In the food market of the dungeon village, Jen cuts down armed skeletons one after another, her blades flashing with each quick slash. Around her, fire explosions erupt—Ignis's magic lighting up the streets.
Yuri watches in awe.
"Wow… they're amazing! So there are other sky people who are also strong just like Lady Giga."
Meanwhile, at the edge of the village near the giant gates, Boa sits cross-legged, spirit-meditating. Crank leans casually against a wall, glancing toward the distant fire explosions.
"Must be nice to be having most of the fun," Crank mutters. "They really took off once they heard the first commotion… I wish I was that dumb too."
He chuckles to himself, then his tone turns serious.
"But I have to protect Boa while he studies this place."
He turns toward Boa—and spots several armed skeletons approaching. With a grin, Crank bursts forward, laughing, smashing the skeletons to pieces with his fists.
In the spirit realm, Boa walks through a ghostly reflection of the village. The air hums with dark energy that flows upward in a spiraling current.
He narrows his eyes and steps closer, noticing faint skull-like faces within the energy.
"What is this place…? It's so sinister. It's like their rage has been overflowing here for hundreds of years."
His gaze sharpens.
"This spiritual energy… it's not from this planet. And these people… they're not a creation of God at all."
He reaches out. The moment his fingers touch the swirling darkness, memories flood into his mind—
He sees a peaceful kingdom, villagers smiling and going about their lives. Children run through the streets, merchants trade goods, and the king stands proudly on the castle balcony.
Suddenly, the villagers look up. In the sky above, a nearby planet explodes, the shockwave shaking the land. The people clutch their loved ones in fear.
The king descends from his castle steps and begins to speak, but his words are in a language Boa doesn't understand. The crowd cries out. A mage steps forward, casting a spell. Giant walls rise along the kingdom's outer edges. More mages join in, sealing off sections of the city until the once-open kingdom is divided into a massive dungeon.
The king then appoints a bronze-armored knight to guard the village.
But the vision twists—dark energy corrupts the memory. Images flash forward rapidly.
Boa now sees the bronze knight trying to calm panicked villagers. In the next instant, the knight is stabbed and beaten down by the very people he swore to protect, his body falling into the fountain at the village's center.
The memory ends abruptly as Crank crashes into him, knocking him out of the trance.
"Ah—sorry!" Crank says, helping Boa up.
Before either of them can react, the ground shakes. They turn to see a giant skeleton, wreathed in dark energy, holding a massive metal bat in its hands.
Crank then stretches as he says,
"A bigger one showed up and I thought I could have more fun with it by not going all out. It's clearly a lot stronger than the others, but leave this to me!"
Boa doesn't listen and instantly uses his spirit magic. Giant spirit arms burst from his body with lightning and crushes the giant skeleton into pieces. These arms also smash the surrounding skeletons.
Crank is in shock.
"Boss! What was that for?! I told you I had it!"
He was playful at first, but then his expression turns serious as he sees Boa's serious face.
"Let's not waste time," Boa says. "Jen and Ignis are in danger. They're nearing the center of the village, which contains the most rageful spiritual energy."
They then run off toward the distant fire explosions.
Back at the food market, Jen and Ignis continue fighting against the skeletons.
"How much more do we have to cut down?!" Jen yells.
Ignis fires another fireball.
"We're fighting an army of skeletons just to save a single native life? But at least we look cool doing it! Do you see this, Tobias?!"
Yuri screams as more and more armed skeletons appear, their numbers reaching into the thousands.
They start to get overwhelmed.
"There's too many! At this rate, we'll die!" Jen shouts.
"Did you forget that I'm also a chosen?!" Ignis replies.
Ignis powers up as flames burst out of him.
"I know you're strong! But you haven't controlled your powers enough to not harm those around you!" Jen yells back.
Ignis glances at Jen patting the flames on her shoulder and Yuri rolling on the ground with flames on his back.
"Oh, you're right!" he says, powering down.
