A hole in his chest, blood bubbling in his dislocated jaw. Michael lay motionless in the rubble of shattered timber.
The blue-skinned demon towered above him, a look of mild disgust crossing her features as she turned her back, walking away. "Maybe I was mistaken," she muttered. "No... there's only one man with that exact energy signature."
Her thought was cut short.
From the dirt, the boy she had just confirmed dead began to murmur. Michael bubbled over with a cold, suffocating fury—not born of fear, but of absolute misanthropic spite. I want to die. I want to leave this wretched world. But I must take all of you with me first.
"...Release," he screamed.
The word forced its way out through his broken jaw, distorted and grotesque. Instantly, his inner core ignited, flaring blindingly bright. His blood rushed like a supercharged engine, his cellular structure healing at an incomprehensible speed as his jaw snapped violently back into place. The gaping hole in his chest vanished in a heartbeat, leaving only a scorched tear in his ruined uniform.
Michael stood up slowly. With cold detachment, he brushed the dirt and wood fragments from his shoulders.
"So, demon, or whatever disgusting label you wear," Michael said, his voice level and chillingly calm, "would you like to explain who this man that wiped your kind off the earth is? Or am I going to have to do the same to you?"
The demon paused, glancing back with an amused smirk. "Human, I understand your energy has spiked, but a minor surge won't suddenly make you unstoppable. Looking at your core—your EMO levels—they have significantly increased, but they are still far below mine. Worse, from the frequency you're showing, you can't maintain this state for more than a few minutes. And when it burns out... I'll kill you again."
Michael's face remained entirely blank, but inside, his tactical mind raced. She can read my core, she knows I'm on borrowed time, and she recognizes my power level is inferior. If I try to overpower her head-on, I'll burn out and die. I have to approach this with absolute, calculated precision.
He had spent the last two days studying this newly awakened power. He had discovered how to manipulate the energy to rapidly regenerate his tissue and reinforce his physical frame without completely losing his mind to the feral dark entity. He only had a narrow window of control before the beast within would tear its way out, but Michael believed that was all the time he needed.
Channeling every drop of energy into his calves, he launched himself forward with devastating force, moving like a speeding bullet.
The demon sighed. "Well... I suppose I can play for a little longer."
With a casual flick, she mirrored his movement, launching herself forward with effortless superiority. She smashed directly into Michael's body mid-air. A sickening chorus of bone-snapping cracks echoed through the timber as Michael's body folded into an unnatural, mangled position, coughing up a violent spray of blood as he crashed back into the dirt.
The demon hovered over his miserable, twitching state. "Stop trying to fight an unavoidable death. I wasn't mistaken—you carry his exact energy signature. But you are either painfully weaker, or you simply don't know how to truly utilize your EMO."
Michael's head rang with blinding static, but he forced his cells to regenerate, ignoring her taunts entirely. She wasn't taking him seriously; she was talking down to him, treating him like an insect. And of all the things Michael despised, being looked down upon was absolute blasphemy to his ego.
As he scanned his surroundings—his meticulously built campfire, the scattered dry logs, and the mud-slicked earth—an unhinged, brilliant tactical scheme formed in his mind.
He flooded his legs with energy, turning his lower body into a spring.
"Hey, demon," Michael called out, his voice sharp. "Have you ever heard of a rocket?"
She ignored his remark, stepping forward to finish him.
Standing right beside the roaring campfire, Michael channeled raw energy into his legs and rocketed a hundred feet straight up into the canopy. At the apex of his jump, with cold, calculated insanity, he ripped his own right hand off at the wrist, caught it with his left hand beneath his legs, and used the recoil to bounce off his own detached limb with full kinetic force, firing himself downward straight toward the campfire like a living missile.
The demon blinked, raising an eyebrow. "Oh? Have you finally decided to commit suicide?"
Michael smiled through blood-stained teeth. "Suicide? I call it man's ignition."
As he crashed toward the hearth, he grabbed every single pouch of black powder from his survival pack, smashing them directly into the burning logs.
BOOM.
A cataclysmic, blinding explosion tore through the camp, sending a wall of superheated fire and shrapnel outward. The demon instinctively threw her arms up to take cover.
That was the exact window Michael needed.
Pumping his energy into all four limbs, he scrambled across the burning earth like a rabid beast, forcing his body to stitch itself together through the roaring flames. He leaped straight toward the distracted demon, gripping a jagged tactical knife in his teeth. Mid-air, he crushed the blade with his bare hands using pure EMO energy, shattering it into a cloud of razor-sharp steel dust.
Colliding with the demon—who was momentarily stunned and singed by the blast—Michael locked his arms around her, clamping his own neck with raw energy to create a pressurized air-lock in his throat. With a guttural roar, he blew the metallic dust shards outward from his mouth, driving them past the sound barrier.
Every single shard carried a concentrated surge of his burning energy. They slammed into the demon at supersonic speeds, searing her blue skin on impact.
She shrieked—not entirely from pain, but in sudden, twisted delight.
"Not bad!" she laughed, blue blood bubbling across her skin as the scorch marks instantly healed away before his eyes, leaving her completely unblemished. "So your power isn't your physical strength... it's your terrifying brain."
Michael hung suspended in front of her, visibly drenched in sweat, his chest heaving, his energy reserves flashing red. He watched in horror as his best trap failed to leave a single lasting scratch.
The demon smiled coldly, raising her hand. "Okay. Time to die for real."
Michael didn't hesitate for a microsecond. He let go of every mental barrier, every shred of caution, and every restraint holding back the abyss.
He looked her dead in the eyes, and whispered the forbidden word:
"...Full release."