A deep, distorted sound escaped its throat, almost like laughter.
"This thing…" Thar muttered, tightening his fists.
"…it's learning."
The monster lunged.
Zephio reacted instantly, summoning massive streams of water that wrapped around its arms and wings, binding them tightly.
"Vipul—NOW!"
Lightning tore through the night, surging through the water restraints. The impact blasted the monster backward, ripping chunks from the ground beneath it.
But instead of falling—
It adapted.
The monster roared, flexing its muscles, evaporating the water in a burst of heat and force. Zephio was thrown aside, crashing hard.
Vipul staggered.
"What the hell is this thing made of?!"
Noa stepped forward.
"Everyone—listen to me!" he shouted. "It's not just attacking blindly. It's reacting to us. Predicting."
The monster charged straight at Lunnaux.
Noa vanished.
He reappeared in front of her, taking the blow head-on. His body skidded across the ground, bones cracking—then regenerating instantly.
"NOA!" Lunnaux screamed.
He stood back up.
"Focus," he said calmly. "I can take its attention."
Thar's eyes widened.
"Noa, don't you dare—"
Too late.
Noa vs The Monster
Noa rushed the monster alone.
Every punch he threw carried precision—not rage. He targeted joints, wings, balance points. The monster tried to counter—but Noa was already gone, striking again from another angle.
For the first time—
The monster was being pushed back.
"It's working!" Nagumo shouted.
"NOW!" Noa yelled. "ALL OF YOU—ATTACK!"
Ice spears pinned the monster's legs.
Thunder crushed its torso.
Water blades sliced into its wings.
Metal punches punches from Thar made monster's bones break.
Nagumo and Gusvein charged, blades flashing. They struck its legs, forcing it to kneel. Drago joined them, unleashing everything he had left.
For a moment—
Hope appeared.
Then the monster laughed.
It released a pulse of raw force.
Nagumo was thrown aside. Gusvein crashed into rubble. Drago stayed standing—barely.
"Get up!" Drago shouted. "GET UP!"
Bruto roared and charged recklessly, stabbing deep into the creature's side.
"For Elysium!"
The monster grabbed him.
"No—!" Noa shouted.
Bruto was slammed into the ground with crushing force.
He didn't get back up.
Rage Unleashed
Noa's eyes burned.
He didn't speak.
He moved.
In an instant, he was on the monster—strike after strike, faster than anyone could follow. Each blow shook the earth. Thar joined him, delivering devastating hits to the creature's spine and wings.
The Monster got stronger the more hits it took.
It Slammed Thar into the ground and kicked Noa away.
Drago dragged himself forward, bloodied but defiant.
"This ends now!"
He leapt, driving his weapon straight into the monster's chest.
The creature roared—and impaled Drago with a massive claw.
Drago smiled faintly as he fell.
"Worth it…"
His body hit the ground.
Silence followed.
All the soldiers attacked monsters with there swords.
Piercing through the monster flesh,
But one flame attack from it was enough
To defeat all the soldiers.
The monster defeated all the Soldiers.
Smoke drifted over broken stone and shattered weapons. The ground was carved with impact marks, scorched black, flooded, frozen, cracked apart.
Lunnaux struggled to her knees, blood running down her face. Zephio lay half-buried in rubble, gasping. Vipul's lightning flickered weakly around trembling hands. Nagumo tried to stand but failed. Gusvein didn't move. Thar was conscious, barely, his armor crushed inward.
And Noa—
Noa stood alone.
The monster straightened to its full height, wounds closing, muscles twisting and reshaping. It looked down at him.
A deep, distorted sound crawled out of its throat.
Laughter.
"You don't learn," it growled, voice layered and wrong.
"You break."
Noa exhaled slowly.
"Maybe," he said.
"But not today."
He charged one last time.
No technique. No restraint. Just will.
He slammed into the monster, driving it back step by step, every hit detonating against its body. The ground split beneath them.
Thar forced himself to shout.
"NOA—STOP!"
Too late.
The monster adapted again.
Its arm hardened mid-swing.
The blow landed.
Noa's body was launched across the field, smashing through stone and coming to rest in a crater.
He didn't move.
Lunnaux screamed his name.
The monster approached, looming over him.
One claw rose.
And fell.
The earth shook.
When the dust settled—
Noa lay still.
His chest did not rise.
Silence swallowed the battlefield.
Nagumo whispered, broken.
"…Noa?"
The monster turned away.
It threw its head back and roared, a sound that split the sky, a declaration of victory that echoed for miles.
Elysium had fallen.
—
Crack.
A sound—quiet, wrong.
Thar's eyes snapped open.
"…No."
From the crater—
Stone shifted.
A hand pressed into the ground.
Slowly…
unnaturally…
Noa stood.
His body was battered, armor shattered, blood running freely—but he stood.
His left eye ignited.
Not glowing.
Burning.
A deep, violent crimson red, marked by three lines etched in light—
one straight line,
two vertical lines,
cutting through the glow like scars that refused to heal.
The air around him warped.
Something wrapped around his body—not metal, not magic, but pure rage given form. A dark, oppressive presence clung to him like armor, cracked and jagged, pulsing with every heartbeat.His muscles were changing, hair becoming white, face structure changing. It was not Noa's soul inside the body anymore.
It was someone else.
He tilted his head slightly.
The monster froze.
For the first time—
It hesitated.
Noa's voice came out low. Hollow.
Not angry.
Empty.
"…You learned wrong."
He took a step forward.
The ground shattered beneath his foot.
Another step.
Every instinct screamed danger.
Thar forced a broken smile through blood.
"…That's not Noa anymore."
The monster roared again—this time not in triumph.
In fear.
Noa clenched his fist.
The battlefield trembled.
And the fight—
was not over.