The air above the ruined district felt heavier now, not from gravity manipulation or spatial distortion, but from anticipation. Four of the Eight Fingers had fallen, their arrogance scattered across fractured concrete and smoldering rooftops. Kanetaro stood amid the damage, breathing harder than he allowed himself to admit. Violet energy still flickered around his body, but its flow was no longer effortless. Each transition between gas, liquid, and solid carried weight.
Above him, three remaining Fingers began their descent.
Finger Four landed first.
Unlike the others, he did not remove his hood immediately. He walked forward slowly, boots crunching against broken glass. When he finally pulled the hood back, his expression was calm, almost analytical.
"You rely heavily on energy output," he said, studying Kanetaro like a specimen. "Compression. Transfer. Redirection. Inefficient."
Kanetaro did not respond.
Finger Four extended his hand. A faint black aura seeped outward from his palm, not explosive, not violent—absorptive.
Kanetaro felt it immediately.
The violet energy around his body thinned slightly.
"You feel it," Finger Four said softly. "I do not attack your body. I consume your power."
Kanetaro shifted into gas and retreated upward, but the black aura expanded like a mist, clinging to his dispersed particles. Where it touched, his energy dimmed.
"Corruption absorption," Finger Four explained, almost conversationally. "The more you exert, the stronger I become."
Kanetaro reformed at a distance and launched a compressed energy projectile toward him. The blast struck directly.
And vanished.
Finger Four inhaled slowly as the violet blast dissolved into his aura.
"Thank you."
The black aura intensified, now laced faintly with violet strands stolen from Kanetaro's own energy.
Kanetaro's jaw tightened.
"So you steal," he said.
"I refine," Finger Four corrected.
He lunged forward with unexpected speed, striking with a palm infused with absorbed energy. Kanetaro blocked, but the impact sent a shock through his arms. The strike carried his own power signature.
"You cannot outlast me," Finger Four said. "Every move feeds me."
Kanetaro stopped attacking.
Instead, he shifted into liquid and flowed low across the ground, avoiding direct exchanges. Finger Four pursued calmly, aura expanding outward.
"You hesitate," he observed. "Wise."
Kanetaro analyzed quickly. The absorption required contact with manifested energy. So he stopped manifesting.
He solidified fully and closed distance without external projection, relying only on physical reinforcement. When Finger Four struck again, expecting energy backlash, Kanetaro met the blow with raw mass transfer instead of outward energy release.
The impact was purely kinetic.
Finger Four's eyes flickered with surprise as he was driven backward.
"You adapt again," he murmured.
Kanetaro pressed forward, alternating between liquid evasion and solid strikes, refusing to project energy externally. Each blow forced Finger Four to rely solely on his base power rather than stolen amplification.
Frustration crept into the Finger's expression.
"Very well," he said coldly, expanding his aura violently.
The black mist surged outward, attempting to engulf Kanetaro entirely.
Kanetaro inhaled once, then did something risky.
He compressed all remaining active energy inward, sealing it within himself. The external aura vanished from his surface completely. To Finger Four's absorption field, he appeared nearly empty.
Finger Four frowned. "Impossible."
Kanetaro stepped into the aura willingly.
Without exposed energy to consume, the absorption field faltered. Finger Four attempted to draw power but found nothing accessible.
Kanetaro condensed everything into a single internal core and drove a point-blank strike into Finger Four's chest, releasing the compression inward rather than outward.
The contained detonation bypassed the absorption field entirely.
Finger Four's aura collapsed as his core destabilized.
"You…" he whispered.
He disintegrated into dissolving shadow.
Kanetaro staggered slightly after the internal release. That maneuver had cost him. His breathing was heavier now. His internal reserves had dropped significantly.
Two Fingers remained before the First.
Finger Three descended next, smiling faintly.
"Brute strength. Tactical adjustment. Impressive," he said. "Let's see how you handle uncertainty."
The world shifted.
Kanetaro blinked.
He was no longer standing in ruins. He stood in an open field under a calm sky.
Finger Three stood several meters away, hands clasped behind his back.
"Perception is fragile," the Finger said smoothly. "You fight what you see. I control what you see."
Kanetaro attempted to disperse, but the illusion responded perfectly to his movement. The field rippled, then multiplied.
Ten Finger Threes surrounded him.
"Which one?" they asked in unison.
Kanetaro closed his eyes.
The illusions did not disappear.
Pain struck his ribs as one of the copies landed a blow.
"You cannot close your senses," Finger Three's voice whispered from nowhere. "I rewrite them."
Kanetaro shifted into gas to evade further hits, but the illusions tracked him flawlessly. Another strike connected, sending him skidding.
