With labored breaths, Ren and Kaede caught a moment to regroup amid the disarray of battle.
"That pressure… they're not just monsters. They're twisted," Ren panted, still trying to process their surroundings.
"They're clones," Kaede replied. "Shadow Kaiju's playing with echoes. Be careful; they're built to counter us."
The Shadow Revenants snarled in distorted mimicry, then charged as the wind howled ominously.
Letting out a challenging laugh, Eiji proclaimed, "You saved the good fight for me. I'm touched."
"This isn't a game, Eiji," Mika shot back, but Eiji only grinned wider.
"Let me pretend."
Kaede spun her glaives, standing tall. "Let's go formation alpha."
Ren nodded, determination flashing in his eyes. "Push and flank. Strike fast. Hit harder."
As Kaede spun into action, she created wind vortexes that sliced through one Revenant's corrupted fire armor. Zephyr's aura healed her speed, allowing her to dodge twisted fire lashes.
"This one's copying Infernia's style—watch out for the chain blasts!" she shouted, narrowly avoiding a flaming attack.
In the meantime, Haru utilized Aqua's flowing powers to trap a void-based Revenant, forming a pressurized sphere around its head to blind and suppress it.
"This thing's fast—Mika, now!" he called out as he retreated.
Mika, still weaponless, channeled raw flame through her fists, striking with a primal, chaotic fury. The fire surged instinctively, and she moved without hesitation, redirecting an incoming spike of corrupted water that aimed for Haru.
"I don't need a weapon to wreck you," she declared defiantly.
Eiji squared off against a lightning Revenant that moved erratically, like a corrupted version of itself. Their brutal hand-to-hand exchanges sent sparks flying into the darkened air.
"Oh, you got lightning too? Cute," Eiji teased, grabbing the Revenant's neck mid-swing and slamming it into the ground. It flickered but instantly popped back up, undeterred.
Then, Raijin's voice whispered in Ren's head: "That one's mine."
Ren, his body commanded by Raijin, dashed across the battlefield in arcs of lightning. His twin daggers flashed as he sliced at a wind-based Revenant, but it mirrored his movements too precisely, creating shockwaves that slammed Ren back.
"It's like fighting a mirror with lag," he panted, dodging another strike.
From behind, Kaede launched the Revenant into the air with a blast of wind. Seizing the opportunity, Ren zipped into the air and slashed it with a well-placed strike.
Meanwhile, Haru froze water in midair, forming sharp shards that Mika expertly launched as flaming projectiles toward their enemies. Eiji grabbed two Revenants mid-charge and hurled them into a collapsing building, causing an explosion of dust and shadow.
But just as they began to find their footing in the chaos, the Revenants rapidly regenerated, their forms reshaping as corrupted energy reweaved them together.
From where they stood, rusting towers, shattered cranes, and collapsed freight containers stretched into the distance, all illuminated by flickering floodlights. Above it all, a gaping rift began to pulse open in the air—the Shadow Kaiju's portal. It expanded like a cosmic wound, leaking void energy into their world.
Each battle unfolded under the oppressive weight of the rift above. The Revenants, twisted reflections of elemental essence, possessed one terrifying advantage: regeneration. When wounded—slashed, burned, crushed—they would simply reform, returning from steam, shadows, wind, or lightning. Their fights were not just hard, they felt insurmountable.
Ren skidded across oil-slick concrete, engaging the Wind Revenant in a deadly dance. Metal groaned beneath them, the weight of the ongoing battle shaking the ground. With momentum on his side, he thrust forward, twin daggers flashing violently against the airy figure, locking them in an elaborate struggle.
"I don't need a perfect version of me," he growled as he executed a pivoting kick, grounding himself in a moment of clarity.
The Revenant screeched, kicking up a gale, but Ren rebounded off the wall of destruction around them, leveraging the momentum to perform a spiral kick that shattered the wind dome surrounding him. The Revenant exploded into mist before reforming with a hiss of gale force.
A backdrop of molten steel dripped from overhead beams as Kaede made her way through the environment, dodging whips of fire from the Fire Revenant, which wielded flame-like chain blades. She relied on crumbling conveyor belts and old machinery as makeshift platforms, executing parkour-like maneuvers that flowed seamlessly into wall-runs and flips.
