The once-endless forest was now a barren, dusty wasteland. The light from the monster's attack had eaten away everything, leaving nothing but scorched earth. As the dust slowly settled, the monster stood tall at the very center of the devastation, untouched and seemingly undamaged.
Several meters in front of it, a dome-shaped barrier of spiraling rainbow colors flickered. It was cracked and deteriorating, its surface flaking away like rusting metal. With a final shudder, it collapsed.
Neo fell to her knees, her eyes fluttering, struggling to stay open.
"Neo, that was… not just awesome," Niata yelled excitedly, catching her and keeping her from falling completely. "That was beyond awesome!"
Toro's helmet retracted, revealing his face. "Incredible work, Neo. That was a quick save," he said. There was no smile on his face, just a stone-serious expression, much like Blake's. Blake himself was staring at the monster in the distance, his eyes wide with disbelief.
"Toro, you said it was damaged," Blake growled, clenching his fists as he faced the Derivative. "It regenerated in an instant. But I can go higher."
"Alright. What we need is more force, which Blitz and I can dish out. Neo seems tired, so…" Toro began.
"Brother, you can strike it with your melee attacks," Toro said, his voice cutting through Niata's thoughts. "Keep it distracted so that we can land our blows."
Niata let out a smirk, a spark of determination replacing the fear in his eyes. At least I have something to do.
"Thanks, brother," he said, rolling his shoulders as a fresh wave of turquoise aura flared to life around him.
"I can still fight," Neo cut in, pushing herself to her feet and staring defiantly at Toro. "I have enough Essence."
"You sure?" Niata asked, his voice laced with worry.
"Yeah," she affirmed.
"High level two (H2.9L) attacks work on it," Toro analyzed aloud, recalling the damage from Neo's axe and Blake's flame. "Its durability is great, but it can't fully control its power. If it could, it would be impossible for us to damage it."
"It's coming!" Niata yelled, his voice scratching the air.
A voice suddenly crackled to life in their earpieces. 'Guardian Dome here.' For a brief moment, their faces lit up with hope.
'It has been thirty minutes. Tiamoth sends his luck.' The voice cut out as quickly as it came. Their expressions turned gloomy.
Toro's helmet reformed over his face. He rushed forward, a silver blur spiraling around the lumbering monster. The others followed his lead.
"I'm all for accelerated development, but this is bullshit!" Blitz yelled as he zipped around the monster.
Niata moved in tandem, a turquoise blur dodging a clumsy swipe from the beast. Toro didn't even say anything... maybe because he sneaked into this fight? No... he clearly trusts Tiamoth's judgment. He's better at reading people than I am, he thought, refocusing on the enemy before him.
The Derivative swatted him away with its tail, sending him flying across the barren land. "I'm gonna destroy it, damnit... No one dies!" Blitz yelled as he crashed in the distance.
Toro quickly positioned himself under the monster and fired a beam of blue energy from his palm. The laser struck the Derivative from below, sending it hurtling into the air, higher than the mountain peaks visible on the horizon.
Neo flew above the airborne monster. A massive hammer formed in her arms, and with a powerful swing, she struck the monster with tremendous force, sending it plummeting back towards the earth.
As it fell, Niata jumped, leaving a crater from the sheer force of his launch. He met the monster mid-air, his hands brimming with a turquoise energy even brighter than his aura. He landed a flurry of blindingly fast punches, dozens in an instant, the impacts tearing the very air itself. The monster was sent flying even further, zooming past Neo and disappearing into the high clouds. Niata began to free fall, and Neo quickly swooped in to catch him, landing softly on the ground.
Far away, Blitz began running, a red streak disappearing over the horizon.
Toro flew into the clouds, following the monster. Behind his helmet, a smirk formed. He rose above the monster, which was now suspended in the air. "It's time," Toro said, his voice and Conscior's overlapping.
The armor on his arms began to vibrate violently, metal clanking and scratching as both arms reconfigured and combined into a single, massive cannon. He aimed it down at the monster, down towards the earth.
"It's nuking time," the overlapping voices said.
"¡EL GRAN FINAL BALÍSTICO!"
They let out a loud, synthesized shout. A blue beam of pure energy fired from the cannon, completely engulfing the Derivative. The clouds were blasted away by the force. The beam was so immense it was visible from the Guardian Dome, where people on the ground pointed up at the new, blue star in the sky. Neo and Niata stared up as the light covered the entire barren wasteland.
The beam formed a massive sphere of blue energy before disappearing. The monster, covered in smoke, began to free fall.
From space, a ray of red light raced across the planet, zigzagging around the globe dozens of times. It was Blitz. He approached running from the opposite direction, he had disappeared his speed so immense he left no dust trail, only silence. He jumped from the ground, aimed at the falling Derivative.
"I will prove to you…" he whispered, his fist clenched and radiating red Essence as he descended upon the monster.
A violent flash of red light blinded Neo and Niata for a second. There was no sound, only a crushing force. In an instant, the monster was gone, disintegrated.
Blitz was now free-falling. Toro caught him, landing gently on the ground. Everyone stared, frozen, at Blitz, who was now on his knees, both fists pressed into the ground. He was drenched in sweat, his red aura slowly disappearing.
Neo moved to Blitz, placing a hand on his shoulder. A shimmering blue aura flowed from her, enveloping Blitz. The energy seemed to pour from his wounds, sealing them shut as it left.
"Hah..." She let out a sigh of relief.
"I can perform Energy Share on you too, if you want," Blitz said, looking at the ground as he slowly stood up. "Also, thank you for helping out earlier, for finding me and flying me back."
"I don't have any injuries," she replied, pressing her earpiece. "Guardian Dome, we beat the Derivative."
'Alright students. Great work. We are about to open a gateway at your coordinates.'
"Sheesh... Just like that," Niata said, and then his eyes rolled back and he collapsed. Toro caught him easily, holding him in both arms.
A swirling blue portal appeared in front of them, its light reflecting against their tired eyes.
"Side effects of healing from organ damage," Toro said. As he spoke, his armor rapidly disassembled, flowing off his body and re-forming into the familiar, bulky shape of Conscior.
"Yeah!" Conscior said cheerfully.