5th Day of the 1st Fire Cycle[1], 2000, g.c.
The countryside went quiet.
I mean, that shit went sonically absent like the middle of deep space. Weighted, too—this was that heavy kind of silence that sat on your chest. The shit that made the world feel like it was holding its breath. After everything that happened that night—the explosions, the shockwaves, the screaming winds—you would've thought something else would've cracked the sky by now. But when the fusion finished forming... it was like the morning itself pressed the mute button on Gaia.
The blue sun started creeping higher over the ruined horizon, spilling pale light across shattered hills and scorched plains. That glow painted the battlefield in soft blues and pinks that didn't match the destruction at all. Behind us, Steez and Alex stared. Forgetting to blink. Not moving. Just studying a nigga like they were trying to solve a puzzle their brains weren't instructed on. I felt it through our shared senses—the way their emotions bounced between excitement and straight-up anxiety. And honestly? I couldn't blame them. Because the thing standing there now... wasn't exactly me anymore.
Now officially called Xida, the presence pouring off our body carried a divine pressure that normal people couldn't even sense. Yet, it was dense. Like gravity wrapped inside light, stuffed inside a damn void. Steez was trying his hardest to gauge it. I could see his senses reaching out, reading the density of our mana signature the way he'd done before. But every time he thought he found the ceiling... it just kept going. His brow furrowed.
Alex wasn't doing much better. Danica's knowledge about God Qi helped him recognize the divine nature of what he was feeling, but the raw magnitude of it had his mind lagging like an old computer.
Finally, Alex pushed his white hair out of his face and let out a low whistle.
"How the hell did y'all do that? And damn, y'all got that shit on, too."
Steez nodded immediately, eyes still locked on us.
"Nah, fo' real, that fit tough. Plus, your signature feels insane. Not even Brodie Xi has shown this kind of pressure growth."
Our lips curled slightly. Xida tilted his head, wings of flowing violet-emerald mana rippling behind us like a ghostly smoke caught in invisible wind.
"Xida doesn't have long. So Xiro or Luda will have to explain everything to you both, later."
Our eyes shifted sharply. Eighty yards behind us. Standing there like he had all the time in the universe.
"...As for now."
Our gaze hardened.
"I have a heavenly spider to stomp the hell out of."
Steez and Alex might've been confused as hell about what exactly they were looking at. But the moment they noticed our eyes, their tension melted. Inside our irises, new gankyils rotated slowly—three-layered halos of color dancing around the pupil.
Indigo. Crimson. Gold.
The triune display of my [Heaven's Kaleidoscope: Kaleidoscope Eyes] glowed with a brilliance neither of them had seen before. I couldn't help but wonder if the change of colors meant the gankyils were always different for the soul that wielded them. Still, something about that familiar ability shining through this new form reassured them.
We weren't losing.
Not today.
Still... there were things about this fusion that felt strange to me. One of the biggest differences with sharing half a soul was the silence. Normally, my two Vessel Skills buzzed in the background of my mind. Like distant voices whispering calculations and warnings. But now? Nothing. No chatter. No automated responses. The same went for the warmth from my [Guardian Armaments]. Everything felt manual—like when I entered [Trance], where the system stopped holding my hand and just let me cook. Then there was the other feeling I couldn't ignore.
Eyes. A lot of them. Magickal ones. Our fight had pulled attention from damn near everywhere. I could feel observation spells locking onto our location from distances that made no sense. Different energies. Different techniques. People across Gaia were watching. Waiting. Curious.
That wasn't gonna work for me. Or Luda. If we were about to really throw hands with Orion, we needed somewhere we could wreck without an audience. So we looked up. Past the clouds. Past Gaia's moons. Past the edges of the star system itself. Our sight stretched across the void until it landed on a neighboring star—large, red, and old. One planet circling it. Absent of life.
"Perfect."
Xida grinned.
"Found one."
Behind us, Alex cracked his knuckles.
"Aye, Xida, punch him in his ugly ass face for me."
Steez snorted.
"Double that, Brodie Squared."
