The moment Jayze stepped fully into the arena, the pressure changed.
Not heat.
Not killing intent.
Control.
His presence alone warped the battlefield, spatial lines bending subtly as if the arena itself acknowledged him as a dominant force.
Kira felt it instantly.
Aqua…
"I know," she replied calmly.
And then—
she stepped forward.
Not behind him.
In front of him.
The crowd stiffened.
Chris' eyes widened slightly.
Even Yuujin leaned forward, interest finally sparked.
Jayze smiled.
"So the spirit shows herself," he said. "Bold. Or careless."
Aqua didn't answer.
Instead—
She split.
Water folded in on itself, forming a flawless duplicate that remained beside Kira, standing exactly as she had been a second earlier. The clone radiated identical mana, identical presence—perfect down to the last ripple.
The real Aqua walked forward alone.
Only Kira felt the shift.
"Keep your eyes on Chris," she said softly.
"I'll handle him."
Jayze noticed the distortion—but too late.
The ground beneath him vanished.
Not shattered.
Turned into ocean.
Jayze reacted instantly, leaping back as a colossal surge of water erupted upward, forming a spiraling pillar that tried to swallow him whole.
He landed midair, snapping his fingers—
Space fractured.
The water collapsed inward unnaturally, crushed by spatial compression.
"Interesting," Jayze muttered. "You manipulate authority-level fluids."
Aqua tilted her head.
"You manipulate distance," she replied.
"But distance doesn't matter in the deep."
The water moved again.
Not fast.
Inevitable.
Jayze's smile sharpened.
Now this was worth his time.
Kira vs Chris — Brotherhood Under Siege
The moment Aqua left, the battlefield shifted again.
Chris forced himself upright, Ignis still suppressed, his breathing heavy but steady.
"You really did it," Chris said. "You chose this path."
Kira didn't respond.
Because the Sovereignties moved.
Three of them stepped forward instantly, mana flaring as they surrounded Kira from multiple angles.
"End it," one of them said coldly.
"He's destabilized."
Chris turned sharply.
"Stay out of this!"
They didn't listen.
The first attack came from behind.
Kira barely dodged, water forming instinctively as a blade of condensed mana grazed his shoulder. He twisted, countering with a wave strike—but another Sovereignty intercepted it mid-air.
Too many.
Too fast.
Chris clenched his fists.
"…Stop," he said.
They ignored him again.
Kira was driven back, blow after blow landing as Aqua's clone strained to keep up defensive formations. Even so, cracks began to form.
"This isn't your fight anymore," one Sovereignty sneered.
"You don't belong with us."
Kira felt it then.
That familiar pressure.
That stillness before something irreversible.
Sage's technique… he thought.
Aqua's voice echoed faintly through the clone.
"If you use it… they'll notice."
"I know."
Another attack slipped through.
Blood hit the ground.
Chris shouted his name.
That was it.
Kira straightened.
The water stilled.
No waves.
No movement.
Just silence.
"Phantom Pulse."
The world skipped.
Not shattered.
Skipped.
The Sovereignties froze mid-motion, their mana severed from cause and effect as invisible pulses rippled outward—silent, precise, absolute.
One collapsed instantly.
Another dropped to a knee, eyes wide in terror.
A third slammed into the arena wall without ever realizing they'd been hit.
Chris stared.
"…That technique—"
Kira didn't look at him.
But his control was different from Sage's.
Where hers was sharp and desperate—
His was fluid.
Natural.
As if the technique belonged to him.
Yuujin's eyes narrowed.
"So that's it," he murmured.
"The Phantom's echo… but refined."
Jayze, mid-battle with Aqua, laughed.
"Oh… now this is getting fun."
The water around him surged violently.
Aqua's gaze hardened.
And at that exact moment—
The Sovereignty side moved as one.
This was no longer a test.
This was war.