Kaus and Annabeth knocked into each other in mid-air, with red and violet flashing on the instant like stars colliding.
Not only did the shockwave roar, it drove fiercely, tearing the battlefield apart and colliding with the coliseum's walls.
The whole arena was shaking.
Where Paragons and elites were sitting behind their layered protections, the vibration was still felt there. The stone seats were cracking.
The energy shields were flaring violently.
Some spectators were thrown back into their chairs as the force rattled their bones.
"What the hell is that pressure!?" "My barrier is resonating this is not supposed to happen!" "They are not even trying to destroy the arena... this is just collateral!"
Every confrontation between them had the effect of causing shockwaves to be seen which were rolling through the air- the rings of force that were spreading distorted the vision as well.
On the one hand, crimson lightning was snapping like veins across the sky while on the other hand, violet gravity wells were crushing all that was unfortunate enough to be caught between them.
Klaus acted like death coming into the world.
With every step he took, the ground was torn apart. With every swing of his weapon, he was carrying the will of Ashborn, his red aura was cutting through space as if it were some kind of fabric.
Annabeth confronted him, her body was bending in an incredible way as the gravity was reversed, twisted, collapsed as her strikes were coming from figures that were not even existing.
Their weapons collided again.
BOOOOM.
The energy that was pulsing outward was slamming into the audience stands. Even Emperor Malrik had to support himself, laughing through his clenched teeth while his instincts were screaming in delight.
"This generation..." a Paragon muttered while gripping the armrest. "They're monsters."
Far away, cutting through clouds and chaos
Sofie was not hanging around.
Fire in the shape of a phoenix was wrapping around her wings, each beat was leaving trails of burning gold and crimson in the sky.
Her eyes were on the war of red and violet, which was far away.
Klaus...
She exerted herself more, her fire spirit was roaring within her as she was rushing through the air, not caring about the pressure or the danger.
The battlefield looked more like the aftermath of a god's wrath rather than a duel.
At the center—
Klaus and Annabeth lunged again, both of them fully committing, kill-for-kill
Then
They stopped.
They were blocked by something.
Not an explosion. Not a barrier.
Something was standing between them.
Their strikes crimson death and collapsing space hit the invisible surface and simply… didn't go through.
The power changed, it bent, it spread in a very different way.
Klaus was mid-air and he almost fell with a look of disbelief. Annabeth stopped immediately, her eyes wide open.
"What…?" she whispered.
There was an incredible change of air between them, it was very dense and quite peculiar almost as if reality itself was stepping in.
Neither gravity nor negation were strong enough to take full control here.
For the very first time after the fight had started as Both of them were expressing confusion on their faces.
Their auras blazed automatically, animals getting ready for the next move as they reevaluated.
Then
Sofie showed up.
With a trail of fire, phoenix wings extending, she came looking for Klaus, but he didn't turn.
The force between Klaus and Annabeth stabilized and not faded, not weakened.
It was held.
As if the world itself had been grabbed by the throat.
A pressure unlike anything before descended on the battlefield. Crimson and violet energy forces that had been ripping reality apart moments ago were pinned in place, frozen mid-collision.
The air screamed as space compacted unnaturally, forming a dense, invisible wall between the two combatants.
The audience felt it instantly.
Students gasped as their lungs tightened. Some dropped to one knee. Others couldn't even breathe.
"What what is THAT?" "My core...my core is shaking!" "This isn't Klaus… this isn't Annabeth!"
High above, the Paragons stood in unison.
Their expressions as beings who had seen wars, calamities, and extinction-level events were no longer amused.
They were alert.
The Monarchs felt it too.
Thalor's fingers dug into his armrest.
Zephyra's winds went dead silent. Elari's water stilled as if frozen in time. Solene's light dimmed, instinctively retreating.
Only Malrik Vortan remained smiling but even his eyes sharpened.
"That presence…" he muttered. "So you finally decided to show yourself."
Then
Laughter.
Not loud at first.
A low, manic chuckle that echoed unnaturally, bending as it traveled, as if space itself was amused.
"Hahaha… hahah—HAHAHA!"
Every head snapped toward the largest screen.
The image shifted.
Students screamed and pointed.
"THERE!" "WHO IS THAT—!?" "That's not a contestant!"
The feed locked onto a lone figure standing where the distortion was strongest.
A man walked forward, clapping slowly, mockingly.
Brown hair swept back by the pressure of his own aura. A rugged face lined with scars not the shallow kind, but the kind earned by surviving things that should have erased him.
A long black coat fluttered despite the absence of wind, worn over layered combat robes strapped tight for movement.
One hand rested casually in his pocket.
"Bravo," he said, voice smooth, amused.
"Truly. I haven't seen a display like that in years."
His eyes gleamed with something dangerous as they flicked between Klaus and Annabeth.
"Crimson death incarnate… and collapsing space shaped by royal blood."
A grin split his face.
"What a treat."
Klaus didn't respond.
His aura shifted like predatory.
But Annabeth snapped."GET OUT OF MY WAY!"Space folded.
She vanished.
In an instant, she reappeared directly in front of the man and stopped.
Mid-teleport.
Her body locked in place, suspended like an insect trapped in amber.
The coliseum erupted.
"NO WAY—!" "HE STOPPED HER!?"
"That's ANNABETH VORTAN—!"
Even the Paragons stiffened.
Stopping Annabeth wasn't supposed to be possible.
The man tilted his head, amused."Tch. Still rude as ever."
He spread his fingers slightly.
The pressure multiplied.
Annabeth gritted her teeth, veins standing out as she struggled. Gravity screamed in protest around her, but it was useless as her power was being overwritten.
The man smiled wider.
"Name's Caelum Radien," he said casually.
"Some call me the Atombreaker."
He lifted his hand, palm glowing faintly so faint it was terrifying.
"Did you know I can split atoms with this?" he continued conversationally.
"It wouldn't take much energy. Just a lot of effort."
His eyes flicked upward, toward the skies.
"The tricky part would be containing the blast."
Annabeth snarled, pushing harder but her body wouldn't move.
Then BOOM!
A flash of fire.Sofie came out of nowhere.
Her phoenix wings flared as she kicked Caelum straight in the face, the impact detonating with a concussive blast that shattered the pressure field.
Annabeth dropped to the ground, coughing hard, gasping as if she'd been drowning. But she didn't hesitate she rolled, pushed herself up, eyes blazing with fury.
"YOU—!"
She lunged again and stopped.
Again.
This time, the air around Caelum collapsed violently.
No elegance.
No restraint.
The ground cracked outward in a perfect circle as his aura finally unleashed.
It wasn't elemental.
It was fundamental.
Reality bent inward toward him, atoms trembling, matter screaming as if remembering what it meant to be torn apart.
Caelum's smile vanished.
"This time," he said coldly, eyes burning with raw power,"I'm not playing."
The battlefield howled.
This man wasn't here to watch.
He was here because the world had finally become interesting enough to break.