The Citadel was barely recognizable anymore.
The streets had been reduced to enormous craters, entire buildings had vanished, and the remaining structures shook every time Yoshiro moved. The four warriors stood together, exhausted and wounded, while Yoshiro remained untouched enough to continue fighting.
Judas slowly wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth.
Her eyes remained fixed on him.
"He's changing his strategy."
Reji glanced at her.
"What do you mean?"
"He's stopped trying to erase all of us at once."
She looked at Yoshiro.
"He's testing us."
Yoshiro smiled from across the battlefield.
"Exactly."
He raised his hand.
"You've finally noticed."
White energy gathered around his fingers.
"I've already learned how each of you fights."
Reji tightened his grip.
"Then learn this."
Chains erupted from beneath the ground.
Yoshiro immediately moved.
The chains followed him.
He erased one.
Another appeared.
He erased another.
Three more replaced it.
Yoshiro frowned.
Reji pulled his arm backward.
"You're not getting through."
Yoshiro suddenly accelerated.
He moved between the chains with frightening precision.
Reji struggled to follow him.
"He's faster!"
Dracula appeared beside him.
"I'll slow him down."
Dracula disappeared.
The entire battlefield seemed to freeze around him.
He moved faster than the eye could follow, striking Yoshiro from different directions.
Yoshiro blocked one.
Two.
Three.
Then suddenly—
He caught Dracula's wrist.
Dracula's eyes widened.
"You..."
Yoshiro smiled.
"I told you."
White energy spread across Dracula's arm.
"I've learned you."
Dracula immediately tore himself away before the erasure could spread further.
He landed beside Seiyan.
"He's adapting."
Seiyan nodded.
"Then we need another plan."
Judas stepped forward.
"I already have one."
The three looked at her.
Judas raised her hand.
A strange energy began forming around her fingers.
It wasn't the same restoration energy she had been using before.
Reji stared.
"That's different."
"I know."
Judas looked at Yoshiro.
"I've been hiding it because I wasn't sure it would work."
Yoshiro's expression changed.
"What are you planning?"
Judas didn't answer.
Yoshiro suddenly appeared in front of her.
His hand moved toward her chest.
SHING!
Judas' body vanished.
Yoshiro's attack passed through empty air.
He turned.
Judas stood several meters away.
"What?"
Judas raised her hand.
The wounds across Dracula's body suddenly disappeared.
Dracula looked down.
"...You restored me from here?"
Judas nodded.
"That's not all."
She raised both hands.
Reji's broken chains instantly regenerated.
Seiyan's exhausted energy returned slightly.
Even the damaged structures around them began rebuilding.
Yoshiro stared.
"...You're restoring the battlefield."
Judas looked directly at him.
"No."
She smiled.
"I'm restoring our chances."
Yoshiro's expression darkened.
He lifted his hand.
The restored buildings immediately disappeared.
Judas restored them.
Yoshiro erased them again.
Judas restored them again.
The Citadel became a battlefield of creation and erasure.
White energy against restoration.
Yoshiro laughed.
"You think you can keep doing this forever?"
Judas' breathing became heavier.
"No."
She looked toward her students.
"I only need to do it..."
"...long enough."
Reji understood.
"Seiyan!"
Seiyan raised his hand.
His remaining energy began gathering.
Dracula cracked his knuckles.
"Here we go again."
Yoshiro's smile disappeared.
"You really think you can defeat me with teamwork?"
Judas looked at him.
"No."
She slowly lowered her hand.
"We're not trying to defeat you."
Reji's chains began surrounding Yoshiro.
Seiyan's energy lines began appearing again.
Dracula vanished.
Judas smiled.
"We're trying to survive you."
Yoshiro's eyes widened.
For the first time...
He realized something.
They weren't fighting him individually anymore.
They had begun fighting as one.
The chains tightened.
The energy lines illuminated.
Dracula appeared behind him.
And Judas stood at the center of it all...
Restoring every piece of their battlefield that Yoshiro tried to erase.
Yoshiro slowly smiled again.
"...Then I'll simply erase everything."
The white energy around him exploded.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!!
The Citadel disappeared beneath a massive wave of light.
And somewhere within that blinding destruction...
Judas whispered one final command.
"Don't fall."
The four warriors charged forward together.