The air on the Stardust Weaver's bridge crackled with the aftermath of Kuro's shocking deduction. Nirvana, the Heartdeath Monarch, radiated fury like a collapsing star, the shadows around her boiling, the mundane steel Rod in her hand humming with amplified malice, drinking the light until it resembled a shard of solidified void.
"DIE! KNOWING THAT CHANGES NOTHING!" Nirvana shrieked, her voice a ragged scrape of cosmic hatred. The Rod snapped up, pointed unerringly at Kuro. The insidious weapon pulsed, poised to shatter his resonance and feast on his fading colors.
Kuro stood panting, crimson hair stark against his ashen face, blood trickling from his temple. The disorientation from the last Rod strike warred with the adrenaline-fueled clarity of his mind. He met the void where her eyes should be, a grim, almost feral and provocative smile touching his lips. "Predictable."
Nirvana didn't hesitate. She flowed, a streak of vengeful darkness, the Rod lashing out not with a beam, but aimed for another debilitating physical strike; to break him utterly before ending him.
"NO!" Miryoku's voice rang out, raw with protective fury. Despite her exhaustion, the luminous blood drying on her lip, and the unnerving lightness of her green hair, she threw herself between Kuro and the oncoming Monarch. Harmonic energy, dimmer than before but still potent, flared around her in a desperate shield.
THWACK-CRACK!
The Rod struck Miryoku's hastily conjured barrier. It held for a microsecond, radiating turquoise light, before shattering like glass under the Rod's negation field and Nirvana's focused rage. The blow continued, glancing off Miryoku's raised arm. A sickening crack echoed, followed by Miryoku's cry of pain. Luminous blood, brighter than before, sprayed from a deep gash. She staggered, her green hair whipping around a face contorted in agony, but she remained standing, shielding Kuro.
"Idiot girl!" Nirvana hissed, already recoiling for another strike. "Your light is gutter-filth!"
Kuro didn't waste the sacrifice. While Miryoku took the blow, his mind raced, calculations flashing behind his pain-glazed eyes. *Physical attack. Direct energy ineffective. Rod requires contact... Chain dispersion? Amplifier overload via contact detonation? *His tech-gauntlet whined, not gathering energy for a blast, but reshaping its emitter field. Thin, crackling tendrils of blue-white energy, woven with disruptive harmonic frequencies Kuro had scanned from Miryoku's earlier attacks, erupted from the gauntlet. They weren't beams, but chains; ethereal, crackling lariats made of pure, amplified force.
He lunged sideways, not away, but towards Nirvana's recoil. The energy chains snapped out, not to bind, but to ensnare and transfer. They wrapped around Nirvana's extended Rod-arm and torso with shocking speed.
CONTACT. DETONATE.
Kuro triggered the chains not as explosives, but as high-frequency energy conduits. The chains flared, dumping a massive, localized surge of disruptive harmonic resonance and raw concussive force directly into Nirvana at the points of contact.
FZZZZT-BOOM!
A shockwave of light and sound erupted. Nirvana grunted, stumbling back half a step, smoke curling from the points of impact on her shadowy armor. A faint, hairline crack appeared on the Rod's surface. The damage was superficial, barely visible against the Monarch's dark form, but it was damage.
Nirvana looked down at the faint scorch marks, then back at Kuro, her unseen expression radiating pure contempt. "Pathetic," she spat, her voice dripping with scorn. "You grow weaker by the second, mortal. That tickle wouldn't scratch paint. Your 'science' is a child's sparkler against the void." She flexed her arm, the shadows swirling to obscure the minor blemish.
Miryoku, clutching her bleeding arm, her face pale but set with furious determination, saw her opening. Nirvana was focused on Kuro, dismissive of the pain Miryoku clearly radiated. Miryoku poured every ounce of her remaining strength, every flicker of her dimmed light, into her hands. Not a wave, but a focused lance of pure harmonic energy; blinding white shot through with desperate streaks of emerald and amethyst.