Just as the Revenant torched a wall to block her path, Kaede skidded under the flames, sparks igniting her sleeve. She tore it off mid-roll, undeterred. Using the reflection of the fire in a puddle, she anticipated a hidden strike, leaping onto the Revenant's back and jamming a broken pipe into its arm joint, disabling the blade.
"I'm not fast. I'm faster," she smirked as her agility shone through.
The Fire Revenant disintegrated into ash only to reignite moments later, rising again with renewed fury. Kaede narrowed her eyes, exasperated. "Tch. Great. They cheat."
Fog rolled through an abandoned rail yard as cargo containers floated mid-air under the power of the Void Revenant. Haru, katana drawn, stood ready, eyes locked onto the distortion of space where the creature awaited.
Silent tension filled the air when the Revenant blinked through reality, striking from behind. Haru spun, parrying with immaculate timing, the blade of his katana humming with his focused energy.
Containers were hurled his way, yet he sliced through them with precision, using the debris as a boost to scale upward toward his target. In a moment of brilliance, he lunged, catching the Revenant mid-teleport, stabbing through dark matter, cutting light from the void.
"Predict the ripple, strike the core," he murmured, as the Void Revenant vanished only to reappear moments later behind him, its form reforming from swirling particles of shadows.
Floating in the chaotic environment, the Water Revenant emerged from liquid, emotionless, its tendrils poised to strike. Mika, empty-handed, felt her instincts kick in as sheer survival lit a fire within her.
The Revenant advanced, attacking with torrents of crushing water that forced Mika to leap from container to container. She punched through a water whip, sending droplets exploding into the air like shards of glass.
As the Revenant closed in, striking with a spiraling spear of condensed water, Mika ducked with animal-like intuition, finding a snapped metal rod among the wreckage. Channeling her frustration and determination, she grabbed it and charged forward.
"Control? I'm chaos!" she shouted defiantly, driving the rod into the spear's trajectory, redirecting its force skyward. With a fierce tackle, she slammed the Revenant into a power box. The combined energy of electricity and water exploded in a blinding flash, boiling away the water's essence.
Yet the Water Revenant disintegrated, only to reform moments later, its visage unchanged.
High above the industrial landscape, Eiji found himself on a rooftop littered with shattered solar panels. He faced the Lightning Revenant, thunder cracking ominously overhead as both figures crackled with raw power.
Eiji, with a primal roar, slammed his fists together, unleashing kinetic force in waves that rippled through the air. The Revenant replied, sending arcs of lightning that shattered the rooftop beneath them.
They charged at one another without finesse—just sheer brute strength.
Each punch sent shockwaves into the atmosphere. Eiji seized a metal beam, swinging it like a club, but the Revenant countered, clashing with a lightning blade. Explosive energy detonated around them, igniting the rooftop as the structure began to collapse under the onslaught.
In a moment of instinctual recklessness, Eiji grabbed the Revenant mid-swing and pile-drove it into a lightning rod. A massive bolt struck both of them, causing a crackling surge of energy.
"You want power?" he growled amidst the chaos. "I'll show you power!"
There was a moment of hesitation. As smoke covered the battleground, the Revenant vanished, only to suddenly reemerge from the very bolt that had struck them, unscathed.
Overhead, the camera captured all five ongoing battles, united in their elemental chaos as the Shadow Kaiju's portal yawned fully open, casting a sickly violet light across the war-torn zone. Silence enveloped for a heartbeat before a pulse reverberated through reality.
The Revenants sagged, yet they began to regenerate, the corrupted energy weaving them back together like fresh fabric. The squad staggered, bruised and gasping for breath.
"They don't die… they just stall us," Mika said, wiping the blood from her brow.
"Then let's keep swinging," Eiji urged, determination etched into his features.
Suddenly, the Revenants froze, retreating into shadows—recalling rather than defeated.
"He's buying time," Ren realized, gripping his dagger tightly, sensing the escalation. "The portal..."
As Kaede gazed upward, her voice trembled. "...we're still weak..."
Ominous thunder answered her.
As the portal stabilized above the wreckage, a low, deafening hum enveloped the space, and the Shadow Kaiju appeared—from within the portal above, a silhouette of swirling darkness. Stars within his eyes flickered like ancient remnants of a long-lost universe.
With a wave of darkness unfurling from him, the air warped around the portal, machinery rusting on contact and concrete cracking beneath the pressure. The unnatural darkening sky eclipsed the moonlight, plunging the world into a deeper abyss.
