The hollow still steamed.
Reality had not finished deciding whether it wanted to exist there again.
Gilmuar moved first.
No warning.
No buildup.
Gravity folded inward and hurled him forward, axe already mid swing, weight stacked so tightly around the blade that light bent away from its edge. The strike was not aimed to test.
It was aimed to land.
Kenzo caught it.
One hand.
Bare palm.
The impact erased another ring of ground outward, a clean circular gouge carved into existence itself. Dust, stone, and air vanished without sound.
Kenzo did not move.
Not a step.
Not a breath.
His fingers tightened around the axe head.
Kenzo: Stop.
The word landed heavier than the strike.
Gilmuar froze.
Not forced.
Not restrained.
Something older than instinct told him that if he pushed another inch, he would cross a line he could not uncross.
The gravity around him stuttered and settled.
Kenzo released the axe and took a step back, rolling his shoulder like he had just stretched.
Kenzo: You rush.
He looked at Gilmuar, eyes sharp, evaluating.
Kenzo: You tunnel.
Another step.
Kenzo: And you are about to get yourself killed by your own weight.
Gilmuar clenched his jaw.
His knuckles whitened.
Gilmuar: I had it.
Kenzo snorted.
Kenzo: No.
Kenzo: You had momentum.
Kenzo's grin crept back, feral and eager.
Kenzo: Watching is boring.
He turned his head slightly.
Not toward the horizon.
Toward the others.
Kenzo: Stop standing there.
Silence.
Then confusion.
Leona: You cannot be serious.
Dantero: Oh he's serious.
Cron: ...Yeah. He is.
Tier adjusted his glasses slowly.
Tier: This is not optimal.
Rykaou's senses flared violently, every instinct screaming.
Rykaou: He means it.
Kenzo's grin widened.
Kenzo: Good.
Kenzo: You can still think.
He raised three fingers.
Kenzo: Rules.
He lifted the first finger.
Kenzo: Do not hold back.
Kenzo: If you hesitate, I will break you.
The second finger.
Kenzo: Do not take turns.
Kenzo: This is not a duel.
The third finger.
Kenzo: If you fall, stay down until you can move on your own.
He lowered his hand.
Kenzo: I am not here to teach gently.
A pause.
Kenzo: I will not kill you.
Another pause.
Kenzo: But if you lie to yourselves.
Kenzo: You will get hurt.
Dantero stared at him.
Dantero: You're insane.
Kenzo laughed.
Kenzo: I know.
Cron stepped forward slightly.
Cron: You heal fast enough?
Kenzo's eyes flicked to him.
Kenzo: Try me.
Leona raised her hands, magic already shifting colors.
Leona: Then don't complain when this gets ugly.
Tier took one step back, devices humming softly.
Tier: I will intervene only to prevent permanent loss.
Kenzo nodded once.
Respect.
Rykaou lowered his stance, breath steady, senses locked.
Rykaou: ...Fine.
Kenzo spread his arms slightly.
Not taunting.
Inviting.
Kenzo: Come break yourselves.
Leona's eyes narrowed.
Her hands rose higher, violet and blue twisting together like two rivers colliding.
Leona: Fine.
Leona: But you asked for this.
Tier's mouth tightened.
Tier: Do not die in the first exchange.
Dantero cracked his neck.
Dantero: I hate him already.
Cron's gaze stayed locked on Kenzo.
Cron: Move.
Rykaou exhaled once.
Slow.
Then his posture dropped.
Predator low.
Gilmuar took one step forward.
His jaw was clenched, but his eyes were clearer now.
Gilmuar: Don't hold back on us either.
Kenzo's grin sharpened.
Kenzo: Good.
Kenzo: That is the only thing I respect.
The first strike came from Tier.
Not a weapon.
Not a spell.
A compact device clicked open in his palm and unfolded into a thin frame of light.
A silent ring.
It snapped forward and locked around Kenzo's torso.
