[The Void Battlefield]
Gudmaro froze. His sensors didn't just glitch; they screamed in a frequency of pure terror. He looked away from Yoru, his gaze snapping toward the distant horizon.
'What is this...?' Gudmaro's core rattled against his obsidian ribs. 'This Mana... it isn't coming from the Arcon. It's coming from the North. This density... this weight... it's equal to one of the Four Horsemen of the Monarch!'
[Scene Shift: The Northern Highway]
A matte-black motorcycle tore through the wasteland, leaving a trail of melted asphalt behind it.
The rider was a Red-Haired Girl , her face calm, almost bored. She wasn't even trying to exert power, but the sheer Monarch-tier energy leaking from her body was so intense that the air around her bike was literally catching fire.
She wasn't just driving; she was carrying a localized apocalypse with her.
[Back to the Battle]
Yoru felt it too. She dissipated the Annihilation Volt in her hand, her eyes narrowing as she felt the shift in the atmosphere. She realized instantly that if she fired her massive mana attack now, Gudmaro would use it as a "shield" or a "snack" to survive the much larger threat approaching.
"You know what?" Yoru said, her voice dropping an octave. "I don't even need my techniques. I'm not giving you a single drop of mana to play with."
She lowered her arms, her golden aura tightening around her skin until it was a thin, unbreakable film. "I'll finish this with my bare hands. Just pure, solid impact."
Gudmaro didn't listen. His survival instinct had completely taken over. He saw the massive wave of Red Mana approaching from the distance and his processors reached a singular, desperate conclusion: 'If I can absorb even a fraction of THAT girl's energy... I won't just hit 100%. I can jump straight into my Perfect Form.'
Instead of running from the Horseman-level presence, Gudmaro turned his back on Yoru. He threw his broken, mangled body toward the direction of the motorcycle, his absorption vents opening wide, desperate to catch a single "crumb" of that Crimson Mana.
[Gudmaro's Evolution: 0.00%]
[Scene Shift: The Tree of Life]
The air around the projection screen began to heat up, the very light shimmering with a red tint. Techyon gripped his head, his eyes wide with disbelief. "The fight... it stopped? Why did they stop?! Yoru had him!"
The Arcon of Life stared at the red signal on her mana-map. Her voice was a trembling whisper. "This mana level... there is only one person in the Northern Frontier who carries the weight of a dying sun. It's Cynthia."
Techyon froze. "Wait... Cynthia? You mean my older sister?!"
Neweland coughed, a grim smile touching his lips. "Gudmaro is a fool. He thinks he is walking toward a battery he can drain... but he doesn't realize this battery is going to burn him into ashes before he can even taste a single spark."
[The Void Battlefield]
Gudmaro lunged forward, but a golden blur intercepted him. Yoru teleported directly into his path, her arms crossed.
"Where do you think you're going?" she asked, her voice cold. "Our dance isn't over yet."
Gudmaro didn't even look at her. His eyes were locked on the black bike tearing through the valley below. "There she is!" he shrieked. He ignored Yoru's strike and dived downward, crashing into the asphalt directly in front of the motorcycle.
"Give me your mana!" Gudmaro roared, his absorption vents glowing like hungry mouths. "Give it all to me!"
The bike screeched to a halt, leaving a smoking line of rubber on the road. The rider kicked the stand down and slowly took off her sunglasses, revealing eyes that flickered like embers.
"Who are you, monster?" Cynthia asked, looking at Gudmaro with genuine confusion. "Did you just crawl out of some low-level dungeon? You're blocking the road."
Yoru landed softly behind Gudmaro, her posture relaxing for the first time. "Cynthia... I mean, Goddess of Flame. Why are you here?"
Cynthia sighed, tossing her hair back. "Stop calling me that. It's embarrassing. And that's my question—why are you here, Yoru? Since when do you hang out with trash like this?"
"I was fighting with this monster," Yoru explained, gesturing to the mangled, hungry Gudmaro.
Cynthia looked at the 'galaxy eraser' as if he were an annoying insect on her windshield. She sat back onto her bike and gripped the handles. "Okay, then. Continue your little fight. I've got a schedule to keep. I'm heading toward Hydro City for a drink."