The sky was a shattered canvas of light and power.
Atsuya Ren hovered midair, his breath ragged. "What… what are you?" he whispered, eyes wide. Riku's Divine Avatar form radiated with ethereal power, his silver-grey hair drifting in unseen currents and eyes glowing like crystallized stars.
Riku answered without malice, just calm certainty. "I'm the one who'll stop you."
With that, he vanished in a blink.
Atsuya barely had time to react before Riku reappeared above him and struck down with a radiant palm to the chest. The force knocked Atsuya spiraling toward the earth like a broken comet, crashing into the ground with a thunderous boom.
Dust and debris rose in a towering wave. Riku slowly descended, landing beside the fallen rogue S Rank. Atsuya groaned, barely conscious.
"Still breathing," Riku muttered, eyes softening. "Good."
Just then, his AI system sparked to life in his mind:"Target subdued. Clap and say 'Absorb' to initiate Essence Integration."
Riku hesitated. "Wait… won't that kill him? If I absorb his soul—"
"Negative," the AI responded. "This integration will not harm the host. You will not take his soul. You will acquire the same Essence he mastered: Zephyr Ascendancy—flight and aerial dominance."
Riku exhaled deeply, stepping forward. "Alright…"
He clapped his hands."Absorb."
A pulse of light encased Atsuya's body, and arcs of sky-blue energy flowed into Riku's chest like flowing wind. The Divine Avatar dimmed but remained faintly glowing.
"Soul Assimilation Initialized. Three of Twelve Unlocked."
Suddenly, Riku's feet lifted off the ground.
The wind itself seemed to bend to his will as he hovered upward — weightless, free. He stretched his arms out, and a translucent set of wings formed behind him made of pure Essence.
Then, fatigue hit.
His vision blurred, his breath caught in his chest, and his aura flickered out. He began to plummet.
Down.
Down—
But just before he hit the ground, hands caught him.
A group of Essence warriors and civilians who had been watching rushed beneath him, holding him aloft.
"Riku!"
"He's falling!"
"We got him!"
They lifted him up over their shoulders, cheering wildly. A crowd had gathered in the aftermath of the battle, and their voices rang out in unison:
"RI-KU! RI-KU! RI-KU!"
He lay there, exhausted, eyes closing as the cheers thundered in his ears. Yumi arrived moments later, pushing through the crowd, her eyes wide and worried. But when she saw him smirking faintly, eyes half-lidded with pride, she exhaled in relief.
Riku had won again.