BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The Nomad facility was coming apart.
Walls collapsed.
Support beams twisted.
Alarm systems screamed.
Far above, the ocean itself was beginning to churn from the amount of energy being unleashed below.
Fire and ice clashed throughout the underground chamber.
Pink flames erupted from Leo's armor.
Blue-white frost exploded from Kotaro's wings.
Every collision created shockwaves that shattered what little remained intact.
Leo crashed into the floor.
The impact created a crater.
Broken concrete scattered everywhere.
For a moment he remained there.
Then he stood.
Cracking his neck.
The pink flames around him twisted and danced.
"Ice powers, huh?"
He brushed dust off his shoulder.
"Of course."
The flames intensified.
"Why wouldn't you get ice powers?"
Above him—
Kotaro hovered in the air.
His wings spread wide.
Ice crystals formed around his body.
The temperature of the entire room was dropping rapidly.
Steel pipes froze solid.
Broken machinery became encased in frost.
Leo looked up.
His red eyes narrowed.
"And you can fly."
He sighed.
"Just my luck."
Kotaro didn't answer.
He immediately dove.
The sound barrier shattered around him.
Leo barely raised his arms.
BOOM!
The impact shook the facility.
A massive shockwave ripped through the room.
The floor beneath Leo exploded.
Ice spread outward in every direction.
Kotaro kept pushing.
Trying to drive him through the earth itself.
Leo's boots dug trenches through solid concrete.
The floor cracked beneath him.
"Strong!"
Leo grinned.
"Very strong!"
Kotaro's tail whipped forward.
Leo ducked.
The tail sliced through a support pillar.
The pillar collapsed instantly.
Leo responded with a punch.
Pink flames exploded from his fist.
Kotaro crossed his arms.
The hit launched him through three frozen walls.
Leo immediately jumped after him.
CRASH!
The two collided again.
Back in the upper levels.
Everyone could feel the impacts.
The entire facility shook with each exchange.
Asagi stared at the ceiling.
"...They're going to sink the island."
Tatsuro's voice came through the communicator.
"Correction."
Everyone waited.
"They're going to sink half the island."
Kurenai pinched the bridge of her nose.
"That isn't better."
"I know."
Back below.
Kotaro emerged from the rubble.
His wings spread wider.
More ice gathered around him.
Massive spikes erupted from the walls.
The ceiling.
The floor.
Everything.
Leo looked around.
"...Ok."
An ice spear flew toward him.
He caught it.
Another.
Caught.
Another.
Caught.
Then fifty more launched simultaneously.
"Oh, come on!"
The room became a frozen death trap.
Ice rained from every direction.
Leo finally drew his Hell Blade.
Black water poured from the weapon.
The chamber trembled.
Water met ice.
Black water met demonic frost.
Leo laughed.
"I finally get to test this!"
He entered a stance.
The same one he'd practiced for years.
Water Ninja Arts.
The blade moved.
A black river erupted across the battlefield.
The wave crashed into the frozen storm.
Ice shattered.
Water exploded.
Steam filled the chamber.
For a brief moment neither cousin could see the other.
Then two glowing eyes appeared through the mist.
Kotaro.
Leo grinned beneath his helmet.
"There you are."
Kotaro grinned back.
The first genuine grin since the fight started.
Not controlled.
Not corrupted.
Just Kotaro.
For a split second.
Then both vanished.
BOOM!
The resulting shockwave cracked the foundation of the entire facility.
And somewhere deep within Nomad headquarters—
Several scientists collectively realized they were about to lose a very expensive laboratory.
The fight had long since left the underground levels.
Walls.
Floors.
Ceilings.
Neither cousin seemed to care about the concept anymore.
Leo grabbed Kotaro by the shoulder.
Pink flames erupted around his armor.
Then he spun.
BOOM!
Kotaro was slammed through three floors.
Steel twisted.
Concrete exploded.
The entire facility shook.
Alex's voice echoed inside Leo's head.
'Use the Blacklight.'
Leo immediately answered.
'Yeah, that's the problem.'
He jumped after Kotaro.
Kotaro recovered instantly.
His wings flared.
Ice gathered around his fist.
Then he rushed.
Leo met him head-on.
The two collided again.
The impact shattered every remaining window in the building.
Leo grabbed Kotaro.
Then launched upward.
BOOM!
The roof exploded.
Moonlight flooded the battlefield.
Ocean air rushed into the ruined facility.
Leo carried Kotaro into the night sky.
Then immediately slammed him back downward.
CRASH!
Kotaro hit the ground hard enough to create another crater.
Alex sounded confused.
'What do you mean that's the problem?'
Kotaro emerged from the crater.
Ice exploded around him.
Leo wiped blood from his lip.
One of the few times he'd actually been hurt.
'I'm stronger than I've ever been.'
He blocked another strike.
The force pushed him backward.
'But I can't use my Blacklight.'
Alex paused.
'But you did with your Hell Blade.'
