It was slow, tedious work.
The last ti he forcefully entered a Space-Ti Prison to catch Naless Death and Berserker, it had exhausted him greatly.
It was because of that he could only attack once.
This ti, he was taking no chances.
He was opening every Space-Ti Prison slowly.
"Found any leads yet?" a calm voice asked behind him.
Barbatos turned slightly.
Zagreus stood there, eyes scanning the sa mist-covered terrain, arms folded.
Barbatos could see the exhaustion just beneath his calm expression, but the young man held himself steady.
"Not yet," Barbatos said. "But it shouldn’t take more than a few decades."
Zagreus nodded.
Both of them fell silent.
Zagreus couldn’t help but think if Naless Death had rescued his mother’s soul.
Barbatos could guess his thoughts. He decided to change the topic.
"How is your training coming along prince?"
"It’s coming along nicely. I never thought I could work with Asmodea to do that."
He chuckled.
"Coupled with the information about Naless Death and Berserker’s strength we received from Leonora, we can win fairly easily if the plan works."
...
Berserker’s POV
The sky was quiet today.
Just the way he liked it.
Berserker sat atop the broken pillar, one leg swinging casually over the edge.
The wind howled around him, brushing past the jagged ruins scattered across the desolate land, but he barely noticed.
His eyes were fixed on the horizon.
Today was the day.
The long-awaited clash. The fight that had been building for far too long.
He rolled his shoulders once, exhaled, then leaned forward.
Nothing yet. The horizon remained still. But it wouldn’t stay that way.
He waited.
Seconds stretched into minutes.
The silence felt heavier with each passing mont, but Berserker wasn’t bothered.
He had always been good at waiting.
Let the others fidget and overthink. Let them get anxious. He found it amusing.
Then he saw it.
There was a ripple in the distance. The shadow at the far edge of the ’world’ moved.
"Finally."
Berserker grinned.
A figure erged through the shadow, walking slowly.
A black coat fluttered behind him, and with every step, the world around him seed to darken slightly. As if reality itself wasn’t sure it wanted to stay whole in his presence.
Naless Death.
He looked exactly like Berserker expected—irritated, and furious.
Berserker couldn’t help himself. He threw his head back and let out a long, unrestrained laugh.
"Hahaha! That face! Your Path is still incomplete, isn’t it?"
Naless Death froze.
He stopped walking, and stared at Berserker.
There was no way Berserker should’ve been able to see what was happening inside the Shadow Space, since there were no ambient elents there.
"You’re still stuck," Berserker continued, leaning forward with a smirk. "You’ve got the materials, the concepts, the foundation, all of it. But the last step just won’t finish, will it?"
Naless Death’s gaze sharpened.
"You know why I keep failing?"
"Of course I do."
Berserker grinned.
"Why?"
"Because you are stupid."
Naless Death’s eyebrow twitched.
"I guess you want to defeat you before you tell how to finish that last step?" Naless Death rolled his shoulder. "Co on. Let’s start and get this over with. I’ll beat the shit out of you and release my stress."
Berserker raised a brow.
"What?" Naless Death spoke. "Don’t tell you won’t tell how to finish the last step? Or—"
"I will tell you. There is no need to wait until the end of battle for it."
Berserker jumped down.
He landed on the white sand, and walked towards Naless Death.
"What’s your Path?"
"My Path is...."
Naless Death suddenly beca silent.
He knew what his Path did.
He could explain how it worked, and it was supposed to do.
But what was his Path?
"Path of Elental. Path of Evolution. Path of Achievents. These Paths exist already. Now, what is your Path?"
Berserker chuckled.
"That’s the barrier stopping you. It’s not about strength, or structure. It’s identity. You never defined what your Path truly is."
Naless Death’s eyes narrowed.
"And now that I’ve told you the answer," Berserker added, "let give you the good news."
"...What?"
"You need to create your Path right now." Berserker’s grin returned. "Or you’re going to die."
Before Naless Death could react, Berserker’s presence exploded.
The ground cracked. The air split.
An overwhelming, suffocating force pressed down on the valley, sinking into the bones, pulling at the soul.
Naless Death’s eyes widened.
The pressure wasn’t just strong...
"Why your presence pushing beyond Stage 4?"
Berserker chuckled.
"Rember the Ash I showed you before? The one I said was the woman who summoned here?"
Naless Death didn’t answer, but his expression darkened.
"She’s my blessed one," Berserker said. "Through her, ’I’ can be summoned."
Just like how Leonora could summon Supre of Water.
The Ash Berserker talked about was used by him to summon ’himself.’
Until now, he was limited to strength he could use by absorbing his own elentals on Voraka Site.
After Berserker had reached peak Stage 4, he had been able to affect the Ash and thus could do this.
Naless Death didn’t know if he should be amazed or disgusted.
This bastard had never intended to have a fair fight.
Berserker lifted his arms slightly.
Twin elents began to converge around him.
One was a swirling Void—black, endless, and pulsing with hunger.
The other was jagged, fractured Chaos—bright, shifting, and wild, like broken mirrors reflecting different laws of nature every second.
Chaos and Void.
Similar yet different.
Naless Death didn’t wait on ceremony. He moved.
His right hand swept upward, and World Ender flas burst from his feet, propelling him forward like a cot.
He aid straight for Berserker’s throat.
Berserker t him halfway, laughing.
Their fists collided.
The world cracked.
A shockwave tore through the sand, lifting the dunes around them and hurling debris in every direction.
Naless Death spun, ducked under a wide strike, then drove his knee into Berserker’s side.
Berserker’s body didn’t even budge. He caught Naless Death’s arm and flung him back.
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