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The four warriors spread across the unstable white expanse, each positioning themselves at different points around Kaipo. The tension was palpable as they prepared what they all knew would be their last chance.
"This is it," Arion declared, his Imperial Aether Tyrant form blazing with dark authority. "Everything we have, everything we are—into one strike."
Novachro raised Kōken above his head, the blade humming with reality-warping energy. "Kyomu no Issen—but channeled through all of us."
Damasin let his Kuroi Kaminari crackle around his entire body, the black lightning forming intricate patterns. "My dark infusion will pierce whatever defenses he has left."
Novelius ascended higher, his Seishin no Shōten transformation pulling cosmic energy from across the artificial galaxy above. "And I'll channel the power of the heavens themselves."
Kaipo stood in the center, watching their preparations with calm interest. "Show me what unity can accomplish."
The charging began slowly, each warrior drawing upon the deepest wells of their power. But then something extraordinary happened—their energies began to resonate with each other.
Arion's imperial darkness didn't clash with Novelius's celestial light—instead, they spiraled together, creating a helix of opposing forces that amplified both. Damasin's black lightning found harmony with Novachro's reality-cutting energy, the combination creating tears in space itself.
"Celestial Convergence," Arion whispered, naming their technique as the four energies began to merge.
The attack that formed was beyond anything they had individually imagined. A sphere of pure, concentrated power materialized above them—cosmic light and imperial darkness dancing together, reality-warping slashes contained within shells of divine lightning. The sphere pulsed with energy that made the white expanse itself tremble.
Arion's Imperial Aether Tyrant form acted as the focal point, his universal dominion amplifying the attack's speed to multiple times faster than light itself. The sphere compressed, becoming smaller but infinitely denser.
"NOW!" Arion roared.
The Celestial Convergence erupted downward in a concentrated beam of pure annihilation. The attack moved so fast that it seemed to exist in all points between its origin and target simultaneously. Reality warped around it, space-time bending from the sheer concentrated force.
Kaipo's eyes widened slightly—the first expression of surprise they had seen from him.
The beam struck him dead center.
The explosion was cataclysmic. The indestructible white expanse, a realm beyond normal physics, cracked like glass. Shockwaves rippled outward in concentric circles, each one carrying enough force to shatter planets. The artificial galaxy above flickered and distorted as cosmic forces ran wild.
Pure white light consumed everything—sight, sound, even thought seemed to dissolve in the radiance. The four warriors were blown backward by their own attack's aftermath, tumbling through the blinding void.
When the light finally faded, the four warriors landed heavily on the white expanse, their forms smoking from the residual energy. They struggled to their feet, exhaustion evident in every movement.
The impossible had happened. The white expanse, previously thought to be indestructible and beyond normal physics, was now cracked and unstable. Fissures ran across its surface like a broken mirror, and sections fluctuated between solid and ethereal.
At the center of a massive crater lay Kaipo, his black kimono tattered and his form motionless.
Silence stretched across the battlefield.
Arion was the first to speak, his laughter starting as a chuckle before building into a triumphant roar. "Finally! We did it! We defeated that bastard!" His Imperial Aether Tyrant form blazed with victory. "Now I can carry out my plan to defeat the Eclipse Sovereignty, The Judge and his council!"
Novachro wiped sweat from his brow, Kōken still crackling with residual energy. "It took everything we had, but we did it." His voice carried both relief and exhaustion.
Damasin nodded, his dark aura flickering weakly around him. "This is just the beginning." Despite his words, there was satisfaction in his tone.
Novelius remained cautious, his celestial transformation dimmed but steady. "We must remain vigilant. Such power doesn't simply disappear."
For a moment, blessed silence fell over the unstable battlefield. The four warriors allowed themselves to believe they had achieved the impossible—they had defeated the one who had become Essence Manifest itself.
Then the ground beneath them began to tremble.
What started as a slight vibration quickly became a violent earthquake that shook the entire white expanse. Cracks widened into chasms, and the very air began to distort.
An aura unlike anything they had ever experienced exploded outward from Kaipo's fallen form. It wasn't just power—it was existence itself given form and fury. The sheer force of it slammed all four warriors into the ground with bone-crushing impact.
Kaipo rose slowly, his eyes no longer holding the calm interest they had shown throughout the battle. Now they blazed with something far more dangerous—absolute seriousness.
"Impressive," he said, his voice carrying across the battlefield despite the chaos. "You actually managed to hurt me."
The aura around him wasn't contained within his body anymore. Instead, 100% of Essence Manifest itself was being released outward, no longer held in check by his restraint. The white expanse recoiled from the raw energy, cracks spreading like spider webs as reality itself struggled to contain such force.
The effect on the four warriors was immediate and devastating.
Arion's Imperial Aether Tyrant form flickered and dissolved, his dark imperial aura fading as his power was sapped away. The others felt it too—their carefully maintained transformations wavering under the overwhelming presence of Kaipo's unleashed might.
"What... what is this?" Novelius gasped, his celestial transformation dimming rapidly.
"He's not just releasing power," Damasin realized through gritted teeth. "He's creating a field that drains ours."
But Arion refused to yield. With a roar of determination, he reactivated his Essence Manifest, his aura flaring even more intensely than before. "This isn't over!"
His defiance sparked something in the others. Novachro surged to his feet, Kōken blazing with renewed energy. Damasin let his black lightning explode outward with desperate fury. Novelius drew upon the deepest reserves of his cosmic power.
"One more push," Arion declared, his Imperial Aether Tyrant form now radiating with absolute determination. "We don't stop until he's truly defeated!"
What followed was combat at its most brutal and desperate.
Kaipo, now fully serious for the first time, moved with terrifying efficiency. Each of his strikes carried the weight of universal destruction, his counters precise and devastating beyond measure. He wasn't just fighting them anymore—he was systematically dismantling them.
Novachro's faster-than-light speed meant nothing when Kaipo could predict his movements three steps ahead. Kōken shattered completely when it met Kaipo's bare hand, the reality-cutting blade reduced to fragments.
Damasin's Yami no Chūnyū strikes, which had previously drawn blood, now barely registered as Kaipo had adapted to the dark infusion technique. A casual backhand sent the brother crashing through multiple fissures in the white expanse.
Novelius's cosmic bombardment was absorbed and redirected back at him with doubled force. His Seishin no Shōten transformation flickered as he struggled to maintain consciousness.
Arion lasted the longest, his Imperial Aether Tyrant form trading devastating blows with Kaipo in exchanges that shook the foundations of reality. But even his universal dominion was insufficient against someone who had become the fundamental force of existence itself.
"I wanted to see the power of unity," Kaipo said as he systematically pushed all four warriors to the brink of death. "But you still don't understand what you're truly facing."
Each strike brought them closer to complete defeat. Each counter-attack from the four was effortlessly neutralized. The battle had become less of a fight and more of a demonstration—Kaipo showing them the vast gulf that separated their power from his own.
Yet still they fought. Battered, bleeding, their transformations flickering on the edge of collapse, the four warriors refused to surrender. They had come too far, sacrificed too much, to give up now.
The white expanse continued to crack and splinter around them, reality itself straining under the forces being unleashed. This was no longer just a battle—it was an apocalypse contained within a single realm.
And at its center stood Kaipo, the one who was Essence Manifest itself, demonstrating why some powers were meant to remain sealed away.
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