"Hmm... this is pretty interesting. Fighting yourself is way more advanced than simple illusory clones." Cloud even had the leisure to provide live commentary.
"Mr. Cloud! Stop watching the show! Think of something!" Ash shouted desperately while dodging attacks from three versions of himself with different hairstyles.
"Think of something?" Cloud spat out a sunflower seed shell and smiled. "When dealing with this kind of shameless guy who loves summoning people from the past, the best method is to be even more shameless."
With that, Cloud finally made his move.
He didn't attack Saiki. Instead, he extended his hand toward Elisabeth and Ash, who were also trapped by the power of time.
"Elisabeth, Ash, lend me your powers temporarily."
Neither hesitated for a moment, channeling all their "Light Power" and "Emerald Flame Power" into Cloud.
Flames of intertwined white and green instantly ignited across Cloud's body, while his eyes transformed into pure gold, composed entirely of temporal runes!
He pushed his Essence of Time to its absolute limit!
"Saiki, did you think you're the only one who can play with time?"
A mischievous smile curved Cloud's lips.
"Let me show you what cross-server summoning really looks like!"
He stomped his foot hard!
"Dimensional Intervention—Future Echo!"
A temporal-spatial force far more domineering and unreasonable than Saiki's instantly blanketed the entire "Prison of Time"!
The next second, Saiki's expression shifted from arrogance to horror.
Because appearing before him, out of thin air, were... three Clouds!
No, wait!
Those weren't remnants of the past, nor phantoms of the future!
The first Cloud wore a martial arts gi from the Street Fighter world, his entire being radiating pure "Power of Nothingness," his gaze calm as still water.
The second Cloud wore a swordsman's robe from the Samurai Shodown world, an invisible "Heart Blade" at his waist, his gaze sharp as an eagle.
The third Cloud wore casual clothes from the KOF world, but behind him loomed a massive golden divine shadow belonging to Orochi!
These were Cloud's "alternate timeline" selves, forcibly summoned from the different "parallel world timelines" he had experienced using his Dimensional Power!
"You... you...!" Saiki's voice trembled for the first time. "You can actually interfere with parallel world timelines?! This is no longer temporal power! This is... this is the authority only a Creator God possesses!"
"Correct answer, but no prize." All three Clouds spoke in unison, then simultaneously launched their attacks on Saiki!
Street Fighter Cloud struck from below with a technique fusing "Power of Nothingness" and "Shoryuken," smashing into Saiki's past!
Samurai Shodown Cloud delivered a quickdraw slash imbued with "Heart of the Sword" and "Peerless Blade Technique," cutting toward Saiki's future!
And KOF Cloud (the original) formed hand seals, directly channeling Orochi's primal divine power to launch the most unreasonable soul attack against Saiki's "present"!
"You attack me once, I attack your entire family (timeline)!" This was Cloud's combat philosophy!
"AAAAAAHHH—!"
Saiki let out a blood-curdling scream.
His prized "Prison of Time" was as fragile as tissue paper before Cloud's "cross-server summoning" tactics.
His past, present, and future were simultaneously subjected to dimensional crushing attacks from three different power systems of equal magnitude!
"It's over, ancestor."
Elisabeth and Ash seized the opportunity.
"Light's Judgment!"
"Emerald Flame Final Incineration!"
White and green powers merged into a spiraling pillar of light that completely pierced through Saiki's body, which was composed of temporal power.
"No... my eternity... my stillness..."
Saiki's unwilling roar gradually faded away amidst the shattering fragments of time.
That "recording" extracted from the river of time was completely burned and deleted.
The third battle ended.
Everyone present had gone numb.
They watched the slowly fading "Cloud clones," then looked at the original Cloud who merely dusted off his hands as if he'd just done morning calisthenics. Only one thought remained in their minds:
Just how many trump cards does this man still have that we don't know about?
And upon the throne, Otoma=Raga had completely abandoned her lazy demeanor.
She stood up.
As she rose, the entire "Feast Throne," the entire cosmic space, began to violently tremble and wail.
A terrifying presence that transcended all dimensions, all laws, swept across the battlefield like a tsunami.
"The warm-up... ends here."
Her voice no longer held any emotion—only an absolute will as cold as the vacuum of space.
Everyone held their breath.
They knew the "dessert" had been finished.
Now, it was time for the "main course."
As Otoma=Raga stood, the entire universe seemed to hit the mute button.
Stars ceased their twinkling, space ceased its flow, time itself seemed to freeze.
A terrifying pressure that couldn't be described in words, couldn't be captured by senses, could only be "felt" through the soul descended slowly from the throne.
It wasn't power, wasn't killing intent, wasn't divine might.
It was as if the moment she stood, everything in this universe became mere backdrop—insignificant, lowly, utterly meaningless.
Every powerhouse present, whether the battle-hardened Kyo Kusanagi or the untameable Akuma, felt a shudder from the depths of their souls at this moment.
It was like an ant suddenly realizing it stood upon a blue whale's back.
That gap in life's hierarchy—utterly insurmountable—was enough to shatter any will.
"It seems... you have no more entertainment to offer."
Otoma=Raga's voice no longer transmitted through spiritual means but manifested as tangible "Dao Voice" containing universal laws, echoing through the void.
"Then let me bring this feast to a perfect conclusion."
Her blurred figure began to clarify.
Yet when everyone saw her true form, they sank into deeper terror and confusion.
She had no fixed shape.
Her body seemed composed of a deep nebula, within which countless stars were born and died in endless cycles.
Her hair consisted of countless ribbons of unknown runes, each one as brilliant as a galaxy—each ribbon representing a complete universal law.
Her face sometimes appeared as an Eastern woman of breathtaking beauty, sometimes as a grotesque visage too horrifying to behold, and sometimes transformed into an incomprehensible abstract concept formed of countless geometric shapes.
She was the universe itself.
She was the incarnation of law.
Simply standing there, she rendered the very concept of "existence" meaningless before her.
...
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