The sound of the fired sniper echoed around the building alongside a sudden blinding light after connecting with Klaus.

It was unclear what had happened since everything had happened so fast, but by the time the other demigods had processed what had happened, the blinding light began to subside. And behind the light was X who stood above his fallen opponent.

The silence from the demigods upon noticing Klaus on the ground had multiple reasons. They knew that after a fired shot from X's sniper rifle, it was almost a guarantee that Klaus was gone. But why the demigods remained silent was to hear any sudden announcement from XVII confirming if Klaus was dead or not.

After a few seconds of spectating, the demigods witnessed Klaus somehow stand to his feet gradually in hesitation.

"What?"

This was the same question that flew from the spectating demigods and X upon witnessing Klaus get up. Klaus had not just survived a sniper shot from X, but he had also somehow evaded True Accuracy. This was deemed impossible since the ability's gimmick was granting the user perfect aim.

"Impossible," X continued before suddenly falling to his knees.

X's current state was easily the worst that any of the demigods had ever seen him in. His breathing became audible and it was clear that he had lost a lot of energy, especially after using such a tasking ability like True Accuracy. X could barely stay conscious as his vision began to get blurry.

The demigods stared in utter shock at the sight before a sudden statement flew from beside them.

"I know what happened."

The demigods turned to notice that, unsurprisingly, Quinn was the owner of the statement. Quinn stroked her chin for a few seconds before she continued to explain what she had noticed.

"It was a very stretched-out theory I had since his fights with Siren and Riley, but it seems to have been correct after all," Quinn buttressed.

The demigods all had their attention on Quinn before she finally revealed her knowledge of what had happened.

"I think it's general knowledge by now that Klaus can manipulate light. However, I seem to understand that this isn't all he has," Quinn said.

"You mean he has another ability?" Trent asked.

"Well," Quinn started. "For starters, a few of us know that he is also able to alter his speed when it's nighttime. More specifically, he can harness the speed properties of light, allowing him to move as fast."

"So he's got light speed?" Iris asked.

"Yeah," Quinn confirmed. "But since it's always daytime, it doesn't seem like Klaus can do it here in Higher World."

"Then we're honestly lucky that he can't because the games just wouldn't be fair against him," Link stated after his sister.

"Okay," Tyler said before continuing. "But where are you going with this?"

"Well," Quinn started. "If he can harness the speed properties of light, what exactly is stopping him from harnessing the other properties?"

"Like the untouchable properties of light," Shade stated in realization.

"Well... sort of," Quinn confirmed. "You see, photons cannot pass through opaque objects; an example is when a source of light is blocked by an opaque material. However, when the photons exist in the air and an opaque object passes through, the particles displace and return at the speed of light to the same location, making it look like it never moved in the first place."

"That's a lot of information," Riley commented.

"Yeah, well the concept of light is very complex," Quinn replied. "Light particles are made of photons which cannot be touched or harmed but can be felt. And considering the nature of Trent and Ash's ability to turn their body into their natural element, my theory is that Klaus can turn the atoms of his body into photons, allowing his body to displace and precisely return at the speed of light when an object with an atomic structure, which is basically everything, attempts to pass through him."

"Who knew someone could make two guys beating each other sound boring," Ace commented after hearing Quinn's explanation.

"But I think I get it though," Shade suddenly stated. "Since Klaus exists as his own source of light, It's similar to him turning his body to fire without intense heat where objects will go through him but he can't perform actions like phasing through walls."

"Or even move from his location by himself," Quinn buttressed. "Except for the help of gravity and other initial forces."

"I guess that explains why he doesn't sink into the ground then," Rose confirmed.

A brief second passed before a question suddenly arose.

"While I do understand the concepts of Walker's evasion, it does not confirm how he can evade True Accuracy."

The demigods turned to notice Lance's comment on the topic before he continued.

"From my understanding of X's technique, it is impossible to evade the attack as long as its target is visible."

