The sky above the shattered battlefield twisted violently as Annabeth's aura detonated.
Her hair whipped upward, caught in the pull of her own gravitational storm.
Her eyes glowed, pupils thinning into sharp slits as the weight of her bloodline awakened in full.
"Graviton Rift."
The world responded.
Chunks of the battlefield entire trees, rocks, shattered earth were ripped from the ground, spiraling around her in a violent orbit.
The air screamed as gravity folded in on itself, creating a catastrophic singularity in the sky.
Then—
A colossal beam of violet and black energy tore down from above like an orbital cannon, slamming into the canyon infront of Klaus.
BOOOOOOM!
The explosion swallowed the world in light.
Mountains shattered into dust.
The canyon walls disintegrated.
A crater the size of a city split the ground, molten rock bursting forth as shockwaves flattened everything for miles.
The coliseum erupted.
Every student shot to their feet, their cheers instantly swallowed by gasps.
Many clutched their mouths in disbelief, eyes wide, voices trembling.
"She… she's not human…" one youth whispered.
"No that's Annabeth Vortan…" another muttered, voice shaking.
The Paragons stood without realizing it, every one of them frozen as they stared at the display.
Even Seraphina, calm and graceful, leaned forward, whispering, "Such… mastery of space and gravity… from one so young…"
Ragnar's massive arms tightened across his chest, his tattoos glowing faintly. "Tch. That girl… she could already crush kingdoms."
But their eyes didn't stay on her they turned to Emperor Malrik.
One by one, the Paragons spoke with rare respect.
"Emperor Malrik…"
"…Is she really your granddaughter?"
The emperor's booming laughter drowned them all out.
His fists slammed into the arms of his throne as he leaned forward, eyes burning with pride.
"YES! HAHAHAHA! That is MY bloodline! That is ANNABETH VORTAN!"
Beside him, Anastasia's face betrayed more than pride her fingers trembled slightly on her teacup.
Her tone was steady, but her eyes betrayed concern.
The crater was endless. Black smoke and violet lightning danced across the ruins.
Floating debris orbited around the gravitational storm, pulled into Annabeth's field.
She stood at its center, radiant and terrifying, her aura bending the fabric of reality.
And yet—
Klaus stood there.
Unmoving.
Unburned.
His body, wreathed in the horrific, grinning shadow of Yashariku, radiated crimson power so dense it devoured her gravitational pull.
The molten rock cooled instantly around him, as if even nature itself refused to touch his presence.
His crimson eyes glowed faintly red under the veil of his spiritual form.
Calm,Deadly and Unfazed.
Klaus tilted his head slightly, his lips curling into the faintest, most dangerous smile.
"…That's it? You'll have to do better than that."
The audience exploded.
Some screamed. Some cheered so hard their voices broke.
The coliseum itself felt like it would collapse from the sheer noise.
Malrik's laughter grew louder, shaking the very stands.
"YES! YES, KLAUS AETHERION! THIS IS THE CLASH I DESIRED! SHOW ME YOUR STRENGTH! TEAR THE SKY ASUNDER!"
Annabeth breathing hard, her body trembling from the sheer force she had unleashed, stared across the battlefield at Klaus.
For the first time, her smirk faltered only for an instant.
Then her lips pulled back into a wild, exhilarated grin.
Her voice rang across the ruined land:
"Good. GOOD! That's what I wanted, Klaus! Don't you dare hold back!"
She raised her blade high, space itself bending and distorting around it, preparing for the next strike.
Klaus lifted Fushigiri, Yashariku's shadow snarling behind him, the aura of death thickening until the very air screamed.
---
The crimson death aura around Klaus flared violently, its energy warping the space around him until the very air screamed in defiance.
His spiritual form Ako blazed like an infernal star, each pulse of red light accompanied by the low, bone-chilling hum of Ashborn's laughter echoing through his soul.
Across from him, Annabeth Vortan stood in the midst of chaos.
Her violet aura had grown heavier, denser a storm of gravity and space intertwining like serpents.
The atmosphere trembled around her, light bending unnaturally as her power twisted reality itself.
The collision began.
When her gravitational field intensified, Klaus felt the world itself trying to drag him down the pressure of collapsing stars pressing on every atom of his body.
Trees imploded. Rocks compressed into dust.
But Klaus didn't even flinch.
With a cold exhale, his aura expanded in a violent ripple.
A red negation field burst outwards, swallowing everything within a hundred meters. The gravity evaporated. Annabeth's pull faltered for the first time.
Ashborn's voice rumbled from deep within:
"Good. Focus. Show restraint, don't kill her. Yet."
Klaus's eyes narrowed, the faintest smirk touching his lips.