We gave them a lazy salute.
"Say less."
Before we gave Orion our full attention, something bugged me. Actually... three somethings. We tried calling our weapons.
Nothing happened.
Both Luda and I reached for our [Guardian Armaments]… and both of us got the same cold response from the summons.
"You are not my master."
I blinked. Luda blinked.
Then Xida sighed.
Either the system was being stubborn as hell... or our weapons were acting like bratty little smart-asses over a technicality. Didn't matter. We didn't need them.
Xida stepped forward once. To everyone else watching, it looked like teleportation. But really? We just moved that damn fast. In a blink, we stood right in front of Orion. His eight blue eyes widened slightly as they studied us. Like a scientist staring at a miracle. Orion tried to keep his usual composed expression, but the corners of his mouth betrayed him. Dude was smiling with those weird-ass fangs sticking around his mouth. Under the still air, though... I caught another scent. One he was trying to mask—fear.
"Now this is the kind of display I was hoping to see," he said slowly.
"The true use of the Abraxas Code beyond average means."
His eyes gleamed.
"To think that you two would recreate an Axion... I thought those died with the First Stellar Kingdom Cycle."
He kept going, rambling about how Axions were counterparts to Muons... how Elohim Laniakea helped Destini wipe them out after Xero's defeat. Honestly? We weren't really listening. Instead, we stretched our arms over our head. Flexed our fingers. Rolled our shoulders. Getting a feel for that new body. Because of the magickal strength I was feeling inside it was absolutely wild. While we moved, the aura around Xida reacted with the rising sunlight. Magitons clustered thick around our body, bending the rays of the blue sun itself. The sky shifted. The sun dimmed behind Xida's aura. Across Gaia, millions looked up to see dawn turn into twilight.
Steez's jaw dropped.
"Ayo, a solar eclipse? That's tough as fuck."
Alex squinted at the sky.
"Whoa, what happened to the daylight?"
Orion tilted his head.
"Are you having trouble controlling your mana?"
His eyes narrowed.
"You're pouring all of it out through your spiritual aura."
Xida chuckled softly.
"All of it?"
We cracked our neck.
"That's just the extra mana I'm struggling to keep contained."
To prove the point, we threw a couple of lazy shadowboxing punches. Then we stepped into one real swing. The punch never touched him. But the air did. A blade of compressed wind sliced past Orion's face. The force exploded outward like a cannon. The razor wind tore across the battlefield. Before Orion even realized what happened—
A thin line opened across his cheek. Silver blood. The wind from that punch kept traveling. It slammed into a distant hill behind him with a thunderous boom. The entire landmass detonated into dust and rubble.
Orion didn't flinch. He calmly touched the cut on his face. The flesh repaired itself instantly. But his eight blue eyes never left us. Inside his mind, calculations started racing.
"His Soul Core is producing dangerous amounts of God Qi."
"If I wait long enough, he'll kill himself from the overlo—"
He thought too long. That was his mistake.
We kicked forward. Our foot swept his legs out from under him so fast the air cracked. Orion's body lifted sideways into the air—
Before gravity could even react—
Our fist slammed into his face.
BOOM.
The impact spiked him into Gaia's surface like a meteor. A multi-mile crater erupted outward, the ground splitting under the force like it had just eaten several nukes at once. But we weren't done. As his body bounced from the impact, we grabbed his face mid-air. Palm wrapped around his skull like we were palming a basketball.
Xida grinned.
"Let's take this somewhere different."
Our eyes flicked toward the sky. Then we jumped. With [Axis Flight] boosting the movement, we launched off the planet at a speed photons envied. Back on Gaia, Steez and Alex watched our afterimage fade. Their voices echoed up from the crater.
"Booooo!"
"Aye, that's some bullshit!"
The moment our presence left the atmosphere, the overbearing pressure vanished. The air relaxed. Like Gaia itself finally took a deep breath. Out in the void of the elliptical galaxy, we crossed six light-years in three seconds. Our destination? A neighboring red star system. The planet orbiting it was basically a failed star—an iron-heavy brown dwarf with cracked orange crust and gray metallic plains.
