After the earth-shattering battle between William and Vladimir came to an end, the atmosphere around the arena changed.
The candidates who had previously watched with admiration now became even more serious.
The gap between them was far smaller than they had imagined.
A single mistake.
A single wrong decision.
A moment of hesitation.
That was all it would take for defeat.
And the next battle was perhaps the greatest example of that truth.
A confrontation between two abilities that existed at opposite extremes.
The fastest existence among the candidates.
Against the existence that could erase all things.
Mark, the Candidate of the Celestial Light Body.
Against
Merito, the Candidate of the Eternal Nullified Body.
The two stepped into the restored arena.
Mark carried no weapon.
His body itself was the embodiment of light.
Merito held only his simple blade.
An ordinary weapon in the hands of a being capable of turning the impossible into nothing.
Neither of them spoke.
There was no need.
Both already understood the danger standing before them.
The moment the judge lowered his hand—
the battle began.
Mark vanished.
Not because he became invisible.
Not because he hid.
He simply moved so quickly that even the greatest observers had difficulty following his trajectory.
The arena exploded beneath his acceleration.
He aimed to end the battle before Merito could even think.
A reasonable strategy.
Against someone whose physical movement was slow, overwhelming him before he could react seemed like the only answer.
But there was one fatal misunderstanding.
Merito's body was slow.
His perception was not.
The moment Mark entered the range of his attack—
Merito moved his finger.
The very existence of the attack was canceled.
Mark's strike disappeared before reaching its destination.
The light scattered.
The force vanished.
It was as if the attack had never been launched.
Merito immediately counterattacked.
His eyes turned toward the path of light crossing the battlefield.
He attempted to erase Mark's speed itself.
A terrifying attack.
Not aimed at his body.
But at the concept allowing him to move.
However—
Mark was Mark.
The moment he sensed the region where reality was being erased, he changed direction.
His body bent through impossible angles, avoiding the area before the nullification could reach him.
A second later, he attacked again.
This time from two different directions.
Two Marks.
Two attacks.
Both carrying the same pressure.
The same speed.
The same killing intent.
Merito did not hesitate.
He erased both of them.
The arena became silent.
For an instant, it seemed as if Mark had made a mistake.
But the faintest smile appeared on his face.
Because that had been his intention.
The second "Mark" had never been a copy.
It had been pure condensed light given the appearance of a body.
A trap.
While Merito was occupied nullifying it, the real attack was already being prepared from a blind angle.
A strike that would arrive before even a thought could form.
But Merito was not surprised.
His countless battles had forged instincts that transcended ordinary reasoning.
Before the attack arrived, he sensed the subtle disturbance in existence.
The movement of a true enemy.
The difference between imitation and intention.
With visible difficulty, he turned his power once more.
The incoming attack disappeared.
The effort caused him to take a slight step backward.
For the first time, his breathing became heavier.
And Mark noticed.
Merito was not invincible.
His ability demanded concentration.
And there was a limit to how much he could continuously erase.
The two remained silent.
Neither attacked.
They simply stood.
Recovering.
Analyzing.
Searching for the smallest weakness.
The entire arena became tense.
Even William narrowed his eyes.
This battle was unlike his own.
There was no collision of overwhelming destruction.
It was a war of mistakes.
The first one to fail would lose.
Mark moved again.
This time, he did not seek a decisive blow.
He became a storm.
A river of light circling the battlefield.
Thousands of afterimages appeared.
Each one attacking from different angles.
Each one carrying enough force to be dangerous.
Not enough to defeat Merito.
But enough to force him to respond.
Again.
And again.
And again.
Merito attempted to capture him.
Every time he reached out with his nullification—
Mark escaped before the effect could fully manifest.
Speed against inevitability.
Movement against nothingness.
A battle where neither side could easily reach the other.
Then—
Merito stopped.
A realization appeared in his eyes.
If he could not catch Mark physically...
Then he would change the battlefield itself.
He raised his hand.
And instead of targeting Mark—
he targeted something else.
His own existence.
More specifically—
his presence within Mark's perception.
In a single moment, Merito disappeared from Mark's awareness.
Not his body.
Not his soul.
But the very ability of Mark to recognize that he existed.
For the first time in the battle—
Mark froze.
Only for a fraction of a second.
But for beings of their level, a fraction of a second was an eternity.
His instincts screamed.
His eyes searched the battlefield.
His senses expanded.
But there was nothing.
No enemy.
No presence.
No target.
Nothing.
And Merito moved.
His blade rose.
The opportunity to end the battle had arrived.
Yet Mark was not the candidate of the Celestial Light Body for nothing.
In that infinitely short moment, he made a decision.
A decision no ordinary being could make.
He accelerated.
Faster.
Faster than before.
Faster than the laws of ordinary time could comprehend.
He reached a speed where the time itself had stopped
The world became a motionless painting.
And he escaped.
However—
such a power came with a cost.
Even his extraordinary body could not maintain that state without consequence.
The energy consumption was enormous.
His mind and body were pushed to their limits.
When time resumed its normal flow, Mark's breathing became unstable.
For the first time in the tournament—
he felt exhaustion.
A dangerous weakness.
A weakness he could not afford against someone like Merito.
But the battle had forced him to use it.
That one moment of fatigue.
That one slight loss of focus.
Was enough.
Merito had been waiting.
His nullification reached him before he could accelerate once again.
Mark's expression changed.
He attempted to escape.
Too late.
The attack touched him.
The light around his body disappeared.
His movement stopped.
The concept that allowed him to continue the fight had been removed.
Silence filled the arena.
The greatest speed among the candidates had finally been caught.
The judge raised his hand.
"The winner..."
A pause spread across the battlefield.
"...Merito, Candidate of the Eternal Nullified Physique."
No one spoke.
No one was surprised.
Because everyone had witnessed the same terrifying truth.
Speed could escape almost anything.
But it could not escape forever.
And Merito only needed one mistake.
Just one moment .
Just one opening.
To turn victory into nothing.
Outside the arena, William looked at Merito with narrowed eyes.
For the first time, he truly understood why even the monsters among the candidates avoided provoking him.
Merito was not overwhelming.
He was not explosive.
He was not fast.
He was something far more frightening.
He was patient.
And against the absolute void —
even light could eventually disappear.