The Overseer's eyes narrowed, sharp as blades of gold, as he tried and failed to discern the sword's shifting frequency. He realized too late that he could not evade the strike. The distance was gone, the Flow around them already distorted by the Neo-Demon's overwhelming presence.
But even at the edge of defeat, the Overseer was not without options. His expression hardened into perfect focus, his essence aligning with the blade of his double-edged polearm. The weapon humd with divine intent, each vibration so sharp it made the air tremble. The very fabric of reality unspooled beneath his weapon's edge as he unleashed a strike that could sever the Flow itself.
Cain's eyes widened in grim recognition. The Overseer's weapon could cleave through energy, matter, and existence alike, leaving only hollow nothingness in its wake. There was no way to block it. If Cain continued his strike, that blow would tear through his body as though he were made of paper.
The Overseer intended it as a deterrent, a strike to force hesitation. But what he did not understand was Cain's will.
The Neo-Demon's eyes flared crimson, and instead of faltering, he pushed forward. Blood sprayed across the ground as he twisted his body in mid-motion, allowing the polearm to shear through his left arm. Agony tore through his nerves, but his right hand did not waver. With every ounce of strength left in his body, he drove Sky Devourer into the Overseer's chest.
"AARGHHHH!"
Cain roared, his cry echoing through the arena. He pressed harder, pushing the blade deeper and deeper until the tip burst from the Overseer's back, gleaming with blood.
The Overseer's eyes trembled as the sword's destructive power
coursed through him. Sky Devourer did not simply wound; it annihilated. Every particle of the Overseer's being was torn apart from within.
A feral, bloodstained grin stretched across Cain's face. The last-second twist had kept him from piercing the heart, but it didn't matter. The devastation tearing through the Overseer's body was enough to end even a being of his level.
Yet this ti, it was Cain who underestimated the entity before him.
The Overseer's remaining muscles tightened around the embedded sword, locking it in place. His left hand rose, gripping the polearm in a single, decisive motion. His eyes burned with killing intent as he swung down, aiming to crush Cain's skull like a balloon full of blood.
"BOOM!"
Before the blow could land, a blinding beam erupted from the distance, a laser of condensed energy that struck the Overseer's head with cosmic precision.
It was the Crimson Exarch.
Half his body was charred black from the golden storm unleashed monts earlier, his wings torn. Yet even broken, he had mustered the last of his strength to fire one final shot. The beam ripped through the Overseer's face, vaporizing half of his skull and sending arcs of golden blood scattering like molten light.
The Overseer staggered, his body shaking violently. The damage was absolute, more than even his near-immortal form could endure. His consciousness began to falter, collapsing inward under the crushing weight of pain.
And then ca the end.
"Apocalyptic Blast!"
Cain's voice was a roar of wrath and triumph.
A surge of super-condensed Neo-Demon energy burst through Sky
Devourer, erupting outward like a dying star. The beam tore through the Overseer's chest, shattering bone and blasting a hole straight through his heart.
The light in the Overseer's remaining eye flickered, then died.
His body fell backward, crashing into the tallic floor of the arena. Cain collapsed almost simultaneously, his Doomsday Incarnation fading. His breathing was ragged, his remaining arm trembling. He could barely move, yet on his bloodied face, a faint, exhausted smile appeared. They had done it.
They had won.
For nearly a minute, the arena was silent.
Then, impossibly, the Overseer's eyes opened again.
Light returned to his gaze. Under the eyes of the Scarlet King and the Crimson Exarch, his body rose into the air. His flesh and bone nded instantly, the massive hole in his chest closing as if it had never existed.
In three seconds, he was whole again.
A grim smile crossed both Cain's and the Exarch's faces. They had expected the Overseer to revive eventually; after all, there would always be new challengers. But seeing him restore himself so swiftly, so effortlessly, after all it cost them to leave those wounds, made a complicated expression arise in their faces.
The Overseer showed no emotion. His task was not vengeance, but
judgnt.
He raised his right hand.
From his forehead erged two spheres of golden light, pure and radiant. They shot through the air, faster than thought, striking Cain and the Crimson Exarch squarely in the brow. Before they could react, the lights lted into their souls.
Instantly, knowledge flooded their minds, a torrent of insight and understanding that transcended words. It was a fragnt of the Overseer's comprehension of the Flow.
The information ca as waves, infinite, overwhelming, burning. The Neo-Demon and Neo-Angel feared that if they did not act now, the wisdom would vanish, lost before they could grasp it.
Ignoring their exhaustion, they focused everything, body, soul, and mind, on absorbing the gift.
The golden lotus on their foreheads flared brilliantly, each petal spinning faster and faster, their auras intertwining with the rhythm of
the Flow itself.
Minutes passed in silence.
Then the flood ceased.
Both warriors exhaled, their faces breaking into wide smiles despite
their fatigue.
Their lotuses had blood completely, twenty-eight radiant petals
each.
Thanks to their innate talent and perfect attunent to the Flow, they had imprinted every trace of the Overseer's enlightennt into their souls, ascending to a new level of mastery.
The Overseer regarded them impassively. Whether they succeeded or
not mattered little. His duty was complete.
He waved his hand.
In the center of the arena, a white gate appeared, luminous, ethereal,
its fra forged from light itself.
Cain and the Crimson Exarch turned toward it, their eyes glowing
with awe.
It was the Gate to the Eighth Ring, the penultimate trial within the Nine Rings of the Sacred Dinsion.
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