Susan's ship continues firing lasers into the giant demon drifting through space.
Each beam pierces its body, not to harm, but to analyze. On impact, the light dissolves into streams of data, siphoning DNA and energy back into the ship.
Inside the cockpit, Susan is still in her Ultra Syndicate trance.
Her mind fractures into thousands of parallel thoughts. Countless simulations race forward at impossible speed, searching for a solution to keep her soulmate alive. Smoke continues to pours from the demon's massive form. Entire sections of its body fade into the void, piece by piece.
"Hang on," Susan whispers desperately. "Just a little longer. I can do this. I can save you!"
Her eyes flicker as data floods the screens. Her fingers move at light speed across glowing controls, rewriting equations, overriding safeguards.
The fusion core spins faster.
Susan combines the demon's DNA and it's energy with her own technology. She slams her fist onto a command panel.
The mix sample shoots through a long transparent tube, traveling straight into the capsule housing the fusion core.
The core reacts instantly, it then glows purple… then green… then gray.
A violent surge ripples through the ship as the fusion core begins pumping this new energy into every system. A shifting, multicolored aura envelops the vessel.
Susan exhales sharply.
"It's done!"
She drives the ship forward and slams it against the demon's chest. Pulling a lever, she fires a massive concentrated beam directly into its body.
The demon glows, then falters.
Susan's eyes widen.
"What?! It's still not enough?!"
More of the demon's form collapses, tearing away into nothingness. A massive hole opens in its chest, revealing its enormous barely beating heart.
Susan's breath trembles but her mind accelerates even faster as she calms down.
"We need more power… We need—"
Her gaze snaps to a nearby Universal Tree, its colossal form riddled with dark holes and scars.
She hesitates for a moment then she steels herself.
"There's no other way...."
Susan pilots the ship straight through the demon's fading body. The vessel emerges inside the hollow cavity and locks onto the demon's heart. The ship's aura coils around it, stabilizing the fragile pulse.
With one violent pull, the ship extracts the heart as the rest of the demon's body disintegrates completely.
Only the heart remains, kept barely alive solely by Susan's energy field.
The ship jumps to light speed, racing toward the wounded Universal Tree.
"Forgive me!"
The aura intensifies as the ship crashes down from above, slamming the heart directly into the tree's core.
The Universal Tree begins to collapse.
Trillions of explosions erupt throughout its structure. Entire branches of existence shatter as the tree's life force is torn free and absorbed into the demon's heart and ship.
Susan screams, forcing the ship deeper causing the tree to disintegrates behind them, fading into the void until nothing remains.
The ship trembles violently as they reach the bottom of the tree.
Inside the cockpit, millions of digital screens erupt into existence, flooding the space with numbers, warnings, and data streams. Susan screams in pain as Ultra Syndicate pushes her mind past its limits.
The gathered life energy from the Universal Tree then appears and quickly merges with the fusion core, turning it pure white.
Susan rushes toward it just as the capsule shatters, releasing blinding light and smoke. She thrusts her arm forward with nanotechnology surges across her limb, forming a mechanical arm.
She grabs the fusion core as raw energy scorches through her body. Her robotic arm glows white-hot, burning under the strain.
She roars and leaps forward to the ship's front glass view. It opens as light aura envelope her as she launches herself into space. With everything she has, Susan drives the fusion core into the demon's heart, letting it go deep as it then fuses with it.
The heart explodes with light that is so bright it becomes blinding.
Energy whips burst from the ship, wrapping around Susan and dragging her back inside as the cockpit seals itself.
She collapses, gasping, staring at her missing arm. Only to see a burning white stump.
Slowly, the blinding light fades and the demon's heart no longer beats, it crystallizes.
Susan stares in awe as tears stream down her face. Within the crystal, she can see a humanoid silhouette, curled peacefully inside.
Her ship suddenly flashes red with warning alarms.
A radar field is displayed onto the screen as suddenly purple dots appears from the far end growing in numbers of thousands to millions.
The bottom half of the radar field then floods into a single massive purple wave rushing toward her ship icon location.
Susan turns toward the side viewport.
A roaring rushing purple cloud surges through space with millions of demons, screaming, clawing, and ready to devour.
For a brief moment… she smiles sadly.
"At least," she whispers, "I get to die with the love of my life."
The cockpit opens again.
