The moment William and Merito left the battlefield, the atmosphere of the arena did not calm.
If anything, it became heavier.
The previous battle had shown the candidates a glimpse of powers that touched the deepest foundations of reality itself. Many believed that no following battle could match such a spectacle.
They were wrong.
Because the next confrontation was between two beings whose paths were completely opposite.
One was a swordsman who had spent his entire life perfecting a single truth.
A single movement.
A single strike.
A single blade capable of cutting anything that existed.
Javier.
The candidate whose sword had cut matter, energy, gravity, shadows, and even the very concepts that governed reality.
The other was the embodiment of endless possibilities.
A being who did not dedicate herself to one path, but to all paths.
Maria.
The candidate of the Eternal Copy Physique.
A body that allowed its owner to comprehend any ability, reproduce it, and push it toward a new level of evolution.
If Javier represented absolute specialization—
Maria represented infinite adaptation.
The two stepped onto the battlefield.
Neither released a terrifying aura.
Neither displayed arrogance.
They simply observed one another.
Javier had already witnessed Maria's battles.
He knew the greatest mistake against her was allowing the fight to continue for too long.
Every second he gave her was another second she could spend understanding him.
And once Maria understood something, fighting her became like fighting a mirror that continuously improved itself.
Maria understood this as well.
A prolonged battle favored her.
A decisive battle favored him.
Their victory conditions were completely opposed.
The judge raised his hand.
"Begin."
Javier disappeared.
Not because of speed like Mark.
Not because of spatial manipulation like Daniel.
It was the pure efficiency of a swordsman who had eliminated every unnecessary movement.
His sword had already arrived before most spectators even realized he had drawn it.
A line appeared across Maria's cheek.
A small drop of blood floated into the air.
The audience became silent.
It was the first time in the tournament that Maria had been injured before adapting.
Javier did not celebrate.
Instead, his eyes became sharper.
He knew that this tiny success was his greatest opportunity.
He attacked again.
And again.
And again.
Thousands of invisible cuts filled the battlefield.
Each one could divide reality itself.
Mountains would have been split.
Stars would have been torn apart.
But Maria's expression remained calm.
Her eyes followed every movement.
Every vibration.
Every change in the surrounding energy.
The Eternal Copy Physique was working.
Learning.
Understanding.
The next slash arrived.
This time, Maria moved.
A small movement.
Almost identical to Javier's own footwork.
His eyes narrowed.
She had already copied the foundation of his swordsmanship.
Impossible.
The battle had only begun.
But that was the terror of an Eternal Physique.
Javier changed his approach immediately.
A lesser warrior would panic.
Javier became more dangerous.
If Maria could copy the sword—
then he would force her to understand something she had never seen before.
The giant phantom swordsman appeared behind him.
The same phenomenon that had defeated Kashmir and pushed Merito to his limits.
The heavens above the arena seemed to separate.
The spectators felt as if a blade had been placed against their souls.
A strike capable of cutting all things descended.
Maria did not attempt to copy it.
Not yet.
She understood the danger.
A power of that level required complete comprehension.
Trying to imitate it imperfectly would only lead to her destruction.
Instead, she relied on the countless abilities she had already mastered.
Space folded.
Gravity shifted.
Absolute zero covered the area.
Barriers of pure cosmic energy emerged.
The slash reached them.
And cut everything.
The ice disappeared.
The gravity fields were separated.
The barriers split apart.
The attack continued.
For the first time, Maria's expression changed.
A serious look appeared in her eyes.
She realized a frightening truth.
Javier's sword was a direct counter to her style.
No matter how many abilities she stacked together, a single perfect cut could separate them all.
The sword did not care how complex her techniques were.
It only needed a path.
And Javier could always find one.
The slash reached her.
At the final moment, Maria made a decision.
She did not defend.
She copied.
Her consciousness entered the essence of Javier's ability.
The way he viewed existence.
The principle behind the blade.
The reason why a sword could cut concepts themselves.
The process was painful.
It felt as though millions of blades were cutting through her mind.
Yet she continued.
Because that was the purpose of her body.
To understand.
To evolve.
To surpass.
The attack reached her.
A massive wound appeared across her body.
Blood flowed.
The audience believed the battle was over.
Then—
Maria opened her eyes.
Inside them appeared the reflection of a sword.
She raised her hand.
And made a cutting motion.
The space in front of her separated.
A slash almost identical to Javier's own appeared.
For the first time in the entire tournament—
Javier's calm expression changed.
A smile appeared on his face.
Not anger.
Not fear.
Excitement.
"Excellent."
For the first time in his life, he had met someone capable of walking the same path as his blade.
The battle truly began.
The arena transformed into a storm of cuts.
One created by the original.
One created by the copy.
Every collision divided the surrounding space.
Every movement threatened to destroy the battlefield.
The ancient judge watched carefully.
For the first time since the beginning of the tournament, he prepared himself to interfere.
Because he understood the danger.
