BOOOOOOM—!!
The colossal black Cero detonated across the battlefield.
Its diameter exceeded ten meters, the density of its reiatsu compressed to an extreme. The beam carved through the air in a straight line, devouring everything in its path.
Subsbus and Saros had no time to evade.
Both released their strongest defenses simultaneously.
Subsbus expanded a psychic barrier layered with condensed reiatsu.
Saros crossed his blade, reinforcing it with hardened spiritual pressure.
The sub-level Hollows caught in that line of fire were erased instantly — not burned, not torn — erased.
The beam continued across the horizon before exploding against a distant mountain range.
A peak hundreds of meters tall collapsed under the impact.
Shockwaves tore through the battlefield.
Sombravida shielded Nel with one arm, stabilizing her with his own reiatsu.
Barragan stood unmoved.
"That output…" Sombravida muttered. "Not high in refinement — but ancient."
Barragan's hollow eye flames flickered.
"Primitive. Brutal. Inefficient. But fitting for something that old."
Sombravida smirked.
"Still want to eat it?"
Barragan chuckled dryly.
"If we kill it, I will take half the mask."
"Deal."
They both turned back toward the chaos.
When the smoke cleared—
Subsbus stood barely upright.
One fox ear charred black.
One arm twisted unnaturally.
Blood stained her white mask.
Saros lay half-kneeling, one leg severed below the knee, his blade fractured at mid-length.
High-Speed Regeneration activated immediately.
Bone extended.
Muscle reformed.
But the reiatsu cost was visible.
Subsbus' eyes snapped toward Sombravida.
"You."
Her voice trembled with fury.
"You broke the seal."
Sombravida shrugged.
"Yes."
Saros forced himself upright.
"Ace Sombravida… Is this your idea of alliance?"
Sombravida spun his greatsword once.
"Alliances are temporary. Advantage is permanent."
At his signal—
Barragan's subordinates turned on Saros's forces.
What had been cooperation became slaughter.
Dozens of sub-level Hollows were overwhelmed instantly.
Saros's remaining troops scrambled back toward him.
Subsbus laughed despite her injuries.
"Saros… you invited your own executioner."
Saros's gaze hardened.
"Enough."
He turned to Subsbus.
"Temporary cooperation."
She narrowed her eyes.
"Two Vasto Lordes afterward."
"Fine."
Without hesitation, Subsbus grabbed a heavily injured Vasto Lorde at her side — tore off his mask — and devoured it whole.
Her reiatsu spiked violently.
The bottleneck shattered.
Mid-tier.
Then—
High-tier Vasto Lorde.
Psychic pressure rippled outward like invisible blades.
Barragan observed with interest.
"Devouring-based forced amplification. Reckless."
Sombravida's eyes narrowed.
"Temporary spike. High instability."
Subsbus ignored them all.
She shot toward the Ancient Hollow Beast.
Saros turned toward Sombravida.
"You."
Sombravida stepped forward calmly.
"Your Majesty," he said without looking back, "those five are yours."
Barragan nodded.
"And you?"
"I need this."
Sombravida vanished with Sonído.
He reappeared before Saros and swung.
Clang!
Steel met steel.
Reiatsu clashed violently.
Sparks of compressed spirit particles scattered like fire.
This time—
Sombravida did not use spatial manipulation.
No stealth.
No distortion.
Only blade against blade.
Saros' sword carried a slicing property — its reiatsu refined into a cutting vector that eroded opposing constructs on contact.
Sombravida's manifested greatsword chipped under impact.
He discarded it instantly.
A new blade formed in his hand.
Saros' eyes narrowed.
"You rely on conjured weapons?"
"Enough."
Clang! Clang! Clang!
The tempo increased.
Sombravida's movements grew sharper.
Thrust.
Feint.
Reverse grip slash.
Upward cut.
Dimensional Slash — minimized output, woven into footwork rather than thrown as a technique.
Shadow Dance — compressed into sword momentum instead of spatial bursts.
He wasn't overwhelming Saros.
He was learning him.
Saros adjusted quickly.
His blade began carving angles into Sombravida's defense.
Wounds opened across Sombravida's torso.
High-Speed Regeneration closed them almost instantly.
Saros felt frustration rise.
"This brat improves mid-fight."
Sombravida's reiatsu flow began smoothing.
Earlier stiffness faded.
Since gaining spatial-law leverage and Barragan's assistance, he had neglected refinement of pure technique.
Now—
Each clash reconnected him to that foundation.
His reiatsu followed blade motion more naturally.
Force transmission became cleaner.
Even Saros began losing ground.
That was unacceptable.
Saros leapt back.
Full reiatsu release.
The pressure spike caught Sombravida off guard.
Sombravida was slammed downward into the sand.
Before Sombravida could recover—
Saros fired a Cero as suppression.
The explosion obscured vision.
Behind the smoke—
Saros held his blade horizontally.
Reiatsu spiraled along its edge.
Not raw power.
Compression.
Refinement.
The cutting property intensified to its limit.
The blade's presence became faint — almost invisible.
A silent execution.
In a blink—
Saros vanished.
He appeared above the crater.
"Crimson Soul Slash."
The blade descended.
No flash.
No explosion.
Only a distortion.
Then—
BOOOOOOOM—!!!
The earth split open.
A canyon dozens of meters long carved through the battlefield.
White sand and rock separated cleanly, as though reality itself had been sliced.
The fissure plunged downward into darkness.
Sombravida had been at the center of that strike.
Now—
He was nowhere to be seen.
His reiatsu vanished into the abyss.
Silence fell across that portion of the battlefield.
His fate—
Unknown.
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