[Central District – Ruins of Hero City]
The sky was broken.Not in clouds or colors, but in impossible geometries—like shattered glass floating in midair.
Kane moved first.His hand glowed crimson as bursts tore through space, shredding the wind dragons Mason had summoned.Each blast left a blazing trail that made the ground quake.
Ryan could barely stay on his feet. Hant's Fractured Dominion was active—streets bent, buildings rotated, doors opened into alleys that didn't exist.One wrong step, and he could fall into a horizon with no ground.
CRRRASH!The world folded, mirrored, and broke like glass, reflecting the battle at impossible angles.
[Ryan's Inner Monologue]
Alfred.
His father's smile flashed for a second in Ryan's mind… before the memory was drowned in blood, steel, and the dull sound of a body collapsing.
Rage surged like fire… but with it came a cold clarity.The Reversum pulsed inside him, whispering about Phase 3.He knew—one step forward, and Hero City itself might vanish.
"Power without direction… is the same as having nothing, young Ryan."
Inavy's words echoed.Ryan took a deep breath—and held back the urge.
[Strategic Combat]
Kane raised a crimson barrier, compressing the air around Mason.The Wind Mercenary didn't flinch—his Divine Tempest Crown blazed, and hurricanes erupted from the ground, tearing up asphalt like paper.
Kane was forced to split his focus, attacking and defending at the same time.
Meanwhile, Hant smiled.With a single gesture, he opened new rifts in the air, each leading to impossible directions.Ryan tried to reverse each distortion, but the weight on him grew with every inversion. His veins burned.
"You reverse everything…" Hant said, stepping closer. "But what happens… if I reverse what you've already reversed?"
[Twist]
Suddenly, Ryan was swallowed by a time loop.Three seconds.Always the same.The blade. The blood. Alfred's empty stare.
Over.And over.And over.
Mason lunged at Kane, his blade ready to pierce the Crimson Warrior's chest——but Kane erupted in a Jayson Explosion, countering the strike with sheer force.
"Get out of it, NOW!" Kane roared.
[Intervention]
Before the loop could shatter his mind, a blade sliced through nothingness.
SLASH!
The cursed katana cut through time like paper.Ryu Nox emerged from the shadows, glaring at Hant with a cold smile.
"I hate parties without an invitation."
Now it was Ryan + Ryu + Kane versus Mason + Hant.
[Climax]
The Reversum burned like a blue heart inside Ryan.Phase 2.Seventy percent.
His veins began to glow, his eyes bursting into a galaxy hue.
He focused all his energy into the Last Reflector, aiming straight at the Fractured Dominion.
Mason stepped in front, shielding Hant.
Two battles erupted at once:
Ryan vs Hant — Fractured Dominion vs Reversum
Kane & Ryu vs Mason — Crimson Reflection & Shadow Arts vs Divine Tempest
The ground split.The air shattered.
[Cliffhanger]
At the moment Ryan struck Mason, something more than the world was broken.
CRACK!
A massive fissure split the sky, spitting out three new presences.
"Nael…" Kane muttered, feeling the crushing weight in the air.The cold-eyed man who could control the weight of everything around him.
"Syka…" Ryu hissed, his eyes narrowing.The assassin of poisons and illusions.
"Trog…" Mason finished, a crooked smile on his face.The one who bent thermal energy like it was breathing.
The three landed side by side—and the air became suffocating.The ground trembled.Divine level. The same tier as a Herald of Kairon.
Hant spread his arms.
"Now… the real show begins."
But before the crushing threat could smother the battlefield, two new figures charged through the sky.
Flaming orange hair whipping in the wind—Dante Valtier, Vice-Captain of the Guild of a Thousand Lights.Crimson lightning dancing along twin daggers once wielded by his grandfather, Ray Stormbreak—Raijin & Arashi—in the hands of Ethan Stormbreak of the Phoenix Guild.
Ryu smirked.
"Yeah, Hant… the show's really about to start."
[END OF CHAPTER]