Jean Valéry absorbed the attack. The alchemical energy dispersed, absorbed by the gold shield of Jean’s Supreme Transmutation. Jean Valéry, his gold Transmutation intact, moved swiftly. He was about to breach the protection of the Orion vessel. The duel had begun!The pure, Primordial elemental energy—the very fire designed by Orion to annihilate Jean’s Ramuan core—slammed into the Master Alchemist’s newly acquired shield. Jean felt the incredible kinetic force, a pressure that could have disintegrated bone, but the Gold-Transmuted skin armor, stabilized by the Supreme Transmutation Ramuan, remained completely intact. The chaotic fire of Orion’s assault simply diffused across the layer of inverted Transmutation, neutralized by its superior, unyielding purity.Jean Valéry stood firm on the bow of his Auxiliary vessel, now shrouded by the remaining vapor of his previous anti-Transmutation blast, staring at the face of his eternal nemesis. The immense distance between their two ships, fr

"—run! Or sink with this Arsenal!"The single anti-matter spear, racing at impossible speed, impacted the center of Jean Valéry’s chest. His gold-plated skin, the armor of the Ultimate Transmutation, instantly flashed, but it did not shatter. Instead, the projectile—an ultimate void designed to cancel all elements—met Jean's absolute *inversion* power. The elemental nullification did not destroy his body; it completed the final, impossible Transmutation.Jean Valéry roared, his voice drowned by the colossal thrumming of the cosmic negation. He did not transmute a wall or fire a weapon. He Transmuted *himself* into the core of his newly established tactical reality. The final act of elemental reversal was complete: his Transmutation core was now a paradox, unyielding, impervious to both elemental and anti-matter threats."I am the Alchemist of the Black Sea!" Jean screamed, standing utterly still in the midst of cosmic chaos, chann

The lead battlecruiser stopped dead in the clear, pristine water, its Captain on the deck staring in disbelief at the perfect clarity beneath the keel. A massive silhouette was already visible in the astonishing depths: the restored, magnificent Kraken, circling its silent, stony master.The silence that enveloped the harbor was broken only by the rhythmic thrum of the French Naval vessel’s conventional engine, its sound unnaturally loud against the sudden, profound stillness of the purified sea. The pristine waters—deep blue, almost black in their perfection—reflected the midday sun with blinding intensity. The air itself smelled of absolute, elemental cleanliness: ozone mixed with pure, primordial salt.On the deck of the battered Auxiliary vessel, now heavily listing from the repeated Transmutation assaults, Jean Valéry lay utterly motionless. His body, completely sheathed in its agonizing casing of hardening, smooth volcanic stone, was bein

“—I will take what is mine! Surrender your crown! Captain Neptune watches! The Final Transmutation Duel is now!”The single shout, laced with the bitter residue of stolen primordial energy, sliced through the air, but Anton’s confidence was a cheap veneer barely concealing the sheer, undiluted fear in his eyes. Gaston, clutching the rough, volcanic stone crown, met the challenge with the unyielding stoicism of a newly forged sentinel. The crystalline aura of his complete Tidal Transmutation glowed intensely, amplified by the silent, powerful psychic transmission now emanating from the figure in the clear water below him: Jean Valéry, the living, petrified core of the entire operation."You are no king, Anton," Gaston rumbled, his voice low, filled with a resonant power that chilled the nearby spectators. He did not retreat. He stepped forward onto the podium. "You are merely the residue of the filth Jean cast aside. Our duel is over. You will

The single shout, laced with the bitter residue of stolen primordial energy, sliced through the air, but Anton’s confidence was a cheap veneer barely concealing the sheer, undiluted fear in his eyes. Gaston, clutching the rough, volcanic stone mahkota, met the challenge with the unyielding stoicism of a newly forged sentinel. The crystalline aura of his complete Tidal Transmutation glowed intensely, amplified by the silent, powerful psychic transmission now emanating from the figure in the clear water below him: Jean Valéry, the living, petrified core of the entire operation."You are no king, Anton," Gaston rumbled, his voice low, filled with a resonant power that chilled the nearby spectators. He did not retreat. He stepped forward onto the podium. "You are merely the residue of filth that Jean discarded. Our duel is over. You will be a sample for his new alchemy."Anton shrieked, firing his Transmuted Obsidium wire straight at Gaston’s chest, aimi