Madona barely dodged an attack, glitching mid-step as she landed near Chronos.

  She had just witnessed something insane.

  One second, the villagers were whispering, surging forward with unnatural speed— The next, they were SLOWING DOWN. Their energy was being DRAINED.

  Chronos had just CHANGED THE RULES OF THE BATTLEFIELD.

  Madona stared at him. “WHAT DID YOU JUST DO?!”

  Chronos didn’t look at her—his focus was locked on the enemy forces.

  But he still answered.

  “Energy Anchor.”

  Madona blinked. “What the hell is an Energy Anchor?!”

  Chronos raised his hand—golden circuits flaring.

  The ground beneath him pulsed, the Energy Anchor spreading further.

  “Energy Anchors are stabilizers. They force an area to obey a certain energy flow.”

  A villager lunged at them—Chronos moved a finger.

  The enemy was YANKED to the ground, its energy completely locked in place.

  Madona’s eyes widened. “You’re CONTROLLING their power?!”

  Chronos nodded. “I’m hijacking the energy they’re using.”

  Madona looked at the battlefield.

  She realized it wasn’t just slowing them down.

  The villagers were getting WEAKER.

  Their energy was being pulled AWAY—siphoned into the golden pulse beneath Chronos’ feet.

  Madona’s mind raced. “You—You’re taking their energy—”

  Chronos' golden eyes locked onto hers. “…And now I know where it comes from.”

  Madona froze.

  Chronos clenched his fists. “This city’s power isn’t natural. A Creator made this.”

  The battlefield trembled. The sky rumbled.

  The villagers’ forms glitched again—but this time, they looked more… controlled.

  The King of Fallen Nexus was fully awake now.

  And he KNEW they had figured it out.

  The ground trembled.

  Then it CRACKED.

  A massive chasm split through the heart of Fallen Nexus, engulfing entire streets.

  Buildings didn’t collapse.

  They LIFTED.

  Like they were part of something RISING beneath them.

  A shadow covered the sky Something impossibly LARGE pulled itself into reality. The King had arrived.

  Its form was incomprehensible at first—too massive, too vast.

  Buildings were embedded in its body. Streets, ruins, entire districts twisted into its shifting frame, as if the city itself had always been part of it.

  Its ‘head’ was a jagged, malformed construct—like a cathedral turned inside out.

  Eyes—hundreds of them—blinked open across its body, massive and unfeeling.

  Each one locked onto Chronos, Aetheron, Yurei, and Madona.

  Then, it SPOKE.

  The sound nearly shattered reality.

  "—YOU HAVE STOLEN FROM ME.—"

  "—YOU HAVE TAKEN WHAT WAS NEVER YOURS.—"

  "—AND NOW, YOU WILL BE UNMADE.—"

  The sky itself responded.

  The dark blue abyss above them PULSED—energy rippling like an ocean in the heavens.

  Gravity BENT as the King raised a titanic limb—

  And the entire city started FALLING UPWARD.

  Aetheron’s wings flared as he stabilized himself mid-air. “Okay—nope. NOPE. This is some Creator-level bullshit.”

  Chronos’ golden circuits flashed dangerously. “…He’s integrated with the city itself.”

  Yurei’s ice-arm radiated uncontrollably. “How the hell do you fight something THIS big?”

  Madona was shaking. Glitching violently. “…You don’t.”

  “You RUN.”

  But as she said it—the King’s eyes burned brighter.

  And suddenly, space itself was LOCKED. They couldn’t run.

  They could only FIGHT.

  The city was breaking apart.

  Gravity had no meaning anymore. Buildings were falling upward, streets twisted into spirals, and entire districts were folding into the King’s body.

  And in the middle of it all—Yurei MOVED.

  She didn’t hesitate. She didn’t hold back.

  Her ice-arm radiated with such intensity that the air itself FROZE, turning the battlefield into an endless storm of jagged frost.

  With a single step, she LAUNCHED herself toward the King.

  Her entire body burned with power.

  The first impact sent a shockwave through the void itself.

  Ice SPIKES burst from the King's shifting form, freezing entire sections of his massive frame.

