Silence ruled the battlefield.
Not the calm kind — but the kind that pressed against the skin, heavy and suffocating. Dust hung unmoving in the air as the two sides stood facing one another, unmoving, unblinking.
Eyes met eyes.
Not gazes — judgments.
It felt as if something unseen was peeling back layers of flesh and thought, staring straight into the core of their souls.
Then Paradox stepped forward.
His voice was calm, almost bored — and that made it worse.
"You are merely existences without purpose," he said.
"A butterfly trapped in its own cocoon."
"A chain looping endlessly, searching for an end that does not exist."
The words echoed unnaturally, as if reality itself agreed with him.
For a moment, no one responded.
Then Prime smiled.
Not warm.
Not confident.
Mocking.
"We are reflections," Prime said.
"But you're just a shadow behind the glass."
"A talker with nothing to offer but your own pitiful purpose."
"We're here to clean the world."
"And you—"
His eyes hardened.
"—are a stain."
Paradox's grin twitched.
Cracked.
Anger bled through his composed expression, and with a single, lazy gesture of his hand, he signaled the beginning of the clash.
Zero moved first — but not alone.
Space folded inward as his presence distorted the battlefield, the ground beneath him thinning into nothingness. A wave of void surged outward, not as an attack, but as denial — denying space the right to exist.
Prime warped instantly, pulling Tidal and Garuda with him as the blast erased everything they had stood on. The edge of it clipped Omega's barrier, cracking it with a sound like shattering glass.
Gaia advanced.
The earth rose at his command, not as walls, but as pressure. Gravity intensified, pinning movement, forcing the Awakened to fight against the planet itself. Core staggered, heat flaring uncontrollably as the ground tried to crush him back into it.
Ashura descended like judgment.
His blades sang — one burning with searing radiance, the other bleeding darkness — each strike landing faster than reaction could allow. Garuda blocked one blow, only for the second to tear across his wing, sending feathers spiraling into the air.
Tidal attempted to counter, calling the surrounding moisture into a surge — but Calamity stepped forward.
Nothing happened.
And that was the problem.
The moment Tidal's attack grazed the space near Calamity, the water detonated violently, backlash ripping through Tidal's control and throwing him off balance. He gasped, blood staining the ground.
"You see?" Calamity said calmly.
"Your resistance only hastens collapse."
Prime reappeared behind Paradox, blade drawn —
—and found empty space.
Paradox stood where Prime was supposed to be, palm already extended. Reality buckled as Prime was hurled backward, smashing through debris and skidding across the battlefield.
"For all your preparation," Paradox said coldly,
"you still react."
Zero raised his hand again.
Void condensed — tighter this time, sharper.
Omega fired.
The beam vanished before reaching its target.
Absorbed.
Zero stepped forward through the fading distortion, unscathed.
"Your light has limits," Zero said.
"Mine does not."
Gaia clenched his fist.
The ground ruptured.
Core was driven to one knee as the pressure spiked further, his internal core destabilizing violently. Garuda struggled to stay airborne. Tidal forced himself upright, breathing hard, vision blurring.
For the first time since the battle began—
The Awakened were losing ground.
Paradox observed it all, expression unreadable.
"This is balance," he said.
"You were never meant to win."
---
From a distance core's scream that was fueled by anger was Heard through the ruins.
Core slammed his fist into the ground.
The earth screamed.
A core explosion erupted outward, molten force tearing through stone and air alike. Gaia reacted instantly, raising a towering wall of compressed earth in its path.
"Is that all you have?" Gaia said, unimpressed.
The wall shattered.
The explosion punched straight through it, striking Gaia squarely and launching him backward nearly ten meters before he crashed into the ground.
Tidal vanished into motion.
Water surged beneath the battlefield, unseen, unheard — and then erupted upward as a razor-focused Water Jet, aimed directly at Zero.
Zero raised a hand.
The void swallowed the attack whole.
"Impossible—" Zero hissed as pressure suddenly shifted beneath his feet.
Tidal smirked faintly.
"Should've watched your step."
The water beneath Zero detonated upward, blasting him skyward.
Garuda was already waiting.
With a thunderous strike, he met Zero mid-air, his blow releasing a violent shockwave that tore through the battlefield. Zero was sent crashing back toward the ground.
Gaia tried to react — commanding the earth to soften Zero's fall.
The ground beneath Zero glowed.
Then—
BOOM.
Core's explosion obliterated the landing zone, the blast catching Gaia again and throwing him aside in a storm of debris.
Elsewhere—
Ashura moved.
Blades flashed — one radiant, one abyssal — slicing through the air toward Prime and Garuda.
"Just surrender," Ashura said confidently.
"You're wasting my time."
The slashes passed through nothing.
Prime and Garuda were gone.
They reappeared high above the battlefield, suspended in the night sky.
Garuda's wings strained as he carried Prime, blood trailing faintly from old wounds. Still, he held firm — through sheer will alone.
"Drop me," Prime said.
Garuda hesitated. "That height—"
"Trust me."
Garuda released him.
Prime fell.
Stars blurred past him as he calculated, adjusted, planned — then opened a warp beneath himself.
Momentum carried him through another portal that snapped open behind Paradox.
Prime struck like a meteor.
His fist collided with Paradox's face, the impact sending shockwaves rippling outward.
Paradox staggered, fury finally breaking through his composure. *How can this be?..*
Nearby, Zero screamed as Tidal landed another precise strike, water bursting upward once more to restrain him.
Garuda descended like judgment, slamming Zero into the ground with a force that fractured the earth.
Ashura laughed wildly — until a blinding beam scorched past his shoulder.
"Hah! You missed!" Ashura mocked.
Omega's voice answered calmly.
"Did I?"
Prime redirected the laser mid-flight with a warp.
It tore straight through Ashura's defenses.
Calamity, lurking in the chaos, moved toward the fallen Gaia — attempting rescue.
Core stepped onto his path.
"You're destruction without ignition," Core said coldly.
"So I won't touch you."
The ground beneath Calamity glowed white-hot.
"I'll just destroy everything around you."
The explosion swallowed them both.
Paradox watched it all unravel.
"How…?" he whispered.
Prime answered by closing the distance again.
"A shadow can't replace its light," Prime said.
"And we're not as dumb as you think."
Paradox barely avoided the blow, grabbing Prime and hurling him aside before retreating toward Zero.
"Get us out," Paradox commanded.
Before disappearing, his gaze locked onto Prime.
"Remember this," he said.
"You may have won today… but darkness will swallow this world."
"Starting with you."
They vanished.
Silence returned.
Prime exhaled slowly.
"…Ah. We won."
Cheers broke out among the others.
But Prime didn't smile.
"Don't relax," he said quietly.
"Paradox will return."
"And next time… he'll be worse."
The battlefield remained silent.
Waiting.