|Aspect of the Wolf: World Severing Claws.|

Wrapping his body in cosmic energy, Bewússtsein hurled himself aside, narrowly avoiding the attack that had carved out the space he'd been in moments before.

Before he even hit the ground, Dragon-form Evan appeared behind him, his open maw filled with condensed prismatic flames.

[Dawn Star.]

The searing fireball struck point-blank, releasing violent shockwaves that threw Bewússtsein back into the air.

[Zerstörerische Todesstrahlen!!]

Bewússtsein's voice rang out from within the blast, and magic circles appeared across the cavern, firing beams imbued with fire, ice, lightning, death, and a LOT of destruction energy.

Evan immediately polymorphed into his smaller Dragonkin form to dodge more easily, while Arthur and Jamie activated their gravity powers.

|¬Four-Fold Authority Activation: AGSD! ¬ |

|Authority of Gravity: Gravitational Singularity! |

Jamie formed a dense singularity, its intense gravitational pull bending the incoming beams off course and consuming them.

Arthur's AGSD added its force, creating a chaotic distortion that shredded countless attacks before they could hit.

Once the AGSD reached full capacity, Arthur condensed it into his palm and charged forward, but the ground beneath him cracked open, spewing torrents of lava skyward.

Just as he thought of summoning his sword, a massive armoured knight of frozen lightning, wielding a colossal shield and sword, appeared between him and the lava.

The construct swung its frost-thunder sword, colliding with the lava in a violent explosion of lightning, vapour, and molten rock. Amid the vapours, Arthur teleported behind Bewússtsein and thrust his fist forward, but Bewússtsein sensed the attack.

The Candidate Sigil on his palm flashed as he spun, meeting Arthur's punch with his own, the impact of their fists sending shockwaves rippling through the cavern.

Arthur gritted his teeth as the force of Bewússtsein's strike overwhelmed him, knocking him backwards.

'Haha! No surprise there.'

Unbothered that he'd lost out in the clash, Arthur rewound the damage on his arm and landed on his feet just as Jamie warped in behind Bewússtsein.

Jamie's World Severing Claws arced downward, but Bewússtsein conjured a barrier, blocking the strike, then unleashed a dark orb of destructive energy from his mouth.

'That's not good!'

Jamie teleported away as the orb detonated, releasing a nova-like explosion that consumed the space he'd just occupied, scattering debris and energy across the cavern.

Arthur and Evan teleported as far as they could, reappearing behind Jamie, who had returned to his humanoid form. Cracking his neck, Arthur spoke casually.

"Well, that went about as expected."

Jamie and Evan turned to him, and he pointed at the Scales of Balance hovering at the Core Dimension's ceiling within a cosmic energy barrier.

"It really 'balanced' the sides. Bewússtsein's power is now equal to the combined total of the three of us.

Individually, we each have about a third of his current power."

In other words: If Bewússtsein had 50,000 units of power before the Scales of Balance, and the trio had a combined total of 3,000, after activation, both sides adjusted to 26,500 units, giving the trio 8,833 units each.

"Oh… that," Evan muttered, clenching and unclenching his fists as he glanced at his arms.

Beside him, Jamie nodded silently, gesturing toward the massive sphere of plasma above.

"And don't forget we're still on his home turf, so he has the home advantage."

"That too," Evan agreed, casting a wary eye over the Core Dimension.

Since this was Bewússtsein's domain, he gained percentage-based buffs linked to his power. While the Scales of Balance had lowered his base power, reducing the buffs, they were still active.

'Well, he's not the only one with buffs.'

Their thoughts aligned as they fixed their eyes on the massive silhouette rising from the ground beyond the smoke and energy left by the earlier explosion, its immense cosmic destructive energy keeping them at a distance, a defensive measure Bewússtsein used to buy time.

|Vale Blade|

Evan extended his right hand, summoning the Unforged Vale. The moment he gripped it, its blade ignited into a crimson-golden lightsaber-like beam.

