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ENTARES'S POV
(I'll also add others' thoughts. It's messed up but that's how I wrote it .)
The exterior had been foul, thick and almost alive in the way it clung to everything, but the moment he crossed inside, the contrast was striking. The interior was vast and strangely beautiful, carved with a precision that didn't belong in a place like this.
Faint light traced along the walls, reflecting off smooth surfaces that felt far too refined for something built upon decay.
He didn't pause to admire it. That wasn't why he was here.
Shadows shifted along the walls, subtle movements that hinted at watchers lurking just out of sight. They followed him, kept their distance, but none stepped forward. Whatever lived here knew better than to challenge him directly.
"Welcome back."
The voice echoed through the space as a figure descended from above, her draconic wings spreading wide and filling the chamber as she landed before him.
He didn't respond. A dense black aura gathered in his hand, solidifying into a blade as he moved. There was no warning, no hesitation. He launched forward, his speed cutting through the space between them in an instant, the strike aimed cleanly for her head.
She reacted too late. Her body responded on instinct, releasing a surge of corrosive acid in a desperate attempt to stop the attack, the substance hissing as it poured outward.
But it didn't matter. The blade passed through it without resistance, and in the same motion it carved through her, severing her left hand and wing before she could fully evade.
Jagarette staggered back, putting distance between them, her breath uneven as she tried to steady herself. Her eyes widened, horror settling in as she looked at the damage, then back at him.
"How?"
He asked, the word slipping out before she could ask.
"This is a solid aura. Not your usual misty formless aura blade."
He pointed out. Unlike his previous swords, this one was refined. It's as if they are void hardened to form a sword. Nonetheless, it kept radiating its aura.
'Void solidification? It's a joke, right?'
"You bastard!"
She roared, and acid poured from her body in violent streams, hissing as it spread across the floor.
The ground beneath her had already been eaten away, leaving nothing but a corroded void where even the structure of the place struggled to hold.
At my fingertip, a small radiant orb formed, glowing with a steady white light just as she lunged.
"That won't work twice!"
She shouted, her claws slicing straight through the light as she closed the distance.
Her strike never landed. An arm shot forward and caught her wrist mid-motion. She froze, shock flashing across her face as the realisation set in, and I couldn't help the faint grin that crept onto mine.
The blade moved in the same instant. It split her head open cleanly, the force of it ending everything before she could even react. Her body dropped, hitting the ground with a heavy, final thud that echoed briefly through the hollow space.
"Void Acid, my ass."
I muttered, turning away as the remains settled.
"None of it matters in front of my void."
I took a step forward, ready to leave it behind and felt a hand clamp around my leg. I looked down only to see Jagarette holding my leg.
'She's supposed to de dead.'
Her grip tightened, and then it began to vibrate.
'Frequencies had been meaningless in this place. Manifesting now means one thing.. '
An instant later, acid erupted outward in a violent explosion, swallowing the surroundings in a blinding surge that obscured everything.
I didn't need to see. I knew who it was. He is here.
"You're here, but you're not my opponent."
I said, my voice steady as I stepped out from the debris.
That skill… I recognised it immediately. There was no need to guess.
I lifted my gaze from the dissolving acid field, and there he was. Spectre descended slowly, almost leisurely, his hands clasped behind his back as though this were nothing more than a casual visit.
Behind him, Jagarette hovered in the air, her wings beating steadily as if nothing had happened, despite the fact that she had been dead only moments ago. From their height, both of them looked down at me with quiet superiority.
THIRD POV
A low, distorted laugh slipped through my mask.
"K… kufufufufu…"
My amethyst aura surged outward, swelling violently before folding in on itself, wrapping around me and sealing into a cocoon-like structure that pulsed with restrained power.
"Kuahahahaha… the prototype is complete. I think it's time for some proper testing."
The Quantum Quake's voice echoed, warped and uneven as it bled through the cocoon, carrying an eerie distortion that made it difficult to tell where it truly came from.
The cocoon cracked, thin fractures racing across its surface before it shattered completely, sending fragments of hardened void scattering into nothing.
Entares stood where it had been, his long white hair catching the dim light as it drifted around him with an unnatural stillness. Black scale armour covered his body, each plate fitted seamlessly, exuding a faint dark amethyst aura that pulsed just beneath the surface.
His mask was gone, and the damage that had once marked his face was already fading, flesh knitting itself back together as his dark pupils remained fixed ahead. A crooked grin rested on his lips, sharp and unwavering.
"Say hello to the Void Armour."
"Looks like a cheap upgrade from Magos's store," Jagarette said with a mocking tilt of her head.
A quiet chuckle escaped him.
"You'll get to decide that for yourself."
