Back in Malaikin, the power was returning to returning to normal. Much like Kyasho, Zien was reaching the limit of his body’s ability to channel the energy of a city through it. He was also quickly exhausting Teros’ memories as he hurtled towards the present. Shin and Rayad could already see the effects of Zien’s powers weakening, watching now as Teros’ agony subsided, and he began to visibly push back against the psychic assault.

They both growled, almost simultaneously at the sight, accepting that they would have to buy a bit more time for Kyasho to transfer his anomalous power to Maika if they were to continue to be able to hold Teros at bay. Rayad’s energy erupted into a pillar of red plasma as he tapped into his own R.E.D. augmentations, similar to those of his sons. Shin’s eyebrow tipped upwards as Rayad’s energy levels skyrocketed, pushing him far beyond the outputs that traditionally represented the legendary-teir of channelling.

Shin would not be outdone, however.

Soon, green flames erupted from his body as well, doubling his energy generation capacity at first before growing more dense. As his aura blackened, the multiplication of his energy continued to increment, before topping out just beyond an order of magnitude higher than his base capacity. This was further augmented by the Itami royal’s access to the native magic of his homeland, allowing him to unleash his true channelling capacity. Rayad smirked as he felt Shin’s aura pressing up against his, for the first time witnessing the power of the perfect-tier Oyan and noting that it was actually comparable to his own.

As Teros finally broke free of Zien’s assault, the psychic backlash caused the Malaikin King to reel backwards violently and clutch his head. The demon’s rage was now unbridled, but Shin and Rayad hoped that they would at least have the element of surprise. An explosion of force was all that was left in the wake of Shin taking off from his location. Before anyone could react, he was impacting Teros with a powerful elbow strike to the sternum, the shockwaves off which tore up the earth behind the legendary destroyer, but before he could be blasted away from the blow, Shin appeared behind him and slammed him even further downwards into the ground. First a crater, then a valley, Teros soon found himself at the bottom of a trench. With a snarl his energy erupted, blasting himself back towards the surface where he would be met by Rayad. With his energy amplified more than tenfold, the resulting discharge of red plasma that impacted Teros was the equivalent of a tactical nuclear strike. When it clashed with the demon’s body, the resulting explosion was blinding. Their location was completely obliterated under the power of the attack and even these preternaturally powerful channelers found it difficult to hold their ground against the strength of the shockwaves that pressed against them. Unfortunately, as the dust settled, Teros was not only unfazed but launching his own counterattack. Shin and Rayad barely had time to encapsulate themselves in their respective energy types before the surges of black energy engulfed them and launched them off in opposite directions. The last thing that Kyasho and Maika saw before both Rayad and Shin vanished from sight were the faint flickers of their barriers shattering, before they each disappeared into the distance.

“It’s all on you, Maika.” Kyasho muttered, before simply sitting on the ground and relinquishing his power to Director of the Lehomik Military Alliance.

“Right.” Came Maika’s simple reply before he took off in the direction of Teros, now infused with Kyasho’s prodigious power.

As Maika thundered towards Teros, he grabbed Zien and tossed him away, hurling him back towards Kyasho’s location. This gave him a completely clear battlefield to cut loose against this legendary destroyer. Unfortunately for this military veteran, Teros’ patience had been completely exhausted by the fight up until now. Maika couldn’t even follow Teros’ movement when he vanished, it was only his combat experience that allowed him to predict the angle of attack. As the massive Terran legend pulled his arms into the form of an ‘X’, he felt Teros’ arms impact them. Unlike previously however, instead of being hurled away by the attack, Teros’ black energy washed over his Perfect Guard with no effect. Maika grinned widely at the sight, shifting his stance and grabbing Teros’ hand by the wrist before grabbing him with the other hand and slamming him into the ground below. Once again black flames erupted as a counterattack, but once again they were rendered useless by Maika’s defensive abilities, forcing Teros to rely on something other than his raw energy projection.

