The moment Khaizar turned away with Aqsa in his grasp, the battlefield seemed to settle for a fraction of a second—like everything had already accepted the outcome. Dust floated lazily in the air, the faint smell of iron and burnt ground lingering from the earlier clash. Khaizar walked forward without urgency, his grip firm around Aqsa as if she weighed nothing, his mind already drifting toward the reward that awaited him.
Finally… it's over.
A faint smile touched his lips beneath the mask. Azaldera will be released… and Master will be pleased.
Aqsa, struggling weakly in his hold, twisted her neck just enough to look back. Her vision blurred with tears, but she could still see him—Harun—lying there, unmoving, broken, covered in blood that had not yet fully settled into the ground.
"BIG BRO!!"
Her voice tore through the air.
And that… was when everything changed.
It didn't happen gradually. There was no warning, no slow build-up, no visible shift that could be tracked or understood. One moment the world was still—and the next, it wasn't the same world anymore.
The air grew heavier.
Not dense… not thick… but oppressive.
As if something invisible had descended and claimed the space itself.
Khaizar's steps slowed.
His instincts reacted before his mind could process it. A faint chill ran down his spine—not fear, not exactly—but something close enough that his body refused to ignore it.
…What is this?
Then he felt it.
Bloodlust.
Not ordinary killing intent. Not the kind warriors released in battle.
This was different.
This was weight.
A presence so overwhelming that it didn't need to move to dominate everything around it. It didn't spread—it pressed. From above, from behind, from within the air itself, forcing even someone like Khaizar to acknowledge it.
His body stiffened slightly.
Then—
Something moved behind him.
No.
Someone.
A presence so close it felt like it had always been there.
A voice followed.
Cold.
Quiet.
Right beside his ear.
"Put her down."
Khaizar's eyes widened slightly.
"Put Aqsa down."
There was no shout. No anger.
Just certainty.
And before Khaizar could even react—
His body obeyed.
Not by choice.
His arm moved on its own, lowering Aqsa gently onto the ground, his grip loosening without resistance. The moment her feet touched the ground, she stumbled slightly, coughing, her lungs struggling to recover from the pressure that had been crushing her moments ago.
Khaizar stepped back.
Then slowly…
He turned.
And what he saw—
For the first time since entering Bhouldera—
Actually shocked him.
Harun stood there.
But not the same Harun.
Not even close.
The right side of his body was consumed by darkness—not shadow, not absence of light, but something alive. Black fibres wrapped tightly around his skin, pulsing faintly as if they carried their own heartbeat. They spread across his face, his arm, his torso, forming patterns that resembled veins—but far more aggressive, far more unnatural.
The left side—
White.
Brilliant, dense, almost solid in appearance. Thick strands of glowing energy layered over each other, giving the impression that his entire left side had been reforged into something beyond flesh.
His hair—
Split.
Left side black.
Right side white.
Not mixed. Not fading.
Perfectly divided.
And his eyes—
One radiated pure white energy.
The other—
Something darker.
Not evil.
But deep.
Heavy.
Unfathomable.
From his right shoulder, the Dravillian stone pulsed violently, releasing continuous streams of black fibres that extended outward before snapping back into his body, as if the energy itself couldn't remain contained.
Khaizar stared.
"…What the hell…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
Because Harun moved.
Not with speed.
Not with force.
With absence.
He disappeared.
EVENT HORIZON STEP.
The space behind Khaizar distorted—just slightly—and Harun was already there, his hand forming around a construct of pure condensed light. Photon Gauntlets materialized instantly, wrapping around his fists with a sharp, vibrating hum.
No warning.
No buildup.
"BLACK PULSE SMASH."
The impact wasn't explosive at first.
It was compressed.
A dense, crushing force that detonated only after making contact.
Khaizar's body folded slightly under the hit before being launched violently across the battlefield, his feet losing contact with the ground instantly as the shockwave expanded outward in a circular burst.
The ground cracked.
Air shattered.
And Khaizar was sent flying.
He slammed into the ruins of a broken structure, stone collapsing around him as debris scattered outward.
For a moment—
Silence.
Then—
He pushed himself up.
Slowly.
"…Interesting."
He wiped a trace of blood from his lip, his eyes narrowing slightly as he stared at Harun.
"This presence…"
He exhaled.
"…got heavier."
But then—
He smirked.
"Still feels weak."
His hand lifted.
"RED PHANTOM THREADS."
