Outside, Koji watched the battle with wide, worried eyes. He lamented his inability to help, feeling powerless as Saik fought for his life.
"Damn... What's happening?" Koji muttered as his mind raced with desperate thoughts.
Meanwhile, the giant's charge finally culminated in a brutal impact against Alaric's vortex. The collision between the colossus's tangible energy and the dense storm of sharp fragments generated a shockwave that reverberated through the entire city.
The ground cracked, buildings crumbled, and the air was filled with a vibrant, chaotic energy.
"Couldn't break through?" Saik wondered aloud, gasping for breath as he struggled to maintain control of the situation.
"Is the giant still alive?" Alaric questioned, his confidence starting to waver as he realized Saik's colossus had not yet been destroyed.
Saik could feel the giant's vivid barrier being pushed to its limit, nearly giving way under the force of Alaric's vortex.
To both of their surprise, the giant began to slightly overpower the vortex, deforming a small section of it. This deformation caused hundreds of thousands of sharp fragments to be hurled in all directions, further devastating the city.
From a distance, Koji was caught off guard when he saw the sharp fragments flying toward him. In a quick reflex, he threw himself backward, falling onto the ground. But before he could recover, dozens of energy spheres materialized and neutralized the fragments.
"I always forget they only show up when something attacks me..." Koji thought, still nervous but relieved.
Spherea, Koji's pact demon, appeared suddenly, as always filled with sarcasm and disdain.
"This life is nice, huh? Being a wielder who doesn't even have to fight," Spherea mocked, laughing quietly.
"Spherea? Where have you been? Why did you stop talking to me?" Koji was both surprised and irritated by Spherea's sudden return, after having gone silent for a while.
"I like showing up at good moments, and this one's wonderful."
"Wonderful? Can't you see my friend could die any second out there?"
"Such unnecessary despair. Your friend's alive and well. I can feel his energy," Spherea responded in a carefree tone.
"Why can Saik and even you sense the energy of other wielders, but I can't?" Koji asked, a hint of frustration in his voice.
"Wow... you're different now, more unbalanced. But to answer your question, the energy wielders feel from others is just the shallow aura of internal energy that naturally encases their bodies. And you, Koji, since you don't control your own technique, don't use your internal energy. How can you sense others' energy if you're not even in touch with your own? Tell me!" Spherea explained, always taunting and belittling Koji.
"Okay... Okay... I get it, alright? Can you stop humiliating me now? Is that all you show up for?"
"Seems like someone's about to cry..."
"Shut up!"
As Spherea tried to maintain something beyond the tension of the moment, Koji fixed his gaze on the spheres moving toward Alaric's vortex of sharp fragments. The chaotic scene around him barely registered in his mind as he watched, amazed, the spheres pass through the vortex effortlessly, causing a wave of repulsion.
"The spheres create a repulsion effect when they touch the fragments... They push away the energy cuts of the vortex..." His thoughts raced, trying to comprehend what was happening.
Spherea, never missing an opportunity to be sarcastic, chuckled disdainfully when noticing Koji's fascination.
"Are you seriously that impressed by this? I thought you'd already understood my explanation back in Dynami."
"I remember your explanation about the spheres in Dynami... They aren't absorbed, nor disintegrated, but you didn't tell me they couldn't be cut."
"I didn't mention it because I thought it was obvious. I assumed you'd associate cutting with disintegration."
Koji frowned in disagreement with Spherea's statement.
"Obvious?" he questioned.
"Of course! Cutting is disintegration too."
"To me, cutting is deforming, disintegration is different."
"Alright, you 'genius of reason'. The spheres don't suffer absorption, disintegration, or cuts. It doesn't matter how much internal energy is in the cuts; the spheres won't deform. Like I said back in Dynami, the spheres from your technique, which, by the way, *I* gave you—understand?" Spherea spoke with a tone of superiority.
"You gave me nothing... I didn't ask for this," Koji replied, irritated.
"And to finish, the most anyone could do against the spheres is imprison them, trap them in a dimension or a nullification area. That's the maximum someone with the right technique could do," Spherea concluded.
At that moment, something clicked in Koji's mind, and he straightened up, his eyes lighting up with a new idea.
"I just got an idea."
"Hm... I think I know where this is going."
"In Dynami, when I realized the spheres would protect me no matter what, I used them to make me fly. Now, I'll use them to take me inside the vortex and get Saik out."
"That's a good one."
Koji took a deep breath, mentally preparing for what he was about to do. Amid the disastrous and dangerous scene, he started running toward the massive vortex, each step resonating with his determination.
As he neared the circle of cuts, the spheres began multiplying rapidly, forming a protective barrier around him, like a strong bubble of defense.
The city around him trembled with each new wave of energy generated by the clash between Saik's giant and Alaric's vortex. Buildings collapsed, and the ground cracked under the pressure of the titanic forces at play.
But Koji, now surrounded by hundreds of densely packed spheres, seemed oblivious to the chaos. His eyes were locked on the vortex in front of him.
"Dad... I'm going to save a friend with the help of the spheres that only came into my life because of you... Thank you for that," he murmured to himself, tears welling up in his eyes as he approached the vortex.
When Koji felt a slight impact, he realized he had entered the vortex.
"Am I in?"
"We're entering the vortex, Koji," Spherea said in an unusually serious tone.
The thousands of spheres surrounding Koji moved with precision and efficiency, repelling the sharp fragments of the vortex in every direction, tearing apart Alaric's energy structure.
"What? Who's inside my vortex?" Alaric thought, his eyes filled with rage, unable to comprehend who had entered.
It seemed that now, at last, Koji had fully embraced his role as a wielder.