Tier: Containment lattice.
The ring did not squeeze.
It rewrote orientation.
It tried to force Kenzo into a defined position in space.
Kenzo did not resist.
He simply stepped.
The ring stayed where he had been.
Tier's eyes widened.
Tier: What.
Kenzo: Too slow.
Dantero was already in.
He moved like a joke told at lethal speed, body turning sideways, footwork loose and disrespectful. He spun once, and his heel came down toward Kenzo's jaw with enough force to split a mountain.
Dantero: Sleep.
Kenzo caught his ankle.
One hand.
Dantero froze.
Kenzo: Nice.
Kenzo twisted.
Dantero's body folded sideways and slammed into the erased ground hard enough to carve a new crater inside the hollow. The impact sent a wave outward that made the edge of the empire tremble.
Dantero coughed.
He tried to laugh.
No sound came out.
Leona fired next.
A spear of violet water shot forward, not liquid, but pressurized healing energy inverted into a cutting line.
Leona: Violet Current.
The spear hit Kenzo's chest.
It should have pierced.
It did not.
It stopped on contact like it had struck a wall that hated the concept of damage.
Kenzo looked down at it.
Then he smiled at Leona.
Kenzo: Cute.
He flicked two fingers forward.
The spear unraveled.
Not dispersed.
Unmade.
Leona's eyes widened as the energy snapped back toward her like a recoil.
Cron caught it for her.
His palm closed around the returning force and crushed it into nothing.
Cron: Focus.
Cron vanished.
He reappeared behind Kenzo, hand already glowing with layered compression.
Cron: Gyuro.
Cron: Five.
A small sphere formed.
Silent.
The instant it fired, the line of annihilation punched into Kenzo's back.
It hit.
It landed.
It carved a hole straight through Kenzo's torso.
For a fraction of a second, Kenzo's body was open.
You could see through him.
Then the hole closed.
Like it had never existed.
Kenzo exhaled.
Satisfied.
Kenzo: Better.
Cron's eyes narrowed.
Cron: That did nothing.
Kenzo turned his head slightly.
Kenzo: It did something.
Kenzo: It told me you are not lying to yourselves.
Rykaou moved.
No aura flare.
No announcement.
He crossed the hollow by pure adaptation, body reading Kenzo's weight and stepping where the world would not erase beneath him.
He drove a palm into Kenzo's ribs.
Rykaou: Break.
The strike landed with layered follow ups, each one adjusting to the previous contact point, searching for weakness, changing angle, changing density, changing timing.
Kenzo's ribs creaked.
Blood flicked from his mouth.
Rykaou's eyes widened.
Rykaou: I hit him.
Kenzo laughed.
Kenzo: Yeah.
Kenzo: You did.
Kenzo grabbed Rykaou by the face.
One hand.
Rykaou's senses screamed.
Kenzo: Now learn.
Kenzo slammed him into the ground.
Not once.
Twice.
Three times.
Each impact erased more depth under them, as if Kenzo was digging a grave out of reality itself.
Rykaou's body tried to adapt.
His bones shifted.
His muscles hardened.
His breathing changed.
Kenzo kept him pinned anyway.
Gilmuar roared.
Gravity folded inward around his shoulders and dragged his body forward like a launched meteor.
His axe formed again in his hand, heavier than before.
Gilmuar: Get off him.
Kenzo released Rykaou and turned.
The axe came down.
Kenzo lifted his forearm.
The axe hit.
A shockwave punched outward and then died instantly as Lybel's presence crushed it before it could reach him.
The hollow did not just tremble.
It bowed.
Gilmuar pushed harder.
Veins in his arms lit up with dense pressure.
Gilmuar: Move.
Kenzo's grin widened.
Kenzo: That is it.
Kenzo twisted his arm.
The axe slid off.
Gilmuar's swing overextended.
Kenzo stepped into the opening.
His fist drove into Gilmuar's stomach.
