Inside Ife’s pocket universe, ID stands surprised, as he stares at Ife.

“Well the place is still in development but it’s a good spot for fighting. Obviously, I will be the victor here,” Ife says as a huge door on the long building behind her opens up.

“That said, however this technique zaps an ample amount of energy. That means I have very little time to spend in this space. If I don’t end this quickly, I’ll be at a loss,” she says to herself.

“Quite impressive Ife, as expected of the likes of you. However, I can take a good guess that this technique requires quite a good deal of energy and so cannot be sustained for a long period of time. In summary, you have a very short limited time to finish me off, isn’t that right?” ID speaks, giving off a little smile.

“Tch!!! He guessed right,” Ife hisses, thinking within herself.

“Whatever, it doesn’t matter, because I will win this,” she says aloud to ID.

“Another reason for coming here is because, it’s way easier to summon my tier three weapons here,” she adds.

“Though still incomplete, come, Ogun ti ina (Yoruba – Sword of flame essence),” she says and out of the building behind her, comes, spinning out, a huge sword of about six feet in length and fifteen inches in width.

Immediately the sword gets to Ife’s hand and she takes hold of the hilt, the blade of the sword instantly fragments and transmutes to flames of fire, still maintaining the shape of the blade. Ife quickly takes off, sprinting towards ID, holding the sword with her two hands.

“This powerful sword is still in the making, nonetheless I’m sure it should do the damage. This sword is one of unique creations in that it was crafted from a peculiar fire which I came across, hidden in the state of Osun and so can only be beckoned by me by reciting those words in Yoruba,” she says to herself and takes a huge leap, some distance from ID.

From high up in the air, she swings her blade at ID, letting out a scream as a great ball of fire is released from the swinging of the blade against ID.

“It’s fast,” ID says and succeeds in evading the attack by moving to his left at high speed. The attack creates a powerful blast as it hits the ground.

Ife swiftly appears at ID’s back, intending to slash him from behind. ID realizes this and does a quick turn, using his ethereal enhanced fists to grab the blade of fire. To his surprise, the fire burns the hands which also affects his own physical hands. He quickly lets go of the blade of fire and moves back at high speed creating a good amount of distance between himself and Ife.

“How do see that?! Even your ethereal arms cannot escape this flames. Plus it also burns your physical form at the same time,” Ife gloats, looking at ID.

“What?! Not good,” ID remarks, looking at his palm.

“Now,” Ife says as she begins to levitate, holding her sword of fire in a horizontal manner and directing it at ID. At once, a circle of blistering light starts forming at the blade of the sword through the gathering of light rays from around the environment. The whole place begins to shine brightly and heat up immensely, with tremendous pressure filling the area.

“What now?! This heat, this is going to be really bad. I think I’m way in over my head with this battle,” ID notes, struggling to step back slowly as he feels a slight chill down his spine.

“Farasin (Yoruba – Disappear),” Ife utters, swiping her sword horizontally, unleashing a monstrous beam of light at ID. With an efficacious force, the beam moves at a mighty speed and blasts everything at ID’s position, creating a very large and colossal explosion.

BOOM!!!

“Humph!! Still incomplete but should be enough to wipe off an entire local government in the state of Lagos instantly. Luckily the workshop building won’t be affected,” Ife boasts and begins to slowly descend as the dust created by the attack begins to settle.

Suddenly, there is a massive outburst of power from ID’s location.

“Beta!” ID calmly says and immediately the whole dust is dispersed by a mighty wind. ID appears, kneeling at the center of a big crater, shielded by gigantic ethereal wings made of golden radiance. The symbol behind ID’s back appears, switches from α to β and begins to glow with blue luster. A robust and intimidating blue aura is released, breaking many of the blades scattered across. The gigantic ethereal wings spread and ID stands with the β symbol appearing on his right hand, encircled by a glistening blue ring and yellow ring outside the blue ring.

“Impossible!!!” Ife yells and shoots three balls of fire from her sword but ID fends them with one of his wings, redirecting them to the sky and they let out a big explosion.

“Trying to kill me, are you?” ID says and launches a punch with one of his enhanced fists against Ife. She blocks using her sword as a shield but the force of the punch pushes her back with the ethereal fist stretching the distance, thanks to the chains connected to ID which keeps on increasing.

“In that case then,” Ife says when the attack stops and there is a considerable amount of space between herself and ID.

“Ogun ti ewu nla (Yoruba – Sword of great peril),” she says and quickly, whirling out of the long building at a very fast speed, comes a sword, same length with the sword of fire essence but with a width of about five inches. Ife grips the hilt of the sword.

“Ugh!!!” she calmly screams, catching the sword and spitting out blood, with some dripping from her nose.

“Tch!!! that last attack, took a lot of power from me. I’m nearing my limit now, I must end this now,” she mutters and plunges the normal sized sword into the ground. This causes a large crack which moves rapidly at ID’s location, creating large and violent eruptions like an earthquake along its path and eventually a massive one on getting to ID’s side.

