Xers climbed Mount Ipoi, 3100 meters high, with Gomerai and ran toward the fortress.
"A-FRIENDS, I'M COMING!"
Xers passed through the fortress gate and came face to face with Nystral. On the ground lay the bodies of Kiminage and Gein.
Xers began breathing rapidly in intense anxiety.
"W-W-WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!"
"Everything is exactly as you see it, Xers."
"NYSTRAL, YOU BASTARD!"
"Calm down, Xers. I'm right here. This is the breaking point of all Shadowia. Either you win, or I do."
At that moment, Hanken's voice came from the other end of the fortress.
"Hey, it won't be that easy!"
"You too, Hanken? Killing two birds with one stone. If I erase both of you, I'll take Shadowia completely. HAVING DIVINE POWERS GIVES ME THE GREATEST PLEASURE!"
"It won't be that easy, taking on both of us alone, Nystral!"
"Who said I'm alone against both of you, Hanken? What do you think Tsurogami is for?"
Xers shouted,
"HOW DARE YOU SPEAK SO MOCKINGLY, YOU PATHETIC BEING?!"
"I'll start with you, Xers. Tsurogami, deal with Hanken."
"Understood, my lord!"
Tsurogami stepped in front of Hanken and drew his sword.
Xers also drew his sword against Nystral.
Xers, Hanken, Nystral, and Tsurogami put on their masks.
The moment Xers put on his purple mask, Gomerai roared from behind. As Xers lunged at Nystral, the battle began.
Xers charged at Nystral. Their swords clashed. Xers was delivering five slashes per second toward Nystral. But Nystral dodged all of them with ease.
"Gomerai!"
Gomerai burst out from underground and began wreaking havoc. Slamming into the fortress walls, Gomerai started tearing them down one by one.
"I know Gomerai's destructive power. But he's not strong enough to hurt me."
Gomerai lunged at Nystral. With a single slash, Nystral split Gomerai in two. But Gomerai was only dazed—because as a celestial being, he cannot be killed by an earthly blade.
"Ahh! This is the only way I can suppress Gomerai. As long as I reach Xers and use The Comp Evolved, I can defeat him. Lightning Steps!"
Nystral used Lightning Steps and rapidly closed the distance to Xers.
"He's coming straight at me! GQ#41!!"
A black slash burst from Xers's sword and shot toward Nystral.
But while running, Nystral deflected GQ#41 with his arm and split it in two. The two halves of GQ#41 sliced through the fortress walls.
"W-WHAT? GOMERAI! ATTACK!"
This time, Xers attacked together with Gomerai. Xers and Nystral's swords clashed, while from behind, Gomerai came crashing toward Nystral in his massive form. Nystral stopped fighting Xers and leapt into the air, dodging Gomerai's attack.
"You won't escape me, Nystral! GHOST STEP!"
Xers teleported in front of Nystral mid-air. He raised his sword and swung with all his strength. Even though Nystral blocked it with his blade, the impact sent him crashing down from a height of fifteen meters.
Nystral rose from the ground, cracked his neck, and said:
"Ahh! Strong..."
Nystral drew his sword again and jumped up toward Xers. Xers and Nystral swung their blades so fast that their Spiritual Pressure rose to its peak level, bypassing gravity and keeping them suspended in the air.
At that moment, Nystral began using Gein's ability set.
"Blue!"
A blue orb burst from Nystral's hand and tore through the air toward Xers. Xers guarded with his sword and deflected it, but was pushed back. Nystral took advantage and lunged at Xers. Xers couldn't control the blow and began falling toward the ground.
As Xers fell, Nystral wasted no time and used another ability.
"Don't think I'm limited to one-dimensional skills! Try dodging this! Red Crescent, Red!"
Nystral used Kiminage's cloning ability, creating copies of himself. Then he used Gein's Red ability. Red orbs formed in the hands of Nystral and his clones, all targeting Xers.
Red attacks came at Xers from ten different directions.
"Gomerai!"
Gomerai caught the falling Xers mid-air and pulled him away from the orbs. The ten orbs collided with each other, causing a massive explosion that lit up the night.
"Nystral may have truly evolved to a god-level being within the last twenty days! If he kills me too and steals my abilities, he'll become the sole ruler of the world! I won't allow that..."
"DON'T RUN, XERS, COME HERE!"
"I haven't built enough momentum yet for Dragon's Destruction! But I'll use this... Dragon's Truth..."
Gomerai spat out a Tetra-cube from his mouth. The tetra-cube opened up and trapped Xers, Nystral, and the clones inside like a box.
"W-WHERE AM I? I THINK I UNDERESTIMATED THIS MAN."
Inside the tetra-cube, Xers was moving so fast that he was nothing but a purple streak of light.
"This is a place where you'll meet your end, Nystral..."
The purple streak began circling around Nystral and his clones.
"No clone can save you, Nystral!"
At that moment, Tsurogami—who was fighting Hanken—noticed the tetra-cube and ran toward Nystral.
Hanken shouted:
"D-DON'T GO ANYWHERE! N-NO, HE'LL INTERRUPT XERS! I JUST USED MY TIME STOP!"
Nystral gathered his clones around himself, placing himself at the center and forming a shield.
"My clones' bodies have the same durability as mine! Each of them can take at least 300 slashes before being completely destroyed!"
Xers drew his sword and began unleashing hundreds of slashes per second.
Nystral had formed a three-layer defense. The outermost clones were completely shredded. After a few seconds, the second layer of clones was also completely destroyed. When Xers reached the final layer, he began tearing apart the remaining two clones. At that moment, Tsurogami hurled GQ#41 at the tetra-cube from outside. No matter how durable Gomerai's tetra-cube was from the inside, it was a structure that could be broken easily from the outside. It was meant to suppress Spiritual Pressure within.
The tetra-cube cracked and began leaking Spiritual Pressure. Xers's slashes slowly started losing speed.
"W-Why am I slowing down? W-WHAT? There's a crack in the tetra-cube!"
Xers slowed down completely and, to finish it, delivered a heavy blow to Nystral, who stood within the last two remaining clones. Nystral and the clones were scattered.
As Nystral drifted through the air:
"He is better than I expected but..."
Xers:
"Y-YOU BASTARD TSUROGAMI! N-Never mind, focus on Nystral. I can't take my eyes off him."
Even as Xers said that, he had already taken his eyes off him. Nystral had disappeared for a moment. Xers stood still and scanned his surroundings carefully. He looked right—no one. He looked left—no one. He looked behind—no one. But the moment he looked up, the disaster had already begun.
Nystral, together with his remaining two clones, had formed Gein's Chroma at the same time. Even when Xers fought Gein before, he had barely survived a single Chroma with Dragon's Destruction. But now he didn't have the stamina to use that ability—and this time, there were three Chromas...
To save himself, Hanken leaped down the mountain at extreme speed and fled.
Nystral released Chroma from three different directions.
Xers let out a chaotic scream.
"N-N-NO-NOOOOOOOO!!!!"
All three Chromas struck Xers, and the entire mountain was blown into the sky.