Sin stood in the middle of the room, his heart pounding against his ribs. He had three minutes and thirty seconds before his transformation would vanish. His gaze locked onto Noah, who smiled back at him, the red energy around his body pulsing like a living heartbeat.
Noah lifted his hand with deliberate slowness and created a gigantic hammer from nothing. The weapon materialized in the air, its surface shifting between dark red and black, as if it couldn't decide which color to claim.
Sin's lips curved into a smile as dark energy coalesced around his hands. The shadows responded to his will, hungry and eager.
"Cute," he said, his voice dripping with mockery.
He merged the energy together, weaving it into a gigantic shadowy sword that hummed with power. The blade seemed to absorb the light around it.
"Very cute," Sin added, then hurled the sword toward Noah with tremendous force.
Noah dodged with practiced ease. Ray and Lily stood frozen in place, watching the fight unfold before them. They couldn't comprehend the magnitude of power on display. Ray's mind reeled. He had no clue that such a person could possess such strength. Who knew that a boy he had picked up—a boy he had found unconscious and brought to the Black Star mansion—would harbor so much raw power?
The sword flew back toward Noah like a boomerang, but Noah leaped high and grabbed the shadowy blade mid-flight. His fingers wrapped around the dark energy as if it were solid steel.
Noah laughed, the sound echoing through the room. "Come on," he said, his voice strained. "You're nothing."
The last word came out harder than Noah intended. The lingering fear he had felt when first looking at Sin still clawed at his chest, a cold presence that refused to leave.
"Don't distract me," Noah muttered in his mind, fighting to maintain his composure.
Sin raised two blood spikes from the ground with a gesture. The spikes were curved like talons, and they trapped Noah's legs with brutal efficiency. They pierced through his flesh, growing diagonally and tearing through bone with sickening precision. Yet Noah didn't let off a scream. He just stood there, smiling through the agony, his legs already beginning to regenerate. The pulsing red aura around him destroyed the bloody spikes, shattering them into crimson fragments.
Sin stood there, observing with cold calculation.
"Well, I'm going to do something," Noah announced, his voice rising with fury. "Because I am going to end you."
Noah flew up into the air, and his aura—which had been red—became pitch black. His eyes transformed into blood-red orbs that seemed to burn with unholy fire. A large pressure descended upon the room like a physical weight. Both Ray and Lily fell to the ground. Lily's small, child-like body was being crushed under the invisible force. Ray, having some resistance, managed to hold out for a few seconds before he too collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.
But Sin stood there, dark energy swirling around his entire body as he looked up at Noah with unwavering eyes.
"I'm done playing games," Sin said, his voice cutting through the oppressive atmosphere. "I'm done letting you have your fun."
Shadowy energy began to fill the entire room, the darkness spreading like spilled ink. The room went dark, filled with shadows that seemed alive and writhing. A mist rose as Sin grew shadow wings from his body, the appendages unfurling with terrible grace. He floated up into the air, meeting Noah's gaze.
"I see," Sin smiled, his expression almost peaceful. "So, Noah, you still want to fight me?"
Noah's eyes widened in shock. How did this kid know his name? Well, at least the name of the body he was inhabiting. Sin smiled, looking directly into Noah's red eyes with a knowing expression that sent chills down Noah's spine.
Sin pressed his hands together and shot off a dark shadowy beam toward Noah. The beam rushed forward like a spear of concentrated darkness. The pitch-black aura that surrounded Noah's body tried to deflect it, but the dark energy continued, bypassing Noah's defenses. It wrapped around him like a freight train, and Noah flew backward as the beam carried him. He hit a nearby wall, the surface cracking under the pressure of the impact.
Noah looked up, dazed, and Sin was right in front of him, having crossed the distance in an instant. Sin raised his hand and created multiple shadow tentacles from his fingers. The appendages writhed in the air like serpents.
Sin smiled as he controlled the tentacles, directing them toward Noah. The tentacles shot out and grabbed Noah on both sides, restraining him with iron-like strength.
"Now then," Sin said, his voice soft but menacing. "Let's see how you like—"
Before he could finish, the timer reached zero.
"Transformation canceled," his system announced. The red and black interface showed him the message, and Sin felt everything leave him at once. His body convulsed violently as his eyes turned red again instead of the pitch black they had been. The shadow energy absorbed back into his body, retreating to the shadow space inside his mind. There, the Shadow Demon began to reform, its smile gleaming with satisfaction.
Sin fell to the ground, unconscious once more, his body limp and vulnerable.
"So," Noah said, stepping forward with renewed confidence. He created a gigantic blood sword, the weapon dripping with crimson energy. "All that, and now look at you. You're nothing. You're absolutely—"
BAM!
A punch sent Noah flying back through a wall. He skidded across the ground for several feet before his momentum finally let him stop. When he looked up, Ray stood in front of him, fists clenched.
"My body—it's at full one hundred percent strength," Ray thought, feeling the power coursing through his veins. "And now I just have to wait a few minutes for the Heavenly Sword's effects to set in."
