Crank watches as the dark monster is swept around by the vortex's raging current. With a powerful leap, he lands beside Jen and Tomi, his palm glowing as he releases a burst of fluffy magic sheep wool. The wool wraps around Jen and Tomi.
"This will help," Crank says firmly.
Tomi touches the wool, eyes widening as his wounds begin to heal and his stamina slowly restores.
Jen's tears stream down as she throws her arms around him.
"Thank God… you're here."
Crank pushes her back into the wool's embrace. Suddenly, Melon surges forward, swallowing both Jen and Tomi—wool and all—protecting them inside his mouth.
The vortex shrieks as dozens of spider legs lance out from every direction. Crank transforms into a dire wolf, sprinting across the battlefield, narrowly weaving through the deadly strikes. Melon rolls and thrashes, dodging leg after leg.
Crank shifts back to human form, his arm warping into a massive octopus limb. He sprays a surge of black ink that spreads into a gas, blanketing the battlefield. The gas hides them all, yet Melon's vision pierces through it, allowing him to dodge with precision while the monster thrashes blindly.
Then Crank leaps into the vortex. His body scatters into a swarm of darting fish, swarming across the spiraling current. Each fish shifts into a jellyfish, crackling with spiritual lightning. The creatures spark violently, their shocks linking together until the vortex crackles with a storm of electric fury.
Bolts hammer the monster as it spins helplessly inside the current. One jellyfish drifts close to its skull face—then swells, transforming into a massive shark. With explosive force, the shark bites down hard on the monster's skull-face, tearing it free from the vortex and crashing into the battlefield below.
The shark thrashes, shaking the monster violently as black slime gushes from its body, flooding the ground. The vortex collapses, and the ocean surges back in, drowning everything in waves.
Melon dives into the floodwaters, swimming hard as dark creatures swarm all around. His rune armor glows brilliantly, repelling them with each impact. Behind him, the black slime spreads, growing into solid ground that stretches endlessly.
After swimming far enough Melon breaches the water and crashes onto the dark platform. The land beneath them grows into a vast continent of hardened shadow.
From Melon's mouth, Jen stares into the distance, her voice tight with worry.
"Where's Crank?!"
At the center of the black land, a violent explosion erupts. A colossal spiritual T-rex bursts out, jaws snapping as it devours chunks of the spreading darkness. It lands with a thunderous quake, shaking the battlefield.
The dark monster claws at the same hole, but it's too large to fully emerge. From its head, the upper body of the King tears free, gripping his massive sword. With a guttural growl, he unleashes a storm of dark energy slashes that rip across the land.
The T-rex melts into a small monkey, leaping wildly between the waves of destruction, dodging the deadly arcs. But the ground ruptures beneath them—dozens of spider legs spear upward, forcing the monkey to twist away at the last second.
Crank shifts again, this time into a spiritual centaur. His bow materializes in his hands as he gallops across the battlefield, firing volley after volley of magical arrows. Explosions rain across the King's form, rocking the land with each impact.
Inside Melon's mouth, Tomi steadies Jen with a hand, whispering.
"He can hold his own… but once we recover enough energy, we'll rejoin the fight with our ace."
But Jen's eyes fill with dread as she sees Crank struck by a spider leg. He crashes hard across the dark land, coughing blood. The King raises his blade high, unleashing a titanic wave of darkness that carves destruction across the field.
Crank shifts desperately into a fox, narrowly slipping under the attack, his body trembling as blood drips from his mouth.
Jen can't take it anymore. She pries Melon's jaws open and leaps out, twin daggers flashing.
"He's going to die! I have to help him!"
"Wait!" Tomi shouts after her, but she's already gone.
A spider leg erupts in front of the fox—Jen slashes it apart in one swift motion, pieces falling around them. The fox collides into her chest, and she steadies him.
"You saved us… now I'm saving you! Come on, let's do this!"
The fox's form ripples, reshaping back into Crank, battered and bleeding but still standing. He manages a strained smile.
"I'll attack. You cover me from the other strikes."
Jen nods fiercely, planting her feet.
Crank's arm morphs into a blazing griffin's head, it's beak glowing as he charges energy. With a roar, he fires a massive orange energy ball straight toward the King.
