Last Episode: And the realm shook beneath their feet as they charged]
Chapter 153, Episode 153
[The Realm of Empire — Zeovar vs Zrag continues]
[The ground exploded]
[Zrag came out of it already swinging. White hair soaked red. Armor cracked down the middle. Blade up]
[Zeovar's halberd met it]
[Boom]
[The shockwave went through the Realm of Empire. The sky split in three places]
[They had been at this for hours]
[Zeovar had stopped counting how many times he'd killed him]
"Zeovar - Genesis Annihilation"
[A primordial bolt left the Storm Blade and wiped Zrag out across every timeline at once. The strike rewrote his origin point so he'd never been born]
[Zrag walked out of the empty air]
Zrag: Intresting power!!
"Zeovar - Volt-Shock Terminus"
[A beam ended his personal timeline. The last second of his destiny arrived early]
[Zrag stood back up in the same breath]
Zrag: Boring.
"Zeovar - Stormbound Voidbolt"
[Suddenly a black lightning cut his soul off from the narrative. It tore his mind and body apart. Nothing could undo that kind of damage]
[Zrag came back. Slower this time. His chest was still open from the first wound. Blood ran off his fingers and soaked the broken ground]
[Zeovar breathing hard]
Zeovar: Give up!!
[Zrag wiping his mouth]
Zrag: A dragon cannot defeat a Hyper!!
Zeovar: Well, nothing is impossible for me pal!!
Zrag: Don't get too ahead of yourself, even if you kill me this war isn't over.. our Majesty, Ivarak will ressurect us..
[Zrag moved]
[He left the ground and the ground didn't notice]
[Zeovar's halberd swung through where he'd been, but Zrag was already behind him. His blade came down from a moment that hadn't happened yet]
[Zeovar didn't turn around. He didn't need to]
"Zeovar - Linear Instinct-Reaction"
[His body answered a thought before the thought finished. The halberd flipped backward over his shoulder and caught the blade an inch from his neck. Sparks lit the whole realm white]
[Zrag's eyes widened]
Zeovar: You come from the future..
Zrag: I come from wherever you aren't looking.
Zeovar: I'm looking everywhere.
[He kicked Zrag in the gut. A crack. Zrag folded over, blood spraying]
[Zeovar's palm hit the back of his head and drove him face first into the ground. The crater under him sank a hundred miles]
[Zeovar jumped back. His left arm hung wrong. His robe was black with blood]
[Zrag came up out of the dust laughing]
Zrag: You can't kill me.
Zeovar: Hypers are possible to kill..
Zrag: Shut up shut up!!
Zeovar: Your arrogant...
[Zrag stopped laughing]
[Zeovar planted the halberd in the ground. He took a slow breath. The lightning around him went quiet. The pink gem on his brow pulsed once, twice, steady as a heartbeat]
Zeovar: Your blade runs on your lifespan. Every cut spends eternity. That's what makes it heavy.
Zrag: What!!!
Zeovar: And your skin turns every hit into life. That's what makes you stand.
Zrag: So?
Zeovar: One spends. One stores. Two things that never touch.
[Zrag's smile slipped]
"Zeovar - Duality-Volt Collapse"
[He pulled the halberd out of the stone. Lightning stitched the air in a perfect line between the two of them. He pinched both into a single point inside Zrag's chest]
[The point folded]
[Zrag's blade stopped mid-swing. His armor locked as the blood on his chin froze midair as drops eternity, which had been pouring out of him as force and pouring in as life, tried to do both at once and had nowhere to go]
[He stood there. Mouth open. Not moving]
[Zrag barely]
Zrag: What... did you...
Zeovar: You stopped.
Zrag: I can't... die.
Zeovar: I know. You can't move either.
[Silence. A long one. Wind carried dust across the broken plain]
[Zrag's eyes were the only part of him still working. They went from Zeovar's face to the halberd to the crater around them. His jaw twitched]
[Zrag slow]
Zrag: Immortal... and stuck.
Zeovar: Yes.
Zrag: ...That's worse than dying.
Zeovar: Yes.
[Zrag exhaled. Even that was a struggle]
Zrag: Fine. I lose!