The sky glowed with a nasty mix of piss-yellow and blood-red reflections from the star overhead. The atmosphere was thin. Toxic gases floated like poison fog. Gravity pressed heavier than Gaia's. For normal folks? Instant death. For us? Didn't mean shit. [Self Sustain] kept everything running smoothly.
Our arrival wasn't gentle. Xida slammed Orion into the ground like an asteroid. Metallic soil exploded outward, carving a trench miles long. The dead world echoed the impact. We floated above the crater with arms folded. Grinning. Xida's wings of living mana morphed behind us into an ethereal cape, ghostly streams dancing through the toxic winds and wrapping around us like a trapped flag. The air smelled like rust. And sulfur.
Below, Orion's thoughts raced.
"He's damaging my Soul Frame with mana-laced physical attacks. And that hellfrost is slowing my regeneration..."
"This Axion could actually return me to the Well of Souls. I may have to use [Fragile] again."
The six-armed Angel pulled himself from the dirt, black frost still clinging to parts of his body. He grabbed his left shoulder and shoved it back into place with a wet pop. Then he looked around at the alien sky before glaring up at us.
"You brought us to a dead world?"
His voice dripped with sarcasm.
"Is this a proclamation of victory?"
Xida snorted.
"Sounds like you don't like the new backdrop."
We cracked our knuckles.
"Don't worry, anywhere we go will have the same outcome."
Our cape flared slightly.
"Xida winning..."
A slow grin spread across our face.
"And you getting your ass beat."
Orion laughed.
Actually laughed.
"I'm not the type to commonly see defeat, you amalgamated cretin."
His eight eyes burned bright.
"This Stellar Kingdom Cycle, I am fated to become the new High King Supreme. The position once held only by Xero the Abraxas."
"Fate has stated that I do not fall upon your blade."
Xida raised an eyebrow.
"You speak to Xida like I'm following the script of that terrible writer you call fate."
We shrugged lazily.
"Xida's only here because Xiro and Luda couldn't settle who got to kill you first."
We raised our index finger. Mana gathered instantly. Omnis Mana. Every affinity blended together. An ultraviolet sphere formed above our fingertip, swirling with chaotic energy. The orb darkened toward black at its center while an iridescent halo shimmered around it like oil on water. Inside it, magitons danced violently. We held it together casually by manipulating their quarks.
Orion's jaw tightened. Hubris still covered his face—but beneath it, fear lingered louder.
"Time to prove to you and everyone else, no being is equal to me or my potential."
Xida tilted his head.
"Why would Xida worry about the potential of someone beneath me?"
The words hit him hard. Orion inhaled slowly. Then he moved. His artifact dagger appeared in his hand again while Gamma Webs stretched between the fingers of his other hands. This time, though? No smile. No curiosity. His Soul Frame began burning Ether at full force. Divinity erupted around him like a blazing inferno made of pure magickal aura.
The next round was about to start.
The dead world howled around us.
Winds screamed across the iron plains at over eight hundred miles an hour, dragging metallic dust across the ground in violent spirals. The red supergiant hanging in the sky burned like a swollen wound, staining the heavens in shades of crimson and dying amber.
But the real shadow covering the planet came from us. The Omnis Mana swirling around Xida gathered like a newborn star cupped in our hand. The sphere had grown to the size of a mountain range—layers of violet, gold, emerald, and abyssal black folding into one another while magiton clusters spun like galaxies trapped inside glass.
The air vibrated from the pressure alone. Then Xida flicked his wrist. The satellite-sized orb tore forward through space toward Orion. The moment it left our hand, we vanished behind it—our body slipping into the blind spot of its radiance to avoid the explosion that was about to turn half the planet into stardust.
As the sphere raced across the battlefield, the scent of burning iron and sulfur thickened in the wind. Mana radiation twisted the atmosphere, sweetening the metallic stink into something almost intoxicating.
Orion didn't move. Not even a step. He lifted the artifact dagger calmly, murmuring a chant like he was ordering tea.
