The black hole still screamed.
It twisted space into a grotesque spiral of bent light and collapsing gravity, swallowing fragments of shattered moons and drifting debris as if the universe itself were being peeled apart. The void around it groaned, reality stretched thin to the breaking point.
Lucian hovered backward, wings of dark energy flaring wildly behind him, his breathing ragged—not from exhaustion, but from disbelief.
Across from him, Reider walked forward.
Not floated.
Not rushed.
Walked.
Each step carried him closer, boots brushing against fractured space as if gravity still obeyed him alone. The pull of the black hole clawed at everything nearby—dust, light, even time itself—yet Reider's coat barely stirred.
Lucian snarled, fury boiling over into his voice.
"How are you still standing?!" he shouted. "You should have been erased!"
Reider didn't answer immediately.
He raised one hand.
Pure white energy began to coil around his fingers—not violent, not chaotic, but absolute. It didn't crackle like Lucian's power. It didn't roar. It simply was, dense and silent, as if reality itself recognized it and chose not to resist.
"You made a mistake," Reider said calmly.
His fingers clenched.
The universe screamed.
The black hole convulsed, its endless spiral buckling inward as space twisted violently around it. Gravity reversed, folded, collapsed. The ravenous singularity shrank, compressing in on itself as if crushed by an invisible force far greater than its own.
Lucian's eyes widened.
"No… no—!" His voice faltered. "Impossible…"
The black hole imploded.
Not with an explosion—but with silence.
It collapsed into nothing, erased by Reider's grasp, leaving behind stabilized space that snapped back into place as if the cosmic wound had never existed.
Reider stepped forward.
Then he vanished.
Lucian barely had time to register the sudden shift before pain detonated in his chest.
Reider's fist drove into him like a falling star.
Lucian's body was launched backward, smashing into a massive asteroid and splitting it clean in half before continuing onward into the void, tumbling end over end.
Reider followed.
He accelerated past light itself.
In the blink of an eye, he caught Lucian mid-flight and drove a knee into his stomach. The impact folded Lucian inward, blood spraying from his mouth as his body convulsed from the force.
Reider's eyes glowed faintly—no rage, no satisfaction. Only focus.
He grabbed Lucian by the collar and pulled him close, their faces inches apart.
"We're not done," Reider whispered.
Then he spun.
Lucian became a comet.
Reider hurled him downward toward the world below with overwhelming force. Space tore open in Lucian's wake, a massive rift ripping across the sky as he descended like divine judgment.
The battlefield trembled.
Vael, Mei, Eryndra, Juno, Zera, the twins, and Kael stood together as the sky split open above them. Wind howled as clouds were torn apart, revealing a blazing streak of destruction descending rapidly.
"They're coming back?!" Juno shouted, eyes wide.
Mei's breath caught in her throat.
"Reider…" she whispered.
Lucian struck the ground like a meteor.
The explosion flattened everything nearby, a massive crater forming as shockwaves blasted outward. Everyone shielded themselves as debris rained down, dust and smoke rising like a funeral shroud.
Silence followed.
The smoke churned.
Eryndra glared at the crater. "If he's back…" Her eyes narrowed. "Where's Reider?"
A heartbeat passed.
Then—
Reider appeared above.
He descended at blinding speed, fist raised, poised to finish it—
And both of them vanished.
Light flashed.
Gone.
Every eye widened.
Vael's expression hardened as she reached outward with her senses, searching, scanning, pushing farther than most would dare.
"Where did they go?!" Juno demanded, spinning in place.
Kael stepped forward, frowning deeply. "Even I can't sense them anymore…"
Mei reached upward instinctively, panic tightening her chest.
"Reider…?"
Zera turned sharply toward Vael. "You always know everything—where are they?!"
Vael lowered her hand slowly.
Her voice was quiet. Serious.
"…I can't find them. They're gone."
The battlefield fell silent.
Mei swallowed, her hands trembling. "Please… be okay."
They stood together beneath the torn sky, the smoking crater behind them, no sign of either combatant.
Eryndra clenched her fists. "Damn it. Why would he leave like that?!"
Juno stared upward, thinking. Did he take Lucian somewhere else… to end it?
Kael crossed his arms, tense. "Or is something even worse happening?"
Zera straightened, despite the pain, glaring at the empty sky. "Wherever you are… just win."
Mei stepped closer to the crater's edge.
Vael joined her, placing a steady hand on her shoulder. "He'll come back. You know he will."
Mei nodded, forcing a small smile. "I know… but still…"
The battlefield waited.
Elsewhere.
Reality was broken.
Reider and Lucian stood facing one another in a swirling dimension of shattered space. Chunks of planets drifted aimlessly around them, stardust hanging frozen in impossible angles, the laws of existence warped beyond recognition.
"We broke through to another dimension," Reider said calmly. "No way back unless one of us falls."
Lucian smirked, dark lightning flickering across his body. "Then I'll enjoy taking my time."
Reider's eyes half-closed.
"You're not walking out of here."
Lucian roared and launched himself forward, fist wrapped in black lightning.
"DIE ALREADY!"
Reider sidestepped.
The motion was smooth—effortless.
He countered with a palm strike to Lucian's gut.
The dimension cracked.
Shockwaves rippled outward, fracturing floating debris as Lucian coughed blood, eyes wide.
How is he still this strong?!
"You threatened everything I cared about," Reider said. "You lose."
Lucian snarled and forced more mana into himself, his body distorting grotesquely as he absorbed energy from the broken dimension.
"I'LL TEAR THIS WHOLE WORLD APART!"
Reider walked forward.
"I can."
He raised his hand.
A symbol formed in the air—ancient, glowing white, humming with power older than gods.
Lucian's grin faltered.
What… is that?
Light exploded.
Lucian screamed.
His body dissolved piece by piece, torn apart by absolute annihilation.
"I AM SUPPOSED TO WIN!"
Reider watched silently.
Lucian's arm vanished.
Then his torso.
Then his head.
"I… was… a god…"
Nothing remained.
Dust drifted.
Reider stood alone.
"It's over."
The dimension began to stabilize.
He looked down at his trembling hand.
"I have to go back… to them."
Light formed.
"Wait for me."
Back on the battlefield, the sky rippled.
White light tore open.
A silhouette stepped through.
Reider emerged—bruised, battered, alive.
Mei's breath hitched. "Reider…"
He stood tall.
"Sorry to keep you waiting."