[The sky tore open]
[Hyper legions poured out of it. Every one of them wrapped in different light. Wings. Blades. Halos. Horns. They had come to drag their general out of a dragon's grip]
[The noise hit before they did. A scream from a million throats at once]
[Zrag rasping]
Zrag: They'll tear you in half.
[Zeovar looked up]
Zeovar: Let them.
[He lifted the Storm Blade]
"Zeovar - Infinite Keraunos"
[A sea of lightning appeared inside the sky and inside the Hypers at the same time. Every bolt was already there when the light of the staff finally reached Zrag's eyes]
[The legions were the first thing to be wiped out and the last thing to notice]
[The scream ended in the middle]
[The Storm Blade's lightning doesn't leave data behind. It eats the record, the soul, the chance of coming back. A million Hypers became a clean sky]
[The thunder arrived last]
[It rolled across the Realm of Empire for three full minutes]
[Zrag whisper]
Zrag: That was... all of them.
Zeovar: Yes... farewell Zrag
[He dropped to one knee. Blood ran from his mouth]
[The halberd was the only thing holding him up. His crown hung crooked, the gem cracked in two places]
[Zeovar low]
Zeovar: Siriusniyo gave an order. It's done.
[He stood back up behind him, Zrag stayed where he was. Frozen. Awake. Forever]
[The Chaos Universe — Nihiliya vs Quinn, Angela and Luna]
[The five hundred were gone]
[They'd gone in pieces. Luna's regression ring took a hundred. Quinn's fire took another hundred]
[Angela's fists took the rest, one by one, until the ring around Nihiliya had thinned to a few dozen scorched shapes that no longer moved]
[Nihiliya stood alone in the middle of the ruin]
[Her kimono hung in strips. Her hair was matted with blood. Her blue katana was cracked from tip to guard]
[Her hands wouldn't stop shaking]
Quinn: Done?... say your prayers...
Nihiliya: A kid... ordering me..
Quinn: You keep saying that.
Nihiliya: I'll keep meaning it.
[She raised her free hand]
"Nihiliya - Conceptual Dream-Forge"
[She pulled a story out of her own head. A giant. Old, loud, made of paper and ink, a monster that had never existed. It stepped out of the air with a fist the size of a moon]
[The fist came down]
[Angela caught it]
[One arm. One palm. Her boots drove trenches through the debris. The ground cracked outward in a ring a thousand miles wide]
[Angela grinning, shaking]:
Angela: Heavy...
"Angela - Vortex Deflection"
[She spun. The giant's own force went around her wrist and back out the way it came. The monster hit the floating mountains behind it, burst into ink, and rained black across the sky]
[Nihiliya didn't wait]
"Nihiliya - Logic Paradox"
[Angela's counter reversed. The force came back at her. Her ribs bent. Blood flew out of her mouth]
"Angela - Samsara Counter"
[She swallowed it. All of it. Every cracked bone, every ounce of pressure, went into her body and stayed there for one breath. Her eyes went white. Her fist went back]
Angela: Take it.
[She hit Nihiliya in the chest]
[The sound was a bell ringing inside a mountain. Nihiliya flew. Her back hit a drifting planet, went through it, kept going. Her katana snapped in half]
[She landed on one knee, coughing blood]
Nihiliya: Hm.
"Nihiliya - Tapestry Erasure"
[She reached out and tugged on Angela's thread. It pulled loose. Angela's arm went transparent]
[Luna was already there]
"Luna - Chronos Shatterpoint"
[She touched Nihiliya's wrist. Right where the thread joined her hand. The touch found the exact moment Nihiliya had decided to reach for it. It cracked that moment into pieces]
[The thread dropped. Angela's arm snapped back to solid]
Luna: Your hands are slow now.
Nihiliya: Her time magic... is-
Luna: This is the end!!
[Nihiliya stood. Wobbled. Stood again]
[She spread her arms]
"Nihiliya - Infinite Timeline"
[A million Nihiliyas stepped out of the air again. Every one of them had won. Every one of them carried a blade. They fell on the three women like rain]
[Quinn took one step forward]
Quinn: Mine.
