Lady Chõko's fingers slowly lowered.
"...Hm."
She smiled again.
"Not yet."
Raizen immediately laughed.
"Hahaha! I knew it!"
"You were bluffing!"
Lady Chõko shrugged innocently.
"Maybe."
"Maybe not."
She had barely finished speaking when the ground beneath her feet vanished.
"...Spatial Fold."
Yurota calmly swept his hand across the air.
The mountain she stood on twisted sideways as though reality itself had been folded like paper.
The entire cliff broke apart.
Lady Chõko lost her footing for only a fraction of a second.
That was enough.
"Above."
Kaizen's voice rang out.
Ayame emerged from the reflection of a floating shard of crystal, her kick descending from directly overhead.
Lady Chõko raised an arm.
BOOM!
The impact hurled her through the collapsing cliff before Hiroshi's relic chains were already waiting inside the cloud of debris.
They wrapped around her wrist.
"...Got you."
Hiroshi pulled.
Lady Chõko spun with the force instead of resisting, breaking free before the chains could tighten, but Raizen was already smiling.
"Right."
His fist crashed into her guard.
BOOOOOM!!
She was blasted across the valley, skipping through the sides of three mountains before finally stopping hundreds of meters away.
The mountains behind her continued collapsing long after she had disappeared into the dust.
Far beyond the battlefield...
Entire forests shook violently.
A lake nearly twenty kilometers away erupted with towering waves as another earthquake rolled beneath the land.
"This is getting expensive."
Lady Chõko brushed the dust from her face.
"Who's paying for all this?"
Raizen pointed at her.
"You are!"
"That's unfair."
She laughed.
"YAYAYAYAYA!"
The cheerful laughter echoed across the ruined highlands.
Raizen couldn't help laughing too.
"Hahaha!"
"I've never met anyone like you!"
"I get that a lot."
She pushed off the shattered ground.
The explosion beneath her feet launched her back toward the six.
This time...
She attacked first.
Her palm flashed toward Raizen's chest.
He blocked.
Ayame struck from behind.
Lady Chõko ducked.
Hiroshi's spear swept low.
She stepped over it.
Yurota folded space.
Her path bent unexpectedly.
For the first time...
Her own movement betrayed her.
"...Again?"
She muttered.
Kaizen calmly answered from the rear.
"You're reacting."
"I'm deciding."
His glowing calculations spread farther across the battlefield.
Every dodge Lady Chõko made...
Every breath...
Every shift in balance...
Every glance...
Was immediately added to his calculations.
"...Route Eighty-Two."
"Haruto."
Haruto nodded once.
The silver aura surrounding the six pulsed again.
"...Fourth Pulse."
Their coordination improved yet again.
Raizen's slash forced Lady Chõko left.
Exactly where Hiroshi's spear was arriving.
She redirected the spear—
Only for Ayame to emerge from its polished surface.
A palm strike landed cleanly against Lady Chõko's side.
THOOM!
She stumbled.
Not far.
Not dramatically.
Just one step.
Kaizen's eyes narrowed.
"...There."
Raizen appeared instantly.
The Dimensional Sword swept upward.
Lady Chõko barely crossed both arms before the strike connected.
CRAAAAASH!!
The force launched her high into the sky.
Clouds burst apart as she climbed thousands of meters above the battlefield.
Raizen didn't hesitate.
He kicked off the air using pure spiritual force.
Hiroshi followed.
Ayame vanished into reflected sunlight.
Yurota folded space beneath them.
Haruto maintained the rhythm.
Kaizen watched every movement below.
The battle had left the mountains.
Now it unfolded high above the Blackstone Highlands.
Every collision sent rings of compressed air racing across the heavens.
Thunderclouds were torn apart.
The sunlight itself flickered behind the violent shockwaves.
Lady Chõko blocked another strike.
Then another.
Then another.
She couldn't find a rhythm.
Not because the six were individually stronger...
But because Kaizen refused to let her create one.
For the first time since the battle began...
She exhaled heavily.
"...You're troublesome."
Kaizen's expression remained calm.
"No."
"We are."
The six attacked together.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Lady Chõko smiled despite the pressure.
"...YAYAYAYAYA..."
"I was wondering when someone would finally make me work this hard."
She wiped a thin trail of blood from the corner of her mouth.
Then quietly added,
"...Now this..."
"...is getting interesting."
Below them, another mountain finally gave way beneath the relentless shockwaves, sending a wall of stone crashing into the valleys as the battle continued to shake the entire region.