The wasteland was a battlefield of gods. Lightning danced across the shattered sky, blades lay buried in molten stone, and the toxic winds had turned into cyclones of pure energy.
Tetsuya stood tall, his body glowing with ascended lightning, his eyes burning white-hot. Paulo hovered opposite him, his horn cracked, his wing torn, his Cosmic Eye flickering, but still burning with vengeance.
They clashed again. Lightning Slash Barrage met Cosmic Slash, the impact sending shockwaves that split mountains and vaporized clouds. Tetsuya roared, pushing harder, faster, his sword a blur of fury.
Paulo staggered back, his regeneration slowing, his movements less precise. âYouâre faltering,â Tetsuya growled, lightning surging around him. âYouâre not invincible.â
Paulo wiped blood from his mouth, his voice low. âNeither are you.â
Then, Tetsuya hesitated. His breath caught. His knees buckled slightly. The lightning around him flickered. Pauloâs Cosmic Eye flared. âYouâre burning out.â
Tetsuya gritted his teeth, forcing himself upright. âIâm not done.â But Paulo saw it, the tremor in his stance, the fading glow in his aura. Tetsuya had pushed beyond his limits. His ascended form was powerful, divineâbut temporary.
Paulo surged forward, unleashing a Lightning Punch Barrage, copied, perfected, brutal. Tetsuya blocked, but his Armor cracked. He countered with a Lightning Bullet Storm, but Paulo absorbed it with his wing, retaliating with a Cosmic Death Slice, a shallow one, meant to wound, not kill.
Tetsuya screamed as the slice tore across his chest, sending him crashing into the ground. Dust rose. Silence. Paulo hovered above, panting, his wing twitching, his horn dimming. âYou were close,â he said. âBut not enough.â
Tetsuya lay on the ground, blood pooling beneath him, lightning flickering weakly around his body. But his eyes, his eyes still burned. âIâm not done,â he whispered. Paulo frowned. âYou should be.â
Tetsuyaâs hand twitched. Lightning tore through the toxic clouds. Cosmic energy pulsed from the shattered earth. Tetsuya and Paulo clashed again and again, each strike louder, faster, more desperate than the last.
Tetsuyaâs ascended lightning form was beginning to flicker. His body trembled under the strain. Paulo, though wounded, regenerated with terrifying persistence. His Cosmic Eye glowed with vengeance, his black wing slicing through the air like a blade of judgment.
Then it happened. Paulo vanished in a blur, reappearing behind Tetsuya with a twisted grin. His horn pulsed. His hand glowed with cosmic fury.
Cosmic Death Slice: Focused Form.
Tetsuya turned too late. The arc of energy tore through the air, clean, precise, merciless. A flash of light. A scream. And then, blood.
Tetsuya staggered back, clutching his shoulder. His right arm was gone. Not severed. Erased. The wound crackled with unstable energy, resisting regeneration.
He fell to one knee, gasping. âNo⦠noâ¦â Paulo hovered above him, panting, his wing twitching. âYou pushed me. You made me evolve. But you forgot the cost.â
Tetsuya tried to summon lightning, but his body refused. His circuits were broken. His balance shattered. âI canâtâ¦â he whispered. âI canât regenerateâ¦â Paulo descended slowly, his Cosmic Eye dimming. âThat arm held your sword. Your power. Your pride.â
Tetsuya looked up, eyes burning with pain and fury. âI still have my heart.â He lunged forward with his remaining arm, lightning sparking wildly, but Paulo caught him mid-air and slammed him into the ground.
The earth cracked. Tetsuya coughed blood. Paulo stood over him, silent. But Tetsuyaâs eyes still burned. Even broken. Even bleeding. Even one-armed. He refused to fall.
Tetsuya stood bloodied, one arm missing, his lightning aura flickering like a dying star. The ground beneath him was scorched and cracked, his breath shallow, his body trembling. His ascended form had pushed him beyond mortal limits, but now, those limits were catching up.
Across from him, Paulo hovered like a shadow of vengeance. His horn had regrown. His wing was fully healed. His Cosmic Eye burned brighter than ever, pulsing with fury and divine power. The memory of Alexis still haunted him, fuelling every strike, every breath, every heartbeat.