They turn and run as the skeleton army gives chase. At an intersection, a thousand more skeletons appear from the other directions. They quickly choose the only open path, reaching the center of the village where a giant water fountain stands.
There, they see a bronze-armored knight lying against the fountain, pitchforks impaled into its chest plate.
"Stop, something's not right!" Jen warns. "I can sense a lot of evil spiritual energy coming from that knight!"
"Then I'll just burn it into ashes! Or else we'll get pinned in!" Ignis says.
He fires a fireball at the fountain, but the flames disperse as the surrounding dark energy becomes visible.
Suddenly, the fountain bursts with black water that cascades over the bronze knight, expanding the dark energy through the area. It washes over Jen and the others, forcing them to the wet ground.
Yuri struggles to lift his face from the watery ground.
"The pressure here suddenly got heavier!"
"The evil energy isn't just coming from him," Jen says. "It's coming from everywhere!"
Ignis forces himself up.
"This pressure, it's like being in the dragon's belly again. I can handle it."
The bronze knight's red eyes flare to life, taking out the pitch fork in it's chest. It then rises and summons a black-flame sword at it's hand as it's voice then echoes
"I told you all to give it time and eventually it would all work out," the knight says. "Look—the opportunity is right in front of us. But you fools had the audacity!"
It swings its sword downward. Ignis grabs Jen and Yuri, dodging the strike. Behind them, the attack hits the incoming skeleton army, erupting into a massive black explosion.
"That's great! I dodged the attack and it hit its own allies!" Ignis says.
"No, you idiot," Jen replies. "I'm sure it intended to hit them."
The knight growls, releasing his sword into the air. It expands in an instant, growing massive as pillars of black flames burst throughout the village, swallowing everything in a shroud of dark energy.
"Have faith in the king!" the knight roars. "He is the only one who can save us all! I will bring him our greatest desire!"
In a blur of lightning speed, the knight seizes Ignis by the neck. Ignis is forced to release Yuri and Jen as the knight smashes him through the wall of a nearby building.
In the shattered remains of a living room, the knight pins Ignis to the floor.
"Guide me to the source of your power!" he demands.
"I'll show it to you!" Ignis snarls, unleashing a fiery explosion that engulfs the entire house in a raging vortex of flames.
Through the swirling inferno, Ignis's eyes widen in disbelief—the knight is still standing, unfazed.
"My hatred burns hotter than your flames," the knight growls, tightening his grip on Ignis's throat. Ignis struggles to breathe, and the firestorm flickers out.
"I won't ask again," the knight says coldly. "Where is the source of your power?"
"I can fire up even more than this!" Ignis snaps.
A second, even larger fire vortex explodes outward, launching the knight into the air. The blast also sends Yuri and Jen crashing onto the streets, where dark energy bears down on them and skeletons creep closer from every direction under the heavy pressure.
Yuri tries to push himself up, his body trembling.
"Lady Gaia… save me!" he pleads.
"Damn it all!" Jen growls. "I've got to get up!"
With effort, she rises, daggers in hand, forcing herself into a slow, desperate fight against the advancing skeletons.
Every strike she lands grows heavier, she even takes a few hits from the skeleton before—
Crank bursts onto the scene, smashing into the fray.
"Have no fear! Your honor has been restored!" he bellows, driving a fist clean through a skeleton's skull.
Meanwhile, Ignis dodges black flame pillars erupting from the ground, leaping from rooftop to rooftop. Fireballs blaze from his hands toward the knight, who dodges in midair. The two collide, fists clashing with such force that the entire village trembles, flames and dark energy surging in all directions.
"This is for Tobias!" Ignis roars, overpowering the knight. His blow sends the enemy crashing into the village fountain, shattering it to rubble.
The knight rises with his armored arm melted away to reveal a bare skeleton limb. His gaze shifts upward to see Boa hangs in midair, glowing with intense spiritual energy.
"You don't understand," the knight growls. "We need your power to survive… we need it all! Give me that power!"
