Chapter 123: All for One.

Ramos, standing in the center of the battlefield, gently leaned Yuki against his shoulder. A tired smile adorned his face:

— I was on my way to join you... and I found him there, lying on the ground. He's pretty banged up, but he's still standing.

Sakolomé, eyes wide open:

— It's Yuki!

Salomé immediately rushed toward them:

— Yuki!!

The young man weakly opened his eyes upon hearing her voice. A slight smile stretched across his damaged lips:

— You're all here... Guys...

Salomé bent down toward him, moved but teasing:

— You took a beating, huh?

Yuki chuckled, his voice broken but alive:

— Yeah... But well. It was that or die. I'd rather hurt than be dead.

His gaze then slid toward Sakolomé, whom he observed for a moment before saying:

— You finally joined the party, too?

Sakolomé smirked:

— Glad to see you alive... partner.

He swept the group with his gaze, his friends, his sister, his comrades-in-arms. All marked, all tired, but standing.

Then, inwardly, he addressed Rivhiamë:

— See, Rivhiamë? See what they are? My brother, my sister, my friends... All wounded, at the end of their strength, but still holding on. They want to fight. They want to live.

A brief silence preceded the reply.

— ...You want me to heal them?

Sakolomé was taken aback.

— Huh? You can do that?

— Hold out your hand.

Without arguing, he obeyed.

A green light wrapped around his palm, then exploded into fine luminous particles that rose before gently falling... on each of his companions.

Sally, Grafay, Yuki, Nairo, Bakuran, ErMut, Salomé — all were enveloped by this rain of deep green mana, almost sacred.

Salomé, troubled, looked up:

— What is that...?

Sally closed her eyes, breathless:

— I... I'm recovering my strength. It's like everything is coming back!

The flow of mana faded.

Grafay jumped:

— Damn... I'm at 100%! I feel brand new! Hahaha! I could destroy a mountain right now!

Yuki, standing unaided, clenched his fist with determination. Nairo, meanwhile, smiled calmly and simply thought:

— Thank you, Sakolomé.

Sakolomé, now regenerated, slowly lowered his hand. A breath of emotion passed through his chest. He resumed inwardly:

— Thank you, Rivhiamë. Honestly... you might be the best thing that's happened to me lately. And at the perfect moment, too...

— I'm here to accompany you, Sakolomé... Until the end.

Ramos cracked his knuckles, a gleam of determination shining in his eyes:

— So... he's the guy we have to take down?

Salomé looked at him seriously:

— That guy, Ramos... is Grijan!

Ramos raised an eyebrow and observed the enemy for a moment, a bit skeptical:

— Grijan? You mean the Grijan? The former famous researcher? Honestly, he looks more like a monster than a legend.

Sakolomé, gaze tense:

— He's possessed. And the more we hit him, the more he adapts. He absorbs, analyzes... and ends up reproducing the techniques he suffers. A real nightmare.

Nairo, arms crossed and confident look:

— Good. He'll have plenty of techniques to copy then. We'll drown him in options!

Grafay, laughing, gave him a pat on the back:

— Have you noticed you're getting cooler and cooler with your badass lines?

Ramos stretched, cracking his back, then briefly turned his head toward Sakolomé:

— Thanks for the energy boost, man. I won't even tell you how hard it was helping evacuate the whole city. But now that I'm here... we can seriously kick his ass!

Grafay, mocking:

— Tss, don't start playing the hero. Once I'm done with him, you're next on my list.

Ramos shrugged, a smirk on his lips:

— Still so resentful, Grafay...

Salomé, a little lost, blinked:

— Wait... You two know each other?

Yuki, arms crossed, intervened with a bitter smile:

— Oh yes. Ramos worked in Monor City's police. He was the kind of guy we wanted to avoid. He stuck to us constantly, never letting go.

Salomé opened her eyes wide, then burst into a small laugh:

— Aaah... I see. That explains the vibe.

Ramos slowly opened his right eye, hidden until then behind a scar so deep everyone thought he was blind on that side. Salomé, Sakolomé, and Bakuran froze, stunned.

— Wait... He can open it?! whispered Salomé.

Yuki, with a smirk, calmly replied:

— Get ready to see his only unique skill. The one that calmed prisoners as formidable as Grafay and me... It's called "Absolute Injunction."

His eye is a living miracle, a power that imposes a single constraint in a domain of influence on a target. And this, irreversibly.

Salomé, shocked:

— You mean... he keeps his eye closed voluntarily?

Grafay, crossing his arms with a fierce smile:

— Exactly. And believe me, he's right to. That eye isn't just a gadget.

Ramos's eye shone. Ink-black, stained with incandescent orange veins, it seemed to pierce reality itself. He slowly closed the other eye, focusing fully.

He fixed Grijan, then pronounced gravely:

— INJUNCTION: CONSTRAINT.

Immediately, Grijan felt an invisible force crash down on him. His body froze, as if nailed by a divine law.

— What the...!? he growled, muscles tense, unable to move freely.