âYouâre slowing,â Paulo said coldly, his voice echoing across the wasteland. âYour lightning is fading.â Tetsuya gritted his teeth, summoning a final surge of energy. âIâm not doneâ¦â
He launched forward, dragging a trail of lightning behind him, his remaining hand glowing with raw power. He struck Paulo square in the chest with a Lightning Punch, but Paulo didnât flinch.
Instead, he caught Tetsuyaâs wrist. And crushed it. Tetsuya screamed, falling to his knees. Paulo raised his hand. Lightning Bullets Barrage, copied, perfected, merciless.
The sky lit up with electric fury as dozens of bolts rained down on Tetsuya, tearing through his armor, his skin, his soul. He collapsed. Smoke rose from his body.
Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.
His lightning aura flickered once⦠then vanished. Paulo descended slowly, his Cosmic Eye dimming, his wing folding behind him. âYou were strong,â he said. âBut strength without purpose is just noise.â
Tetsuya coughed, blood staining his lips. âShe⦠believed in meâ¦â Pauloâs expression hardened. âShe believed in a lie.â
The wind howled. The storm was over, or so Paulo seems. Paulo stood amidst the ruins, his Cosmic Eye dimming, his wing folded, his horn pulsing with residual power. Tetsuya lay motionless, one arm gone, his lightning aura extinguished. Momoiâs broken body rested beside him, her pink hair soaked in blood, her blades scattered like fallen stars.
Paulo exhaled. âItâs over.â But then, A spark. A twitch. Tetsuyaâs remaining hand reached out, slowly, shakily, and grasped Momoiâs lifeless fingers.
The sky trembled. The earth cracked. And the impossible happened. Their Ghostface badges pulsed in unison. Lightning surged through the air. Blades shimmered with divine light. A vortex of energy erupted around them, swallowing their bodies in a storm of pink and blue fury.
Paulo stepped back, eyes wide. âNoâ¦âThe fusion began. Momoiâs soul, still burning with vengeance, merged with Tetsuyaâs broken but unyielding spirit. Their powers intertwined, lightning and blades, rage and love, pain and purpose.
The storm exploded. And from it emerged a new being. A figure floated above the battlefield, taller, radiant, terrifying. Pink and blue hair flowed like fire.
One eye glowed with lightning, the other with blade-light. A black hoodie with glowing stripes wrapped around their body, and behind them shimmered twin wings, one of lightning, one of blades.
The name was Tetsumoi Saito and the power level was Unknown. Beyond measurable.
Paulo staggered. âWhat⦠are you?â Tetsumoiâs voice echoed, layered with both Momoiâs sharpness and Tetsuyaâs fury. âWe are vengeance. We are love. We are everything you tried to destroy.â
They raised their hand. Lightning Blade Barrage. Portals opened across the sky, unleashing a storm of electrified swords that tore through space itself.
Paulo screamed, summoning his Cosmic Armor, but it cracked instantly under the assault. Tetsumoi blurred forward, faster than light, slamming Paulo with a Fusion Punch that shattered his wing and sent him crashing into the earth.
âYou killed Alexis,â Tetsumoi said, descending slowly. âBut you broke us first.â Paulo coughed blood, his Cosmic Eye flickering. âYouâre⦠monstersâ¦â âNo,â Tetsumoi whispered. âWeâre justice.â
Pauloâs Cosmic Eye flared violently, his horn pulsing with rage, his wing slicing through the toxic winds. Hovering above the battlefield, he raised his arm, channelling every ounce of vengeance, every fragment of cosmic fury.
âCosmic Death Slash!â he roared. The sky split open. A rift of pure annihilation tore through space, aimed directly at the fused warrior, Tetsumoi Saito, the embodiment of lightning and blades, vengeance and love.
But Tetsumoi was already there. Before the slash could even form, they blurred forward, faster than light, faster than thoughtâand closed the distance in an instant.
Their fist, wrapped in spiralling lightning and razor-sharp blade energy, collided with Pauloâs chest. The impact was cataclysmic.
