"Hold him down! Don't let that kid move!"
Ultron's mechanical voice echoed through the ruins. At his command, a swarm of drones filled the sky like a mechanical storm, metal wings cutting through smoke and flame.
"Really, a lion's roar now? You've got to be kidding me." Ryuuto sighed as the air trembled with the charge of Sonic Man's cannon. "You guys never heard of subtlety, huh?"
"Ryuuto, I'll handle that thing!" Gwen's voice came sharp and steady, webbing already firing from her wrists toward the enormous alloy horn that Sonic Man had been preparing.
"Be careful," Ryuuto called back. "I'll keep them busy!"
He blurred through hand signs, chakra flaring around him.
[Shadow Clone Technique!]
Hundreds of Ryuuto copies burst into existence, streaks of red and lightning tearing through Ultron's forces. Each clone moved like a phantom, battering the swarm of robots into molten scrap while the original cut through the air toward Deadpool's regenerating remains—just to blast his head again for good measure.
"No! He's already here!" Lauf shouted, his frost-covered hands trembling.
Ultron sneered. "You call that resistance? Pathetic."
He fired a beam that sliced straight through Gwen's webline, severing it in a flash of light. Then he lunged, claws drawn, aiming straight for her.
"Ultron! Get back here!" Lauf barked. "We can't hold him!"
The Destroyer's cannons charged beside him, but even their combined power couldn't stop Ryuuto's advance. His chakra pressure alone weighed on them like a tidal wave.
"Keep fighting!" Ultron barked back, ignoring them completely. His claws crackled with energy as he closed in on Gwen.
"Come quietly," he taunted. "The boy's done for anyway. Join us, or—"
"Dream on," Gwen snapped, eyes blazing. "Ryuuto isn't someone who loses. And villains like you—" she yanked her next webline taut "—are exactly the kind he cuts down."
"Tch." Ultron's grin twisted, light gleaming off his steel face. "Then you can die with him!"
Twin claws formed a glowing orb of raw plasma between them, the air around it warping from sheer power. The light painted the entire battlefield white as Ultron hurled it at her.
The robots paused mid-flight. Even Lauf's giants stopped, the energy's pressure crushing the air flat.
"Die!" Ultron hissed.
But the blast never hit.
Wind split the space between them—and a familiar voice cut in, sharp and full of barely restrained rage.
"Ultron," Ryuuto's voice rang from above, "mind if I teach you some manners?"
Ultron froze. The plasma sphere hung midair for a split second before colliding with Ryuuto instead.
"Wha—!? That kid again!?" Lauf shouted.
Ultron's optics flickered, panic crossing his metallic features. "What are you idiots doing?! That's just one of his clones!"
Even so, his voice trembled. He tried to retreat as the energy sphere detonated against Ryuuto's outstretched palm.
"Since you're so eager to send us to the underworld," Ryuuto muttered, "I'll return the favor."
"Ryuuto! Don't block it! Let me—!" Gwen's voice cracked as she tried to reach him.
"Too late," he said softly, arm wrapping around her waist. "You think I'd let my girl take the hit? Not happening."
[Earth Style: Earth Wall!]
A surge of chakra split the ground open, raising a colossal wall of solid stone around them. The energy sphere slammed into it with a deafening boom! The shockwave shook the battlefield, fire rippling outward—but when the smoke cleared, Ryuuto and Gwen stood unscathed inside the fractured dome.
Ultron's optics widened. "No… that's impossible."
"Guess your big plan fell flat," Ryuuto said coolly. "Now it's my turn."
"Kill him! All units, KILL HIM!" Ultron roared. Thousands of robots surged forward at once, Lauf's frost giants joining the fray.
Ryuuto didn't even blink. He formed another seal.
[Earth Style: Earth Flow River!]
The ground erupted. A massive wave of mud and rock swept outward like a living beast, swallowing entire platoons of Ultron's drones and the giants of Jotunheim in seconds. Circuits, armor, and limbs vanished beneath the roaring earth.
Lauf's jaw dropped. "What kind of monster is this brat?!"
Even the Destroyer stumbled back, molten heat spilling from his vents. Ultron's processors screamed in disbelief.
And then—
"Step aside!" Sonic Man's voice cracked across the battlefield, his face red from strain. "Let me show you what real power sounds like!"
Ultron and the others immediately leapt back, clearing a path. The alloy horn glowed white-hot as Sonic Man inhaled sharply, channeling his energy. Then, with a roar, he unleashed a blast of sound through the cannon that tore the sky apart, aimed straight at Ryuuto.
The air vibrated. The world shook.
And Ryuuto smiled.