"Ultimate," Len said, his voice echoing with eerie composure.
Instantly, the ambient temperature skyrocketed into a suffocating, blistering wave. The heat was so absolute that Miku's toxic green fog vaporized into thin air before it could even touch him, completely canceling out her domain skill!
"Wait, my poison just vanished?!" Miku gasped, backing away in shock.
Before Len could counter, Junie stepped up to cover her team. "Energy Ball!" she yelled, launching a vibrant pink sphere of concentrated force straight at Len.
BOOM!
The sphere detonated on impact, and Junie immediately stacked her follow-up move: "Lotus Slices!"
Out from the pink explosion, over a hundred brilliant pink energy slashes burst forth like razor-sharp sword arcs cutting through thin air. The relentless blades tore through Len's defenses—and with a clean, blinding flash, Len's left arm was severed, falling to the ground!
"YOU LITTLE—!" Len roared, his composure snapping into pure, unbridled rage.
"Meteor Shower!"
The sky above turned blood-red as over a hundred fiery meteors rained down across the clearing! The entire area devolved into pure chaos, with massive fiery rocks shattering the earth and throwing everyone off balance. The sudden distraction broke Junie's concentration, cutting off her Lotus Slices mid-activation.
Len gritted his teeth, his eyes blazing with a terrifying crimson glow. The air around his severed arm hummed with unbearable, melting heat. From the cauterized wound, a swirling arm made of pure red fire materialized, solidifying his physical form and cranking his stat output to a dangerous new high!
With a blinding burst of speed, Len blitzed straight for Rei.
Rei frantically cast his decoy illusions to confuse him, but Len didn't even blink. He saw right through the magic, lunged straight for the real Rei, and slammed him into the scorched earth with brutal force!
CRASH!
Rei lay motionless in the crater, unable to feel his body as the suffocating heat scorched the surrounding air. He was barely holding onto consciousness.
"Bro, if we had an Ice or Water element user right now, we wouldn't be getting utterly fried like this!" Nakamu shouted through the smoke.
Using his absolute maximum movement speed and high-speed dashes, Nakamu zipped across the cratered battlefield. He grabbed Rei, Miku, Junie, Aryan, and the unconscious Vikas one by one, hauling them away from Len's attack radius.
"Nakamu, what are you doing?!" Junie cried out as he set them down further away.
"We can't beat this guy! He's literally bugged!" Nakamu gritted his teeth, dashing over to grab Ayush. "We need to pull back right now!"
Nakamu hauled the squad toward the coast, where their getaway boat was waiting. Junie and Miku quickly dragged Rei, Aryan, and Vikas aboard, screaming back at the shore, "COME ON! GET IN! WE HAVE TO GO!"
Ayush stood on the shore, his eyes fixed on the flaming silhouette of Len approaching in the distance.
"Wait," Ayush said, his voice tight. "We can't just all jump in. He's way too fast—he'll blow the boat out of the water before we even set sail. Someone has to keep him locked in combat to buy time."
Nakamu stepped up beside him, cracking his knuckles. "GO NOW! I'll hold him off!"
"No way in hell!" Ayush snapped back. "You guys came here to rescue us, and you're my friend. I'm not leaving you behind to get wiped out!"
Len closed the distance in a flash, and both Ayush and Nakamu were forced into a high-speed, chaotic clash against the boss, exchanging blows, parrying strikes, and dodging fire blasts while shouting over the roar of the flames.
"Listen to me!" Ayush yelled between strikes. "Take care of Aryan and Vikas for me!"
"Are you stupid, bro?!" Nakamu yelled back, dodging a fiery swipe from Len. "I'm not leaving you here! Get to the boat, there's no time!"
Ayush blocked another strike from Len, his eyes softening as he looked back at the boat, then at Nakamu.
"Sorry, man... but I'm not letting anyone else die today."
FWOSH!
Before Nakamu could react, a massive Shadow Soldier materialized directly behind him out of the darkness. Without missing a beat, the shadow soldier landed a heavy, decisive punch right into Nakamu's jaw, sending him flying through the air and landing squarely onto the deck of the boat!
"AYUSH, NO!" junie screamed.
Ayush turned back toward Len, his shadow energy flaring up one last time as he stood alone against the flaming general on the shore.