  The meteors still falling from the sky? They froze MID-AIR. Then—SHATTERED.

  But the King barely reacted. He was TOO BIG.

  Yurei wasn’t stopping. She screamed through gritted teeth, her ice-arm pulsing like a star, reinforcing her body as she STRUCK AGAIN. This wasn’t an attack.

  This was a FORCE OF NATURE.

  Chronos, still stabilizing the battlefield with his Energy Anchor, felt it FIRST. Jikan was MOVING. Then—a pulse of golden energy SEVERED the sky. Shukan stepped out of Chronos’ Time-Space. He was quiet. Focused. His golden eye burned like a sun. And without hesitation—

  He drove a Focalized Energy Point (FEP) directly into his own heart. Instantly, his body SHOOK.

  Time folded, space fractured, and his very EXISTENCE began accelerating. This wasn’t just power. This was erasing the LIMITS of what his body could handle.

  The King’s many eyes focused on them.

  He saw it now. They weren’t just intruders. They were THREATS. His massive frame shifted, energy RUSHING toward his core, reality bending around him. And then, for the first time— He moved to ATTACK.

  The sky cracked apart as the King of Fallen Nexus moved.

  Entire districts shattered and reformed within his massive frame, the city itself shifting like an extension of his will.

  Yurei didn’t care.

  Her ice-arm radiated pure, destructive cold as she RUSHED the King, dodging a collapsing street before launching herself upward.

  She struck hard.

  A massive section of the King’s shifting body was consumed in frost, jagged ice erupting in every direction.

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  The King barely reacted.

  His voice—deep, layered, more like a command from reality itself—rumbled through the broken battlefield. “YOU WILL DROWN IN MY DOMAIN."

  The sky darkened even further. The swirling deep blue abyss twisted, becoming something almost liquid. Yurei clicked her tongue. "Tch. Big words for a guy getting his limbs frozen off." Then, a flash rained down from the sky. Shukan was moving. Fast. He felt his heartbeat accelerate unnaturally. Too fast. Too unstable. The Focalized Energy Point embedded in his heart burned like a second sun inside him. Jikan’s golden glow pulsed through his veins.

  His vision was a blur of possible futures. Possible failures. Didn’t matter. This was what he needed to do.

  As he twisted mid-air, dodging a massive shifting structure, a random thought hit him. “…Wait a damn second.” Yurei, still dashing along ice platforms, glared at him. "What?"

  Shukan barely had time to land before launching himself again. "Where the hell were the Trivia Knights?"

  Yurei blinked. "Who?"

  Shukan deflected a spiraling piece of debris, then continued. "The guards. The guys who were supposed to be protecting Fallen Nexus."

  Yurei’s ice-arm pulsed slightly. She hadn’t even considered that.

  He was right.

  They had entered Fallen Nexus expecting to deal with its infamous Trivia Knights—but the second they got dragged into the cyberpunk city, they never saw a single one. "Did we just completely skip them?" Shukan asked, half-joking, half-serious.

  Yurei frowned. "…Or were they already gone?"

  For the first time, Shukan didn’t have a smart-ass response.

  Where were they? And why did the King let them through so easily?

  Aetheron shot through the air, weaving between falling debris.

  Golden light flared from his wings as he blasted through a wave of villagers, incinerating them instantly.

  Chronos landed hard on a floating street fragment, golden circuits pulsing as he calculated the King’s shifting structure.

  “Focus attacks on his weakest integration points!” he called out.

  Madona was moving too—her flickering getting WORSE as she threw distorted energy into the battlefield, creating gaps in the King’s defenses.

  Yurei gritted her teeth. "No more holding back."

  She launched herself AGAIN, ice forming into jagged spears that tore through the King’s shifting frame. The battle was in FULL FORCE now.

  Then, suddenly—THE AIR CHANGED.

  One second, it was burning hot. The next, FREEZING cold.

  Rain started falling—but it wasn’t normal rain. It was shifting. One drop was liquid. Another was SNOW. Another was BURNING HOT. The entire battlefield was cycling through SEASONS, seconds at a time.

  Chronos narrowed his eyes. “…He’s rewriting the environment itself.”