'Activate Slot 1: Vanitas.'

As Evan issued the silent command, Arthur beside him muttered Lostvayne's summoning chant. A small spatial fracture opened, revealing Lostvayne's hilt, and as he grabbed it, he commanded,

|Lostvayne: Full Release.|

The intricate silver lines etched into the jet-black blade flashed with light, tendrils of energy spiralling from the hilt and embedding into his hand.

Simultaneously, Jamie conjured a portal at his side, slipping his hand through it to grip the hilt of his sword, awakening its Ego with his thoughts.

'Alright, buddy, mind waking up for a bit? I need your help.'

[…what universe is this? And what happened to you?]

The neutral, groggy voice asked those first, remembering falling asleep in a different Universe.

'Some place called Valmone. Now I need your help in dealing with this guy in front of me.'

[Is this a Core Dimension? You always get yourself into the strangest of situations, Jamie.]

The Galaxy Sword sounded exasperated, though that exasperation turned to surprise as it sensed a familiar presence in Lostvayne.

That surprise turned to shock when it sensed something else on Arthur and alerted Jamie, but considering the situation, Jamie treated it as low priority.

'Tell me about that later. Right now, I need your power. My opponent's transformation looks like it's finished.'

[Oh…no problem. You know the drill.]

Jamie nodded silently, then issued his command.

'Awaken, Cosmic Blade of Dimensional Severance.'

He then spoke the last two words aloud.

|Galaxy Sword.|

Immediately, the blade, patterned with swirling galaxies and nebulae, started emitting a black mist.

Jamie looked up just as the veil of energy finally parted, revealing Bewússtsein's 'new form'.

Bewússtsein had absorbed the organic mass of Cruotis Prime's billions of dead inhabitants, forming a towering half-humanoid body that rose from a bubbling lava pool.

Its skinless flesh and muscle writhed beneath four massive arms, while cosmic energy wrapped the 500-metre frame in layered barriers.

Its featureless head bore no eyes, nose, or mouth, but a split atop the skull revealed Bewússtsein's incomplete vessel—an upper body with standard humanoid features.

His iridescent eyes, burning with fierce hatred, locked on the protagonist trio.

Suddenly, the fabric of reality distorted, and three shimmering lines of text appeared in the air above Bewússtsein's head:

'CRUOTIS PRIME'S CONSCIOUSNESS'

~ "Bewússtsein" ~

[▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇▇]

The trio froze, their eyes locked on the gothic-font text hovering above their enemy in disbelief.

"Is that a fucking Health bar?!" Evan yelled, shock evident in his voice.

Almost immediately, a low, ominous tune began ringing out in their ears.

"Why do I hear boss music?!" Arthur exclaimed, his gaze darting around, clearly confused.

But unlike the bewildered boys, Jamie silently sighed and facepalmed.

'What the hell are you doing, Ranus?'

He recognised it instantly as the handiwork of the Eternal of Space and Reality.

Bewússtsein, of course, couldn't see what they saw, nor did he care about their reaction. He simply roused his cosmic energy, roaring with pure fury as he attacked.

|DIE, YOU IRRITATING SINGULARITIES!!!|

The ground shattered around them, revealing writhing tendrils of flesh entwined with cosmic, elemental, and destructive law energy that shot toward the trio.

Evan immediately raised his left arm, summoning the Gazebind Aegis to block the hypersonic beams of destructive light.

His choice of action made Jamie frown, but the man stayed silent, waiting for Evan to follow up.

Infusing his energy into his sword, Evan swung, his blade burning with prismatic flames as it cut through the writhing flesh effortlessly.

Jamie finally spoke to him and Arthur through telepathy.

[I hope you both understand this is a fight where you have to avoid getting hit as much as possible.

He's three times stronger than we are individually. If he lands one full-power attack on any of you, you're screwed.]

[I have the Stellar Guard, Jamie,] Arthur replied confidently.

