Itami couldn't move.
The air still trembled from the explosion, the muffled echo of panicked screams still shaking the walls, but all he could hear was her voice—
"But it's no longer you…"
It rang through his skull like a curse. Like a truth spoken too early.
"Itami." Drex's voice cracked over the comm. Sharp. Commanding.
"Move. Extract the VIP."
He didn't respond. His body wouldn't listen.
Aika stood on stage, still as stone. The spotlight clung to her like the room hadn't noticed the blast yet. Or maybe it didn't care. Her chest rose and fell slowly—too slowly. Her hands hung at her sides, fingers curled, unreadable.
Itami's breathing was shallow. He didn't blink.
Then a blur dropped from the ceiling—a figure cloaked in black, landing with silent precision just between them.
Wraith.
She moved with cold efficiency, sliding in front of Aika without a word. A subtle hand to Aika's back, guiding her off stage. Aika followed. No resistance. No sound.
The trance shattered.
Itami exhaled like he hadn't breathed in minutes. His heart kicked back into motion. The theater was chaos now—ushers shouting, people flooding toward exits, lights flickering in warning.
And above it all, Drex again:
"Get to the alley. Now."
Itami snapped toward the source of the blast.
One side of the building was torn open, smoke and rubble spilling from the fracture. Emergency lights spun. And there—through the smoke—he saw them:
Drex and Kael.
Locked in a brawl against something monstrous. Tall. Muscular.
A Nomu.
But something about this one was wrong.
Itami's eyes locked onto it from the shattered entrance. It wasn't like the one from the USJ attack. This one… felt alive—not just in movement, but in pain. Like something deeper was screaming beneath its skin.
An aura radiated off it, wild and fractured, pulsing like a wounded animal. Itami's breath caught in his throat.
Why can I feel what it's feeling?
The Nomu screeched, its mouth twisting unnaturally, then extended a deformed arm. A violent jet of fire burst out, scorching a line across the ground.
Drex and Kael dodged cleanly, splitting off in opposite directions.
Kael's gauntlets sparked to life—deep red lines glowing brighter with every second. The ground cracked under his feet, heat rippling off the stone.
He slammed a punch into the Nomu's gut, a deep, echoing thud cracking the air. Drex followed instantly, launching an uppercut that sent the creature staggering back.
Without pausing, Drex drew the earth around him, forming a heavy stone hammer in a blink. He brought it down with crushing force against the Nomu's shoulder. The impact rang out with a hollow crunch.
Kael took to the air, gauntlet glowing molten-bright now.
"TAKE THIS, YOU UGLY BASTARD!"
He came down hard, fists slamming into the Nomu's chest in a fiery burst of molten debris. The blast sent up a wave of dust and shattered stone, choking the air with heat and smoke.
Both Drex and Kael landed a few feet away, still in stance.
Kael let out a grin, rolling his shoulder. "Damn, we finished it already? I thought these were supposed to be strong."
But before anyone could respond, the ground split beneath the Nomu. Flames surged upward, engulfing the rubble in a violent blaze. The air shimmered with heat, and the entire side of the building caught fire in an instant.
Itami staggered back as the pressure hit him like a wave. The screaming—that sensation of pain and rage he couldn't explain— it grew sharper, more distinct. It wasn't just sound. It was like something clawing inside his head.
The Nomu rose through the inferno, its flesh blistering and peeling away. Beneath the cracked, smoldering skin, veins of red-hot magma pulsed like they were alive.
Kael grinned. "Looks like you do have some fight left in you."
He charged, boots crushing embers beneath him, and leaped again with a flaming right hook. But just as his fist closed in, the Nomu released a searing heatwave, its body glowing white-hot at the core.
The blast knocked Kael out of the air like a fly swatted from the sky.
He crashed into a nearby wall, cratering the concrete before falling to the ground with a heavy thud. "Tch—bastard," he muttered, shaking off the impact.
Drex narrowed his eyes. "This creature isn't like the others. Itami we need help over here now!"
The Nomu turned sharply, locking onto Drex now. Its body exhaled plumes of steam and ash, and as it stepped forward, each footprint melted into the pavement.
Drex slammed a hand to the ground. A wall of earth erupted in front of him, but the Nomu smashed through it with a superheated punch, molten fragments spraying in every direction.
Itami stood frozen for a beat, eyes locked onto the Nomu.
That aura. Rage, pain, despair. He felt something deeper, something that links him to this nomu. Before he can process what's happing, the ground came around his foot and flung him across the stage. Before he can process anything he saw the nomu where he once stood. The area around catching embers.
Everyone stood still has the Nomu's jaw unlatched. The skin around its jaw stretched as a voice came from it. "He…he…help me."
Itami froze as a chill went down his spine. He couldn't move, both Drex and Kael were shouting at him but nothing but supresses noises.
The ground grabbed him again as he was thrown towards Drex. While in the air he saw the Nomu where he was again.
Itami rolled onto the ground kneeling behind Drex. "Listen kid, there's no time to hesitate. If I didn't save you, you would have been dead. Plain and simple."
Itami looked up at Drex as a drop of sweat dripped onto the ground, his helmet cracked. "You failed to follow orders on escorting the VIP, but that's not important right now. Right now I need you to assist blaze forge. I know how we can bring this monster down, all I need is a minute."
Itami shook his head as a responsed "Yes Obsidian Fang."
"Good." Drex replied as he made a weird hand signal with his fingers as Itami leaped next to Kael.
"What's the plan? Obsidian Fang says we need to give him a minute." Itami asked, getting in a fighting position.
Kael only laughed as he ripped out his fragmented Helmet off, his face cut up dripping with blood. "Then we give him that minute."
