Adam did not waste the opportunity. The moment Anark’s body was sent crashing through the ground, the First Curse Eater surged forward like a shooting star, his wings of radiant Order flaring behind him as he closed the distance in an instant. His intent was absolute—to press the advantage, to end the battle before the Lord of the Emptiness could recover.

But Anark was already rising.

The ground beneath him fractured as he forced himself upright, his mind still reeling from the devastating punch he had just endured. His vision swam, his thoughts lagging behind the pace of the battle, and for a brief, dangerous instant, his body could not respond.

Adam was already upon him.

Anark’s eyes widened as the incoming strike approached, carrying enough power to crush what little stability he had left. He had no time to reposition, no time to counter.

Yet at the final moment—

The ten suns orbiting his forehead flared.

A surge of violet light erupted outward, forming a dense, pulsing barrier around his body. The Emptiness Void Force spread in all directions, distorting the air and space itself as it expanded.

Adam’s smile froze.

He felt it instantly.

His body slowed.

The forward momentum that had carried him like a comet was suddenly resisted, as though the very fabric of reality had thickened around him. The Emptiness Void Force did not stop him entirely, but it diminished him—his speed, his force, his precision—all reduced, even if only slightly.

Ten percent.

But in a battle at this level, that margin was everything.

Anark moved.

He twisted his body just enough to evade the incoming strike, the attack grazing past him. In the same motion, he drove his fist upward.

The uppercut connected.

Adam’s head snapped back as the blow struck his jaw with devastating force. The ground trembled from the impact alone, and his body was launched upward, tumbling into the sky. His vision blurred violently, his mind rattled by the sheer trauma of the strike.

Anark did not hesitate.

He opened his mouth, and violet plasma began to gather within it. The energy swelled rapidly, compressing into an increasingly dense core that radiated destructive intent. The surrounding air warped as the power reached its peak.

Then—

He fired.

A massive beam of violet plasma erupted forward, tearing through the sky with unstoppable momentum. It was an attack capable of piercing deep into the core of a weak Empyrean World, a force that disregarded conventional defenses and devoured everything in its path.

Adam clenched his teeth.

He forced his body to stabilize mid-air, halting his ascent just as the beam closed in. There was no time to evade. The attack was too fast, too direct, too absolute.

Blocking it with his body would be disastrous. The Emptiness Void Force was not a simple energy—it corroded, devoured, and transcended most forms of defense. Even for him, taking it head-on would result in severe damage.

But Adam was not without options.

His Wings of Order flared, and the red light in his eyes intensified.

At the last possible instant, he extended his hand.

The beam struck—

And was repelled.

The colossal stream of violet plasma burst of blinding light right in front of the Curse Eater.

Anark froze.

"How...?"

The word did not leave his mouth, yet it echoed within his mind like thunder.

The Emptiness Void Force could not be neutralized. It was a Fourth Realm power of extraordinary purity, capable of bypassing conventional laws and resisting interference. Even gravitational manipulation or repulsive forces should have had little to no effect on it.

And yet—

Adam had neutralized it with a single motion.

Understanding dawned.

’Is that... the essence of his path?’

Once the full might of your existence stepped into the Fourth Realm, power was no longer fragmented. Every ability, every technique, every aspect of one’s cultivation converged into a singular expression—a path that defined not only strength, but existence itself.

Anark’s path was the Emptiness Void Force: a destructive, all-consuming power that eroded reality and devoured motion, heat, and structure alike.

Adam’s path...

Was something else entirely.

Something that could oppose even that.

But Anark had no time to dwell on it.

A sudden tremor ran through his body.

His eyes twitched.

The light within them flickered.

’What... so soon?’

The realization struck him with brutal clarity.

From the moment he transcended, he had known this would come. The nature of the Lord of the Emptiness was not one that allowed individuality to persist forever. His ego, his will, his identity—they would eventually dissolve, replaced by something vast and impersonal.

But this—

This was too fast.

The strain of battle, the relentless pushing beyond his limits, the clash against multiple Fourth Realm entities... it had accelerated the process.

Time was slipping through his fingers.

Yet instead of panic—

He found clarity.

The raging killing intent within his heart stilled, condensing into something far sharper. His thoughts aligned, distractions falling away one by one until only a single focus remained.

Adam.

Nothing else mattered.

Not the world. Not the future. Not even himself.

Only victory.

"BOOOOOOOOOOM!"

That clarity ignited his power.

The Emptiness Void Force surged outward, stronger than ever before, saturating every inch of his being. His presence grew colder, more absolute, as if he were becoming less a man and more a force of nature.

Adam felt it.

His eyes narrowed slightly as he clenched his fist. As he breathed, reality itself seemed to expand and contract in rhythm with him, the manifestation of his own Fourth Realm power.

But even for him, it came at a cost.

His body trembled.

The strain was immense. The power he wielded exceeded what his current form could sustain for long. If this continued, the battle would end quickly—one way or another.

They both understood.

The next exchange would decide everything.

A sharp, vibrating hum filled the air.

"ZNNNNN!"

"ZNNNNN!"

Space itself seemed to tear as both figures vanished simultaneously.

They appeared before the other in a single heartbeat.

Anark’s fist surged forward, cloaked in dense violet energy, carrying the full might of the Emptiness.

Adam met it with an open palm.

The moment the two forces approached each other, reality began to unravel at the point of contact. The particles in Anark’s fist started to disintegrate under the power of the First Curse Eater.

At the same time, Adam’s skin split apart, his flesh tearing under the strain. Blood flowed and was instantly devoured by the violet energy, feeding it further.

This was no longer a simple clash of bodies.

It was a collision between two paths.

Two fundamental forces that stood above the laws governing all other existence.

Neither yielded.

Neither retreated.

They pushed forward with everything they had.

"BOOOOOOOOOM!"

The collision detonated.

Reality itself seemed to rupture, a vacuum forming between them before the resulting explosion hurled both figures away in opposite directions.

For a fraction of a second—

Silence.

Then they moved again.

Without hesitation.

Without restraint.

Above the shattered Earth, two streaks of light—one violet, one crimson-gold—flashed across the sky. They moved at speeds that defied space and time, colliding again and again with ferocity that shattered the world below.

Each impact sent shockwaves rippling across Earth, reducing what remained of the battlefield to ruin. The sky itself seemed to bleed under the strain, torn by the sheer magnitude of their power.