I dropped into my stance just as he flashed in — FWSSH — a streak of ultrawhite light tearing across my vision. His fists CLANGED against my forearms, each impact ringing sharp, like metal smashing metal. Then, a colossal white beam BOOMED outward, unfurling like a supernova and streaking across the planet, vaporizing half the landscape into glowing dust.
Then Dark Don stopped caring about physics. He flickered in every direction at once, his body stuttering through reality with rapid-fire ZIP-ZIP-ZIP bursts as he unloaded a barrage of punches — a million blinding strikes hammering my face and ribs in a nonstop BRRRT-BRRRT-BRRRT.
He spun with a vicious twist, WHIP-KICKING me upward before his palm opened and detonated a massive lunar blast — KRA-THOOM — ripping across my body and launching me into the sky like a fired comet. I spiraled through the air, tearing through clouds in a violet blur, the atmosphere screaming around me.
He flashed overhead instantly, spinning like a deranged celestial tornado before SMASHING me downward with a meteor-drop kick. I plummeted, air shredding into white contrails around me as he blitzed left and right — each pass slamming a glowing streak against my body, forming a blinding white halo that rippled faster and faster as I tore past a mountain peak.
Then he zigzagged around me and stopped dead mid-air. His palms spread apart. A massive white orb of lunar energy BLOOMED around him, vibrating and pulsing like a living star. I shot straight through it — FWOOOM — scanning wildly for him. Too late.
Dark Don ricocheted off the energy sphere at light speed, blinking so fast he was nothing but violent white afterimages. I couldn't track him — only felt the moment his heel CRACKED across my cheek so hard space buckled, and we transitioned straight into Neptune.
We CRASHED into Neptune's roaring storm clouds, RRRAAAAAHHH ripping from his throat as he tore the sky open. He flashed toward me and I twisted around him, firing ultraviolet beams and celestial blasts that SHREDDED through the storm as he hunted me like a rabid comet.
We spiraled through the raging blue clouds, firing shot after shot — KOOOM, SHRRAK, WHOOOM — ripping holes in the sky until he blinked in front of me and slammed a fist across my cheek with a brutal THWAK. I flew straight into Mars.
The red planet erupted around me as Dark Don crash-grabbed my head, dragging me across the entire surface and carving trenches miles deep. His punch hit so hard we ripped through multiple dimensions — flipping, twisting, colliding through fractured realities — KRASH, VRRM, THOOM-THOOM-THOOM — each strike splintering existence like breaking glass.
He didn't stop. He didn't slow down. Dark Don kept hammering away, strike after strike after strike, until he twisted behind me, flashed forward, and SLAMMED me back onto the moon with a devastating KRA-BOOOOM that split the lunar surface wide open.
I crashed onto the ground, lunar dust and dirt erupting upward as Dark Don's leg SLAMMED into my ribs — THOOM — pinning me like a boulder. His fists followed instantly, BLURRING into my face — WHAM-WHAM-WHAM-WHAM — each strike dripping with raw rage and heartbreak.
Every hit carried a violent pulse — KRK-THWAK, BAM, CRACK — his breath ragged, aura flickering with furious light. I twitched, tried to rise — SMASH! — another strike slammed me back down. Again. And again. And again.
Dark Don hammered me relentlessly — BRRRT-BRRRT-BRRRT — tears streaming from his eyes, mixing with blood splattering across the cratered moon. "THEY WERE LIARS!"
My Ultra Form was slipping from me.
He paused for a heartbeat, chest heaving, eyes darting as the ultrawhite glow on his own body waned. "THEY WERE DECEIVERS!" he barked, voice cracking. His Ultra Form was unraveling too — light dimming, aura flickering, his real form slowly emerging beneath the dying cosmic fire.
Snarling, teeth gritted until almost cracking, he turned back to me — fists spiraling with lunar energy — and unleashed another storm. Each punch — THUD, CRACK, SMACK — sent more blood spraying across the moon's surface. "THEY WERE MURDERERS!"
His hands were soaked, dripping red, every knuckle glowing with it.
He pulled back, lunar energy coiling violently around his fist. The final blow came — a falling star in his palm — KRAA-THOOOM! I cratered into the ground, debris and dust flinging upward as the shockwave rattled the entire moon.
Dark Don roared — voice broken, torn, shaking — "SILICIA!" He slammed me again — BOOOOM — driving me deeper into the lunar crust. "THIS IS FOR YOU!" Another strike — THUDOOOM — burying me meters further. "YOU NEEDED THIS!"