Then Annabeth moved.
Her hands came together, and the world shattered.
A vertical fissure of violet light split the air, swallowing everything in its path.
The entire arena's view screens were flooded with the brilliance of her attack a colossal beam of purple energy, twisting like a double helix as it descended upon Klaus.
The explosion was like a sun being born.
Yet through that blinding storm, a single streak of crimson cut through the blast.
Klaus had deflected it.
The crowd gasped as the shockwave tore through the coliseum's barrier.
Dust and energy crackled in the air, but Klaus stood unscathed, blade drawn back in a ready stance.
He tilted his head slightly, eyes glowing blood-red.
"…This might be interesting after all."
Annabeth's grin widened, adrenaline flooding her veins.
She sprinted forward, her aura igniting anew purple arcs cutting across the sky. Klaus met her halfway, a streak of crimson lightning.
And then they collided.
Their weapons clashed faster than the eye could follow red and violet slashes crossing in flashes of pure destruction.
Each strike rippled the fabric of space. Each clash shattered sound itself.
To the audience, they weren't even visible anymore only blinding explosions of crimson and purple light crisscrossing the battlefield.
Ashborn's voice boomed in Klaus's mind.
"Restrain your fury, boy. This is not your battlefield to end."
Klaus didn't answer. His expression was cold, merciless the face of a predator dissecting its prey.
He cut through her defense once a red arc slicing her side. Blood spattered the ground.
Annabeth staggered, then laughed a wild, manic sound that sent chills even through the viewing stands.
"Finally!" she screamed through the blood and chaos. "Finally someone who can hurt me!"
Her eyes gleamed with feral joy.
Then, to Klaus's mild surprise, she leapt back retreating across the air.
Klaus raised an eyebrow. "Running already?"
Annabeth just smirked, wiping the blood from her mouth. "Oh, don't worry, Klaus… I was just warming up."
With deliberate calm, she slid five ornate rings off her fingers and unhooked a golden necklace.
She tossed them away.
The moment they left her body, the world reacted.
The pressure changed.
The atmosphere snapped.
Inside the Emperor's balcony, Malrik Vortan shot to his feet, his aura flaring unconsciously as the Paragons around him shielded themselves.
"By the gods—she's removing them now!?"
Anastasia's eyes widened, her hands clutching the railing. "Malrik! Should I stop the summit—!?"
He shook his head, grinning like a battle-crazed god. "No! Let it continue!"
The Paragons looked among themselves, confusion and unease rippling through their ranks.
One finally asked, "Your Majesty, what is she doing?"
Malrik's grin only widened. "She's removing her restraints."
The hall fell silent.
"Restraints?" another Paragon echoed.
Malrik nodded proudly, eyes glowing gold.
"Ever since birth, Annabeth possessed an endless pool of mana. By age ten, she had already surpassed her peers. Those rings and that necklace have suppressed her power for years."
Another Paragon stepped forward, tone curious yet shaken. "But… how could she awaken as an Archeon from birth? Isn't awakening determined by will, by being chosen?"
Malrik's voice grew low, almost reverent.
"Because her mother awakened while Annabeth was still in the womb. The power carried through the bloodline. She was born awakened a child of gravity and space itself."
Gasps echoed through the chamber. Even the stoic Paragons looked shaken.
Back on the battlefield, Klaus's expression hardened as he watched the transformation unfold.
Annabeth's aura ignited into something divine.
The violet glow deepened into cosmic black an energy so dense it distorted everything around her.
Light bent backward.
The ground rippled like liquid. Her hair floated in the gravitational distortion as orbs of condensed space began orbiting her body, each one humming with annihilation.
A pillar of violet light burst upward from her body, spiraling with black energy that cracked the sky.
Ashborn's voice, for once, sounded amused.
"Now it begins. She's no longer holding back."
Klaus took a deep breath, eyes flickering with lethal calm.
He spread his arms the air responding violently.
The ground beneath him split as twin forms of energy erupted:
A griffon of wind, majestic and roaring, coiled around him in emerald fury.
A dragon of violet lightning, snarling with cosmic hunger, spiraled in the opposite direction.
The two merged behind Klaus in a storm of crimson, violet, and silver light.
He raised Fushigiri slowly, the ako spirit whispering through him.
Annabeth raised her hand gravity condensed into a singularity in her palm, pulsing like a miniature sun.
The entire coliseum held its breath.
Malrik leaned forward, eyes wide with exhilaration.
"Now… now let the heavens tremble!"
The Paragons stared, the Monarchs were silent.
And at the heart of the broken world—
Klaus Aetherion and Annabeth Vortan prepared to unleash powers that would rewrite history.