Quinn nodded in realization, confirming that Lance's statement was accurate. She stroked her chin in thought for a few more seconds before finally replying.

"I wonder if there's more to how he evaded the attack," Quinn stated. "I have theories, but they remain that way for now."

"Regardless of the theories," Link commented. "Klaus is something else for him to have found a way to evade such an attack with such little time."

"Oh look, they're getting up," Mia immediately commented about the two fighters upon noticing their movements on the battlefield to prevent the boring topic from continuing any further.

While the explanation was going on, both fighters were too visibly exhausted to do anything for almost a minute as they both gasped for air while remaining on their knees. Klaus' heavy breathing continued while he retained the sole reason he was able to escape X's attack on his head.

After getting tossed off the ground, X pulled out his sniper from its holster and pointed it directly at his opponent with a single arm. The sniper was placed in between Klaus' eyes as he witnessed True Accuracy activate upon glancing at his opponent's eyes. And that was when it happened.

A Klaus stared at X before he could pull the trigger, the entire world froze. It felt like time had stopped, however, the situation that had occurred was that the entire world became extremely slow due to Klaus' strange ability to perceive the world at light speed.

The idea of Klaus' speed nullified by daytime remained considering he was unable to move his entire body, but his mind was able to witness everything that was occurring similar to when using his burst speed. Another fact about this strange ability was that it always automatically activated when Klaus was in critical danger regardless of his awareness, similar to Quinn's Perfect Precognition.

Klaus watched as X placed his finger on the trigger before the world suddenly froze. With this, he wondered how he could evade such an attack from his opponent, especially knowing his chances were slim. After thinking for a while, he realized that there was nothing he could come up with that could allow him to evade the attack since he was not fast enough to move from his trajectory. That was when he remembered his ability.

Klaus knew he could transform his body into photons before X could fire the shot, but he also knew that this was not enough for him to evade True Accuracy. The reason was that during Klaus' training, he decided to go over all the recordings of the battles from Cosmic League. One of the fights that caught his attention was the battle between X and Ash Brimstone during the "Breach" game mode.

During this game mode, X had activated True Accuracy and fired a shot at Ash before Ash managed to turn his entire body to smoke, causing the bullet to go through him even though it had hit. But what Klaus noticed after watching the battle multiple times was that despite the bullet going through the fog of smoke, Ash was still affected.

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Although Ash did not show any signs of pain, the fired bullet still dealt damage to Ash's left arm despite turning his body to smoke, before Ash managed to heal himself over time with his ability. This meant that regardless of the state of being, as long as the target is visible, True Accuracy will always hit. So even though Klaus had entered his phantasmal state, the bullet would still connect and deal damage, ultimately ending his life.

With this idea, Klaus knew that he had to deactivate the ability before he could survive, otherwise, his time in the Divine Tournament was over.

While going through the recordings, Klaus had not seen a single time that True Accuracy had been deactivated... except for one; His solar ball. Klaus had managed to blind X before he could use the ability not once, but twice during the Cosmic League, so it meant that if Klaus could use his light against his opponent before the shot was fired, it could nullify the ability and make the fired shot a regular one.

This was a gamble since Klaus was not completely sure if the ability would be nullified if X was blinded, but this was his only option at that point. But Klaus was not able to create a Solar Ball: Flashbang fast enough to blind X before he could pull the trigger. This was when Klaus decided to use another ability he had not used in a long time.

Klaus did not necessarily need the Solar Ball to cause the blinding light effect, and he had already done this during his first battle against Lance. He could gather and discharge photons from his eyes. Similar to the previous use, this ability would cause Klaus to burn through his contact lenses, but this was more than a fair trade to him.

After a long time of assessment, Klaus gathered light particles and discharged them from his eyes at light speed, all before X could even move an inch. This was what caused the blinding light effect before True Accuracy was ultimately nullified, causing the fired sniper shot from X to become a regular shot and allowing Klaus to use his Phantasmal State, making the bullet phase through him.

