The man turned back to the towering abomination, rolling his shoulders as if shaking off dust.
"Stay here," he said, drawing one of his three swords. The blade hummed in the firelight, emanating a pressure so dense that even Pralaya felt suffocated. "This won't take long."
Pralaya clenched his fists, frustration burning inside him. His entire body ached, his head was still bleeding, but more than anything—he hated his own helplessness. The Śūnyayoma let out another deafening shriek, its void-like face distorting as karmic energy coiled around its grotesque form. The air twisted violently as it prepared to unleash another Dreos blast.
The moment the creature fired, the man vanished.
Pralaya barely registered what had happened before an explosive force sent shockwaves through the ruins. A deafening boom rang out as the Śūnyayoma was launched backward, crashing through multiple buildings with a tremendous impact. The sheer force of the attack left a crater where the monster had been standing.
What the hell was that?! Pralaya thought, his eyes wide. A single kick had sent something that weighed several tons flying?
The Śūnyayoma barely had time to recover before the man was on it again. Two of its twisted arms lashed out, aiming to crush him mid-air. But the man—his body now wreathed in an intense karmic aura—created footholds in the air itself, shifting his position instantly.
As the monster's claws closed in, the man leapt forward, his blade flashing like a streak of light.
Karmic Blade Art: A Thousand Lives, A Thousand Deaths.
A flurry of slashes erupted in an instant, faster than the eye could follow. The creature's two attacking arms were reduced to minuscule fragments, obliterated as if they had never existed.
The Śūnyayoma howled in agony, its ear-splitting screech causing the very air to vibrate. Even Pralaya, standing at a distance, felt his eardrums nearly rupture. But the man wasn't done.
He dashed forward,aiming for the sunyayoma chest
Just as his blade was about to pierce through, one of the Śūnyayoma's four massive wings lashed out like a battering ram. With no time to evade, the wing slammed into him, sending him hurtling through a nearby building.
Dust and debris erupted from the impact.
Pralaya's breath caught in his throat. He couldn't even see where the man had landed. Was he—?
"Tch… Didn't see that coming."
The voice echoed through the smoke.
From the ruins, the man emerged, shaking off debris from his coat. A small trail of blood dripped from his forehead, but his expression remained as sharp as ever.
"This thing's starting to become a real pain in the ass."
Before he could finish his sentence, the Śūnyayoma had already closed the distance, looming above him with all four arms raised. With a monstrous roar, it brought them down in a devastating overhead slam.
But the man didn't flinch.
Karmic Blade Art: Karmic Ripple.
The moment the beast's attack connected with his blade, a terrifying shockwave rippled outward. All the force the Śūnyayoma had gathered was redirected straight back at it.
An instant later, all four of its arms exploded in a burst of flesh and black ichor. Half of its head was obliterated as well, leaving it staggering backward, shrieking in mindless agony.
But even with such injuries, it didn't fall.
Pralaya watched, dumbfounded. A normal Śūnyayoma would have died instantly from that. But this wasn't just any Śūnyayoma—it was a Forsaken.
The creature's severed limbs convulsed violently, black tendrils sprouting from the wounds. Within seconds, its lost arms regrew, this time looking even more grotesque—longer, sharper, more monstrous. Its torn face twisted unnaturally, reconstructing itself into something even more nightmarish.
"Regeneration?" the man muttered, his eyes narrowing.
The Śūnyayoma didn't give him time to react. It flapped its wings, sending razor-sharp gusts of compressed karmic energy straight at him.
The man swung his blade in a fluid arc.
Karmic Blade Art: Devouring Wind.
His sword sliced through the wind blades, dispersing them into harmless particles. But the moment he did, the Śūnyayoma appeared above him, its massive foot crashing down.
Shit!
The impact shattered the ground. The man barely dodged in time, rolling to the side as the creature lunged again, attacking relentlessly.
The fight escalated into a brutal exchange—flashes of steel and surges of karmic energy clashing over and over. The Śūnyayoma struck like a berserk beast, using its overwhelming size and regeneration to wear its opponent down. Meanwhile, the man countered with precise, devastating techniques, exploiting every opening.
But Pralaya noticed something.
The longer the fight dragged on, the more the man slowed down. Even if he was overpowering the Śūnyayoma, his movements weren't as sharp as before. His breathing grew heavier. His wounds—though small—were adding up.
And then it happened.
The Śūnyayoma suddenly stopped attacking. Instead, it opened its monstrous mouth wide, its karmic energy surging to an unimaginable level.
It was preparing to unleash an ultra-concentrated Dreos blast—one strong enough to wipe out an entire city block.
The man's expression darkened.
"Tch... This can't be good.
The Śūnyayoma released the attack.
A colossal beam of pure destruction erupted from its mouth, consuming everything in its path. The heat was so intense that the air itself ignited. Buildings melted into slag. The ground turned into molten lava.
And the man was swallowed by the explosion.
Pralaya's heart stopped.
The entire battlefield was engulfed in fire and smoke, a massive crater left in its wake. The shockwave sent Pralaya tumbling backward. His ears rang. His vision blurred.
He's… gone?
"No way…" Pralaya muttered, his voice barely a whisper. He stumbled to his feet, scanning the destruction desperately. "That can't be it. He can't be—"
Then—
The ground shook violently.
A deep, resonating hum filled the air.
Suddenly, the temperature skyrocketed.
The very air distorted from the sheer heat, making it unbearable to breathe. The rubble around the impact site melted into glowing embers. Cracks formed in the ground, spreading outward like a growing inferno.
And then—
A figure rose from the flames.
The blade in his hand was rusting, marked with a bunch of burns as if it had just been plunged into intense heat.
The heat intensified, reaching levels that no human should survive. The Śūnyayoma flinched, for the first time sensing something far beyond its comprehension.
The man lifted his blade.
And he smiled.