And for the first time… I saw him cry. Actual tears. Not fury, not rage, but grief — pouring down his face as he kept hammering me into the moon. My vision blurred, swimming red with blood and dust, every punch detonating like a mini-apocalypse — KRRRSH, THOOM, KRUNG — driving me lower, lower, lower into the crust.
Dark Don loomed over me, chest heaving, aura pulsing like a wounded star. His fist hovered inches from my face, fingers curled tight, energy crackling like it wanted to tear the world apart. "This was the moment I've been chasing," he hissed, chest heaving, "the kill he was destined for, the one the Celestianites feared, the prophecy demanded, the Multiverse whispered about." His eyes flashed closing them as he readied for the punch. "I'm sorry…" His fists thrust forward—then, in the split second before it landed, memory snapped.
MOONFORGE 9 — 4 years ago
Chains cut into his wrists, harsh lights burning his eyes.
Silicia, pale and trembling, kneeling in front of him. A Lunaranite guard leveled a gun at her head.
Her voice was soft. Almost fragile.
"If I don't survive… don't get angry," she whispered.
"Everyone has a point in their lives where it just… ends."
Her eyes glimmered like starlight in the dim room.
"Promise me… don't hurt anyone because of me. Even if you do get angry… just know—I'll be with you. In your heart."
BAM.
The shot echoed. The world froze. Silicia's smile flickered out.
—
The moon returned, silence exploding around him.
Dark Don froze mid-strike, eyes wide. His jaw tightened. His fist trembled. The energy around him sputtered, like the universe itself was holding its breath.
What was her promise?
That question hammered through his skull, louder than any scream, heavier than any punch he'd thrown. Everything he'd done—every life taken, every bridge burned—suddenly collided in that one moment.
He sank to his knees, no powers, no fire. Just him. Dark Don. The boy beneath the rage.
My Ultra Form flickered and died too. I gasped, chest heaving. His hands—bloodied, dirtied, shaking—hovered before him like alien strangers. He stared at them, disbelief and horror in his gaze.
His head hung low. Tail limp. Aura dead. Exhaustion, guilt, and rage twisted together into something raw, something broken.
Then, with a sudden snap of frustration, he slammed against a moon spire, slid down, and just… stayed there. Wrecked.
I limped forward slowly, careful not to trigger any more storms. I sat beside him. No words. Just… the quiet weight of space around two shattered souls.
"…Are you okay?" I whispered.
He didn't answer at first. Eyes lost in the void. Then, barely audible:
"Why ask? There's… no redemption. Not for me."
I tilted my head. "Then why'd you stop? You could've finished me."
A shudder ran through him. "They hurt me… And even when I had the chance to kill you, I didn't."
His arms wrapped around his knees, body trembling.
"Revenge isn't always the answer," I said softly.
He looked at me, pain slicing through his gaze like shattered glass. "Don… I've hurt everyone. I wanted to erase entire tribes… for her. But she… she wouldn't want this. She told me not to get angry. Not to hurt anyone. And I… I broke that promise. Everything I've done… I betrayed her."
I breathed slowly. "Then make it right. We can fix this. Together. I'll guide you back, but you gotta trust me."
His eyes flicked to my hand. To me. To Earth. Back to me.
A small, jagged laugh escaped him—dark, raw, but human.
A smile, faint and broken, cracked through.
"You're the best rival I could've asked for… the best."
I groaned, "Bro—don't get soft on me—"
"I still hate you," he said, voice low and deadly.
"OH COME ON—"
"But," he added, smirking despite everything, "I like you… as a rival."
I laughed too, finally. We shook hands under the stars, dust of battle still clinging to us.
"Yeah… I like you as a rival too."
Then—something caught my eye.
I turned my head toward Earth, and that's when I saw it. A red streak—no, a blazing crimson missile—was rocketing straight toward us at max speed. It wasn't just red; it was blinding. Like a comet dipped in blood and set on fire. Like something that escaped from the pits of hell.
"What is that?" Dark Don muttered, squinting at the oncoming blaze. The streak moved faster—way faster—like a meteor about to crash into the moon at lightspeed.
I took a step back, heart pounding. It was getting closer. Closer. Too close.
"AGH!" I shouted as a blinding red light exploded in front of us, flashbanging me and Dark Don. I dropped to my knees without meaning to—my body moved on its own, like something forced me to kneel. Dark Don was doing the same. My muscles screamed to move, to fight back, but it was useless. I was locked in place.
Then I looked up through the blinding haze.