"Quinn - Sage of Time"
[Her hand opened. A pale gold circle spread beneath the million. They stopped mid-air. Then they unwound. The same moment, played backward, until each of them was a single seed of an idea that had never been picked]
[Nihiliya staggered]
Nihiliya: You borrowed...
Quinn: I own it.
"Quinn - Sage of Paradox"
[She snapped her fingers. Nihiliya's dark glass sphere appeared around Quinn herself. Nihiliya's own Null-Sphere. The one that broke logic]
[It tried to break Quinn's]
[It couldn't. Paradox was Quinn's sage. The sphere cracked, folded, and tore itself apart from the inside. Nihiliya screamed as it backfired. Blood ran from her ears]
Nihiliya: what!!
Quinn: I rewrote it.
[Nihiliya staggered back. Panting. Her eyes were red. Her kimono smoked. For the first time since the fight began, she looked behind her. At the empty ring where five hundred Hypers had hung]
"Nihiliya - Absolute Reality Rebirth!"
[She slammed both hands together]
[The universe flinched]
[Time folded back on itself. Every erased Hyper twitched, flickered, and started to reform. Faces first. Then bodies. Then armor]
[Blood poured from Nihiliya's nose. Then her eyes. Then her mouth. She screamed and kept pulling]
Luna: Stop it.
Angela: She's rebuilding all of them!
Quinn: Then burn them while they're half-born.
"Quinn - Sage of Flame"
[Her palm lit with conceptual fire. The kind that burns destiny and karma. It rolled out across the battlefield like a tide and caught every half-built Hyper in the act of becoming]
[They didn't die. They un-became]
[Nihiliya's hands went limp. The rebirth cracked]
[She dropped to both knees. Her whole body shook. Her voice came out cracked]
Nihiliya: No.
Quinn: Yes.
Nihiliya: I had... more.
Luna: You had eight.
[Nihiliya looked up slowly]
Luna: We counted.
[She'd used every one. Genesis-Collapse in the first round. Logic Paradox twice. Dimensional Unshackling. Tapestry Erasure. Infinite Timeline. Absolute Reality Rebirth. Paradoxical Null-Sphere. Conceptual Dream-Forge. And each one had been answered by something she couldn't answer back]
[Nihiliya's lips trembled. For the first time, she smiled like she meant it]
Nihiliya: Then finish it.
[Angela moved first]
"Angela - Chronos Anchor"
[She punched the air in front of Nihiliya. The punch landed in her time stream. Everything froze. Nihiliya's blood hung in the air as drops. Her hair stopped halfway through a gust]
[Luna stepped up beside her]
"Luna - Temporal Sovereignty"
[Luna wrapped the frozen second in a loop. A single instant that would repeat forever. A grave that never opened]
[Nihiliya couldn't speak. She couldn't blink. Only her eyes still moved, and they moved to Quinn]
[Quinn walked up to her]
[The fire around her was quiet now. A dozen sages stood behind her in pale outlines of light, each one holding a different hand in the air]
Quinn: You don't get to come back.
[She raised her hand]
"Quinn - Sage of Origin"
[The first one reached back. Back to the beginning of Nihiliya. The first cause. The first spark that had ever decided she should exist]
"Quinn - Sage of Endings"
[The second one closed that door. It didn't kill her. It ended her story, the way a page ends. Her timeline stopped, then folded into itself like paper]
"Quinn - Sage of Destruction"
[The third one burned what was left. Matter. Energy. Concept. The idea of her. The memory of her in the stone around her]
Quinn: Good night!!
[The loop collapsed]
[Nihiliya's outline flickered once. Her hair. Her kimono. The shape of her mouth, still smiling]
[Then there was nothing]
[The wind carried a single white petal across the dead sky. It drifted for a long time before it vanished]
[Luna lowered her hand. Quinn's shoulders sagged. Angela dropped onto a broken rock, panting, one arm hanging]
Angela: I'm never fighting a reality warper again.
Quinn: You say that every time.
Angela: I mean it this time.
[Luna looked up at the empty sky]
Luna: Ivarak sent her to stall us.
Quinn: Then we're late.
