The atmosphere trembled as if the heavens themselves were watching. The dark clouds churning above seemed almost alive, writhing in the tension between Atama and Sujay.
The Area of Self-Consciousness—Atama's overwhelming domain—was expanding, dragging everything into a reality defined by his mind. The air warped, bending the colors of existence, pulling out forgotten truths and failed realities like torn pages from a book. Even Sujay, with all his bloodlust and twisted divinity, narrowed his eyes at the scene.
Seko was the first to break under the crushing mental weight. His body convulsed violently. His fangs clenched tight enough to pierce his own lips as blackened blood trickled down.
"W-What IS THIS?!! ARGHHHHH!!" he screamed, clawing at his own skin. His nails tore chunks of flesh, but his regeneration barely caught up with his self-inflicted destruction. His veins pulsed with an unnatural red glow, as if Atama's domain was scraping away every boundary inside him.
Atama glanced at Seko, his tone casual but his eyes sharper than ever."Sorry, Vampy boy… I'm tearing off that limiter your biological pops left inside you. You've been running on half your true instincts—and half your suffering. Now, you'll face all of it."
Seko's pupils dilated, his mind filling with both unshackled power and a storm of primal rage. His screams grew rawer. Izanami and Kiyomi tried to approach, but the force of Atama's domain shoved them back like insects trying to walk through a hurricane.
Sujay's voice cut through the madness, calm but laced with irritation. He glanced around the realm that Atama had manifested—a chaotic swirl of cosmological concepts, mathematical data streams, and broken fragments of reality all dancing around like shards of glass.
"Tch… You really built yourself a world of failed outcomes," Sujay muttered, tilting his head slightly. "Don't they remind you of your own life, Atama? How about you stop hiding behind your mind tricks and we settle this the old-fashioned way? I don't mind blood—yours or mine."
Atama's lips curved into a smile, his voice dripping with fake nonchalance."Yeah? We can do that. How about this—you take your high-mighty Knight and that army of corpses, leave this planet, and I won't break your neck for trespassing? Sounds like a good deal, right?"
Sujay chuckled darkly, his crimson gaze cutting through the space between them. "Did you get enough time?"
Atama adjusted his posture, eyes glinting with dangerous amusement."Yeah… everything's almost done. Just let the Vampy kid wake up."
For a brief moment, silence fell. And then—Sujay's expression snapped. His lips curled downward, and his frown twisted into something unholy. Without warning, he ripped his own arm apart at the elbow, the bone stretching into a cursed black blade while his flesh regenerated instantly with an audible hiss.
The next moment, he swung his cursed arm-blade at Atama's neck with speed enough to shred the sound barrier.
But Atama… didn't even flinch. He shifted half a step, his expression almost bored, and in the blink of an eye, he plunged his hand into Sujay's chest, pulling out his heart like it was nothing.
Sujay stared at his heart in Atama's grasp, completely unfazed, and smirked."You know I don't need that to live, right? I can alter the blood flow of my life into any vessel. You can't… sample it."
Atama tilted his head slightly, as if Sujay was talking nonsense. His tone was sharp but playful, like a man mocking a bad joke."I can de-age it, by the way," he said, twisting the heart between his fingers.
That one comment—so casual yet so dismissive—was enough to push Sujay's fury into overdrive. His aura exploded, and the black clouds above roared like a wounded god.
Atama looked at Kiyomi and the others and gave them a single nod. It was enough for them to understand—they would handle the undead army and Sujay's First General, Zarakon. The true battlefield between Atama and Sujay was no place for anyone else.
Sujay didn't wait. He swung his cursed bone-sword at Atama's back with inhuman speed, aiming for a finishing blow while Atama wasn't looking. But just as the blade closed in,
The world froze for a moment. Sujay's cursed sword, a weapon of blood and despair, halted mid-swing—caught between fragments of another blade.
A deep black composite sword shimmered against it, the segments twisting like chains of shadow, pulsating with an energy far different from anything Sujay had seen. The fragments weren't just steel anymore; they radiated pure negative energy, the rarest of the three raw forces. It wasn't destructive like pure negativity nor balanced like neutral energy—it was born from Seko's suppressed anguish, rage, and survival instinct.
Atama, still standing with his hands in his pockets, smirked with a glint in his eye."Preparation complete," he murmured, as if Seko's awakening was part of his plan all along.
Sujay slowly turned his head toward Seko. The vampire stood at the edge of Atama's domain, his chest heaving, his expression hard and cold. His pupils were sharp, his face stained with blood, yet his posture radiated confidence and killing intent. The pressure rolling off him wasn't wild—it was focused, heavy like a stormcloud before a lightning strike.
"…You," Sujay muttered, his crimson eyes narrowing.This wasn't the same Seko he had once dismissed. This was someone standing at the razor's edge between predator and monster.
Atama didn't interfere. He simply gave Seko a glance—one that said, "You're ready."
Seko took a step forward, his composite sword humming, the fragments swirling like living serpents, each one trembling with dark energy that threatened to shatter the air around it.
The battlefield seemed to recognize the tension. The undead army—Zarakon included—paused for just a fraction of a second, as if sensing the clash of two Darknesses that were beyond their understanding.
The ground beneath Seko cracked as he leveled his sword toward Sujay.
"The Darkness that protects us from constant light," Atama murmured quietly, almost as if reciting an ancient truth, his eyes locked on Seko.
Opposite him, Sujay's aura expanded, blotting out every trace of brightness, his cursed blade vibrating with malice.
"Versus the Darkness that engulfs all of light," Atama finished, his tone low but heavy.
And then…
The battle began.
Seko vanished from sight, his composite blade slicing through space with whip-like precision, while Sujay's cursed sword cut through reality itself. Each clash of their weapons sent ripples across the world, splitting mountains, darkening the sky further, and shaking the very foundation of Atama's domain.