The Keepers closed in, their presence like a suffocating fog. Mara fought fiercely beside Kai, her body moving in perfect synchronicity with the Energy of Codes as she forged weapons and deflected strikes, but it was clear they were being overwhelmed. Each of the three Keepers was a force unto themselves, towering over them like gods, their energy surging with unnatural strength.

Kai’s breath came in ragged gasps as he blocked a blow with his energy sword. The crackling collision sent ripples through the Nexus, warping the fabric of reality around them. His arms trembled under the strain. His energy reserves were rapidly depleting, and he felt his body grow heavier with each strike. The codes were all around him, whispering—no, commanding him to fight harder, to push further. But it wasn’t enough. Not yet.

Mara’s face was set in a determined grimace as she clashed with another Keeper, her spear of energy flaring bright, slicing through the air. She moved with precision, but even she was showing signs of strain. Her stamina was being tested in ways that Kai had never seen before. The Keepers were relentless, their energy strikes leaving cracks in the very atmosphere of the Nexus.

“We need help, Kai!” Mara’s voice came sharp, laced with urgency.

Before he could respond, the third Keeper, a hulking figure with a jagged blade of energy, lunged forward with inhuman speed. Kai barely managed to dodge, his instincts pulling him to the side. The Keeper’s blade cleaved through the space he had occupied only a second earlier, creating a shockwave that sent Kai sprawling to the ground.

He gritted his teeth, panic creeping in. They couldn’t win this. Not like this.

“Get back!” Mara shouted at Kai, blocking a savage blow with her own weapon. She was trying to hold them off, but there was only so much she could do.

It was then that Kai heard a voice—a voice as deep and commanding as the earth itself.

“Stand back.”

The words resonated through the very air around them, a presence unlike anything Kai had ever felt. His heart skipped a beat as he turned his head to the source of the voice.

There, standing tall and unwavering, was Eli. But he wasn’t the Eli Kai had known—he wasn’t the calm, measured father who had always been at a distance. This was the true Eli, the legendary figure who had once shaped the very world they were fighting in.

“Father…” Kai whispered, awe and disbelief in his voice.

Eli’s gaze locked onto him for a moment, and without another word, he raised his hands.

The atmosphere of the Nexus seemed to hold its breath as the energy around Eli swelled, bending to his will. It was unlike anything Kai had ever seen—no simple manipulation of the Energy of Codes, but a full-on mastery of it, a connection to the very heart of the Nexus itself.

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“Step aside,” Eli commanded once more.

Mara and Kai instinctively retreated, unable to do anything but watch. Eli was no longer the man they had known. His aura radiated with uncontainable power, and the very ground beneath his feet seemed to crack and tremble with the sheer force of his presence. The Keepers, for the first time, hesitated, sensing the monumental power building before them.

Eli didn’t move. He didn’t need to. The Keepers advanced, as if compelled by something primal, but Eli’s eyes glowed with an intensity that made the very air around him shimmer.

With a single, fluid motion, Eli raised his hand toward the first Keeper.

The Nexus itself seemed to answer his call.

Energy swirled around him—an eruption of codes, crackling light, and dark power, mixing in a chaotic storm of energy. The very fabric of the world twisted, swirling around him as if the Nexus itself was bending to Eli’s will. His eyes blazed with unearthly power, and his voice thundered through the space.

“You are nothing.”

In an instant, the Keeper who had dared to approach him was consumed by an explosion of raw energy. It wasn’t a simple blast. It wasn’t a conventional attack. This was an annihilation of code itself—the very essence of the Keeper was torn apart by the overwhelming force of Eli’s strike.

The Keeper’s form unraveled like a corrupted file, breaking into pieces that disintegrated into nothingness, leaving no trace of the entity that had once stood before them.

Kai and Mara watched in stunned silence, their mouths agape.

But Eli wasn’t finished.

The second Keeper charged, fury in its form, its blade flashing toward Eli with a speed that seemed impossible. But Eli didn’t move.

Instead, he opened his palm, and with a single word, the space around him warped. The Keeper’s blade crashed into an invisible wall, the energy dissipating like dust in the wind. Eli’s hand moved with lightning speed, and before the Keeper could react, a massive pulse of energy erupted from his palm. It was an explosion of light and force that tore through the Keeper’s defenses like paper.

The Keeper screamed as it was consumed by the energy, its form disintegrating before it could even fight back. Another one down.

But the final Keeper—this one was different. It was the largest, the most powerful, the leader. It seemed to understand the danger that Eli posed. It unleashed a wave of energy so intense that the very ground of the Nexus shook with its force. The air around them cracked as the final Keeper began to warp reality, forming energy barriers, summoning weapons of code to fight back.

Eli stood firm, undeterred. He raised both hands, his body glowing with an almost divine radiance. The very world around him bent and twisted, shaping itself to his will. The power of the Nexus responded to him like a weapon, following his command.

“Enough!” Eli’s voice was a roar that shook the very core of the Nexus.

The final Keeper tried to strike with a blast of raw energy, but Eli moved with the grace of a god, his hand slicing through the air. The Keeper’s attack was absorbed, redirected, and sent back with a force that was beyond comprehension.

The Keeper’s form began to crack, its energy shield faltering under the onslaught. With a final, devastating motion, Eli thrust his hand forward, unleashing a massive wave of destructive force that engulfed the Keeper entirely. It screamed—an ear-splitting cry—as it was torn apart by the very energy it had tried to control.

The final Keeper was no more.

The Nexus was still.

Kai and Mara stood, utterly speechless. They had witnessed something beyond their understanding. Eli had not only destroyed the Keepers but had done so in a way that seemed to transcend the laws of reality itself.

Eli turned to them, his expression unreadable but calm.

“That is how you fight.”

Kai swallowed, still trying to process what had just happened. His heart raced, but he knew one thing for certain: his father had shown him a power far beyond anything he had imagined.