After Deo had made his grand entrance, a powerful burst of red energy shot out of his body with dangerous levels of power. Zodia looked impressed, a smile forming on his face as he exclaimed,
"Well, well, well, what do we have here? Another challenger?"
After entering the battlefield with Zodia in front of him, the energy Deo was charging up suddenly vanished from his body.
Deo thought to himself,
"While everyone was out there fighting for their lives, I've been gathering energy stones around the planet. There are about 20 billion energy stones under the face of the earth, with each being strong enough to power up a country for about two years at max. I was only able to get 500 of them, given the massive energy that was shaking the planet due to the battle, affected my search."
Deo looked around before asking,
"I was sensing Alex and Kazuki's energy a few moments ago, where are they?"
Zodia responded with a smile,
"Oh? You mean the demon boy and that spirit kid? I killed them not too long ago. You their ally?"
Deo let out a quiet sigh.
"Is that so? So Alex and Kazuki are dead. That's bad."
A Few Months Before the War, Deo was in the hospital. Sughi—his elder brother—lay on the bed, part of his body covered in burns, with bandages wrapped tightly around them.
Deo sat beside him, depressed.
"I wanted us to grow together, I looked up to you as a force that would drive me to become stronger. If you die, i don't know what I'll do without you."
Sughi, with a feeble voice, replied,
"You dont need to feel so sad, kid. Sure you have a long way to go, and you need some work, but you know what? You are a strong wielded kid. You do your best to become stronger, and you train."
Deo shook his head slightly.
"But it was all because of you, I did all those things just to be like you."
Sughi giggled a bit.
"Dont struggle to be like me, you'll just get yourself hurt. Althrough my life, no matter how hard I trained, I couldn't attain the strength I wanted. I'm nothing but a fraud, when things mattered the most, I always fumbled! Sorry for not being a good example, Deo. As an elder brother, I failed you."
Tears began to fall from Deo's eyes.
"No, you weren't a fraud, and you didn't fail me. I'm glad you were my elder brother. Its because of you that I continue to keep pushing, so dont say that."
Sughi gently rubbed Deo's face.
"Thanks kid. I don't think I can make it, so I'll go off, but with one last thing to say. Continue to get stronger, push past your limits, that goes for Mori and Runo as well. But don't over do it, I don't want to see any of you too early in the after life, especially you Deo. Goodbye, my precious little brother."
As his life began to fade, memories flooded his mind.
The fun times he had with Levi, Veronica, Ichika, and Diablo as kids.
The moments they shared growing up…
The memories with Mori, Runo, and Deo while he was their team leader.
And then—
He remembered what Sorata had said to him "You're nothing but an arrogant bastard!".
Sughi thought to himself weakly,
"That psychopath was right. All my life, ive alway been so arrogant because of my ability, guess i was nothing more than an arrogant little brat. Nahh, arrogant is too lenient, I was an NPC who just happened to have the spotlight!". He remembered his parents, his dad carrying him as a child while smiling at him. His mom laughed as she too tried to play with baby Sughi "I'll be seeing you soon, dad and mom.", Sughi thought.
Suddenly—
The heart monitor let out a long lasting flat line "BEEEEEP".
Sughi's heartbeat had stopped.
He had passed away.
Deo's eyes widened.
Tears streamed down his face as he began to cry.
Outside the room, Mori and Runo also broke down in tears.
End of Flashback.
Deo let out a long sigh "Ahhhh! My elder brother just died a few months ago before this war bullshit, and now two of my friends are dead.".
His expression changed.
A bloodlusted look filled his eyes.
"Screw you!", he growled.
A massive surge of red energy exploded from his robotic suit.
Zodia's smile widened with excitement.
"Let's see what you've got!"
Deo launched forward like a beam of light.
His speed was something that even surprised Zodia.
Zodia, caught off guard, quickly moved out of the way.
Deo's kick slammed into the ground.
The impact was catastrophic.
The sheer force of his energy caused the Earth to stop rotating for a few minutes.
Tsunamis erupted across the oceans.
Massive avalanches tore through mountain ranges.
The entire planet descended into chaos from that single strike. That and the fact that it had stopped rotating.
Zodia stared in astonishment.
But before he could react—
Deo transformed his robotic arms into giant cannons and fired powerful beams of energy at him.
Zodia raised his Sword of Calamity and deflected the attacks into the sky.
The beam shot past Earth's atmosphere—
And exploded.
Far beyond the planet—
The blast destroyed several distant stars.
The light from the explosion spread across the solar system, illuminating everything despite the vast distance.
Zodia watched, fascinated—yet slightly wary.
He thought to himself,
"Such powerful energy, this is very astonishing. For a boy who uses mere toys as his weapons, his feats are quite remarkable! Ive seen soldiers use artifacts to showcase similar powers way back four hundred years ago.".
Zodia looked at Deo with a smirk and asked,
"What's your name, boy?!"
Deo stared back at him, bloodlust burning in his eyes. He pointed his finger at Zodia and responded
"My name is Deo Lancer, and I'm going to kill you!".
END OF CHAPTER.