[Inside the Barrier Domain]
The orange sphere of antimatter hissed as it moved through the air, erasing the oxygen in its path. Yoru didn't flinch. "What, do you think you can defeat me using my friend's attacks? You've perfected the form, Gudmaro, but you haven't mastered the soul of the move."
She raised both hands, interlocking her fingers as a blinding citrine light gathered between her palms. "Final Electron Beam!"
A massive pillar of yellow lightning erupted, colliding with the antimatter. The raw energy of the beam didn't just meet the orange sphere; it consumed it, overpowering the technique and forcing a violent explosion that rocked the entire mountain.
As I thought, Gudmaro mused internally, his eyes tracking her every micro-movement through the smoke. She isn't just fast. She knows how to fight and throw hands with the weight of a world behind them.
"Now try to overpower this!" Gudmaro roared, his hands swirling as he manifested a crushing Hydro Canon—a jet of water pressurized so tightly it could cut through tectonic plates.
But Yoru wasn't there.
She teleported behind him in a flicker of gold. "Don't look away," she whispered. Her hand opened, and a Split Blade of pure golden energy manifested directly from her palm. She swung with a jagged, lethal precision.
SHRIIIK!
Gudmaro took the hit across his shoulder, the force sending him skidding back across the obsidian. "A nice move," he said, stabilizing himself. "Now, let's see how you handle—"
He stopped. His muscles locked. A strange, static-like resonance was hummed through his veins.
"What... is this?" Gudmaro's eyes widened as his limbs refused to move.
"My Passive Ability," Yoru explained, her golden aura pulsing. "Neural Static. Every move I land has a 70% chance to inflict total paralysis. You might be perfect, but your nervous system still runs on energy."
Without wasting a breath, Yoru blurred. She turned Gudmaro into a literal punching bag, landing thousands of blows in a single second. She followed up with a rising kick that launched him into the air, finishing with an Annihilation Volt—a spear of lightning that drove him back into the cratered floor.
Gudmaro lay in the dust for a moment, then his fingers twitched. He stood up, the violet veins in his neck glowing as he manually rewrote his own biology.
"I have adapted to the paralyzation," Gudmaro said, his voice dropping an octave. "Under normal circumstances, that would have been problematic. But in my Perfect Form, I adapt to any attack after being hit just twice. Your 'Static' no longer works on me."
Gudmaro spread his arms wide, a dark hunger in his gaze. "But you're still holding back. You're playing with me. Stop hiding behind your 2%... show me your true strength."
Yoru stood silent. Slowly, she closed her eyes.
The silence lasted only a heartbeat. Then, the ground beneath them didn't just crack—it shattered. A shockwave of pure mana erupted from her body, so massive that the Space-Warping Barrier Gudmaro built began to splinter like cheap glass. The sky above the Northern Mountain turned a brilliant, shimmering gold.
Gudmaro's grin became manic. "Yes! That is what I want to see!"
Yoru opened her eyes—they were no longer pupils and irises, but two glowing orbs of divine authority. She settled into a low, lethal fighting stance.
"Let's continue."
So, he can adapt to any attack if I throw it twice, Yoru calculated, her eyes tracking the violet flickering of Gudmaro's aura. The first hit is my only chance for maximum damage. I have to finish him before he memorizes my rhythm.
Gudmaro lunged, his hand carved into a spear-strike. Yoru flickered out of existence, appearing behind him for a counter-kick, but Gudmaro vanished in a swirl of distorted space before she could connect.
Yoru didn't panic. She sensed the fabric of reality pulling behind her. His teleportation isn't instantaneous... not like mine.
Without looking back, she whipped her leg around in a blind, high-arc kick.
CRACK!
Her heel slammed directly into Gudmaro's face just as he emerged from the rift. The God's head snapped back, his "Perfect" expression momentarily breaking.
As I thought, Yoru analyzed, her feet skidding on the obsidian. Because he is using Lapis's Space Warping, the space has to bend for a fraction of a microsecond before he arrives. To anyone else, it's instant. To me, it's a roadmap for where he's going to be.
Gudmaro tumbled back, his heels screeching against the rock. He stopped exactly one inch away from the edge of the arena. One more centimeter and the duel would have been over.
Yoru didn't give him time to breathe. She charged, her fist glowing with the "Final Electron" energy. Gudmaro vanished again. He reappeared behind her, his own leg swinging in a massive roundhouse meant to launch her into the abyss.
But Yoru was already in mid-air. She didn't just dodge; she twisted her body beside him, landing with her toes touching the very edge of the obsidian. She was an inch away from a knockout, the bottomless clouds of the Northern Mountain swirling beneath her.
Gudmaro's eyes turned feral. He dropped his shoulder and unleashed a barrage of desperate, heavy punches, trying to shove her over the ledge. The sheer wind pressure from his fists was enough to crack the stone.
SHINK.
Yoru vanished from the ledge and reappeared hundreds of feet in the air, looking down at the stadium.
Gudmaro didn't hesitate. He warped directly above her, looking down with a manic, blood-choked laugh. "I love this! A perfect duel for a perfect being!"
[The Observer's Edge]
Below the mid-air clash, the onlookers stood in stunned silence, their faces illuminated by the strobing flashes of gold and violet energy.
Lapis gripped his head, his own space-warping senses screaming in confusion. "How... how is she doing that? He's moving between the folds of reality! How can she hit him while he's in mid-teleportation?"
Cynthia didn't take her eyes off the sky. Her neutron-star-infused pupils tracked the two blurs with cold precision. "Yoru found the gap," she said, her voice surprisingly respectful. "Gudmaro is fast, but he's borrowing a power that isn't his. He's creating a 'bruise' in space every time he jumps. Yoru isn't hitting where he is—she's hitting where the space is weakest. She's hunting the lag."
Techyon stood frozen. His eyes—the eyes of a warrior—couldn't believe the level of combat he was witnessing. It wasn't just a fight; it was a rewrite of the laws of physics. His mind raced, trying to memorize every shift in the "water" of the atmosphere, sensing the massive gulf between his current power and the two monsters above.
Beside him, Alya swayed on her feet, clutching her forehead. "My... my head is spinning," she whispered, her face pale. "I can't even see the afterimages anymore. It's just... thunder and light. Are they even human?"
High above, the two combatants locked eyes for a split second before the next collision. The world held its breath.