Koma unleashed a devastating straight punch, the sheer force of his movement threatening to split the atmosphere.
Idle stayed slouched, drifting backward through the cloud vapor with effortless precision.
He slipped the trajectory of the strike by a fraction of an inch, his limp frame bobbing against the wind pressure as the massive fist cut through empty space.
"You're starting to piss me off," Koma growled, his knuckles vibrating with raw friction as he recovered his stance. "Take this seriously."
An angry, flickering wave of bright energy burst from Koma's skin, his localized presence expanding violently against the freezing wind.
Idle's eyes barely cracked open as he tracked the sudden, aggressive surge of energy ripples.
"You really think that expending your energy is going to alter the outcome of this?" Idle muttered. "It just seems like a massive waste of movement."
"The outcome was decided the moment you stepped onto this mountain," Koma said, his eyes shifting downward for a single microsecond.
Through the dense cloud cover, the localized explosion of Dual's unsealed energy rippled against his spatial awareness.
He saw the faint traces of the twins below. They weren't out of stamina, and their Yen wasn't completely empty. They were simply too weak compared to the overwhelming weight of Dual's true presence.
Koma looked back at Idle, his expression turning cold. "What is your sister doing down there?"
Idle let out a long, weary sigh, letting his arms dangle like loose rope.
"She always overdoes things when she gets frustrated," Idle whispered. He let out a low, lazy laugh, his chest barely moving under his tunic. "But she's just getting warm. You could probably save them if you go down there now."
Koma's jaw tightened as his presence flared into a blinding, oppressive shroud.
"I'll deal with her after I kill you," Koma growled.
"That sounds incredibly exhausting," Idle whispered, closing his eyes entirely. "I think I'll take a quick nap while you finish doing whatever you wish."
Before Idle could even register the shift in the spatial grid, Koma vanished.
His hand blurred, his fingers locking into the collar of Idle's loose vest with raw, unyielding force.
With a single violent rotation of his shoulders, Koma hurled Idle straight down toward the earth.
The kinetic displacement shattered the canopy of the Null Haven.
Idle absorbed the impact, correcting his momentum as he hit the valley floor, casually shifting his weight to stand back up in a slow, completely lazy way right in front of Dual's bare feet.
Before Dual could even speak, Koma phantom stepped, materializing instantly right before Idle.
His fist detonated forward in a fraction of a millisecond, punching a clean, hollow hole right through the center of Idle's torso.
The edges of the wound charred black where the core impact hit.
Idle collapsed into the dirt, entirely still. Dual stared down at Idle, her eyes widening as the residual pink flame on her hands completely died out.
"Idle?" Dual called out.
He didn't move. The mass of his divine energy was flat, the ancient blood pooling deeply into the mud.
Nearby, Kaola forced her heavy eyelids open against the wet grass, her breath rattling through her fractured chest as she witnessed the devastating blow. Her jaw went slack in pure shock, her mind struggling to process how Koma had just physically broken a being of ancient energy.
Lokee completely froze, her fluid element already dissolved. The high frequency water whips were gone, leaving only thin air as her calculations entirely shattered.
Hykee clutched his broken ribs from the dirt, his eye widening in sheer disbelief as he watched the absolute termination of the monster who had just dismantled Kaola.
A sudden, violent rush of wind cut through the quiet forest, and inside Dual's mind, the clearing vanished.
The cold earth of the hidden cavern replaced the grass, the heavy monolithic stone ring of their home rising up into the darkness.
They were children. Idle sat slouched against a broken block of masonry, his tiny arms crossed over his chest as he stared blankly at the stone ceiling.
"Why are you always laying down?" Dual asked, her young voice echoing off the ancient walls.
She stood a few feet away, her knuckles raw and coiling with the first faint sparks of her dangerous flames.
"Get up," Dual commanded. Idle didn't even blink.
"Go away, Dual," Idle muttered. "It takes too much energy to look at you."
