A heavy silence loomed as they waited for the attack that had left Cosmo so frightened.
Yet after long, dragging moments, nothing happened.
Instead, the most shocking development of all came for Artoria. He began to laugh.
It started slow and controlled, before abruptly spiraling into something hysterical.
Cosmo was about to ask what he found so amusing, until a realization dawned on him as well.
Damn it, he played me.
"Did you truly forget that my current vessel has no soul? I'd call you a fool, but watching you finally scramble in a panic was certainly entertaining."
Cosmo felt his face heat with embarrassment as the warrior mocked him.
He grew irritated with how he had been acting ever since becoming Captain to those recruits.
Since then, he found himself acting first and thinking later.
Of course Artoria couldn't use that skill. It required both body and soul, neither of which he currently possessed.
"Since you threw yourself into my line of sight for your children, am I to assume you're a Captain who hasn't achieved 'Realization' yet? Has Veil fallen so far in a single orbital age?"
Cosmo dropped the guarded stance he had taken and veered away from his officers, returning to their field of battle.
"Not to mention, your authority is simply too bizarre. From our exchange, its limitations far outweigh whatever redeeming qualities it has. It's hardly worthy of a lieutenant, much less a Captain."
"Look, I'm already mentally damaged as is, so if you don't mind, I'd like to resume our play."
"Very well."
They prepared for battle once more.
And after a breath, they dashed.
They exchanged quite a few attacks at a close range, with Cosmo reinforcing his own strike with the speed of the wind.
And when they touched down once again, he guarded against a direct downward strike, the recoil of the impact erupting beneath him in a violent flare.
Then he shifted the structure of the ground, collapsing it until they both sank.
The instant they did, he shot out of the entanglement and locked his arms together for an imaginary-backed attack.
Cosmo's mind was already gifted enough to formulate his intended skill without needing to envision it, so he never had to name or call out his abilities like most Eminents or Grace wielders.
However, some skills benefitted from visual cues, like the one he was about to unleash.
The moment his palms clasped, a brilliant flash replaced the ground, and in an instant, a massive chunk of earth had been compressed into a crystalline surface
It was neither clean nor perfect, but it served as a fitting segue into his next plan of attack.
Artoria managed to build enough force to shatter his way free despite being immobilized, but as soon as he burst into open air, he saw something that made him reconsider attacking. Instead, he held firm and waited for what he knew was coming.
Because Cosmo had escalated the pace of the battle far too quickly.
While he was restricted from altering his opponent's body, nothing prevented an Eminent from fundamentally altering their own.
Through an untested formula he had devised during his journey through the Stellavore boundary, he had turned himself into an overzealous lightning rod.
At some point, he began functioning more like a human reactor.
Heat radiated from him, distorting and pushing the air around him, while a constant crackle accompanied his build‑up.
Under normal circumstances, the sheer amount of energy he was generating would have destroyed him countless times over, making the act of channeling it theoretically impossible.
Fortunately, his authority extended to Tzuri's scales, which conveniently allowed him to withstand the strain due to their conservational composition and resistance to all manner of fluctuations.
"We have to go. Now." Yon declared before grabbing Blue's hand and sprinting in the opposite direction.
"Wait, why?"
"Because he's doing something dangerous again. I wouldn't be surprised if he ends up frying himself." Tyson jogged backward while watching the spectacle, then spun around and ran with them. "Why would he do that without warning us?"
"I don't think he expected anyone to stand still after seeing that."
"...Where's my brother?"
They all halted and turned to see the blond boy standing motionless, gawking at the blazing light show ahead.
"Red! What are you doing?!"
He didn't respond.
Red's mind was too busy clinging to a hint. One forged from watching the battle unfold.
He couldn't tear his eyes away. If he did, he feared he'd lose something he might never find again.
As for Cosmo, he had to trick the charged particles into responding to his channels as though they were a suitable magnetic cage.
Once he sustained the amount he needed, he initiated the arc from the tip of his right hand, aimed at his opponent, and released it through an invisible guide using the same principle.
What followed was a blinding column of white‑hot plasma that burned through the air and shot straight toward Artoria. Behind it came a thunderous roar, followed by a deafening boom.
By the time the heat was close enough to brush his skin, Artoria had raised his palm and conjured a barrier of pure repulsive force, which the beam slammed into.
The sound was like a million welders striking a single impenetrable wall, and the surrounding land absorbed the brunt of the dispersed force.
They pushed and pushed, but only one of them sought victory in that clash. The other was elated when a crack suddenly formed at the point of contact.
Then more fractures spidered outward as the vibrations grew too intense.
Eventually, it all unraveled and collapsed like a structure stripped of its foundation.
Cosmo's true goal had been achieved, and they now stood in a grassland surrounded by several openings into the inverted void.
At its center was a mountain‑sized oval structure, half‑buried in the earth, woven from branches and soil.
Blue fell to her knees in distress as the implication of the collapsed space dawned on her.
There were no real souls within to mourn, yet she couldn't understand why she felt such heavy loss.
And worst of all, that armored man had survived both the clash and the collapse.