Pauloâs body was launched backward like a comet, crashing through one mountain, then another, then a third, each one exploding into rubble and dust. The shockwave flattened the wasteland, sending toxic winds scattering like leaves in a storm.
Tetsumoi hovered in the air, eyes glowing, wings flared wide. âYou donât get to speak his name,â they said, voice layered with fury and sorrow. âNot after what youâve done to the body.â
From the rubble, Paulo groaned, staggering to his feet. His Cosmic Eye flickered. His wing was broken. His horn was cracked again. But he was still alive. Barely. He looked up at the fused warrior, blood dripping from his mouth, and whispered, âYouâre⦠not supposed to be this strongâ¦â
Tetsumoi descended slowly, their aura burning brighter than ever. âWe werenât supposed to survive. But we did. And now, we finish this.â
The sky was torn open once again. Paulo, battered and bloodied, summoned every last ounce of cosmic fury. His horn pulsed violently, his wing flared wide, and his Cosmic Eye burned with unstable light. He roared with rage, grief, and desperation.
âCOSMIC DEATH SLICE!â
The rift tore through reality, an arc of annihilation, forged from vengeance and loss. It screamed through the air, aimed directly at Tetsumoi Saito, the fusion of lightning and blades, of Momoiâs precision and Tetsuyaâs fury.
The slash hit. A blinding explosion. The earth cracked. The sky screamed. Paulo fell to one knee, panting, watching the dust settle. But then, A figure stepped through the smoke.
Unscathed. Glowing. Divine. Tetsumoiâs body shimmered with radiant energy, their twin wings flared, their eyes burning with transcendent light. The Cosmic Death Slice had left a faint scorch across their chest, barely a scratch.
Pauloâs jaw clenched. âNo⦠no, thatâs impossibleâ¦â Tetsumoi raised their hand, lightning and blades swirling around their fingers. âYou poured your soul into that attack. And it barely touched us.â They vanished. And reappeared mid-air and above Paulo.
Fusion Blade Punch.
The impact sent Paulo crashing into the earth, carving a crater miles wide. His wing shattered. His horn cracked again. His Cosmic Eye flickered, dimming.
He coughed blood, struggling to rise. Tetsumoi hovered above him, radiant and merciless. âYou were strong. But strength without heart is hollow.â Paulo looked up, eyes wide with disbelief. âI⦠I failedâ¦â
Tetsumoi descended slowly, their aura burning brighter than ever. âThis ends now.â
The battlefield was scorched beyond recognition. Craters stretched for miles. The sky was a swirling vortex of lightning and shattered stars. Tetsumoi Saito, the fusion of Tetsuya and Momoi, hovered above the ruins, radiant and divine, their twin wings flared, their eyes burning with vengeance.
Paulo, broken but unyielding, stood below. His horn was cracked. His wing trembled. His Cosmic Eye flickered erratically. But his resolve was absolute. âI didnât come this far to lose,â he whispered.
He raised both hands. The air went still. The sky darkened. And then, Cosmic Death Beam was born. A singular beam of pure cosmic annihilation erupted from Pauloâs body, forged from every ounce of his power, grief, and fury. It tore through the sky like a divine spear, aimed directly at the fused warrior.
Tetsumoi turned, eyes wide. âNoâ!â The beam struck. A blinding explosion. The earth shattered. The sky screamed. And the fusion unraveled.
Tetsuya and Momoi were thrown apart mid-air, their bodies crashing into the ground, separated, broken, gasping. Their divine aura faded. Their wings vanished. Their power scattered like dust. Silence. Paulo collapsed to one knee, panting, his Cosmic Eye dimming. âItâs doneâ¦â
Tetsuya groaned, clutching his missing arm. Momoi coughed, blood staining her lips. They looked at each other, exhausted, defeated, but alive. Paulo stood slowly, his wing folding behind him. âYou were gods. But even gods fall.â
Paulo then appeared next to Momoi and Tetsuya then in a flash Paulo used Death slice to cut their brains, killing them in that very instant.
Comments(0)
Join the discussion — sign in to leave a comment
Sign In to CommentNo comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!