FWOOOOOM!
The beam slammed into Nirvana's center mass. The Monarch actually flinched, a surprised hiss escaping her as the light burned against her shadowy essence, forcing her back another step. Miryoku didn't let up. Gritting her teeth against the agony in her arm and the soul-deep exhaustion, she sustained the beam, pouring everything she had into it. "GET... AWAY... FROM HIM!" she screamed, the sound raw and primal.
FWOOOOOM! FWOOOOOM! FWOOOOOM!
Blast after relentless blast hammered Nirvana. The Monarch raised her free arm, shadows coalescing into a dark shield that absorbed the impacts, but each strike forced her back, each burst of light chipping away at her dark aura. Smoke, real and acrid, began to rise from her form. When Miryoku finally faltered, collapsing to one knee, gasping for breath, her harmonic light guttering like a dying candle, Nirvana stood revealed. Her armor was scorched and battered in several places. Thin trails of dark vapor leaked from joints. She was breathing slightly harder. Damaged. Slightly, but undeniably.
Nirvana lowered her shadow-shield, her form radiating cold, absolute fury. "Enough," she stated, her voice deathly calm, far more terrifying than her shriek. "That... was your final spark. You have no hope left. No strength to dodge. No light to shield." She raised the humming Rod, not for a strike this time. The tip glowed with a sickly, dark purple light, gathering immense, annihilating power. A beam capable of vaporizing both exhausted mortals where they stood. "Fade into the silence you deserve."
Miryoku, trembling with exhaustion, tried to push herself up, to place herself once more in front of Kuro. "Kuro... run..." she gasped.
Kuro, however, was already moving. Not away, but with a surge of desperate energy fueled by pure intellect and enhanced reflexes. His gauntlet flared, not offensively, but projecting a focused kinetic pulse sideways.
THUMP!
The pulse hit Miryoku squarely, not harming her, but shoving her with surprising force away from the line of fire, sending her skidding across the deck towards Merus's barrier near the breach.
"KURO! NO!" Miryoku's scream was pure anguish, echoing in the suddenly still air before the beam fired.
Kuro stood alone, facing the gathering annihilation. He didn't look at the beam. He looked at Nirvana, a strange calm in his eyes. "Don't waste your breath, Miryoku," he called out, his voice tight but clear. "I'm not dying today. In fact... I just figured out the final variable."
ZORRRK-VOOOOOM!
The dark purple beam, thick as a tree trunk and humming with negation, lanced from the Rod, aimed to erase Kuro from existence. Nirvana's lipless mouth curled in a cruel smirk. Too fast. Too powerful. He was exhausted, weakened. There was no escape.
Kuro moved. But not to dodge away. He dropped into a low crouch, his movements precise, economical. As the beam screamed towards him, he triggered a sequence on his gauntlet. A complex holographic emitter built into his wrist projector flared. It didn't create an image of him. It created a localized, intense field of light-bending photons and sonic interference precisely calibrated to the frequency Nirvana's shadow-form emitted when agitated; data gathered from her reaction to his chain detonation and Miryoku's blasts.
To Nirvana's senses, trained on his unique 'Color' resonance and physical form, Kuro seemed to blur, then fragment, like a reflection in shattered glass. The beam tore through the space where his chest should have been, vaporizing deck plating, but Kuro himself, utilizing the micro-second of sensory confusion, had rolled forward and under the beam's path, propelled by a short burst from his boot thrusters. He came up sprinting, not away, but straight towards Nirvana.
Nirvana's shock was palpable. The shadows recoiled momentarily. "Impossible!" The word was a gasp. "How... with that body...?"
Kuro didn't answer. He closed the distance, his gauntlet whining as it gathered residual energy, shaping it into multiple, rapid-fire concussive pulses; not to damage, but to obscure.
PING! PING! PING! PING!
