The same hospital corridor reappeared — lights flickering, the faint sound of heart monitors echoing through the silent hall. Then came the knocking.
Soft at first. Then harder. Louder.
Each pound against the door sounded like a countdown to something inevitable.
> THUD. THUD. THUD.
The final slam shattered the lock. The door burst open as a squad of soldiers stormed in, rifles raised. Their laser sights cut through the darkness, landing on Aki, Megumi, Yuta, Yuki, and Jing.
"Hands up!" one of them shouted. "Don't move!"
But before the command could finish, Yuta raised his arm, eyes blazing red. With a snap of his fingers, flame bullets erupted from his hand, slicing through the air like molten meteors. The soldiers didn't even have time to scream before collapsing in a flash of heat.
"Go! Move!" Jing shouted. Her eyes glowed light blue as a whirlwind burst around them. The group was lifted and carried out of the window — landing on the rooftop of a nearby tower.
The night air was freezing, the wind cutting across their faces. Smoke from the hospital drifted up into the stars.
Jing: "It's weirdly quiet here… something's off."
Megumi: "Really… look there!"
She pointed toward the street below. "Those vehicles… they're from Project Arean."
Yuta: squinting, "Something's lighting up… in the distance."
A bright orange glow pulsed across the horizon. "It's… it's a whole facility."
The camera pans toward a vast complex lit like a city of its own. Dozens of trucks rolled out, headlights glaring through the mist. Hybrid creatures followed — shadows with twisted bodies and metallic limbs, crawling out into the streets of Hong Kong.
Aki: "Expected. They're after us."
His tone was calm, but his eyes told another story — one that understood the storm about to begin.
---
Meanwhile, far away at the Arean HQ, alarms screamed. Red lights flooded the command room where Ai, Asuka, Fuji, and Anna stood around the central monitor.
> "PROJECT AREAN IS PREPARING FOR A MASS ATTACK ON HONG KONG!"
The announcement echoed through every speaker.
Ai: "W–Wait, isn't that where brother and the others are!?"
Fuji: slamming his hand on the table, "We need to move — now!"
Asuka: "FAST! You three, go there! I'll coordinate from HQ!"
The three nodded in unison. Asuka knelt, pressing her palm to the floor. Magic lines spread outward, glowing in circles beneath their feet.
In a blinding flash — they vanished.
Asuka stood up, breathing heavily, and slammed her fist onto the emergency panel. "All units, mobilize! Hong Kong is under full assault!"
---
Back on the tower, Yuta stepped up to the edge. "Guess there's no turning back."
He jumped. The wind howled, his coat flapping wildly as fire engulfed his hands. Midair, he cracked his whip — a serpent of flames coiling and snapping.
Megumi followed next, stepping down as crystal stairs formed beneath her boots. Each step shimmered in moonlight, reflecting the chaos below. Jing and Yuki descended after them.
Then came the scream of missiles. Dozens, maybe hundreds, streaking through the night.
At the tower's peak, Aki stood motionless. He raised his arms — the wind ruffling his hair, eyes glowing faintly.
He inhaled deeply. The world seemed to hold its breath with him.
> Aki: "Three…"
"Two…"
"One…"
"Bom."
The word dropped like a divine decree.
A blinding white explosion consumed the skyline. The hospital, the streets, even the vehicles below — vaporized. A massive crater opened in the middle of Hong Kong, glowing like a newborn sun. Flames roared upward, devouring everything in their path.
On the ground, the team pushed through the storm.
Megumi's crystal tendrils pierced through hybrids like spears of light.
Jing sliced through enemies with her wind blades, the gusts so sharp they left afterimages.
Yuta swung his flame sword, each swing a burning arc that cut through soldiers and machines alike.
Yuki kneeled over the wounded, healing them with glowing orbs of water, her face streaked with soot and tears.
Then — it appeared.
A low hum filled the air. The ground trembled. From every corner of the city, black smoke began to rise — thick, shapeless, alive. The moment it touched anything, it turned to ash.
Yuki: "No… no, no, no! The civilians!"
She rushed to a group still trapped behind debris, dragging them out. One child slipped from her grasp and fell back toward the smoke.
"NO!" she screamed, sprinting toward him — but the darkness lunged first.
In a flash, Aki appeared, grabbing both Yuki and the child. They tumbled away as the smoke swallowed the ground where they had just stood.
Yuki: panting, "T–Thank you…"
Aki stood up slowly, eyes fixed on the growing clouds of darkness spreading across the city.
"How… is this possible? They should only appear at sunset…" He clenched his fists. "Is this… the end?"
A faint voice crackled in his earpiece.
Fuji: "Aki… look behind you. Arashiro."
Aki turned.
And his breath caught.
Behind him stood an army — hundreds of elemental soldiers, glowing like constellations in human form. Fire, water, lightning, and crystal illuminated the smoke-choked sky. The ground trembled beneath their combined aura.
Asuka's voice echoed through every earpiece:
> "All units… let's do it."
The battlefield ignited.
Explosions thundered through the streets as elemental blasts collided with missiles. Firestorms met ice walls, lightning split the sky, and wind howls mixed with screams. Healers scrambled between bodies, restoring, reviving — until they, too, were consumed by exhaustion.
But the black smoke… it didn't stop. It multiplied. Expanded. Swallowed.
Yuta's flames flickered weakly. Megumi's crystals shattered before reforming. Jing's wind slowed. Yuki's healing spells dimmed.
And then Aki saw her — a little girl, standing alone in the chaos. She reached out for her mother, but before anyone could react, the smoke consumed her.
Something inside Aki snapped.
A bullet struck his shoulder — an anti-element round, designed to nullify power. But the wound healed instantly.
His breathing deepened. His aura shifted — from human to something terrifyingly divine.
Aki: "Elemental Realm… Eternal Darkness."
The sky itself tore apart.
A wave of pure black energy exploded outward, swallowing every sound, every light, every scream. The world turned pitch-dark. Inside the realm, time stopped — and only Aki's voice remained.
> "Erase."
It echoed once.
Then again.
> "Erase."
"Erase."
"Erase."
Twenty times. Each word shook the realm, sending waves of white light that disintegrated everything they touched. Buildings, soldiers, hybrids — erased from existence.
The radius expanded — 500 meters. A kilometer. Two.
The city itself trembled under the sheer weight of his power.
No one could open a realm this large. No one could attack this hard without dying.
But Aki had done both. He had broken through every limit, every rule, every boundary.
When the darkness finally receded, silence fell. The city that once stood proud was now gone — replaced by endless craters and faint glowing embers.
Aki collapsed to his knees, barely breathing. Megumi caught him before he hit the ground.
Aki: groaning, "Did we… defeat them?"
Megumi: weakly smiling, "Defeat? You practically erased them… pun intended."
Despite everything, they both laughed — just a small, tired laugh that echoed against the ruins.
The camera slowly pans upward. Hong Kong lay in ruins — charred, broken, and silent. Dozens of massive craters carved through the land, some so deep they looked like holes into the void itself.
The wind whispered through the destruction. The flames dimmed.
And somewhere far away, unseen, something watched.