The infinite expanse of Room Five stretched in every direction—no sky, no ground, no horizon. Just white vastness folding into itself like reality had been peeled open and hollowed out.
In the center of it all stood Samsura.
Barefoot. Blindfolded. Calm.
Five mid-level deity pressure rolled through the realm like an unseen tide.
Eryndor moved first.
He vanished in a burst of storm-light, Eightfold Flow igniting through his limbs, the rhythm of his breathing synchronizing with wind and lightning.
At the same instant—
Darius' shadow expanded across the nothingness.
Kaelus stepped forward, Tempest Blade singing as wind spiraled around its edge.
Stellar flicked her wrist and frost crystallized in midair.
Rein lowered his stance, dominion pressure thickening around his fists.
They attacked together.
Shadow Blade.
Tempest Slash.
Ice Spears.
Dominion-charged shockwaves.
Storm arcs.
But Samsura only lifted one hand.
The space in front of him bent like a transparent mirror.
Every elemental attack vanished into a thin distortion in the air—
—and reappeared behind them.
"Move!"
Eryndor twisted mid-air as lightning ripped past his shoulder.
Kaelus deflected his own slash with Tempest Blade.
Stellar froze the returning ice before it impaled her.
Darius split into shadow fragments to avoid his reflected strike.
Rein crossed his arms and tanked the dominion recoil, sliding back several meters.
Samsura tilted his head slightly.
"Opening and closing space is simple," he said calmly. "You throw energy at me… I store it elsewhere… then I return it."
Another wave of coordinated elemental attacks came.
Again, they disappeared.
Again, they returned.
Again, they were forced to defend themselves from their own power.
Eryndor clicked his tongue.
"It's no use. We're just feeding him."
Samsura smiled faintly beneath the white cloth.
"You noticed that using elemental attacks drains your energy," he said. "So you resort to close quarters combat. Good thinking."
He lifted his chin slightly.
"But is it going to help?"
Eryndor grinned.
"We'll find out."
He launched first.
Eightfold Flow activated.
This time he didn't use lightning.
He moved purely through physical acceleration—muscle, timing, breath.
Rein followed immediately.
Two streaks of power crossed the infinite white.
Samsura disappeared.
He reappeared between them.
Eryndor twisted his hips and drove a palm strike toward Samsura's ribs.
Rein's fist came from the opposite angle, wrapped in dominion force.
Both attacks landed.
A solid hit.
A deep impact.
Samsura's torso compressed slightly from the force.
The shockwave rippled outward.
For a moment—
Victory?
No.
Samsura's foot slid half an inch.
His hand tapped Eryndor's wrist.
Space folded.
Eryndor was suddenly five meters above the ground.
Rein's own momentum redirected downward.
Samsura's elbow drove into Rein's chest.
The air detonated.
Rein crashed into the white floor, carving a long trench.
Eryndor flipped mid-air and landed smoothly, but Samsura was already behind him.
A light strike to the shoulder—
Space displaced the force inward.
Eryndor felt the compression inside his body and slid back several meters.
They reset.
No openings.
Rein wiped blood from the corner of his mouth.
"That space nonsense is annoying."
He extended his hand.
"Dominion Authority—Cancel."
His pressure expanded outward, attempting to suppress Samsura's elemental control.
For a split second—
Space stuttered.
Then it stabilized.
Samsura chuckled.
"You are within my dimensional sphere. Dominion over territory is impressive… but space itself is not bound by your authority."
Rein exhaled slowly.
"Yeah… figured."
"Don't go solo," Eryndor said. "All five."
Kaelus stepped in.
Wind exploded outward.
Tempest Blade flashed.
Darius' chains of darkness snapped through the air.
Stellar closed distance silently, frost creeping underfoot.
They attacked in sequence, not simultaneously.
Kaelus high.
Stellar low.
Darius restricting angles.
Rein applying raw pressure.
Eryndor weaving through gaps.
Samsura's body blurred.
Not fast in a conventional sense.
He wasn't moving.
He was shifting.
Tiny spatial displacements.
A centimeter here.
Half a meter there.
An inch to the side before impact.
Each dodge was minimal.
Precise.
Efficient.
Kaelus' blade grazed Samsura's shoulder.
Stellar's knee connected with his ribs.
Rein's fist clipped his jaw.
Darius' chain wrapped briefly around his wrist.
They were landing hits.
Small.
But real.
Samsura slid back a step.
"Interesting."
He lifted his hand.
"Misplace."
The world shifted.
Instantly—
Eryndor was alone.
Rein stood hundreds of meters away.
Stellar's ice spears were facing Kaelus.
Darius' shadow expanded in the wrong direction.
Positions randomized across infinite white.
For a moment—
Confusion.
Rein growled. "What the—"
Eryndor closed his eyes.
"Don't panic! Feel each other's aura!"
They adapted.
Storm sense.
Wind flow.
Shadow tether.
Dominion pressure.
Frost resonance.
They located each other through energy signatures instead of sight.
Kaelus leapt toward Eryndor's current position.
Darius anchored shadows toward the densest spatial distortion.
Stellar froze the air in expanding rings to map movement.
Rein jumped blindly toward the strongest fluctuation.
Within seconds—
They re-synced.
Samsura tilted his head.
"You adapted quickly."
This time they pressed harder.
Rotating formations.
No wasted movement.
Every time Samsura shifted—
Another teammate filled the angle.
Rein forced frontal engagement.
Kaelus cut off retreat vectors.
Darius manipulated shadow positioning to restrict displacement points.
Stellar froze localized space, slowing micro-shifts.
Eryndor read the rhythm of vibration.
A clean punch from Rein landed.
Kaelus followed with a cross-slash.
Stellar drove an elbow into Samsura's side.
Darius' chain finally wrapped around his ankle.
Eryndor struck his sternum with Eightfold Flow compression.
Samsura slid back several meters.
He did not fall.
But the pressure on him increased.
His breathing changed slightly.
"You are forcing me to expand my spatial expenditure."
He stepped back.
Then stopped entirely.
The infinite white trembled.
A ripple expanded outward from him.
His aura exploded.
Not violently.
Not wildly.
But overwhelmingly dense.
Space itself thickened.
The air felt heavier.
Eryndor narrowed his eyes.
"He's done playing."
Samsura removed one hand from his side.
"I am suppressed by Nohr's laws," he said calmly. "But I can still release sixty-five percent of my original power."
The pressure multiplied.
The five of them felt it at once.
Their knees dipped slightly.
Rein grinned despite the weight.
"Now we're talking."
Kaelus tightened his grip on Tempest Blade.
Wind spiraled upward around him.
Darius' shadow form darkened, chains lengthening behind his back.
Stellar's frost crept higher up her arms, eyes glowing faint blue.
Eryndor exhaled slowly.
Storm clouds began to gather above the endless white void.
"Round two," he said quietly.
Samsura's voice echoed across the infinite realm.
"Come."
The pressure between them crackled like reality itself was waiting to split.
Three newly ascended low deities and two god candidates standing against a suppressed mid-level deity of space.
They stood breathing heavily—
Exhausted.
Bruised.
But smiling.
Ready.
The real fight was about to begin.