As they stood opposite one another, the fate of those who would live and those who would be consumed by the Unknown hung in the balance. Crooked laughter escaped Beebah's monstrous form. Its skin wrinkled and sagged, its eyes hollowing like those of a corpse. Maggots writhed through the decaying flesh, crawling in and out of its face as it stared at Michael with a grin that seemed to belong to something neither living nor dead. "Michael. Look at me, Michael. Aren't I disgusting?" Its voice twisted into a hateful sneer. "Michael, Michael, you scum. WE PROMISED YOUR FATHER WE WOULD MAKE HIM AND WHATEVER REMAINS OF HIM SUFFER! And now, we finally have the perfect opportunity to take our revenge!" "QUATRE!" "TROI!" The twins shouted simultaneously into the sky.
"COMBINE!" Light erupted from their bodies, brilliant enough to resemble the radiance of creation itself. Their fusion was seamless, a magnificent silhouette of concentrated energy that burned like a miniature sun. They had already survived the collision of their power with Elizabeth's gravity, an impact that had bent the very laws of the earth, and now they stood ready to fight again. Their voices merged into one, reverberating across the battlefield. "MICHAEL, SON OF THE FALLEN! YOUR FATHER TOOK EVERYTHING FROM US, SO NOW WE WILL TAKE EVERYTHING FROM YOU! DID YOU REALLY THINK WE CHASED ELIZABETH INTO A CORNER BECAUSE WE WANTED TO RAPE HER? IF THAT WERE ALL WE WANTED, WE COULD HAVE DONE IT TO ANYONE! SHE ISN'T THE ONLY GIRL IN THE WORLD, BUT SHE IS THE ONLY ONE YOU CARE ABOUT! THAT IS WHY WE CHOSE HER! WE TOUCHED HER, HER THIGHS, HER SKIN! SHE CRIED AND SUFFERED, AND THEN THAT BITCH, FIGHTING ALONGSIDE THAT BEAST, KILLED MY BROTHER! MAY THEIR STUPID SOULS REST IN FUCKING PEACE! AND MAY YOU REST IN PIECES AS WE FINISH WHAT WE STARTED!"
Michael said nothing. He remained calm, refusing to indulge their pathetic attempt to provoke him. Their words meant nothing. His energy had been replenished, and that was all that mattered. Vincent was his best chance of winning this fight, and Michael knew it. He turned his eyes toward him. Vincent met his gaze, his paintbrush already poised between his fingers. Neither needed to say another word. "GO." The ground erupted.
"OH, MICHAEL!" Beebah shrieked as enormous branches burst from the earth, twisting in every direction like living serpents. Michael moved without hesitation, and neither did Vincent. With a sharp twist of his brush, Vincent began to draw, his eyes blazing blue with absolute concentration. After coming so close to death, he understood one thing perfectly: holding back, even for an instant, meant dying. A massive flamethrower materialised in his arms. He leapt backward, unleashing a torrent of fire against the advancing branches. But to his surprise, the flames did nothing. The plants were ordinary. They did not burn, and the branches tore through the fire before reaching him.
Vincent instantly dismissed the flamethrower and constructed a shield with his brush. He blocked the attack from the front, but who would protect his back? Beebah smiled to itself. One down already. Oh?CLASH! Michael's fist smashed through the branches behind Vincent, reducing them to splinters and dust. "I've got your back, and you've got mine! Now make me some swords!" Vincent nodded. They were in sync. Michael flooded the battlefield with his energy, distributing it evenly as he prepared for both close combat and ranged attacks. Vincent's brush flew across the air, sketching shapes to his left, right, and directly ahead. Sweat streamed down his face as he worked at full speed.
One by one, he created the swords and hurled them toward Michael, who leapt into the air to catch them. But the twins were not idle. Behind the battle, their fused form gathered an immense sphere of pure energy, its radiance intensifying until it resembled a miniature nuclear sun.
Michael barely had time to react before a branch shot from the ground, wrapped around his leg, and hurled him straight into the river where Elizabeth had been recovering. "BURN THAT ANT!" Beebah screamed. The twins' veins bulged as their radiant silhouette blazed brighter. With a deafening roar, they unleashed the enormous sphere, sending it hurtling toward the river at terrifying speed. Yet Michael did not panic.
He tightened his grip on the sword and murmured to himself, "If I can transfer energy into a living being, then anything made from energy should be able to receive it too. These swords are made from Vincent's energy, so..." He drew a deep breath. The incoming sphere descended toward him, its sheer size making him look like an ant standing before a skyscraper. "ENERGY TRANSFER." Every remaining fragment of his energy surged into the sword. Its blade expanded, growing longer and longer as Michael's muscles bulged under the strain. His body was becoming empty.
He was attempting to transfer the energy that sustained him, the very essence that functioned like a soul, into an external object. The process threatened to leave him with nothing. But Michael was an anomaly. His body had been trained for years to function without a single atom of Emo. Even as his strength drained away, his physical conditioning remained. With no energy left to rely on, he swung the gigantic sword using nothing but his own physical strength. The blade, now nine times his size, collided with the descending sphere. BOOOOOOM! The river turned to steam in an instant.
The earth beneath the beast scorched black, and the creature curled around Elizabeth's unconscious body, shielding her from the scorching heat. Beebah watched through the billowing steam and smiled. "Good work, twins. Now, Michael, my little follower... what will you do?"
Vincent, however, was unfazed. "And who said I was weak?" Titanium formed around his body at the atomic level, encasing him in armour from head to toe. The branches slammed into him, but not even a dent appeared. He stared down Beebah and the fused twins. "This is only the beginning." He charged forward, jetpack boosters igniting from his back as his brush flew through the air. He drew while moving at incredible speed, creating additional thrusters that propelled him forward in rapid bursts. It was the same kind of construction he had used against the three-headed snake, only this time he had no intention of retreating. Within seconds, he was centimetres from Beebah.
A knife materialised in his hand. He slashed across the creature's neck, then propelled himself behind it as a powerful gust tore through the battlefield, clearing the steam above the river. Vincent stood behind Beebah, holding its severed head in one hand. "All talk, aren't you?" But the head smiled. "All talk? Let me ask you something, Vincent. HOW DO YOU KILL WHAT IS ALREADY DEAD?" Vincent immediately launched himself backward, doubling the force of his boosters. The acceleration cracked his bones, but he escaped just as the severed head began to grow into a second body. Now there were two Beebahs. "You see, every victim I consume gives me more than their flesh. I consume their abilities, too. For a short time, I can use every power belonging to those I have devoured. And that short time is more than enough to end you, Vincent." Its grin widened as it turned toward the fused twins. "You two, sit this one out. I want a fair game." The twins were no longer smiling. Their attention had shifted toward the river, where a charred figure stood amid the rising smoke. Michael. His body was burned black, his clothes and every strand of hair gone, yet he remained standing. His eyes glowed like the Red Sea itself, fixed on Beebah with an expression that revealed neither fear nor pain. "Honestly," he said, his voice calm despite the destruction around him, "I might actually have to go all out." The blackened figure smiled. "So do I." His eyes burned brighter.
"FULL RELEASE." Vincent grinned as he prepared to charge again. "You unkillable cockroach." Far above the battlefield, a god soared through the sky, a girl held firmly in his right hand. He stopped mid-flight, his gaze turning toward the distant explosion of energy. "THAT ENERGY..." His expression changed. "MICHAEL. I'VE FOUND YOU." The beast's fur stood on end. Slowly, both heads turned toward the distant sky. "No..."