Ben's eyes flickered as doubt crept in. But then, A face surfaced in his mind.
Elvira. She was still in this world. Still fighting. He could try to convince her to go with him.
The answer is clear as day, No.
She was a regressor. She had a purpose, to change the future. She wouldn't abandon that.
Then another question rose, 'Would he be satisfied with that kind of life?'
But he knew himself. Eventually, he'd grow bored.
What joy was there in ruling without resistance? What thrill in dominating a world so small?
He wasn't just some wanderer. He was a Hive Sovereign. Not meant to be caged in a small planet like Earth.
His eyes locked on Apophis. And with calm finality, he said, "This is my answer."
Aether surged around his arm, than in quick motion, He punched. Apophis barely had time to widen her eyes before the blow connected.
The impact tore the illusion apart. Glass shattered from every building. The street cracked open beneath their feet, and the fake city skyline rippled like a disturbed reflection.
Apophis flew backward, crashing through a concrete column that didn't exist a second ago, splinters of false reality scattering like ash.
She hit the ground, rolled once, and rose laughing. She charged.
Their bodies collided in midair with a thunderous shockwave, space around them cracking like thin ice. Ben blocked her claw swipe, countered with a spinning backhand that split the air in two. Apophis ducked low, slid beneath, then sent a black spear of liquid death through the floor beneath him.
Ben reacted instantly, appendages bursting from his back like a nest of bladed wings, slamming the ground and launching him up and over the blast.
Apophis leapt after him, wings of void igniting. They collided again, fist to fist.
Their powers screamed against each other, black and gold exploding in all directions. Shards of fractured space whirled around them like razors.
Ben twisted midair, slammed his elbow into her shoulder, then gripped her wing and hurled her downward.
She smashed into the street, crater forming beneath her, but caught herself with one hand, flipping up with inhuman grace.
Her eyes gleamed. "Are you sure, you won't regret this?"
Ben dropped like a missile, feet first,
He landed atop her strike, forcing her arms down as the ground beneath them caved in.
They fell into the dark. Layers of the crumbling illusion peeled away like burning paper, revealing void storms howling through shattered seams of reality. And still, they fought.
Ben's feet struck unstable ground first, but Apophis was already there, coming from the shadows. Her blade of condensed aether slashed horizontally, he ducked, letting it rip across his shoulder, blood spraying out in a hiss.
He roared in pain, but didn't slow. With a snarl, he spun low and drove a gravity spike straight into her chest. The impact bent space inward, her ribs cracking with a sickening thud.
She screamed, not in pain, but fury, and twisted, grabbing his arm and dragging him forward into a knee to the gut, then uppercutting him through a floating slab of broken reality.
Ben bounced once, hit the edge of a void fissure, and kicked off it like a springboard, closing the gap between them in a blink.
He punched. She dodged.
She clawed. He blocked.
They collided again, a shockwave cracking the air in all directions.
Their auras exploded, black and gold, gravity and water, ripping through the disintegrating world like colliding gods.
Apophis suddenly come in close, locking one arm behind his neck, her face inches from his.
Her eyes burned with confusion.
"Why are you doing this?!"
She shoved him back with a concussive blast.
"You were pulled into this world by force!" she shouted, lashing out with dark tendrils. "You're not a player! You gain nothing from this war!"
Ben dodged, slashed the tendrils apart with his pickaxe, and charged again.
"You even tore the system off your soul," Apophis spat. "Now both Travelers and Daemons will want you dead! You've made enemies of everyone."
Ben crashed into her, drove his knee into her side, and flung her against a shattered shard of floating ground. She rebounded, hovering midair, panting, blood dripping from her mouth.
"Do you really think you'll survive what comes next?"
Ben stood across from her, battered but steady. His eyes glowed with calm, grim fire.
"That's not for you to worry about."
A pause. Then Ben walked forward through the smoke.
"As for a reason… do you really think I need more than this?"
His eyes glinted cold.
"I want something they'll never allow. That's reason enough."
Behind him, a black halo ignited, swirling at the tip of his pickaxe, pulsing like a living eclipse.
Apophis narrowed her eyes.
'It hasn't even been that long since he devoured my dark aether… and he's already using it ?'
The halo was compressed dark aether, merged with the weapon's energy.
Something improvised, Something Ben thought up mid-fight.
He raised the pickaxe and pointed it at her.
"Come, Devourer of Light," he said, his voice low and absolute.
"Let's see which of us breaks first."
Apophis's expression flickered. "A Sovereign… you say that word a lot. But are you sure that desire is even yours?"
She stepped forward. "Didn't you become the Hive Sovereign because of the system? Aren't you the vessel?
A recycled shell? Don't you wonder if the old soul, the real owner, is creeping back in?"
Ben's smile didn't falter.
"You think I'm worried about that?"
He took another step forward, the halo crackled with energy.
"Apophis… I consumed you. A high level daemon. Why would I fear anything else?"
"If that soul tries to take over, " he raised the pickaxe higher, "I'll eat it too."
"And if it already merged with mine?" He smiled. "Then that just means both of us are me now."
"You're really stupid."
Ben smirked, "Well say what you want, this stupid will become your master either way."