Rome trembled that night.
Inside the museum hall, steel and sorcery collided in violent bursts. Maximilian surged forward like a storm, his blade burning with fractured energy.
The Hunter did not move, as if observing collapse itself.
Their weapons met—an explosion of force threw both men back, cracking marble and shaking ancient columns.
The Hunter smirked: "Is this all you have?"
Maximilian stood unshaken, his arcane armor absorbing every impact.
"I haven't begun."
They vanished into a blur of clashes.
Elsewhere…
Violet had become a crimson vortex.
She moved between enemies so fast she no longer appeared human. She wasn't cutting bodies—she was severing the black threads binding them.
Every thread cut meant a body collapsing with no return.
One screamed: "What are you—?"
He never finished.
She appeared behind him and touched him.
His body collapsed inward into silence.
The vortex continued until nothing remained.
She stood still, crimson eyes turning toward the distant fight.
"Finish him… I've done my part."
Back at the duel.
Maximilian struck with precision, forcing the Hunter down. In an instant, he stood over him, blade at his throat.
"It's over."
The Hunter laughed slowly.
"Is it?"
His helmet cracked.
A familiar face emerged.
Maximilian froze.
"…John Lee?"
John smiled faintly, eyes filled with deep resentment.
"Do you know what I realized, Maximilian?"
Silence.
"You stood above us… without ever noticing what burned below."
Maximilian pressed harder: "You betrayed everything for revenge?"
John's voice was cold: "This is not revenge… this is balance."
He leaned closer: "You lived in luxury… while I rotted in darkness."
Maximilian's tone sharpened: "That does not justify this."
John's smile faded: "I no longer separate the innocent from the silent."
He pressed a button in his chest.
Beep… Beep…
A red countdown appeared:
00:10:00
"Ten minutes," John whispered, "until this body detonates."
Maximilian's eyes narrowed: "What did you do?"
John's voice turned venomous: "Your family is at the celebration… inside the same countdown."
"They will die with you."
Then his body went still.
He died.
But the timer continued.
00:09:09
Violet arrived: "Max—!"
He looked at her, completely calm.
"Leave."
"I won't!"
"If you stay… everyone dies."
She froze.
She understood.
This was no battle.
It was choice.
"Don't die."
A faint smile: "I never planned to."
She vanished.
Alone.
Maximilian stared at the countdown.
00:07:48
He exhaled.
"Then let's end this."
He activated his armor.
His body ignited in white light mixed with gold, beyond human design.
Wings of radiant energy unfolded.
Then—
He launched upward.
Through the museum roof.
Above Rome… above clouds… above sound.
Time bent around him.
The world folded.
00:02:08
New York appeared below.
Lights.
A celebration.
His family.
He closed his eyes.
"Not today."
He rose higher.
Beyond everything.
00:00:05
Silence.
00:00:01
A faint smile.
Explosion.
A massive white-gold light bloomed in the sky, like a sun born for a single moment before collapsing into nothing.
A delayed shockwave echoed across the heavens.
But—
Nothing fell.
Nothing reached the ground.
Only silence remained.