Two Months Ago | December 28, 2013 | FLASHBACK
The sky is pitch black, heavy with clouds. From the distant mountains, the rumble of a storm echoes as gulls circle high above. Ruka is on the floor, collapsed on her knees with her head hung low. Her hair veils her eyes.
She begins to weep. She lifts her head toward the heavens, her face a mask of sorrow and blood. Her eyes have turned a deep, dark red. She lets out a piercing scream as an eagle soars overhead. She sobs uncontrollably: "I lost everything... everything I did in this life was wrong!"
A soft, calm voice speaks from behind her: "Nothing... Don't let this life choose us. As much as there is crying, as much as there is pain, more..." Ruka turns her head and looks at Akos with a gaze full of grief.
He tells her, "Always know that as much as you suffer, there is someone on this planet who suffered more than you and never gave up. There are people who have lost everything but did not quit."
He leans down toward Ruka, pulls an eyepatch (blindfold) from his pocket, and takes hold of her head. Weakened, Ruka lets her head fall against Akos's chest, over his heart. He nods slowly as Ruka breaks down into heavy sobs. He covers her eyes with the blindfold. He repeats his words: "I think they will fix everything, but..."
He stops abruptly and takes a short breath. "Failure doesn't mean defeat in the logic of our existence. Use everything to rescue yourself from failure." Akos stands up, takes a few steps, turns his head slightly, and says to her, "Every failure is a step to success." He walks away.
Ruka whispers: "I will use everything to break free from failure..."
PRESENT
Time stops. Life stops. Lisou's fist is frozen mere centimeters from Ruka's face—her legs have already vanished due to the sheer velocity that is consuming everything. Along with him, the entire
UNIVERSE ZONE: THE TURBO TIMELINE OF PLANET WARP has ground to a halt. Everyone is frozen except for Ruka, who, with a sudden, blur-like motion, twists her body and slips behind Sou Lisou's back.
She looks down and spots a bolt of electric radiance frozen in time. Ruka realizes, "This is the TATE of the Universe Zone... the shield that maintains the balance of his entire planet." She snarls, "You're finished, you piece of trash!" and delivers a devastating, energy-clad kick.
The TATE shatters. The planet begins to buckle under immense pressure, exploding like glass into a million shards that plummet into the void of space. Simultaneously, everyone is automatically warped back to Earth.
Atop one of the buildings, we see Cairo and Luno overlooking a city consumed by the fires of chaos and war.
They knew what was happening, but they had no idea what was coming from above. Luno looks up and sees buildings, boulders, cars, and even chunks of the earth itself falling toward them! He screams, "What the hell is this?!"
Cairo grabs him by the shirt and shouts, "Tell me this is a dream, Luno!" Luno screams back, "No! This isn't a dream, and it's not an illusion!" Everything is falling. The planet that Sou constructed using Earth's own soil and structures is returning in a cataclysmic rain of thousands of tons of debris.
Amidst the ruins of collapsed buildings, Ruka stands, propping herself up with one hand against a wall. Blood streams excessively from her eyes, and she coughs up blood from her mouth. She whispers with a grim smile, "Akos, damn you... damn your philosophy that's going to get us all killed... ahh." She turns her head and sees Jane on the ground, a lifeless body. A massive iron rod has been driven through Jane's right eye.
Ruka: "Fuck... there's no way she survived that." She leans down to check on her and begins healing her using PAJOHA-OPPOSITE PAIN. From the other side, a booming voice shouts: "Peace will never come; one of us has to die!"
Reino and Lisou are still alive and have climbed to their feet. Lisou's expression is one of pure shock: "How are you still standing?" Reino: "I erased the presence of the Nature Energy you stole from me. The energy you took to build your planet has returned to its rightful place—my body.
Did you think you were the only one with tricks up your sleeve?"
Lisou: "Tricks? I'll show you tricks!" He charges with a powerful punch, but Reino catches it midair and slams him into the building opposite them. Reino rushes inside, launching a savage barrage of punches. However, Lisou displays incredible speed, dodging every single blow.
Lisou (mockingly): "Your punches are such failures that my eyes are tired of watching you fail!" He delivers a devastating uppercut to Reino's jaw, sending him flying out of the building. As Reino falls, Lisou accelerates even further, launching a punch shrouded in orange energy. Reino crosses his arms to brace for the impact, but the sheer force of the blow leaves him utterly exhausted.
Lisou fires a barrage of punches at Reino, but Reino weaves his head left and right with blurring speed, dodging every strike. Lisou aims a kick at Reino's legs, but Reino leaps clear over him, landing directly behind his back.