"We have to train," she insisted, stepping closer, her small fists shaking with a mixture of anger and desperation.
"Apex is already faster than Saint, and Aliv knows everything that's going to happen. If we don't get stronger, they'll leave us behind."
Idle let out a small, miserable sigh, closing his eyes entirely.
"Let it happen," Idle said. "The world can burn for all I care, as long as the smoke doesn't reach my corner. Now leave me alone."
The flashback shattered.
The damp grass of the Null Haven rushed back into her vision.
Dual dropped to her knees in the mud, her hands trembling as she reached out toward her brother's cold, motionless frame.
A single, hot tear rolled down her cheek, cutting through the soot on her skin.
"C'mon, Idle, get up, lazy. This isn't the time to be sleeping," Dual stuttered, her voice shaking violently as she clutched his clothes.
She pulled at him, but his weight remained entirely limp against the earth.
"I... Idle... get up, this isn't funny anymore," Dual said. "Stand up right now. Idle, please."
There was no answer and the number four on his hand started to fade away.
From the dirt nearby, Hykee began laughing hysterically, his bloody teeth bared through the grime as he stared at Dual's unfolding panic.
"I told you five minutes!" Hykee mocked loudly, coughing through his laughter as his shoulders shook.
"He's dead," Koma's voice boomed from above as he stood over them, his presence humming with a terrifying, absolute certainty. "Your brother didn't take me seriously."
Dual didn't look up at them.The grief inside her chest turned into a cold, hollow void that felt heavy enough to drown the entire forest.
Without a single word, she ran away, her form turning into a hot pink flash as she fled the mountain entirely until she vanished completely, leaving the broken body of her brother behind in the mud.
Koma watched the hot pink trail vanish into the horizon before shifting his focus back down to Idle's cold frame.
He raised a single hand.
"Forbidden Act," Koma whispered, his voice cold and devoid of any empathy. "Blood Siphon."
The unsealed pressure tore into Idle's central wound.
Massive streams of ancient, glowing blood violently pulled outward through the open tear in his torso, the stolen life force condensing into a highly pressurized crimson bubble floating right above Koma's open palm.
Koma absorbed the glowing orb entirely, drawing the life force straight into himself to replenish his depleted stamina.
Lokee looked completely distraught from her spot in the mud, her frame trembling as she witnessed the forbidden act.
"Are you sure that's necessary, brother?" Lokee asked, her voice cracking with pure disgust.
"Shut up and go heal Kaola," Koma responded, not even looking her way as his expended Yen settled cleanly back into his skin.
Somewhere far from the Null Haven, hidden among the jagged mountain ridges, Kova felt Koma's forbidden blood act activate.
"What has he gotten himself into?" Kova muttered, his tone absolute and entirely neutral against the rising wind.
Far from the mountain, the hot pink flash tore through the world, and she appeared back at her hideout.
Deep within the stone ring beneath the earth, the stillness was absolute.
Apex sat in the center, his chin resting in his palm.
The space behind him fractured violently as Dual materialized, falling flat onto the ancient floorboards, her breath turning into jagged, ragged gasps.
Apex instantly felt her return, but he didn't track Idle's presence anywhere near her.
"Where is Idle?" Apex asked, his voice cutting through the cavern like a hammer against stone.
Dual remained completely silent, her entire frame trembling violently against the cold stone floorboards.
Apex shifted his posture, lifting his chin from his hand as he leaned forward to stare down at her collapsed silhouette.
"Why isn't he with you?" Apex barked.
Aliv looked at her, and tears suddenly started running down her face. She stepped forward, her voice catching.
"How could you leave him?" Aliv cried out.
Saint growled from the northern corridor, a massive surge of dark frost crackling violently across the stone boards.
"Aliv, what did she do?" Saint barked.
Apex didn't speak another word. He vanished from the center stone.
In a fraction of a millisecond, he appeared directly in front of Dual, grabbed her by the arm, and vanished again immediately.