Wrapped in fading aura, Susan floats in space toward the crystal heart. Her eyes are barely open as she reaches it and embraces it gently.
She closes her eyes ready to accept her fate but suddenly her eyes snap open to see a crack spiders across the crystal near her face.
More follow all around the heart until it shatters. Susan falls inward, floating toward the humanoid figure inside to it moves. It then sees her and reaches out it's hand towards her.
Susan reaches back until their fingers touch.
A blinding explosion of light erupts outward, unleashing a massive energy wave that collides with the incoming demon swarm. Demons, energy, and darkness compress together, fusing into a hardened shell around Susan and the ship.
From afar, it appears as a massive dark sphere, wrapped in shadow and cloud that drifts in space, blending with the color of the void.
Meanwhile, inside the meeting room of Black Paradise, Basil slowly rises from his seat.
His expression is tense, conflicted.
"This is… too much to take in," he says. "I don't even know if I can believe it anymore. Did all of this really happen?"
Susan steps forward.
She gives a single, quiet nod.
Behind her, the massive digital screen continues to unfold the life of the real Susan.
Meanwhile, on Treasure Island, near the cave entrance, Tobias is setting up one of his traps but then pauses with a rope hanging loosely in his hands.
His gaze is deeply fixated onto it, slowly, his grip loosens, and the rope slips from his fingers, falling uselessly to the ground. Tobias frowns with mix emotions.
Confused, he steps toward the cave entrance and leans his back against the stone wall. His mind races, fast, sharp, almost rivaling Ultra-level thinking. Thoughts collide as he tries to understand the strange sensations crawling through his body… and the true nature of this puzzle.
"There's no way a simple point-based treasure hunt is what the Puzzle Boss really intended," he mutters to himself.
His fingers pinch his chin as he thinks harder. Then, his hand brushes against the cave wall and freezes.
Slowly, he lifts his hand and stares at it.
"Something isn't right…" he whispers. "It's like…"
Before the thought can finish, movement breaks the silence.
Several Black Team Stars emerge from the forest, armed with basic weapons, their eyes burning with intent. Their goal is obvious, the White Team's Special Treasure, hidden somewhere inside the cave.
They rush forward but one by one, they fall straight into Tobias's traps.
The first Star steps onto unstable ground and sinks instantly into hidden quicksand, as he stops moving to fall any further.
Another charges ahead, only to have a rope snap tight around his ankle, yanking him violently into the air and slamming him into the branches of a towering tree.
A third group rushes in together, crushing a pile of leaves, triggering a concealed net that snaps upward and cages them helplessly above the ground.
Yet Tobias barely notices them, still lost in his thoughts.
"The last puzzle room gave us a hint," he says quietly. "That means there has to be another one on this island."
Without another glance, Tobias turns and walk away from the cave.
The remaining Black Team Stars stare at him, confused as they then rush into the cave, only to find it empty.
"Nothing?" one of them snaps. "Search everything!"
A Star presses her palm against the wall to press a hidden button. A hidden mechanism activates, and part of the stone wall slides open, revealing a bronze treasure chest hidden inside.
Outside, Tobias walks along the shoreline, his pace slows.
He stares down at the sand beneath his feet, eyes darting left and right, searching for something he can't name. Then, suddenly, his knees buckle, and he drops to the ground.
His hands sink into the warm sand.
"Why am I reacting like this…?" he murmurs. "It's like my body knows something my mind doesn't."
The sensation grows stronger and familiar. Tobias pulls off his boots and presses his bare feet into the sand. He takes a few careful steps forward and then he looks up.
High above the island, the Puzzle Boss floats silently, watching everything.
Tears spills down Tobias's face before he even realizes they're there with a confused face.
Back at the cave, Hans and several White Team Stars arrive, only to see Black Team members walking out, shouting in frustration.
"There's no way their Special Treasure isn't here!"
"This has to be their starting point!"
"That's why there were traps outside!"
"It's a dead end, this must be a trick!"
Both teams then spots each other with weapons are raised instantly.
Hans's eyes widen. "What? Where's Tobias? Did he really go down that easily?!"
The two teams clash with every hit sends glowing numbers into the air as points are awarded. Hans spins his metal staff defensively, barely holding his ground but then he spots Tobias on the nearby beach.
Relief flickers across his face.
Suddenly, one of the Black Team Stars bites into a glowing fruit.