Arthur activated his False Temporal Authority, causing everything around him to slow to a crawl, including the writhing tendrils and energy beams targeting him.

[Even if you have that artifact, avoid a situation where you're forced to use it. If he drains its charges, then the next strike would take you out.]

Jamie warned as Arthur dashed forward, swinging Lostvayne. Thin slashes of extinction law energy shredded the flesh, and when time resumed its normal flow, the severed tendrils collapsed in writhing heaps.

[As for you, Evan, that shield of yours might be tough, but your body may not handle the shock from blocking his full-power attacks.

Use Blink to dodge instead—I'll ensure he can't interfere with your teleportations.]

Jamie warped the space around them as he spoke, bending the incoming barrage of cosmic beams harmlessly aside.

The sight enraged Bewússtsein, who roared and extended one of his avatar's massive arms, firing a concentrated beam of cosmic energy.

Just as Jamie began distorting space to counter it, Evan responded to his advice.

[Don't worry about me, I'm confident he can't one-shot me.]

[…how so?]

Evan's confidence made Jamie raise a brow as he conjured a wormhole that swallowed Bewússtsein's attack, then another that spat it back at the giant avatar with double the force.

The blow knocked the giant back, and the trio launched into the air together, their swords ablaze with prismatic flames, crimson destruction, and azure spatial energy.

As they attacked, Evan spoke through the telepathy link.

[Sure, he's stronger than us individually and has a ton of turf home buffs since we're in his Core Dimension. But he's not the only one with tricks like that.]

Bewússtsein swung another massive hand toward them, but Evan summoned his shield and layered multiple defensive skills to intercept it. The impact sent shockwaves through the cavern, and Arthur halted time again, letting Jamie warp space to reposition them.

[Not the only one with tricks? Are you talking about his buffs?]

Arthur asked as they regrouped, and Evan infused his sword with more power while replying.

[Of course, I'm talking about buffs.

Don't forget that while you two may normally be stronger, I'm the one with the most stat buffs of us three,] Evan said as he dashed forward, slashing across the giant's outstretched arm and sending prismatic flames coursing through the flesh.

[He's actually got a point, Jamie. If our levels were the same, Evan might even be able to beat me,] Arthur agreed as he followed up Evan's attack with a time-splitting strike, severing the sinews attaching the hand to the giant's body.

Finally, Jamie's sword tore through space itself, cutting the massive arm in two at the elbow.

[True. Evan does have a ridiculous number of stat bonuses.]

The severed arm crashed to the ground with a deafening roar, sending tremors through the Core Dimension.

Bewússtsein roared furiously, unleashing a burst of cosmic energy entwined with sound, but the trio quickly raised energy barriers, shielding themselves from both the destructive wave and the deafening noise.

As the dust settled, Arthur glanced at Evan.

[Anyway, Evan, I've gotten used to controlling my body now. What about you?]

Orange flames crept up Evan's arms and legs as he nodded.

[I'm good to go now. I can better control my output as well.]

Arthur smirked, unsurprised, as destruction energy crackled around him. He took a stance with Lostvayne and spoke aloud.

|Alright, guys, let's end this oversized motherfucker.|

The trio sprang into action, launching at Bewússtsein's giant avatar from different directions to exploit their numerical advantage.

Evan veered left before curving sharply, Jamie dashed right and curved inward, and Arthur lightened his body with gravity manipulation, propelling himself forward from the centre with time-accelerated movements.

Recognising the threat posed by Arthur and Jamie, who wielded Rule Breaker swords, Bewússtsein focused on them.

But the moment Bewússtsein reduced his focus on Evan, the latter activated a skill.

'Blessing of Destruction: First Activation!'

The sudden burst of Destruction Law energy radiating from Evan made Bewússtsein's eyes widen in alarm as he turned toward the source.

Though the strain from the 300% power boost made Evan's body groan, he countered it by enveloping himself in his green flames of life.

Then, he took a step forward and vanished.

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