The world was collapsing.
Not metaphorically—literally.
Every clash between Bolt and Kairos tore the battlefield open a little more, ripping trenches through the earth, shattering mountains in the distance, and sending shockwaves rolling across the horizon like the heartbeat of a dying world.
Bolt's lightning wrapped around him in violent arcs, his breaths sharp, each inhale a hiss of electricity. His aura was no longer mortal. Not divine. Not abyssal.
It was something else.
Something the sky obeyed—and the ground feared.
Kairos, the Abyss-Born Monarch, skidded back across the shattered earth, boots carving molten trails through the stone. His abyssal armor flickered like black flames in the wind, cracking in places where Bolt's earlier strikes had landed.
For the first time, the abyss itself… recoiled.
Kairos wiped the black ichor from his lip. It sizzled.
His smile had faded.
His eyes were cold.
Focused.
And beneath that—something even Bolt's allies had never imagined seeing in him.
Fatigue.
"You," Kairos growled, voice vibrating through the battlefield, "are becoming… troublesome."
Bolt didn't answer. His storm replied for him — a thunderclap so loud it struck the world like a divine hammer.
Then he moved.
A flash of blue-white lightning streaked across the battlefield as Bolt lunged, Raiketsu raised high, thunder swirling down the blade like a living serpent.
Kairos met him with a roar, abyssal lightning surging from his arm as he swung.
Their powers collided.
BOOOOOOM.
A second sun erupted where they met, vaporizing the ground, the air, and anything unfortunate enough to exist between them.The shockwave blasted the Celestial Tempest back dozens of meters, even with their barriers raised.
Kaori dug her heels into the earth, eyes wide."He's matching Kairos blow for blow—no… he's PUSHING him back!"
Aether grimaced as another explosion tore through the battlefield."But how long can he sustain that? His body wasn't made for—"
"He doesn't CARE!" Akane yelled, her flames flaring."He's fighting on pure WILL!"
Back in the center of the battlefield—
Bolt reappeared behind Kairos in a burst of light, delivering a slash that ripped open the abyssal armor completely.
Kairos hissed as ichor sprayed.
A wound.
A real wound.
"You bleed," Bolt growled. His voice was not his own. It was every storm given shape. "Good."
Kairos's grin returned—but it was strained.
"I bleed?" he echoed, raising two fingers. Abyssal lightning spiraled."Then let's make this interesting."
He vanished.
He reappeared above Bolt, fist crackling with condensed darkness.
"ABYSSAL ANNIHILATION!"
The fist fell.
Bolt caught it.
The explosion cratered the continent.
Shockwaves blasted miles of terrain into dust, oceans rising in waves that split in half from the force. Celestial Tempest barely shielded themselves in time, their clothes whipping violently in the tempest.
Bolt's arm cracked—bones glowing under the strain—but he didn't break.
Instead… he smiled.
"You're slowing down."
Kairos snarled and pulled back for another strike—
But Bolt was already gone.
He reappeared behind Kairos with a roar, his aura flaring to 40% once more. Thunder and flame coiled into his blade as he swung Raiketsu in a devastating arc.
"R A I K E T S U —HEAVEN-SHATTERING CROSS!!"
A cross-shaped shockwave exploded from the blade, slicing through the battlefield with god-killing force.
Kairos raised his arm to defend—
Too slow.
The attack smashed into him like a descending star.
KA-BOOOOM!
Kairos was thrown back, crashing through a mountain and shattering it into dust. The abyssal storm around him flickered violently, destabilizing.
Bolt staggered but did not fall. Sparks danced wildly from his skin. His eyes glowed with a fierce, burning resolve that even gods failed to comprehend.
"Kairos!!" Bolt roared. "You feel it, don't you?! You're reaching your limit!"
The abyss around Kairos trembled.
He rose from the ruins, chest heaving, armor shattered, hair wild, and lightning crackling uncontrollably around his body.
He clicked his tongue.
"…Annoying."
His voice was still calm—
But his aura told the truth.
Cracks had appeared.
His abyss was faltering.
The Celestial Tempest stared, stunned, terrified, awed.
Damian whispered, voice hollow,"He… he pushed Kairos to the edge. That monster is actually showing signs of fatigue—!"
Sylva gripped her staff tightly."That means… this battle has left the realm of mortals. This is… this is something else entirely."
Kairos wiped more ichor from his jaw.
His grin returned—but it was different now.
It was the grin of a predator realizing the hunt had shifted.
"You're right, Bolt," he said quietly."My power is not infinite."
Bolt's lightning crackled wildly, ready to strike again—
Kairos's eyes darkened, abyss swirling.
"But neither is yours."
He raised his hand.
For the first time…
His fingers trembled.
Kairos looked down at them, surprised.
Then he began to laugh.Not amused.Not entertained.
Startled.
Shaken.
Then furious.
"I am Kairos, devourer of realms. I do not have limits."
He pointed at Bolt, darkness swirling like a collapsing star.
"You forced me to feel what no abyss should feel.Exhaustion."
Bolt lifted Raiketsu, lightning roaring around him.
"And I'm far from done."
Both powers surged—
Abyss against storm.
Limit against defiance.
Fate against will.
And in that instant, as Bolt and Kairos lunged at each other with everything they had—
The world held its breath.
Because this time…
Kairos was the one on the back foot.