A violet lotus bloomed inverted above the battlefield.

Its petals flared outward, brimming with concentrated Essence, each one glowing as though carved from liquid light.

Slowly, the lotus began to rotate, the rotation itself compressing and weaving the Essence into a narrow, lethal beam. I channeled most of the Essence I had, shaping the beam and locking the space around the phantom, preventing any escape.

The air quivered under the pressure, the vortex of violet light hovering like a sword of judgment ready to fall.

Then I released it. The beam shot downward with a thunderous roar, piercing the sky and aiming directly at the phantom.

The constructs of the dragon, the wolf, the humanoid, sensed the attack instantly. They surged in unison, leaping between the beam and the phantom as though animated by a single, dark will. The deathmist in the domain itself churned violently, rolling toward the lotus like a wave, crashing upward to meet the falling beam.

The phantom moved too, slicing through the air, sending a black slash from its sword and firing a concentrated deathmist strike of its own to intersect with my beam.

BOOM!!!

Space rippled as the two forces clashed midair, and a shockwave tore across the ground, knocking debris and fragments of deathmist in every direction.

But the lotus rotated relentlessly, petals spinning faster, Essence compressing tighter, forcing more energy downward.

My will poured into it, each pulse shredding the constructs, tearing the deathmist apart, and vaporizing the interference as if it were made of paper. Dragon, wolf, humanoid—obliterated.

The wave of deathmist scattered like dust in a storm. The phantom's slash collided with the violet beam but fizzled, unable to withstand the crushing pressure of my concentrated Essence.

Finally, the beam struck the phantom. Violet light engulfed it completely, the force of the impact sending it smashing into the ground, its black armor scorched, smoke rising where the beam made contact. Yet, despite the sheer power, the damage was minor. The phantom's body shimmered slightly, a mark here, a scorch there, but it rose steadily, unbroken. Its presence hadn't faltered.

I took a deep breath, my body pulsing with leftover Essence from the attack. The generator core was heating up, producing more and more essence from the observed energies from the surrounding and the dawn core.

I slammed my staff into the ground and exhaled sharply. One thing was clear: the deathmist and the amount it has generated so far was causing issues.

I closed my eyes, focusing and activated [The Right to Isolate].

The surrounding area shimmered as the runes inside my domain shifted and I felt natural Essence being forced out, cut off. No more external Essence could feed the domain. My target was simple, not to allow more deathmist.

I opened my eyes. The phantom's expression didn't change, it remained calm, almost calculating but I could feel the shift. I had bought myself a moment, a tiny advantage in the battle.

And the next target was the Eye I needed to strike but before I could act, the phantom spoke, its voice calm and almost excited.

"It's my turn now."

It took a single step forward, and the world seemed to shift around me. I watched, wide-eyed, as its domain began to shrink violently, the deathmist outside compressing, being drawn toward the phantom's black sword like a tide retreating into a whirlpool. And then it slashed thrice.

Three arcs of darkness tore through the air, each a triangular-shaped black slash brimming with devouring and corrupting energy.

The first cut ripped through the ground, the second tore the air itself, and the third sliced the space around me.

A triangular hole opened where the slashes converged, and from it, a gravitational force erupted, pulling everything toward the center. Rocks, fragments of the battlefield, it all began to bend and twist toward that single point, as if the world itself were being devoured.

At the same time, additional sword slashes streamed from the edges of the hole, each one seeking my body with precision.

My mind went to work instantly.

"[Sovereign Reversal]".

Violet essence erupted around me, forming swirling vortexes that absorbed the incoming slashes.

The arcs of corrupted mist, the devouring energy, and even the fragments of black deathmist were pulled into the vortex, their power redirected and fed back into my generator core.

Essence surged through my body, healing my injuries and bolstering my strength but the triangular void still yanked at the land beneath me, trying to tear me from my stance.

I focused, tapping into my law of Polarity.

A repulsive force flared around me, counteracting the attraction from the spatial tear. The land shuddered and splintered under the pressure, jagged cracks running through the battlefield, but I held my ground.

My violet aura flared like a shield, pushing back the violent pull of the devouring slashes.

And then, through my temporal perception, I noticed it, a faint spatial ripple in the air. A distortion in the space between me and the phantom, subtle but impossible to ignore.

I prepared to act, but it was already too late. Before I could even react fully, the distortion grabbed me. The world blurred, and with a violent lurch, I found myself standing right in front of the phantom.

"Surprise."

The words cut through the air, casual and taunting.

In the same instant, its black sword pierced straight through my stomach and came right out my back. Pain exploded through me. The phantom's giant body loomed over me, radiating the cold certainty of its power.

"Didn't I tell you? I've devoured three talents."

It spoke the words almost like a whisper, but the excitement in its tone was clear, cold and precise, like a predator savoring a familiar hunt.

From the sword lodged in my gut, the deathmist poured out, curling and writhing as it seeped into my body, seeking to corrupt every fiber of my Essence.

My own Essence flared violently in response, resisting, twisting against the invasive corruption. A clash erupted within me, a storm of energy and willpower, as the black deathmist fought my violet Essence, each surge tearing and crashing through my body.

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