Kotaro appeared beside him.
A frozen claw slammed into Leo's ribs.
BOOM!
Leo flew through a communication tower.
The tower folded in half.
He stopped himself in midair.
Pink flames keeping him afloat.
'Yeah.'
He cracked his neck.
'If you haven't noticed—'
Kotaro rushed him again.
Leo raised the Hell Blade.
Black water erupted.
Ice and water exploded upon contact.
'I've only been coating the blade with Blacklight.'
He pushed Kotaro back.
'Not changing my arms.'
Alex went quiet.
Then—
'Oh.'
James immediately understood.
'The transformation.'
Leo nodded mentally.
'Exactly.'
His normal Blacklight forms—
Claws.
Hammer fists.
Shields.
Tendrils.
Armor.
Weapons.
Everything.
All of it required reshaping his body.
The problem was—
He wasn't exactly human-shaped anymore.
The new form already covered him in armor.
Already had claws.
Already had wings.
Already had a tail.
The Blacklight didn't know what to do.
Or perhaps more accurately—
It was trying to do too much.
Leo dodged another attack.
Alex finally understood.
'The systems are conflicting.'
'Bingo.'
Kotaro's ice erupted across the battlefield.
The ocean below began freezing.
Leo answered with pink flames.
Steam exploded everywhere.
The night sky became a war zone.
James sounded thoughtful.
'Maybe you're looking at it wrong.'
Leo blocked another punch.
'What do you mean?'
'Stop trying to use Blacklight like a weapon.'
Kotaro's tail whipped toward Leo.
Leo caught it.
James continued.
'Your transformation already gives you weapons.'
Alex immediately caught on.
'Use it as fuel instead.'
Leo froze.
For half a second.
Then his eyes widened.
'...Oh.'
The Blacklight wasn't refusing.
It wasn't malfunctioning.
It was adapting.
Every power he had until now worked separately.
Blacklight.
Fuuma bloodline.
Hell Blade.
Taima particles.
This new form wasn't separate.
It was all of them together.
Kotaro punched him.
Leo barely blocked.
But this time—
He smiled.
"Got it."
Pink flames began changing.
Dark streaks appeared inside them.
Black energy mixed with the fire.
The air itself warped.
Alex sounded excited.
'There it is.'
James laughed.
'Took you long enough.'
Across the battlefield—
Kotaro stopped.
Even in his transformed state—
He could feel it.
Something was changing.
Something dangerous.
Leo raised the Hell Blade.
Black water flowed from it.
Pink flames wrapped around it.
Blacklight pulsed beneath the armor.
For the first time since the transformation—
The powers weren't fighting each other.
They were starting to synchronize.
Leo pointed the blade at his cousin.
"Alright."
The flames behind him exploded into the sky.
"Round two."
And somewhere in the collapsing Nomad facility below—
Tatsuro looked at the energy readings.
Then looked again.
Then a third time.
"..."
Rinko's voice came through the radio.
"Tatsuro?"
"...I have no idea what's happening anymore."
"That's not reassuring."
"It stopped being reassuring three explosions ago."
Back in the fight
Kotaro didn't give Leo time to think.
The moment Leo's powers began synchronizing, Kotaro was already moving.
Ice exploded from his wings as he crossed the distance between them in an instant.
His fist slammed into Leo's chest.
The impact launched Leo across the ocean.
He skipped across the water like a stone before digging his claws into the sea itself, stopping his momentum.
Leo looked down.
A crack had appeared across the black armor covering his chest.
Pink flames leaked through it.
"...Well that's new."
Kotaro landed on the water a few hundred meters away.
The ocean beneath his feet instantly froze.
Not just the surface.
Deep beneath as well.
A growing glacier spread outward from his position.
Leo could see cracks running through Kotaro's own armor now.
The white and blue plating covering his body was beginning to fracture.
Power was leaking from the openings.
The transformation was pushing both of them too hard.
Neither could maintain this forever.
Kotaro rushed again.
This time Leo met him halfway.
Their fists collided.
The shockwave split the ocean.
For several seconds there was literally a trench in the sea between them.
Then the water crashed back together.
Both cousins were launched backward.
Leo spun through the air before stabilizing himself with his wings.
Kotaro did the same.
For a moment they simply stared at one another.
Neither smiling now.
Neither joking.
Just fighting.
Leo noticed something.
Kotaro's movements were cleaner.
More controlled.
The wild rage from earlier was fading.
The transformation wasn't just stabilizing.
Kotaro was learning to use it.
'That's bad.'
'Very bad.' Alex agreed.
James sounded less concerned.
'Not necessarily.'
Leo dodged a barrage of ice spears.
'Explain.'
'He's becoming himself again.'
Leo blinked.
Then he noticed it.
Kotaro wasn't roaring anymore.
Wasn't attacking blindly.
Wasn't fighting like a monster.
He was fighting like a Fuuma.
Like Kotaro.
