In an instant, they were no longer in Capriha. The sunlit skies were gone. Civilization? Vanished. Mountains loomed in the distance, their jagged peaks silhouetted under the velvet-blue canopy of night. Wind howled across the desolate plateau, whispering secrets older than memory. Ingress blinked, his eyes adjusting. The ground beneath him was cracked and lifeless, no signs of people or cities—just endless wilderness. Ingress: "Where the hell are we?! Did you teleport us to a different country?! It was broad daylight in Capriha—now we're stranded in the middle of nowhere!" His voice cracked with anger. Ingress: "You little shit! Answer me!" But the only response was silence. Up ahead stood Kazimir, his figure illuminated by the moonlight. His violet-blue eyes glowed like stars in the dark, eerily calm, disturbingly silent. He didn't speak. He dashed forward instead. A blur of silver and lightning. Ingress reacted fast, unsheathing his blade with a sharp hiss of steel. Their swords collided in a ferocious clang, unleashing a violent shockwave that tore through the earth, sending rocks and debris flying like cannon fire. Miles away, Neve and Jessie felt the aftershock. The land beneath them groaned. Trees splintered. The ground cracked. Neve: "What the hell was that?!" Jessie: "Brace yourself!" Neve raised a dome of ice just in time as the force slammed into them. Jessie's foot suddenly sank—the earth was crumbling. They leapt into the air just as the land behind them gave way, trees toppling like dominoes. From the sky, they saw the devastation unfold. Neve: "That shockwave—it has to be Kazimir and Ingress! We need to get there. Now." Jessie: "If Kazimir's using the Void State… that could only mean one thing—Ingress pissed him off for real." Neve: "Dammit, Kaz… why won't you listen to us anymore?" Jessie: "I don't know. But if we don't stop him, Ingress might not live to regret it." Back on the battlefield— Ingress lunged, aiming a precise jab toward Kazimir's glowing eyes. Kazimir saw it—too slow—he parried and smashed his fist into Ingress's nose. Blood sprayed as Ingress staggered, stunned. Kazimir grabbed his collar and slammed him into the ground with bone-shaking force. But Ingress wasn't done yet. He flipped back to his feet, summoning three shadow clones—ghastly specters armed with cursed blades. They charged in. Kazimir dodged the first, parried the second, and roundhouse-kicked the third clean into a boulder. But it was a trap. A fourth clone rose silently behind him. Dark energy surged. BOOM. A barrage of homing dark orbs fired from behind. Kazimir twisted, slashing the orbs out of the air with rapid strikes—crack! crack! crack!—but the moment cost him. Ingress appeared at his blind spot and slashed down his chest, a gash erupting across Kazimir's torso. He dropped to one knee, blood dripping from his body as Ingress stepped forward, grinning. Ingress: "So this is the 'strongest Vandor'? What a joke. I'll make sure they all know. You're no hero, Kazimir. You're a fraud." But then— Kazimir laughed. Low and cold. Kazimir: "You think… you got me? You're an even bigger fool than you look." Ingress: "What?" Kazimir: "If I'm so wounded… why has the bleeding stopped?" Ingress's eyes widened. Ingress: "You redirected your lightning… to stimulate your cells. You cheeky bastard—!" He lunged to finish it, but froze mid-step. Completely paralyzed. His muscles wouldn't obey. He couldn't even blink. Kazimir: "World Clock. I activated it the moment you landed that hit. You never noticed." Kazimir rose slowly, his fists crackling with electric and spatial energy. Kazimir: "You thought you won? You thought I'd play fair? Idiot." He slammed a brutal punch into Ingress's gut—ribs cracked. Another blow—bones shattered. The final punch, infused with primal lightning, smashed through the time-stop barrier like a meteor, sending Ingress flying into a crag of rocks. BOOM. Ingress lay broken. Barely breathing. His ribs in ruin. Kazimir, not finished, hurled his katana—it pierced Ingress's arm, pinning him to the boulder, steel sunk deep into his bone. Kazimir stepped forward. From his back, he drew a long, curved blade—the nodachi once wielded by Karah. Its aura was fierce. Untouched. Sacred. Kazimir: "I've never killed anyone with this sword. Be honored... that you'll be the first." He raised it high. Just then—ice gripped his legs. Neve's scream pierced the chaos. She soared in with Jessie, her silver hair whipping in the wind. Neve: "KAZIMIR, STOP!" He paused, the blade humming with lethal intent. Neve: "You're both Vandors! On the same damn team! Killing him—what the hell would that prove?! Look at you! You're bleeding, exhausted—let me heal you before you bleed out!" The ice cracked. Kazimir's energy flared as he broke free, his blade rising again. Lightning danced around it, now twisted with spatial essence, ready to obliterate Ingress in one strike. Neve ran forward, hand outstretched— Neve: "KAZIMIR, PLEASE!!"