[In The Dead Universe — Loki vs Siriusniyo]
[The universe was already dead when they got there]
[The throne had cracked in half]
[Loki stood in front of it, white hair loose, green-black robe torn at the shoulder. A smear of blood ran down his jaw. His gold armor hung in pieces]
[Across from him, Siriusniyo stood in his younger form. White hair. Blue eyes. Red robe with gold scrollwork. Arms crossed. The sword, Sutur's End, rested at his hip]
[He looked bored]
[He was bleeding from his side]
Loki: Kneel.
Siriusniyo: No.
"Loki - Absolute Command"
[The word hit the dead universe like a bell. Every particle of dust bowed. The dark itself bent]
[Siriusniyo didn't]
[He took one step forward. The step set fire to the air. A line of gold flame ran from his foot to the horizon, burning a path through the command like a match through paper]
"Siriusniyo - Law-Breaker's Veil"
[Loki's decree reached him and burned. The rule he'd written to force obedience turned to smoke before it touched skin]
Siriusniyo: Authority magic huh... such magic!!
Loki: Stronger than your mere magic
Siriusniyo: mere... I see
[Siriusniyo moved]
[He lit the fabric of time under his boot and walked down it like a hallway. One step crossed a thousand universes. The next crossed a thousand more. By the time Loki's eyes found him, he'd already passed through the same spot three times]
"Siriusniyo - Ignite Law Speed"
[The kick came from behind]
[His foot hit Loki's face before Loki's head had started to turn. The force travelled backward through time. Loki was already flying before he was hit]
[His body punched through the cracked throne, three hills, and a collapsing moon]
[Silence]
[Then green light, from deep in the rubble]
[Loki walked out of it. Slowly. Dust and blood on his collar. One eye swollen shut. His voice came out low and level]
Loki: I decree this kick illegal.
"Loki - Execution Mandate"
[The universe obeyed. The kick that had already happened un-happened. The bruise on his face disappeared. The moon rebuilt itself. The dead hills lifted back into place]
[Siriusniyo's boot, mid-swing, stopped halfway through the air. Then it faded. Then it was never there]
[He stared at his own foot]
Siriusniyo: You deleted the kick.???
Loki: I deleted your right to throw it.
Siriusniyo:This is troublesome...
[He drew Sutur's End]
[The blade came out in a slow arc]
[It cut the distance between them. Both of them stood ten thousand miles apart. The cut brought them to one inch]
[Loki's chest opened]
[Blood sprayed across the dark. He staggered, hand pressed to his ribs. Gold light poured out between his fingers]
[Loki through his teeth]
Loki: My... command should have..... he cut through my authority magic
Siriusniyo: My sword literally cuts through the "words" of the story, allowing me to ignore any power an you claims to have. If i says they are immortal, i simply slices that fact out of existence and turns them into a regular mortal who can be burned to ash. It's the ultimate "I win" move because I controls the logic of the fight with every swing.
[Loki laughed. Short. Wet]
Loki: Then let me say a new one.
[He raised both hands. The dead universe trembled]
"Loki - Hierarchy Overturning"
[The scale of the fight flipped. Everything that had been below Loki on the divine ladder was now beneath his feet. Everything above him was pushed down to meet him. Siriusniyo felt his power slide a notch. Then another]
[His boots left cracks in the nothing]
[Siriusniyo grunting]
Siriusniyo: That's... clever.
[He forced the next word out through the weight]
Siriusniyo: Stop.
"Sutur's Absolute Will"
[Time stopped]
[The ash hanging in the air froze. The blood leaving Loki's chest froze. The last echo of his decree froze in a sound that never finished]
[Then, in the silence, a second voice]
Loki: Move..... your annoying!!
[Time lurched]
[Both of them stood there. Both of them breathing. Both of them somehow walking inside a frozen moment, each unwilling to be the one left behind. Their words had cancelled each other out]
[Neither law won]
Siriusniyo: You can't freeze me... freezing isn't something I can freeze me
Loki: You can't stop me.
Siriusniyo: Then we cut.
