"Don't hit me! It's me, your ally!"
Ultron stumbled to his feet, clutching Heimdall's sword hilt like a walking stick. His metallic frame was dented and charred, smoke leaking from joints that once looked indestructible. If he hadn't been an A.I. with an unholy obsession with survival, he'd have been scrap metal by now.
"Ultron? What the hell happened to you? Who did this?" Heimdall's voice cracked. The sight of a supposedly invincible machine getting thrashed like a training dummy drained every ounce of bravado from him. His knees trembled. His earlier talk of "divine strength" vanished faster than Loki's loyalty.
"If I could, I'd run," Heimdall muttered. "I'd run and never look back."
Because Ryuuto… that kid wasn't human anymore. He was a walking nightmare.
"He's coming!" Ultron's eyes flared red, panic burning brighter than his reactors. "Get up and stall him! I need time to repair my systems!"
Heimdall's throat went dry. Still, he forced a nod. "Fine! But if I die, I'm haunting you, machine."
He roared, light flaring from his blade as he charged the approaching figure—Ryuuto, the boy everyone once mocked as The Powerless Freak.
Ryuuto didn't even flinch. His footsteps echoed like a countdown to divine punishment.
"Hey," Ryuuto said coldly, "you planning to die first or second?"
"SHUT UP!" Heimdall's aura exploded. "I'll send you to Hel myself!"
Their weapons clashed—sword against chakra-forged steel. Sparks sprayed like fireworks. The air shook with each impact, the battlefield howling with their fury.
Ultron hovered nearby, systems flickering, torn between terror and fascination. "Insane… they're both insane."
But it wasn't even close. Heimdall swung again and again—dozens of blows flashing faster than the eye could follow—yet Ryuuto slipped through them all, not a scratch on him. His counterkicks slammed Heimdall's jaw again and again, leaving red, swollen footprints across the god's face.
"You… little… mortal!" Heimdall snarled, veins bulging.
He hurled his sword straight at Ryuuto's chest. "Ultron! Now!"
"Understood!" Ultron's hands morphed into cannons. "Initiating termination protocol!"
A barrage of laser beams screamed through the air, lighting up the ruins like a starfield gone mad.
Then—
Ryuuto stopped moving.
He straightened, eyes glowing white, hair whipping upward as a storm of raw chakra exploded from his body.
"Bang!"
His hand shot out and caught Heimdall's thrown sword midair. The impact shattered the ground beneath him. The energy around him flared, bouncing every laser back toward Ultron like divine judgment.
Both enemies froze, faces drained of color.
"This… this can't be real," Ultron whispered. "He's not human."
"Retreat—!" Heimdall stammered, but it was too late.
Ryuuto smiled. The kind of smile that says, You really should've killed me when you had the chance.
"You think you can run after picking a fight with me?" His voice dropped low, almost calm. "Sorry. I'll kill you both myself."
His chakra roared like thunder.
[System Notice: Eight Inner Gates – Activation Sequence Initiated]
"First Gate—Open!"
"Second—Release!"
"Third—Life!"
"Fourth—Pain!"
"Fifth—Limit!"
"Sixth—View!"
"Seventh—Shock!"
The earth split beneath him. His aura twisted into black flame-like energy, the sheer pressure flattening debris for miles.
Even the fallen Destroyer and Lauf, who'd been pretending to be dead nearby, peeked up—only to instantly curl back into fetal position when Ryuuto's blazing eyes met theirs.
Heimdall dropped his weapon entirely. "What… what do we do now!?"
Ultron clenched his metallic jaw. "There's only one option left."
"What is it!?"
"Run."
Heimdall blinked. "Run—? That's your master plan!?"
"Separately. Maybe he'll kill only one of us." Ultron bolted before finishing the sentence, legs transforming into thrusters.
Heimdall stood there, dumbstruck. "You mechanical bastard!"
Ryuuto's aura crackled again, shaking the air. Heimdall didn't wait another second—he turned and sprinted for his life, both hands over his head as if divine lightning might strike at any second.
And Ryuuto just watched them flee, silent, his body bleeding from the strain of the opened Gates.
"…Cowards." He grinned faintly. "Guess I'll chase them later."