"Letting in the sunshine—[Fragile: Long Distance Runaround]."
The moment the words left his lips, the world bent.
The sphere stopped. At least... it looked that way. But our eyes could see what was really happening. Orion's skill wasn't freezing the projectile for real. Nah. That slick fucker was stacking space itself. Every instant, new layers of spatial fabric unfolded between him and the incoming sphere—thousands, millions, billions of microscopic distances being inserted in front of him. The attack kept traveling. But the distance to Orion kept increasing infinitely.
A perfect defense. The orb would never reach him. Orion smiled slightly.
Then he stabbed the massive sphere with the tip of his dagger like he was poking a water balloon. That showed the loophole in his trick. The ability only affected distance in one direction.
His voice dropped into a familiar murmur.
"Disable—[Fallen Death: Samael]."
The dagger's edge flashed. And just like that... The colossal sphere dissolved. The chaotic Omnis Mana collapsed into shimmering clusters of magitons that scattered like glowing dust before evaporating into the aether. A continental-level explosion—gone. Erased at the point of a long knife.
It should've been a victory moment for him. But Orion had already made the mistake of taking his eyes off Xida. And we took full advantage of that. Before he could blink—
Arms wrapped around him from behind. Not just two. Six. Our wings of flowing mana had shifted shape mid-movement, condensing into solid limbs that grabbed onto Orion's torso like spectral chains. His eight eyes widened. Too late. Xida bent backward into a vicious backflip. The world inverted. And then—
BOOOOM.
We drove him head-first into the iron soil with a German Suplex so violent the planet screamed through its crust. Miles away, a dormant volcano erupted instantly, its magma forced upward by the shockwave punching through the planet's crust.
Orion hadn't even processed the pain before Xida moved again. Our hand dipped toward the ground. Black liquid matter bubbled from the soil as [Transmutation] ripped apart the surrounding atoms. The substance hardened instantly into a long metal blade coated in swirling Quantum Mana, its edge vibrating with unstable particles. Without hesitation—
We drove it straight into Orion's stomach.
CRUNCH.
The blade pierced through divine flesh and pinned him to the ground with monstrous force. Silver ichor exploded from the wound. The Angel coughed violently, choking on his own colorless blood as it sprayed across the iron dirt.
But that was just the beginning. Because by then we'd already figured out his trick. If his defense relied on manipulating distance... Then we just needed attacks that didn't care about space. Our fists glowed azure-violet as Quantum Mana wrapped around our knuckles.
A grin spread across Xida's face.
"Art of the Invincible: Phantom Palms."
The first punch passed straight through the layers of warped space. And slammed directly into Orion's face.
Then another.
And another.
And another.
Thousands.
Our fists moved so fast they blurred into streaks of violent light. Each strike crashed into his skull like a miniature nuclear blast. Silver blood erupted everywhere as his mutated face caved under the assault. The thunder of the impacts blasted the surrounding smog away.
The planet trembled.
WHAM.
WHAM.
WHAM.
WHAM.
That rhythm echoed across the dead world for miles. Orion tried lifting his extra arms to defend himself. We froze them. A flash of hellfrost crawled across the ground, pinning his limbs like iron nails hammered into ice. And we kept beating his face like a damn drum set.
Petty? Yeah. Probably.
But I remembered them thirteen hammer fists he gave me earlier. As Xida... We returned the favor. Ten thousand times over. Eventually, we kicked off the ground and soared into the orange-yellow sky. Our fingers moved through a series of kuji-in seals. Six spheres of Hellfire Mana ignited around us—black flames swirling around cores of crimson.
Our eyes locked onto the immobilized Dominion below.
"Hellfire Mana Arts: Ebony Grenades!"
The orbs launched downward like guided missiles.
But Orion's voice roared through the battlefield.
"That's enough! Letting in the sunshine—[Fragile: Long Distance Runaround]!"
Reality bent again. Fresh layers of space unfolded between his body and the explosions. The grenades detonated around him instead. Black and white hellfire flooded the battlefield in a storm of obsidian flames. The atmosphere of the failed star amplified the effect.