Ramos, relentless:

— Go ahead, kids. It's time.

Grafay leapt first, arms stretched by his elastic power, striking Grijan from all sides:

— So, what do you say?! HAHAHA!

Boom! Grijan was violently thrown to the side.

Nairo appeared behind him, his two arms surrounded by dark blue mana.

— It's my turn! he spat, before chaining devastating blows, each hitting like a cannonball.

Sakolomé pointed to the sky:

— Sally! Salomé! Bakuran! In formation!

— Got it!! they shouted in unison.

The group moved. Quick jump, stealthy displacement. A synchronized war dance.

Nairo finished his combo with a heel strike that launched Grijan into the air, where the titanic thorns of ErMut awaited.

— Taste this, vermin, growled ErMut as he pierced Grijan.

But barely impaled, Grijan smiled sadistically, raising a bloody hand. The ground trembled... and identical thorns sprouted around him.

— No... he copied my magic!? exclaimed ErMut, incredulous.

Ramos, implacable, opened his right eye again:

— INJUNCTION: CONSTRAINT!!

BOOM. An invisible force field crushed Grijan again, canceling his counterattack attempt. ErMut's thorns sank fully, causing a spray of blood. Grijan screamed.

Sakolomé and Salomé took advantage of the opening. They jumped simultaneously, fists clenched, aura vibrating around them.

— DOUBLE KILLER PUNCH!!!

Their two fists fused in a monumental impact, breaking the thorns and sending Grijan crashing to the ground, creating a gaping crater.

But the monster moved again...

Barely had he raised his hands when a silver gleam shot forth.

Slash! Slash!

Sally's twin swords had just cleanly severed both his arms.

— Want to regenerate? Sally said coldly, eyes icy.

— Then try doing it without that skill. Because I just cut it off.

Grijan's body, amputated of his arms, seemed finally immobilized. Blood rained onto the cracked ground. Sally remained on guard, swords still smoking.

But a strange shiver ran through the air.

A smirk appeared on Grijan's mutilated face.

— You thought... it would be that simple? he spat.

— I've already synthesized everything.

Suddenly, his left eye opened, radiating black light interlaced with orange veins, identical to Ramos's.

Ramos, shocked:

— That's... my power?! No... he copied it?!

Grijan raised his head, his mutant eye focused, and murmured with a demonic voice:

— Counter-Injunction: Triple Constraint.

An invisible wave of energy swept the arena.

Ramos, ErMut, and Bakuran, who were about to pounce on him, were instantly paralyzed, frozen like statues.

— That's... impossible! growled Ramos, gritting his teeth.

— He even copied the irreversible effect!

Bakuran, paralyzed, shouted:

— Damn, he can even steal unique abilities now?!

ErMut, muscles tense:

— We have only one option left. Make him disappear... now!!

But Grijan was already starting to get up, dark veins running along his armless body, a black aura distorting the space around him.

— You can do nothing now, I have surpassed the stage of a mere being... I am adaptation incarnate!

Yuki suddenly stepped in. His body vibrated with an intense violet glow. His eyes shone, penetrating the very spiritual plane.

— You adapt? Fine. Adapt to this.

He stretched out his right hand, and a sphere of violet light burst from his palm.

It began to pulse, then saturated the space around Grijan with a spiritual atomic wave.

— Technique: Atomic Soul Eraser.

Grijan screamed, taken by surprise. His body was pierced at the soul level, his flesh slowly withering under the effect of metaphysical deconstruction.

But he still resisted, his demonic will reacting.

At the same moment, Sakolomé closed his eyes.

— Rivhiamë... Lend me your mana please. We're going further.

Rivhiamë, inwardly:

— Very well. Let's transcend erasure.

Mana Alteration: Take all you want!!!

Sakolomé's mana changed radically in hue. From pure green, it shifted to an iridescent white light, immaculate. A halo of silence spread in the air.

Sakolomé extended his hand toward Yuki's sphere, infusing it with Rivhiamë's mana.

The result was instantaneous.

The disintegration turned into absolute erasure.

Body? Dissolved.

Mind? Annihilated.

Soul? Erased.

Grijan opened his eyes wide. He tried to scream, but even his consciousness was denied.

— NOOOOOOOOOOO— ...

But he didn't have time to exist long enough to finish his cry.

In a fraction of a second, he vanished entirely from the world.

The ground, the skies, space, and even karma seemed to breathe a moment of relief.

Silence. Then a gust.

Ramos, free again, whistled:

— ...Erased down to the idea of his name. Impressive.

ErMut caught his breath, sweat beading on his forehead:

— I... I don't feel him at all anymore.

Sally closed her eyes, her sword still in hand:

— Even the void is chattier than what he became.

Sakolomé, arms lowered, looked at Yuki with gratitude:

— Thank you... partner.

Yuki, panting but smiling:

— You did the real work. I couldn't have done it without your mana.

Nairo stepped forward, speaking softly:

— It's over... this time, it's really over.

All remained silent for a moment, feeling the fragile peace of a battle finally won... but not without cost.