The high-pitched ring of the singularity didn't end in a whimper. It ended in a roar.
[EVOLUTION STATUS: SECOND FORM — 100.00%]
Lapis didn't hesitate. He poured the final drop of his soul into a technique that shouldn't exist. "Annihilation Technique: UNIVERSAL VERMILION!"
The collision of Magenta and Orange didn't just create a black hole; it birthed a beam of pure, conceptual erasure that swallowed the horizon. Lapis fell to his knees, his magenta eyes dimming. "It's... over," he wheezed, his mana veins burning cold. "I have nothing left."
But as the vermilion smoke cleared, the silence that followed was heavier than the explosion.
"Is that all?"
Gudmaro stepped out of the crater. His transformation was complete. His mechanical parts had fused into organic, obsidian-like muscle. His arms were massive, pulsing with red veins of stolen Arcon energy, and his presence alone was beginning to crack the planet's crust.
"That did nothing," Gudmaro hissed.
Lapis's heart nearly stopped. "What...?"
"The real fight," Gudmaro growled, his body blurring into a smear of red light, "starts now."
Lapis's Honored Eyes flared, trying to track the movement, but the world turned into a static mess. 'I can't see him!' Lapis realized in horror. 'He's already adapted to the frequency of my eyes and my space warping!'
Gudmaro appeared inches from Lapis's face and landed a demonstrating blow. The impact didn't just hit Lapis; it hit the concept of him.
In a single millisecond, Lapis was launched out of the atmosphere, through the solar system, and slammed into a dead moon 30 million light years away from Earth. Before he could even catch his breath, Gudmaro was already there, teleporting behind him using a warped version of Lapis's own technique.
BOOM!
Gudmaro struck Lapis from behind, sending him hurtling back toward Earth like a falling star. Lapis managed to activate a final spatial shield, landing in the ruins of the battlefield without leveling the continent, but his ribs were shattered.
Gudmaro descended from the sky like a dark god, the air around him screaming. "You are a 'Gifted One' without a gift, boy. You are nothing to me now."
Lapis struggled to his feet, his trembling hand glowing with a desperate, flickering amber light. "Antimatter... Technique... Orange..."
Gudmaro stood tall in his Second Form, his obsidian muscles rippling with stolen divinity. He didn't even raise a hand to block. "You can try, Arcon, but that flickering spark will do nothing to me. Your story ends here."
Lapis coughed up a splash of magenta blood, a faint, jagged smile playing on his lips. "You've spent so long evolving into a 'God,' Gudmaro... that you forgot how to be a hunter. You are a fool."
Lapis didn't lung forward. Instead, he pivoted on his heel, aiming his glowing amber finger away from the monster and directly toward the horizon—toward the shimmering gold of the Northern Abyss.
"ERASE!"
The beam of Antimatter Orange tore through the air, traveling miles in a heartbeat.
Gudmaro's eyes widened, his processors lagging as he realized the trajectory. "What—?! No!"
[The Northern Abyss]
The orange beam collided with the microscopic scratch Alya had made. The Antimatter met the Arcon-level seal, and the reaction was instantaneous.
C-C-CRACK!
The prison didn't just break; it detonated. The sheer volume of pressurized mana being released was so immense that Alya was sent flying backward, the shockwave knocking her unconscious before she even hit the ground.
From the center of the explosion, a pillar of blinding Yellow Aura erupted, piercing the magenta sky and pushing back the clouds for thousands of miles. The air turned heavy with the scent of ozone and raw power.
A silhouette stepped out of the golden light, cracking her knuckles.
"All right!" Yoru shouted, her voice echoing with the force of a tectonic shift. "I'll handle this from here. Lapis, go get some sleep. You've earned it."
[FLASHBACK: Three Minutes Earlier]
As Lapis was being pummeled through the stars, the Arcon of Life's voice had whispered frantically into his mind.
'Lapis! Listen to me! Techyon and Neweland are down. Alya is failing. The seal is too strong from the outside. You are the only one with the range and the "Erasing" power to hit the fracture point from the battlefield. Please... do something to break the prison!'
Lapis, even as his ribs were being crushed by Gudmaro's second form, had simply closed his eyes and sent a single thought back:
'I understand. Just make sure she's ready when the door opens.'
Lapis hit the dirt, his body finally giving out as the magenta glow in his eyes flickered and died. He had done his job.
Yoru glanced back at Alya, who was staggering to her feet amidst the golden debris. "Take him and get out of here," Yoru commanded, her voice like grinding tectonic plates. "Take the others, too. I'm going to show this monster what 'Strength' actually looks like."
Before Alya could even nod, Yoru was gone.
She didn't warp space like Lapis. She simply moved so fast that reality couldn't keep up. She appeared inches from Gudmaro's face, grabbed him by the throat, and rocketed upward. They pierced the atmosphere in a heartbeat, dragging a trail of fire into the cold vacuum of the upper stratosphere.
Yoru let go, floating casually in the void of the high sky. she began rotating her wrists and stretching her legs, the joints popping like thunderclaps. "My blood isn't flowing properly after being in that box," she muttered, her yellow aura pulsing like a caged sun. "But I still know how this works."
She lazily flicked her hand to the side, a simple warming-up gesture.
SHHH-TICK!
A silent, invisible shockwave tore through the vacuum. Gudmaro's massive obsidian left arm was suddenly severed, floating away into space. Millions of light-years behind him, a distant star flickered and split in two, collapsing into a supernova from the sheer force of her "warm-up."
Gudmaro stared at his stump, his red veins hissing as they instantly regenerated the limb. He let out a distorted roar. "You think a few physical shockwaves can stop me now? I am in my Second Form, Yoru! I have adapted to the Arcons!"
Yoru didn't even go into a fighting stance. She just looked at him with bored, predatory eyes.
"Fight you?" Yoru asked, a small, terrifying smirk tugging at her lips. "No. I'm going to destroy you. I'm going to destroy you so thoroughly that there won't be enough of you left to even attempt an adaptation."
She extended one hand, curling her fingers in a "come and get it" gesture. "Come on, Virus. Show me that Second Form."