"ROAR!!!"
The Ancient Hollow's reiatsu pressed down like a collapsing sky.
Even Sombravida felt the difference.
A high-tier Vasto Lorde's spiritual density was fundamentally beyond that of a mid-tier. Even weakened by age, its presence alone distorted the surrounding spirit particles.
Subsbus stood atop its skull, eyes glowing pink.
"Hahaha! Die! All of you will die!"
Having temporarily elevated herself and seized control of the Ancient Hollow, she had become the apex presence on the battlefield.
Her control would not last forever.
But it didn't need to.
If she eliminated Barragan now—
The rest would fall.
And once the Ancient Hollow delivered a final destructive wave, she could devour its remaining essence directly.
Sombravida clicked his tongue.
"This is troublesome."
Barragan's hollow eye sockets burned.
"Ancient Hollows possess natural resistance to time erosion. My Respira will not devour it as easily as ordinary Vasto Lordes."
Black mist gathered around his skeletal fingers.
"And its lifespan… is long."
Sombravida understood.
Respira aged things by accelerating time.
But something ancient—
Already burdened by countless years—
Resisted that decay more stubbornly.
"We kill the controller first," Sombravida said calmly. "Free the beast. Then finish it while it destabilizes."
Barragan nodded once.
"Then create the opening."
Sombravida raised his hand.
A pale-gold Bala shot skyward.
It exploded like a signal flare.
Moments later—
A familiar mid-tier Vasto Lorde reiatsu approached rapidly.
Subsbus' expression twisted.
"Szayelaporro…"
The pink-haired scientist descended lightly at the edge of the battlefield.
"Well, well. I leave you alone for decades, and you become interesting."
He glanced at the Ancient Hollow with fascination.
"Marvelous specimen."
Sombravida teleported beside him and tossed Saros' corpse over.
"As promised."
Szayelaporro caught it mid-air, eyes gleaming.
"You killed him already? How efficient."
"No time for admiration," Sombravida replied. "Hold the beast. I take Subsbus."
Szayelaporro's wings unfolded.
"I cannot restrain it for long."
"That's enough."
The battle resumed.
Sombravida flashed forward first.
A sword beam descended toward Subsbus.
A psychic tendril snapped outward—
Shattering it instantly.
Meanwhile, one of Szayelaporro's wing-buds launched toward the Ancient Hollow—
Only to be crushed by a claw.
But venom had already dispersed.
Neurotoxin spread across the beast's forelimbs.
Its muscles stiffened briefly.
Barragan stepped forward.
"Respira."
Black decay rolled outward.
The Ancient Hollow's crimson scales hissed as they began to age.
But slowly.
Very slowly.
Subsbus diverted mental energy to reinforce its defenses.
Respira struggled to penetrate.
"Now!" Barragan shouted.
Sombravida moved.
Cero burst point-blank against Subsbus' mental barrier.
Dimensional Slash followed.
The cut grazed her again.
Subsbus snarled.
"You insignificant—!"
Even elevated to high-tier temporarily, she could not fully ignore Sombravida's spatial-enhanced slashes.
They did not cleave her in half—
But they accumulated.
Each wound left faint spatial distortion behind.
Sombravida was not trying to kill her immediately.
He was preparing something.
The Ancient Hollow roared—
A massive Cero forming.
Sombravida used spatial displacement to evade.
The blast vaporized distant cliffs.
Subsbus laughed.
"Can you feel it? It is absorbing the residual reiatsu from the fallen! It grows stronger by the second!"
She was right.
The battlefield's dead were being consumed.
Sombravida narrowed his eyes.
Time was over.
Subsbus suddenly withdrew all mental defense layers.
She poured everything into the Ancient Hollow.
Venom evaporated.
Respira was blown back by sheer reiatsu.
The beast regained mobility.
It lunged for Sombravida.
Desperation.
But in abandoning defense—
She exposed the wound sites Sombravida had been marking.
Sombravida clasped his hands.
"Open."
A micro spatial fracture erupted at Subsbus' abdomen—
Directly where repeated Dimensional Slashes had struck.
The distortions he had embedded detonated simultaneously.
A rift split open inside her own body.
"What—?!"
Sombravida's right arm emerged from a parallel fracture beside him—
Driving forward through the opened space.
His claw pierced her internal organs directly.
Subsbus screamed.
Mental blades erupted—
Severing Sombravida's wrist cleanly.
Blood sprayed.
Sombravida instantly retracted and regenerated with High-Speed Regeneration.
But the damage was done.
Barragan surged forward.
Respira concentrated into a focused lance—
Piercing through the exposed internal wound.
Decay spread internally.
Subsbus panicked—
Rebuilding mental barriers around her organs.
Too slow.
Sombravida appeared again.
Sky-Splitting Greatsword formed.
"Void Severance."
This time—
No hesitation.
No partial release.
Spatial compression aligned perfectly along the blade.
The slash passed cleanly across her neck.
Nearly complete decapitation.
Her mental network shattered.
The Ancient Hollow screamed—
Control snapped.
Rebound.
All the mental pressure she had forced upon it recoiled violently.
Pink energy flooded backward—
Into her skull.
Her head exploded.
No mask remained.
Her body began dissolving under Respira's erosion.
Sombravida frowned.
"Waste…"
"No time," Barragan barked.
The Ancient Hollow was free.
And furious.
Before it could recover—
Barragan's axe descended.
Respira-coated blade cleaved directly across its mask.
Cracks spidered instantly.
Sombravida flashed forward—
Following the exact fracture line.
Another slash.
Mask shattered.
Skull split.
Szayelaporro teleported into the opened wound—
Four wing-blades piercing deep—
Injecting concentrated toxin into exposed neural tissue.
The Ancient Hollow convulsed violently.
Sombravida plunged his hand into the fractured skull.
Black Cero compressed at point-blank range.
Fired.
The explosion detonated inside its cranial cavity.
The roar became distorted.
Then—
Silence.
The massive body twitched once.
Twice.
Collapsed.
The Ancient Hollow Beast—
Fell still.
The battlefield grew quiet.
The war was over.
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