The attack is inches away and ID taps the tip of his right foot, twice on the ground. In a flash, he appears at Ife’s front and grabs her by the neck, lifting her from the ground. Ife however, quickly throws her swords into the sky before she is grabbed. The swords join together and merge into one.

“I can’t do much for now so I’ll end it with an even more powerful attack,” she says.

“Before you do that, I’ll end this first,” ID replies.

“Humph!!! Too late,” Ife says, grinning as the merged sword spins and points at ID from the sky.

“Yinbọn (Yoruba – Shoot),” she adds and speedily, an enormous ball of fire forms at the tip of the blade, spiraling, emitting sparks of lightning, giving off a vast amount of atmospheric and bringing about great eruptions on the ground. The ball is so huge, it covers the blade and some parts of the sky.

“My, my, this is really bad but like I said I’ll end this. I haven’t fully grasped it yet but it should work. Here I go,” ID says, looking at the sky and back at Ife.

“Zero Imapct: Abate,” he says, as he and Ife stare at each other with the enormous ball of fire about to hit him.

As this was happening, back at the Phasic dome in the normal world where Ifunanya and the others are…

Ifunanya stares at Tade demanding that they tell them where Ife and ID have vanished to. Dominic was surprised at Ifunanya’s speed but quickly snaps; two guns appear, one in each of his hands and he points them at Ifunaya.

“Get out!!!” he yells and shoots at Ifunanya. Ifunaya stands still and catches the bullets with her bare hands still looking at Tade.

“Humph!!! You shouldn’t have caught it,” Dominic says, smiling.

“Activate,” he says and immediately, the bullets explode, sending Ifunanya flying some distance away.

Aisha, from her building, makes a big leap, heading towards Tade and the others, drawing out her sword from empty space.

“Activate,” she says, taking the leap and taking hold of her sword. Instantly, Tade, with a mighty jump, heads towards Aisha.

“Ten percent should be enough,” he says in his thoughts, while making the jump.

“Activate: Supernova fist,” he declares and with his right fist glimmering brightly with purple radiance and sparkles, he swings a strong punch at Aisha. Aisha however, blocks the attack with her sword but when contact is made with the fist and the sword, a powerful blast occurs which sends Aisha flying and crashing into the building she leaped from. The effect of the attack rips in half, the building Chiamaka is standing on causing it to collapse. Tomisin instantly shows up, takes hold of Chiamaka as she falls off the building, and appears at Tobi’s front.

“Tried to hold back as much as I could,” Tade whispers as he lands on the ground, in the space between the two buildings.

Suddenly, the whole area is filled with a burning sensation as the temperature increases and there is an overwhelming amount of aura pressuring everywhere.

“This sensation,” Tade says and turns. He sees Ifunanya, some distance away, close to Tomisin and Tobi’s location.

“Good grief, guess it’s the hard way then,” Ifunanya says and exhales. The burning sensation and immense aura instantly ceases. She is standing on the same line as Tade but some distance from him. Her entire body surrounded by a yellow glow and also her two swords which she is holding.

While this takes place in the Phasic dome, the ordinary people in the normal world begin to suddenly feel hot.

“This Lagos weather sef, na wa oo!!! Everywhere is just hot,” some people complain.

Back at the Phasic dome, where Ifunanya and the others are…

Ifunanya raises the sword in her left hand and swings it vertically, facing the space between the two buildings. Rapidly, a massive amount of fire, towering the height of one of the buildings, spanning the width of it and the space in between, is released, consuming and blowing up everything in its path.

As the dust clears, a gigantic figure, about three-quarter the size of the building, is seen standing in the space and holding a bottle of beer in his hand.

“Dan the man, at times like this, you come in handy,” Ese comments, standing on the shoulder of the giant figure, Dan.

“Hey, it’s been a while I fought you know,” Dan says, grinning at Ifunanya. Ese immediately jumps and heads for Tobi. Tomisin, standing near Tobi, quickly brings out her guns and points them at Ese.

“Don’t move,” a voice warns from behind Tomisin.

Tomisin turns to see who it is.

“What?! How did you?!” she yells, seeing Bimbo who has grabbed Chiamaka, pointing a gun to her head.

Tobi summons his big hammer with the long handle, intending to swing it at Ese but she uses her left leg to stop the swing on getting there, spins and lands a kick on Tobi, sending him flying.

“Humph!! A giant huh?” Ifunanya says and makes a powerful jump at Dan. The force created by jump is strong enough to push back everything behind Ifunanya including Tomisin and Bimbo, disrupting Bimbo’s grip on Chiamaka. Seeing this, Tomisin seizes the opportunity, teleporting to Chiamaka and getting her out of Bimbo’s grasp.

“Well let me be courteous and reply in the same percentage as your friend did,” Ifunanya says, reaching Dan and punches Dan’s stomach with her left fist. The punch carries a great force which pushes away everything behind and around Dan. It also pushes Dan back, making him screech hard against the floor.

“Ugh!!” Dan yells as he is brought to his knees. Tade shows up from behind Dan’s legs and rushes to attack Ifunanya but is stopped by a lightning bolt from the rubbles of the collapsed building. He dodges by moving backwards at high speed and without delay, Dominic jumps from behind Dan and fires shots at Ifunanya. She notices the bullets and slices them in half.

