An absolute, haunting silence descended upon the vast Great Arena of Olympia. The breath of thousands of spectators froze in their lungs as they witnessed a jagged rift of shadows tearing open in the very center of the marble ring. From the swirling darkness stepped a warrior of terrifying majesty, clad in polished golden armor that blinded the naked eye. But his eyes were not human; they were two hollow pits radiating a strange, erratic, and violent purple lightning. This was "Lycaon," the Code Phantom's chronally-modified champion, designed to be nothing less than an absolute killing machine.
**Creton** (The Judge – Speaking with a voice full of celestial majesty and ancient dread): "The final round is upon us! The victor alone shall possess the honor of crossing the sanctum of the Great Temple of Zeus. In this arena, there are no restrictions, no rules, and absolutely no room for mercy!"
**Aiko** (Screaming from behind the marble barricade, her voice tearing with an agonizing anxiety): "Eiji! Watch out! The 'Whisper of Eras' is screaming a warning inside my mind! This opponent isn't a normal warrior; he is a 'Temporal Reactor' of pure Void encased in a physical shell. Do not touch his armor directly! If you do, it will siphon your rhythm instantly and leave you hollow!"
**Eiji** (Unsheathing his dual magical blades from the Staff of Uruk, his eyes igniting with the cold brilliance of lightning): "His name is Lycaon... but the pulse emanating from him is the exact rhythm of the Code Phantom. I will show him that the speed granted by Babylon cannot be shackled by golden armor or Void-born tricks."
The battle erupted with a massive energy explosion that shook the very foundations of the arena. Lycaon began with a savage, unrelenting assault, firing devastating purple thunderbolts from his massive broadsword, leaving scorched, blackened craters in the ancient marble. Eiji transformed into a blur of azure light, moving at a speed that transcended human perception. He moved so fast that he left behind phantom after-images, tricking the champion's heavy, brutal strikes.
**Eiji** (Focusing his internal strategic thoughts with lethal precision): "If I attack with brute force, I will only charge the temple and fulfill the Phantom's goal. I must rely on 'Reflective Redirection.' I will turn his own corrupted energy into his downfall."
Eiji began to circle Lycaon with cyclonic speed, merging the lingering sand-energy from the Egyptian era with the raw velocity of Uruk. This high-speed rotation created a localized temporal vacuum, causing the purple thunderbolts to be magnetically drawn toward the edge of Eiji's blades instead of striking his body. Eiji had become a living, breathing lightning rod, dancing on the edge of extinction.
**Eiji** (Shouting with a fierce, unwavering confidence): "Take back your corrupted power and let it consume you instead!
In the climactic moment of the duel, Eiji merged the captured lightning energy with the power of the "Babylonian Seal of Wisdom." He directed a concentrated strike toward the ground directly beneath Lycaon's feet, rather than striking the warrior himself.
**Eiji** (Letting out a roar that echoed through the stands): "Lightning Rhythm: MASK BREAKER!"
The earth shattered with a blinding white light that stripped away the hidden deception. The brilliant golden armor evaporated, revealing an ugly, pulsating "Black Rift" behind it a tether that looked like a jagged umbilical cord of energy, connecting the warrior directly to the "Heart of Ivory" deep within the temple's hollow.
**Aiko** (Realizing the connection and screaming with sharp intuition): "Now, Eiji! That's the link! Cut it, and this era will be liberated from the siphoning! That is the source of the drain!"
Eiji launched himself into the air with a devastating scissor-strike from his dual blades, severing the black thread with surgical precision. The warrior let out a silent, soul-piercing scream before collapsing and dissolving into a cloud of faint, grey chronal dust. A silence even more terrifying than before gripped the stadiums.
From the VIP balcony, the **Code Phantom** (still inhabiting Akira's body) rose slowly. A terrifying, cold smile played across his lips a smile that promised nothing but ruin. He began to clap slowly, a rhythmic, provocative sound that echoed through the dead silence.
**Code Phantom** (Speaking with a lethal, surgical coldness): "Congratulations to you, my little Olympian hero. You succeeded in severing the link, but you used the 'Energy of the Bolt' to do it... and that is exactly what I have been waiting for. The gates are now wide open, and the Great Feast has been prepared."
The ground groaned and shook once more as the massive, heavy doors of the Temple of Zeus swung open on their own, emitting a pale, sickly yellow light. Eiji and Aiko stared into the lurking darkness within, their senses heightened to the point of pain.
**Eiji** (Reverting his dual blades back into the form of the staff and securing it behind his back): "It isn't over yet, Aiko. The battle we just fought was merely the appetizer. The true confrontation lives in the belly of that statue."
**Aiko** (Grabbing Eiji's hand tightly, her fingers trembling as she spoke): "I am with you until the very end... but the Whisper tells me that the 'Heart of Ivory' has begun to beat, and it is very, very hungry."