Loki: Then we burn
[They moved at the same time]
[Loki's fist crossed the gap and hit Siriusniyo's jaw. His head rocked. Blood flew. Siriusniyo's elbow came back and hit Loki's temple]
[Loki's head snapped around. Their feet left the ground. They punched through a dozen frozen seconds and landed in the thirteenth]
"Siriusniyo - Chronos-Flare"
[A blast of fire chased Loki backward through time. It hit him in a moment he'd already survived. His past self screamed. His present self fell to one knee]
"Loki - Unchallengeable Crown"
[A barrier of pure sovereignty snapped up around his body. The flames hit it and died. Nothing could dispute his dominion]
Siriusniyo: A crown... what
Loki: A throne
Siriusniyo: Then I'll melt everything!!
[He drove Sutur's End into the ground]
"Siriusniyo - Sutur's Final Singularity"
[The Dead Universe began to melt]
[It ran down into the blade like wax. Dead stars poured into the sword]
[The cracked throne dripped. The dark itself drained toward a single point of white. A whole universe became fuel]
[Loki felt it. Every inch of the domain he'd claimed was being pulled out from under his feet]
Loki: what... is he burning the universe itself... his fire is around quintillion degrees even higher than your majesty Ivarak's abilities it can even damage him if he is not careful.. roughly bypassing his Alpharus power..
Siriusniyo: My fire burns around 141 quintillion degress!!
[Loki's eyes went wide. Then narrow]
"Loki - Domain of the Absolute Monarch"
[He slammed his palm on the ground]
[The dark answered. A second claim stamped over the first. The melting stopped. The wax ran back up the blade. The dead stars set. The universe was his again, every inch, down to the dust]
[Siriusniyo's blade shuddered]
Loki: I decreed it mine.
Siriusniyo: I will rightfully burn through everything even existence itself!!
[He pulled the sword free. His younger body cracked. Gold light ran through it from the inside, like fire pushing through glass]
[His white hair lifted. It lit up. It turned yellow, then orange, then a blinding gold]
"Siriusniyo - True Flame HellFire"
[Wings of supernova feathers exploded from his back as ach feather burned as bright as a star]
[Sutur's End grew until its tip left the universe. His eyes turned amber. A web of golden cracks ran across his face, glowing from inside]
[The air screamed]
[Loki's armor began to melt. His hair burned at the ends. The temperature of the dead universe jumped to a number no one had named]
[Loki shouting over it]
Loki: Is that all?.. dammit his fire is simply overwhelming!!
[Siriusniyo voice like a furnace]
Siriusniyo: By the First Spark, let the void scream!!
[Black flame erupted from the sword. It ate the emptiness between atoms. Everything in a fifty-mile radius collapsed into a single point of infinite heat]
[Loki raised both hands]
"Loki - Edict of Total Subjugation"
[An aura of undisputed majesty slammed out of him. Every particle in the universe bowed]
[The black flame bowed and the collapsing point bowed. For one full second, even the heat knelt]
[Then the heat stood back up]
Siriusniyo: Rise, pillars of the Sun's grave.!!
[Twelve towers of fire shot up from the ground and sealed the sky and a cage with no exits with no teleportation, no dimension and no time]
[Loki felt the walls close]
Loki: You trapped yourself too.
Siriusniyo: I like it that way.
[Loki spat blood on the ground]
Loki: Fine...
"Loki - Absolute of Nullification"
[He pointed at Siriusniyo. The words came out flat, like a verdict]
Loki: You have no power. You have no immortality. You have no status.... Die!!!
[The command landed]
[Siriusniyo staggered. His wings dimmed. The golden cracks across his face dulled]
[Then he laughed]
"Siriusniyo - Law Flame Copy"
[He reached into the command. He pulled it apart with his fingers. He burned it, and the burning gave him fuel. The decree turned into a ribbon of fire that wrapped around his sword]
Siriusniyo: Thanks for the power.
[He pointed Sutur's End at Loki]
Siriusniyo: You have no power... like I said my power burns through everything, even the fabric of reality and even the narrative itself..
