Haidoro hurled himself towards Yash, trying to activate his Range Shiftling, Speed.
But every time he attempted it—
Yash's uncle released a burst of Aura, disrupting the activation.
Using that brief opening, Yash landed a series of powerful blows on Haidoro.
[Haidoro]: What a lame trick.
Haidoro muttered with a groan.
[Yash]: So you're losing to something lame?
Yash replied calmly.
Yash's uncle was still restrained.
Even so, Haidoro's senses remained fixed on him.
It was hard to stop being cautious of that man.
"Can't blame someone for fearing me."
Yash's uncle said with a smirk as he looked at Haidoro.
[Haidoro]: Enough of that!
[Haidoro]: Pointus Apparatus.
Vines burst through the ground and tightly sealed Yash's uncle inside them.
The very next moment, Haidoro activated Range Shiftling, Speed.
[Haidoro]: You're done for!
It felt as though time itself had frozen.
Haidoro closed the distance in an instant.
The moment he swung his claws—
Yash vanished.
He had already teleported several hundred metres away.
[Yash]: That was close.
[Haidoro]: You're annoying.
Yash could see three seconds into the future.
Or more precisely—
He could predict the future with almost impossible accuracy.
He had foreseen the exact moment Haidoro would reach him and teleported away beforehand.
Watching Pratik use teleportation only a handful of times had been enough.
Yash had already grasped its essence.
[Yash]: I'm going to trap you.
Can you escape it?
Yash declared as he rushed towards Haidoro.
Haidoro charged once more.
This time, instead of relying on speed alone, he manipulated space itself, reducing the distance between them to zero.
He expected Yash to be caught off guard.
He failed again.
Yash had already predicted that move as well.
Another teleportation point had been prepared in advance.
Haidoro could only grow more irritated.
[Yash]: There are only two possibilities. Either I can predict your every move... Or I can't. The problem is— You'll never know which one is true.
He was right.
Haidoro was a seasoned veteran who had fought countless opponents.
But Yash was different.
His body language rarely matched his intentions.
Even his words seemed misleading.
Not because he lied—
But because he twisted every situation in his favour.
He weaponised the psychology of his opponents.
A terrifying ability.
Haidoro (thinking): If he were part of the Community... I'm certain he would have become a Seven-Starred Personnel.
Realising this battle would continue favouring Yash, Haidoro abandoned all restraint.
He decided to unleash an attack that would destroy everything.
He knew Yash had probably predicted it already.
But he was certain there was no counter.
Haidoro transformed back into his Dragon Beast Form.
He no longer cared what Yash planned.
He was convinced his attack would overwhelm him.
...
Or so he thought.
Suddenly—
Something struck Haidoro.
Almost his entire body disappeared.
Only his tail remained.
Even the space around him vanished.
A collapsing sinkhole swallowed everything before folding into absolute nothingness.
[Yash]: Seems I overdid it.
Yash muttered as he dropped to one knee.
A sudden turn of events.
Heavenly Gates had erased not only Haidoro—
But the very space he occupied.
Normally, Heavenly Gates functioned purely as a transportation technique.
No one had ever used it differently.
Except Yash.
He alone had learned to weaponise it.
This had been the trump card he had saved until the very end.
He manipulated every event leading up to this moment.
He deliberately pushed Haidoro into abandoning every other option and committing to his strongest attack.
That gave Yash exactly enough time to activate Heavenly Gates without chanting.
Everything unfolded according to his calculations.
Even Haidoro's own psychology had become part of Yash's strategy.
Space Manipulation was meaningless...
When the space itself ceased to exist.
The monster who had overwhelmed the entire team...
Had seemingly been defeated within seconds.
Yash exhaled and slowly walked towards Pratik, who still lay motionless on the ground, staring blankly at the sky.
Nearly one-fourth of his hair had turned sky blue.
His face remained completely expressionless.
[Yash]: Let's head ba—
THUD!!
Something slammed into Yash.
He was launched across the battlefield, tearing through a mountain before finally stopping.
A tail.
Haidoro's tail had struck him.
It recoiled...
And reattached itself to Haidoro.
He was alive.
[Haidoro]: I was as good as dead... Seems I still had another life ahead of me.
His voice sounded rough and unstable.
[Haidoro]: Looks like the ability Grahan entrusted to me remained even after his death. That saved me.
He muttered to himself.
It was true.
Haidoro's tail had remained outside the erased space.
That tiny detail had become one of the greatest turning points of the battle.
Who could have guessed...
That before the battle began, Grahan had implanted one of his greatest abilities into Haidoro?
An ability that granted another life—
As long as even a single body part remained within the world.
By now, Haidoro had completely recovered.
His Dark Energy Reserves had returned to their peak.
He stood before everyone like an unbreakable wall.
The planet burned around them.
Destruction stretched as far as the eye could see.
Without Grahan's ability...
Even Haidoro would never have survived Heavenly Gates.
Nor was it Yash's mistake.
The effective range of Heavenly Gates was far smaller than Haidoro's colossal Dragon Beast Form.
Covering his entire body had simply been impossible.
...
CLINK.
Something snapped beneath the weight of approaching footsteps.
Haidoro looked to his right.
Two figures were walking towards him.
Griho—
Recovered to nearly forty percent of his strength.
And beside him...
A shirtless Yash casually stretched his shoulders as though nothing had happened.
[Yash]: That shirt was expensive, you know.
He muttered with a slight scowl.
This boy was anything but ordinary.
The same attack possessed enough force to knock even Base Pratik unconscious.
Yet Yash was walking as though it had barely affected him.
His physique reflected years of brutal training.
A lean frame.
Well-defined muscles.
Eight-pack abs.
A body far beyond what someone his age should possess.
Beside him, Griho had also returned.
This time...
To finish the battle for good.
[Haidoro]: Seems I'll be entertained for a while longer.
To be continued...