what if I'm an undead! then so what?-Chapter 60: Final showdown, Continental level threat

Elias’s golden eyes glinted dangerously as he closed distance with terrifying speed. Then came the punch.

A single, devastating blow that hit Kaien’s chest, powered by a primal force Elias wielded as easily as breathing. The impact echoed like thunder in the silent void, the synthetic armor crumpling beneath the pressure.

Kaien flew back, landing hard on the synthetic ground, cracks spiderwebbing out from the point of impact. The android’s body twitched, systems scrambling to recalibrate.

Elias stood still, muscles relaxed, as if the strike had been nothing more than a friendly tap. "You see, one thing I hate is when people understimate me! it bugs me out! if you’d simply transform them maybe two of us can be fighting at full power, Toe To Toe!"

However Kaien remained silent as he simply stated. "The ultimate power my master left me has unbounded potential with a single punch I can destroy countries or more and if I were to fight at full power this continent or the entire world might crumble this artificial world would not hold me!"

"I don’t just have the power to destroy countries myself, I also shatter expectations, you’ll come to learn it the hard way!" Elias spoke calmly this time he would force the android to it’s knees.

The android charged again, this time with a more complex attack—a series of rapid strikes designed to overwhelm. But Elias’s body moved with fluid grace, each movement calculated, every step measured. The primordial energy wrapped around his limbs in soft golden currents, amplifying his speed and strength while subtly warping the space around him.

A flicker of light, and Kaien’s fists struck empty air.

With a sly grin, Elias caught Kaien’s wrist, spinning him off balance. He landed a crushing elbow to the temple, enhanced with a ripple of energy that sent a shockwave through the synthetic skull beneath.

Kaien collapsed again, but even as he hit the ground, his eyes glowed cold and determined.

"You’re exceptional," Kaien admitted, voice low and grudging respect evident. "Not many can fight you and live."

Elias helped him to his feet—mockingly gentle.

"Congratulations," Elias said. "You’re officially outmatched."

Kaien glanced at Elias’s golden eyes and saw something ancient, something unyielding beneath the youthful exterior. A power that refused to be categorized or contained.

The fight was over. But the test? Just beginning.

Kaien stepped back, recalibrating once more. His estimation of Elias’s capabilities climbed steadily: from an anomaly with unknown energy, to a manipulator of fundamental essence, to something bordering on the godlike. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

"You hide a storm beneath that calm exterior," Kaien admitted, voice heavy with respect. "I underestimated you."

"Underestimate me again," Elias warned, voice sharp as a blade.

The synthetic sky above them darkened, a shadow passing through the artificial world as Elias extended his other hand, weaving his will through the very atoms suspended in the air. The ground beneath their feet trembled, the particles shifting, rearranging in patterns both beautiful and terrifying.

Kaien’s eyes flickered with uncertainty. "You bend existence, yet you do so without chaos. That is not natural."

Elias shook his head slowly. "Nature is what I define it to be. I am the weaver of the unseen."

The air thickened as Elias’s energy expanded—not violently, but with the inevitability of a gathering storm. Kaien raised his hands, preparing for the next assault, but his stance betrayed a new level of caution.

"You are no mere human," Kaien murmured. "You are an origin... a force of your own kind."

Elias met the declaration with a steady gaze. "And you, Kaien, are merely a reflection—a machine built to contain what you cannot comprehend."

Kaien’s expression hardened. "Then let us see if your origin can withstand my perfect design."

With a silent command, Kaien’s form blurred—movement impossible for a normal human, an echo of his synthetic perfection. Yet Elias was ready.

Their duel resumed—not just a clash of fists or power, but a dance of wills, each probing, each revealing a fraction more of their true strength.

Elias’s golden light pulsed in steady rhythm, a beacon of overwhelming certainty. Kaien’s blue eyes flickered, a silent admission that his initial calculations had fallen short.

The fight was far from over.

But in this moment, the balance had shifted—Elias had revealed enough to force Kaien to rethink, to see him not as an anomaly, but as a force that defied simple classification.

And that realization was only the beginning.

Realizing Elias’s combat potential exceeded simple testing, he amplified his nano technology with his point zero reactor creating multiple tendrill that moved individually, attacking Elias with accurate precision and speed.

Elias simply chuckled, although they were fast, they were merely moving at hypersonic speed,flexing his control over cosmic energy he created a time field around himself, creating a localized time point where the tendrils slowed down drastically while increasing his own speed he easily dodged the tendrils with preternatural reflexes, while unleashing a conceptual destabilization attack on the hardlight constructs, causing them to flicker and collapse.

Kaien’s expression briefly faltered—Elias was rewriting the rules of engagement. Not only had he used space related techniques he was also using time based abilities as well, was his abilities truly limitless, even still he was far from using his transformation, if he’d did the battle would have long ended.

Now, Kaien unleashed his full reactors output however not to create a direct attack but something instead began to form around him, an ethereal blue construct, Astra Machina—massive photonic wings unfolded, radiating energy, drones buzzing fiercely around him.

Elias’s eyes narrowed "Wow, is that like your soul Sentinel, too bad it’s weak if not I’d have summoned mine!" Elias teased, the air thick with charged primordial energy. He did not summon his Soul Sentinel but amplified his Energy manipulation, firing precision blasts of concentrated cosmic force.

