Sora frowned, sensing vaguely that some presence was lingering in that vast expanse of space.
Goodwill and malice intertwined, joy and calmness constantly shifting...
Focusing harder, he found the sensation oddly familiar.
After a brief pause, he suddenly remembered the source of this feeling.
When he'd charged into the Destruction Day and reshaped Planet Promia, he'd sensed something similar.
Back then, with the power of omniscience and omnipotence, he'd clearly perceived this very same sensation.
But at that time, he'd mistakenly attributed it to NANOOK, since he had been directly confronting the Destruction AEON's power.
Yet now, NANOOK wasn't here. Why did he feel that strange familiarity again?
Could it be someone was following him all this time...?
While Sora was lost in thought, a silver-white flash appeared abruptly in the cosmos.
That streak of silver slashed through Sora's body, aiming to cleave him in two.
The attacker, of course, was none other than Skaracabaz, the Starcrusher Swarm King!
[Becoming distracted in battle is a terrible habit.]
The Starcrusher Swarm King didn't bother waiting politely. Since Sora had chosen to stand against it, Skaracabaz would use any means to kill him.
But surprisingly, this strike completely missed!
The silver flash passed, leaving Sora standing calmly in the same place, entirely unharmed.
The Starcrusher Swarm King stared, puzzled, at its mantis-like limb. No sense of impact.
It knew its attack had clearly struck Sora's position, yet it felt no collision at all.
[Are you the same kind of existence as that newborn AEON?]
Titania had previously dodged its attacks by turning herself into Memoria, rendering all physical strikes meaningless.
Given the similarities, the Swarm King concluded that Sora must be the same type of being as Titania.
The sudden attack forced Sora to set aside his earlier confusion.
However, in response to the Swarm King's question, he merely shrugged lightly.
"I'm different from that useless idiot who can't accomplish anything."
Sora was stating a fact—he was currently a spirit, while Titania was a Memoria construct. They might look alike, but their fundamental nature differed.
[It doesn't matter what differences you claim. Your fate is already sealed.]
Unwilling to continue arguing pointlessly, the Starcrusher Swarm King launched a relentless storm of attacks at Sora.
Its silver-white limbs danced like blades, nearly filling the cosmos with slashes that could turn anything into minced dust.
Yet, to its frustration, Sora remained untouched.
No matter how wildly the Swarm King flailed its limbs, it couldn't even slow Sora's leisurely advance.
Those razor-sharp blades simply passed through empty vacuum each time.
The Starcrusher Swarm King's confusion mounted rapidly.
Could this be a mere illusion?
Repeated failures to inflict damage drove it to doubt reality.
Only an illusion could completely avoid all its strikes. If that were the case, everything would make sense.
Realizing this, the Starcrusher Swarm King prepared to ignore Sora altogether, focusing instead on devouring the newborn AEON.
"Oh? You're delivering your face directly to my feet?" Sora remarked, slightly amused by its movement.
How could he resist such an invitation?
Drawing back his leg, channeling energy into it, Sora slammed a kick directly into the Swarm King's armored body!
Tremendous force instantly distorted its carapace, visibly warping beneath Sora's foot.
BOOM!
Skaracabaz reeled from the impact, its massive star-sized body spinning chaotically through space.
"Good bug. You know I've just woken up and need some exercise."
The Starcrusher Swarm King, still dizzy, carefully ran a limb over the dented area on its armor.
Though small compared to its enormous body, practically negligible, that single footprint had severely shaken its earlier assumptions.
Could it be that the guy in front of me isn't an illusion after all?
A single kick from Sora, fresh from awakening, had inflicted significant psychological damage on the Swarm King.
Unwilling to accept reality, it resumed its assault with even greater fury.
Silver-white blades streaked across space like lightning, slicing from impossible angles.
Such brutal attacks would have shredded even those massive beasts that roamed freely among the stars.
But Sora simply stood there, entirely unbothered. He seemed oddly detached, yet perfectly integrated into his surroundings.
Each slash passed harmlessly through him, causing nothing more than slight ripples as if slicing water.
"You can't hurt me," Sora calmly declared, his gaze firmly locked onto Skaracabaz. "But my attacks won't be the same."
