The Sky Realm, once a masterpiece of crystal and cloud, was now a slaughterhouse. Millions of high-grade Narasytes descended like a black curtain. The "Devine Angels"—the golden-winged guardians of the realm—met them in mid-air, but the swarm was endless.
"By the ancient laws of balance!" Mother Nature screamed, her eyes glowing a feral emerald. Giant vines of celestial wood erupted from the floating islands, crushing swaths of demons in a single squeeze. "You shall not taint my garden with your filth!"
Knowledge stood beside her, his clockwork staff spinning so fast it hummed. "Thou art but a plague upon the tapestry of time!" he cried in his booming tone. "Back to the void, ye wretched shadows!" He snapped his fingers, and gears of pure light appeared in the sky, grinding thousands of Narasytes into stardust.
The swarm parted as a titanic pressure descended. A demon clad in jagged, obsidian armor landed on the central palace roof, cracking the foundations. He had four wings made of flickering violet fire and a face that was nothing but a void with a single, massive Red Gem embedded in his forehead.
"Struggle all you wish," the demon rasped, his voice sounding like grinding metal. "I am Malphas, the Heaven Destroyer No. 9. I am the ninth finger of the Great Lord Kuro. Today, I pluck the feathers from this golden cage."
"Ninth?" Kanetaro growled, stepping forward. His new midnight-blue armor sparked with black and white lightning. "If you're only number nine, then your boss has a serious lack of talent. Let's see if you're as tough as your ego."
"Move aside, you peasant," Kaito barked, his Sun God aura flaring. "I shall burn this shadow from existence!"
"Hold your horses, boys," Daniel drawled, leveling his twin pistols, his golden claw dripping with glowing lunar poison. "Let's see if this 'Destroyer' can bleed."
Daniel fired first. His lunar bullets streaked like shooting stars, hitting Malphas's armor with the force of small meteors. Malphas didn't even flinch. He swung a massive void-blade, sending a wave of purple fire toward them.
Kanetaro moved with his unimaginable strength, leaping into the air and slicing through the fire with his Sky-Katana. "Kaito! Now!"
Kaito roared, thrusting his spear. A beam of concentrated solar heat blasted from the tip. Malphas raised a hand, catching the beam in his palm and crushing it like glass. "Is this the power of the New Gods? It tastes like disappointment."
The fight dragged on for what felt like hours. The palace was reduced to rubble. Daniel lay nearby, his golden claw cracked and his energy spent after trying to corrode the demon's hide.
"He's too fast," Kaito panted, his spear shaking. "Every time I strike, he has already moved."
"Because you're fighting for your ego," Kanetaro spat, wiping blood from his lip. "I'm fighting because I don't want to see this place burn. Follow my lead, 'Your Majesty.' Just this once."
Kaito gritted his teeth, but he nodded.
Kanetaro sprinted, his speed turning him into a blur of light and shadow. He leaped at Malphas, clashing blades to keep the demon's attention. "Now!"
Kaito didn't thrust his spear; he threw it. The spear became a lance of pure sun, pinning Malphas's shadow to the ground for a split second. It was all the opening Kanetaro needed. He leaped onto the demon's shoulders, gripped the obsidian horns, and drove the hilt of his katana directly into the Red Gem on Malphas's forehead.
CRACK.
Malphas screamed, a sound that tore through the sky. The gem shattered, and his dark aura began to leak out. "You... insects..."
He fell to one knee, but a terrifying grin spread across his void-face. He reached for a string of black beads tied to his wrist. "A gift... from a friend," he wheezed. "The Bullet Beads technique."
He crushed the beads. Instantly, the millions of Narasytes still in the sky stopped fighting. They turned into liquid shadows and flew toward Malphas, fusing with his body. He grew larger, more grotesque—a mountain of writhing limbs and jagged teeth.
Kanetaro, Kaito, and Daniel were thrown back by the shockwave. They lay in the ruins, their armor shattered, watching the mountain-sized horror rise.
Suddenly, a streak of emerald light cut through the purple sky. Riya landed in the center of the wreckage, her Urmi glowing with the power of the Nature Spark. She saw Kanetaro bleeding and her eyes flared with fury.
"You boys always leave the mess for me to clean up," she said, her voice echoing with the power of Mother Nature.
"Riya!" Kanetaro coughed. "Watch out... he's a whole army now."
"Then we wll fight him like one", she replied.
Riya used her Urmi to lash around the fused demon's legs, the Nature Spark's vines erupting from the ground to anchor him.
"Daniel! The joints!" she commanded.
Daniel, using the last of his strength, fired a poison-coated bullet into the demon's knee, weakening the fusion.
"Kaito! The heart!"
Kaito channeled his remaining solar energy into a final, desperate burst of fire that melted the demon's chest armor.
"Kanetaro! FINISH IT!"
Kanetaro stood up. He didn't use a quip. He didn't act like a reluctant hero. He gathered the power of the entire sky—the blinding light of the stars and the crushing weight of the dark void. He flew like a lightning bolt, passing through the demon's chest at the exact point Kaito had melted.
An explosion of white and green light consumed the horizon. When it cleared, the swarm was gone. Malphas was dust.
The four new gods stood amidst the ruins of the Sky Realm, gasping for air. But the victory felt hollow.
Knowledge looked toward the tear in reality, which hadn't closed. Instead, it was growing. "This was but the ninth," Knowledge whispered, his voice trembling. "Eight more remain... and Kuro himself hath not yet turned his gaze upon us."
Far below, in the darkness of the void, eight pairs of glowing eyes opened.