The ruined city screamed with fire and collapsing steel. Rubble shook under every step, smoke clawing skyward in thick black plumes.
Mike braced himself, kinetic energy flaring blue around his frame as Simon blurred toward him, blades flashing like shards of lightning. Steel clashed against shimmering barriers with a shriek, sparks bursting across the shattered ground.
"Fast bastard—" Mike snarled, swinging his fist. The punch detonated a shockwave, tearing asphalt apart. Simon twisted through it, sharp-eyed and relentless, his voice cold as steel.
"Too slow."
Mike spun, barely throwing up another barrier before both blades slammed down. Sparks sprayed like shrapnel, heat licking across his skin.
A few meters away, Mio's storms roared against crimson. Her eyes blazed storm-gray as bolts of lightning forked through the air, angling mid-flight toward Linda.
Linda only laughed, blood wings unfurling wide, scattering droplets that hardened into razors midair. "Still trembling, little bitch. Still scared of me." Her voice was venom wrapped in madness. "You humiliated me once, but now? You're just struggling to breathe."
Mio's jaw tightened as she thrust her hands forward, a barrier of spinning wind meeting the hail of blood shards with a wet hiss. "I'm not running this time."
"Running?" Linda tilted her head, smiling with sharp teeth. "You'll be crawling, choking on your own tongue when I tear it out. And he'll finally see I'm the only one for him."
"Shut the hell up!" Mio snapped, sparks flashing at her fingertips.
Between them, Chloe flared like a miniature sun. Golden flames roared from her skin, plasma spheres arcing across the battlefield, intercepting Linda's projectiles before they could tear through Mio's shield.
"You're not touching her," Chloe said, voice trembling with heat. "Not while I'm here."
Linda's laugh rang shrill, echoing across broken walls. "Ohhh, the little sun still thinks she matters. Cute. You'll burn out like the rest."
Mike threw Simon off with a blast of force, his chest heaving, sweat cutting through dirt on his face. "Stay sharp! Don't drop focus—"
And then—
A voice slithered through the ruins. Mocking. Everywhere and nowhere.
"Well, well, well… isn't this fucking adorable?"
The battlefield froze.
Mike's blood ran cold. He saw nothing, felt nothing—but the voice was there, gnawing at his bones.
"You little shits think this is a fight? Think you're pushing back? Goddamn comedy show. I'm laughing my ass off just watching."
Chloe's flames flickered as she whipped her head around. "Who—where the hell—"
Mio's barrier sputtered, panic tightening her chest. "Mike… someone's here."
Even Linda's grin faltered. Her crimson eyes flicked sideways, wary, as if she too smelled a predator above her.
The chuckle came again, guttural and cruel.
"Time to drop the warm-up bullshit… and get to the fun part."
Chloe threw another blazing sphere, detonating heat that shoved Linda back a step. For a heartbeat, Mike felt pride watching her stand like the sun she embodied.
Then—
"Fuck me, that's boring."
Brad's voice cut the air.
And Chloe convulsed.
She coughed blood, golden flames sputtering as her eyes widened in confusion. For an instant, she looked to Mike as if to ask what had happened.
Then he saw it.
Her chest—ripped open. Skin and bone torn wide, her heart missing, the cavity gushing blood in rivers down her torso.
"M-Mike…?"
She collapsed before his scream even left his throat.
The sound of chewing followed. Wet. Sloppy.
"Mmm… juicy," Brad drawled, voice full. "Guess the sun's heart tastes as hot as it looks."
"YOU—BASTARD!!" Mio shrieked, lightning exploding around her, tears blurring her vision as Chloe's body hit the dirt, lifeless, golden hair stained red.
Mike fell to his knees beside her, hands shaking, trying to close the wound, to summon something—anything. But there was nothing to save. She was gone.
Brad's laughter rolled across the battlefield, cruel and delighted.
"Goddamn priceless—the looks on your fucking faces. Shock. Rage. Helplessness. I live for this shit."
Even Linda and Simon stood frozen, their arrogance cut short.
Brad sneered through the smoke.
"Now… who's next?"
Mio trembled, fists clenched until her nails drew blood. Then her grief detonated.
Lightning forked in every direction, wind howling into a cyclone. "YOU FUCKING COWARD! Don't hide—show yourself!"
Brad chuckled, low and amused.
"Little storm princess thinks she's scary. Cute."
She hurled spears of lightning in every direction. They scorched walls, split rubble, carved scars through the battlefield. Nothing touched him.
"Mio—stop!" Mike shouted, shielding himself from the backlash. "He wants you blind!"
But she was gone into her storm, grief burning hotter than reason.
Then his voice whispered at her ear.
"Bitch, you're already in my hands."
Her arm snapped with a sickening crack, bone jutting through skin.
"MIO!!" Mike lunged, only to be blasted backward by an unseen force, slamming into rubble.
Brad howled with delight.
"Ohhh, fuck yes! Scream louder for me!"
Invisible hands yanked her into the air, twisting her like a puppet. Her storm flared, lightning bursting wild, but none struck true.
Rip.
Her left arm tore free, blood spraying across the ruins. Her scream shattered the air.
Mike scrambled to his feet, barriers forming, shards of steel flung desperately toward Brad's voice. Each strike shattered like toys.
Brad roared with curses, ecstatic.
"You thought you could save her? You thought she mattered? Fuck that. She's meat!"
Another rip. Her right arm wrenched free, blood raining down. Her body convulsed violently, storms faltering.
"STOP!!" Mike's voice cracked, raw with despair.
Mio's storm-colored eyes locked on him, fierce even in agony. She tried to speak, but only blood bubbled out.
Brad silenced her. With one crushing motion, her chest caved in, bones snapping, organs bursting. The storm died.
She fell in a broken heap, sparks fading from her bloodied frame.
Mike's scream tore through the battlefield, hollow and raw.
Silence followed. Only bodies remained—Chloe sprawled in crimson, Mio twisted in blood and ruin.
Mike's knees buckled. His barriers flickered and collapsed. His mind screamed, but no sound came out.
Brad's laugh returned, thick with venom.
"Look at you. Standing like a scared little bitch. Didn't swing once. Didn't save shit. Some 'hero.'"
Mike's eyes locked on them—Chloe's golden hair, Mio's shattered form. He wanted to crawl to them, to scream their names. His body refused.
Brad circled unseen, taunting.
"Pathetic. Couldn't save your sun. Couldn't save your storm. Sure as hell can't save yourself."
The whisper came at his ear, venomous.
"You thought you were tough? You're nothing. Worthless."
An invisible hand punched through his chest. Pain seared, blood spraying from his mouth.
Brad chuckled darkly, twisting inside his ribs.
"Warm, beating… pathetic. That your heart? Let me fix that."
With a wet tear, it was over. His knees gave out, body collapsing into darkness.
Brad's voice followed him down.
"You're no hero. Just another dead piece of shit."
---
DING!
The System's chime.
[Regression Initiated.]
And the world unraveled.