[Loki's own command came back at him, shaped by flame]
[The dead universe screamed]
[Both of them were bleeding now. Both of them were burning. Both of them stood in a cage they'd built themselves, at the center of a universe neither one would let the other keep]
[Neither blinked]
[The Black Palace — Zaphiri vs The Manipulator]
[The darkness came first]
[Twelve universes went out like candles]
[In the middle of the quiet stood a golden palace, white pillars and gold lattice, the last place the dark hadn't reached. A single beam of rainbow light cut through the gap in its ceiling]
[The Manipulator stood in that beam, hands in his coat pockets, blue eyes glowing]
[He was grinning across the broken courtyard, Zaphiri stood with a sphere of purple void turning slowly in one hand. Blue hair. Golden eyes. Black robes. A calm, polite smile]
Zaphiri: Let's finish this!!
The Manipulator: Sure.. don't die..
Zaphiri: You got mouth!!
The Manipulator: obviously
Zaphiri: You think highly of yourself
[He closed his fist]
"Zaphiri - Abyssal Annihilation"
[A vortex of absolute dark opened under the palace. It spun. It dragged the pillars in. Gold lattice bent, snapped, and was gone)
[The vortex didn't destroy things. It erased the idea that they'd ever been there, across every timeline around them]
[The Manipulator stepped forward]
[He didn't run. He didn't fly. He just walked into the vortex]
The Manipulator: Such power..
"The Manipulator - Lies of Fate"
[The vortex stopped. It hung in the air, trembling. Then it dissolved like a bad rumor. Moreover the pillars were back. The gold lattice was back. The floor was whole]
[Zaphiri's smile widened]
Zaphiri: Your power is defying order of lie
The Manipulator: Good you understood that..
Zaphiri: But that is useless against me
"Zaphiri - Nyxian Eraser"
[His aura spread across the courtyard. Matter turned to void. Energy turned to void. Physics turned to void. Everything it touched became dark, silent, empty]
[It reached the Manipulator's boots]
[It stopped]
[The Manipulator looked down. He tilted his head. Then he raised one hand]
"The Manipulator - The Void Engine"
[A beam of pure nothing left his palm. It was the absence of everything, even color. It met Zaphiri's aura in the middle of the courtyard]
[Two nothings. One field]
[They didn't cancel. They argued]
[The air between them twisted like it was being wrung out. Cracks ran across empty space. A sound came out of the middle. A hum that tasted like static]
[Zaphiri tight]
Zaphiri: Mine is older.
The Manipulator: Mine is cleaner.
[Both pushed]
[The courtyard went white. When the light died, half of the palace was gone and neither of them had moved an inch]
[Zaphiri exhaled]
Zaphiri: You're not a puppet.
The Manipulator: You are.
Zaphiri: Ivarak wrote me.
The Manipulator: Then you read like a footnote.
[Zaphiri's eyes narrowed. For the first time, the smile left]
"Zaphiri - Concept Oblivion"
[He pointed. The Manipulator's name began to disappear. Out of books and out of mouths even put of the minds of everyone who had ever heard it. A thousand universes lost one word at once]
[The Manipulator frowned]
"The Manipulator - Absolute Immunity Protocol"
[His body locked. A seal of pure constants closed around him. He couldn't be erased from history, because he was a fixed point in it. The name came back like a dog to a whistle]
Zaphiri: You're a lock.
The Manipulator: I'm the key to the lock you're picking.
[He vanished]
[He was everywhere]
"The Manipulator - Mercury Waltz"
[Zaphiri turned. The Manipulator was in front of him. Behind him. On his left. His right. Above. Below]
[A hundred of him in a hundred points, all at the same time. Because he didn't travel. He occupied. Every point in the courtyard was a point he already stood in]
[Zaphiri's pupils narrowed]
Zaphiri: My dark magic is already everywhere.
[The Manipulator from all directions]
The Manipulator: So am I...
[A hundred fists hit Zaphiri in the same second]
[His ribs folded. His jaw cracked. Black blood sprayed from his mouth. He flew backward through the palace wall, the gold lattice, and the sky behind it]
Zaphiri: He exists everywhere simultaneously..
[He hit nothing. He fell for a long time]
[Then he stopped]
"Zaphiri - Null-Horizon Life"
[A sphere of compressed void formed around him. It forced the plane he floated in to cave in on itself.]
