Part 1: Desperate Defense
In the vacant lot outside the factory, Kaito and Mei were reeling under the weight of Zero's devastating steel-fisted assaults. With a mere stomp of his foot, Zero sent violent shockwaves through the earth, leaving Mei's steel spear on the verge of snapping in two.
"What's the matter? You were acting so tough just a moment ago!" Zero mocked, raising his arm to deliver a crushing blow to Mei.
On the other side of the battlefield, Ren's speed had reached its peak. Her claws moved like a blur, shredding Ayano's combat suit. Though Ayano was desperately deploying portals to reposition, Ren's demonic senses allowed her to sense the exit points before they even fully formed.
Kaori, despite the wound on her shoulder, slowly forced herself to stand. She closed her eyes, reaching deep into her soul to pull forth the Phoenix energy, fusing it with her own lightning element.
"That's enough... Ren, your game ends here."
When Kaori's eyes snapped open, her right eye had transformed into a brilliant, glowing Violet. Strands of her hair began to shimmer with a reddish-purple light, synchronized with the pulsing glow of her eye. This was the Violet Gauge Eye.
In Kaori's vision, everything within a 300-meter radius slowed to a crawl. She could perceive every detail—Ren's twitching muscles, the subtle shifts in Zero's weight. Within five seconds, her brain had already calculated a strategy to dismantle both enemies at once.
"Ayano! Open a portal twenty meters to your right, now!"
Red lightning erupted from Kaori's body. She transformed into a streak of crimson bolts, lunging toward Ren. Ren gasped, trying to mount a defense, but the foresight of the Violet Gauge allowed Kaori's blade to find the one path Ren couldn't dodge.
"Impossible... how are you matching my speed?" Ren hissed.
"Counter!" Kaori whispered.
With a swift, calculated strike, Kaori kicked Ren directly into the portal. Ren was spat out of the exit point right behind Zero. The two villains collided, their momentum shattered as they tumbled across the dirt.
The disorientation didn't last long. Ren used her demonic limbs to spring back onto her feet, her eyes turning a deeper shade of crimson from pure rage. Bone spikes began to protrude from her spine, growing longer and sharper by the second.
"I won't leave a single one of you alive!" she shrieked.
With a violent shudder of her body, she unleashed hundreds of razor-sharp bone needles. They rained down upon Kaori's group like a lethal storm.
Kaori's Violet Gauge traced the trajectory of every single needle. "Don't move!" she commanded.
She swung her short sword with lightning speed. The red electricity radiating from her form expanded into a defensive wall, disintegrating the incoming spikes into dust before they could touch her allies. However, the sheer volume of the attack forced Kaori to push her concentration to its absolute limit.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Zero charged forward like a juggernaut. Each of his massive footsteps cracked the pavement, emitting waves of intense pressure.
"Get out of my way!" Zero bellowed, swinging a massive fist directly at Kaori. The blow carried enough force to level a mountain. Knowing she couldn't block it head-on, Kaori flickered to the side in a flash of red light.
"Kaito! Now!"
Following Kaori's lead, Kaito slammed his fan against the ground. "Gale Trap: Vacuum Wall!"
A sudden vacuum pocket formed beneath Zero's feet, causing the giant to lose his footing and stumble forward. Seizing the opening, Mei reinforced her broken spear tip with her steel ability, making it sharper than a diamond, and lunged at Zero's weak point—his armpit.
But Zero's steel skin was far more resilient than they imagined. Instead of piercing the flesh, Mei's spear-point struck with a shower of sparks and recoiled violently.
"Useless!" Zero roared, backhanding Mei with his massive forearm. She was sent flying across the ground, struggling to catch her breath as she skidded to a halt.
Meanwhile, Ren exploited her speed to reappear behind Ayano once more. "Your portals can't stop me!"
As Ren's claws prepared to tear through Ayano's back, Kaori intervened as a streak of crimson lightning. The clash of Kaori's blade against Ren's claws sent sparks flying, the screech of metal on bone echoing through the air.
Through her Violet Gauge, Kaori could already see Ren's next three moves before they even happened...
She leaned her body slightly forward, delivering a sharp counter-punch fueled by raw electrical energy directly into Ren's abdomen. Ren groaned as she was forced back, but her demonic physique began knitting the wound together almost instantly. It felt like an endless, grueling cycle of violence.
The air grew parched and searing as Stella Flow energy repeatedly detonated across the battlefield. Ayano, gathering her focus, manifested a massive portal directly above Zero, raining down colossal boulders from the sky. However, Zero simply pulverized the falling rocks with his bare fists, shattering them into dust. Both enemies, enhanced by the Shadow Core Serum, possessed endurance and strength that defied human limitations.
Kaori fought to keep her breathing steady, though the beads of sweat on her forehead betrayed the mounting tension.
"They're far stronger than usual," Kaori noted, signaling her team. "We have to coordinate and strike simultaneously." Using the power of her Violet Gauge Eye, she began to pinpoint the subtle flaws in the enemies' patterns.
