His eyes burned with an unyielding, never-extinguishing flame!
"I... I am... Kyo Kusanagi!"
"There's no way... I'm going down... here!"
"Oh?" Yashiro looked at him with some surprise. "Quite the resilient life force. But this is as far as you go."
He walked toward the nearly exhausted Kyo, step by step.
"Farewell, heir of the Kusanagi clan."
He raised a fist capable of crushing everything.
However, at that very moment!
Brilliant light erupted from Kyo's body once more!
"What?!"
Yashiro's pupils contracted sharply.
Kyo's body seemed to transform into a bottomless black hole, frantically absorbing all the energy around him!
The heat in the air, the audience's roaring cheers, the energy from the lights... even the "Power of Earth" that Yashiro himself was emitting!
"This... this is... protagonist halo?! No, this is... forced health-lock cheating!"
Even Cloud, watching from afar, was dumbfounded.
He could feel Kyo's life force recovering at a rate that defied all reason!
"This is... my true power!"
Kyo roared as his power, in this moment, broke through its limits once again!
"Final Battle Art—Ultimate Mu Shiki!!!"
He converted all the absorbed power into "Divine Crimson Flame" and delivered the strongest strike of his entire life!
Yashiro's expression changed drastically. He felt the threat of death!
He roared, mobilizing all 50% of his Ultimate Power to form a wall of "Absolute Defense" composed of ultra-dense rock!
Then, the pillar of flame collided with the wall.
No sound.
No explosion.
Only a blinding white light that was enough to blind everyone present.
When the white light faded.
Upon the ruins.
Kyo Kusanagi and Yashiro Nanakase both stood motionless.
A breeze swept through.
Yashiro slowly collapsed.
And Kyo fell straight backward, completely losing consciousness.
[Double K.O.]
Another... mutual destruction.
Japan Team, with their captain Kyo Kusanagi alone, had managed to defeat two Awakened Heavenly Kings of the Hell Band!
Though the process had been brutal beyond measure, he had created a miracle!
"Did... did they win?"
"Kyo Kusanagi... he... he did it!"
The venue erupted with cheers more thunderous than any before—enough to nearly blow the roof off the Tokyo Dome!
However, in the Hell Band's camp, the last person slowly rose to her feet.
Shermie, who had always presented herself as alluring and seductive.
In her awakened form, golden lightning coiled around her body, making her look like a thunder goddess descended to earth.
She looked at the Japan Team, which had no one left capable of fighting, and a cold smile devoid of any emotion appeared on her face.
"Not a bad performance."
"But..."
"It's time for the curtain to fall."
...
Tokyo Dome Stadium could no longer be called a "stadium" at this point.
It looked more like a disaster scene that had just been ravaged alternately by Godzilla and Ultraman.
The arena had long since vanished, replaced by a bottomless pit. The spectator barriers were covered in cracks, and a huge hole had been torn in the dome, revealing the gloomy sky outside.
The air was thick with the smell of burning, gunpowder, and a distinct aroma of... "budget going up in flames."
Upon the ruins, Kyo Kusanagi and his teammates had all fallen, completely unable to continue fighting.
On the Hell Band's side, the Awakened Shermie, her body wreathed in golden "Raging Lightning," walked like a thunder goddess descended to earth, slowly approaching the unconscious Kyo Kusanagi.
Her face wore a cold smile devoid of any emotion. In those golden eyes, there was only a deity's indifference toward ants.
"Not bad of a performance, descendant of the Kusanagi clan," she said softly, her voice echoing through the empty venue. "But the game... must come to an end."
She slowly raised her hand, lightning flickering at her fingertips, preparing to deliver the final blow to Kyo Kusanagi.
The entire venue fell into dead silence.
Every spectator's heart leaped into their throat. Was humanity's last hope... about to end here?
At that critical moment!
A sudden change occurred!
Shermie's arm, about to strike down, suddenly traced a bizarre arc through the air!
The target was not Kyo Kusanagi!
It was... behind her!
Behind her stood Yashiro and Chris, who had just been defeated by Kyo!
"What?!"
Expressions of utter disbelief and shock appeared simultaneously on the weakened faces of Yashiro and Chris!
Never in their wildest dreams could they have imagined that their companion, their most trusted comrade-in-arms, would turn her blade against them... at this most critical moment!
"Shermie! Have you lost your mind?!" Yashiro let out a roar of shock and fury.
The coldness and indifference on her face was instantly replaced by a sly, wild, and slightly smug grin.
Her eyes sparkled with the light of "I'm done acting, cards on the table!"
"Sorry, you two." She blew a flirtatious kiss at the dumbstruck Yashiro and Chris. "Compared to being some god who destroys the world, I think... being a designer protected by a handsome boss has better career prospects!"
"—Dark Thunder Fist!"
She slammed the fully-charged "Raging Lightning" she had been saving mercilessly into Yashiro and Chris's bodies!
This strike was so sudden, so lethal!
It could be called the most brilliant, most unexpected, most crowd-pleasing... epic backstab in KOF history!
"PU—!!!"
Yashiro and Chris, already at the end of their ropes, suffered this devastating blow. They didn't even have time to scream before their bodies and souls were torn even more thoroughly apart by the violent lightning!
...
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