Klaus' use of multiple abilities to evade the fired shot caused him to severely lose a lot of energy, but the trade for his life was worth it. And the same could be said for X who used up all of his energy on that one attack. Both fighters were in a sorry state and appeared as if they could not continue the battle at optimal strength.

X attempted to control his breathing, but the strain on his body was too severe for him to do so easily. However, upon raising his head to his opponent, X noticed that Klaus was, somehow, managing to get up on his feet. Klaus had almost no energy left, as well as a broken right hand, but for some reason, he was still barely up on his feet.

This action made X extremely frustrated, causing him to slam his right fist to the floor with force, cracking the ground around it.

"You persistent insect," X started. "Why are you so resistant to dying?"

The spectating demigods watched X speak in pure anger at Klaus and could feel his frustration from his words.

"The people you killed," Klaus suddenly said. "Regardless of whether you perceived them as innocent or not, you ultimately ended the life of a person who was someone else's parent, child, or loved one."

"This again?" X asked upon hearing Klaus' reasoning.

Klaus remained silent before X continued.

"All that does not matter," X stated. "Pain promotes progress, and I am prepared to bestow upon anyone the sacrifice of losing someone dear for the sake of a higher cause."

"And that's why I won't lose to you," Klaus then responded. "Because unlike you, I realize there are people who's life mean more to me than my own."

This statement brought nothing but shock and surprise to the spectating demigods. Someone like Klaus, who showed nothing but a lack of interest in the world around him had just claimed that that same world was his reason to fight. The demigods seemed surprised, aside from Shade who expressed a smile on his face.

"Interesting," Lance stated with a smile on his face while spectating.

And without hesitation, Klaus took a deep breath before raising his left hand to the sky. His pride could not allow him to lose to X, especially when having people he cared about in his mind. Rose, Shade, Natalie, Avalon... How would he feel if these people were taken from him? Even if the fight meant nothing on a grand scale, Klaus felt that losing to X meant losing his humanity.

Above Klaus' palm began the formation of a Solar Ball. In such a weary state, it did not feel ideal for Klaus to use such a draining ability, but with both fighters barely staying conscious, this was possibly the best chance Klaus had during the entire battle.

The ball of light continued to grow, surpassing the first grade and reaching the second. Rose's worried expression could already confirm that Klaus was pushing himself too much. She explained that even the first grade was claimed to be extremely exhausting by him and after using so much energy in the fight, a second grade seemed to have been impossible to even perform.

But unbeknownst to the demigods, the ball of light continued to grow even more, surpassing the second grade and going beyond.

"He's not stopping," Ace commented. "How is he not stopping?"

"Who knew he had such amounts of energy despite being fatigued," Trent added while watching the situation unfold.

X's eyes widened upon seeing the ball of light and knew he had to evade it. He looked around to find his sidearm but noticed that it was far away from him and he did not have the energy to move. He had the option to use his sniper to fire at his opponent or the ability, but he only had a single bullet in its chamber since he never had to use more than that.

The ball of light continued to grow until it finally stopped. The demigods stared at the battlefield as they witnessed a Solar Ball about eight feet in diameter, twice as big as the previous grade.

The trembles and shivers from Klaus' flesh and bones made it evident that he was not in a good state. Everybody witnessing the battle wondered how he was still alive and stared in silence, awaiting what would happen next. Klaus held onto the third grade of the Solar Ball, almost as if it was a heavy object, as he stared directly at his opponent.

Klaus' sudden silence was shocking after a few seconds went by. Klaus continued to pant and stare without doing anything, which made the spectators wonder what was happening to him.

"Why isn't he firing it?"

But as this question continued among the demigods, almost immediately, Klaus managed to gain enough strength to launch the ball of light at X.