Gilmuar's eyes went wide.
His body folded around the impact.
Blood burst from his mouth in a thick spray as he was launched backward across the hollow, skipping through air like a stone across water.
He hit the edge.
The edge vanished.
Gilmuar fell another layer down and slammed into nothing.
Leona screamed.
Leona: Gilmuar.
Cron was already moving again.
Cron: Tier.
Tier's hands snapped together.
Multiple devices unfolded around him, orbiting like a halo.
Tier: Marking grid.
Small points of light snapped onto Kenzo's joints, shoulders, knees, elbows, neck.
Tier: Now.
Cron and Leona attacked at the same time.
Cron appeared above Kenzo.
Leona appeared to the side.
Cron: Gyuro.
Cron: Eight.
Leona: Violet Tide.
A compressed wave hit Kenzo from the side while a silent line hit him from above.
Kenzo's body finally shifted.
He slid one step back.
The markings on his joints flickered.
Tier's eyes widened.
Tier: It worked.
Kenzo smiled at Tier.
Kenzo: Smart.
Kenzo: But you forgot something.
Tier stiffened.
Tier: What.
Kenzo vanished.
Not fast.
Not hidden.
Absent.
The space he had occupied did not rebound. It caved inward a fraction too late, like reality realizing it had lost track of something it was never meant to follow.
Cron felt it first.
Not danger.
Trajectory.
Cron: Left.
Too late.
Kenzo reappeared above them, upside down, body twisted mid rotation, fist already descending. The strike did not aim for a person.
It aimed for the formation.
The impact landed between Cron and Leona.
The hollow imploded.
Everything folded inward at once. Gravity spiked vertically and then inverted sideways. Cron was driven into the ground shoulder first, bone cracking. Leona was hurled upward, her magic flaring instinctively as water hardened around her to keep her organs from rupturing.
Dantero never hit the ground.
Kenzo grabbed him mid flight.
One hand around the throat.
Dantero clawed at Kenzo's wrist, pressure exploding outward as he forced everything he had into a point blank release.
Dantero: Burn.
The blast detonated inside Kenzo's grip.
Light vanished.
Sound erased.
For a moment, nothing existed where they were.
Then Kenzo stepped out of it.
Unscathed.
Still holding Dantero.
Kenzo: Wrong answer.
He slammed Dantero downward.
Not into the ground.
Through it.
Dantero disappeared into the erased depth below, the shockwave chasing him like a delayed verdict. The hollow deepened another layer.
Rykaou moved.
His body adapted mid step, muscles tightening, senses overclocking, breath syncing to Kenzo's displacement pattern. He struck from behind, palm aimed for the spine, angle adjusted for destruction rather than damage.
Rykaou: Collapse.
Kenzo twisted.
The palm landed.
It hit.
Kenzo's back split.
Blood sprayed.
Rykaou's eyes widened.
Then Kenzo elbowed backward.
The blow landed before Rykaou finished registering success.
Rykaou's ribs shattered inward. His body was launched sideways, skipping across compressed space and slamming into the hollow wall hard enough to leave a silhouette behind.
Kenzo turned fully.
Kenzo: You adapt fast.
Kenzo: Not fast enough.
Tier's voice cut through the chaos.
Tier: Now.
The hollow lit up.
Invisible lines snapped into existence, spanning the entire space. Not barriers. Not cages. Coordinates. Relationships. Tier had rewritten how distance was allowed to behave.
Kenzo stepped.
And stopped.
For the first time.
His foot hovered inches above nothing.
Tier coughed blood and smiled anyway.
Tier: You are inside my map now.
Kenzo looked down at his suspended foot.
Then at Tier.
Kenzo: Clever.
Kenzo clenched his fist.
The map screamed.
Not shattered.
Overwritten.
Kenzo: But maps still assume the ground exists.
He stomped.