Even though the planet already burned at eight hundred twenty-six degrees Fahrenheit, the hellfire twisted the air into something colder and hotter at the same time. The wind howled with a chilling heat that would've cooked a mortal soul inside their own skin.
Xida hovered above the inferno calmly. But inside...
Things weren't perfect. The Dual-Soul Core was producing ascended mana like an overclocked quasar of energy.
And worse—
Every surge was tearing away more pieces of Luda's already damaged half. Unlike me, he didn't have [Adaptive Predator] to force instant recovery. He was holding the fusion together through sheer stubborn will. Honestly? I was impressed. But we couldn't drag this fight out.
Inside my mind, [Moon Sage: Tsukuyomi]'s voice sounded strained.
"Master Xiro, one of Lord Luda's Vessel Skills is forcing itself to evolve using data it's stolen from our time combined."
His tone tightened.
"Keeping it contained from overloading Luda's Soul Core is taking a lot of focus. I won't be able to assist for the remainder of the battle."
Before I could respond, another voice whispered through the darkness.
Luda's [Midnoon Star: Satanael]. It was hungry. Obsessive.
"Want it all... I want it all... Take. Take it all."
Xida's thoughts steadied both of them.
"Don't worry about Xida. We've got this."
Down below, Orion dragged himself out of the hellfire. His body looked rough. Skin missing. Limbs were shattered and frozen in jagged positions. Orion staggered, trying to reform his arms. He barely had time to breathe because the sky itself started moving.
Xida spread our arms.
"Solar/Deadwind Mixed Arts: Atmos Devourer."
The atmosphere obeyed. Gases were separated instantly. Nitrogen. Methane. Toxic compounds. All stripped away. Leaving nothing but pure oxygen swirling around Orion like invisible oceans. Then we compressed it. Molecule by molecule. O₂ became O₃. Then O₄.
Then the structure collapsed further—magiton-infused oxygen plasma forming inside the dense pressure zone. We flicked a bolt of Solar Mana into the storm. And the chain reaction began. The unstable oxygen exploded into violent oxidation, igniting the carbon in the soil and methane in the air. The thermobaric implosion detonated like a newborn sun. From space, the planet flashed white-blue.
The clouds vaporized instantly. A massive ring shockwave rolled across the surface, flattening mountains and igniting volcanoes on the far side of the brown dwarf. The smell of melting iron flooded the atmosphere.
When the debris finally settled...
The planet looked even deader than before. At the center of the devastation stood Orion. Or what was left of him. Limbs missing. Flesh burned away. Silver ichor crawled across the exposed divine muscle. Half his face was simply gone. His once-pristine vest and slacks hung shredded from his body.
We floated above him, wings beating slowly. Xida smirked.
"Looks like you can't spam that Ultra Skill."
A shrug.
"Must suck to suck."
Orion's remaining eye glared upward.
"You think you've won?"
His voice rasped.
"You believe it's over?"
Inside his mind, panic finally started whispering.
"I've expended so much of my Mana Pool with the constant use of my [Fragile]. My remaining reserves are just enough to cast my trump card."
"I can't win by pure combat against this Axion."
Then he noticed something. Xida winced. The Dual-Soul Core flickered irregularly.
Orion's thoughts sharpened instantly.
"I need to take advantage of his spiritual core destroying itself with that power."
We didn't ignore him. Instead, we began forming something massive in our hands. Anti-Mana. Omnis Mana. The two opposites twisted together into a spinning sphere surrounded by a wide rotating disk. The energy density alone could've erased the planet and the star it orbited.
This time...
He wasn't escaping.
Our arm cocked back.
"Anti/Omnis Mixed Arts: Collapsing Kilonova!"
We hurled the indigo-ultramarine sphere forward at near-light speed. But Orion smirked. That crooked smile told me everything. His lips moved.
"To be continued—[Fragile: Roundabout]."