He unleashes his giant black flame sword. Boa summons his own massive spirit blade in response, and the two weapons slam together in a clash that shakes the air.
Through the strain of the battle, Boa hears countless villagers' voices in his head—yet the knight's voice rings the loudest.
"The king entrusted me with his people. In the end, they slaughtered me… but I still have faith in them. One day, we can all be happy again."
"What do you seek?!" Boa yells.
The colossal swords erupt in an explosion, swallowing them both. Boa's mind floods with dark energy—visions of planets across space exploding. The images shift, showing a massive dungeon-ship descending upon doomed planet. Natives charge against the king's army in a desperate battle.
The vision blurs again—the king stands at the edge of a giant crater, green energy spilling upward. He seizes it in his grasp as the vision ends.
The blast fades, and with it, the suffocating weight of the dark energy.
"Boa!" Jen shouts, rushing toward him. She spots the knight kneeling, his upper armor gone, leaving only his skeletal frame.
Boa emerges from the rubble. "So that's what you desire?"
He approaches, as the knight's body crumbles away until only its skull remains.
"Do you know how many lives you'd take if you gained that power?!" Boa's voice is sharp. "You'd doom the very planet I'm trying to save!"
The knight's hollow voice answers, "You and the king are the same… how much more blood must you spill to become a God? The Star Games are—"
Before he can finish, his form fades away.
Yuri storms in, stomping on the knight's ashes. "You think you can smash a genius like me into the dirt and get away with it?!"
Boa turns, ready to help the others finish off the remaining skeletons.
Ignis lands beside Boa, unleashing another volley of fireballs toward the enemy.
"What was that all about? Why did it want our powers?!" he demands.
"It wanted the planet's power," Boa replies firmly. "Remember—we still carry some of its lingering energy."
Ignis glances over and notices faint sparks of green light seeping from Boa's chest.
"Oh… I almost forgot about that," he mutters. "So that's who they're after!"
Without waiting for a reply, he launches himself back into the fight.
Boa remains still, his voice low. "There's so much more to this than I know… what's really going on?"
He tilts his head back, eyes fixed on the towering ceiling above, as if staring straight at God.
Meanwhile, in the digital world—
Gilga crashes across the floor, pieces of his mecha armor breaking off.
"He still fights the same," he mutters, getting up, "but packs a bit more punch this time."
Lars smashes through a barrage of digital walls and weapons, growling to himself.
"I'm so much stronger than him… how is he still standing?! He should be dead by now!"
Gilga steadies himself. "You know, if you kill me now, your chances of surviving the later stages will drop by 94%. Think like a noble for once."
Lars doesn't hesitate—he drives a punch into Gilga, sending him crashing through a digital building.
"That's not it at all," Lars snarls. "You crushed my pride back then… and I'm going to show you just how far that's taken me!"
He leaps, landing hard in front of Gilga.
"You're starting to sound like my ex-pawn," Gilga says, smirking. "So prideful. So honorable."
The dragon core embedded in his chest glows. A massive beam erupts, slamming into Lars. Lars plants his feet, gauntlets raised, crushing the energy with brute force.
Gilga rockets backward, firing a storm of digital chunks at him. Lars smashes each one to dust with rapid punches.
"You know I'm right!" Gilga shouts. "But you keep fighting like a slummer. Your foolish emotions is digging the hole even deeper! If power is the only way to tame you—then so be it!"
The dragon core blazes brighter, unleashing millions of colossal digital hands toward Lars.
Lars answers with a flurry—thousands of lightning-fast punches, shattering every incoming hand before they can touch him.
Gilga's mecha shifts and transforms into a massive robotic dragon. Its jaws open wide, and a colossal energy blast erupts from its mouth, slamming into Lars with bone-crushing force. The impact cracks the digital world itself, sending Lars hurtling through the fragmented realm until he crashes back into reality—plowing into the depths of a dense forest.
Gilga reverts to his humanoid form and hovers above the gaping digital breach.
"Did that knock enough sense into you?" he calls down, a smirk in his voice.