Small, bright bursts of force erupted around Nirvana's head and torso. They stung like angry hornets against her armor, accomplishing little damage but throwing up flares of light and disruptive energy fields, momentarily blinding her enhanced senses and blurring her vision.
*He knows these blasts are ineffective!* Nirvana thought, rage warring with sudden unease. *He's not this stupid! A distraction! Behind? *She spun, Rod lashing out in a vicious arc towards the space behind her, pouring power into the strike.
CRUNCH-THUD!
The Rod connected solidly, punching through armor, flesh, and bone with sickening ease. Nirvana felt the impact vibrate up her arm. She saw Kuro impaled, his eyes wide with shock, blood; dark red, human blood; erupting from his mouth.
"STUPID FOOL!" Nirvana spat, triumph surging. "Did you think your pathetic tricks could fool a Monarch? That was a plan unworthy of a gutter rat! PATHETIC!"
She yanked the Rod free, expecting Kuro's body to crumple. Instead, the image flickered, distorted like a bad hologram, then dissolved into shimmering static and dispersed photons. A sophisticated hard-light hologram, projected from Kuro's gauntlet during the visual confusion, overloaded with the energy from her strike.
The real Kuro was already in motion. While Nirvana struck the phantom, he had flanked her, moving with silent, fueled speed. As the hologram dissolved, revealing the deception, Kuro lunged, not for Nirvana, but for the Rod still gripped in her hand.
SNATCH!
His tech-gauntleted hand closed around the cold steel just below the humming tip. He wrenched it with all his enhanced strength and leverage.
Nirvana, caught off-balance by the phantom strike and the sudden tug, instinctively tightened her grip. "INSECT! RELEASE IT!"
"Gladly," Kuro hissed. Instead of pulling it away, he pushed. He channeled the last reserves of his gauntlet's energy, not into the Rod, but through it, using it as a conductor. A surge of raw, disruptive force, amplified by the Rod's own inherent negation field, slammed back into Nirvana's hand and up her arm.
ZZZORT!
Nirvana shrieked, not in pain, but in outrage and a sudden, sharp jolt of feedback. Her grip loosened for a critical millisecond. Kuro twisted, leveraging his body weight, and tore the Rod from her grasp.
He stumbled back, holding the humming, darkly pulsing weapon. It felt cold, alien, and vibrated with unsettling power in his hand. Nirvana whirled, shadows lashing out like furious tentacles. "GIVE THAT BACK, VERMIN!"
Kuro ignored her, holding the Rod like a scientist examining a dangerous specimen. "Exposed," he stated, his voice cutting through her fury. "The secret wasn't just you. It was always the Rod. It's the focus, the conduit. It holds the power to perceive and manipulate the 'Color,' to impose the weakening. You are merely its wielder." He raised the Rod, pointing it at her. "Which means... if the Rod imposes weakness... what happens when it touches you?"
Nirvana froze. The lashing shadows stilled. A ripple of something akin to... fear?... passed through her dark aura.
Kuro didn't wait for an answer. He lunged, swinging the Rod not with skill, but with desperate, scientific intent. THWACK! It connected solidly with Nirvana's shoulder.
"ARGH!" Nirvana cried out, a sound of genuine shock and pain. A visible ripple of dark energy pulsed through her form. Her previously pink hair, visible beneath her cowl, shifted, deepening into a dark, bruised blue.
"SO WHAT?!" Nirvana screamed, her voice raw, her composure shattered. The minor weakening was irrelevant to her power, but the violation, the insolence of being struck with her own weapon, burned. "YOU BARELY SCRATCHED ME, MAGGOT!"
"Not done," Kuro stated coldly. Miryoku, fueled by renewed fury seeing Kuro's gambit work, had pushed herself up. She didn't attack. She grabbed Nirvana from behind, wrapping her arms and legs around the Monarch in a desperate bear hug, pouring the dregs of her harmonic energy not into an attack, but into a binding field, a cage of light meant to hold, not harm. "HELD HER, KURO!"