The universe froze. Everything stopped. Wind. Flames. Particles. Time itself halted. If not for [Dominus Desidiae], Xida would've been caught in it too. Then time rewound. The attack unraveled. Reality crumbled backward like sand falling up into the sky. Explosions reversed. Movement folded in on itself. Events replayed in reverse as ghostly images flickered past us. Reality rewound like a film played backward.
The timeline snapped back. Right to the moment Xida saved Alex and Steez. The sudden shift of time-grains could've been disorienting. But our dual-core instability kept our focus sharp.
Alex's voice rang out.
"Aye, Xida, did you hear me? I said punch him in his ugly ass face for me."
Steez squinted at us.
"You good, my dude? Did you get caught in that time setback, too?"
Alex blinked.
"Time setback? What time setback are you talking about? What does that mean? What am I missing, y'all?"
Xida exhaled slowly.
"He really rewinded the timeline."
Our eyes shifted toward Orion.
"That's all Xida needed to see."
The angel studied us carefully.
"I am thoroughly impressed, unstable Axion."
His halo pulsed with golden light above his head.
"I knew you would be a difficult fight, but I didn't think you would make me use that skill."
A thin smile returned.
"Seems I'd better approach you with a different plan, as not to repeat forgotten history."
Xida cracked our neck.
"Xida doesn't care how many times you reset time."
We pointed at him.
"Xida will keep stomping your ass, bug boy."
Orion chuckled quietly.
"I shouldn't be shocked you retained your memories."
His gaze sharpened.
"You have proved yourself to be beyond any of the other reincarnations to get this far, Axion."
He stood in his original six-armed form again. The citrine halo above him pulsed with divine power, Gem Mana flowing through his aura like liquid crystal. This time he looked serious. Xida slid into a battle stance. Because even with time rewinding, we were about to dominate him all over again.
Our fusion clock was still ticking away.
The sky over Arcadia looked damn near peaceful. Pink, orange, and soft blue stretched across Gaia's morning horizon like somebody had painted the heavens with warm watercolor. Dew still clung to the grass and broken stone around us, giving the countryside that cool, moist scent of early dawn. Then Orion's presence cut through it. His mana signature slid into the air like a blade—clean, sharp, and strangely refined. The smell reminded me of fresh linen pulled straight from a sunlit clothesline. Crisp. Cold. Divine.
The Angel hovered above the field, sunlight warming his back as his halo shimmered with citrine brilliance. From his hands, divine filaments unraveled into the air. The Gamma Webs gleamed like glass threads dipped in liquid starlight. Drops of mystic fluid slid down each strand and fell to the earth with faint sizzling pops as they touched the ground.
Orion spread his arms. And the attack began. The webs snapped outward like whip cracks. But by then—
We were already gone.
Both of us vanished from sight as our speeds crossed into stupid territory.
The Gamma Webs cracked through the air like whip lashes. To Xida, dodging them felt like stepping through a double-dutch rhythm—each filament missing by inches, moving like divine lasers. Still, they couldn't touch Xida.
One.
Two.
Three.
Four.
Then we stepped in. Xida's fist drove into Orion's stomach with a dull, brutal THUD. The impact folded the Angel in half. Before he could even gasp, our other hand cracked across his face like a thunderclap.
BOOM.
Orion's body launched across the countryside and skipped along the ground before smashing straight through a house on the edge of a nearby Endoran town. Wood exploded. Stone shattered. Dust and screams erupted together. Two humans—caught inside at the wrong moment—died instantly when Orion's body crashed through the structure. The father and daughter who survived screamed in horror as the divine wreckage tore through their home.
That brief moment... would haunt me later. Those sounds of sorrowful cries stuck in my memory like a splinter. But the fight didn't stop. Orion burst back out of the rubble, divine energy flaring around him as he reentered the battlefield.
Xida didn't give him time to breathe. Water Mana gathered around our hands, swirling into dozens of shimmering projectiles. The liquid twisted and hardened into sleek needle-like constructs before launching forward in a deadly storm. Orion's eyes flashed.
"Letting in the sunshine—[Fragile: Long Distance Runaround]!"