  Aetheron dodged a burst of searing heat, then immediately had to shield himself from a wave of frost. “Yeah, no kidding.”

  Madona’s flickering got worse. “If he keeps doing this, we’ll start breaking apart before we even reach him.”

  Shukan clenched his fists. His heart was SLAMMING against his ribs now.

  He exhaled sharply. "Then we end this NOW."

  He ignored the pain and CHARGED.

  Everything happened at once.

  The King moved. Not like before.

  Not slow. Not like an unstoppable force. FAST. Faster than he should EVER be.

  One second, his massive cathedral-like form was towering in the distance.

  The next, his HAND was ALREADY SWINGING. It was as if reality had SKIPPED FORWARD.

  Like time had TRIED to process him moving—then just gave up.

  The battlefield shook. Shukan’s instincts SCREAMED.

  Move. MOVE.

  But this wasn’t like dodging a normal attack.

  This required the SAME SPEED he had used before— When he was running for his LIFE against the Figure.

  Aetheron’s eyes widened. “WHAT THE HELL?!”

  Chronos barely managed to Time-Step away.

  Yurei skidded back on an ice path, barely avoiding the SHOCKWAVE from the swing.

  Madona clutched her head, glitching violently. “…No. This—this isn’t just him being fast.”

  Chronos narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"

  Madona’s voice was unsteady. "He’s moving like something ELSE." She clenched her fists. “Like something that’s SEEN this kind of speed before.”

  Shukan gritted his teeth. His body was SCREAMING from the FEP burning in his chest.

  "If that’s the case…"

  His golden eye flared. "Then I’ll have to be even faster." He VANISHED.

  Jikan roared to life, and the real fight BEGAN.

  Shukan saw it.

  Every time he dodged. Every time he countered.

  The King was LEARNING.

  Adjusting his swings. Fixing his timing. Moving better with each attack.

  It was like the whole universe had one rule:

  “NOTE TAKEN.”

  And Shukan was DONE with it.

  Then—something in his body shifted.

  A pulse. A surge of something UNFAMILIAR—yet completely natural. Zeyth had awakened.

  olden energy LASHED out from Shukan’s body, but it wasn’t Jikan.

  It was WILD. UNCONTROLLED. UNTAMED.

  Zeyth—the energy type that ONLY manifests in the MOST EXTREME battles—had fully ignited inside him.

  And the moment it did, everything about him CHANGED.

  His movements became SHARPER. His dodges became INSTANT. His attacks? More LETHAL.

  Jikan had given him control over time. But Zeyth? It gave him PURE, UNFILTERED, EXPONENTIAL COMBAT EVOLUTION. Now it was HIS turn to say ‘NOTE TAKEN.’

  Shukan felt it— or rather, he DIDN’T. His heart wasn’t beating anymore. There was no pulse. No rhythm. His body should’ve shut down.

  But it didn’t. Because Zeyth had fully taken over. He wasn’t alive because of biology anymore. He was alive because his ENERGY REFUSED TO LET HIM DIE.

  And if he was still breathing, still moving— Then this fight wasn’t over.

  The King’s eyes shifted. For the first time… he hesitated. He had adapted to everything. He had countered everything. But he had NEVER seen something like THIS. A being who wasn’t bound by life or death. Someone who had pushed past his limits and KEPT GOING. And then—Shukan moved. Too fast for the King to register. One second, he was in the distance. The next, his fist was ALREADY SMASHING INTO THE KING’S FORM. The impact didn’t just shake the battlefield. It BROKE IT. The entire city cracked apart, shockwaves EXPLODING across Nyxiria.

  Shukan’s fist SLAMMED into the King’s form, tearing through its massive structure. Another hit. Another. Another. The battlefield was CRUMBLING from the sheer force of his blows.

  The squad could barely keep up. Aetheron shielded himself from the aftershocks. “Okay, I love violence as much as the next guy, but he’s DESTROYING everything!”

  Chronos was locked onto Shukan, circuits flaring. “No. Look closer.”

  Yurei’s ice-arm pulsed violently as she watched. “…It’s not working anymore.”

  Madona’s glitching worsened. “No way. That’s—” And then, everything STOPPED.