The realization hit just as Kotaro formed an enormous lance of ice above his head.
"Leo!"
The voice sounded clearer this time.
Actually clear.
Then he threw the lance.
Leo's eyes widened.
"Oh, now you remember my name?!"
The spear was the size of a building.
Leo immediately swung his Hell Blade.
Black water erupted upward.
The two attacks collided.
The resulting explosion sent water, ice, and steam into the sky.
Far away, on what remained of the Nomad facility, everyone watched in stunned silence.
Kurenai lowered her binoculars.
"I think they left the island."
Tatsuro adjusted a camera feed.
"They did."
"How far?"
"...Several kilometers."
Asagi rubbed her forehead.
"Of course they did."
Back at the battlefield, Leo flew through the steam cloud.
His blade struck Kotaro's shoulder.
Kotaro's claw struck Leo's ribs.
Both attacks landed.
Both armors cracked further.
Pieces broke away.
For the first time, blood appeared.
Not much.
Just enough.
The fight had finally crossed into dangerous territory.
Kotaro landed on a floating iceberg.
Breathing heavily.
Leo landed opposite him.
Equally exhausted.
Neither wanted to admit it.
Neither wanted to stop.
But both could feel it.
Their transformations were reaching their limits.
Kotaro looked at the cracks spreading across his armor.
Then at Leo.
"...You got uglier."
Leo stared.
Then laughed.
Actually laughed.
"That's rich coming from the guy who looks like an ice demon."
A small grin appeared on Kotaro's face.
The first real grin since he was freed from the tube.
And for the first time since the fight began, Leo saw his cousin.
Not the experiment.
Not the Devil Trigger.
Just Kotaro.
Kotaro looked down at his clawed arm.
Blue energy leaked through the cracks.
The armor was literally falling apart now.
"...So this is the Fuuma Clan's Devil Trigger."
Leo looked at his own arm.
Pink flames seeped from fractures running across the black armor.
"Yeah."
The two cousins stood there.
Ocean waves crashed around the frozen battlefield.
Both transformed.
Both exhausted.
Both completely unsure what they were doing.
Then they looked at each other.
"..."
"..."
"So, how do we detransform?" they said at the same time.
Silence.
More silence.
Then both shrugged.
Neither had a clue.
"Fair enough."
"Fair enough."
Then they immediately charged each other again.
Back on the island.
Kurenai lowered her binoculars.
"What are they doing?"
Tatsuro adjusted another camera.
"...I think they're trying to punch the transformations off."
Asagi stared.
"You can't do that."
A distant explosion echoed over the ocean.
Tatsuro watched another energy spike.
"...Apparently you can try."
Meanwhile—
BOOM!
Their fists collided again.
A shockwave spread across the sea.
Icebergs shattered.
Waves rose dozens of meters into the air.
The cracks covering both forms expanded.
Leo threw a punch.
Kotaro answered with one of his own.
Both connected.
CRACK!
Something broke.
The two immediately jumped backward.
Both staring.
"...Did you hear that?" Leo asked.
"Yeah."
A large section of armor slid off Kotaro's right arm.
The white-blue plating shattered.
Falling into the ocean below.
Underneath—
A perfectly normal human arm.
The two blinked.
Then looked at each other.
Then back at the arm.
"...Oh."
Kotaro flexed his fingers.
They worked.
Completely normal.
Leo pointed.
"Good news."
Kotaro nodded.
"There's a human under there."
Leo pointed at himself.
"Hopefully."
Kotaro immediately laughed.
The first proper laugh he'd had since this entire disaster started.
Then Leo rushed him.
"COME HERE!"
Kotaro met him halfway.
BOOM!
More armor exploded off both of them.
A shoulder plate flew away.
Part of a wing shattered.
Fragments rained into the ocean.
They weren't fighting to win anymore.
They were fighting to molt.
Like two very angry reptiles.
Back on the island.
Rinko watched through a drone feed.
"...This might be the dumbest thing I've ever seen."
Yuuko nodded.
"And yet somehow it's working."
Mizuki folded her arms.
"The Fuuma bloodline is strange."
Asagi sighed.
"That's putting it mildly."
Back at the battlefield.
Leo grabbed Kotaro.
Kotaro grabbed Leo.
Both immediately headbutted each other.
CRACK!
A horn snapped off Leo's helmet.
Kotaro pointed.
"You lost a horn."
Leo pointed back.
"You lost a wing."
Kotaro looked.
"...Oh."
The damaged wing fell off.
"...That can't be good."
Then the remaining wing compensated and kept him airborne anyway.
"...Never mind."
Leo laughed.
Then immediately punched him again.
More armor shattered.
More energy escaped.
The transformations were rapidly falling apart.
And for the first time since Nomad awakened the Demon Mark—
Neither cousin looked scared.
Because now they knew one thing.
There were still humans underneath all that armor.
The question was whether the armor would come off before they accidentally sank half the Pacific.
To be continue
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