Nirvana thrashed, shadows erupting, trying to shred the light-bindings. "RELEASE ME, WRETCH!"
Kuro was already moving. THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! THWACK! Five rapid, brutal strikes with the Rod, delivered with scientific precision to nerve clusters and energy nexus points his scans had identified during their fight. Each strike landed solidly on Nirvana's chest, ribs, and head.
"GYAAAHHH!" Nirvana's scream was a guttural roar of pain and outrage. Each blow sent a visible tremor through her, her dark blue hair seeming to pulse with the impacts. The shadowy aura flickered wildly, dimming significantly. She sagged in Miryoku's grip, not broken, but weakened, truly weakened for the first time.
Kuro didn't hesitate. He dropped the Rod. It clattered to the deck. His gauntlet flared one last time, gathering the ambient energy disrupted by the Rod's strikes and Nirvana's thrashing shadows. He poured every ounce of his own remaining spirit energy; faint, but amplified a thousand-fold by his gauntlet's technology; into a single, point-blank blast aimed directly at the small of Nirvana's back.
KRA-KOOM!
The blast wasn't cosmic, but it was focused, amplified chaos. It struck Nirvana square in the back. Dark, viscous fluid, blood, thick as oil, exploded from the impact point. Nirvana arched violently, a choked gasp ripped from her, before being hurled forward out of Miryoku's weakening grip. She slammed face-first onto the deck, skidding several meters, leaving a smear of dark blood.
Kuro stood swaying, gauntlet smoking, his unnatural crimson hair plastered to his sweaty forehead. He looked down at the prone Monarch, then at his own hand. "Observable result," he panted, a grim satisfaction in his voice. "Looks like I am strong enough to make you bleed, right, Miss Ugly Heartdeath Monarch?"
The word 'Ugly' hung in the air like a detonator.
Nirvana went utterly still. A terrible silence fell, deeper than before. Slowly, agonizingly, she pushed herself up onto her hands and knees. Dark fluid dripped from her chin, from her wounds. Her head lifted. The shadows around her weren't boiling anymore; they were coalescing, drawing inward with terrifying intensity. A low, guttural growl emanated from her, vibrating the deck plates.
"Ugly..." The word was a whisper, dripping with venomous, wounded fury. "You... dare... call ME... UGLY?"
The air itself seemed to scream. Nirvana threw her head back, and a shriek tore from her that was less sound and more a psychic blast of pure, unadulterated rage. The shadows detonated outwards, not as darkness, but as a wave of blinding, terrifying pink energy; violent, chaotic, and immense. Miryoku was hurled backwards, crashing into a console. Kuro was flung against the bulkhead, the breath knocked from him.
Where Nirvana knelt, a transformation was occurring. Her form swelled, shadows and armor dissolving into raw, pulsating pink energy. Flesh tore and reformed, bones cracked and reshaped. The bruised blue hair vanished, replaced by wild, crackling pink energy tendrils. Her face elongated into a monstrous muzzle filled with jagged crystalline teeth. Eyes like burning pink stars opened. Two massive, bat-like wings of pure energy unfurled from her back, and clawed limbs tore free from the dissipating shadow-form. Towering over them, easily three meters tall, radiating spiritual energy that dwarfed her previous presence, was Alpha Monster Nirvana. The discarded Rod lay forgotten, melting under the sheer output of her power.
"FUCK THE STICK!" the monster roared, its voice a cacophony of shrieks and growls, shaking the ship. "FUCK YOUR SCIENCE! FUCK YOUR LIGHT! I WILL UNMAKE YOU BOTH ATOOM BY ATOOM! THAT'S THE END FOR MORTALS WHO INSULT A QUEEN!"
As the terrifying pink radiance washed over them, Kuro and Miryoku felt a strange shift. The unnatural colors in their hair; Kuro's blood-red, Miryoku's light green; bled away, fading back to their natural black and white. Simultaneously, the draining weakness inflicted by the Rod seemed to lift, replaced by the sheer, primal terror of the abomination before them. They were whole again... facing something infinitely worse.
