[The Stillness of the Void]
The towering pillar of blue and white mana didn't explode—it imploded. The air hissed as the energy was forced back into Techyon's pores, compressing until his skin glowed like a dying star.
Techyon stood transformed. He was no longer just a warrior; he was the physical manifestation of a Paradox. His silhouette was made of pure white light, draped in a flickering, ghostly blue aura. He lowered his head, his body leaning forward at a sharp, unnatural 60-degree angle, his arms hanging loosely.
He began to walk. Every step he took seemed to erase the distance before he even moved his feet.
"What... what is this?!" Gudmaro screamed, his cosmic mana spiraling into a desperate sphere. "I don't care what form you take! I will destroy—"
Before the word 'destroy' could leave his lips, Techyon vanished.
Gudmaro's eyes widened. The white light was no longer in front of him. A cold, iron-like grip clamped onto his right wrist from the side. Techyon was already there, his master-level instincts having moved him to the "future" position of Gudmaro's opening.
With a calm, terrifying silence, Techyon twisted his hand. CRACK. The sound of Gudmaro's "Perfect" bone snapping echoed across the silent mountain.
"GAAHHH!" Gudmaro lunged back, panic finally setting in. "I'll just take it! I'll drain every drop of that light!" He activated his cosmic void, but he realized with horror that he couldn't feel Techyon's mana at all.
It wasn't a defensive skill—it was the Side Effect of Mastery. Techyon's mana was now so perfectly contained within his "Water" flow that it provided absolute Mana Protection. There was no "leakage" for Gudmaro to grab onto. To the God's absorption, Techyon felt like an empty void.
"How...?" Gudmaro stammered. He began throwing punches—billions per second.
But Techyon moved like a ghost. He wasn't just dodging; his master auto-counter had granted him the Transparent View. He wasn't looking at Gudmaro's skin or armor—he was seeing the biological "truth." He saw the muscles contract and the nerves fire before the punch was even thrown.
Techyon didn't even have to think. His body simply existed where the attacks weren't.
Yoru watched through blurred eyes as the white light of Techyon moved through the air. She remembered the day she stood before the World Tree, the wind rustling the ancient leaves as the Arcon of Life spoke in riddles.
[Flashback]
"Yoru," the Arcon had said, her eyes fixed on a distant horizon. "If Techyon ever reaches Level 3 of his passive... no one in this or any other realm will be able to defeat him."
"But why?" Yoru had asked, confused. "He's strong, but there are others with higher destructive power."
"Because he is the ultimate balance," the Arcon replied. "As a speedster, he possesses high attack and high speed, but his defense is his greatest vulnerability. His passive ability was designed to fix that flaw. It doesn't just help him survive—it makes him untouchable. If he unlocks even Level 2, he gains the ability to see through the physical lie of his enemies..."
[Flashback End]
In the present, Gudmaro let out a primal scream and launched a sweeping kick aimed at Techyon's neck. Techyon didn't even blink. He tilted his head by a hair's breadth, the wind of the kick whistling past his ear, and countered with a straight punch to Gudmaro's solar plexus.
It wasn't a flashy attack. There was no explosion of fire or lightning. Just a dull thud.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Condition Met: 10% Critical Chance Triggered.
Effect Applied: [SOUL-SHUTTERING COUNTER]
Damage Type: Spiritual / Permanent.
Gudmaro's eyes bulged. He stumbled back, a thick, violet ichor coughing out of his mouth and staining the white arena floor. "I... I can regenerate this!" he wheezed, clutching his chest. "My perfection... it heals all wounds in seconds!"
He closed his eyes, forcing his cosmic mana to stitch his organs back together. But his eyes snapped open in terror. The wound wasn't closing. The "glitch" in his chest was spreading, a cold numbness that defied his biology.
"Why isn't it working?!" he shrieked.
"Because your cells aren't the problem," Techyon said, his voice sounding like two glaciers grinding together. "Your soul is shattered. And you can't regenerate what no longer exists."
"If I can't touch you... then I will erase everything you care about!" Gudmaro shrieked, his mind snapping under the pressure of Techyon's perfection. He ignored Techyon and pivoted, his palm glowing with a dark cosmic supernova aimed directly at the exhausted Alya.
The beam of destruction was centimeters away from her face when a streak of white light intervened.
BOOM.
Techyon stood there, his hand simply batting the cosmic energy aside like it was a bothersome insect. His blue eyes were no longer calm; they were burning with a cold, terrifying fury.
"I don't know about power," Techyon's voice rumbled, shaking the very atmosphere of the Earth. "I don't know about 'Perfection.' But whoever tries to hurt my friends... is going to PAY!"
The mana inside him didn't just flare; it Erupted. Techyon didn't wait. He charged, a white-hot blur that bypassed the concept of distance.
Gudmaro smirked through his cracked mask. He fell for it! His anger makes him predictable! He prepared his counter-trap, but he realized too late that Techyon's speed had exceeded the speed of thought.
Techyon's fist connected with Gudmaro's jaw. The impact didn't just shatter bones—it shattered the fabric of space-time.
The shockwave was so massive it cleared the clouds across the entire planet. Gudmaro was launched like a cannonball, breaking the sound barrier, then the light barrier, screaming through the atmosphere and into the cold void of space. He was thrown billions of light-years away, past neighboring galaxies, until the Earth was nothing but a microscopic speck of dust in the distance.
[The Deep Void]
Techyon stood in the vacuum of space, his white light the only sun in the dark expanse.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
Condition Met: [SOUL-SHUTTERING STRIKE] Triggered.
Status Update: Target's spiritual anchor is 85% depleted.
Techyon took a deep, vibrating breath. His status window flickered in front of his vision, the numbers bleeding red.
[MASTER AUTO-COUNTER]
Time Remaining: 03:00 Minutes.
I have to finish this... Techyon thought, his heart hammering against his ribs. I've reached the Master level, but my body can't hold this much 'Truth' for long. Three minutes. In three minutes, I become a husk. He dies... or we all do.