Then, on Verse's surface, the faces of both Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami simultaneously emerged.
One hand ignited with purple flames, the other with crimson—impossibly fusing "Koto Moon Negative" and "Oniyaki" together into a twisted, bizarre attack of intertwining red and purple fire!
"Those two idiots... they can even cooperate like this?!" Mai Shiranui watched from afar, utterly dumbfounded.
"No, it's worse than that." Chizuru Kagura's expression was grave to the extreme. "It's not imitating—it's devouring! It's consuming every attacker's techniques, their power, even... their soul imprints!"
Just as she said, within Verse's semi-transparent body, everyone glimpsed more familiar yet terrifying faces.
One face was Igniz, his eyes full of false compassion, lips curved in mockery, seeming to laugh at mortal weakness.
Another face was Magaki, the "Spell," his distorted features and eerie runes making anyone who looked feel dizzy.
This was a soul prison imprisoning countless powerful beings!
Everyone who attacked it not only failed to cause real damage but became its new nourishment, making it stronger and more diverse.
Despair spread through every heart like a rising tide.
"How... how do we even fight this?"
"Physical attacks are useless, energy attacks get absorbed..."
"It's basically an unbeatable monster!"
Even the normally confident K', after bombarding it with "Heat Drive" for ages only to see his flames perfectly copied, could only retreat in frustration and curse: "Damn it!"
...
The Competitor Tunnel
"Wow... so cool, it can make so many faces appear, like a kaleidoscope." Kula ate chips while making innocent observations.
"Hmph, random energies stitched together like that—an absolute insult to aesthetics." Shermie's face showed only disdain.
Cloud said nothing, simply watching in silence.
Through the system's deep analysis, he had completely seen through Verse's true nature.
This monster was like a massive "soul recycling station."
Connecting these soul fragments were "link nodes" similar to network cables.
These nodes strung together all the souls' powers, forming a huge, chaotic, yet power-sharing "local area network."
Attacking its energy form was like attacking a projection—utterly meaningless.
Whatever energy you destroyed, it could instantly replenish from other linked souls, and even "download" your attack patterns into its "skill library."
There was only one way to defeat it.
Attack its "servers" directly—the link nodes hidden deep within countless souls.
Cut the network cables, and the server naturally crashes.
To achieve this required two extremely special types of power.
One was power that could ignore physical space and directly interfere with fundamental laws.
The other was power that could precisely identify and sever connections at the "soul" level.
Conveniently, Cloud possessed both.
"Alright, warm-up's over." Cloud stretched lazily, tossing his empty chip bag in a perfect arc into a distant trash can.
"Kula, Shermie, stay here. Don't wander off. Remember—no matter what happens next, don't be surprised."
With that reminder, he walked out at a leisurely pace.
With each step, his aura transformed. That usual lazy, easygoing presence gradually gave way to something profound, ancient, and cosmically vast.
When he emerged from the competitor tunnel and appeared before everyone, the entire chaotic battlefield seemed to hit a mute button.
All eyes involuntarily focused on him.
"It's King of Fighters Cloud—he's finally making his move! We're saved!"
Even the chaotic Verse in the sky seemed to sense this "different" existence. Its body of countless grudges ceased attacking, and all its "faces" turned toward Cloud, emitting roars of curiosity, greed, or wariness.
"So noisy."
Cloud spoke just three words, his tone flat.
He didn't assume any fighting stance—simply raised his right hand slowly.
In his palm, a sphere of gray-white light like temporal dust began to coalesce.
This was what he had plundered from Saiki and refined through Dimensional Power—the Essence of Time!
"What's he doing? Is he going to attack that monster too?"
"It's pointless! It'll just get absorbed!"
But Cloud's target wasn't Verse's energy form at all.
He closed his eyes slightly. His divine sense, like an invisible probe, instantly pierced through Verse's chaotic energy shell and plunged directly into its internal soul prison.
In his divine vision, countless soul fragments flickered like stars, bound and connected by black chains of grudge, forming a complex and ugly soul network.
"Found them."
A cold smile curved Cloud's lips.
His eyes snapped open, and the Essence of Time in his right hand blazed with brilliant light!
"Time Stop!"
He didn't choose "reversal" or "acceleration"—he chose the most domineering option: "stop"!
In an instant, space-time within a kilometer radius of Verse was forcibly frozen!
Dust hung suspended mid-air. Exploding flames solidified like amber. Every fighter maintained expressions of shock, motionless.
The entire world became a massive, still oil painting.
Only Cloud and Verse in the sky could still "move."
No—Verse couldn't move either.
Its body and rampaging energy were all frozen in this moment.
But Cloud knew this was temporary.
The soul links inside Verse were too vast; the Essence of Time could only freeze it for a few seconds.
But that was enough.
At the same moment he froze space-time, Cloud's left hand ignited with golden flames—sacred and majestic.
"Soul... Judgment!"
Cloud thrust his left palm forward. That sphere of golden Gaia's Soul instantly transformed into billions of golden light threads, ignoring spatial distance, "penetrating" directly into Verse's time-frozen body!
If Verse's interior was a chaotic "local network," then Cloud's Gaia's Soul was the most powerful "antivirus software" and "network scissors"!
Billions of golden threads precisely located every "soul link node," and then—
"Sever!"
Cloud's voice rang out sharply.
...
Get 20+ chapters ahead on - P.a.t.r.e.o.n "RoseWhisky"