The rest of the Kaimi Daja charged across the lake and regrouped with Zero just after he struck Joshua with a high-pressure water bullet.
Lokk: You okay Zero?
Zero: Yeah. I'm fine.
Korra: Don't just rush in like that!! You could've gotten hurt!!
Zero: (grins) Were you worried about me, Lorra?
Jokita: Hey! This isn't the time to flirt, Zero.
Zero: Right. Anyway... (glancing at Joshua) That water bullet didn't do enough damage to put him down, but at least I've taken out his sword. Now, he'll have to draw out the Luminary Sword.
Desmond: So, that's why you broke his sword.
Korra: You're forcing his hand.
Zero: Exactly. But Joshua Egoshin isn't stupid. He knows we're trying to lure him out. It's up to him now to decide how he'll respond. (to Lokk) You tagged him already, didn't you?
Lokk: Yeah I did.
Zero: Good. The moment he activates his technique, you activate yours.
Lokk: Right.
On the other side of the battlefield, Joshua began healing the chest wound inflicted by Zero's water bullet. His jacket sleeves were torn, his right glasses lens cracked, and despite his efforts with harmonic restoration, he looked worse for wear. Holding the broken sword in his hand, he adjusted his glasses with grim determination.
Joshua: (to himself) Damn it. They're forcing my hand. I've used everything in my arsenal, but with two of them able to use harmonic restoration, they just keep healing and coming back. I can't let this fight drag on anymore….
Joshua stood, gripping the broken sword in his mouth. His eyes burned with determination.
Zero: Looks like he's ready to go again.
The Kaimi Daja had prepared for two outcomes: one where Joshua drew the Luminary Sword and one where he didn't.
In the end… only one mattered.
Joshua: [LUMINARY SWORD]
Light erupted and the shape of a sword appeared in his left hand.
The Luminary Sword, power born from the fragments of Nexus Energy, had been passed down through the Egoshin Clan for over eight hundred years. Its cuts carried a curse of finality, wounds so severe that even Harmonic Restoration struggled to mend them.
This was the power the Kaimi Daja had been plotting to steal.
As the blade shone with blinding brilliance, Zero signaled to Lokk to activate his technique, but Joshua moved first.
He slid into Chūdan-no-kamae, the blade leveled, his presence sharpening the air itself. And in that instant, every member of Kaimi Daja froze as they remembered why Joshua Egoshin was a Level 1+ Hunter.
Joshua: [PERFECT MANIFESTATION: GRAYSCALE KENJUTSU]
Joshua Egoshin's Perfect Manifestation, Grayscale Kenjutsu, was the ultimate evolution of his Divergent Moon Technique.
The moment it activated, the world itself changed.
Color drained from the battlefield. The light around them faded into shades of black, white, and gray. The entire range of the manifestation became a monochrome realm, heavy and oppressive, as if the air itself had gained weight.
Anyone caught inside it felt their bodies slow, frozen against their will.
The Kaimi Daja were trapped inside this distorted reality, struggling against an invisible pressure that crushed every attempt to respond.
And within that stillness, Joshua moved.
With the Luminary Sword in hand, he became a phantom, moving swiftly between them, exploiting every delayed motion of everyone within his space.
One by one, he struck.
Zero was slashed across the chest, the blade tracing up toward his cheek. Lorra cried out as a deep gash tore across her stomach.
Jokita barely managed to block, but the force of the impact nearly took his right hand and left a brutal cut across his torso. Lokk was hit clean across the chest, sent staggering backward.
Desmond reeled as the blade carved down his back.
Gaki lay unconscious on the surface of the lake, drifting, unaware of the storm that had just torn through his allies.
Soon, all of them lay scattered across the surface of the water, unconscious and defeated. The battle was over and the tension in Joshua's body finally eased, his racing nerves settling into stillness. In the colorless world of Grayscale Kenjutsu, Joshua Egoshin stood alone as an unrivaled sovereign.
Joshua: (to himself) That should've taken care of them. Now to call HQ and ask them about the situation.
However, The mistake Joshua Egoshin made was not deactivating his Luminary Sword the moment he ended his Perfect Manifestation.
The instant he tried to make a call to HFA Headquarters, Lokk's technique activated.
Lokk: [WHITE: BINDING TAGS]
Suddenly, Joshua's strength vanished. His legs gave way, and he crumpled to his knees, as if invisible chains forced him down. Every muscle in his body went slack; he was too weak to even stand.