Spider legs erupt all around them.
Jen surges forward, daggers blazing, her battle cry echoing. She slashes wildly, cutting through the onslaught, severing the monstrous legs one after another until they crash to the ground around them.
Meanwhile at the ruined battlefield of darkness, rainbow lightning rains down in violent arcs. Dark Lars darts between the strikes, his ice wand firing volleys of jagged black ice that smash into the massive floating diamond shards above.
An incoming arrow whistles toward him—Lars snarls and punches through it, shattering it midair.
Nox rushes in, his diamond shovel colliding against Lars's gauntlets with earth-shaking force. The ground cracks and splits beneath them as they trade blow after blow, sparks of diamond light and shadowed frost bursting out with every clash.
From above, a rainbow bolt slams into Lars, stunning him just as Kayle's arrow drives into his chest. The impact sends him crashing into an explosion.
Nox spins his shovel, deflecting shards of black ice flying toward him. Kayle dives from the skies, her body wrapped in a green tornado. She crashes into Lars, pinning him down while unleashing a storm of arrows straight into his chest.
For a moment, victory seems close—until Kayle freezes in horror. The arrows dissolve into black energy, sucked into Lars's gauntlets. He slams them together, destroying the tornado in a violent blast, then launches upward, fists unleashing thousands of exploding punch blast.
Kayle dodges wildly, her wings of energy flickering as a couple blasts tear through her body. She endures the pain, and dives, kicking Lars across the face, sending him flying below.
Before he could crash into the ground Nox appears in an instant, swinging his shovel upward with raw force, smacking Lars higher into the sky. A rainbow lightning bolt slams into him, holding him suspended as Kayle fires another charged arrow and Nox hurls his shovel.
But Lars's ice wand flies back to him, detonating in a burst of black frost. The combined explosion shakes the ruins.
As the smoke clears, they see Lars protected—towering above them, a colossal dark ice Atheen, tears of shadow dripping from her frozen face. Her giant hands cradle Lars as his wounds heals with shimmering black ice.
Kayle's breath catches.
"How are we going to win…?"
Nox catches his shovel and calmly says
"If I could command the dirt here, it'd be over already. But it's all corrupted by darkness." He spins his weapon, planting his stance. "I'll keep him busy. You find a way to destroy his ice magic!"
Kayle nods sharply. While Nox charges Lars, Kayle closes her eyes to focus, drawing on planetary energy. Her vision pierces into the spirit realm.
There—within a suffocating dark sphere, she sees Lars's true spirit struggling. Atheen's spirit clings desperately to his legs, tears falling as she refuses to let go. Faint cracks of purple and blue light strain against the darkness around them.
Kayle's concentration breaks as ice Atheen unleashes a storm of frozen shards. She twists and dodges, hissing to herself:
"I can see them… but I can't reach them! If only that other Chosen was here!"
Atheen pauses, noticing Lars wounded again by Nox's crushing strikes. She raises her hand, bathing him in ice light, sealing his wounds once more.
Kayle bites her lip, determination blazing. She pulls back her bow, focusing planetary energy into a powerful arrow. The green glow shifts, turning ethereal, divine.
"I'll use the planetary energy to change my attack into a spiritual one then I'll pierce them from inside!"
She looses the arrow.
The shot flies as it then disappears into the spirit realm, continuing to fly straight into the dark sphere. It detonates in a massive explosion of light—yet when the glow fades, nothing has changed.
Kayle snaps her eyes open, her hands trembling.
"No…! With that darkness there, I can't break through!"
She closes her eyes again, engaging her ultra thinking. Millions of scenarios unravel in her mind—every outcome ends in failure. Only one possibility remains: if Boa were here, they could win. But Boa is too far away…
Then she feels it—faint, but undeniable. A presence of a flying yellow bird.
Her eyes snap open.
"That's… not him, but… his magic. It's coming this way!"
Without another second, she launches into the sky, wings blazing, flying toward the source.
Nox notices her break away even as he locks weapons with Lars.
"She must've found a way…" he mutters, shoving Lars back.
He drives his shovel straight into Lars's chest, hurling him into the giant Atheen. Floating diamond shards above rain down lightning, shocking her massive form. Atheen roars, crushing the shards in fury, then heals Lars again with her ice.
