]
[Almost]
[On Velkara's left wing, where it joined her shoulder, there was a faint seam]
[A single line, thinner than a hair, hidden under the folds of her scales. A tiny gap where the armor couldn't fully close when she flapped her wings.
[Leo grinned]
Leo: Found it.
Velkara: Found what?
Leo: Your hitbox.
[He stood up. His legs shook, but he stayed up]
[The Heaven Divine Spear appeared in his right hand. It glowed with every color at once]
"Leo - Heaven Divine Spear"
[The spear could slip through any barrier and reverse any magic. Light, shadow, wind, fire, void, curse, all stacked inside its head like a loaded chamber]
[Its tip trembled with so much stored power that the air near it screamed
[He crouched low]
Velkara: What are you doing?
Leo: A very small thing.
[He threw]
[The spear crossed the valley faster than the eye could follow. It hit the tiny seam on Velkara's left wing at the exact spot Leo had marked]
[CRACK]
[A tiny crack spread across the white scale. It was no bigger than a thumb. But it was a crack]
[Velkara screamed]
[The sound shook the sky. Chunks of rock rolled down the valley. Ashgor spun toward her, eyes wide]
Ashgor: Velkara!
[Velkara clutched her wing. A thin line of white light leaked from the crack]
Velkara: He... he hit me.
[Leo wiped his forehead and grinned, blood on his teeth]
Leo: First blood.
[Ashgor snarled]
Ashgor: You will pay for that.
Leo: Good. I was getting tired of the grind.
[He raised Shatter Nebula, and the blue light came back to the blade.]
To be continued..