Ars Skeith -a merger of Dream Viers and Arsène- was evading the barrage of energy blasts from the Para-Hydra with the skill of an ace pilot. The attacks contained a significant amount of power behind them, however…

“It doesn't matter how powerful you are if you can't hit me!”

He wasn't like the Red Comet but a white one. His previous slash had made a gash on the Para-Hydra massive body and he was aiming for that.

He knew the Para-Hydra was just an outer shell. The true fight was inside.

“Graaaaahh!”

One of the heads let out a roar that resembled a T-Rex’s and barred Skeith’s path with its serpentine neck.

In response, Skeith moved the seven swords behind him to the front. They arranged themselves in a cone shape.

“A wall of flesh? How banal… My drill is the drill that will pierce the heavens!”

The seven swords rotated with high speed, piercing straight into one of the heads. The sound of flesh being drilled was incredibly savage.

Yet somewhat satisfying.

It didn't take long until the head was severed, the other six heads were letting out roars of pain.

The wall of flesh was unable to block Skeith’s path and he entered the Para-Hydra’s main body which was as gigantic as the moon.

“Fuu…” Dream Viers exhaled. “Two consecutive quotes from robot animes. They came naturally while I took this form.”

“In a way, we are piloting a giant robot. Well, you are. I’m the robot’s speaking computer… So, where are we?” Arsène replied.

The inside of the Para-Hydra was pitch black. What little light remained from the outside was getting dimmer as the opening closed. The seven swords of light were back to floating behind Skeith like a halo of swords.

“I expected the innards-of-a-giant level design. With tentacles and blood vessels and stuff to go with the parasite theme,” Arsène commented.

“Welco-”

A voice resounded in the dark. Skeith immediately pinpointed the almost imperceivable anomaly in the dark and threw his scythe in that direction. The voice was interrupted along with the sound of the scythe hitting something metallic. It probably wasn't a clean hit, or Mr. X put up his defense in time.

“So uncivilized. Is there no room for a conversation like civilized men before we try to destroy each other?” The parasite spoke with its main body, Georgi’s voice.

“Not in the mood,” Skeith grabbed the scythe that was flying back midair. His three yellow eyes scanned his surroundings but he could no longer detect the location of the enemy in the dark.

“I applaud you for escaping from my Dream of Pacifying Soul. You’re the sixth person to achieve that. Yet the other five were incapable of interfering. I wonder how… I see. The soul automaton. The one that serves as the boy’s double in the Magitek Wonder. The combination of the dream construct and the automaton is what stands before me. Bravo.”

Georgi’s background easily determined the nature of his enemy.

“It truly is one miracle after another…” the parasite continued. “But this is the end of the road for you. My victory is an unquestionable fact.”

A face emerged from the darkest dark. A human head without a body. There was nothing from the neck down. The head was gigantic, bigger than Ars Skeith’s whole body although it was far smaller compared to the moon-sized Para-Hydra. Georgi’s head had two burning white flames in the shape of horns on his head. The head seemed to be surrounded by a swirling black hole.

“The boy’s true soul will be mine,” Georgi said with a voice that rattled the soul.

Ars Skeith made a fighting stance. Dream Viers and Arsène knew that if they were defeated, Viers’ soul would fall into Mr. X’s complete control. When that happened, it would be game over. Defeat was not an option.

“Not if anything to say about it I have,” Skeith replied in a sage-like voice but it hid a fierce fighting spirit underneath.

Might not be the best quote since Yoda lost in the end but it was damn badass.

Georgi began with a stream of fire from his mouth. As someone with lots of experience fighting monstrous opponents in video games, it was a really predictable attack for Skeith and he dodged it successfully. He dashed forward, accelerating almost to the speed of sound. To Skeith, fighting a larger opponent was no big deal; they only made themselves a bigger target. Before Skeith was close enough to make the head feel the bite of his scythe, his senses informed him of sudden danger. He followed his instincts and changed direction. His previous position seemed to be enveloped in a vicious red vortex. Judging from the energy, he didn't want to get hit by it.

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“Incoming behind!” Arsène warned.

It was the stream of fire that Georgi spat out earlier. It homed at Skeith like a tracking missile. Not only that, after spewing fire, Georgi blew ice next from his mouth. Skeith was pincered between fire from behind and ice from the front.

Dream Viers acted simultaneously with the warning. The ring of light swords acted as a shield, defending against the fire attack while he blocked the ice attack. The swords of light were Dream Viers’ deadly weapons that he spent years in the Dream World painstakingly making, controllable with a thought. They were powerful and versatile; thinking of them as mere visual adornment was a huge error. How cool they looked was only a bonus.

Gundam’s Funnel-type weapons served as the reference material.