The red streak swooped down, descending like a nightmare comet, and SLAMMED into the moon's surface with a colossal shockwave. The entire moon quaked. Dust clouds erupted. The impact was so violent it messed up Dark Don's hair—dude looked like he just walked out of a wind tunnel.
I gritted my teeth, gripping my horns to avoid being dragged by the pressure. But the force was insane. Still, I held my ground. The dust began to settle.
And standing in the center of the crater… was Incarceration.
Eight massive, black spider-like limbs burst from his back—hairless, sharp, and gleaming like blades. His body pulsed with raw red energy. Twelve glowing red eyes blinked at once, burning with a nightmarish light. Tattered, blood-red dragon wings flared out behind him, and his mouth stretched into a wicked grin, rows of dagger-like teeth gleaming.
He flicked his tongue like a lizard. Then he clenched his clawed fist.
"What—a SIGHT—to see you two!" he cackled.
Red energy flared across his body, licking his skin like living fire. The ground beneath him cracked. His twelve eyes blazed as the flames pulsed, surrounding him in a vortex of rage.
"INCARCERATION! WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?!" I shouted, my voice cracking through the roar of his aura.
He tilted his head, grinning wider. "Sorry… I'm just in my Ultra Form, ready to kill the both of you with no problem. Your friends realized—that without me, the pillars cannot be deactivated. They brought us back to life using the power of the Regeneration Gem, but we had other ideas…"
Before we could even react, he vanished.
BOOM.
In an instant, he appeared in front of Dark Don and punched him so hard in the chest that it sent him flying through the moon like a missile. A red explosion erupted on the other side, lighting up the moon like a burning orb. Shockwaves rippled across the surface, tearing craters into existence.
Then—Incarceration turned to me.
"Your turn."
He teleported right in front of me, uppercutting me straight into the air. Before I could recover, he grabbed my leg, spun midair, and yeeted me across the lunar landscape. I crashed through mountain ranges, spires, and half-destroyed silver towers. My body skidded across the moon's surface, kicking up a storm of dust.
My mask whipped behind me in the wind. I slammed my fists into the ground and gritted my teeth as Dark Don suddenly teleported beside me, his body crackling with lunar energy. He stood firm, eyes locked on Incarceration, analyzing every move.
"He's not lying when he said that he was in his Ultra Form," Dark Don said. "He tapped into the Power Gems somehow… judging by his output, he might be reality-level strong."
I forced myself upright beside him, smirking through the pain—blood on my teeth, stars in my vision.
"Dark Don," I muttered, cracking my neck. "You ready to beat the fear outta this dude?"
Incarceration laughed. Not loud. Not rushed.
Amused.
"Oh, I'm not alone…"
FWOOOOM—
The heavens split.
Dreadixz descended from above, wings blazing like solar flares, scales rippling with galaxies trapped beneath glass. He was huge—a living constellation, a myth ripped straight out of cosmic scripture. Whatever the Power Gems had done to him, it didn't just enhance him.
It rewrote him.
Dark Don narrowed his eyes, lips curling into a feral grin.
"THEN I'LL TAKE ALL OF YOU ON—AT ONCE!"
I cracked my knuckles, energy buzzing under my skin. "You heard him." I snapped a look at Dark Don. "Tiny correction—we will."
He scoffed. "Try not to slow me down."
Too late.
FWOOOOSH—
Light detonated around me as I snapped into Ultra Form. Power collapsed inward like a dying star, then exploded. My eyes burned with blazing KX symbols, carved in pure light. Energy poured off me in violent waves, warping space around my body.
Beside me—
Dark Don shifted.
BWAAAM—
His Ultra Form ignited, aura flaring lunar-blue, cold and divine. XK symbols burned in his eyes as his presence crushed the air itself—silent, heavy, unstoppable.
Incarceration smirked, glancing up at Dreadixz.
"Heh… that's not confidence." His eyes gleamed crimson. "That's stupidity."
He vanished.
CRACK—
A red blur slammed into me like a meteor. His hand locked around my throat and—
BOOOOOOM—
We launched skyward at lightspeed.
The pressure crushed my chest. Space screamed around us. Stars streaked past as we collided again and again—BAM! KRAAASH! SHOCK!—each impact rattling constellations, bending gravity.
Planets spun helplessly in the distance, their orbits trembling as our battle tore through the void.
He twisted midair—WHAM—
A razor-sharp kick.
I blocked with my forearm and countered—
BOOOOM!
My punch detonated, a crimson shockwave rippling through space like a wound in reality.