The void in his hand condensed into a solid weapon, its edge barely visible as it warped the space around it. Without another word, he moved, heading straight for the strongest, Spectre.
Spectre didn't move. His hands remained clasped behind his back as his gaze settled on me, calm and unhurried. Then, without warning, something cut through the space between us.
I couldn't sense it but reality answered. My armour fractured. The impact wasn't loud but I felt it clearly as parts of the black scales chipped away along with my arm, severed so cleanly that for a moment I didn't even register it.
Jagarette didn't hesitate. She surged forward, her attack forming instantly as a chinese-dragon made of acid coiled into existence and shot towards me, its body writhing as it swallowed him whole.
Her fist clenched tight, compressing the mass into a dense sphere. Then she released it.
The explosion tore through everything. Acid spread violently, eating through the walls, the floor, even the ceiling, reducing structure to nothing as the entire space collapsed under the corrosion.
When it settled, all that remained was a chunk of flesh lying on the ground, its form shrinking as the acid continued to eat away at it.
"Void Armour, my ass."
She said, her voice laced with mockery.
Spectre said nothing. His eyes stayed fixed on the remains, watching closely as a faint aura began to flicker from the flesh. The acid slowed, then stopped entirely, neutralised as though it had never been there.
The mass of twitched, as it began to regenerate.
Without hesitation, Spectre drew his sword and stepped forward, intending to end it before it could fully reform.
There was no sign of organs, no structure that should have supported life, and yet the presence was unmistakable. A laugh echoed through the space, distorted and unsettling, coming from nowhere and everywhere at once. It was weird yet not impossible.
"Kuahahahaha…"
Spectre's blade descended, precise and absolute, yet before it could land, the flesh below ruptured.
An arm burst forth in a grotesque surge, sinew and void intertwining as it fully formed in an instant. A solid blade, forged from dark amethyst void, materialised within its grasp and met Spectre's strike head-on. The collision rang out like thunder through the palace.
Spectre's eyes widened, not from the clash, but from what stood before him. Entares was already whole again, his body restored as though nothing had happened, that same twisted smirk etched across his face.
'His regeneration speed…'
Spectre reacted immediately. His sword trembled, then split into five identical blades that fell at once, each carrying lethal precision.
The Quantum Quake's aura flared, devouring them whole, but the reaction triggered something. A sudden arc of force tore through the space beside him, invisible yet undeniable. It carved through Entares's arm, then curved, spinning with impossible speed before completing its path.
The strike completed in one seamless motion, a flawless arc that passed through him without resistance, and in that same instant his head separated cleanly from his body as silence fell over the battlefield.
'Ah… I can't feel my head.'
He sighed, the world turned slowly as his vision spun. There was no weight, no connection, only a drifting awareness.
'I'm spinning… but there's nothing… my body…'
Then the realisation settled in, his expression that of fake surprise.
'My head is gone.'
And yet, mid-air, he smiled.
"Eat."
The arm that held the void-forged blade dissolved into mist, dispersing into a flowing haze that surged forward. It washed over Spectre's upper half, consuming it entirely, leaving nothing behind as the void devoured even the remnants of his existence.
"One!"
Jagarette shouted as a sudden rush of air swept past her, and before she could turn, a headless figure loomed behind her.
She tried to react, but her body refused to obey, frozen in place by something far beyond her control, and with a single, almost casual touch, her torso split apart cleanly as her lower half collapsed lifelessly to the floor.
At the same moment, just as his presence seemed on the verge of fading entirely, Spectre's body glitched, distortion rippling across his form as what had been erased forced itself back into existence, restoring him whole once more, and for the first time his eyes widened.
'The second one forced me to use True Illusion. If I'd hesitated for even a moment, I'd be finished… no, I did die. I was consumed, but the presence of the Grand Abyss allowed me to turn my death into nothing more than an illusion.'
He lifted his gaze to Entares, a flicker of respect, or perhaps awe, crossing his features.
"I'm impressed."
The Star admitted in a voice low.
"But now that I've cracked the True Illusion, it's over."
He spread his arm to strike, but Entares ain't a sitting duck.
In an instant, the Evil Child was in front of him, and with a swift motion, his blade cleaved the attacking arm cleanly before it could land a blow.
"I said it's over, didn't I?"
Spectre'repeated, his tone sharp and unwavering. His once-severed arm was whole again as if it had never been torn off seconds ago
'That's not regeneration. Could it be…'
"Devour him, World of Darkness."
Before he could even react, a surge of Destruction unlike anything he had expected form Spectre, flaring across his body in a blinding, all-consuming blaze.
The Void Armour dissolved instantly, unable to withstand the overwhelming force, and his body was utterly annihilated, reduced to nothing under the sheer scale of power.