The battlefield no longer resembled a dungeon.
What remained of it was closer to a ruin—an ancient, collapsed arena carved into the earth by repeated collisions of overwhelming power. Stone platforms were fractured, walls had been erased, and the ground itself looked as if it had been repeatedly struck by meteors.
At the center of this devastation, three figures continued to move.
Elias, the Dark Knight, and the White Knight.
Their movements were too fast for normal perception. Each exchange blurred into overlapping afterimages—steel, light, and darkness colliding in sequences that reshaped the terrain with every impact.
There was no longer any sense of a "fight progressing."
Only repetition.
Only pressure.
Only survival.
The Dark Knight moved first.
It stepped forward with crushing weight and brought its blade down in a single, devastating arc. The strike carried overwhelming force, as if the air itself were being compressed into it.
Elias met it head-on.
He did not retreat.
He did not even attempt to evade.
He stepped into the attack.
CLANG!
The sound detonated across the arena like thunder.
The ground beneath Elias collapsed instantly, sinking under the force of the collision. Cracks spiderwebbed outward in every direction, but he remained standing, blade locked against the Dark Knight's weapon.
Before the Dark Knight could follow up, the air above Elias shifted.
Light descended.
The White Knight appeared overhead, suspended in the air with her halo burning steadily behind her. Chains of light extended from her body, gathering energy as her blade lifted.
Her voice did not change.
[Boss Skill: Radiant Cascade]
The skill activated.
Waves of pure light exploded outward in layered bursts, cascading downward like falling tides.
Elias' eyes narrowed slightly.
"…Again."
This time, he did not block.
He moved.
A single step carried him out of the expected impact zone. His body rotated with minimal motion, adjusting his angle by a fraction—precise enough that the incoming waves of light passed just beside him, missing entirely.
Not deflected.
Not intercepted.
Avoided.
The White Knight's expression shifted for the first time. It was subtle, but unmistakable—a delay in her reaction, as if her pattern recognition had encountered something it did not expect.
Elias saw it.
And he acted immediately.
He vanished.
Not through speed alone, but through decisive movement that cut through the gap in her timing.
In the next instant, he was in front of her.
His blade was already descending.
White-gold flames condensed tightly along its edge—not explosive, but refined, compressed into a single lethal line.
[Sword Skill: HellBlitz Excalibur]
SLASH.
The strike landed cleanly.
Perfectly.
For a moment, the White Knight froze in place.
Her halo fractured.
The chains around her flickered violently.
A single line of light appeared across her body, splitting her form with surgical precision.
"…Vow…"
Her voice trembled for the first time.
"…must—"
The sentence never completed.
Her body broke apart.
It did not collapse—it disintegrated into fragments of radiant light that scattered into the air and dissolved, as though they had never existed.
Silence followed.
For half a breath, the battlefield held still.
Then the Dark Knight roared.
It surged forward immediately, its entire body radiating hostility and retaliation. The speed of its movement had increased noticeably—far beyond its previous state.
Its blade came down toward Elias.
CLANG!
Elias met it again without hesitation.
Steel collided with darkness, and the impact carved another crater into the shattered arena floor.
Hinabi exhaled sharply from a distance.
"One down…"
Magumo let out a faint, almost disbelieving laugh.
"About damn time."
Kiraya lowered her shield slightly, watching the result with tense focus.
"…He actually did it…"
But Fayzan did not respond.
His eyes remained fixed on the battlefield, unblinking.
Something about the scene felt wrong.
And then it happened again.
That same sound.
A crack in reality itself.
CRACK.
Fragments of light reappeared where the White Knight had vanished.
Magumo's expression changed instantly.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
The fragments began to gather.
Faster than before.
Denser.
Brighter.
They pulled together into a structured form, rebuilding shape and substance with unnatural precision.
Ayame's voice rose.
"…It's coming back—!"
The White Knight reformed completely.
But this time, she was different.
Her halo was intact.
Perfect.
Unbroken.
Her chains extended farther than before, sharper and more responsive, moving with a life of their own.
Her presence pressed down on the battlefield like a heavy gravitational force.
"…Infinite regeneration?" Sumi whispered.
Elias did not react with surprise.
He simply stepped back, creating space between himself and the Dark Knight as the White Knight fully returned to the field.
Now both bosses stood together again.
The synchronization between them was immediate.
Perfect.
Elias exhaled slowly.
"…So that's the condition."