"This is just the beginning. Soon, your world will merge with mine, and there will be no escape," the Shadow Kaiju spoke coldly, his voice resonating like a death knell.
"Not if we stop you first!" Ren shouted defiantly, gripping his daggers with fierce resolve as he instinctively charged forward.
However, before he could take more than a few steps, the Shadow Kaiju unleashed a shockwave—not of kinetic force, but one of dread, collapsing mental, spiritual, and emotional barriers. The team froze, not due to injury, but from the overwhelming presence of something ancient—so fundamentally wrong that even breathing felt like an act of rebellion.
Kaede dropped to one knee, clutching her chest. Mika's legs stopped, instincts screaming louder than her pride. Eiji, despite his brute strength, found his power stifled, unable to move. Haru's grip on his katana weakened, and Ren—a moment frozen mid-lunge—felt time itself pushing back against him.
"Fall back! You can't fight this… not yet," Raijin's voice growled, struggling to anchor him.
All around, the Kaijus within their Hosts roared, twitching beneath the pressure and glitching in response.
"We have to move…!" Mika trembled, yet all their strength was drained, rendering them unable to act. This wasn't a retreat out of strategy, but an instinctual flight for survival.
They vanished into the shadows of the city as the portal widened, and the last sound that echoed through the chaos was the Shadow Kaiju's voice, resonating across dimensions.
"Let them run. Fear carves the path to submission."
Back at the lab, red lights flickered as emergency protocols remained active. The team was battered and bruised—mental devastation etched on their features more than physical wounds.
Kaede sat on the floor in silence, cradling her injured ribs. Haru stared blankly at a cracked monitor, mind wandering through the aftermath. Eiji paced the room, fists clenched and trembling with repressed frustration. Mika leaned heavily against the table, her hair matted to her sweaty forehead.
Slamming her fist on the table, Mika broke the silence. "We can't keep running like this!"
"She's right," Eiji replied, gritting his teeth in frustration. "Next time, we take the fight to him."
"But how?" Kaede's voice was quiet, full of doubt. "He's too strong… We couldn't even move."
Finally, Ren spoke, gripping his daggers so tightly that his knuckles turned white. "We'll find a way. We always do."
Within the somber atmosphere, there was no forced optimism, just a raw and broken determination lingering.
In Ren's mind, Raijin's voice cut through the despair, grave yet unwavering. "If we're going to win, we'll need to push past our limits… and become monsters of our own."
The camera panned upward through the shattered skylight, where the ominous portal continued to loom—silent, growing, glowing like an open wound against the backdrop of the night sky.
Above a shattered city, the stars shimmered faintly as silence enveloped the surroundings. For one quiet moment, the portal glowed subtly in the distance—a haunting reminder, yet one distanced enough from immediate fear to ignore… just like that night was the only safe one.
On the roof of the observatory, Ren and Mika sat side by side, their legs dangling over the edge. A soft breeze brushed through their hair as they absorbed the tranquility amidst the chaos.
"It's hard to believe that, just three months ago, we were doing normal kid stuff and now we're here," Mika observed, gazing up at the stars twinkling above.
"Yeah. Kinda peaceful for the end of the world," Ren replied with a light chuckle, though it quickly dimmed.
"I never really noticed how fake the stars look. Like they're just painted on," Mika mused, her tone wistful.
Ren, reflecting on their past, replied, "I wouldn't know. I wasn't allowed out during lockdowns. Too dangerous. I just stayed inside, played games, did homework, and slept."
He glanced at her, then lifted his gaze to the sky once more. "Yet here I am, on a rooftop, with a Kaiju in my head, watching the stars with someone who can punch through concrete."
"You're welcome," she smirked playfully.
Ren laughed lightly, though it quickly fluttered away. "Everything's moving so fast. I sometimes wonder if I'm dreaming. None of this makes sense."
Mika nodded, sharing the weight of that sentiment. "Every time I close my eyes, I hope I'll wake up in my bed and all of this…" She paused, looking at him earnestly, "is just gone—Kaijus, portals, powers, you. But I don't think it will."
"I didn't ask for any of this. I didn't want to be a part of it," Ren admitted, gripping the edge of the roof tightly, feeling conflicted.
"But then there's you, Eiji, Kaede, Haru, and Rika. You five—and our Kaijus—you're what matters. Not humanity. Not the world. Just you six," he continued, his voice fading.
