The void of space around Azure Blue had become a stage for divine fury. Stars twitched in their orbits, comets reversed courses mid-flight, and planets shook from the sheer presence of beings whose power dwarfed the imagination of mortals.
Lucien's clone hovered in the center, his body a calm contrast to the storm of celestial energy raging around him. Buddha and Calystria had begun to release their final forms—their true power, the culmination of their aeons of cultivation, the forms that could birth or end entire universes with a single thought.
Golden light exploded outward from Buddha's form, his hair flowing like molten sunrays, eyes ablaze with absolute authority. Calystria's mirrors multiplied endlessly, forming a lattice of impossibly sharp, reflective planes that tore through the void and refracted light into deadly beams.
"Do you finally realize the futility of your existence, little paradox?" Buddha's voice boomed across the void, shaking the very fabric of space. "I am enlightenment incarnate. You—are a fragment of chaos."
Calystria's voice cut in, icy yet tinged with amusement. "You wield trickery and imitation. But even your Tian Quan will break against our combined final forms. Submit before your existence is erased."
The clone tilted his head, studying them. The hole in his chest—Buddha had driven his celestial fist clean through him—should have ended him. Plasma and void energy poured out, yet he laughed.
A hysterical, echoing laugh that vibrated the void. "Oh… you think you have me? That a little hole can stop me? HAHAHAHA!"
Golden light danced over his figure as his wound regenerated, closing itself with a pulse of metaphysical energy. His chest healed as if nothing had happened, leaving Buddha and Calystria momentarily stunned.
"Guess… I'll have to show you the other forms of Tian Quan."
The Sixth Form — Void-Rending Palm
The clone's arms extended slightly, energy coiling along his limbs. He struck outward in a sudden explosion of fists moving faster than time could follow. Each strike sliced through the void, tearing rifts that hummed with the laws of the Metaphysical Plane itself.
"Void-Rending Palm!"
A shockwave exploded outward. The lattice of mirrors shuddered, some cracking, sending shards cascading into space. Buddha's golden aura flared, blocking some attacks, but even his defenses were scratched by the force of the strike. Planets near the fight felt gravitational shifts as though a black hole had flickered into existence for a heartbeat.
Calystria hissed, realizing the clone's attacks were not just physical but metaphysical—they bypassed raw power and touched the laws themselves.
The Ninth Form — Starfall Technique
The clone's body twisted in a perfect spin, launching a spiraling strike that ripped through distant stars. A small planetary system several light-years away flared and trembled.
"Starfall!"
Buddha and Calystria's expressions hardened. Even in their final forms, the clone's ability to manipulate space and reality itself made every strike an existential threat.
Calystria's mirrors reflected a few attacks but could not stop the entire onslaught. Buddha flung a celestial construct to intercept, but the clone was already adapting mid-flight, redirecting the Tian Quan strikes with uncanny precision.
The Tenth Form — Omni-Heaven Strike
The clone's eyes glowed abyssally as he centered his aura. He had been holding back, allowing the final forms to test him. Now, with a grin that split the void:
"Omni-Heaven Strike!"
Fists, feet, and metaphysical projections erupted from all directions simultaneously. The space around him tore, a 360-degree assault striking Buddha and Calystria from angles that defied perception.
Buddha staggered as the force bent time in microseconds. Calystria's mirrors shattered into fragments of light, unable to fully contain the energy.
"What… what is this form?!" Buddha shouted, staggering back.
"You should have guessed by now," the clone replied, voice echoing across light-years. "You're not dealing with a mere fragment anymore."
He hovered, laughter trailing like smoke in the void. His chest radiated a faint afterglow from the regenerative energy of his forms.
"Oh, Buddha, Calystria… how predictable. Always holding back, always trying to be 'good'. You really thought two percent of my father's power wouldn't evolve into this?"
Buddha's golden eyes narrowed. The first hint of concern flickered across his divine visage.
"You… you are a paradox."
"Exactly," the clone grinned, turning slightly, fists humming with residual energy. "The Heaven-Void Paradox. And guess what? We're just getting started."
Calystria's mirrors swirled violently. "This… cannot be!"
"Oh, but it can. And it does," the clone replied, his voice teasing, echoing across the cosmos. "Now… let's see how you handle the real fight."
On Azure Blue, mortals and cultivators felt a violent shift in the heavens. The celestial vision intensified. Aelira's bloodline stirred violently, her hair floating as if caught in unseen wind. Across nearby planets, prodigies felt their limits stretch, their potential rising with every strike that echoed from the void.
Even distant systems sensed the tremors—stellar alignments warped as the clone's Tian Quan unleashed forms 6, 9, and 10.
The battle had escalated from testing limits to existential theater. The final forms of Buddha and Calystria were overwhelming, yet the Heaven-Void Paradox was evolving mid-fight.
And Lucien, watching from his merged throne, allowed a small smile:
This is exactly what I hoped for. Let them see the paradox that can exist beyond even the final forms of heaven.
The next strike, the next movement, would change the very fabric of the battle.
Would the combined final forms of Buddha and Calystria finally pin the paradox down—or would Tian Quan's evolution push the clone to a new apex of celestial domination?
The void itself seemed to hold its breath.