Although she was weaker, Layla did not retreat.
She refused to.
Her body screamed for restraint, her instincts warning her that continuing would tear something vital apart—but she ignored them all. She pushed forward, past hesitation, past fear, past the limits she had sworn never to cross.
Something inside her broke.
Not shattered—unbalanced.
The careful equilibrium that once governed her power collapsed, and in its place rose something unstable, vast, and unrestrained.
Time trembled.
It did not merely slow or speed—it slipped, folding over itself as if reality itself had forgotten which direction it was meant to move. A dark golden glow spilled outward from Layla, wrapping around her like a living crown. Space bent subtly at first, then violently, stretching and expanding as her presence warped the laws that had once confined her.
Her control did not vanish.
It expanded.
She moved.
There was no warning. No buildup. One moment she stood still, the next she was already upon him.
Ultimate barely had time to react. His arms rose instinctively, power flaring just in time to intercept the blow. The impact detonated through space itself, sending him flying backward like a discarded star.
Before he could stabilize—
Layla was already behind him.
Her hand came down, aimed not at his body but at the space around him, collapsing distance into nothingness.
Ultimate vanished.
A black hole tore open reality, swallowing light, matter, and sound. He reappeared several meters away, teeth clenched, eyes alight with savage delight. With a furious motion, he hurled his power forward.
Dozens of miniature suns ignited into existence, burning white-hot as they screamed toward Layla.
She didn't flinch.
Instead, she reached outward—not to the suns themselves, but to time around them.
The universe obeyed.
Time reversed in localized spirals, unwinding the violent birth of the stars. Their flames receded, their mass unraveled, their existence peeled backward layer by layer until there was nothing left but empty space.
Ultimate's eyes widened—only slightly.
Layla didn't waste the opening.
She surged forward again.
For the first time in a long while, Ultimate struggled.
Not because he was weak.
But because Layla was no longer predictable.
She was faster now. Sharper. Her movements were no longer restrained by caution or calculation. Each strike bent reality, each step cracked invisible laws.
Ultimate blocked, countered, evaded—but it was work.
And he loved it.
A grin split his face as he absorbed a blow that should have erased a lesser being.
"So that's it," he laughed, voice ringing across broken space. "You finally broke past your limit."
Layla didn't answer.
She attacked again.
Ultimate's laughter grew louder.
"I'll just have to grow too!"
He threw his arms wide.
The cosmos answered.
Burning stars erupted into existence—larger, denser, more violent than before. Alongside them came massive meteors, their surfaces molten, their cores screaming with destructive force.
He hurled them all toward her.
Layla was too close.
There was no time to escape fully.
She reacted on instinct, bending space inward while manipulating time outward—slowing their descent, thinning their mass, weakening their impact just enough.
Just enough.
She slipped between collapsing trajectories, narrowly evading annihilation as the attack detonated behind her.
The explosion shook the universe.
Even Layla shuddered.
Surviving something like that was possible—but enduring it repeatedly would be another matter entirely.
Ultimate hovered amid the aftermath, his presence dominating the shattered void.
"You found the answer, didn't you?" he said, almost reverently. "Ha… how long has it been since someone pushed me this far?"
Layla stared at him.
For a fleeting moment, a question surfaced in her mind—why? Why he chose this path. Why he embraced destruction so willingly.
She crushed the thought and surged forward again.
This time, she didn't strike directly.
She sealed.
Space folded inward, layers upon layers compressing until Ultimate was completely caged, reality itself locking him in place. The moment the seal completed, Layla gathered everything she had left and prepared to end it.
She stopped.
A few meters away.
Death pulsed outward from Ultimate's body.
He laughed.
"Ah… sharp senses," he said softly. "But it's too late."
His eyes darkened.
"You helped me achieve something I thought was impossible."
The laughter twisted into something wrong—something edged with madness. His smile froze, gaze sharpening as he muttered a single word.
A word that shattered everything.
"Mindscape."
Reality collapsed.
An irresistible force seized Layla, pulling her inward before she could resist. The world inverted, folded, then vanished.
She fell into darkness.
Not absence—dominion.
This was not a place governed by time or space. Those concepts were forcibly removed, discarded like broken tools. Ultimate's voice echoed everywhere and nowhere, layered over itself, omnipresent.
Layla's heart sank.
For the first time, she felt it.
Fear.
This was different. This wasn't raw power. This was control.
He was still growing.
And she was falling behind.
Her fists clenched.
No. She had fought too long to stop now. She would not lose here. She would not—
A voice echoed inside her mind.
"Princess… is it finally time for my entrance?"
Her brow furrowed.
"Don't," she muttered. "You promised."
A chuckle followed.
"I did. But you look like you could use a hero."
She refused.
She had to.
She prepared to attack.
Then the danger came.
Fast. Too fast.
It didn't matter where she moved—the threat followed. There was no direction, no source, no escape. The darkness swallowed even her dark golden light.
She raised both hands, bracing herself.
The attack reached her as a vortex.
It didn't tear her apart. It didn't wound her physically.
It erased her.
Her body began to fade, piece by piece, as though reality itself had decided she no longer belonged.
Panic surged.
She had no choice.
"Striver!"
Nothing happened.
Then—
The Mindscape trembled.
The darkness recoiled.
A presence descended—not with light, not with force, but with inevitability. It was as though he had always been there, simply unnoticed.
The vortex vanished with a snap.
Layla collapsed to her knees, whole once more.
Striver stood beside her.
No aura. No glow.
Just presence.
He smiled and reached for her hands.
"Princess," he said gently, "your knight is here."
Her heart skipped.
She pulled away immediately, regaining her composure.
"Show-off," she muttered.
Striver laughed softly.
Ultimate watched.
For the first time, he did not smile.
Striver's power had grown. His control was terrifying. Imagination itself bent obediently around him, nearing its absolute peak.
Sensing the gaze, Striver turned.
The darkness parted.
Ultimate stood across from him, murderous intent seeping outward like poison.
They didn't speak.
They didn't need to.
Their eyes said everything.
Layla opened her mouth—
They vanished.
The collision tore through the Mindscape as fists met power, imagination clashing against domination.
And the true battle began.