The forest screamed.
Not with wind, but with death.
Raijin tore through the undergrowth like a comet forged of lightning and desperation, boots cratering the earth with every stride. Evelyn sprinted beside him, sword in one hand, pistol in the other, lightning flickering along the barrel like a heartbeat.
"Raijin, take it easy!" she shouted, voice cracking over the thunder of their passage. "We can't slow down, but we can't burn out!"
"We have to keep up!" Raijin roared back, eyes wild, hair whipping in the storm of his own making. "That wave of power—it hit exactly where Tyrone and Lihanna are. They're close. We make it, or they win."
"I know that, Raijin—but at this rate you won't have the strength to take them on!"
He didn't slow. Didn't even look at her.
"I never once doubted my abilities," he snarled, voice raw with conviction. "I will go beyond my human limits. This is my rise. My time to shine."
They slayed everything in their path.
Beasts erupted from the shadows (fanged, clawed, elemental). Raijin's lightning carved them apart. Evelyn's bullets exploded with thunder. Trees shattered. Blood steamed on the leaves.
Thirty minutes later, the forest gave way to desert.
Raijin skidded to a halt at the edge, boots sinking into burning sand. "I see it," he panted. "The final arena."
Evelyn joined him, chest heaving. "We're close—"
The ground erupted.
Giant worms—each the size of a skyscraper—burst from the dunes, maws gaping like black holes. Sand rained down in avalanches. Their shadows swallowed the sun.
Raijin stared up, jaw slack. "You've got to be kidding me. So many—"
Evelyn's lightning flickered along her sword and gun. "This is going to take a while."
The earth shattered.
A pit opened beneath them—hundreds of worms writhing in a living abyss. They fell.
Screens across Vrasnia flickered to life. Raijin and Evelyn plummeted. The temporary duo—Kamaki, Felicia, Tyrone, Lihanna—raced across the final field.
In the VIP chamber, Kazimir's grin was a blade.
"Now," he murmured, "the real battle begins."
The final arena was a vast, open plain of cracked obsidian. The sky bled violet. The moon hung low, fractured and pulsing.
Kamaki spun in a slow circle. "This is the center, right? So where's the main event?"
Tyrone's scythe rested across his shoulders, eyes scanning. "Feels fishy. Could be an ambush."
A voice—everywhere and nowhere—answered.
"Now do you really think I'm the kind of person to ambush? Four versus one, Tyrone?"
Lihanna's eyes widened. "That voice—"
Gravity slammed them to the ground.
Not pressure. Crushing. The earth groaned. Bones creaked. The air turned to lead.
Felicia screamed, "What's happening?!"
Kamaki clawed at the dirt. "This power—it's not normal!"
Tyrone's teeth ground together. "Can't… move…"
Lihanna's voice was a whisper of steel. "I can't sense her presence… but I've felt this before. Imaginary essence. Our final opponent is Vanessa."
The gravity vanished.
A rift tore open in the air—jagged, bleeding starlight.
She stepped through.
Pale blue hair like liquid frost. Purple eyes—abyssal, endless. A double-sided spear in her grip, glowing with runes of void and creation. High boots touched the obsidian with a sound like a gavel.
Her armor was art and terror—black corset bodice laced with glowing blue lines, metallic pauldrons jagged as broken moons. Her skirt flared in alternating panels of black and blue, layered fabric fanning like a predator's tail. Thigh-high stockings gleamed with ornate blue armor at knee and thigh. Long black gloves fused into gauntlets that hummed with power.
The air trembled.
Tyrone's voice was a croak. "No way… it's Vanessa…"
Kamaki shook. "Bro… we are not winning this. She's—she's brutal. I'm scared."
Felicia punched his arm—hard. "Don't be a coward! We came this far. She's an anomaly, but we fight together. No other way."
Lihanna and Tyrone rose as one, side by side, weapons drawn. The void and the abyss stared back.
Rain began to fall—black rain.
The moon shifted—purple bleeding into indigo, hollow and ancient.
Vanessa's eyes opened fully. Purple struck like lightning.
Tyrone and Lihanna stood firm.
She nodded.
"As expected. Don't think I'll go easy. This is your test. You've beaten everything I created—the worms, the whale, the jungle beasts, the Hydra. All of it. My design."
Tyrone's voice cracked. "You created the Hydra? That thing could take a High Dragon—"
Vanessa chuckled, soft and terrible.
"That was a fraction. All living things are made of water. I give them form. Power. Life."
Kamaki finally stood, trembling. Felicia glanced at him.
Lihanna spoke, calm as winter. "Lucky for you—two ways to win. Take the ribbon from me… or beat me."
They exhaled.
"But," Vanessa continued, voice silk over steel, "don't think it'll be easy. Four of you. One of me. Just a girl."
She smiled.
Kamaki whispered to Tyrone, "Yo, bro—you hearing this? She's not actually gonna go all out, right? We'll die."
Tyrone's grin was feral. "Man up. Or forfeit."
Kamaki stood taller, hiding the shake. "Nah. I'm in."
Vanessa raised her arms.
"Are you ready? Show me how far you've come."
Felicia ignited—pale blue phoenix fire erupting in wings of grace and fury.
Tyrone's eyes bled purple, hair shifting to midnight. Black aura surged, laced with violet fire.
Kamaki's blood flamed—vampire king state, crimson eyes glowing, fangs bared.
Lihanna entered lunar state—hair liquid night, eyes glowing lunar blue-violet, water aura coiling like a storm.
They stood as one.
Vanessa's smirk was a promise of ruin.
The rain screamed.
The moon watched.
And the final battle began.