The concept of immutability on the pyramids prevents them from being changed by any attack including Salvos's powerful divine ability. This stall in the process increases the delay time for the divine ability indefinitely and will thus protect whatever is behind them.
Soverick just has to be able to anticipate when the attack will come so that he won't be overwhelmed by the divine ability. That is something easy for him to do. He can literally see the attack brewing before it is activated. So he was able to run and hide in time.
The second weakness that Salvos has is that he must rest his eyes for every second that his eyes are open. He can't keep his ability constantly activated. His eyes need to cool down after each use creating a window of opportunity for him to be approached.
The problem is that the range of his attack is very large and people can't survive long exposure to the gaze of his attack. So Soverick needed enough time to close in on him. 3 seconds would have been more than enough.
If his plan hadn't worked then Soverick would have had to use his power as the child of the plane to survive the divine attack and get close to Salvos. Salvos will be done for as long as he gets close enough to him. He is faster and stronger. Salvos couldn't defend the blade strike because it cut him as soon as he respawned. There's no escaping for the hell-bringer now.
Salvos knows that but he replied. "Anything can still happen. I just have to be patient."
He refused to admit defeat. Yes, he is doomed right now. But that's as long as Soverick is next to him. Anything can happen to change that. One such thing is the struggle for the ownership of the divine crown. It is currently in Soverick's hands. Anyone can come up anytime to challenge him for it. And by the looks of things, that is highly likely to happen.
Soverick has a lot of enemies after all. In fact, he is literally surrounded by them. So Soverick will have to make a decision between staying here and fending off those that want the divine crown. Salvos believes that he just has to be patient and he will get his due.
Soverick nodded as he had expected that answer. "It doesn't matter what will happen. The truth is that I killed you twice in a row already. Even if I am distracted in the future, anything you achieve will be with the aid of someone else. It is undisputed that you can't beat me on your own."
Salvos shot back. "And neither can you. You used the pyramid against me."
"I used the environment. It is not cheating. It is outsmarting the enemy" Soverick corrected.
Salvos didn't back down. "That's just semantics. I will also wait for an opportunity to come from the environment."
He should have defeated Soverick if not for the initial advantage that Soverick gained by using the pyramid. So he will also wait for an advantage offered to him by the environment. He has never relied on the environment before but if Soverick can use external objects to his advantage so can he.
Soverick sighed and rubbed his face with his hand. "Alright. I hope this works out. Salvini said you owe her. She said I should tell you that the password is X1av7-ujk3+l9ei"
Salvos was stunned. "Really?" He asked in surprise.
"Really."
"How can I be sure you're not lying? For all I know, you might have used your eyes to help you determine the secret." He asked skeptically.
Soverick shrugged. "She said to tell you that the situation fits."
Salvos thought about it. He thought very hard about the competition but he didn't find anything odd about it. So he said to Soverick, "Fine then. You win. I'll leave you to it."
He had to admit that the secret code is valid. The security question also convinced him. If he had sensed anything odd about the competition then he would have refused to accept the code or defeat. It will mean that Soverick got the code somewhere else not from Salvini. But the code is valid since he can't figure out anything odd about the competition. He can trust Salvini to be more perceptive than him in determining if the situation is serious or not, odd or not. So he will back down for now. It is because "the situation fits."
As descendants of sages, they have different codes for various scenarios. It is something like a private language between them but of a higher significance. The three of them aren't ordinary people.
They might not look like much but they are the current rulers of the empire of sages. They have advisers but the point is that they hold important positions in the plane and there might come a time when their actions and decisions will have a large consequence on the fate of the Virut plane. This moment is one of them.
In a way, Soverick has invoked a truce by using one of their codes. Salvos is to stand down for a greater purpose. He doesn't know what that purpose is since he can't see the future as Salvini can but he still decided to accept defeat because Soverick actually defeated him and he is currently doomed. Dragging the fight will waste time and power that will be better used if there is a greater purpose at play here.
If he had won their fight, he wouldn't have backed down at all. He will continue until Soverick is finished. But for now, he will back down and pick up their fight another time.
"Swear it." Soverick insisted.
Salvos made the Oath, "I swear it on my Origin that I will not attack you or antagonize you intentionally for the rest of this challenge if you do not attack me or antagonize me for the rest of this challenge."