Void Walker III

It was a test of identity.

Every slash asked one question:

Why did you stop being me?

Leon answered with a rising strike—imbued with Shell Pulse and his newly stabilized Echo Drive. The power wasn't pure violence.

It was refined control.

The blow knocked his echo-self back.

But the Echo grinned—and roared forward again.

The floor trembled.

Obsidian chains erupted from the ground, dragging Leon into a simulation of the same arena he'd once faced in the Ants' domain—Rank 51.

Blood. Fire. Dust.

And screams.

Voices of the weak, the enemies he'd cut down. Innocents caught in the crossfire.

"You won by losing yourself," the Echo said at last.

"You used everything. Became this. And then... you forgot me."

Leon's voice was steady. "I didn't forget."