BOOM!!!
The blood-infused Cero detonated across the battlefield.
Sombravida had deliberately angled the Gran Rey Cero so its main trajectory tore through the Adjuchas ranks below, while the shockwave forced the two Vasto Lordes above to split apart.
It was never meant to kill them.
It was meant to scatter them.
And it worked.
The explosion carved a massive trench through the sand. Adjuchas were vaporized instantly. Others were blown apart by the shockwave.
Before the two Vasto Lordes could recover their formation—
Sombravida was already moving.
He appeared beside the slender Vasto Lorde.
The Sky-Splitting Greatsword flashed horizontally.
Clang!
The slender one reacted quickly, barely intercepting the strike. Even so, the force sent him flying.
Then—
Sombravida vanished.
His reiatsu disappeared completely.
The slender Vasto Lorde's eyes widened.
He could not sense Sombravida.
A heartbeat later—
The blade pierced straight through his back.
Stealth fully deployed.
Sombravida had intentionally suppressed spatial fluctuations during the approach. No visible distortion. No warning.
The sword erupted through the chest.
Before the slender Vasto Lorde could regenerate—
Sombravida's left hand slashed across the throat, carving deep into the hierro. Bone was exposed.
Not enough.
Sombravida's palm pressed against the side of the skull.
A point-blank Cero detonated.
The head exploded.
The body collapsed.
"Damn you!" roared Kamra.
The tank-type Vasto Lorde erupted with crimson reiryoku.
His entire body ignited in blazing aura as he charged.
Not Sonído—
A straight-line acceleration technique.
Sombravida collected the corpse instantly into spatial storage and stepped aside.
Kamra did not stop.
He adjusted trajectory mid-charge.
Locked-on pursuit.
Sombravida teleported again.
Kamra accelerated further.
The sand beneath them tore apart as Kamra's momentum increased.
Sombravida narrowed his eyes.
"Target tracking."
Each displacement only increased Kamra's kinetic output.
Spatial barriers formed—
Shattered one after another.
They slowed him—but did not stop him.
Sombravida glanced toward Barragan.
The Skeleton Emperor had already cornered the third Vasto Lorde. Respira had eaten through half the opponent's body.
But he would not finish in time.
Sombravida clicked his tongue.
Then—
"Tia! Move!"
Harribel arrived like a crashing tide.
Sombravida shifted position deliberately, drawing Kamra into a straight vector toward her.
At the last moment, Sombravida vanished.
Harribel stepped forward.
"Cascada!"
A high-pressure torrent of condensed water blasted outward.
BOOM!!
Kamra slammed directly into the water cannon.
Steam exploded in all directions.
His crimson aura burned against the torrent, but the sustained pressure disrupted his acceleration.
Unlike Sombravida's single-burst attacks, Harribel's technique was continuous.
Kamra's forward speed dropped.
Gradually.
But enough.
Behind Harribel—
Sombravida was already charging again.
Blood dripped into the forming Cero.
Reiryoku compressed.
Gran Rey Cero.
Kamra realized too late.
He aborted his charge and tried to disengage.
Harribel slashed.
Multiple water blades forced him into a fixed path.
Sombravida released.
BOOM!!!
The Gran Rey Cero struck center mass.
Kamra's torso was obliterated from shoulder to waist.
Burned through.
He remained hovering only by sheer will.
Milky-white reiryoku gathered—
A regeneration attempt.
Inferior to Ulquiorra's.
Sombravida did not hesitate.
He appeared directly before Kamra.
The Sky-Splitting Greatsword plunged forward.
Kamra blocked with his remaining arm—
The blade embedded deep into flesh.
Kamra gasped.
"You've killed us… Lord Saros—"
Sombravida's claw tore across the throat.
Mask shattered.
"Tell Saros I'm coming," Sombravida said flatly.
One final strike.
Kamra's head separated cleanly.
The body fell.
Across the battlefield—
Barragan finished his opponent.
The Vasto Lorde had attempted self-reversal—
A crude temporal regression.
Barragan's Respira overwhelmed it.
The mask was crushed.
Death's Sigh invaded the skull.
Silence.
Three Vasto Lordes.
Eliminated.
Below, Harribel and Nel were finishing the remaining Adjuchas.
Sombravida floated beside Barragan.
"Your Majesty. We were ambushed."
Barragan's skull flame flickered.
"They erased my outer sentries before engaging."
"Three Vasto Lordes at once," Sombravida said quietly. "And concealment."
Barragan turned his head.
"That illusion ability. I sensed your reiatsu vanish when it activated."
Sombravida nodded.
He opened a spatial seam.
The corpse of the slender Vasto Lorde emerged.
Bawabawa immediately gnawed on one of its arms.
Sombravida flicked the mudskipper's head lightly.
"Not the whole thing."
"Bawa…"
Barragan stared at the corpse.
"That one initiated the darkness."
Sombravida crouched beside the body.
"The black mist didn't only affect vision internally. It likely distorts reiatsu signatures externally."
He considered.
If the illusion projects memory overlays—
Then outwardly, it may refract spiritual pressure.
Bend it.
Mask it.
Which explains how three Vasto Lordes approached a king's camp undetected.
Sombravida looked at Barragan.
"If this Saros commands multiple Vasto Lordes with coordinated abilities, the Central Region is far more organized than expected."
Barragan's tone lowered.
"I was dormant too long."
Sombravida's eyes hardened.
"No. This is information."
He glanced at the battlefield.
Cleanup nearly complete.
"We eliminate one faction at a time."
Barragan's skull tilted slightly.
"You intend to hunt Saros?"
Sombravida smiled faintly beneath his mask.
"They already tried to raid us."
He stood.
"And now I know they can be killed."
He looked down once more at the corpse of the illusion user.
The black mist ability.
Reiatsu distortion.
External masking.
Yes.
It could conceal from outside.
Not just trap from within.
Sombravida's eyes narrowed thoughtfully.
Since it could change perception internally—
Then naturally—
It could bend perception externally as well.
And that meant—
The Central Region was no longer a blind charge.
It was a calculated hunt.
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