He seizes Lisou by the throat, hoists him high into the air, and slams him into the ground with all his might. The floor shatters upon impact.
Lisou springs back up, shouting:
"Do you think just because I lost my ability's advantage, I've grown weak?" Reino screams back: "I can see that you're finished!" Lisou retorts: "I'm not done! The only thing that matters is who is stronger!" "Then let's see," Reino replies. "History isn't written by who is strong, but..."
Lisou cuts him off with a punch to the gut. "Shut your mouth!" he snarls, descending upon him with a savage flurry of blows.
A hook to the right cheek, another to the left. He lands three punches to the stomach and one square on the nose. As Reino endures the assault, he manages to grab Lisou's arm. He twists it 90°, snapping the bone completely.
Both men recoil. Lisou attempts to quickly activate OPPOSITE PAIN on his right arm to heal the fracture, but Reino grants him no quarter. He launches a massive, energy-shrouded punch that cuts through the very air. It strikes Lisou's abdomen with the momentum of a falling star.
LIGHTER FLASH Technique (Ninjutsu)
The energy erupts, and Lisou is hurled backward with catastrophic force.
Lisou spits out blood and snarls, "So that's how it is? You've started using your heavy hitters?" Reino retorts mockingly, "Did that hurt, little girl?" "I'll show you who the girl is!" Lisou screams, pushing his speed to the absolute limit.
Simultaneously, Reino does the same. Both of them are moving so fast they appear as mere blurs. Lisou, his gaze locked onto Reino's form, unleashes a blinding flash of energy, surging with incredible velocity toward Reino's
Inside Sou Lisou's right fist, the arteries suddenly transform into highways of light. Seventy percent of his total blood volume—a torrent of red blood cells, white blood cells, and plasma—is violently driven toward his right arm by supernatural pressure. His heart beats just once, so powerfully that the shock wave shatters the window glass around them. Compressed and overloaded with raw energy, his blood begins to boil. It isn't mere heat; it is a molecular resonance. The cells vibrate at unimaginable frequencies. Vapor begins to rise from the user's skin as it flushes dark red, and an orange aura of plasma envelops his entire body.
[RUSH CALLS ]
For 0.0001 of a second, time grinds to a halt. The fist connects squarely with Reino's stomach. It is no ordinary strike; it is an absolute transfer of mass energy. An aura resembling a wild flame erupts from Lisou's hand, piercing deep into his opponent's torso. Reino freezes dead in his tracks.
[Inside Reino's Body] The Neurological Blackout (3-Second Stun): The supernatural energy from the punch travels instantaneously through the nervous system. It strikes like a lightning bolt hitting a computer mainframe; the brain's synapses short-circuit, and the target's nervous system locks up completely. Reino stands motionless, like a statue. His eyes are wide open, yet vacant. Inside his body, the command to "move" sent from his brain never reaches his muscles. For 3 seconds, he is a prisoner trapped inside his own flesh. Internal Hemorrhaging & Blood Combustion (The 10-Second Countdown): The penetrating energy does not disintegrate the cells; it cooks them. The molecular vibration is transferred directly into the enemy's bloodstream.
[VISUAL:] Reino's blood instantly heats to 100°C. Blood proteins (such as fibrinogen and albumin) denature. Instead of a liquid, the blood thickens into a congealed, scorched mass, resembling cooked egg whites. The incinerated cells release lethal toxins. The vessel walls, utterly scorched, rupture. His vital organs—the liver, the lungs, and the kidneys—begin to bleed internally, drowning in their own ruined, burnt blood.
Cellular Detonation (The Climax): The pressure inside the scorched cells rises drastically due to the extreme heat and chemical collapse. Rather than being erased from existence, the cells explode from within due to the immense internal pressure. It triggers a microscopic chain reaction; millions of cellular membranes rupture simultaneously. The body's tissues lose all structural integrity. From the inside out, the enemy's body turns into a pulpy mass of destroyed tissue and gore.
The 10-second countdown comes to an end.
Reino, who had been completely paralyzed, suddenly snaps out of the freeze. His brain no longer receives any feedback from his devastated anatomy. His body collapses, losing all control as if detached from gravity itself. He can no longer stand. The burnt, exploded blood—now a thick, pitch-black mass—pours heavily from his mouth and nose, splattering onto the floor.
Reino lay on the floor. No movement—absolutely no movement. Blood simply poured from his mouth. Sou looks down at him with a gaze mixed with irony and respect. He moves his hand, wipes the blood from his nose, and whispers in a low voice:
"You should have realized that no matter how well you fight, luck always chooses a side. Today, it chose me. It was an honor to face you, even like this."
REINO LOST THE FIGHT.