A pause enveloped the conversation, thick with vulnerability.
"Oh. So this is where you two ran off to?" came a voice from behind.
Kaede stood there, arms crossed and a faint pout adorning her features.
"Didn't think stargazing was a private event," she remarked, a hint of teasing lacing her words.
"Jealous?" Mika shot back playfully.
"Maybe. I don't know. Whatever," Kaede finally conceded, settling beside them. For a fleeting moment, all three of them aligned in shared peace, gazing skyward.
Mika picked up where Ren left off. "What you said earlier… about not wanting this. I get it. But you still fight, even when you're tired. Even when you're scared. You still protect us."
Kaede chimed in, "You think you're not a hero, Ren? Newsflash. Heroes don't always want the role. They're just the ones who show up anyway."
Ren's voice dropped to a whisper, a gentle defiance rising within him. "I'm not a hero. I'm just a kid throwing tantrums at Kaijus… hoping one hits hard enough."
He closed his eyes, trying to shut out the doubts. "I'm still weak. Slower than Raijin wants me to be. Dumber than Kaede needs me to be. Not brave enough for what Mika does. I just get lucky and bleed less."
Mika shook her head, determination etched into her expression. "You're wrong. You hold us together. Sure, you act like you don't care, but every time it counts, you're the first to step in."
Kaede added in a firm tone, "You think strength is just about power? You're still here, Ren. Still fighting. You're keeping us going even when you think you're falling apart. That's not weak. That's… something else."
Mika's smile was gentle, a light illuminating the darkness. "You're not alone. You never were. And we're not following some symbol, Ren. We're following you. Whether you like it or not."
They fell into silence, the wind softly brushing against them, carrying whispers of hope. Kaede finally broke the stillness, her voice firm yet playful. "So… rooftop stargazing again tomorrow?"
Ren smiled at the thought, a flicker of light breaking through the heaviness. "If the world doesn't end before then? Sure."
The rooftop remained quiet after Ren's last words. City lights flickered below, a stark contrast to the star-studded sky above.
"...Thanks. For not giving up on me," Ren murmured softly, his gaze lingering on the cosmos.
Mika pretended to gasp, injecting humor into the somber moment. "Wait—did Takahashi just thank us?"
Kaede raised an eyebrow, expression shifting to mock seriousness. "Should we record this? Frame it?"
Ren sighed, a mix of exasperation and amusement washing over him. "I hate both of you."
Laughter erupted, a gentle sound that felt out of place yet comforting in the dim light. But the moment was interrupted.
Raijin's voice cut through the levity with his usual thunderous tone. "Cute moment. Touching. But enough of that—we've got work to do."
As Ren stood and walked to the edge of the rooftop, tall against the night breeze, Kaede called out. "Wait, you're going now?"
Mika added, "You're insane."
Ren turned back, a gleam of determination in his eyes. "Maybe. But I'm getting stronger, even if it kills me."
With a grin over his shoulder, he said, "I'll be back soon."
In an instant, a vortex of swirling black and blue light erupted behind him—not a portal but a tear, a scar in reality.
He stepped back, and with a final breath, he vanished.
BOOM.
Ren crashed onto cracked obsidian, instantly surrounded by a shifting void—the Nexus Plane. Every surface pulsed with energy, veins of neon lightning, lava, wind, and pure shadow intertwining like living circuits across an endless field. Monoliths drifted in the dark sky above, looming enigmatically.
A heavy weight crushed the air. Power simmered, alive and palpable.
Raijin appeared beside him, divine yet monstrous, his aura flaring with a purposeful intensity. "This is where limits break and illusions die."
Ren rose to his feet, his gaze hardened with resolve. "Then break me," he challenged, ready to face whatever trials awaited him.
Before him, constructs began to materialize—shadowy versions of familiar foes. The rogue Kaiju, Hunters, and even a twisted version of Ren himself stood ready to confront him, each projection a manifestation of fear and failure he must overcome.
"Until the storm bends to your will… we keep going," Raijin urged as the Nexus molded itself, challenging Ren to fight against the shadows of his own mind.
As Ren's daggers crackled with energy and anticipation, he clenched his fists and prepared for the inevitable confrontation. "Let's make a storm they can't ignore," he declared, and with that, everything faded into motion—the battle in the Nexus beginning anew.