"I think... I'm scared of the dark..."
Shade stood impassive, clad in armor forged from Pure Darkness. His inverted eyes, similar to those of The End, glanced at Klaus, who returned a defeated gaze at the sight before him.
"It... can't be," Klaus muttered, witnessing the conclusion of his brother's transformation.
Soon, the variant of The End that stood beside the demigods vanished, leaving only the original seated on the throne. With his departure, the force that had kept Klaus at bay finally vanished, allowing the demigod to slowly rise to his feet.
With his damaged eye now healed, Klaus's gaze was hollow at the sight before him. Shade glanced at him in silence, standing idly as if lifeless.
"Now," The End finally said from his throne, "the next act has stepped onto the stage. I expect nothing less than an astounding spectacle."
Soon, he raised his right hand slightly. "The performance may commence."
Almost on command, Shade let out a menacing, inhuman roar. The power in his voice was immense, and Klaus knew it was nothing good.
"Shade," he muttered softly.
But his brother did not respond.
Shade glanced at Klaus before rushing toward him, rage in his eyes. He unleashed a barrage of blows, and all Klaus could do in the moment was evade.
"Please..." Klaus muttered. "Snap out of this. I know you can."
But once again, Shade did not respond, swinging his armored fists with unrelenting power.
Klaus continued to evade, dodging the physical attacks, but over time, Shade began to overwhelm him, landing more blows than not. Klaus knew he needed to act, but he could not bring himself to fight back--especially since his mind was still recovering from the experience of witnessing the extermination of all reality.
"Fight it, Shade," Klaus pleaded once more.
But Shade ignored his words. After another dodge, he landed a devastating elbow to Klaus's torso before swaying to the side and striking his heel against the left side of Klaus's face. Klaus hurled to the side, his body dragging on the ground briefly before he picked himself up.
Shade glared at his opponent, his teeth clenched in anger. Yet it was not irritation in his eyes, but annoyance at Klaus's refusal to retaliate--and Klaus recognized it.
From a single glance, Klaus could tell he could not talk his brother out of The End's influence, a reality he had not wanted to accept. Noticing this, he slowly picked himself up again, his head lowered in sorrow.
"The only way to help him..." he muttered, "is to defeat him myself."
After his words, he stood straight as his golden eyes lifted from the ground, glowing in the warm evening.
Shade stood in silence, watching as Klaus stretched his hands and began to remove the trench coat he wore. Finally, Klaus set the coat aside, and the two demigods stepped forward.
Shade walked closer to his opponent, and Klaus did the same, his expression shifting from pain to focus as he fully overcame the strain in his mind. The two brothers closed the distance between them until they stood face-to-face.
Klaus and Shade locked eyes, their stare adding tension to the quiet battlefield. Seconds passed in utter silence before, suddenly, both demigods lashed out with speed, each landing a blow on the other in perfect sync.
Klaus's left hand struck the right side of Shade's face, while Shade's did the same to the opposite side. Both flinched upon contact, their strikes carrying equal force. Then their gazes met again as they slammed punches into each other in tandem.
The pace of battle quickly increased, and the brothers engaged in brutal melee combat. Devastating attacks landed in rapid succession, their power eerily identical. It was a testament to the countless training sessions they had endured separately over the past few months.
They continued clashing without abilities or weapons, relying solely on raw combat. Yet, as time went on, it became evident that one had a slight upper hand.
Shade was not stronger or faster than Klaus, but one factor gave him an advantage: his understanding of his brother's fighting style.
Over months, Shade had observed Klaus's growth as a demigod--his battles, his choices, his movements. He had unconsciously learned the intricacies of Klaus's combat style. He knew his brother's strengths in melee and the weaknesses, such as his less efficient right side.
Shade understood countless small details about Klaus through both observation and their bond, and in a fight where their raw power was equal, such differences made all the impact.
Another advantage was Shade's armor of darkness. Unlike Klaus, who wore simple clothes, Shade's armor dulled incoming strikes. Over time, this allowed him to absorb more punishment while landing slightly more blows in return.
