"Dammit!" Draco's roar tore through the void, raw and furious, yet powerless to change the truth unfolding before him.
Despite the imnse amount of Origin Energy of the Abyssalcrown Empyrean World raging through his veins, enough force to crush worlds and shatter the laws of lesser realms, he was being utterly overwheld by the Scarlet King.
The disparity made no sense. Their strength should have been nearly equal, perhaps even leaning in Draco's favor after he activated his red eyes. And yet, he still could not land a single aningful blow.
But there was no ti to dwell on confusion.
Cain appeared at Draco's flank in a crimson flash, both hands. sweeping through the air.
"Conqueror Infinity Rift!"
A hundred invisible blades carved through Draco's bio-armor. Armor forged to withstand Alpha-Oga Overgods shredded like paper. Thin lines of blood, dark and steaming, streaked across Draco's colossal fra.
"ARGHHH!" The leader of the Abyssalcrown Empyrean World grounded his feet against the violent currents of the void, refusing to yield. Ignoring the countless wounds, he struck with all the force his empowered body could muster.
Cain's left hand flicked outward. A casual motion, yet it carried the power of The Frlow.
The strike was diverted, redirected harmlessly away from the Scarlet King. Then Cain's fist crashed into Draco's chest, making his organs quake, followed an instant later by a spinning kick that blasted Draco's body across the void like a teor knocked off course.
As Draco tumbled, the Scarlet King's voice echoed after him-calm, resonant, rciless. "Your strength is formidable, and your defenses are even more impressive."
Another blow ca from nowhere, sending Draco veering in a new direction.
"But how long has it been since you fought for your life? How long since soone pushed you to your limits? Your techniques are dull. Your instincts are slow."
Cain appeared directly before him-no warning, no ti to react-and drove a fist into Draco's jaw. The crack of bone reverberated across the void like a fractured star.
"You wield great power," Cain said, eyes burning with scarlet light, "but you lack the will and clarity to use it."
Before Draco could halt his montum, Cain's palm opened, gathering a rotating sphere of azure energy-compression, collapse, annihilation. The blast consud Draco, drowning him in a wave of force that tore through matter and void alike.
When the old Abyssal finally erged from the storm of energy, half of his face was scorched to the bone. His armor hung in molten strips. His wounds had reached a critical threshold-he was no longer regenerating fast enough to remain stable.
Cain did not hesitate.
Sundering power gathered in his right hand as he shot forward, ready to end the battle with a single strike straight to Draco's heart. The life force of the old man would be consud by the Path of Conquest while his soul would be locked in the Scarlet Throne for all eternity. But in that instant-when defeat should have arrived-Draco's red eyes shifted. The light within them sharpened, twisted, and bled. Rivets of blood ran down his face like crimson tears.
And then Draco moved.
Not in desperation, not in instinct.
With precision. With mastery. With a technique that cut through the void like a flawless blade.
He bent, twisted, slipped away from Cain's killing strike-barely-and countered with a devastating punch to Cain's chest. The blow caught the Scarlet King fully by surprise, sending him rolling backward through the emptiness.
Blood trickled from the corner of Cain's mouth. But there was no mont to assess the wound. Draco was already upon him. His palm carried an overwhelming pressure-space thickened around Cain into sothing heavy, suffocating, almost solid.
Cain shattered the pressure with a surge of sundering power, sliding to the side to evade the attack. He countered with a fierce kick-only for Draco to catch his leg.
But the instant Draco touched him, the explosive power concentrated within Cain's limb detonated, blowing Draco backward once more.
Cain did not pursue imdiately. His eyes narrowed, sharpened, studying the bleeding red light within Draco's gaze.
"Another consciousness." The voice of the Scarlet King was low, cold, and carried realization.
The strongest lifeform of the Abyssalcrown Empyrean World- overtaken. Corrupted. Used as a vessel.
A puppet of a power that did not belong to the Nine Empyrean Suns
Universe
Cain's expression hardened into iron resolve. "A Lord of the Tenth
Empyrean Sun World, I presu."
Draco's bleeding eyes narrowed at the words, but no answer ca. The puppetmaster drove the body forward like a weapon, accelerating toward Cain with brutal intent.
"Very well." Cain t the charge head-on, killing intent rising like a
crimson sun.
The void exploded with power as the true battle finally began.
The puppetmaster wielding Draco's body fought with infinitely greater precision and ferocity than the old Abyssal had ever displayed. Every movent was calculated. Every strike harmonized with the flow of Origin Energy. Draco's body moved as if forged into a perfect weapon, matching Cain's strength blow for blow.
"Conqueror Infinity Rift!" Cain unleashed another web of invisible blades.
Draco crossed his arms, twisting space itself into a shield that
absorbed the assault. In the sa heartbeat, he thrust forward a spiraling punch, compressing the pressure around them into a single devastating blow.
Cain swept his hand. The attack was diverted again, but with far more effort this ti.
His eyes sharpened as he learn sothing by perceiving the emotions and intent behind the puppetmaster. "You are not the owner of the
red eyes."
Cain's fist t Draco's chest, blasting him backward. Draco stabilized imdiately, but the bleeding from his eyes intensified, rivers now instead of rivulets. The strain of sustaining control was tearing the body apart. Draco's soul aura flickered erratically, destabilizing under
the intrusion.
The puppetmaster did not care.
Through Draco's ravaged body, he glared at Cain with solemn,
focused hostility-surprised only that Cain had identified him so
quickly.
The next mont, Draco's power surged wildly. His life force ignited,
burning like a black star. All of the stolen Origin Energy collapsed into his right arm. The puppetmaster condensed everything-strength, intent, pressure-into a single killing strike.
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