He forced himself to slow down. Illusions required processing power to maintain. They also required subtle anchors.
He allowed himself to be struck again, studying the impact sensation. One of the attackers produced slightly delayed tactile feedback compared to the others.
"There," Kanetaro muttered.
He liquefied and surged toward that specific version, ignoring the others entirely.
Finger Three's smile faltered for a split second.
Kanetaro committed fully and drove a mass-infused strike through the real body. The surrounding illusions flickered violently.
"You're not fighting sight," Kanetaro said quietly. "You're fighting perception lag."
Finger Three attempted to retreat and multiply again, but Kanetaro closed distance relentlessly, refusing to let the illusion field reset. After several brutal exchanges, he delivered a final upward strike that shattered Finger Three's core.
The illusion collapsed instantly, revealing the ruined battlefield once more.
Kanetaro dropped to one knee.
He was exhausted now.
Only one Finger remained before the First.
Finger Two descended slowly, expression unreadable.
"You've adapted through every layer," he said calmly. "But you are still governed by mass."
Kanetaro forced himself to stand.
Finger Two extended his hand.
Kanetaro's body suddenly felt unbearably heavy.
Density.
Every particle in his solid form multiplied in weight internally. His muscles strained under their own mass. Cracks formed in the ground beneath his feet.
"You control states," Finger Two continued. "I control substance."
Kanetaro shifted into gas.
The density shift followed.
Even dispersed particles felt compressed, dragging downward unnaturally.
Finger Two increased density again.
Kanetaro dropped to one knee under the internal weight. His breathing grew ragged.
"You cannot escape yourself," Finger Two said coldly.
Kanetaro realized brute resistance would fail. Instead of fighting the density increase, he embraced it. He condensed fully into solid form and anchored every particle inward.
"If you increase my density," he said through clenched teeth, "you increase my impact."
Finger Two's eyes widened slightly.
Kanetaro launched forward despite the crushing weight, each step cracking the earth. The density amplification made movement slower but exponentially stronger.
Finger Two attempted to shift density distribution again, but Kanetaro closed distance and delivered a single full-mass punch enhanced by the multiplied internal density.
The impact was catastrophic.
Finger Two's body collapsed under the amplified force, unable to withstand the redirected density manipulation.
He disintegrated.
Silence fell.
Only one figure remained above.
The First Heaven Destroyer descended at last.
He removed his hood slowly.
His eyes were empty, smooth voids reflecting nothing.
"You have surpassed projections," he said calmly. His voice carried no arrogance, only observation.
Kanetaro struggled to remain upright. "Then leave."
The First tilted his head slightly. "Existence is not governed by will. It is governed by correction."
The air compressed around them.
Without visible motion, space folded. Kanetaro shifted instinctively, but the distortion caught him mid-transition. He was slammed into the ground by a force that did not resemble gravity.
The First stepped closer.
"You adapt through reaction," he continued. "But you do not understand causality."
Kanetaro forced himself up and attacked with everything remaining, cycling rapidly between gas, liquid, and solid. Every strike was calculated, every transition precise.
None landed.
The First moved minimally, adjusting position by fractions that rendered each attack irrelevant.
"You are powerful," the First said. "But you are still linear."
He extended one hand.
Kanetaro's internal energy destabilized violently. The alignment Energy had given him fractured.
He fell to one knee.
And then—
"Kanetaro!"
The voice cut through the battlefield like light.
Riya.
She stood at the edge of the ruined district, eyes wide with horror.
Kanetaro's composure shattered.
"Get back!" he shouted.
The First turned slowly toward her.
"Attachment," he said softly. "The simplest fracture."
Before Kanetaro could move, space folded around Riya. A black distortion formed behind her, tendrils emerging silently.
Kanetaro lunged, shifting desperately into gas despite exhaustion.
The First appeared in front of him instantly.
"You are not fast enough," he said.
Kanetaro struck wildly, emotion overriding precision. The First caught his wrist effortlessly.
"Love is admirable," the First continued calmly. "But it is inefficient."
The tendrils wrapped around Riya.
"Kanetaro!" she screamed.
He broke free and launched forward with everything left in him, compressing his remaining energy into a final desperate strike.
The First extended two fingers and stopped the attack midair.
Energy dissipated.
Kanetaro felt his strength vanish.
Riya was pulled into the distortion behind her.
"NO!" Kanetaro roared.
The First watched him quietly as the portal sealed.
"You will grow," he said. "You must."
Then he vanished.
Kanetaro collapsed onto shattered ground, staring at the empty space where Riya had stood.
For the first time since awakening his power, he felt powerless.
And above the ruined city, the sky remained silent.