Klaus recognized his disadvantages after a few more seconds, but instead of exercising more caution, he focused on an important detail. Shade's ability to understand his actions meant he was not a different being from the demigod of darkness, a fact supported by his similar fighting style. This meant there was still hope to save him from the influence of The End.
As the fight continued, Klaus and Shade frequently shifted their fighting styles. They held their forearms ahead, adopting a boxing stance and trading blows. Soon, they swapped to grappling as well, attempting to keep one another guessing. The speed at which they moved was incredible, highlighted further by the divine rings they still wore.
Yet again, Shade maintained a slight advantage.
Predicting a left-hand swing from Klaus, he caught the hand and turned his body away, using his back as leverage to pivot his opponent off the ground.
Klaus was lifted before being slammed onto the floor. This was the first major attack in the fight that went unanswered.
Klaus flinched as his back bounced against the ground, but his opponent wasted no time capitalizing. Shade lifted his right foot and stomped on Klaus's abdomen, the force causing Klaus's eyes to widen in pain. But Shade did not stop there.
He raised his foot again and brought it down once more. This time, however, Klaus saw the attack coming and managed to roll away. Shade's stomp struck the ground, cracking the pavement beneath them. Refusing to give Klaus any space, he pressed forward, planting his right foot ahead and lifting his left to strike again.
Klaus kept rolling as Shade's stomps shattered the ground with each step. Finally, he used the momentum of a roll to hurl himself back to his feet, briefly creating some distance.
Shade rushed forward, expecting Klaus to throw a left-handed punch, which he did. Knowing his brother was left-handed, he had predicted this reaction from a mile away and was ready for it. But as he prepared to counter, Klaus feinted his attack, halting his strike midway and instead swinging an uppercut with his right hand. The blow connected cleanly with Shade's jaw, sending him flinging backward headfirst.
Twisting midair, Shade planted his palms on the floor and flipped back upright. With the distance created, the fight slowed. The brothers circled, eyes locked, each of them pacing to the side in search of a strategy and an opening. Moments later, they clashed again.
The battle felt almost prideful, neither using a single ability in their arsenal. Klaus had even deactivated his Perfect Precognition, and Shade's Abyssal Pit was nowhere in sight.
Their movements remained eerily in sync, making the fight's outcome uncertain. But after several more exchanges, Shade finally found an opening.
Catching Klaus off guard with a swing from his left hand, Shade was set to land a devastating blow to the head. But before it could connect, Klaus suddenly appeared a few feet away, almost as if he had teleported.
Klaus's eyes widened, realizing that he had just used his Burst Speed to evade Shade's attack on instinct. He froze for a moment, annoyed at being the first to utilize his ability in their clash. However, as he gazed at his opponent, he watched a taunting grin spread across Shade's face, as though belittling him for losing the melee exchange.
Klaus's annoyance deepened at the sight of his opponent's amusement, but as he began to move closer, he suddenly froze in place.
His eyes widened slightly as the shadows around his body darkened, locking him still. Looking back at his opponent, he saw a small hole of shadows on Shade's chestplate, with Shade's right hand buried within it. Through this action, Shade had bound Klaus using the shadows he cast.
It was common knowledge that Klaus did not naturally possess a shadow due to his nature. However, because Shade had created one for him, it meant he could alter it directly rather than relying on his Binding Shadows ability, which normally required his immobility. Thus, while Shade kept Klaus bound, he himself remained free, allowing him to advance and land a devastating punch with his free hand.
Klaus was sent flying, but soon managed to stop himself. Seeing his opponent rush forward, he raised his hand and created a Solar Ball, hurling it ahead. He already knew Shade would react to the projectile, but this was his intent. However, Shade's reaction differed from what he expected.
As Shade charged, the darkness of his armor shifted around his neck, forming a helmet as he pressed forward headfirst toward the incoming projectile. Soon, the Solar Ball halted just before him and detonated, flooding the area with blinding light. Yet Shade remained unaffected.
