The plasma blade hummed with a violent, electric blue light as Kaizen Flux accelerated. Under the 1,000x gravity of the Singularity, he was the only thing that moved with grace. He didn't just run; he slid through the gaps in the air molecules.
Sla-sh. The blade carved a molten line across Magals' throat. Violet blood hissed as it hit the floor, but before the droplets could land, the skin had already knitted back together. Kaizen didn't stop. He became a whirlwind of cobalt energy. He slashed Magals' chest, severed his left arm at the elbow, and drove the plasma edge through the Commander's stomach in a single, fluid motion.
Cut. Regenerate. Cut. Regenerate.
"Damn it," Kaizen thought, his breath hitching as he parried a slow-motion flick of Magals' tail. "He's regenerating too fast. I'm forcing the probability of my blade cutting him to a hundred percent, but I can't stop him from regenerating , and He can't touch me, damn it, ...this is a race against time."
High above, the VIP spire was a cacophony of analytical terror.
"Look at Kaizen's movement," Liora (2nd) whispered, her eyes tracking the blue blurs. "He his manipulating, magals himself,"
"I agree, but it's a gamble," Reid Gideon Swallow (1st) growled, his massive arms crossed. "Kaizen is not just manipulating he's calculating one little mistake and he's finished."
Zainab Virel (5th) leaned against the glass, her knuckles white. "He's pushing Magals back. Magals can't land a single attack . Every time he tries he misses , he's... he's actually winning."
"But the regeneration is the problem," Drakye Void (10th) interjected, his voice deep and gravelly. " If Kaizen destroy the core , he's just cutting water. You can't kill an ocean by stabbing it."
Shadow (9th) nodded from the corner, his form flickering. "He's looking for the opening. Kaizen doesn't take shots he can't win. He's waiting for a chance "
Inside the Ring, the air was screaming. Kaizen saw it—the violet pulse beneath the tattered magenta robes. As he slashed magals chest , Kaizen saw the crystalline Core throbbing like a wounded heart.
"There!" Kaizen roared.
He drove the plasma blades in, and He manipulated the probability of Magals' Inviolability failing to a total certainty. He lunged, a silver-blue streak of human defiance.
The blade pierced magals core . It sank deep, until the tip of the plasma edge crunched into the crystalline Core.
SHATTER.
A shockwave of violet light exploded outward. Magals let out a choked sound, his body stiffening. The violet light in his eyes began to fade, turning into a dull, light pink.
The Coliseum went wild. The citizens stood on their seats, screaming in a deafening roar of triumph. The Xenocides on the ground felt the gravity lift for a split second. Even the Captains in the spire erupted in cheers. "He did it!" Zainab cried, tears of relief finally falling. "He broke the Core!"
But Kaizen Flux didn't celebrate.
Up close, he saw Magals' face. The Commander wasn't screaming in pain. He was... smiling.
WHAM.
A fist, moving with the weight of a dying star, slammed into Kaizen's ribs. There was no time for reaction.
The punch landed with absolute, mathematical certainty.
Kaizen was sent flying across the Ring. He skipped across the pulverized stone like a stone over a pond, crashing into the base of a fallen pillar. Crr-ack. His ribs shattered, the jagged edges of his own bones piercing his lungs.
The Coliseum went silent. The cheers died in the throats of thousands.
"How...?" Kaizen coughed, a thick spray of crimson blood coating his chin. He tried to stand, but the damage was critical,a direct hit.
"I... I destroyed... your Core. I saw it ... shatter."
Magals stood in the center of the ring. He reached into his chest and pulled out the glowing shards of the violet crystal Kaizen had just stabbed. With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed them aside. They turned into gray dust before they hit the floor.
"I created a fake Core," Magals said, with a calm voice . "It's not hard. It's really quite simple, but takes time,"
"But... I couldn't... be wrong..." Kaizen struggled to his knees, his hands shaking.
"Your power is the ability to manipulate fate... or probability. Hmm... no, it is definitely probability," Magals said, walking toward Kaizen with a terrifying, rhythmic gait . "That is why I couldn't touch you. Your attacks kept working because you were choosing the 'Lucky' outcome from a field of possibilities."
Magals stopped ten feet away, his shadow looming over the broken Captain. "So, I gambled. I created a fake Core just to lure you in. I needed you to commit to a 'Certain' strike. Because when you took the bait, your mind stopped looking for other outcomes. You locked yourself into a single path."
Magals' eyes flared with a deep, predatory violet. "Probability requires two things: Success and Failure. If I remove the possibility of failure by luring you into a trap where only one outcome exists... then there is no probability left for you to manipulate."
0% Chance of Failure = 0% Probability Manipulation.
"In that moment when you stabbed the fake," Magals whispered, "the probability of me landing a punch became one hundred percent. The dice stopped rolling, Kaizen Flux."
In the dirt nearby, Elias let out a guttural growl of agony. He watched Kaizen—the man who had come to save them—coughing up blood, unable to move. Elias's silver eyes began to burn with a dark, unstable light. He was forcing himself to stand,"damn it, come on stand, stand,stand uppp"
Magals didn't notice Elias yet. He was too busy looking at Kaizen.
"You played a good game, human," Magals said, raising his hand as a new, larger, and much more terrifying sphere of dark energy began to form at his palm. ". Now... let's have another round."
TO BE CONTINUED...