The air shifted again.
Invisible threads expanded outward instantly, layering over each other in a complex web that filled the entire battlefield.
But this time—
Harun didn't flinch.
He didn't hesitate.
His hand moved slightly.
And from nothing—
The Eclipse Blade formed.
Black and white energy fused into its structure, the blade itself appearing unstable, like it existed between two states at once.
And then—
For the first time—
Harun saw them.
All of them.
Every thread.
Every intersection.
Every point of contact.
Not vague.
Not partial.
Perfect clarity.
"…So this is what it looks like."
His voice was calm.
He raised the blade.
"ECLIPSE SEVER."
One swing.
No exaggeration.
No wasted motion.
And the entire web—
Collapsed.
Every thread severed simultaneously, not cut individually, but erased from existence as if they had never been there to begin with.
Khaizar's smirk faded slightly.
"…What?"
Harun was already gone again.
Another distortion behind him—
"I won't let anyone get hurt this time."
The voice came from behind.
Cold.
Certain.
"I'll kill you."
The blade moved.
"ECLIPSE TURNOVER REND."
The attack didn't travel.
It expanded.
A massive distortion formed at the point of contact, space itself twisting violently as the slash carried both destructive force and gravitational pull.
Khaizar reacted instantly, crimson wires forming a layered shield around him.
Impact.
BOOM.
The shield held—barely—but the wires themselves were shredded, their structure destabilized as the force pushed Khaizar backward again, his feet dragging across the ground this time instead of being launched.
"…Now that's better."
Khaizar's voice deepened.
"NOW I CAN USE MY FULL POWER."
His arms spread outward.
"CRIMSON RAIN."
Dozens—no—hundreds of wires shot upward into the sky before pausing for a fraction of a second.
Then—
They fell.
Like rain.
But faster.
Sharper.
Each one targeting Harun from a different angle.
And before that could even land—
"CRIMSON MARIONETTE."
The wires changed mid-air, some curving, some twisting, creating unpredictable trajectories designed to trap, bind, and tear apart simultaneously.
Harun looked up.
His expression didn't change.
His hand rose slightly.
A sphere formed.
Darkness at the core.
Light injected into it.
Stabilizing it.
Then—
"BLACK SUN PULSE."
He launched it upward.
The sphere expanded instantly upon contact, devouring the incoming wires in a violent implosion before detonating outward in a controlled burst.
BOOOOM.
The sky cleared.
For a second—
Nothing remained.
Khaizar smirked again.
"You really thought that would work?"
A single thread—
Invisible—
Wrapped around Harun's leg.
"EXECUTION STRING."
Khaizar's voice dropped.
"Now I control you."
The thread tightened slightly.
"If you move against my will…"
His smirk widened.
"…your leg comes off."
Harun looked down.
Just once.
"…Oh."
No panic.
No hesitation.
The Eclipse Blade moved—
And the thread snapped.
Clean.
Effortless.
Before Khaizar could react—
Harun was already in front of him.
"HEAVENLY REND FIBRE SLASH."
The attack didn't come as one.
It came as many.
Multiple overlapping slashes, each one infused with both white and black energy, striking from slightly different angles in rapid succession.
Khaizar tried to defend—
Too late.
The attacks landed.
One.
Two.
Ten.
Fifty.
The ground erupted beneath them as the force of the slashes tore through everything in range, leaving behind deep scars in the terrain itself.
Then.
Silence.
Dust settled slowly.
Aqsa stood frozen.
Her breathing uneven.
Her eyes wide.
And when the dust cleared.
Harun stood.
Still.
Unmoving.
And Khaizar.
Barely standing.
His body covered in deep cuts, his stance unstable, blood dripping steadily from multiple wounds.
Khaizar's broken laughter echoed weakly across the ruined battlefield, blood dripping from his lips as he forced himself to remain standing. His body was barely holding together, yet his eyes still carried that strange confidence as he looked past Harun.
"Master…" he muttered, voice trembling but filled with relief. "You're here… I held him… for you…"
Harun's expression didn't change immediately, but something in those words made his instincts react. A shift. A warning. Something far more dangerous than Khaizar himself.
Slowly, he turned.
At first, he didn't understand what he was seeing.
A streak of pure lightning tore through the air, faster than anything before, heading straight toward him.
Harun's eyes widened slightly.
And behind him.
Aqsa screamed.
"BIG BRO!!!!!"