  The entire battlefield went SILENT.

  The King’s shifting, massive body TREMBLED—

  Then restructured ITSELF INSTANTLY. The cracks in his form closed. The ice shattered.

  And then—his TRUE power surfaced. His eyes, once dim, burned with an INTENSE RADIANCE.

  His presence became suffocating. His voice no longer sounded distant—it was RIGHT THERE, EVERYWHERE. "—YOU THOUGHT THIS WAS MY LIMIT?—"

  The world itself BENT. The dark blue sky became BLACK, as if the void itself was descending.

  And with one movement—THE KING STRUCK BACK. Shukan barely managed to move.

  A shockwave SLAMMED into him, sending him hurtling through the ruined sky.

  For the first time, his body DIDN’T INSTANTLY RECOVER. He was STILL.

  The King’s real power was UNFOLDING.

  And Shukan knew—if he stopped now, if he even hesitated for a SECOND— He was DEAD.

  The battlefield was silent.

  Then, the ice spread.

  A wave of deep, unnatural cold erupted from Yurei’s body, freezing the air itself. The chaotic, shifting climate of the Fallen Nexus stopped. No more fire. No more rain. No more distortion.

  Everything was frozen in place. Yurei didn’t know how she did it. She didn’t care.

  Her veins burned with freezing energy, her ice-arm glowing with impossible intensity. She clenched her fist, breath coming out in sharp, misty exhales. It felt different.

  This wasn’t like before.

  She took a step forward.

  The ice spread beneath her feet, cracking and reforming instantly. Her body felt lighter. Stronger. Like something inside her had finally started waking up.

  She didn’t understand it. But she was going to use it.

  Chronos’ golden circuits pulsed violently. He adjusted his stance, stabilizing the battlefield with his Energy Anchor.

  Aetheron flared his wings, a radiant burst of energy surging outward, amplifying everyone’s power.

  Madona twitched violently, glitching harder than ever. But she didn’t stop moving. She refused to.

  And Shukan—

  Shukan was still standing.

  His body wasn’t functioning anymore. His heart had stopped. But his energy refused to let him die.

  He exhaled slowly. His golden eye burned, and for the first time, he realized— He wasn’t tired.

  He was just getting started. They weren’t just fighting anymore. They were going to end this.

  The King of Fallen Nexus had no more time to adapt.

  The battlefield trembled.

  Not from an attack.Not from the fight.

  From something else.

  The ice cracked. The sky shifted.

  For the first time—the King hesitated.

  Something changed.

  Something bigger.

  And then, for the first time— Jikan stopped moving.

  Shukan’s eye twitched.

  His entire body locked in place, as if something had seized him. His vision blurred—Jikan wasn’t responding.

  It wasn’t resisting. It wasn’t warning him.

  It was just staring.

  Watching something else.

  Shukan had no idea what was happening.

  But he knew, deep in his core—

  This fight wasn’t over.

  Yurei exhaled sharply, watching the ice spread under her feet.

  Her body still burned with impossible energy, her ice-arm glowing violently. It felt stronger, faster—like something had awakened inside her.

  But then… everything stopped. The flames. The storms. Even the broken sky. Nothing moved.

  Even the King wasn’t attacking anymore. “…Why did everything stop?” Yurei muttered.

  She turned to the others.

  Shukan was still standing. His golden eye burned, his body barely holding together, but his energy kept him alive. He wasn’t tired. He wasn’t done. Chronos’ circuits pulsed as he adjusted his Energy Anchor. Aetheron flared his wings, maintaining his stance. Madona twitched, her glitches worsening, but she still held her ground. None of them were moving.

  They were waiting. For what, they didn’t know.

  Then— Shukan’s breath hitched. His body tensed.

  "We need to move. NOW. “Chronos’ voice was sharp, immediate. Urgent.

  Aetheron flinched, his usual grin completely gone. “…What the hell is that?”

  Shukan gritted his teeth, barely able to form words. "I— I don't know."

  Madona clutched her head, glitching violently. Her voice broke as she whispered: "It’s coming."

  Yurei narrowed her eyes. "What is?"

  Then the air collapsed. The sky folded inward.

  And the VOID arrived.