[The courtyard dragged inward. Pillars twisted as space collapsed toward a single point]
[The Manipulator walked out of the collapse unharmed]
"The Manipulator - Third Silence"
[He'd stepped into the gap between two seconds. A gap where time didn't run. By the time the collapse reached him, he'd spent a trillion years there, thinking, and come back with a plan. For the world outside, it had taken nothing at all]
[He drew a sword]
"The Manipulator - One Wonder Sword"
[Blue flame wrapped a blade that wasn't quite a blade. It was an erasure. It ran from his hand to a point beyond the horizon. It cut time as it moved. It cut luck. It cut wishes]
[Zaphiri's golden eyes flicked to it]
Zaphiri: That's your weapon?
The Manipulator: That's my wish....
[He swung]
[The sword cut space. It cut the sphere. It cut the void. A line of blue light split the air in half and reached Zaphiri's chest]
"Zaphiri - Shadow-Origin Rebirth"
[He fell apart in the cut. Every inch of him dissolved into dark and then the dark pulled itself together out of the pre-creation void, and he stood whole again, ten feet to the left]
[Zaphiri panting]
Zaphiri: Not bad... your extremely powerful
The Manipulator: I see..
[Zaphiri looked down. A thin black line crossed his ribs. The cut hadn't healed]
Zaphiri: ...How?
The Manipulator: The sword gets what I wish for.
Zaphiri: You wished for it to cut the dark?
The Manipulator: I wished for it to cut the place the dark comes back from.
[For the first time, Zaphiri took a step back]
Zaphiri: Then I'll cut you... myself
"Zaphiri - Event Horizon Cleaver"
[He drew his hand across the air. A wave of compressed dark force tore through space-time. It sliced the palace in a perfect line, clean through the gold, the stone, the sky, and the universe behind them]
[It cut the Manipulator's link to reality]
[The Manipulator's body flickered. His coat tore. A deep gash opened across his chest. Blood ran down his stomach, glowing blue]
[He gasped]
Zaphiri: Real enough?... farewelll
[The Manipulator wiping his mouth]
The Manipulator: Your a funny one
[He stood up straight. Slow. His hands started to shake. But his grin came back]
The Manipulator: My turn.
"Unsealed True False"
[His blue flame turned white. Seven lights bloomed around him in a ring]
The Manipulator: One. I weigh nothing.
[Zaphiri's blow went through him like fog]
The Manipulator: Two. I'm already behind you.
[Zaphiri turned. The Manipulator was there. A fist hit his face]
The Manipulator: Three. You're the one who hit me.
[Zaphiri's own punch landed on his own jaw]
The Manipulator: Four. Your power is false.
[Zaphiri's void sphere evaporated]
The Manipulator: Five. The ground hates you.
[Zaphiri was thrown into the sky like a stone]
The Manipulator: Six. You never learned this.
[Zaphiri's hands forgot how to move]
The Manipulator: Seven. You're a dream.
[Zaphiri's outline began to fade at the edges]
[For one long second, it worked]
[Then Zaphiri smiled with black blood in his teeth]
Zaphiri: What... what is this.. everything he says comes to reality and it dosent even have a limit.. this guy is a really bad news..
"Zaphiri - Void-God Genesis"
[His body split open. Darkness poured out. It rose behind him into a titan of uncreated void, a shape too big to measure, with a face of stars that were already dead. Light bent around it. Divine light died against it]
[The seventh lie shattered]
[Zaphiri's voice came out of everywhere]
Zaphiri: I was never a dream. I'm what dreams happen inside.
[The Manipulator didn't flinch. He raised his sword. His coat was in rags. His arm was shaking. Blood poured down his side and onto the gold floor]
The Manipulator: Then let me wake you up.
"The Manipulator - 4th State: False True Void"
[White flame turned black. The seven lights collapsed into one and he swallowed the Void Engine. He stood in the place where infinity became zero, and the bridge between them was his body]
[The titan of dark swung]
[The sword came up]
[They met in the middle of a dying universe]
[The world went silent]
[Neither of them blinked]
To be continued.....