Ray stepped forward, his expression hardening with determination.
"You thought that was all I had?" Ray's voice was low and dangerous. "You thought you could beat me? I am the leader of the Black Star faction, and I wouldn't let anyone beat me like that so easily."
Ray dashed forward and delivered an uppercut to Noah's face, sending him skidding across the ground once more. Ray jumped forward, spinning around and kicking Noah in the face, launching him farther into the air. Ray leaped again, grabbing Noah mid-air by the foot and slamming his face into the ground with brutal force.
Ray was toying with Noah, and Noah couldn't do a single thing about it. The tables had turned completely.
Ray clapped his hands together and sent off a mini shockwave toward Noah. Noah dodged, the black aura pulsing around him like a desperate shield.
"I will end you," Noah hissed, dashing forward at lightning speed.
Ray dodged and grabbed Noah by the neck, his fingers tightening around the throat.
"You're going to leave my friend's body," Ray said, his voice shaking with emotion. "You're going to leave his body right now."
Ray looked at Noah, confused by his own words. What was he saying?
"You're going to leave my friend's body right now. You're going to leave. You're going to—excuse me—your friend? My friend?" Ray's thoughts tumbled over themselves.
Ray looked at Noah, bewildered. Was he speaking to himself? What was happening?
"What are you—" Ray began.
Before anything else could happen, before Noah could respond, a terrible fear crossed Noah's face. He created a shadowy scythe and, in one swift motion, cut off his own head.
Black blood sprayed across the entirety of Ray's body. Noah's head fell to the ground with a sickening thud, and so did his body, collapsing in a heap.
"What in the world?" Ray stood there, shocked, his hands still raised where he had been holding Noah by the throat.
He had expected Noah to fight back, to struggle, to do something. Instead, Noah had started speaking gibberish, spouting nonsense, and then—just like that—he had killed himself.
Ray realized, deep down, that the real Noah was still in there. Even though this entity that had taken control over his body was gone, the real Noah was gone as well. The thought made his chest tighten with grief.
"But in the world—" Ray looked around, his mind reeling. He didn't know what to do now. The fight was over, but the cost—the cost was way too heavy.
Noah's death might not affect Sin, probably because Sin didn't even know Noah. Probably because Sin had only been in the Black Star faction for less than five hours. But for Ray, the weight of this loss would linger, a shadow that would follow him long after the blood had dried.
Meanwhile, in the cave, the Hunter stood looking at all the Hollows. He looked at their black eyes and looked at Edward and Sam.
"You think you can take on a full army?" Everett said, raising his hand, black energy surrounding his fingertips. Even though his energy was limited, he managed to gain a little bit back—a little bit for one attack. It might not do much, but it was better than just standing there.
The Hunter smiled. "I see." He looked at all of his weapons and bombs and strength pills on his waist. "I can take on an army," the Hunter said. "I prepared for this. I prepared for you all."
He took off a few of the buttons and placed them down in the ground. Every single button lit up with a blue glow as cannons rose up from the buttons on the ground. The cannons were large, and immediately when they rose up, they started blasting blue energy toward the Hollows.
Sam ducked as a blue ball of energy came toward him. It exploded behind him, killing a few Hollows, but they easily reformed back together.
Edward laughed, his laugh spreading across the entire cave. "You didn't expect that, did you?" Edward said. "You didn't expect us to reform like that. As Hollows, we're resilient. We reform because of hatred, grief, sadness, and much more. You can't kill us. You can't end us. We will always come back."
The Hunter looked around. The cannons were still firing, but the cannons weren't doing anything besides killing the Hollows—killing the Hollows just for them to reform.
"All right," Edward said, licking his lips. "Hollows, charge!"
All of the Hollows ran forward. All 5,000 of their bodies rushed toward the Hunter. A few Hollows jumped toward the Hunter's body, but the Hunter dodged and shot a few beams at them. The Hunter grabbed two of his swords from his waist and threw both of them at both Sam and Edward. Sam grabbed one of them, and Edward dodged the other.
The fight was going to be a long one, and the Hunter wasn't going to win. He couldn't win. Nothing—nothing could beat a Hollow. Not just one Hollow. 5,000. He couldn't win against 5,000. They were too powerful. They were the undead, and they were strong.
But then, something changed.
The ground beneath the Hunter's feet began to tremble. A low rumble echoed through the cave, growing louder with each passing second. The Hollows paused mid-charge, their black eyes turning toward the source of the disturbance.
From the shadows at the far end of the cave, a figure emerged. Tall, cloaked in darkness that seemed to devour the light around it. The figure's eyes glowed with an eerie crimson light, and when it spoke, its voice reverberated through the cave like thunder.
"You dare disturb this place?"
Edward's smile faltered. Sam took a step back. Even the Hollows seemed to hesitate, their bodies trembling with something that looked almost like fear.
The Hunter's heart raced. He didn't know who—or what—this was. But one thing was certain: the battle had just taken a turn he never could have anticipated.
The figure raised one hand, and the entire cave plunged into absolute darkness.