Shade had predicted this outcome. He knew Klaus could not throw a first-grade variant of the Solar Ball without increasing its density. So, since Klaus had created and thrown one so quickly, he assumed it was either a decoy or a flashbang variant. With the latter being true, his eyes were shielded by his helmet before he pushed through the blinding light and landed another crushing blow, sending Klaus flying once again.
By now, their fight had carried them far from where it began, but The End and Olivia still observed every moment from their location.
Olivia's concern for the safety of the demigods had reached its highest at this point. But she knew there was nothing she could do about it in her captive state.
"Please be safe after all this," she thought internally. "Both of you."
Klaus picked himself up from the ground, only to see Shade rushing at him once more. Again, the shadows around his body darkened, binding him in place.
Shade advanced while repeating the same actions, keeping his opponent restrained.
Klaus grunted in frustration as he struggled to break free. But after failing to do so, his eyes began to glow intensely. A blinding light burst forth from them, spreading across the entire battlefield. The light negated the shadows binding him, granting him freedom from his opponent's hold.
Shade, having noticed the glow in time, formed a helmet once more to shield his eyes. Still, because the radiance from Klaus's gaze persisted, he was unable to see his surroundings. As the light finally subsided and his eyes adapted, he saw Klaus standing with his left hand raised high.
With his gaze upon his opponent, particles of light spiraled over Klaus's palm, coalescing into a first-grade Solar Ball. In an instant, Klaus suddenly appeared before Shade with Burst Speed, catching his opponent off guard and slamming the orb into his chest. The force hurled Shade backward, sending another wave of light across the field, though less blinding than before.
Shade tumbled before regaining his footing. His chestplate had shattered from the strike, but the darkness quickly reformed to replenish his armor. Fueled by anger, he charged back at his opponent.
Klaus now evaded every attack with ease, his Burst Speed tipping the battle in his favor. Shade could no longer land a single strike, and the fight seemed to turn toward Klaus. But within moments, that changed.
As Klaus shifted from defense to offense, he used Burst Speed to flank Shade from the side. But as he began his motion, he noticed something disturbingly peculiar.
As he continued to his left, his gaze fell on Shade, whose eyes suddenly began to move, tracking him even as he traveled at the speed of light. The whole world appeared frozen, yet somehow, Shade's inverted eyes shifted. But this was only the beginning.
Suddenly, as Klaus pressed on, Shade's head turned ever so slightly in his direction. The movement was barely an inch, but it was devastating enough to disrupt the entire battlefield.
Naturally, because Klaus could convert his body and other objects into photon particles, his light-speed movement caused no distortion to reality or space. But this was not true for Shade.
Though his motion was minimal and nowhere near light speed, it was still over a thousand times faster than a bullet for him to have reacted. And without Klaus's ability, the sheer friction with the surrounding air molecules was catastrophic.
The effect was so violent that when Klaus began perceiving the world normally again, the entire area around Shade erupted with an intense burst of energy that tore outward, annihilating everything in its path for miles. That single, insignificant movement obliterated the battlefield, leaving an explosive catastrophe in its wake.
Klaus braced his forearms as the force slammed against him, pushing him violently. He managed to hold his ground, but his mind faltered briefly in shock.
When the chaos subsided, he turned his gaze across the wasteland, witnessing how a single, imperceptible motion from Shade had wrought destruction farther than his eyes could see. He also felt a surge of gamma radiation wash over the battlefield, but before he could focus on it, Shade rushed at him again.
Evading the incoming attacks at normal speed, Klaus's thoughts churned. He knew he could not afford to use Burst Speed anymore since it would only provoke Shade to react again, and what he had just witnessed proved that such reactions would unleash even greater devastation to the Earth.
Klaus refused to let Shade cause more damage than he already had. So as he continued dodging blows, he manipulated the gamma radiation from Shade's earlier surge, nullifying it with his control over light. He didn't know if anyone was caught within the vast radius of the destruction, but he was thankful that Link had evacuated most of the city, sparing countless lives.