The water javelins stopped. Frozen mid-flight. Again, the distance between Orion and the attack multiplied infinitely. To anyone watching, the projectiles simply hung in the air like glass sculptures. But we already knew the answer to that trick.
Xida's grin widened.
"Art of the Invincible: Empyreal Moonlight!"
Our body flickered.
Then we appeared behind him.
In our palm burned a dense sphere of pure magitons and photons—Quantum Mana fused with Solar and Lunar Mana. The orb pulsed like a miniature star collapsing in on itself. And because of quantum tunneling, the warped space around Orion didn't matter. We slipped right through it.
The sphere slammed into the Angel's spine.
CRACK.
The sound of breaking bone echoed through the air. Light exploded outward. A dome of blazing energy expanded in every direction, trapping Orion inside a sphere of star-core heat. The attack burned at temperatures rivaling a stellar furnace for five full seconds.
Everything inside the dome fried. Air molecules split apart. Stone liquefied. The ground beneath him turned into glowing glass.
Xida jumped back before the blast expanded too far.
If Orion tried regenerating from that...
He'd burn through a ridiculous amount of mana doing it. The dust cloud settled slowly. At the center of it stood Orion. Or what was left of him. Half his skin had been burned away. Limbs hung mangled at unnatural angles while silver ichor dripped from wounds that pulsed with divine energy.
The scent of scorched fabric clung to his mana signature as [Divine Regeneration] forced flesh to crawl back into place. He looked irritated more than anything.
"To find a way around my Ultra Skill so quickly is unheard of."
His eyes narrowed.
"I truly understand why the previous me decided to lock away that timeline."
He brushed ash from his vest.
"Direct combat with you is inefficient."
As he stood upright, something caught his attention.
The sky. Hundreds of constructs hovered overhead. Elegant. Deadly. Each one was shaped like a perfect needle made from condensed Divinity Mana. They floated in silent formation like an army of celestial spears. Every single one contained enough Ether to erase the continent of Arcadia.
Looking back at it now, I could hear Steez yelling in the distance not to aim them toward the ground. But as Xida? My nigga, we didn't give a damn. We had a plan.
Orion noticed it too.
"If you miss, that attack will destroy this land."
He looked down toward the towns below.
"Are you willing to gamble most of the lives of Arcadia so recklessly?"
Xida tilted his head slightly.
"Then I won't miss."
But we never got the chance to prove it. The timer ran out.
And [Moon Sage: Tsukuyomi] wasn't playing around about remaining combined any longer. The fusion collapsed instantly. The Dual-Soul Core snapped apart as Luda's half hit its breaking point.
Alex blinked.
"Wait, what just happened?"
Steez cursed under his breath.
"Damn, that shit didn't last long."
Luda and I fell from the sky like rocks.
THUD.
THUD.
The moment we hit the ground, my Soul Core started scrambling to repair itself. The damaged half pulsed weakly as it tried to reconnect the broken structure. My body barely responded to commands.
Luda? He was unconscious. His chest rose slowly, heart still beating, but his Soul Core had reached rock bottom. Unlike mine, his didn't have [Adaptive Predator] to accelerate recovery. That meant one thing. He was out of the fight. Orion smiled when he saw it. The Dominion had been waiting for this exact moment. But when he tried stepping forward, his body betrayed him. The damage Xida dealt earlier still clung to him. Torn flesh, broken limbs, and mana exhaustion slowed his movements. Inside his mind, calculations spun.
"Troublesome.The constant use of [Divine Regeneration] and my Ultra Skill has drained my reserves."
"Xiro may appear weakened... but the longer this fight goes on, the stronger he gets.I have enough data on the Noetic Operational Virtual Architect for now.I can fail to harvest him without worry from the future Nexus Events."
Another voice entered his thoughts.
Destini.
"Orion, your use of [Fragile] to reverse the timeline has been brought to Elohim Laniakea's attention."
Her tone carried authority.
"You need to return now if we are going to deal with the new future that's been created because of this."
He paused.
"The future changed again?"
A faint smile tugged his lips.
"Looks like fate is moving me forward to my goal.I've got enough from this anyway."
