The battlefield was chaos incarnate. Rubble, fire, and sparks filled every corner of the broken maze. Akira's aura pulsed like a living thing, and the stranger matched her strike for strike, their powers tearing through the city beneath them.
Then… a shadow fell across the arena.
Not a shadow from the walls, or the ceiling, but a figure hovering impossibly above them. Cloaked in black, their face hidden under a hood, the air around them shimmered unnaturally. Every movement they made warped reality slightly, bending light and gravity alike.
"Finally," the voice echoed—not from their lips, but from everywhere at once. "You two have been such… entertaining little pets."
Akira froze, eyes narrowing. "Who… who are you?"
The hooded figure lifted a hand, and the maze trembled violently. Pieces of the arena lifted into the air, orbiting around them like planets. "I am the Overseer," they said simply. "The one who built this test. The one who shaped your power, Akira… your little bean… everything you think you've done is because I allowed it."
The stranger beside her hissed, stepping protectively forward. "You did all this… to us?"
The Overseer's laugh was calm, terrifying. "Oh, not just to you. To all of you. Every fight, every evolution, every red awakening—you've all been my experiment."
Akira's blood boiled, crimson aura snapping around her like living lightning. "Experiment? I'm not your puppet!"
The Overseer tilted their head. "Ah… but you will be… unless you survive what comes next."
From the shadows behind them, dozens of glowing sigils appeared, floating in a perfect geometric pattern. Each one pulsed with energy, each one tethered to an unseen force Akira could feel pressing against her very soul.
"You've fought your past selves, your desires, your darkest instincts… but now, you'll fight your future," the Overseer said. "And even then, survival isn't guaranteed."
Akira glanced at the stranger, then back at the hovering figure. Her pulse raced, heart hammering, aura flaring hotter than ever. "You want a fight? Fine. But you picked the wrong experiment."
The Overseer's laughter echoed, echoing into infinity, as the maze—or what was left of it—cracked beneath the sheer weight of their power.
And then, the sigils fired simultaneously.