The battle pressed on. Klaus switched to offense, stopping Shade's strikes by grabbing his hands. With the opening, he unleashed a Solar Flash from his eyes--focusing on speed rather than the quantity of photons. The flash was shorter-lived, but nearly impossible to react to, ensuring a clean hit.
Acting fast, Klaus kicked Shade back and raised his left hand to the skies, conjuring a decisive Solar Ball. The sphere of light expanded, evolving from the first grade into the second. With determination in his gaze, Klaus advanced on his opponent, who was still reeling from the flash.
The attack was certain to be devastating, guaranteed to damage Shade gravely. But Klaus knew he had no path to victory and to saving his brother without causing such harm.
Shade's eyes remained shut from the blast, yet he still sensed Klaus approaching. The Solar Ball's radiance seeped through his eyelids, betraying its position. But as it neared, Shade suddenly let himself fall backward, revealing a pool of shadows beneath him.
Klaus watched as the shadows swallowed his brother. He diverted the Solar Ball toward Shade before his form would vanish completely, but he was too late, and the orb detonated harmlessly against the ground.
When the smoke cleared, the pool of shadows reformed a short distance away, and Shade emerged unscathed. Luckily, Klaus had also avoided the explosion's effects by slipping into his Phantasmal State.
As the fight resumed, doubt clouded his thoughts. He saw no way to stop Shade without lethal force, and the possibility gnawed at him.
In the moment, he regretted having involuntarily moved Rose and Riley away, but he also understood that it was for the best since they could have also been affected by The End's influence. Still, he knew he had to figure something out. It had to be him who saved his brother.
But as Klaus remained in thought, his opponent used the opportunity to land a strike that forced him back. He managed to stop his momentum, but as he attempted to rush in again, the world around him suddenly froze.
Klaus glanced in utter shock upon realizing that his Perfect Precognition ability had just activated automatically. He had turned it on after deciding not to use his Burst Speed, which was why it felt like he had frozen in place as well.
But as his gaze processed the moment from the corner of his eyes, he realized that a tendril manifested from darkness had passed through his chest from behind. His Phantasmal State had stopped him from being pierced, causing the darkness to phase through his body before he repositioned.
This was the first time Shade had used his darkness during the fight outside of his armor, finally swapping from the shadows he had relied on earlier instead.
Multitudes of dark tendrils rushed at Klaus as he moved deftly. He couldn't use his speed of light in the moment, so he depended on his raw skill and Phantasmal State when necessary. But he knew it could not continue this way for long since the ability he utilized was much more tiring than that of his opponent.
Shade was also aware of this, which was why he continued to hurl tendrils at Klaus with haste. His palms were pressed together as he controlled his darkness from a distance.
Because of this, Shade was out of range for Klaus to use a Solar Ball to attack, and the tendrils prevented him from forming any variant capable of being launched.
Klaus knew he was in a bind. His opponent's tactics were almost flawless, and he struggled to stay on the defensive since his Phantasmal State exhausted him much faster than he desired. But he had an idea of how to overcome the situation.
Shade kept his palms together as he oppressed his opponent from afar. Since he was not expending much energy, his ferocity remained the same throughout. He knew it was only a matter of time before Klaus grew tired and his attacks landed.
Suddenly, as his eyes remained forward, a small ball of light slowly floated down into his field of vision. This caught him completely off guard as the ball froze mere feet before him, spinning in place before detonating. The brightness from the ball was intense, obscuring Shade's vision once again.
Shade understood that the distance between them was enough for him not to be susceptible to any incoming flash of light. However, he failed to recall that Klaus could easily create a flashbang Solar Ball and control it in the air, allowing a stealthy approach due to its miniature size. And since his focus remained on the darkness he commanded, he had not noticed when exactly this attack was conjured.
The brightness from the ball was overwhelming, blinding him yet again. Shade grunted in anger as the constant effects of Klaus's light began to frustrate him. But with his vision impaired, he was unable to see his opponent.