The air cracked around them as the Nomu's heat built again—steam rising from its shoulders like smoke off lava. Kael rolled his neck.
"This is going to be fun" he grinned.
Itami moved first, darting to the left, lightning surging through his hands as he closed the distance. Sparks flared with each step. He feinted in, drawing the Nomu's attention.
Kael hit from the opposite side, gauntlets flaring red-hot as he threw a heavy hook at the creature's exposed ribs.
The Nomu roared. Not in pain—but fury. Its molten body twisted, faster than before. Smarter. It caught Kael's wrist and hurled him into a support beam with a crash.
Itami struck fast, wrapping the lighting around his fist and striking the Nomu at the back of the head. He drew his blade and slashed across Nomu's back, drawing a gout of steam. The creature shrieked and staggered—just for a second.
"Keep it focused!" Kael shouted, already vaulting back in, leading with an overhead slam with his fist.
Then—
A scream.
Itami's head snapped toward the sound. Near the edge of the collapsed wing, a young man—a stagehand—was pinned beneath rubble. Flames crawled toward him. A piece of the upper walkway groaned above, ready to collapse.
Itami ignited his flames, launching forward. The Nomu swiped for him—but Kael cut in, slamming his fist down the Nomu, then blasting it point-blank with magma.
He landed on stage sprinting across the wreckage, running through flame and weaving falling debris . The support snapped with a metal groan. The walkway collapsed on them.
He didn't think.
He cleared the rubble , grabbed the young man by the collar, and leaped out the way into another pile of rubble. Then—
SHLNK.
Pain tore through his left arm.
A jagged piece rebar pierced through his bicep. He hit the ground on one knee, teeth clenched, the injured arm limp beneath him.
The stagehand scurried back, eyes wide. "T-Thank you—!"
Itami grunted, forcing himself on his feet.. The rebar pulsed in his vision. Blood soaked the fabric.
"I'm fine," he growled. "Get out of here."
From the stage, Kael shouted, "Kid!"
Itami stood, barely. Lightning already surging around his uninjured hand. The Nomu had seen him. And it was charging.
Kael moved first, slamming into the creature as it broke into the wall. But the Nomu slammed back into him, but Kael held his ground. The claws of the Nomu sinking in Kaels forearm, cracking the gauntlets as the ground broke beneh them.
Kael just laughed like a maniac as he exerted more fire, spikes of magma came shooting out the ground, striking the Nomu in the gut. "More! More! I know you got MORE!"
Itami took this moment and grabbed the rebar, and tried pulling it out. Every second of force was pain, as the price of metal stayed lodged in his right arm.
Come on! Is this all you can do! You weak piece of shit!!
The rebar came out with a wetty slink.
Itami held the piece out as he looked on the battle with Nomu and Kael.
Move. You need to do something. Now move!
Itami then grabbed the rebar with the injured arm and lightning bursted everywhere. For a moment, the lightning surged black—like a crack in the sky—and raced up his wounded arm.
He then fully grasped the rebar with his left hand as from the rebar he formed a sword made from electricity. He didn't take a second to look, he only leaped forward and plunged it deep into the nomus back.
The Nomu screeched as the lightning-forged blade sank into its spine. The surge cracked the air, arcs of blue and black snapping outward like live wires. Smoke curled from the wound. Itami held the rebar-sword firm, gritting his teeth as the creature thrashed beneath him.
The Nomu started to exert more heat and wave pressure as both Itami and Kael stood there ground, Itami lifted his right arm, his hand holding a comprseed fireball, unstable as it electricity cracks outwards. Before Itami can use his attack, Drexs voice boomed out.
Drex's voice cut through the chaos—low, cold, unwavering.
"So you still breathing… good."
The ground trembled beneath their feet. Drex raised one hand, his fingers curling in a precise, practiced motion. The air pressure dropped. The flames around them flickered violently, snuffed out as if choked. As both his hands connected, forming a hand signal.
"Dragon's Domain," he said, his voice dropping an octave, full of weight.
"Swamp of the Hydra."
The world fractured.
A wave of darkness swept over the theater. The cracked floor dissolved into sludge beneath them. Mangled beams and crushed stone melted into a bubbling, black-green mire. The scent of rot and acid filled the air.
The Nomu froze mid-motion. Its body locked as tendrils of slime licked up its limbs, locking it in place. Both Itami and Kael jumped away from Nomu.
Then came the heads.
Nine massive serpentine necks erupted from the swamp. Each Hydra head swayed with primal intelligence, jaws dripping with venom so potent it hissed on contact with the air. Their glowing eyes opened—one set at a time—locking onto the Nomu. And onto Itami.
He stumbled back instinctively.
"What the hell is this…"
Everyone in the domain could see it.
The dragon. Drex's soul laid bare—twisted and regal, monstrous and ancient. He stood calmly, the swamp rising behind him like a dark throne.
The Hydra didn't roar. It watched.
Then it moved.
One head bit down on Nomu's shoulder, melting flesh away in seconds. Another sank into its thigh. Steam hissed from the wounds. The Nomu screeched, flailing, but it couldn't move. The poison worked fast—boiling muscle from bone. As each head bites the Nomu.
Drex walked forward slowly, unmoved by the horrid screams.
"I know what you are," he muttered. "Now it's time to rest."
The final head wrapped around Nomu's neck—and crushed.
The domain shattered like glass. The swamp, the dragon, the suffocating darkness—all gone in an instant.
Only Drex remained, his boots sinking slightly in the now-lifeless rubble.
The Nomu lay still, its form smoldering, half-dissolved as silence returned to the ruined theater.