Destini spoke again.
"Before you leave, retrieve the sigil from the Celestial's, Luda, hand."
"It should have excellent recorded data after he's spent so much time with Xiro."
Orion looked toward us. I was still struggling to stand. Luda lay motionless beside me.
The Angel raised his hand—
But before he could move further—
BOOM.
Two incoming weapons screamed through the air. The Dawn Goddess and Chill King swung toward his skull in perfect synchronization. Orion reacted instantly. Gamma Webs erupted between his hands and caught both weapons mid-swing. Then Tachyon Webs snapped outward and wrapped around Steez and Alex like glowing ropes.
Pinned.
Immobilized.
Orion turned back toward Luda and resumed walking. That's when I moved. I appeared at his right side with the Kiss of Twilight already mid-swing. The bastard sword carved through the air with lethal force. Orion barely had time to raise his artifact dagger. It didn't matter. Hatred fueled my arms. The blade sliced through the dagger like it was paper. Then it kept going. The slash carved across his halo... his face... and straight through his right eye.
"ARRGHH!"
Orion stumbled back, screaming.
"Did [Future Sight] fail?!"
He clutched his face.
"Where did you come from?!"
My swing finished. Then my body gave out. I collapsed to the ground.
Inside my head, [Moon Sage: Tsukuyomi] spoke calmly.
"Master, while your Soul Core is repairing its intensive damage, you will experience spiritual feedback that will paralyze you if you move at those levels."
"You haven't completely resynced."
I gritted my teeth.
"Fuck... that!"
My fingers twitched against the dirt.
"Move... now."
Orion wiped silver blood from his ruined face.
"Congratulations, Demon Lord."
His voice steadied.
"You've forced me to let you live a bit longer."
"It would be disadvantageous for me to continue our scrimmage or engage any further."
I spat blood.
"We're not done."
My leer locked onto him.
"I still have seven more eyes to cut out."
He ignored the threat.
Instead, a filament of web shot toward Luda's hand. The thread wrapped around his wrist. With a simple twist of Orion's fingers—
SNAP.
Luda's right hand was torn clean off. Blood sprayed across the grass. Orion caught the severed hand calmly and wrapped it in silk.
Rage burned through my chest. Bio Mana flooded my muscles. Using electromagnetism to force my body upright, I pushed myself to my feet. My grip on the Kiss of Twilight turned my knuckles white.
Orion looked back at me.
"You are worthy of the Archon of Night title."
His voice sounded almost respectful.
"I hope you enjoy the brief moment of peace this brings."
His eyes studied my aura.
"Also... congratulations on your Crescendo."
A faint smile formed.
"Your power feels respectable now."
A hexagonal portal formed beside him. He turned to leave. But I wasn't letting that slide. No way. Not after everything. They kidnapped my girl. Hijacked my best friend's body. Sent those annoying witches to stir chaos in Velonica. And now he wanted to just... walk away? Nah. He had me fucked up.
"Just remember, Xiro," Orion said calmly. "I am the future High King Supreme. I give my glory to no other."
"No, the fuck you don't..."
I forced my body forward.
"Don't run from your fate."
My emotions flooded over me like a storm.
Anger.
Frustration.
Pure hatred.
I lunged toward the portal, raising the Kiss of Twilight. But Orion stepped through first. The hyperspace gate shrank to a razor-thin line of light. My sword cleaved through it a heartbeat too late.
Nothing.
The silence afterward felt heavier than the entire fight. The victory tasted bitter. I stood there shaking. Then the anger broke through. Tears filled my eyes as I screamed into the morning sky. Calling Orion a bitch. Begging him to come back so I could kill him. My voice cracked as I screamed into the sky. Birds scattered from the trees, startled by the sound.
It sounded like the ramblings of a madman. But the truth was simple. I wasn't satisfied. The fight was over. Morning had fully taken hold of Gaia. And I stood there crying tears of frustration... Because my enemy survived.
Damn.
That masquerade was one hell of a party.
[End of Chapter]
[1] April on Earth.