The tendrils continued to rush at Klaus despite the situation, but since they were no longer precise, he was able to move away from the center of the barrage. He took a moment to catch his breath before finally rushing toward his opponent.
Shade conjured darkness around his eyes to cleanse himself of the effects faster than expected, but it was still not fast enough.
Klaus closed the distance and unleashed a barrage of devastating combos. He continued to swing, landing blow after blow before creating a Solar Ball to finally put an end to the fight. But as his attack neared, a pool of darkness suddenly shot up from the ground between them, forming a wall that consumed his attack.
The explosion of the Solar Ball happened within the wall and was absorbed almost instantly. Klaus's eyes darted downward, where he witnessed the Abyssal Pit take form, saving Shade from the attack while he was vulnerable.
The wall of darkness gripped Klaus's hand that had held the Solar Ball before morphing into an arm. In a single swing, it flung Klaus away, giving Shade the time he needed for the darkness in his eyes to cleanse his temporary blindness.
At this point, Shade's rage was at an all-time high. With the Abyssal Pit before him, he crouched forward and stretched his hand into the darkness, retrieving a sleek longsword from its armory. With the intent to defeat his opponent, he prepared himself before rushing forward.
Klaus evaded the swings of the blade. He knew the risks of being hit by his opponent's weapon, yet he decided against using his Sol Blade. This was because he didn't want to risk dealing any fatal damage to Shade. That mentality held him back significantly in the fight, but he did not care. Even after everything, his brother's well-being remained his priority.
The darkness blade left cuts and scratches on Klaus's body over time, but this did not change his priorities as he remained on the defensive for the most part. He struck when he could, but it was never enough. Soon, Shade noticed the situation.
Shade swung his weapon in anger, frustrated that his opponent was hesitating. Since Klaus failed to match the ferocity he displayed, the battle began to feel one-sided. However, contrary to expectation, he did not like this.
After landing a clean strike that cut Klaus slightly in the abdomen, Shade suddenly moved back, fed up with the direction of the brawl. He let out a growl of annoyance, one that confused Klaus for a moment.
Klaus stood puzzled, unsure why his opponent was not capitalizing on the moment. Soon, he watched as the Abyssal Pit moved to Shade's side once more.
Shade returned the blade he wielded to the pit before the pool of darkness began to shift. Moving to the demigod's back, the sounds of liquid darkness persisted as the Abyssal Pit widened. Slowly, Shade spread his hands apart, his gaze fixed on Klaus, before leaning back and falling into the pit.
Klaus watched as Shade's form was completely consumed by the pit, unable to do or say anything. The stillness of the battlefield persisted for moments before the pit of darkness began to rumble.
Bubbles of darkness protruded from the pit as it churned and rumbled with intensity. Finally, after a moment, it settled.
Suddenly, a massive claw retracted from the center of the Abyssal Pit, liquid darkness dripping from every side. The molten claw lifted a body from the pit, its defined form frightening in the evening glow.
Klaus immediately understood what he was witnessing. He recalled the exact moment during the Divine Tournament when Shade had performed the same action against Lance. He braced himself for the worst as the creature pulled itself fully from the pit.
The abyssal creature's massive form slouched slightly. Its height was just shy of that of a typical monster, and it stood on two hind legs despite its bulky body. It was formed entirely of darkness that was still dripping around its body, giving it the appearance of something born from a nightmare.
The creature's dark blue eyes locked onto Klaus in silence, its mouth nowhere to be seen.
Soon, another hand stretched out from the Abyssal Pit, identical to the first. Immediately after, another identical creature emerged, followed by yet another arm stretching from the pit.
The three creatures of darkness now stood in Shade's place, their eyes purely blue, red, and green. They faced Klaus, letting out evil growls as their maws finally opened, molten darkness leaking between their teeth.
Klaus knew this battle would be even tougher, recalling the struggles Lance had endured during the tournament despite his use of Impaler. He prepared himself, taking a stance after an exhaustive sigh.
Finally, the creatures took calculated steps in unison, advancing toward the demigod with the intent to kill.