“Activate,” he says and the sliced bullets, still in motion, explode but Ifunanya is no longer there, she is now floating in the air above them.

“Quite the annoying ability you have there,” Ifunanya says.

“Sheesh!!! Man, you sure pack a punch,” Aisha says, emerging from the rubbles of the collapsed building, dusting herself.

“A strong kick from a big woman, heh,” Tobi says as he gets up and smiles, facing Ese.

The two opposing teams now stand staring at each other: Ifunanya at Dominic and Dan; Aisha at Tade; Tobi at Ese; Tomisin and Chiamaka at Bimbo.

Abruptly, a ray of light appears like a crack in the space between Ifunanya and Dan. It begins expanding until a massive beam of light forcibly breaks through as if the space shatters and once the light is out, ID and Ife materialize back to where Ifunanya and the others are, with ID still holding Ife by the neck. Everyone is taken aback by the sudden appearance.

“Heh, it’s over,” ID says, letting go of Ife, as she drops to the ground, conscious but is much worn out and unable to move. Tade, Dominic, Dan, Ese and Bimbo are shocked by the outcome of the battle as this is not what they expected.

“What do you say? Do you concede or should we proceed?” ID inquires, looking down at Ife who is lying on the ground with her arms spread wide, staring back at ID.

“Unbelievable that I lost by this much. Well, it was my fault for using an incomplete and energy consuming technique, anyway that’s my limit for now. Yes ID, this is your victory,” Ife answers, panting.

“Stand down you all,” she adds, signaling her teammates to stop fighting.

Chiamaka is so happy and relieved after hearing this as Tomisin teleports both of them to Ifunanya who is standing beside ID.

“See, I told you, he will not lose,” Ifunanya says, turning to Chiamaka who smiles back at her.

“Thank God. My heart was seriously beating fast,” Chiamaka replies.

ID stares at Ife for a brief moment and smiles, stretching his hand towards her to help her get up. She smiles back and takes hold of his hand as he helps her to stand.

“Don’t forget our deal, Ife,” ID reminds Ife.

“Of course not, I am Ifeoluwa, I always keep my word,” Ife replies. ID hands her over to Tade who supports her in movement.

“Apparently not even I knew of that Ife’s technique yet you still won. To think that you were this strong, you’ve surprised me man,” Tade comments, holding Ife.

“Why are they smiling? They were trying to kill each other moments ago,” Chiamaka whispers.

“Well, one sure reason is they used to be real close years ago, they even had some trainings from the same teacher,” Ifunanya replies, folding her hands.

Chiamaka is surprised Ifunanya even heard her and also at her reply.

“This does not mean you’re free. Others, maybe even more dangerous than I am, will surely come for you. The man that hired me is relentless and will not stop. He probably has already sought for other contractors and has sent your location to them, so be careful because I am pretty sure I’m the only who’ll make such a deal,” Ife warns.

Ife and her teammates, exit the area as the phasic dome dissipates, bringing everyone back to the normal world where everything is returned to its original state and is undamaged.

“Tch!!! Mood killer,” Aisha murmurs.

“My, my, what a night,” she says, walking towards ID.

“Could have been longer if Ife hadn’t used that her pocket universe technique which depleted a lot of her phasic energy,” ID notes.

“Pocket what now?” Aisha asks.

“Yeah that technique where she and I vanished completely. We were translocated into a pocket universe she created,” ID explains.

“No wonder, I tried to trace you so I could teleport to you but I couldn’t,” Tomisin states.

“So you were worried, eh?” ID says, smiling at Tomisin.

“Humph!!!” Tomisin sighs and turns her face away.

“I could actually detect a bit of talent force but could not pinpoint your exact location based on the tiny bit,” Tobi says, walking towards ID.

“She’s already developed such technique eh?” Ifunanya comments.

“Wait, so how did you get out then?” Tomisin inquires.

“Well, I kinda nullified the technique,” ID replies.

“Basically, I reduced the impact of the technique itself and since she was already in a weak state, it was easy for me to reduce it to zero percent since she could not muster much from her focus or talent force anymore, thus bringing an end to the technique,” ID further explains.

“So your impact can also directly affect techniques either positively or negatively,” Chiamaka responds.

“Yeah, among other things,” ID replies.

“Either way, I’ve expended quite the amount of energy. I need some rest,” he adds.

Meanwhile…

“Thank you Mr. Uche for the purchase,” the bearded man from the gallery Uche had previously visited (chapter 4), comments.

“You’re welcome Sir. It’s a unique and rare artwork, any art enthusiast would really be interested in it,” Uche replies, holding a sculpted head piece with several markings.

“Yes, the artist Mr. Benjamin Awili did a fascinating work on this piece,” the man remarks, touching his beard.

“Let me package that for you so you can be off, it’s quite late already,” he suggests and collects the sculpted artwork from Uche to put it in a box and pack it properly.

After the packaging and exchange of pleasantries, Uche carries the box to his car.

“Hehe, finally, step one is complete,” Uche says to himself and smirks, as he strolls to his car with the artwork in his hand.