The Four Dragon Elders froze where they stood.
The unwavering confidence that had filled their eyes since the beginning of the battle was now replaced by unmistakable shock. The surrounding void still shimmered with the lingering remnants of the Draconic Genesis Cataclysm Breath, yet the man who should have been erased from existence now stood calmly behind their formation.
"Impossible..."
The Earth Dragon Elder's voice was heavier than before.
His gaze never left Valt.
"The Dragon Breath annihilates all matter it touches."
"No mortal body can survive it."
The Fire Dragon Elder slowly nodded.
"Even sacred artifacts are reduced to dust when struck directly."
Valt merely tilted his head.
The half-black, half-white mask continued to wear the same tranquil smile, while the black card between his fingers rotated lazily.
"You did destroy my body," he said calmly.
"But not my soul."
He took a single step forward.
"As long as the core of my existence remains intact..."
"...that attack was never truly enough to finish me."
Silence filled the endless void.
For the first time—
the Dragon Elders no longer looked upon Valt as an ordinary mage.
They looked at him as something they had never encountered before.
The Wind Dragon Elder refused to let the moment linger.
His wings spread wide, generating violent storms that bent the surrounding space.
In an instant—
he disappeared,
leaving behind nothing but distorted trails carved through the void.
Valt did not move.
He did not raise a hand.
He did not summon a single card.
He simply stood there.
Then—
a black magic circle inscribed with countless ancient runes appeared behind him.
"In accordance with our contract..."
"...I borrow the authority of Nihareth."
The name echoed softly across the void.
Nihareth.
The Demon King of Space and Time.
The space surrounding Valt slowly began to change.
Distance lost its meaning.
Direction became ambiguous.
Straight trajectories twisted into overlapping dimensional labyrinths.
The Wind Dragon Elder's attack passed mere centimeters from Valt's face.
Yet—
it never truly reached him.
Not because Valt had evaded.
But because the surrounding space refused to allow anyone to touch him.
The Wind Dragon Elder immediately retreated, his expression turning grim.
"He..."
"...rewrote the structure of space."
A faint smile appeared beneath Valt's mask.
"I didn't dodge."
"I simply made sure..."
"...you never arrived."
Before the Dragon Elders could fully comprehend those words—
the Fire Dragon Elder opened his jaws.
A torrent of crimson-gold flames erupted across the void once more.
The inferno surged toward Valt with enough force to alter the course of a colossal asteroid.
Valt slowly raised one hand.
Then—
he snapped his fingers.
"Reflect."
The sound of the snap was nearly swallowed by the roaring flames.
Yet—
the space before Valt suddenly condensed into a transparent surface resembling a flawless mirror.
The Dragon Breath struck it.
Then—
it bent.
The entire torrent curved gracefully through space before reversing direction and racing back toward its point of origin.
The Earth Dragon Elder immediately raised both arms to intercept the reflected attack.
A violent shockwave swept across the Alternative World, forcing the dragon formation backward by several kilometers.
"Be more careful."
Valt's voice remained perfectly calm.
"An attack without control..."
"...is merely a threat to your own allies."
The crimson glow within Valt's eyes intensified.
The surrounding air began to tremble.
The black cards floating around him gradually stopped spinning.
"That's enough."
"I think..."
"...I'll try something new."
The crimson radiance expanded.
Reality surrounding Valt seemed to rewrite itself.
Blades of metal slowly emerged from the void.
One.
Ten.
One hundred.
One thousand.
The heavens of the Alternative World became filled with silent floating swords.
Yet what silenced the Dragon Elders was not their number.
It was the fact that every single blade emitted a completely different mana signature.
As though each sword possessed an individual life of its own.
"Telekinetic Sword."
Valt spoke the name of the technique without raising his voice.
Every sword vibrated simultaneously.
One blade moved.
Then two.
Then dozens.
Within seconds—
thousands of swords began weaving through the battlefield in constantly shifting formations, exchanging positions with flawless precision, never colliding with one another.
Whenever one blade was destroyed by a Dragon Elder—
two new swords emerged from its shattered core.
When those two were destroyed—
each gave birth to another.
Their numbers never decreased.
They only continued to multiply.
The heavens transformed into a living ocean of steel.
The Dragon Elders abandoned their original formation.
For the first time since the battle had begun—
they were forced to react to their opponent's attacks.
The Water Dragon Elder erected a colossal wall of ice.
The swords altered their trajectories, striking from another angle.
The Wind Dragon Elder unleashed devastating storms.
The blades scattered into thousands of independent paths before converging once more into entirely new formations.
The Earth Dragon Elder raised an immense fortress of stone.
Dozens of swords occupied his attention from the front while hundreds more slipped through folds in space to attack from behind.
The Fire Dragon Elder released waves of searing heat to clear the skies.
Yet every empty space he created was immediately filled by newly born blades.
Valt never moved from where he stood.
There were no unnecessary gestures.
The entire battle system was directed solely through his thoughts.
Telekinetic Sword was not merely a rain of weapons.
It was a network of consciousness—
constantly learning...
constantly adapting...
constantly refining its attack patterns with every passing moment.
Little by little—
the balance of the battle began to shift.
For the very first time—
the Four Dragon Elders were forced entirely onto the defensive.
Small cracks and impact marks gradually appeared across their draconic scales.
They still stood.
They still possessed overwhelming power.
Yet the absolute certainty that had once filled their eyes slowly gave way to vigilance.
Valt slowly raised his gaze toward them.
"It seems..."
"...you've finally begun to acknowledge me..."
"...as your opponent."
Beneath a sky now consumed by millions of gleaming blades of steel, the Four Dragon Elders exchanged silent glances.
At that moment—
they realized a truth that had never once crossed their minds.
The hunter who had believed himself to be pursuing helpless prey...
was slowly becoming the one being hunted.