After the conclusion of the second round, the atmosphere among the candidates changed once again.
The friendly matches had long ceased being simple exchanges of techniques.
Each duel was becoming a lesson.
A chance to understand the limits of their opponents and the hidden aspects of their own powers.
The new pairings appeared in the sky:
William vs Daniel
Mark vs Tiago
Kashmir vs Vladimir
Sarah vs Maria
Merito vs Javier
The final name drew the attention of everyone present.
Two absolute concepts.
Two powers that seemed capable of challenging the foundations of existence itself.
However, before that legendary confrontation could begin, the other battles had to reach their conclusions.
William vs DanielThe Master of Connections against the Controller of Space-Time
The moment the battle began, Daniel disappeared.
Not because of speed.
Not because of illusion.
He had simply placed himself in a different layer of space.
Attacks came from impossible directions.
Above.
Below.
Behind.
From locations that should not have existed.
But William had already fought Daniel's power through Maria's previous battle and understood one thing:
Space itself was only another relationship.
A connection.
A structure that could be manipulated.
He stretched his perception across the battlefield, touching the countless invisible threads that maintained the relation between Daniel and the dimensions he occupied.
Then—
he cut them.
Daniel's eyes widened.
The spaces protecting him collapsed.
For the first time, he was forced to appear directly before his opponent.
But Daniel was far from defeated.
He immediately twisted time around his body, slowing the passage of events around William while accelerating his own movements.
To an ordinary opponent, it would have been an unavoidable advantage.
Yet William adapted.
Instead of fighting against the altered flow of time, he attacked the bonds that allowed Daniel's manipulation to exist.
The distorted temporal field shattered.
The battle continued at a frightening pace.
Realizing that conventional attacks would not work, Daniel decided to gamble.
He gathered a massive amount of space-time energy and created a rupture capable of separating William from the region of existence where he stood.
A technique that could effectively erase the possibility of his opponent remaining in the battlefield.
But William answered with the mysterious energy he had discovered years ago while building the platforms toward Andrew's palace.
He covered his body with it, stabilizing his existence.
Then he advanced through the collapsing region.
A single punch reached Daniel.
The space-time candidate managed to defend himself, but the impact threw him across the entire arena.
The battle continued for several more exchanges, each one more dangerous than the last.
However, Daniel slowly realized a cruel truth.
Every method he used became another relationship that William could analyze and interfere with.
Eventually, a moment came where his defenses were broken.
William reached him and placed his hand upon his shoulder.
The connections between Daniel and his surrounding space were severed.
He could no longer manipulate the battlefield.
Daniel smiled faintly.
"I concede."
The judge raised his hand.
Victory: William.
Mark vs TiagoThe Fastest Light against the Inescapable Gravity
Unlike many opponents, Mark did not attack immediately.
He understood the danger of the gravity
A reckless charge could become his defeat.
So he transformed into countless beams of light moving around the battlefield, studying the gravitational currents.
Tiago remained calm.
His gravity spread like an invisible ocean, trying to predict the paths Mark would take.
A battle of patience began.
Eventually, Mark found the opening.
He accelerated.
His speed reached a level where even gravitational distortions struggled to capture him.
He appeared before Tiago and delivered thousands of strikes in a fraction of a second.
However, Tiago's defenses were exceptional.
He manipulated gravity around his body, reducing the impact of the blows.
But speed was not Mark's only advantage.
Every attack forced Tiago to adjust his gravitational fields.
Every adjustment consumed concentration.
Slowly, tiny imperfections appeared.
A region with slightly weaker attraction.
A delayed reaction.
A gap.
And for someone like Mark, a gap was fatal.
He became a beam of pure celestial light.
A strike beyond Tiago's ability to respond.
The attack stopped at his throat.
Tiago closed his eyes and smiled.
"So this is the speed that almost escaped Merito."
Mark stepped back.
"And your gravity is the first thing that ever slowed me."
The judge announced:
Victory: Mark.
Kashmir vs VladimirThe Shadow World against the Flame That Burns Reality
The battle began with the arena becoming divided into two worlds.
One side was consumed by endless darkness.
The other was filled with crimson flames capable of burning space and time.
KASHMIR immediately understood that allowing Vladimir's fire to spread would be dangerous.
His shadow soldiers emerged in countless numbers, attacking from every direction.
But Vladimir's flames were the natural enemy of such an army.
Every shadow that approached was burned into nothingness.
However, KASHMIR didn't intend to win through numbers.
The army was merely a distraction.
His real body emerged from Vladimir's own shadow.
A blade covered in the power of the Shadow World aimed for his neck.
But Vladimir reacted instantly.
A burst of flames erupted from his body, forcing Kashmir to retreat.
The two exchanged dozens of attacks.
Shadow blades that ignored ordinary defenses.
Flames that burned the fabric of reality.
The battlefield became a place where darkness and fire consumed each other.
In the end, Kashmir's superior versatility became the deciding factor.
He gradually restricted Vladimir's movements, stealing portions of the battlefield with his shadows.
When Vladimir prepared his ultimate dragon flame, Kashmir used his entire Shadow World to swallow the surrounding space, preventing the dragon from fully manifesting.
Without enough room to release his strongest attack, Vladimir was trapped.
A shadow blade stopped at his heart.
Vladimir laughed.
"You planned this from the beginning."
KASHMIR smiled.
"I had to. Fighting you directly would be foolish."
The judge announced:
Victory: Kashmir.
Sarah vs Maria Destruction against Infinite Adaptation
This was a battle that everyone anticipated.
Maria possessed one of the three Eternal Physiques present in the tournament — the Eternal Copy Physique, a power capable of understanding, replicating, and evolving beyond countless abilities.
Sarah, however, wielded the Physique of Null Destruction, a terrifying Celestial-level power that specialized in absolute destruction and the annihilation of anything it touched.
One represented limitless adaptation.
The other represented pure destruction.
Sarah attacked first.
She filled the battlefield with annihilation capable of reducing everything to nothing.
Even Maria's copied abilities were destroyed if they came into contact with the core of that energy.
For a moment, it seemed that Maria had finally met an ability she could not simply reproduce.
But she did not panic.
She observed.
She analyzed.
She understood.
Instead of copying the destruction itself, Maria copied the conditions surrounding it.
The flow of energy.
The structure.
The way Sarah controlled its release.
Then she developed methods to redirect it.
A battle of endless evolution began.
Sarah's attacks became stronger.
Maria's responses became more refined.
But there was one unavoidable difference.
Maria possessed countless options.
Sarah possessed one absolute path.
Over time, the flexibility of the Eternal Copy Physique proved superior.
Her techniques began trapping Sarah's destruction, redirecting it away from the battlefield and restricting her movements.
At last, Maria created a perfect conclusion
A blade of condensed cosmic energy stopped before Sarah's forehead.
Sarah looked at it quietly.
Then she smiled.
"I understand."
She stepped back.
"I lost."
The judge announced:
Victory: Maria.
The third round had almost reached its conclusion.
Only one battle remained.
The battle that all candidates had been waiting for.
The sword that could cut everything.
Against the power that could erase everything.
Javier.
Merito.
A duel that would determine whether a blade could reach the void itself.