The distance between the two islands closed.
Not quickly.
Not slowly.
Inevitably.
The storm twisted around them, space bending in broken arcs as the fragments drifted together. The roar of the energy field swallowed the distant voices of the crowd.
Zhao Jie exhaled.
"Before today," he said, "you were nothing."
Kali wiped blood from his lip. "Before today, you were comfortable."
Zhao Jie's aura ignited.
Planetary Rank 6 energy surged from his body like a living flame, warping the air. The power of his elite contract, his resources, his training — everything he had accumulated — pressed outward.
Kali answered.
Not with more energy.
With will.
The fracture inside his core pulsed violently, dragging every drop of cosmic power he could control into alignment. His body screamed, but it obeyed.
They moved.
The world shattered.
Their first collision cracked the stone beneath their feet. The shockwave hurled fragments of the platform into the storm. Zhao Jie's fist slammed into Kali's guard, driving him back. Kali pivoted, redirected the force, and countered with an elbow strike that grazed Zhao Jie's jaw.
Blood sprayed.
Zhao Jie laughed.
He attacked again, faster, heavier, relentless.
Kali met him.
They traded blows across the collapsing island — fists, knees, elbows, energy strikes ripping through the air. Every impact echoed like thunder. Every exchange stripped away another layer of endurance.
Kali's vision blurred.
Zhao Jie's breathing grew ragged.
Neither retreated.
Then Zhao Jie roared and unleashed everything.
His aura surged, overwhelming, crushing, burning.
Kali's fracture flared.
For a heartbeat, his power spiked beyond Rank 6.
The collision that followed shattered the island completely.
Both of them were thrown into the storm.
The world vanished.
Silence.
Darkness.
Falling.