Nox charges, smashing her ice hand to pieces.
"Not so fast!"
But jagged ice shards erupt from the ground, piercing Nox's back. Blood sprays as Lars bursts up from below, hammering him with a barrage of brutal punches.
With a final stomp, Lars slams Nox into the earth, a massive explosion ripping across the battlefield.
Nox barely escapes and staggers into a glowing tree station, panting hard. He presses a hand against its radiant trunk. The light surges through his body, knitting torn flesh and restoring fragments of his drained stamina.
"Damn," he mutters, catching his breath. "He's not even the main issue, and it's already this hard."
A deep rumble echoes across the land. Nox looks up just as Lars raises his gauntlet high. Behind him, the colossal ice Atheen lets out a bone-chilling roar. Spears of frozen light erupt, smashing down one after another, shattering all of the glowing trees across the land.
Nox's eyes widen. "They've figured it out…! Lars isn't fully corrupted by the darkness—his noble mind is still at play. He's cutting off all of Kayle's healing trees!"
The air thickens. From across the ruin, Lars's voice growls like thunder.
"Strongest… vs strongest!"
Nox straightens his stance. "So be it."
The two collide once more, diamond against power, their blows shaking the land. Every strike hurls shockwaves across the ruins.
As they trade blows, Nox grits his teeth, sweat mixing with blood and begins to talk to himself "Even with my higher Ultra Syndicate… there's no way to beat him without Kayle. But I'll hold out as long as I can…" He shoves Lars back, slamming his shovel down to block a crushing punch.
Meanwhile, at the gates of Taeo City, Hopper, Ortis, and Yuri slump against a street pole, exhausted but alert. A sudden ping echoes from Hopper's comms. He sits up, eyes widening.
"Taeo just gave me clearance to access his Sun Drones!"
Ortis and Yuri's faces lights up with excitement.
Hopper taps the device on his wrist. Dozens of glowing screens burst into existence, then flicker outward, merging onto the side of a nearby skyscraper. The building transforms into a giant live feed, broadcasting battles raging across the world. Crowds gather quickly, murmurs filling the streets as everyone stares upward.
On-screen, Gaia's mecha blazes through the skies of darkness, leaving streaks of light. Ortis clenches his fists.
"Come on, Lady Gaia… we're counting on you!"
Yuri cups his hands around his mouth, shouting at the display.
"I love you!!!"
—
Back in the ruined lands of darkness, Nox slams across the battlefield, his body carving trenches in the corrupted earth. He coughs blood, staggering upright while planting his diamond shovel in the dirt for support.
"I never thought I'd see the day," he mutters, wiping blood from his mouth. "A battle that forces me to push beyond everything I've already obtained… But this fight—" His stance hardens, eyes locked on Lars. "—this fight is going to break my limits!"
Lars charges in, gauntlet crackling with dark purple magic. Nox weaves through the onslaught—sidestepping an ice pillar that erupts beneath his feet, sliding past razor shards, ducking under a sweeping kick. He flips backward as Atheen's colossal fist smashes down, shockwaves tearing the ground apart.
Suddenly, Lars appears above him, gauntlet raised for a killing blow—
But suddenly a missile of radiant light slams into Lars's chest, hurling him skyward before detonating in a blazing explosion. More streaks of light rain down, hammering Atheen's form.
Nox shields his eyes, then glances up. Gaia descends in her mecha, glowing in light, she launches missile after missile in a storm of divine fire.
A bloody smile spreads across Nox's face. "At this point," he mutters with a dry chuckle, "you could say I've got… plot armor."
Meanwhile, in the distant place Kayle finally spots the yellow bird streaking through the void. She reaches for it, and the radiant creature dives straight into her chest. Her entire body ignites with yellow light.
Her breath catches.
"Oh… I get it now! We're connected because of our planetary powers!"
Her aura surges violently, flames of green and yellow flickering around her. Her eyes shift between both colors, glowing with raw power.
She smiles with confidence.
"I can feel it! I can do the same as he could with this given power!"
With a single beat of her energy wings, she blasts forward, streaking across the skies as she races back toward the ruined land of darkness.