The sky above Tak'Halar changed color.
Grey clouds fused into a spiral vortex. Atop the black tower, the masked figure stood tall, long robe billowing. His frame was slender yet exerted gravitational pressure. Around him, quantum particles spun in intricate patterns—invisible to ordinary eyes, but Rio saw it all.
"You," Rio stepped forward, "released those mutated creatures upon this world."
The figure gazed from behind his bird-skull mask. His voice was flat, almost emotionless.
"I did not release them. I shaped them. I created a new system of natural selection. My name—Eidros, the Genetic Architect."
Eidros raised his hand. Instantly, the surrounding field pulsed. The ground cracked into concentric circles. Sand particles rose, assembling into thousands of living mechanical insects. Around Eidros, particle formations morphed into biological shields and weapons—simultaneously liquid, solid, and plasma.
"If you wish to change the world, Rio Morgan, you must first confront it. The world you defend is beyond saving."
Rio lifted his hand. Red emerged as a shield. Thousands of insects surged toward him in wave-like formation.
"Red Core Rejection!"
The insects recoiled. Yet before hitting the ground, they duplicated and arced back skyward, assembling a colossal DNA helix in the air.
"You think I merely attack? No, I am building… something," Eidros declared.
The giant DNA spiral rotated, then collapsed into artificial humans—faceless, towering, radiating wild quantum auras.
Rio didn't wait. Activating Blue, he pulled all entities toward a single point. Eidros adjusted their particles, rendering them anti-gravitational—resisting Rio's pull.
"Science conquers color," Eidros stated coldly.
Rio narrowed his eyes. White ignited in his palms.
"Void Construct—Javelin!"
A colossal white spear materialized from nothingness, hurtling toward Eidros at supersonic speed. Eidros merely snapped his fingers. Air particles in the spear's path compressed into a molecular wall.
The spear shattered on impact.
"You still play with energy," Eidros said. "I transcend that. I manipulate physical reality—at its most fundamental level."
Rio activated Grey. Time slowed around him. But Eidros resonated surrounding particles to match Grey's frequency, neutralizing its effect.
"You… synchronized with Grey?"
"I don't imitate color. I rewrite the laws governing their interaction."
Rio smiled faintly.
"Good. Then I'll stop holding back."
He fused Red and Blue, forming a hybrid technique.
"Vortex of Reversal."
The world around him warped into a high-pressure vacuum. All motion, energy, even intent from moving objects reversed direction.
Eidros stood motionless, yet his particles began unraveling.
"Fascinating…"
He discarded his robe. Beneath it, Eidros' body was not wholly human. Half consisted of experimental genetic structures—exposed nerve circuits, living wires, and ever-shifting biological quantum patterns.
"I am not the Architect," he revealed.
"I am the result of Versail's final experiment… and his perfected successor."
Rio fell silent.
"You're… a clone?"
"No. I am an idea. And ideas cannot be killed!"
Eidros activated his entire form. Particle waves radiated, weaponizing earth, air, and light. Rio strained against the pressure—fortifying himself with White, shielding with Red, deflecting attacks with Blue's pull.
Yet Eidros fired real-time mutations—living projectiles that morphed in response to Rio's colors.
Each hue became a catalyst.
"This is no longer a battle of strength," Rio conceded, forced backward. "This is evolution."
Rio's eyes blazed.
"Then… let color evolve too."
He fused the four primary colors—Red, Blue, White, Black—into a single point over his heart.
Then injected Grey as the binding agent.
"Final technique… Spectrum Overwrite."
Rio's body transformed—not into something else, but into pure color incarnate.
He moved not through space, but through intent.
Eidros unleashed his full particle arsenal. The world collapsed into a storm of genetic chaos.
Two forces collided:
On one side—perfect biological structure rewriting DNA, matter, and reality.
On the other—a spectral entity embodying color, cosmic law, and human will.
They fought beyond spatial perception.
Every clash birthed gravitational distortions.
Sky cracked.
Desert sand melted.
Sound vanished.
Only two forces remained—Evolution and Color.
Eidros began crumbling. His body couldn't adapt to the entropy fluctuations from Black. Molecular structures fractured from within.
"Impossible… I… am flawless…"
"You were built from fear. I from choice," Rio answered.
With a final strike, Rio pressed his hand against Eidros' chest.
"Black… Finality."
Eidros vanished—without trace. Even his constituent particles disintegrated to zero.
The sky stilled.
Tak'Halar fell silent.
Rio dropped to his knees. His colors dimmed. He drew a shuddering breath. Exhausted… but alive.
In the distance, surviving soldiers from Vildrach and Alram watched from the ruins. They did not advance. Did not attack.
Only bowed.
Rio stood.
"This is no victory. It is a warning. The world… must change."
He gazed at the horizon, where the sun slowly pierced the desert haze.
And for the first time in ages, that light… felt true.