During the time that Klaus had remained in the same spot in silence, X was able to regain enough energy to get himself on his feet before launching his body directly toward his right, away from the attack's trajectory.

The gasps of disappointment aired briefly from Rose after witnessing Klaus miss his target. However, after evading the attack, the ball of light continued until it came in contact with the wall behind its target. And upon contact, the ball of light caused a massive explosion of force before enveloping the entire arena in blinding light.

Unlike the other times, the blinding light created from the aftermath of this attack was so strong that it covered the entire Arena of Valor and could be seen from the exterior of the building. The light was also so intense that it would have caused a normal human to lose their vision permanently. The spectating demigods were completely unable to see not just the battlefield, but anything at all for the duration of the attack's effects.

The force of the attack was also so intense that the exterior of the force field created by Sonar before the tournament's commencement rumbled after the collision between the attack and the wall occurred.

The blinding light lasted for about an entire minute after it occurred before it finally began to subside. It took a few more seconds before most of the demigods were able to regain their vision as well before they all returned their attention to the arena.

As Shade gained enough vision to understand what had happened between Klaus and X, he witnessed both fighters standing opposite one another in silence. The silence and proximity between the two had an awkward feeling for the spectators as they tried to understand what had happened during the duration of the blinding light.

But after a few more seconds of assessing the situation and realizing key information, the demigods realized that Klaus had picked up the blade that was used against him earlier by his opponent, causing the stab wound he had on his cheek, and rushed at X, driving the blade right through his opponent's heart.

"He did it..." Mia whispered softly. "He beat X."

The demigods stared in utter shock and confusion as Klaus held on to the dagger with his right hand, despite being previously broken by his opponent, and the weapon still in X's chest.

X's expression spoke clearly as his widened eyes stared far ahead of him, with Klaus standing by his right side with his left hand on X's right shoulder and both of them looking beyond each other's shoulder.

X gasped for air for a brief moment before gradually turning his focus to his right, where Klaus was. Upon doing so, while looking at his opponent, X realized that the usual light in Klaus' eyes had completely faded, almost like a defective light bulb.

Suddenly, Klaus began to slowly drop his left hand from X's shoulder and his right from the blade until his entire body gradually dropped to the ground in silence.

The demigods could not understand what was going on until a statement was made around them.

"The winner of the battle is... X."

Hearing these words from XVII brought shivers down the spines of all spectators as they gradually understood what the statement meant.

"That means Klaus is..." Rose started before a brief second of silence.

"Dead," Shade responded, finishing her statement for her.

The silence echoed around the room for its entire duration. There was nothing that any of the demigods could say. Eventually, X fell to his knees in severe exhaustion before lying on the floor beside Klaus.

The two fighters had their bodies in opposite directions, with their bodies upside down and their heads directly facing each other. Klaus had his chest on the ground, with his head tilted to his right and his dimmed eyes opened in silence, while X had his chest at the sky with his head slightly facing his left, directly at Klaus' face.

"You knew about it..." X worded out in realization of what Klaus had attempted to do during the final stretch of their battle. "Interesting."

X continued to gasp for air and silence at the spectator's location remained briefly before it was finally broken by what could be accepted as a valid question.

"How in the world is he not dead?" Tyler asked in frustration upon witnessing the outcome of the fight.

"His heart," Quinn then suddenly stated upon realizing what had happened. "So that's why Klaus waited for that long."

"What?" Riley asked, revealing tears in her eyes after turning to Quinn. "What does that even mean?"

Quinn took a second, but before she could explain, X's eyes widened while still on the battlefield before he let out a sudden grunt in pain. He squinted his eyes in noticeable pain as he held on to the dagger in his heart briefly until his hands slowly drifted to the side and his movements suddenly stopped.

X was finally dead.

The confusion as to what had happened between the demigods continued as they stared at both fighters lying dead on the arena floor. The sinister silence continued before the fighters slowly began to fade away, getting transported to the medical facility.