A menu appears before her eyes:
"Gain one of your class ability for five minutes."
Her pupils sharpen, glowing gold.
"Class: Hunter," she declares. "Eagle Eyes!"
She scans the area rapidly.
"The Special Treasure leaks lots of energy," she says. "I can see it within a hundred-yard radius."
Her gaze snaps back to Hans with surprise as she see a massive flow of energy radiates from inside his body, invisible to everyone else.
Her eyes widen in shock.
"…That boy," she says, pointing straight at him. "He has it.…And it's inside him."
Every Black Team Star turns toward Hans at once and attacks him.
Hans tightens his grip on his staff as they rush him from all sides as they soon overwhelm him.
Hans is slammed to the ground, arms pinned, his staff knocked away. A Black Team Star plants a knee into his chest as another steps forward, blade gleaming.
"So he ate it?" the Star sneers, pressing the blade against Hans's stomach.
The Star with Eagle Eyes nods. "Yes. I can see it inside of him."
The blade lifts, ready to cut Hans open.
"Wait!" the Eagle-Eyed Star suddenly shouts.
Everyone freezes.
"That puzzle piece you found earlier," she says sharply. "It's reacting to something in his back pouch."
The Star hesitates, then reaches down and rips open Hans's pouch, pulling out the diamond puzzle piece. He smiles, then pulls out his own identical piece.
The moment the puzzle pieces were close, instantly the two pieces snap together midair, glowing as magical energy hums between them.
"Woah…" the Star mutters. "Looks like we need one more to complete this."
But then stares back down at Hans.
"But does that really matter when we're about to win right here?"
He swings the blade hard downwards, causing blood sprays all over but not Hans's.
Everyone then sees a hand has caught the sword mid-strike as it was Tobias with his barehand, fingers clenched tightly around the blade. Blood pours heavily from his palm, dripping onto the dirt below.
The Star's eyes go wide. "Where did he come from—?! Wait—"
He turns to sees his Eagle-Eyed ally cleaning her face as sand grinds painfully into her eyes.
Tobias's gaze lifts to the connected two glowing diamond puzzle pieces hovering in the air.
"This is it," he says, voice steady despite the blood running down his hand.
"This is our way out!"
The Star tries to yank his sword free but is unable to.
Tobias tightens his grip, then rips the blade away, twisting his body into a sudden handstand with his heel slamming into the Star's head, sending him flying backward.
More Black Team Stars rush in at the same time but Tobias moves quickly with break dance moves.
He spins into a windmill with his legs scything low and fast, knocking Stars off their feet one after another. His body flows seamlessly into a transition spin, then drops into a head spin, legs whipping outward like blades, each kick sends another Star flying.
Tobias catches himself as he then snatches the glowing diamond puzzle pieces with his blood-soaked hand, grabs Hans by the arm, and dashes away.
Meanwhile, inside the ruined castle, Crank presses the attack that Ignis barely dodges.
Crank's massive fists crash past him, missing by inches. Ignis flicks handfuls of pebbles backward as he retreats, each one detonating into small dust explosions against Crank's back but it doesn't slow him down even a little bit.
Every Impact causes the walls to crack and the floor fractures even more until the entire room shakes violently as chunks of the ceiling rain down and the floor gives way.
Both of them plunge downward smashing through collapse floors and tumble into darkness before slamming hard onto stone below.
Ignis groans and rolls to his feet with Bars in front of him.
As they are inside an underground prison. He staggers out of one, blood dripping from his forehead and blurry vision.
Across the hallway, Crank slowly rises from the rubble.
Ignis wipes the blood from his eyes and laughs breathlessly.
"Come on, Crank," he says. "This still isn't enough?!"
Crank doesn't answer and only charges forward, landing a heavy punch that sends Ignis flying like a cannonball, crashing through one… two… three… four… five walls, stone exploding outward with each impact.
He finally slams into something solid as it is a giant diamond treasure chest, the chest bursts open from the collision.
Points erupt into the air, glowing numbers spiraling upward. A power fruit rolls across the floor and stops at Ignis's feet.
Moments later, something else clinks against the stone.
A diamond puzzle piece.
Ignis groans, pushes himself upright, and stares at the loot in disbelief. He wipes the blood from his face, smearing it across his sleeve, then smiles crookedly.
"…Man," he mutters, picking himself up,
"I really am the luckiest Star."