Dancing Beyond the Limit

(I can see it...)

The world was no longer a sequence of images; for Shija, reality had decomposed into an architecture of force lines and flows of pure information.

(BA-ZAGYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-SHIIIN!!)

In the midst of the storm of pressurized tar and lightning, his eyes with concentric patterns spun with frantic speed, processing billions of variables per microsecond.

(.... I wonder... is this how you perceived things...?)

In that moment, Shija was reaching a state of perception that transcended the human—an absolute synchronicity with the fabric of existence, drawing closer and closer to the kind of perception in which Melioris resided.

(VROOOOOOO-MMM-Sshhhh!!!)

It wasn't simply seeing; it was feeling the pulse of all beings and things.

(HYUUUU-OOOO-OOOO-SHAAAAAAAAA!!)

Shija could read the tar's intent before it even moved...

{Here it comes again!!}

He saw the currents and wave fluctuations that each action generated before it even happened.

(... This feeling I am experiencing)

In the middle of the sky, dancing between lightning and tar, Shija was evolving.

(It is so lonely...)

In that moment, reacting to the warning from the doll's consciousness, Shija let himself fall.

(DOGYA-ZA-ZA-ZA-ZA-ZA-ZA-ZA-ZA-ZA-ZA-ZA-ZA-ZA-N!!)

Due to that action, he evaded thousands of lightning bolts intertwining within the liquid mass of cursed energy, which released constant internal explosions inside the wave as it tried to consume them.

(... But... at the same time...)

And in the midst of his fall, his feet—which previously sought non-existent support in the void—found traction on the energy currents circulating through the chromatic air.

(This is... fun...)

With a fluid and elegant movement, he began to dance.

(ZRAAAKKKK-KSHHHHHHHH-EEEEEEEE!!)

He glided through the pressure currents like a skater on crystalline ice, using the very composition of which everything was formed to move forward.

(... This feeling is confusing)

Each jet of pitch the beast hurled at him became a ramp; each sonic wave, a springboard.

(SHIN-VRAAA... ZHUOOOM... SHIIIIIN!!!)

From the outside, Shija looked like a flash of light tracing an impossible arc across the firmament.

(And yet, my mind feels so calm)

His body moved with an inertia that defied logic, spinning on its own axis at acute angles, leaving behind a trail of stardust and blood vapor...

(In this state, I don't feel that... No... That’s a mistake...)

The flow of the tar had a rhythm, a frequency of pain that repeated itself.

{Hey... I’m sorry to pull you out of the zone... But things are getting apocalyptic!!}

Shija submerged himself in that rhythm.

{Is it spreading like a damn virus?!}

Every time a shadow claw tried to catch him, he was no longer there; he glided along the very edge of the attack, brushing against the darkness with a manic smile that never vanished from his lips.

{Dammit, stop aura farming and start thinking about how to get out of this!!}

He was "dancing" on the frontier of annihilation.

"... Everything will be fine."

At that moment, the tide of cursed pitch was consuming the heavens and infecting the ground, corrupting and withering everything that came into contact with its constantly expanding mass.

{YOU THINK SO?!}

As more time passed, the liquid mass grew larger and larger until the scene had become a nightmare...

"... Even so... there is no problem..."

And yet, despite the situation, Shija remained calm, muttering as he slashed through the mass once again.

{It seems you didn't understand the question... So I'll repeat... Under what damn logic are you so sure?!}

As he moved, the air around his body began to crystallize due to the density of his presence, and the thread sword began to emit a high-frequency funeral dirge.

"Then I will answer you..."

Advancing, Shija positioned himself in an updraft, remaining suspended for an instant above the source of the infection...

"BECAUSE TOGETHER, WE ARE NOT GOING TO LOSE!!"

And with one final shout, he brought the dance to its first climax.

(KRA-TA-CHHHH-OOM!!!)

As a result, the air fragmented under the pressure of a display of technique that bordered on the divine.

"KYŌGETSU STYLE: ZENITH!!"

Shija—gliding through energy currents with the grace of a predator that has learned to walk on the wind—halted his dance for a split second.

"Shinkū no Rin!!" (Vacuum Ring)

With his eyes fixed on his target, Shija unleashed a slash, smiling savagely and reflecting a devastating brutality.

(SHIIIIIIII—KRA-KOOOOM!!!)

The wave resulting from such a slash did not just cut; it erased.

(BUUUUUUMMMM!!!)

The generated shockwave expanded from the edge of his blade, dealing a direct hit to the main form of the tar beast.

(BHHHOOOOOOOO-MNNNNNNGGGGGG-GRRRR!!)

The heat and frequency of the technique were so extreme that the liquid mass did not disperse; instead, it evaporated instantly.

