Kael's eyes went wide. Sweat dripped down his face. His hands trembled as he staggered back.
Kael (panicked): "H-He's here for me… I'm done… he'll kill me… I failed…"
The serpent began to slither closer, his aura cutting through the air like knives.
Kael (frozen): "H-He's coming for me…"
His knees locked. His body refused to move.
But then—suddenly—the battlefield itself seemed to sink into shadow.
A new presence. Dark. Heavy. Choking.
Every flame of tension was drowned in black.
Even Gabi Maru stopped mid-step, his serpent's glare sharpening toward the darkness that walked forward.
Sylven (stunned): "I-It's… Hwang Cho…"
CE Member #1 (trembling): "Another… Pillar…"
Sylven grit his teeth, a bead of sweat rolling down his face.
Sylven (thinking): What's going to happen now…?
Cho (coldly, stepping forward): "Loma, you succeeded."
His voice cut like a blade.
Gabi Maru (grinning): "I expected that."
The two titans faced each other. Hwang Cho's darkness pressed against Gabi Maru's serpent aura, the air shredding between them. Asphalt cracked. Windows shattered. The ground itself trembled under the collision of wills.
Every single person froze in place, as though gravity itself forced them to kneel.
Sylven (whispering): "Unbelievable… they're… monsters."
Gabi Maru (grinning wider): "I came here to erase a piece of trash."
The clash of auras tore at the battlefield—light poles bending, walls splitting, the night sky itself shivering as if it couldn't hold them both.
And then silence.
Two Pillars. Face-to-face.
The world holding its breath.
The legendary clash could begin at any moment.