The destruction spread rapidly across the battlefield.
Every remaining space bubble that still carried portions of the Eternal army began to collapse under the force of the explosion, their fragile structures unable to withstand the shockwaves. One after another, they caved inward, crushing everything inside them as the distorted pockets of space folded into nothing.
Sek’s constructs, however, did not disappear completely.
The three massive forms that had clashed against mine were still present, though heavily diminished. Their size had reduced significantly, their once overwhelming presence now visibly weakened.
I focused my perception on them and saw the extent of the damage more clearly. Nearly forty percent of the black crystalline substance had been destroyed, reducing the scale of his domain considerably. What had once felt like an unstoppable river now resembled something far more contained.
I shifted my gaze to Sek. His expression had changed. The calm control was still there, but beneath it, I could sense the impact of what had just happened. He had felt that damage.
And I had no intention of giving him time to recover.
"Node 3, activate," I muttered.
My heart thudded heavily as the three runes along my spine ignited. A surge ran through my body, pushing all my stats upward at once, amplifying everything by twenty percent. The change was immediate and intense, my entire body tightening as the power settled in.
I followed it instantly by activating Apex Body.
Then, Essence Redistribution.
I redirected twenty percent of my Dexterity into Strength.
The effect hit me in an instant.
My muscles compressed, growing denser, heavier, while my blood began to surge through my body at an accelerated pace. The silver glow around me intensified, nearly doubling in brightness as the power concentrated within me.
I didn’t hesitate.
I stepped forward, planting my foot firmly as I bent my knees and twisted my body. My fist clenched, and the silver glow began to compress, flowing from my toes upward, gathering through my core, my shoulder, and finally into my arm.
Everything converged into my right fist. It shone with a blinding intensity, like I was holding a piece of a star within my hand.
Then I struck.
"Absolute Destruction."
The moment my fist moved forward, the gathered energy released, shooting outward as a concentrated mass of silver light. It tore through space, compact yet overwhelmingly dense, leaving behind a trail of distortion as it advanced like a fist sized comet.
The shockwave that followed was immediate and violent.
It spread across the battlefield in an instant, disrupting everything in its path, throwing forces aside and tearing through the already unstable space as the attack moved forward.
The silver strike crossed the battlefield in a single breath.
As it traveled, space behind it tore open in a thin, violent line, and along that path there came a sound that did not belong to any creature. It was sharp and stretched, like the void itself was being forced apart, a long, strained scream echoing through the battlefield as the attack carved its way forward.
Every eye turned toward it.
Sek reacted.
For the first time since the fight began, his movement carried urgency. He raised his hand sharply, and the remains of his domain surged in response. The reduced black river rose instantly, pulling itself together with everything it had left. The crystalline flow thickened, condensing into a dense mass that wrapped around him, forming a layered dome of dark substance.
The dome solidified just as the attack arrived.
The impact was immediate.
BOOM!
The silver strike slammed into it with overwhelming force, and for a brief moment, the entire structure held. Then the surface of the dome began to crack. Fractures spread rapidly across it, the black crystalline layers splintering under the pressure as the force pushed deeper.
The sound intensified.
That same screaming distortion tore through the space around them as the attack continued to drive forward, refusing to dissipate, refusing to be stopped.
The dome collapsed.
It shattered outward, fragments of black crystal scattering into the void as the silver strike tore through what remained and struck Sek directly.
The explosion that followed was contained, but devastating.
When the light faded, he was still there.
But not whole.
The right side of his body, from below the neck downward, was gone, completely obliterated by the impact. The silver glow that had surrounded him earlier had vanished entirely, leaving only the exposed core at his center flickering weakly.
Black blood dripped from what remained of him, falling slowly into the void below.
He did not look at me again.
Instead, his remaining form shifted backward, retreating toward the rift. The space behind him opened, and without hesitation, he moved into it, his presence fading as he crossed the boundary.
And in the next instant, he was gone.
I blinked, genuinely surprised.
"What the... did he just run away?" I muttered to myself.
My perception spread instantly, sweeping across every corner of the battlefield, pushing deep into the rift, searching for any trace of him.
Nothing.
He had completely withdrawn.
I exhaled slowly and let the tension in my body ease as I deactivated Node 3. The surge of power faded, and in its place came a heavy emptiness. My Essence reserves had been drained almost completely, and I could already tell that activating my Saint body again anytime soon was not an option.
That last strike had taken everything.
Behind me, my domain flickered once, its presence unstable, and then it dissipated entirely.
The battlefield, which had paused under the weight of that exchange, came back to life. This time, however, the response from our side was far more aggressive. The Naga forces and my summons surged forward with renewed force, taking advantage of the momentum we had gained.
I lifted my hand and formed a throne behind me, then sat down on it, letting my body settle as I focused on recovery. Energies began flowing from the dawn core into my generator core, slowly replenishing what I had spent.
"That was... devastating," Xeron said as he appeared beside me, his gaze still fixed on the rift.
"Yeah," I replied, watching the torn space where my attack had struck. "That was my strongest attack."
The void in that area was still unstable, struggling to restore itself. The distortion lingered, a visible silver scar left behind by the strike.
I leaned back slightly, thinking.
If I had already reached Saint rank...I was certain that attack would have ended him completely.
"Do you think he’ll come back?" I asked.
Xeron shook his head without hesitation.
"That one? No chance," he said. "The damage he took was severe. It will take him years to recover from that. But..."
He paused briefly.
"Another Saint could arrive."
I narrowed my eyes slightly.
"In my current condition, that would be difficult to handle," I said.
"True," Xeron replied. "But the chances are low. They won’t send another one so quickly unless they consider this rift critical."
I looked back at the battlefield.
Then at the rift.
And waited.