Rage turned to glee as the lithe, pale entity spun around on his back and kicked out Maika’s leg, causing him to lose his balance. As Maika slipped, Teros rolled backwards, freeing his arm in the process. Maika’s loss of balance was however short lived, allowing him to recover it just in time to guard a swinging kick from his attacker. The high guard, with his forearm and outer bicep protected his head from the attack but didn’t stop him from being pushed around in an arc under the force of the powerful blow. The towering giant of a man grimaced with pain from the kick but didn’t pass up the opportunity to turn his guard into a hold. Teros’ eyes lit up as Maika grabbed his leg before he could retract it, taking the opportunity to sweep his other leg before pressing Teros into the ground once more. Normally, Maika would have tried to break the limb, but Teros’ inhuman body twisted and bent in countless unnatural positions, making this pointless. Instead, he simply held his much smaller opponent in place and launched a powerful straight punch with his free arm. Teros continued to grin as he twisted his torso away from the blow and guarded Maika’s punch with the outside of his own arm. This action brough a smirk to Maika’s face, as he watched Teros wrap his thin arms around his massive forearm in much the same way that he had caught the demon’s foot.

Unlike Teros unfortunately, his anatomy was very much that of a human so he couldn’t risk his opponent going for a break.

Teros felt the moment that Maika released his leg, counter punching into the much smaller fighter’s side to weaken his grip on the massive bruiser’s arm. The resulting shockwave from the blow loosened Teros’ grip just enough for Maika to dislodge him with a swing of the captured arm, slamming him into the ground just a metre away and following up with a powerful cross from his other hand. With savant-like accuracy, Maika timed Teros’ body rebounding off the ground, catching him as he bounded into the air with his follow-up attack. But Teros’ grin never faded. As Maika’s massive fist careened towards him, he pulled his body into a tight spin, adjusting his trajectory only slightly as he narrowly dodged the blow and used his angular momentum to pull Maika off-balance. The result was a modified shoulder throw that landed a hulking bruiser at Teros’ feet, allowing him to deliver a powerful axe-kick and drive Maika into the earth beneath. His attack caused the further widening of the crater, formed since the beginning of their fight, before Teros followed up with yet another torrent of his black energy as he attempted to remove Maika from existence.

Once again the massive legend was forced to rely on his Perfect Guard to tank the attack, but like those before him, Teros could tell that he wearing down. What he couldn’t see however, was Maika’s hand as he pressed through his attack, grabbing Teros by the throat and hoisting him into the air before slamming him into the ground below. For the first time since their skirmish, Teros’ grin was replaced by a look of shock—and Maika took great pleasure in instilling it. Two quick punches with his free hand rocked Teros’ head backwards before the third was stopped in its tracks. Maika watched with horror as Teros’ comparatively tiny hand dug into his massive fist, while his other hand was pried off of Teros’ neck.

A loud growl summoned vast quantities of zeta into him, but no amount of force could free him from Teros’ grip. Reality began to creak and warp as these two titans summoned more and more energy into themselves in their attempts to overpower each other, before Maika finally leaned back and delivered a powerful headbutt to his opponent. The shockwaves obliterated the land behind Teros for kilometres but failed to even budge him. Instead, Maika’s attack prompted the Destroyer to lean back and deliver a sharp rising kick. As he did, he released his grip on his massive opponent, allowing Maika to go hurtling into the air before he vanished from his location and appeared above the large men. Teros’ follow-up attack was too fast to see, but its effects were impossible to miss. The sky opened up for kilometres, as the clouds were dissipated from the sheer force of the attack that sent Maika barrelling into the earth below. Maika’s impact cracked the earth and caused quakes for kilometres, reverting him instantly and returning Kyasho’s powers to him.

Teros just laughed loudly as the effects of Maika’s Universal Sanctum dissipated with his legendary form, freeing him from its limitations.

“Finally.” He cackled. “No more games.”

With this, he raised his right hand into the sky and warped reality as he summoned a sphere of incalculable energy above it. His opponents were formidable, but they were now routed, and he meant to erase their existence from the face of the earth. In mere seconds he was done charging the attack that would not just erase his opponents, but the entire island nation of Avalon from the planet.

Down on the ground, Kyasho did his best to summon his energies and stop the attack, but even his prodigious abilities were at their limit. Zien was still incongruent, Maika was unconscious and he could only guess at the fates of Shin and Rayad. He was finally out of options. All he could do was use his energy to teleport Maika’s body to him and draw Zien in close, while he shielded the three of them in as much energy as he could muster.

Beyond that, it was up to fate.