Meanwhile:
The secondary battle between Shinji and Torento had been a whirlwind of kinetic fury. The bridge bore scars of their conflict; dented bulkheads, shattered consoles, floor plating torn up by the force of their collisions. Shinji moved like lightning, Voidheart energy flaring, his fists and feet meeting Torento's hyper-speed assaults with shattering force. He was dominance incarnate, a golden-green storm weathering Torento's frantic barrage.
CRUNCH! Shinji landed a devastating uppercut, snapping Torento's head back. THUD! A spinning kick connected with the Monarch's ribs, sending him crashing through a support column. Torento rolled, coughing, dark blood spattering the deck. He pushed himself up, swaying, his manic grin replaced by a grimace of pain and disbelief. His hazel eyes, wide with shock, met Shinji's cold, burning gaze.
"Guh... Heh..." Torento spat blood, a ragged chuckle escaping him. "Looks like... I was wrong about you, Trascender." He wiped his mouth, smearing crimson across his cheek. "You weren't just strong... you were way too strong..."
Shinji stood amidst the wreckage, barely winded. Gold-green energy crackled around his fists. "Well," he stated, his voice devoid of mockery, coldly factual, "you aren't half bad. But you're still weaker than Khoseph. And I defeated him months ago." He took a step forward, the intent clear. This fight was ending.
Torento's bloodied face split into a sudden, wide, unnerving grin. A grin devoid of mirth, filled with chilling certainty. "Heh... hehehe... Defeated him, huh? Cute." He straightened up, his previous injuries seeming... less severe? "Thing is, Shinji-boy..." Torento cracked his neck, a sound too loud in the sudden stillness. "...I didn't show my real Ability yet, did I? I was just playing rough. Testing your limits with raw force." He spread his arms, a dark aura beginning to shimmer around him, distorting the light. "But you? You're the real deal. So..." His eyes locked onto Shinji's, the hazel irises seeming to deepen, swirl, pulling at Shinji's perception. "...guess I gotta show you some real 'magic'. Something way better than that loser Khoseph ever dreamed of." Torento's voice dropped to a hypnotic murmur. "After all... I am the Hypnorest Monarch, Torento."
A wave of disorienting energy pulsed outwards. Shinji blinked. The world... shifted.
One moment, Torento stood before him, battered and bleeding. The next...
Torento stood before him, pristine. No blood, no ripped clothing, no bruises. His manic grin was wide and confident. His dark aura pulsed healthily. He looked as fresh as when he first boarded.
Shinji, however, gasped. Agony lanced through him. He looked down. Deep gashes bled freely on his arms and chest. His ribs screamed where moments before he felt fine. Fatigue, heavy and sudden, dragged at his limbs. He stumbled, catching himself on a broken console edge, staring in disbelief at his own suddenly wounded body and the perfectly unharmed Monarch. "Wha... What the-?!" The confusion was absolute, cutting through his battle focus.
Torento chuckled, a low, sinister sound. "My Power, Trascender, is Hypnosis. Not mere suggestion. Reality warping. No matter what happens, no matter what damage you think you inflict..." He gestured grandly at his own unharmed form and Shinji's bleeding body. "...the scales always revert. The 'truth' resets to my side of the story. My reality."
Shinji pushed himself upright, pain flaring, mind racing. "But... how? When did I even fall into it? I didn't see anything... feel anything..."
Torento's grin turned predatory. "Oh, Shinji... you fell the moment you perceived me." His swirling hazel eyes held Shinji captive. "Merely by existing in your awareness, my Hypnosis takes root. You never stood a chance." He raised a crackling fist. "Now... let's see how 'weak' I really am."
Shinji stared, not just at the unharmed Monarch, but at his own bloody hands. The rules of the fight had just been shattered. The true horror of the Hypnorest Monarch begun to show.