The wasteland no longer resembled the peaceful battlefield it had been only minutes before.
Cracks stretched for hundreds of meters across the black stone. Massive boulders lay scattered in every direction, shattered by the force of countless collisions. Dust drifted through the air, hiding the landscape beneath a gray veil.
Yet in the middle of the destruction...
The battle never slowed.
Raizen's sword cut through the air again, each swing carrying enough force to carve deep scars into the earth. Lady Chõko slipped past the blade, her movements flowing as naturally as water. Before Raizen could recover, she tapped the back of his wrist with two fingers.
His grip shifted ever so slightly.
"...Again?" Raizen laughed while immediately correcting his stance.
"You keep leaving that opening," Lady Chõko replied with a playful smile.
"I was hoping you'd stop noticing."
"I'm afraid I'm a little nosy."
The returning spear from Hiroshi shot toward her blind side.
Without turning around, Lady Chõko leaned forward. The spear skimmed over her shoulder by a hair before curving back for another pass.
At the same moment, the bronze axe crashed into the ground behind her.
BOOM!
The impact shattered a section of the battlefield, sending chunks of stone soaring into the sky.
Lady Chõko planted one foot onto a flying boulder, using it as a step instead of avoiding it.
Raizen's eyes lit up.
"There!"
He leaped upward, his sword descending from above.
Lady Chõko met him in midair.
CLANG!
A shockwave exploded outward.
The surrounding cliffs trembled violently.
Thousands of cracks raced across the nearest mountainside before an enormous section of rock finally gave way.
RUMBLE...!
The mountain collapsed into the valley below, burying the battlefield beneath an avalanche of stone.
Before the dust could settle—
Two figures burst through it.
Raizen.
Lady Chõko.
Still exchanging blows.
Neither had noticed the mountain collapsing around them.
Their feet landed briefly on falling rocks before launching toward each other again.
Another clash.
Another shockwave.
The clouds above rippled as circles of compressed air spread across the sky.
Far below, Hiroshi quietly watched.
"...Their physical abilities alone are reshaping the battlefield."
Ayame smiled faintly.
"Then perhaps..."
"...it's my turn."
She stepped forward.
A single silver shard appeared between her fingers.
Unlike the countless mirrors of Mirror Dimension...
This fragment was no larger than a coin.
She flicked it into the air.
"...Mirror Step."
The tiny shard reflected the sunlight for only an instant.
Then—
Ayame vanished.
She reappeared behind Lady Chõko, emerging from the reflection on Raizen's sword.
Lady Chõko reacted instantly, twisting away as Ayame's graceful kick swept through the space where her head had been.
"So that's how you travel," Lady Chõko said while smiling.
Ayame answered with another attack instead.
She disappeared again.
This time emerging from the polished surface of Hiroshi's spear.
Then from a crystal embedded in the cliff.
Then from a fragment of shattered stone still tumbling through the air.
Each movement was silent.
Elegant.
Impossible to predict.
Raizen laughed as he pressed forward again.
"Now we're talking!"
Lady Chõko found herself surrounded.
Raizen attacked from the front.
Hiroshi's relic spear curved in from above.
Ayame appeared and disappeared between countless reflections, striking whenever the smallest opening appeared.
For the first time...
Lady Chõko's smile faded into quiet concentration.
She ducked beneath Raizen's blade, redirected Hiroshi's spear with the back of her hand, then spun just in time to block Ayame's palm strike.
Three attacks.
Three defenses.
Without a wasted motion.
Ayame gracefully landed several meters away.
"...You're incredible."
Lady Chõko chuckled.
"So are you."
"But..."
She glanced around the ruined mountain.
"...You're making quite a mess."
Raizen shrugged while charging again.
"Mountains can be rebuilt."
"They usually can't."
Lady Chõko sighed dramatically.
"What a waste of scenery."
Their next collision erupted with even greater force.
BOOOOM!
The remaining cliffs split apart.
Entire ridgelines collapsed into the valleys below.
A deep canyon tore across the Blackstone Highlands as if an invisible giant had carved through the land itself.
From dozens of kilometers away, wild beasts fled in terror.
The earth continued trembling without end.
High above the battlefield, dark clouds spiraled together, drawn by the repeated shockwaves rising into the sky.
Haruto watched the devastation in silence.
"...We've already destroyed an entire mountain range."
Kaizen's glowing calculations stretched across the horizon.
"...And she's still smiling."
His voice became quieter.
"...She hasn't used a single named technique."
The wind roared between the broken peaks.
Lady Chõko brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.
Then she smiled once more.
"...I was wondering."
Raizen tilted his head while keeping his sword raised.
"Hm?"
"When are the other three joining?"
Silence.
Behind Raizen...
Yurota.
Haruto.
Kaizen.
Each took a single step forward.
The battlefield suddenly felt much smaller.