"Huff… huff…"
Saros steadied himself.
Crimson Soul Slash had carved a canyon through the battlefield.
That level of compression and cutting output drained him heavily. Even as a mid-tier Vasto Lorde, such a refined release was not something he could repeat freely.
He stared into the abyss he had created.
"It's over…"
His severed leg had regenerated, but his reiatsu was unstable.
That brat had been dangerous.
A low-tier Vasto Lorde capable of pressuring him through pure technique.
If allowed to mature—
He would become a calamity.
Fortunately, Saros believed he had ended it.
Then—
"A beautiful cut."
Saros froze.
The voice came from behind him.
He turned sharply.
Sombravida stood five meters away.
Unharmed.
Calm.
"How—"
Sombravida rolled his shoulder slightly.
"I underestimated that strike."
When Crimson Soul Slash descended, Sombravida had activated his concealment field and spatial displacement simultaneously. The body Saros struck had been an afterimage left in the crater.
His real body had slipped outside the attack vector.
Even so—
If he had hesitated a fraction longer, he would have been bisected.
"That slash…" Sombravida said softly, "was instructive."
Saros' eyes darkened.
"So you ran."
"I adapted."
Sombravida raised his greatsword again.
This time—
Spatial ripples gathered along its edge.
No more restraint.
He needed to end this.
The Ancient Hollow's reiatsu in the distance was fluctuating — rising gradually. Whether through devouring subordinates or absorbing ambient spirit particles, it was recovering.
Time was short.
Sombravida lowered his stance.
Greatsword horizontal.
Drawing posture.
Spatial compression gathered at the blade's edge.
"Void-Cleaving Draw."
He moved.
The swing was silent.
No flash.
No visible slash.
Space fractured along the trajectory.
Saros felt it before he saw it.
Cold.
At his waist.
He attempted to raise his sword—
Too late.
A deep line opened across his abdomen.
Blood sprayed.
He staggered backward.
The speed matched Crimson Soul Slash.
But the power was inferior.
The cut did not sever him.
Sombravida narrowed his eyes.
"Needs refinement."
He vanished with Sonído.
Reappeared at Saros' flank.
The assault began.
Cero from oblique angles.
Invisible Bala-like bursts from concealment.
Spatial distortions interrupting Saros' footwork.
Every strike targeted the previous wound.
Saros attempted High-Speed Regeneration—
Sombravida denied it relentlessly.
Each time Saros gathered focus—
Sombravida disrupted him.
The weakness of pure sword-specialists became clear.
Without ranged suppression tools, Saros had to close distance.
And every attempt to do so was punished by spatial repositioning.
Frustration mounted.
Reiatsu output became unstable.
Breathing grew ragged.
"Damn you!"
Saros exploded forward.
Whirlwind step.
He ignored defense.
He rammed his shoulder directly into Sombravida's greatsword, allowing the blade to bite into his Hierro.
With his free hand, he seized Sombravida's wrist.
His own sword thrust forward—
A suicidal trade.
The blade entered—
But met resistance.
Not flesh.
Space.
A folded distortion caught the blade mid-thrust.
Saros' pupils contracted.
Sombravida's voice came low and cold.
"I was waiting for that."
Reiatsu surged into Sombravida's right arm.
Sky-Piercing Slash.
No flourish.
No theatrics.
A single diagonal arc.
Shhk.
Saros' head separated cleanly from his body.
For a moment—
Silence.
Then blood erupted skyward.
The mid-tier Vasto Lorde fell.
Sombravida caught the corpse immediately and sealed it into spatial storage.
No waste.
No delay.
Barragan watched.
"You've improved."
Sombravida didn't respond.
He moved.
The three Vasto Lordes trapped within Barragan's decaying field were already struggling against creeping Respira.
Sombravida triggered the spatial crystals embedded within them.
Time-corrosion flooded their internal organs.
Their reiatsu destabilized.
He decapitated them in rapid succession.
Efficient.
Precise.
One nearly dissolved before full harvesting—minor loss.
Acceptable.
He then turned toward Nel and Harribel's battlefield.
Two more Vasto Lordes.
Quick execution.
One was lost during Nel's brief misstep.
Four Vasto-level resources secured.
"Harvest the sub-levels," Sombravida ordered calmly.
Nel and Harribel obeyed instantly.
Sombravida and Barragan ascended the mountain.
The true threat remained.
At the summit—
Chaos.
The Ancient Hollow thrashed violently.
Subsbus, now temporarily elevated to high-tier Vasto Lorde, fought with desperation.
Her subordinates sacrificed themselves recklessly.
One Vasto Lorde leapt into the beast's jaws—
Self-detonated.
A Cero detonated internally.
Teeth shattered.
Blood cascaded.
Yet—
New fangs regenerated almost immediately.
Ancient physiology.
Ruthless durability.
Subsbus screamed:
"Now!"
She landed atop the beast's skull.
Psychic reiatsu surged.
"Illusion of Delusion!"
Pink spiritual waves penetrated the Ancient Hollow's mind.
The beast roared violently.
Clawed at its own head.
Subordinates bound its limbs with everything they had left.
Tail strikes shattered rock but failed to dislodge her.
The psychic assault deepened.
The roar faltered.
The beast collapsed.
For a brief moment—
Silence.
Sombravida arrived beside Barragan.
"Something's wrong," Sombravida muttered.
Barragan's axe lifted.
"Indeed."
The Ancient Hollow stirred.
Slowly—
It rose again.
But its eyes—
Glowed pink.
Subsbus remained standing atop its skull.
Unmoved.
The Ancient Hollow Beast—
Was under her control.
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