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The tension in the endless white expanse was palpable as Kaipo processed Arion's ultimatum. After a moment that seemed to stretch across eternity, he responded with quiet resignation.
"I guess we are just going to have to disagree on the matter."
King Arion turned sharply, his voice curt as he began walking toward the distant trio. "I guess so."
As Arion's footsteps echoed across the otherworldly plane, Kaipo called after him. "Where are you going?"
Without breaking stride, Arion responded with determination burning in his voice. "To free them. You've had them sealed here long enough, and I don't want key figures to be sitting here doing nothing while the fate of Solara is on our hands."
"You need to stop," Kaipo said, his tone carrying a warning.
King Arion continued walking, ignoring Kaipo completely. His resolve had crystallized into something unbreakable, and no amount of philosophical discourse would deter him from his path.
The air around them suddenly grew heavy with power. Kaipo's voice boomed across the expanse, his aura flaring with cosmic authority:
"Oi... I thought I told you... TO STOP!"
Instantly, Arion froze mid-step, his body once again locked in place by Kaipo's words. The paralysis was absolute, rendering him a statue against the pristine white backdrop.
Kaipo began walking toward Arion, each step deliberate and measured. "So this is how it has to be? After everything I've said, you still want to go the route of the fool. If that's the case, then let's settle it here."
With a simple snap of his fingers, Arion suddenly felt a rush of power unlike anything he had ever experienced. Energy surged through his being, fundamentally altering the very essence of his existence.
"I have given you 100% Essence Manifest," Kaipo announced, his voice carrying the weight of cosmic authority. "Go round up the three over there and you four fight me. If you win, you all will be free, BUT, if you lose, you must side with the other four Universes. How does that sound?"
Arion turned around, a triumphant smile spreading across his face. The power he had sought across centuries, the force he had been willing to tear apart universes to obtain, had been handed to him freely. He no longer needed to pursue Lila or extract her power—Essence Manifest now flowed through his very soul.
His laughter began as a chuckle but grew into a menacing roar that echoed across the infinite white. "Deal!"
Arion strode confidently toward Novachro, Damasin, and Novelius, the three brothers who had sat in resigned defeat for so long. His newfound power radiated from him like heat from a forge.
"Let's get out of here," he declared. "We have business to handle."
The three brothers simply stared at him, their expressions unreadable. Novachro was the first to speak, his aura suddenly flaring to life around him.
"Did you fight him yet?"
"None of that matters—" Arion began dismissively.
Before he could finish, Novachro pointed his finger and slashed it through the air. A concentrated light beam cut across Arion's chest with precision—but the attack did nothing. Not even a mark remained on his form.
"So he gave it to you... Essence Manifest," Novachro observed, slowly rising to his feet. His tone carried a mixture of surprise and calculation. "What was the deal he gave you?"
Arion's confidence was unshakeable. "A one-versus-four. If we beat him, you three are free. If we lose, then I will have to work alongside the four Universes."
Damasin stood up, his expression grim but determined. "Fair enough. This will be our best shot."
With that declaration, the trio rose from their stone seats for the first time in eons. Together, the four figures began their march back toward Kaipo, their combined auras creating ripples in the white expanse around them.
Kaipo stood waiting, his black kimono flowing gently in the ethereal breeze of this realm. His posture was relaxed, almost casual, but the power emanating from him was overwhelming.
King Arion opened his mouth to speak, perhaps to issue some final challenge or demand—but Kaipo was already in front of him, his fist mere inches from Arion's chest.
Damasin reacted with lightning speed, shooting a concentrated blast called "Yami no Chūnyū" that intercepted the full force of Kaipo's punch. The impact sent shockwaves across the battlefield, but it successfully deflected the attack.
Arion was stunned for a split second before his aura exploded outward, finally beginning to grasp the true scope of the battle they had entered.
Novachro followed up Damasin's intervention by appearing instantly beside Kaipo, his blade "Kōken" raised to strike. The weapon gleamed with deadly intent as it descended toward Kaipo's form.
But Kaipo simply disappeared.
In the next instant, he materialized behind Novelius, driving his fist into the brother with such force that he was punched straight into the ground. The impact created a crater in the indestructible white surface, and Kaipo stood over the fallen form with menacing authority.
Arion quickly gathered his power and shot a concentrated blast toward Kaipo. The attack carried all the fury and determination he could muster, enhanced by his newfound Essence Manifest abilities.
Kaipo turned calmly, holding his palm out toward the incoming attack. The blast simply disappeared, as if it had never existed at all.
Then, impossibly, Kaipo vanished again—and the very same blast that Arion had fired suddenly expanded out of nowhere, detonating directly on top of the already-fallen Novelius.
Arion stared in complete confusion at this display of power. The casual way Kaipo had redirected his own attack, the effortless speed with which he moved, the absolute control he maintained over the battlefield—it was beyond anything Arion's Perfect Intuition had prepared him for.
For the first time since entering this realm, King Arion truly began to understand why Novachro, Damasin, and Novelius had spoken of fighting Kaipo as "futile."
The battle was only beginning, but already the overwhelming gap in power was becoming terrifyingly clear.
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