The blasts tore through the drones, incinerating them mid-flight. Kaien countered by hardening his nano-carbon shell, launching rapid antimatter disruptor strikes. The vast plains shook violently as their strikes met.

Kaien’s AI recognized a critical upgrade: not only has his speed approached sub relative light speed, and his energy output was clearly gigaton-scale.

"You surpass my expectations," Kaien admitted. "Country level adversary." Although his calculations showed that they both were both country level and had the power to destroy an entire country with ease, he was however lacking in terms of everything, perhaps transforming might be the best choice, however he planned to do that as a last result, right now he had regarded Elias as more than another subject to evaluate but a Rival.

"Hope you’re not overdoing yourself to intimidate me into using my transformation?" Kaien couldn’t help but ask, from this fight alone he had greatly learned a lot of human humor from Elias. With that he knew his attitude and character and as such wanted to provoke him or atleast tease him.

Elias responded with a taunting smirk. "I’m just getting started."

Seeking a transformation to unleash true power, Kaien activated transformation protocols. His form shifted — hardlight wings expanded, tendrils flickered with antimatter energy, and his chrono-slip module flickered continuously, granting near-sub-light combat speed.

The surrounding mountain crumbled from their clashing blows. Elias remained calm, his primordial aura simmering beneath the surface. "I hope this is not your god mode?" Elias teased as they switched to close combat

battle, their combat speed almost reaching light speed, each clash shook the world around them.

Their battle became a symphony of kinetic energy and cosmic manipulation—Kaien’s antimatter blades clashing with Elias’s lawcraft-infused strikes.

Elias weaved primordial constructs into his attacks, subtly altering the fabric of their reality, bending the trajectory of Kaien’s strikes midair.

As the dust settled on the shattered mountainside,Kaien’s body seemed to had been be battered to the point that it could barely regenerate completely, even though he could match in speed and stamina, his strength and durability lacked.

Kaien’s voice grew serious.

[Final evaluation commencing: Continental level: Current Survival chance: 1%]

"It seems you’ve got me beat!" Kaien who for some reason didn’t want to use his ultimate technique said with a calm look on his face looking at the human in front of him whose abilities where just too complex.

They circled, exchanging verbal barbs.

"The difference between me and you is potential. I’m a natural born prodigy, while you are simply a programmed entity," Elias said with a sly grin.

Kaien’s optics glared. "Unpredictability is illogical. I was designed to outlast uncertainty. If I where to take my true form then I would become an entity that would also need evaluation."

Their final exchange exploded with a barrage of primordial energy and zero-point antimatter attacks, each strike shaking the very ground beneath them.

Elias’s tactical genius shone—he manipulated existential laws mid-fight, destabilizing Kaien’s constructs while preserving his stamina.

Kaien’s combat adaptation OS reached its limit, struggling to keep up with Elias’s unpredictability and lawcraft.

The fight was long, cinematic, and fierce—but Elias consistently maintained the upper hand.

At last, Kaien’s systems emitted a low warning tone. "Im afraid my Evaluation is complete, you are indeed above country level. A superior adversary." He said as he looked at his survival chance which had already hit zero, if he continued fighting he’d fall apart like dirt.

Elias smirked, the glow of primordial energy pulsing gently. "And you’ve just been officially outclassed."

"You moved well," Kaien observed, his voice smooth but edged with steel. "But I sensed more than that—something in your stillness. Tell me, Elias, what do you conceal beneath the surface?"

Elias chuckled softly, the sound echoing faintly in the empty space. "What I conceal is none of your concern. But since you asked..." He raised his hand slowly, fingers unfurling like a flower blooming in reverse. "Watch closely."

The air before him shimmered, subtle and delicate, as if the atoms around his fingertips danced at his command—twisting and weaving not by force, but by a quiet, unyielding will. It was not fire or light, not wind or shadow, but something else—an intimate dance of the very building blocks of reality, stirred gently by his presence.

Kaien’s eyes narrowed. "I see. You manipulate the fabric of the world itself."

"Not the world, I’m not that powerful, if I did you’d have died a long while ago" Elias corrected, voice low and deliberate. "The threads woven between the visible and invisible—the atoms that bind everything together. It’s an ancient force, older than any science or myth. Primordial Energy"

"I don’t need to rewrite reality. Just a little push here and there is enough."

Kaien paused, his mind running through his data banks, reanalyzing, recalibrating. His earlier estimate—that Elias was a mere anomaly—shifted. This was no ordinary anomaly. This was something else entirely.

Elias however saw that Kaien was trying to do a last minute praise but only saying I’d have killed you if I transformed or atleast that was what Elias thought, so how could he fall behind.

"You’re fast, but your movements are predictable. I bend the rules you don’t even know exist. This isn’t just strength or speed — it’s rewriting the very laws beneath your circuits." He paused as if trying to think of the next iconic line to say.

"Your blades might slice atoms, but I unravel the meaning behind those atoms. I would have liked to see how your transformation would power you, the we would have truly seen how long your AI can keep up when reality itself starts to question its code." Elias said this time he had truly outdone himself.

"So what you’re trying to say is you directly lack the raw power to fully alter reality?" Kaien questioned after noticing how easily Elias revealed details about his abilities.

"You think raw power wins? I use control—space, time, and energy, all woven just enough to tip the scales." Elias said with a smile as the scene around them changed back to the hallway, in real life only three minutes had passed which was something to be surprised about.