But I lost ground—
WHOOOSH—
I was launched backward, slamming into the moon—SKRRAAAASH!—skidding across the surface, carving trenches through lunar dust.
Then—
Nightmare Blasts.
Red spheres rained from the sky.
I flipped up, sprinting backward across the moon—THUMP THUMP—dodging with spins, flips, razor-tight sidesteps. Each blast vaporized craters behind me.
One mistake and I was gone.
Out of the corner of my eye—
Dark Don and Dreadixz clashed across the stars. Just streaks now. Lunar blue. Violent violet. Pure destruction in motion.
No time to watch.
Incarceration appeared in front of me.
I ducked—
Teleported—
Tornado kick—
He vanished.
My eyes widened.
BOOM!
He reappeared beneath me and punched me straight into the heavens.
I spiraled upward, smashing through stars like shattered glass—CRASH CRASH CRASH—
Then—
He was there again.
Floating.
Five massive red energy orbs orbited him, chains of dark matter writhing behind them.
Snap.
They launched.
I didn't flinch.
I grabbed the chains midair—CLANG!—twisted, and hurled him downward—
BOOOOOOM!
He slammed into the moon, carving a crater so deep the surface screamed.
I rocketed down, fist glowing—
But he blitzed upward—
CRASH!
Mid-strike collision.
Then—
Teleport.
Backhand.
My body became a violet streak—
WHHHHHAM!
Venus.
Atmosphere shattered as I slammed through like a meteor. Dust, fire, lightning spiraled—
And then—
Everything stopped.
Time froze.
Incarceration hovered above me, casually snapping his fingers.
Reality bent.
A million punches.
No exaggeration.
Each strike hammered my body as time crawled—THUDTHUDTHUDTHUD—he flickered around me, screaming as he finished with a Tornado Kick that sent me screaming through Venus's clouds.
I folded midair.
Hard.
KRRRAAASH!
I smashed through a massive structure, rubble exploding outward.
But I wasn't done.
I backflipped and launched—
"RAAAAAH!"
Our fists collided—KRAK!—stars clashing. I kneed his gut, grabbed his head, and dragged him across the atmosphere, both of us tearing the sky apart like twin comets.
He skidded—then reversed direction.
Running backward.
I fired celestial blasts nonstop. He teleported between explosions like a living nightmare.
Flash—
Kick—
I flew upward—
He became a sphere of nightmare energy—
SLAAAAAM!
Venus cracked.
Mountains split. Lava erupted.
He lunged with spider-leg strikes—
I kicked him skyward and chased.
Tentacles fired like machine guns—
I spun, dodged, and slammed him through mountains one after another.
And then—
I snapped.
Violet light erupted from my body.
I became a celestial vortex, tearing through the atmosphere. Every spin carved divine blades through the planet.
I caught him mid-skid—
Spun—
BOOOOOOM!
My foot crushed down on his head.
He flew across Venus, carving a trench miles long.
I teleported ahead, grabbed his neck, dragged him across the surface—breaking sound, breaking light—
Then I vanished above him.
I screamed—
"ULTRA FIVE HUNDRED CRACKS!"
Impact.
Darkness.
Then—
Nothing.
Reality shattered—KRRRSHHH!—five hundred violet fractures spider-webbed through the void. The final punch erupted into a beam that swallowed him whole.
He screamed.
He roared—
"RAHHHHH!"
A red explosion detonated, canceling the beam, shaking the cosmos.
I hovered, shaking, exhausted.
Then—
Eyes opened in the sky.
Dozens.
Hundreds.
Crimson nightmare eyes.
Incarceration floated above, arms crossed.
He raised a finger and drew a kanji in the air:
戦 — Fight.
The eyes burned red.
Five binding beams fired.
They twisted. Curved.
Venus went black.
BOOM.
The planet vanished in red-white light.
I was inside it.
Broken.
Flying.
Before I could breathe—
He appeared.
Slam.
Kick.
Barrage.
Faster than lightning.
Time slowed.
"INSTANT REALITY LOSS!"
A tap.
And I exploded into a red dimension of watching eyes.
Whispers.
Movement.
He flickered everywhere.
Appeared beside me.
Whispered—
"死亡."
Death.
Tap.
My body detonated.
Bones shattered. Vision vanished.
I was launched—
Back to space.
Back to the moon.
Then—
WHAM.
His final punch crushed my face into the ground, carving a crater that shook Earth itself.
I lay there.
Broken.
Beaten.
Exhausted.
But not done.