As he spoke, he threw a punch directly at the Swarm King's approaching limb!
Inconceivable strength erupted upon contact, sending the Swarm King crashing back with explosive sonic booms!
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Titania heard the violent shockwaves clearly, watching with wide eyes as the Swarm King hurtled out of Tartaro's orbit and far into deep space.
Its armor burned bright red from friction with the planet's atmosphere, cooling only once it reached the cold void of space.
[Impossible…] The Starcrusher Swarm King's voice shook with disbelief.
How could there possibly be a being immune to physical harm, yet still capable of delivering such devastating blows?!
Even a creature composed entirely of pure energy would've been shredded into atoms by those previous strikes.
Yet Sora remained perfectly intact, calmly drifting towards it.
Such a creature absolutely shouldn't exist!
Denial filled its thoughts, but the trembling of its limbs told the truth clearly.
[You bastard…you dare mock me?!]
The Starcrusher Swarm King let out a furious shriek, convinced that Sora's true body must be hidden elsewhere.
Just like Titania initially—once it found this elusive body, victory would be certain!
With a swift vibration of its wings, Skaracabaz transformed into a streaking meteor across space!
Its speed surged to an unimaginable peak, silver lightning arcing directly toward Sora!
Its bladed limbs flashed menacingly, carving dazzling arcs in space.
Sora remained calmly focused, staring directly into the Swarm King's lightning-fast assault.
Those blade arcs sliced through him harmlessly, flying onward to cut through the insect swarms far behind, slicing countless drones cleanly in two.
Even after being bisected, those drones mindlessly charged forward before collapsing, oblivious to their own dismemberment.
The attacks were so swift and precise, the insects felt nothing until the moment of death.
Witnessing this horrific scene, pilots quickly steered their ships clear.
While Sora might easily shrug off these strikes, their ships certainly wouldn't survive unscathed.
Yet these trivialities hardly interrupted the tense standoff between the two enormous opponents.
The Swarm King crossed vast distances instantly, reappearing on Sora's left flank, thrusting its bladed limb forward with blinding speed.
Sora calmly allowed the strike to pass through him, preparing his counterattack.
The Swarm King moved too fast for any sensors to track, creating countless afterimages around Sora, weaving a tapestry of illusions single-handedly.
Yet no matter how incredible its speed, Sora perceived every movement clearly.
"I believe your blade is about to snap."
Declaring this inwardly, Sora raised his hand and delivered a decisive chop!
Crack-Crack-Crack!
Cracks and splinters echoed through space, as countless fragments from the Swarm King's blade-like limb scattered, carving a bright trail across the void.
At the end of that trail stood Skaracabaz, one of its razor-sharp forelimbs cleanly severed at a third of its length.
The source of that severing strike had merely been Sora's knife-hand.
With unnatural calm, the Swarm King brought its shortened limb before its eyes, examining the smooth break. It appeared as though it had collided with something far tougher than itself.
[This hardness...]
Skaracabaz glared warily at Sora's right hand.
The forelimbs it had inherited from the Diabolical Swarm King represented TAZZYRONTH's aggression—the pinnacle of sharpness among all Propagation Emanators, second only to its own indestructible carapace.
With these very limbs, Skaracabaz had cut down countless foes in this war.
Even clashing directly with Titania's Crystal Pincer, it had emerged unscathed.
And yet now… it was cleanly broken.
Broken decisively, broken beyond Skaracabaz's wildest expectations.
All from a single chop by Sora's hand.
[What kind of power is this?!]
The Swarm King refused to believe this strength came solely from physical might.
He must have used some other force to achieve this feat!
"It's the power of belief," Sora generously responded.
Indeed, for Sora right now, this was precisely the power of belief.
If he believed he could break Skaracabaz's attacking limb, then he could do it.
That was the essence of the form he currently assumed—
KAMEN RIDER GHOST — MUGEN DAMASHII
The ultimate form that pushed the power of "If I think I can" to its absolute limit.
As long as Sora believed, he could never be defeated!
Unfortunately, the Swarm King didn't buy into that explanation.
[Does mocking me serve you any purpose?]
