"You're tougher than I thought!" Alaric shouted from below, his voice laced with mockery.
Panting but still maintaining a firm stance, Saik knew Alaric had more tricks up his sleeve. He couldn't afford to let his guard down for a second.
"Puff! Puff! I'm not that easy to take down!" Saik shot back, barely raising his voice.
"You really have no idea what's coming…"
"Huh?" Saik furrowed his brow, a hint of concern creeping in.
Looking down at the hole created by the fragmentation, Saik saw Alaric raise his hands and shout:
"Sin: Area Expansion!"
At Alaric's command, the ground of the entire city began to distort, the wide field of fragmentation spreading rapidly, covering the whole city.
"The entire city is going to be swallowed," Saik thought, watching as the few buildings in the city began to slightly crumble.
To stay safe, Saik knew he'd need his tangible energy giant.
"Ah... I know I'll end up using a lot of internal energy, but I have no choice!" Saik muttered to himself as he ran, trying to avoid the spreading fragmentation of the Area Expansion.
"Alright! Come out fully! Clap! Clap!" Saik exclaimed, clapping his hands.
Then, the giant's hand that had been carrying Saik—the only part of its body developed—began to evolve. As the body formed, the giant tossed Saik upward, allowing him to land on its shoulder once the full formation was complete, where he could better command its actions.
With the tangible energy giant fully formed, Saik knew the cost to his internal energy would be steep.
**Saik's Energy Status at this moment:**
- Internal Energy: 45% (55% used since the start of the fight—40% on the giant)
- External Energy: 0% (Saik lacks external energy due to the flaw in his pact)
The city was being destroyed, with Alaric's Area Expansion fragmenting and leveling the ground across the entire city, lowering everything by five meters. Saik's giant, meanwhile, was devastating the area with its sheer size and strength, smashing and pushing everything away with its movements.
At that moment, with the city's ground nearly leveled, Alaric faced Saik's great trump card.
"A vivid energy giant? This…" Alaric was momentarily stunned, and upon closer inspection, he noticed the evolved fourth-class inscription on Saik's neck. "He's fourth-class too?"
At the same time, from atop the giant's right shoulder, Saik noticed the same fourth-class inscription on Alaric's left wrist.
"Tsk. He's the same class as me."
The battle had just escalated in power and destruction, with both fighters revealing their abilities as Fourth-Class bearers. Standing on his vivid energy giant's shoulder, Saik surveyed the devastation caused by Alaric's Area Expansion, which had fragmented the city's ground, leveling everything.
"Let's finish this, giant!" Saik shouted, his voice firm yet restrained.
With glowing eyes, the vivid energy giant responded immediately to Saik's command. Every movement generated shockwaves that shook the terrain and scattered Alaric's fragmentation across the battlefield.
"That giant must consume a lot of internal energy," Alaric murmured to himself, watching the giant advance. "That's perfect for me."
In a necessary move to win, Alaric called out:
"Enhanced Conversion!"
The energy particles—once fragments of concrete, dirt, and even the blood of humans who had perished in the Area Expansion—began to compress, becoming denser and sharper, like invisible blades cutting through the air. Alaric extended his hands and directed the particles toward the giant, forming a storm of slicing cuts.
"Let's see if you can withstand this!" Alaric shouted, hurling the particle storm directly at Saik's giant.
The cutting particles collided with the giant, creating sparks of energy and friction as they struck. The giant staggered slightly but kept moving, resisting Alaric's attack as it pressed forward.
However, Alaric wasn't about to give up ground. Restless, he aimed to trap the colossus.
"Moderate Manipulation!" he exclaimed.
With a wave of his hands, Alaric lifted hundreds of thousands of particles, controlling them with precision. The particles swirled around, forming temporary barriers and fields of blades surrounding the giant, attempting to encircle and imprison it in a vortex of cuts.
**Alaric's Energy Status at this moment:**
- Internal Energy: 50% (50% used since the start of the fight)
- External Energy: 100% (still unused)
"I'll destroy him from the inside out!" Alaric thought, a smile of excitement and confidence spreading across his face.
"He's cornering me… I need to find a way out before it's too late!" Saik thought, alarmed at the situation he found himself in.
Saik's giant was now trapped in a rotating field of cutting particles, a deadly storm. From atop the shoulder, Saik released more internal energy in its vivid form, channeling it to further strengthen the colossus, amplifying its resistance and attack power, even though it was draining him.
"This won't hold much longer… I need to find a way out soon!"
Alaric intensified the attack, increasing the density and speed of the cutting particles. The pressure on the giant grew, and Saik could feel the barrier's resistance weakening.
"Damn it!" Saik muttered, nervous. Alaric, full of confidence, added, "Just a little more!"
In a desperate moment, Saik shouted:
"RUN! FULL SPEED AHEAD! BREAK THROUGH IT!" pointing toward the massive circle of cuts surrounding them.
Obeying the bearer's command, the giant began to run, smashing the ground with impressive speed.
The sound of the colossus' footsteps thundered through the air, and the earth trembled under the titanic force of its charge. The vortex of cutting fragments compressed tighter and tighter, closing in as the deadly storm tried to squeeze and trap the giant with no escape.
"There'll be nothing left of you! Hahaha!" Alaric screamed in excitement and joy, certain of his imminent victory, believing Saik had no way out of the deadly trap.
But unexpectedly, Saik heard the calm voice of Elátos, the demon of his pact, who firmly told him:
"Go for the heart, Saik."
Without hesitation, Saik looked toward the heart of the giant and, guiding his body, allowed his feet to sink into the energy form of the colossus. As if guided by a higher force, he quickly descended from the right shoulder to the center of the giant, where the pulsating core of vivid energy glowed intensely.
"GO! DON'T STOP RUNNING!" he commanded.
The giant immediately responded to the command, increasing its speed. The vortex around it became denser and tighter with every passing second, the cutting particles whizzing and sparking as they grazed the colossus.
"Come on… this has to work!"
Saik felt the pressure building, his internal energy draining at an alarming rate. But he knew he couldn't stop, even if it left him exhausted and vulnerable afterward.