The moment they pierced into the black castle, Zatiel, Ezequiel, and Ragnar found themselves in a dark dimension with no light. The last two frowned as they felt the connection to the outside severed, shutting down their path out of Baator.
"A dark dimension created between layers upon layers of space, inside Baator's core. We have the power to break out, but it would take a long time and leave us full of opening." Zatiel spoke in a calm voice as he descended to the liquid floor.
Ezequiel and Ragnar understood they needed to win to get out of here. None cared that Zatiel did not tell them that before since it did not matter. They did not come to Nexus to test the enemy but to kill it and would not leave until they fulfilled their mission.
Once the trio reached the liquid floor, a suffocating evil aura flooded the entire dimension.
Zatiel and Ezequiel's eyes glowed with silver light as their Concept Suns materialized, negating the soul pressure. As for Ragnar, Baator's essence formed his soul, body, and energy, so he managed to resist without a drop in battle power.
The evil aura vanished after failing to affect the trio, but the dimension began to tremble with more and more power as a blue orb emerged from the liquid floor.
Zatiel, Ezequiel, and Ragnar narrowed their eyes and adopted a solemn expression as they saw that orb. That was the Soul Core of Existence from one of the strongest life forms known to the multiverse.
The orb was full of cracks, which leaked evil and powerful energy non-stop.
"¡BOOM!"
"¡BOOM!"
"¡BOOM!"
Three explosions echoed in the dark dimension as Zatiel, Ezequiel, and Ragnar flashed forward at full speed. Space-time beneath their feet had shattered due to the immense propulsion force they unleashed.
The enemy showed itself, so why would the trio hesitate to attack with all their power?
Zatiel's flaming bark armor materialized as the full power of his Omega Law and Astral Black Holes channeled in his red-blue lightsaber.
Ezequiel fused with Entropy as Equilibrium of Man and World channeled as much energy as possible from the dark dimension, coating his arms in powerful black-white lightning.
Ragnar's skin adopted a red metallic color as his Stars of End thrived with power, and Valhalla's slaughter aura reached its peak.
"¡BOOM!"
A blast that could have leveled a High World arose when the trio attack collided in the Soul Core of Existence.
"Crack!"
More and more cracks formed until finally, the blue orb shattered, unleashing an explosion several times stronger than the previous one.
"¡BOOOOMMMM!"
The explosion sent Zatiel, Ezequiel, and Ragnar flying away with large wounds on their bodies. Luckily, those healed in less than a nanosecond, thanks to the Life World Runes engraved in their chests.
As soon as they regained control over their bodies, the trio regrouped and pushed their focus to the limit. They destroyed the orb, but the force that was the Soul Core of Existence did not vanish.
In the sky of the dark dimension, all that evil aura began to condense into a humanoid form, and the power in it was striking.
Ezequiel and Ragnar glanced at Zatiel for an answer, as they did not fully comprehend what was happening.
To be honest, even Zatiel did not fully understand the Soul Core of Existence's change. It made sense since he had never reached this point in a battle against an entity like that.
Luckily, Zatiel's eyes allowed him to see the causality and mysteries of beginning and end.
"What we destroyed was its vessel, a container for its incredible power that, due to its nature, it could not control. Without the vessel, its energy will continue leaking until it fades from existence."
Ezequiel and Ragnar nodded, but they were still confused as they saw the evil aura in the sky. Although they wanted to attack, it was too ethereal even for life forms with their power.
"That is its final play. Now that its aura is free, it will use it to form an avatar of itself capable of fighting. It will slowly dissipate even if we don't do anything, but if my hypothesis is correct, it will try to devour us to achieve some sort of rebirth."
Zatiel showed a small smile as curiosity appeared in his eyes.
"Our bloodlines are so strong and pure that if it devours the three of us, it might reincarnate as Endless Darkness or at least some version of it. I must admit I am curious about what you would become if you succeeded. Sadly for you, I will not be the one dying today."
Zatiel's aura exploded, creating a dark-purple pillar illuminating the dark dimension. Ezequiel and Ragnar did the same, generating two more pillars of energy.
It did not take long for the evil aura to fully condense, and it fell to the liquid floor, showing its true form.
The avatar formed by the Soul Core of Existence had a demonic dragon head with red eyes and a muscular body covered by dark tentacles.
It resembled a perfect blend between Devils, Demons, and Eldritch, making the trio wonder if that was Endless Darkness's actual appearance.
"AHHH!" The Soul Avatar unleashed a strenuous roar as a corrosive aura emerged from its body and sought to flood the trio.
Zatiel, Ezequiel, and Ragnar pushed their auras to their zenith before fusing them into a single force and sending it against the Soul Avatar.
The two forces clashed, making the dark dimension tremble non-stop and flooding every corner of it with powerful and destructive energies capable of melting Rank 8 life forms.
The trio and the Soul Avatar send more and more strength into their aura, attempting to overwhelm the other, but neither could come on top.
All of a sudden and without any warning, Zatiel, Ezequiel, Ragnar, and the Soul Avatar retracted their auras before lunging at each other, full of killing intent.
A red-blue lightsaber, fists bathed in black-white lightning, and an ax covered in red aura faced two massive claws.