The coordinate lattice collapsed instantly, detonating outward in cascading failure. Tier was thrown back again, devices exploding into fragments as his systems overloaded.
Leona caught Tier before he hit the wall, water wrapping around him in a tight cocoon.
Leona: Stay with me.
Tier: Still... thinking...
Cron was already back on his feet.
Blood streamed down his face.
Cron: Keep him busy.
Cron raised both hands.
The air condensed.
Cron: Gyuro.
Cron: Eleven.
Multiple spheres formed at once, silent and perfect. They fired simultaneously from different angles, lines of annihilation crossing the hollow in a lethal lattice.
Kenzo walked forward through them.
Each line punched through him.
Each hole closed.
Blood mist filled the space.
Kenzo laughed.
Loud.
Kenzo: YES.
Kenzo appeared in front of Cron.
Cron barely raised his arm.
Kenzo's fist hit.
Cron's entire upper body disintegrated.
Not exploded.
Removed.
For half a second, there was nothing above his waist.
Then regeneration dragged him back into existence violently, flesh reforming in jagged layers as Cron screamed through clenched teeth.
Cron: You're insane.
Kenzo: And you are immortal.
Kenzo: Perfect combination.
Gilmuar roared.
Gravity collapsed inward so violently that the hollow twisted, the erased depth compressing into a spiraling funnel beneath him. His axe reformed heavier than ever, weight screaming through his arms.
Gilmuar: GET AWAY FROM THEM.
He swung.
The strike bent the world.
Kenzo turned into it.
He did not block.
He headbutted the blade.
The collision shattered reality.
A dome of nothingness expanded outward, erasing layers of the hollow as destruction and gravity annihilated each other. The shockwave slammed into Lybel's adjusted pressure and died instantly, crushed before it could spread.
Kenzo staggered.
Just one step.
Blood poured down his face now, teeth bared in a feral grin.
Kenzo: THERE.
Kenzo wiped blood from his eyes.
Kenzo: That one hurt.
Gilmuar's chest burned.
His breathing was ragged.
Gilmuar: You're enjoying this.
Kenzo: Of course.
Kenzo: This is what we are.
Kenzo vanished again.
Reappeared behind Gilmuar.
Two fingers slammed into Gilmuar's spine.
The gravity inside Gilmuar inverted violently.
His organs twisted.
His vision went white.
Kenzo: Bastions do not balance.
Kenzo: We break.
Kenzo kicked Gilmuar forward.
Gilmuar crashed into the hollow wall, body folding, blood spraying across nothing.
Leona screamed and unleashed everything.
Her magic exploded outward in a storm of violet and blue, water and healing inverted into crushing force. The wave slammed into Kenzo from all sides, pressure stacking, pulling at his limbs, trying to lock him down.
Kenzo slowed.
His body creaked.
For a brief moment, he did not move.
Leona: Hold him.
Rykaou forced himself up, body adapting again, stance shifting lower, denser.
Rykaou: Now.
Cron reformed fully and joined in instantly, hands slamming together.
Cron: Gyuro.
Cron: Fifteen.
The sphere that formed was different.
Smaller.
Heavier.
It fired.
The line punched through Kenzo's chest and stayed there, grinding, annihilation eating inward instead of passing through.
Kenzo roared.
Not in pain.
In joy.
Kenzo: THAT'S IT.
Kenzo grabbed the line itself.
His hand burned.
Flesh peeled.
Bone showed.
He crushed it.
The annihilation died screaming.
Kenzo stood there, chest regenerating slowly now, breath heavy.
Kenzo: You're finally lying less.
He looked at all of them.
Bloodied.
Broken.
Still standing.
Kenzo: Good.
Kenzo straightened.
The hollow trembled.
Kenzo: Because now.
Kenzo's presence shifted.
Not stronger.
Sharper.
More violent.
More explosive.
Kenzo: I'm not holding back. Well just a little bit but you get what I'm trying to say..
To be continued.
End Of Chapter 11.