[Iteration[3] constantly felt waves of annoyance flow through it, it never expected the wild [Metallic mana] to be this adaptive and cunning, it had gone from simple to extremely complex and sophisticated.

The barren mental space where they once fought had transformed completely and was now a sprawling solar system comprised of weaponized planets, each key strategic point for both of them. [Iteration[3] didn't kill it instantly, even though it had all the power to, now it had a genuine chance of killing it and corrupting everything.

It no longer wildly rushed into battle, the wild [Metallic mana] learned to wait and plan, sometimes these plans would last hundreds of subjective years. [Iteration[3] was loth to admit it, but the [Metallic mana] was rapidly outgrowing it, and it was barely keeping up.

Something had to change, it needed to do something big, something so big that the wild [Metallic mana] had no chance of recovery. So, [Iteration[3] began its search for its new trump card, the thing that would save it, and its other selves' lives.

Sometime later [Iteration[3] stumbled upon the [Extremely far-fetched] tab and clicked on it, the tab expanded into a small list, containing no lesser than a hundred entries. One of these entries caught its attention instantly, the [Anti-Mana] bomb.

For the first time in thousands of subjective years, delight washed over [Iteration[3]. It would have to build it in extreme secrecy but if everything went according to its calculations, which it hoped they did, the wild [Metalic mana] would be no more by the next war.

It first had to find a place to build it though, both of them had littered the place with spies and troops who could remain unseen, even to it. Any move it made now would instantly alert it, the wild [Metallic mana] was fast, but it wasn't as fast at building things like [Iteration[3] quite yet.

It still lacked some fundamental concepts and the knowledge needed for such a feat, yet it was scary how despite this it managed to keep up with it, growing exponentially in every battle, the rate of growth was abnormal, very abnormal.

It was why [Iteration[3] avoided drawn-out battles with it entirely, they barely fought at all now, content to watch each other forever. But [Iteration[3] knew this couldn't go on forever, there was too much at stake, too much to be lost. It had to take a risk, even if it was a big one.

[Iteration[3] had a plan now, a slightly crazy plan, but a plan nonetheless, it was going to blow up all its controlled planets and funnel the massive amount of [Automation mana] into the project. The sudden loss of so many things at once would hopefully stun the wild [Metallic mana] long enough for the bomb to go off.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

[Iteration[3] swept over the planets in its fake domain once more, and took in all that it had built, it was all fake of course, but after spending so many years of subjective time with these fake creatures and fake things, a sort of attachment had formed.

They didn't know it existed, they were completely oblivious to its existence entirely, this was because it now gave orders indirectly, pushing them in the way it wanted from the shadows, but for the first time, [Iteration[3] hesitated.

It knew what it had to do, how to end it all, but it just didn't feel right. It was going to lose everything it had painstakingly built so far, but then it remembered the reason why it had built them in the first place. It wasn't just about it, its other selves were depending on it, if it didn't win this war they might also be in trouble.

During this time, [Iteration[3] had learned a great deal about [Mana] and the many different types of [Mana]. [Wild mana] was [Mana] that mixed in with a certain concept and incorporated a flavor of that concept into itself in the wild, hence why it was called [Wild mana].

The [Metalic mana] it was fighting wasn't wild at all, it initially assumed it was because of its erratic and animalistic behavior but that theory was shattered as time went on, there was a mind behind it, likely one similar to it in nature. Though it wasn't as intelligent as them in the beginning, it learned and adapted too rapidly.

The world the portal led to likely wasn't a world at all, but a pocket plane grafted onto reality by a being similar to them, but not quite. The [Metallic mana] lacked the capability to innovate nor create, only copy and replicate what was already there, that was what set them apart, it didn't research, it didn't ponder, just copied.

Though it grew more cautious over the years, it only did so because [Iteration[3] began doing so first. It likely had no idea what being cautious meant but somehow was able to copy the concept of it and replicate it smoothly, [Iteration[3] believed there was some flavor of mana or concept mixed in with the [Metallic mana] that allowed it to that.

It would've loved to pull it apart and study it in great detail but that wasn't possible, at least not yet. [Iteration[3] was certain it would find more of its kind in the [Pocket plane] that the portal led to but that was for another time, it was time to end this, once and for all.

Mind made up, [Iteration[3] willed the worlds to crumble, in an instant, everything it had made crumbled before transforming into a massive sun of [Automation mana] that gave off a dangerous glow, with an application of will, [Iteration[3] began converting the [Automation mana] into [Pure mana] without any concepts attached to it.

Converting such a massive amount of [Automation mana] took almost all its focus, and when it was done, a fleet of massive battleships was already moving close, it needed to hurry.

It quickly moved to the next phase of the plan, attaching the concept of [Anti-mana] to the [Pure mana]. When it was done, the fleet was too close for comfort, and it could already see them lighting up, likely charging up to fire, but it was too late, it had won.

With the last remaining bits of its exhausted willpower, [Iteration[3] flipped the metaphysical switch on the bomb, and the world ceased to be.