The mighty mix of fire and ice failed to damage Skeith in the slightest. As soon as he was able, he removed himself from the disadvantageous position and approached Georgi from another angle. A white comet was rising from below’s Georgi’s chin, with the sharp end of a scythe in the forefront.

“Naive.”

“Mu!?”

Skeith hardly heard Georgi’s admonishment as the unpleasant sound of metal clashing against metal overwhelmed his hearing. The head made a forcefield that repelled the hit. Assuming from the sound, it was the same defensive method that blocked the scythe he threw into the darkness before the battle began.

Yet it was still within his prediction.

After the first strike, Skeith attacked again. Although the forcefield managed to defend against this too, there was now an X scar on the barrier. Lightning quick, Skeith had already moved far away after the second gash, leaving his scythe embedded in the crackling forcefield.

It was not a retreat, but a preparation for an offensive.

Turning one hundred and eighty, Skeith charged full speed into the weakened forcefield before it could fully repair itself.

“Not that easy!”

Georgi wisely used the fastest attack at his disposal: two purple lightning bolts came out from both of his eyes, right in a direct collision course with Skeith.

With Skeith speeding up in a straight line, it would be as if the lighting bolts' speed doubled. He would never see it coming, much less evade it.

Yet he did, like two knights jousting but on a whole other dimension of speed, the attack only grazed his hard light cape.

“Preposterous!”

“TEXAS SMASH!!”

The fist hit the center of the X. Unable to withstand the impact, the forcefield broke into a million shards. The nose of Georgi turned misshapen as the whole head was sent backward.

“Taste my fist, head,” the scythe returned to Skeith’s hand as he willed it. While he normally wouldn't say any reference that might compromise his identity as an otherworlder, it wouldn't matter if he lost this fight anyway, so Skeith had looser reservations than usual.

Skeith didn't stop to trash-talk his opponent so he was already on a follow-up offensive. This time, he intended to take an eye.

Dum.

There was a loud beat of a drum and Skeith was blasted away as if hit by an invisible train.

“Here’s the change,” Georgi replied.

There were no obstacles on the battlefield and they were both levitating so it was up to Skeith himself to cancel the inertia. When he did, there was quite some distance between the two.

And a few cracks were formed on Skeith’s white body.

The opening round was over. The battle's tempo came to a halt as both sides reevaluated the enemy they faced.

Georgi Zhirkov, or more accurately, his split soul that wormed himself into Viers’ soul, was shocked by Skeith’s power. He was a split soul from the Swirling Chaos, an extraordinary Pathseeker even among the already rare Level 5 peak. Although he couldn't use all of his true self's capability, his power and means couldn't be surmounted by a mere Level 3.

But the impossible was happening in front of his eyes.

He was not like the others on the outside who were weakened by the Popess’ Arte. He was at full strength.

So how could this youngster match him in strength?

No. That’s wrong. It is because he’s capable of doing this, the Almighty Lord wants him as his toy.

Similarly, Dream Viers, the controller of Ars Skeith, got an unpleasant surprise.

Before he left the Dream World to do a final battle, he had prepared adequately. In fact, much more than required. Although he had fought countless battles of life and death with god-like beings, it was all, ultimately, a dream where he would eventually succeed. His success was preordained. Dream Viers realized this therefore he cranked his Horizon boost to compensate.

Georgi using a dream world to trap Viers was a strategic mistake on his part since Viers had a way to transform experience into strength but he couldn't be held accountable. After all, Viers guarded the details of his Horizon with utmost secrecy, not even Paina and the others knew how Viers Horizon worked.

Simply put, Dream Viers had grinded his levels before the final boss to level 99. He thought the final boss would be easy-peasy at that point because in his experience, the final boss of the main story was usually beatable around level 70-80.

But his opponent was Mr. X, whose true identity was the Grandmaster of the Dumuzin Cult, the strongest soul Pathseeker. Level 99 did not guarantee victory.

Dream Viers being able to match a Level 5 split soul in battle was an amazing feat but it brought him no joy. As much as he hated to admit it, his victory was not assured.

One more thing, the body of Ars Skeith was actually quite brittle.

It was because Viers' soul -the main one- had been horribly injured by Georgi’s main body!

Ars Skeith’s max HP was quite low, despite Arsène’s best effort.

Thus, the cracks on his body after getting hit. Georgi, an adept hand at soul matters, had already arrived at the same conclusion.

Ars Skeith had the advantage in power and speed.

Georgi had the advantage in attack variety and endurance.

If I let down my guard, I’ll lose!

Both experienced combatants were aware of each other’s circumstances and thought the same thing.

No doubt the battle between two master-class fighters would become more complex in the coming rounds.