Hinabi narrowed her eyes.
"Condition?"
Elias' gaze remained fixed on the two figures.
"…They're not separate entities."
A pause.
"…They're bound."
The Dark Knight shifted.
The White Knight mirrored it exactly.
Elias continued.
"…As long as one remains active…"
Another pause.
"…The other returns."
Silence spread across the battlefield.
Magumo clicked his tongue.
"So what—kill them both at the same time?"
Elias did not answer immediately.
Because both bosses moved at once.
Light surged from the White Knight.
Darkness erupted from the Dark Knight.
Perfect synchronization.
A system designed to prevent failure.
Elias raised his blade again.
"…Then we adjust."
He stepped forward.
Not to defeat one.
But to face both simultaneously.
Again.
Because this was no longer a fight of strength.
It had become a calculation.
A sequence.
A puzzle that demanded perfect timing.
And Elias had already begun solving it.
The battlefield reset into motion again.
Both bosses attacked in unison.
The Dark Knight struck first with overwhelming force.
The White Knight followed instantly with binding chains and radiant pressure.
CLANG!
Elias intercepted the Dark Knight's strike directly, the impact shaking the entire arena once more.
At the same time, chains of light surged toward him from multiple angles.
He twisted his body just enough for them to graze past him, burning his armor but failing to fully bind him.
"Tch."
Even he acknowledged it internally.
They were adapting.
Becoming faster.
More coordinated.
More precise.
The White Knight lifted her blade again.
[Boss Skill: Radiant Cascade]
Light exploded outward in layered waves.
Immediately after—
The Dark Knight raised its shield.
"Abyssal Bastion Crash."
Hinabi's expression tightened.
"…A combo."
Magumo growled.
"Again—!"
Elias saw it instantly.
A perfect setup: immobilization followed by annihilation.
He moved before the sequence could complete.
He stepped forward into the attack instead of away from it.
His blade ignited.
[Sword Skill: HellBlitz Excalibur]
He struck not at either boss—but into the space between them.
The impact detonated violently.
BOOM!
The timing of the combo broke apart.
Both bosses were forced slightly backward, their coordination disrupted.
Elias stood still.
Observing.
"…Something's off…"
Kiraya murmured.
Fayzan narrowed his eyes.
"…He's not going for the kill."
Because Elias had already demonstrated he could kill each of them individually.
And it had changed nothing.
The White Knight raised her blade again.
Unharmed.
The Dark Knight stepped forward again.
Unbroken.
Elias exhaled slowly.
"…As expected."
He moved again.
This time faster.
Sharper.
He engaged the White Knight first, forcing her into a rapid exchange of strikes.
CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!
A brief opening appeared.
He exploited it instantly.
SLASH.
The White Knight shattered again into fragments of light.
Sumi's eyes widened.
"There!"
But Elias did not relax.
Because behind him, darkness surged.
The Dark Knight struck.
Elias turned and blocked immediately, countering the attack with precision.
Yet even as he fought, he already understood the result.
Behind him, light was returning.
CRACK.
The White Knight reformed again.
Faster than before.
Elias stepped back slowly.
"…So that's how it is."
Both bosses stood together once more.
Kiraya frowned.
"…Why did he stop?"
Hinabi's expression darkened.
"…No…"
She understood before the others.
Elias spoke quietly.
"…They're not independent."
Kiraya froze.
"…What do you mean?"
Elias looked between them.
"…You kill one…"
A pause.
"…The other restores it."
Silence fell.
Fayzan muttered under his breath.
"…So it's pointless to take them down separately…"
Elias nodded once.
"…They share a condition."
The Dark Knight stepped forward.
The White Knight followed.
"…As long as one remains…"
Elias continued.
"…The other cannot stay dead."
Hinabi clicked her tongue.
"So we kill them both at the same time?"
Elias did not answer immediately.
Because that was the real problem.
Two bosses.
Different speeds.
Different attack patterns.
Perfect synchronization.
And only one chance to align their defeat.
Elias raised his blade again.
"…It has to be the same moment."
The bosses moved again.
Faster now.
More aggressive.
They had adapted further.
Light and darkness surged forward in perfect harmony.
Elias stepped forward into the next exchange.
Not to end the fight yet.
But to study it.
Every movement.
Every delay.
Every pattern.
Because the only way this battle would end—
was if both fell together.
And Elias was already calculating the exact moment when that would happen.