{Very epic and all... but...}

Billions of liters of accumulated trauma turned into a dense black mist that blanketed the field of vision for a second...

{... at this point...}

Only for the atmosphere itself to condense immediately afterward, in the blink of an eye.

{Haven't we tried this already?!}

And thus, the curse reformed in the heights, manifesting from the cotton candy clouds as a descending waterfall of cataclysmic proportions.

"Then we will try again and again, over and over!!"

Soon, a rain of hate descended before Shija and the doll’s consciousness in dispute, trying to suppress them.

{I hate being the voice of reason so much...}

However, performing at an even higher level despite losing more and more of the sensations in his being, Shija evaded every single drop of tar.

"HA... HAHA... HAHAHAHAHA!"

But the "matter" the liquid came into contact with began to mutate.

(KRA-SHHHH-GROOOO-AAAAA-RRRR!!!)

It began to unite and fuse with the very matter of the ground, the clouds, and every being it reached, assimilating their structures to learn and evolve.

"That’s it! GROW!!"

And in response to such an action, Shija—laughing maniacally in a deranged fashion—only provoked it...

{Do you have any idea how much effort it takes to keep you together and working beyond the limit?!}

And immediately, ignoring the plea of the doll—who was working desperately to prevent Shija from being "dispersed" into nothingness—he flexed his knees against the solid air.

"But you can take me even further, right?!"

At that moment, the energy filaments beneath his feet exploded in silver sparks as he propelled himself once more.

{What an idiotic question... Of course I can!!}

The doll’s consciousness took internal control of Shija’s structure, forcing it to move even further beyond its limits, tensing and swelling his internal framework to squeeze out even more power.

(BANG!!!)

Thus, turned into an arrow of light, Shija launched himself straight toward the chest of the new and greater monstrosity, leaving behind a trail of vapor and a burst of laughter that defied all reason.

(KRA-TA-KOOM!!!)

However, the colossus's new aberrant form—a nightmare of tar, stone, sugar, and metal—reacted by unleashing a flurry of simultaneous attacks from every imaginable angle.

(ZHUOOM—ZHUOOM—ZHUOOM!!)

The liquid and solid matter of its body fragmented into billions of vectors released from every direction.

(D-D-D-D-DRRRRR-THOOM-THOOM-B-B-BANG!!)

From its solid chest, thousands of sharp stone stakes erupted, released with a constant cadence.

(SLOORP-VRAAA-KRRRRSSHHHH-FROOOOM!!)

From the ocean of pitch below, colossal tentacles the size of skyscrapers rose like hydraulic whips.

(K-K-K-K-K-RAAAAA-TCH-TCH-TCH-TCH-BOOOM-SHHHH!!)

From the condensed atmosphere, drops of pressurized tar fell like supersonic shrapnel.

(SLOORP-VRAAA-KRRRRSSHHHH-FROOOOM!!)

And from the titan's own structure, fluid tendrils stretched out to weave a web of shadows, attempting to stifle Shija's light.

"HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAAAA-A-HAAAAAAA-HAAAAA!!"

Nevertheless, despite everything, Shija lunged forward without a hint of fear...

{I will never complain about Echidna's workload ever again!!}

His feet, wrapped in sparks, surfed upon the shockwaves of the attacks themselves.

(ZHUOOM—VRAA-SHIN—KRA-KOOM!)

With a fluid motion of his hips and shoulders, the spears passed millimeters from his skin, cutting only the strands of his ashen-white hair that floated in the void.

"HE-HE-HA-HA-HA-HYA-HYA-HYA-HAAAAAAA!!"

Without halting his momentum, Shija spun on his axis like a terminal top of light.

(CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-KRA-SHHH!)

His thread sword became a shield of vibrating frequency; every time a tar tentacle tried to lash him, Shija didn't block it head-on, but deflected it with micro-impacts on the blade.

"Faster! It’s too slow!"

In mid-air, Shija executed a backward dance step, dodging a blast of pressurized pitch that would have pulverized a building.

{Then keep up with my rhythm!!}

As the torrent passed to his right, Shija extended his left arm, using the airflow generated by the attack to pivot in the void while his body began to fragment under the pressure.

(BANG!!)

Every time his sword connected with the titan's solid mass, an explosion was unleashed...

(ZHUOOM—ZHUOOM—ZHUOOM!)

For every attack from the abomination—stakes, whips, tides of pitch—Shija responded with three cuts of surgical precision.

(K-THUMP... K-THUMP...!)

And finally...

"!!"

(K-THUMP... K-THUMP... K-THUMP-K-THUMP-K-THUMMMMM!!)

... The moment he had been waiting for.

"Yes... I can hear you..."

It had arrived.