This battle would not be decided by power.
It would be decided by who could improve faster.
The creator of the path.
Or the one who could make every path her own.
The moment Maria reached toward the essence of Javier's sword, she expected to find what she had always found before.
A structure.
A principle.
A law.
Something she could observe, understand, and eventually reproduce.
But there was nothing.
No pattern.
No formula.
No cosmic rule waiting to be analyzed.
There was only a path.
A path carved through countless battles, endless training, and a lifetime devoted to a single truth.
A sword that cut because Javier himself had reached the point where his existence acknowledged nothing as impossible to sever.
For the first time since awakening the Eternal Copy Physique—
Maria failed to copy something.
Her eyes widened slightly.
Javier noticed.
"You understand now."
His voice was calm as his blade remained pointed toward her.
"My sword is not an ability."
"It is my existence."
The next moment, he attacked.
A single slash crossed the battlefield.
Maria no longer attempted to understand it.
She abandoned that thought immediately.
Instead, she relied on what made her terrifying.
Adaptation.
The slash came.
Space shifted.
Gravity bent.
Layers of cosmic energy altered its trajectory.
Not blocking the cut—
that was impossible.
But forcing it to travel through a path that would make reaching her more difficult.
Even so, a thin line appeared on her shoulder.
Blood flowed.
The spectators understood the frightening reality.
Javier possessed a natural advantage over her.
Most opponents became weaker as Maria learned their powers.
But Javier remained an unchanging peak she could not reproduce.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"Good."
"At least you are not making the mistake of trying to become me."
Maria looked at him calmly.
"And you are making the mistake of believing that I need to."
For the first time, she attacked.
Thousands of different techniques appeared at once.
Frozen stars descended from the sky.
Gravitational storms distorted the battlefield.
Waves of space-time distortion attacked from impossible angles.
Energy from the deepest layers of the universe condensed into weapons of countless forms.
A battlefield that once belonged to a duel became an entire cosmos of different powers.
Javier moved.
His sword danced.
Every strike was simple.
Every strike was absolute.
The frozen stars were cut apart.
The gravitational fields were separated.
Space-time distortions were sliced before they reached him.
Even the pure cosmic weapons shattered before his blade.
But something was changing.
Very slowly.
Very subtly.
Javier was moving more.
For the first time, he was not standing at the center of the battlefield controlling the flow of combat.
He was responding.
Adapting.
Following Maria's rhythm.
The battle lasted longer than any of his previous confrontations.
Javier's breathing became heavier.
His arms became slower by an almost unnoticeable margin.
A normal opponent would never recognize that weakness.
Maria did.
Not because she had copied him.
But because she had studied him.
She had discovered something else.
A path could not be copied.
But the one walking it was still a living being.
Her attacks became more precise.
Not stronger.
More intelligent.
Every ability she used had a purpose.
A gravitational field to alter his stance.
A spatial distortion to limit his angle.
A wave of absolute cold to slow the movement of his muscles.
None of them could defeat him alone.
But together, they gradually created a battlefield where his perfect sword had fewer perfect answers.
For the first time—
Javier was forced to retreat.
The spectators fell silent.
They had seen Javier's sword cut everything.
They had seen him face the Void of Merito without taking a single step back.
Yet Maria had accomplished something different.
She had not overcome his sword.
She had overcome the environment where the sword was most effective.
Realizing the situation, Javier closed his eyes.
A deep silence spread around him.
Everyone understood what was coming.
His final sword.
The blade that represented his entire life.
The same sword that had split the heavens.
The same sword that even Merito's nullification had struggled to erase.
A colossal swordsman appeared behind him once more.
The universe seemed to hold its breath.
Maria also gathered everything she had.
Not a single ultimate technique.
Not one overwhelming attack.
But thousands of perfected abilities working together as one.
The battlefield became the collision between one absolute truth and endless possibilities.
The sword descended.
The universe trembled.
The ancient judge immediately stepped forward.
His hand reached the center of the collision.
For a brief moment, even his expression became serious.
Then the destructive forces disappeared.
The battlefield returned to normal.
Both candidates remained standing.
Maria's body was covered in wounds.
Her energy was heavily depleted.
Javier's hand trembled slightly as he held his sword.
Neither had enough strength to launch another attack.
The judge observed them for a long time.
Finally, he spoke.
"This battle ends in a draw."
A murmur spread throughout the arena.
Another draw.
Another clash between monsters that refused to bow.
Javier looked at her.
For a moment, he laughed quietly.
"How troublesome."
"You cannot copy my sword."
Maria nodded.
"No."
She looked at the countless scars left by his attacks.
"But I do not need to."
For the first time, Javier bowed his head slightly to an opponent.
"Then I will look forward to the day you challenge my path again."
Maria returned the gesture.
The two left the battlefield under the gaze of every candidate.
They had witnessed a battle that proved a profound truth.
There were powers that could not be copied.
But even an uncopyable path could be challenged by limitless adaptation.