If mere belief was enough to shatter its limbs, then the Propagation AEON would have vanished long ago—why would QLIPOTH even need to intervene personally?
Clearly, Skaracabaz thought Sora was deliberately hiding something.
But it mattered little now.
[I've already discovered your weakness!]
The Swarm King lunged toward Sora again, raising its damaged limb high, swinging it downward fiercely!
Sora flicked his hand casually, and the shortened limb instantly shattered into countless shards.
[When you attack, you must become solid!]
Whipping its body around sharply, the Swarm King thrust its remaining intact blade at Sora's vitals.
Yet reality cruelly betrayed expectations; the blade passed straight through Sora without resistance, as though cutting nothing but thin air.
Impossible!
Hidden beneath its armor, Skaracabaz's eyes widened in disbelief at this sight.
And then the remaining forelimb also cracked apart, breaking off piece by piece from the joints!
[It's not over yet!]
The Swarm King opened its mouth wide, unleashing a devastating beam of heat at point-blank range.
Sora immediately sensed the approaching heat behind him—Skaracabaz's clone hidden upon the distant star was attacking!
Two blasts of [Stellar Ray Torrent] pincered him from opposite directions, colliding simultaneously at his location.
BOOM!
A dazzling explosion erupted, blazing tens of thousands of degrees, incinerating countless insects nearby into ashes instantly.
Pilots watching from afar breathed relief that they'd retreated quickly enough to avoid becoming cooked alive.
Yet worry filled many of their hearts as they stared toward the heart of that immense conflagration.
Those two intersecting beams created energy far surpassing anything Titania had faced alone.
Could Sora truly withstand it?
Abruptly, from within the blinding explosion, a colossal figure surged out.
It was the Starcrusher Swarm King!
Not only unharmed, but its abdomen now glowed with even greater golden brilliance.
[No being other than myself can survive an attack of such magnitude.]
Skaracabaz brimmed with confidence. Losing two limbs mattered little if it could eliminate Sora in exchange.
"How... How could it be you emerging from there?!" Titania cried out, having just managed to reform herself, utterly incredulous.
[What's impossible about it? The truth stands before your eyes.]
"You bastard…! But now you're weaponless—just let me cut you to pieces!"
Weaponless?!
Skaracabaz glanced at its missing limbs, then its abdomen lit up once again with golden markings.
Under Titania's horrified gaze, its forelimbs instantly regenerated fully.
[I am not a stagnant existence. After absorbing part of you, I can continue to evolve!]
After devouring a portion of Titania earlier, Skaracabaz had clearly sensed it had broken through some invisible boundary.
And beyond that boundary, its evolution knew no limits!
This was a truly unbelievable occurrence.
Skaracabaz had already assimilated the powers of the other Propagation Emanators, standing practically at their apex.
Yet, after consuming Titania, it managed to push forward once again, inching closer toward the realm of divinity itself!
Aware of this, Skaracabaz turned its eyes hungrily toward Titania and the planet Tartaro beneath her.
Once it devoured them completely, it might genuinely ascend into the domain of gods.
Sensing that predatory gaze, Titania gripped her blades tightly.
Weakened as she was, she might not be a match for it.
But backing down was no longer an option!
"Oh, evolution? That sure sounds like a familiar word."
Just as Titania prepared to charge, a calm voice forced her to halt.
The area where the two [Stellar Ray Torrents] had collided rapidly shrank, and a figure slowly stepped forth from the fading brilliance.
Seeing this, the Swarm King felt a chill run through it, deeply shaken.
[How could you possibly survive that chaotic torrent of energy?!]
Such a violent storm of energy should've been utterly unsurvivable!
Yet, as Sora clenched his fist, the once overwhelming rays vanished from the cosmos as if they'd never existed.
"Because I've evolved to adapt to that kind of power."
A great sword materialized in Sora's hand, and he stepped forward protectively before Titania.
"Since you can evolve too, how about we see whose evolution is faster?"
[Exactly my intention!]
Delight filled the Swarm King's heart. The advantage lay firmly with it!
Let this foolish creature witness the true evolutionary speed of an Emanator-class being!