"Yes… this is the shape of the primal predator."
Mizuno said this in a low voice, but his tone held a hint of caution and dread, his eyes fixed on Lloyd, who no longer looked the same as he had moments before. His body had changed by nearly sixty-five percent, as if something primal and violent was gradually awakening within him, something unlike either the humans or the monsters they were used to seeing.
Ryorno stood stunned amidst the thick fog of battle within the ruined facility, as the sounds of metal collapsing and electrical sparks echoed around like a war that had not yet ended. He couldn't tear his eyes away from Lloyd… or rather, from the thing that Lloyd was beginning to transform into.
Amidst the swirling dust and the enveloping darkness, his bright red eyes shone like two sharp laser beams mercilessly piercing the gloom, a terrifying crimson glow that made even the surrounding fog seem to instinctively recoil from him. His long white hair stretched down his back, moving slowly through the heavy air, streaked with glowing red lines like veins of vital energy pulsating within him.
But his features… were no longer entirely human.
The details of his face began to take on the characteristics of a predatory wolf, sharper and more savage, with a cold gaze that held a deadly hunger and an unsettling silence. On his forehead, a radiant golden crescent moon shone, illuminating the darkness…
Lloyd stood motionless for several minutes, staring in terrifying silence at the accursed entity that used the Core as a shield, as if its presence would prevent him from dying. Lloyd's eyes held no discernible emotion… no anger, no fear, no hesitation.
Only… the gaze of a predator.
On the opposite side, the entity clenched its fists tightly, and a gray-white light began to ignite around its hands like a turbulent energy that gradually exploded, until the cracked ground beneath it began to tremble slightly. It gritted its teeth, its veins bulging with rage, and then, its voice filled with disgust and contempt, it said, "You disgust me… Predator."
And in an instant…
The entity shot forward with full speed and power, like a bullet from a gun, hurtling directly toward Lloyd the Predator, the air around it tearing apart with its force.
The entity shot forward with terrifying speed, its arm drawn forward, delivering a direct blow to the **center of Lloyd's predatory face**—a blow so powerful it would shatter steel. It shot through the air with a scream of fury, so intense that the very ground seemed to tremble from the force of its impact.
But what happened next froze everyone in place.
The entity's fist pierced Lloyd's face…
It was as if it had passed through a ghost. There was no impact, no bone-crunch, no recoil… just emptiness.
Ryorno's eyes widened in undisguised shock, the battle's glare reflected in his stunned expression. "What the hell…?" he stammered, bewildered. "How did he do that?!"
Mizuno stood silent for a moment, his eyes taking in every detail, before replying in a serious tone as he tried to analyze what was happening. "Yeah… I was even more shocked than you."
He narrowed his eyes, fixing his gaze on Lloyd, then continued, "But now I've figured out what's going on… Lloyd isn't even taking any blows."
A brief silence followed as the punches continued to pierce Lloyd's body without any effect.
Then Mizuno added, gesturing toward the battlefield, "He disappears… then reappears with a speed beyond the reach of the naked eye. The time between his disappearance and reappearance is so short that it feels as if the blow is passing right through him."
His eyes suddenly glowed a cold blue, a watchful glint igniting within them, and he said confidently, "Just as I suspected… he disappears and reappears."
"I was the only one who could see the movement with my hawk-eye."
Meanwhile, the entity didn't stop. It began to unleash blow after blow, with increasing speed, as if its own rage had become fuel for its body. His fists rained down like a storm, the air whistling with the force of the blows, his feet gradually lifting off the ground with the brutal momentum they generated.
Just one thing fueled his fury… Every strike… pierced Lloyd, every attempt… failed.
Amidst the barrage of punches, the predatory Lloyd stood terrifyingly still.
He slowly closed his eyes, as if the sounds of the fight didn't affect him, while the fists whizzed past his face and body without truly touching him. He took a long, deep breath, unnaturally calm, as if everything around him had slowed down.
Then… one of his red eyes flashed, a terrifying red glow, holding something primal… something that instilled terror directly in the heart of his opponent.
He slowly raised his hand toward the arrogant entity, while the latter continued his frenzied attack, trying to bring Lloyd down with any blow he could muster.
Suddenly, a wave of blue light erupted around Lloyd the Predator.
The blue light began to gather around his arm and palm, pulsating with a heavy energy that made the air itself tremble. But the entity didn't notice.
Instead, he increased the speed of his strikes.
Faster, faster. And faster…
Until, without realizing it, he began to feel himself moving further and further away from Lloyd, but his arrogance and anger blinded him to the truth.
Ryorno stood watching the fight, the reflection of the rapid strikes trembling in his eyes, before suddenly saying, as if he had understood something, "I think I understand the meaning of the skill Lloyd is using."
Mizuno turned to him directly, and Ryorno continued, his eyes fixed on the fight, "The purpose of Lloyd's self-disappearance… is to force the opponent into a struggle with the skill itself."
He clasped his hands in front of him and continued in a more focused voice, "The opponent subconsciously tries to time his attacks with the moment Lloyd appears… and this forces him to hit faster and faster."
He narrowed his eyes as he watched the entity rise higher into the air. "And as the speed increases… the momentum begins to lift it upward and distance it from Lloyd at the same time."
Then he clasped his hands even tighter, his gaze never leaving the battlefield. "And that's exactly what Lloyd wanted…"
"His trump card."
At that very moment, a blue flash around Lloyd's predatory hand ignited with tremendous force, condensing into a blazing blue sphere, swirling with terrifying energy as if ready to devour anything that came near it.
Lloyd slowly raised his head…
Then he aimed that sphere directly at the entity surrounded by the core, suspended in mid-air…