Unwilling to yield, Ren exhaled a thick, black toxic mist from her body. The miasma instantly withered the surrounding trees and veiled their vision in darkness. Within the gloom, Ren's chilling laughter echoed from every direction, mocking their efforts.
Amidst this desperate struggle, the old factory suddenly shuddered. A monstrous surge of heat and aura erupted from deep within the building. The pressure was so immense that it swept away Ren's toxic mist and forced even the juggernaut Zero to stagger back. Everyone froze, their eyes drawn to the factory. It was the awakening of Takuto, having reached Step 3: Aura Flare.
Part 2: The Perfect Synchronization
The air vibrated with the sheer intensity of Takuto's aura emanating from the factory. Feeling the surge of power, Ayano wiped a streak of blood from her cheek with the back of her hand and glanced at Kaori. She tightly bound her long black hair, her voice calm yet filled with resolve.
"Kaori... look. Even Takuto is pushing his limits to save Aoi. We're here to help him, aren't we?" Ayano said. "Let's stop wasting time and clear this trash out of our way!"
Kaori was momentarily stunned, then a meaningful smile crossed her lips. "Ayano... I didn't expect to hear that from you. Fine then... for this moment, let's forget who's better and just focus on Takuto."
Ayano's Purple Eyes glowed brighter than ever, her Stella Flow manifesting as ribbons of violet light. She gave Kaori a sharp nod and swept her hands through the air.
"Amethyst Gate: Double Void!"
Two massive portals tore open simultaneously—one directly in front of Zero and another at Ren's feet. Without hesitation, Ayano dove into the portal toward Ren. Though Ren sensed the movement, Ayano's speed was now on a different level. She launched out of the portal like a projectile, delivering a devastating kick to Ren's chest.
"Agh!" Ren spiraled backward, but Ayano gave her no reprieve. Within seconds, Ayano surrounded Ren with dozens of micro-portals.
"This is my domain! You have nowhere to run!" Ayano blurred through the portals, appearing and disappearing as she hammered Ren with a relentless barrage of strikes from every conceivable angle.
Kaori didn't miss the opening. Her Violet Gauge Eye calculated the exact positions of Ayano's portals and the enemy's flailing movements. Channeling her red lightning into her blade, she streaked through the portal network like a crimson bolt.
Ren was trapped in a nightmare—caught between Ayano's physical onslaught and Kaori's lethal lightning-coated slashes. She swung her claws wildly in defense, but Kaori used her foresight to bypass the guard and strike only at the most vulnerable gaps.
"Now! Kaori!" Ayano shouted.
Ayano descended from a portal above Ren's right side while Kaori lunged from the lower left. Both unleashed their peak power in a final, synchronized strike.
"Double Impact!"
Their combined kicks slammed into Ren's front and back simultaneously. The resulting explosion of Stella Flow sent a shockwave through the clearing. With a sickening crack, Ren's demonic body was sent hurtling through the air, crashing into a stone outcrop with enough force to shatter the rock.
Ren lay gasping, spitting blood. Even her demonic regeneration could not keep up with the catastrophic damage. Kaori and Ayano, breathless, shared a triumphant look. However, the steel titan Zero was still charging toward them, fueled by mindless rage.
Seeing his companion so brutally defeated, Zero let out a primal roar. "You... how dare you do that to my partner!"
He stomped toward them like an unstoppable iron pillar. But he didn't realize that even before the assault on Ren, Kaori's Violet Gauge had already calculated a strategy for Kaito and Mei.
"Just like the plan... Now!" Kaori signaled.
Kaori and Ayano immediately began a pincer maneuver to distract Zero. Kaori pushed her red lightning to the limit, flashing past Zero's face to blur his vision. Simultaneously, Ayano rapidly opened and closed tiny portals beneath his feet, forcing the giant to struggle for balance even as he tried to charge.
"Over here, big guy!" Ayano taunted, punching Zero through one portal and vanishing into another before he could react. Zero swung his fists wildly, but under their high-speed distraction, his defenses began to crumble.
This was the moment Kaito and Mei had been waiting for.
Kaito raised his bamboo fan toward the sky, swirling the atmosphere into a violent, localized tornado. "Gale Force: Vacuum Compression!" He slammed the pressure down onto Zero, the force so great that Zero's massive steel legs began to sink into the earth.
Mei, seizing the chance, gathered every ounce of her steel-element Stella Flow into her palms. She leapt high into the air, using her power to reform her broken spear fragments into a gargantuan steel hammer.
"This is our combined strength!" Mei screamed. "Steel Breaker: Grand Smasher!"
She plummeted from the sky, swinging the massive hammer with everything she had. Trapped by Kaito's pressure and distracted by Kaori and Ayano, Zero took the full force of the blow directly on his head.
BOOM!
The sound of metal clashing against metal rang out like a thunderclap, shaking the entire field and sending clouds of dust billowing into the air. When the dust settled, Zero was on his knees. Cracks had formed across his polished steel skin, and blood was seeping through. For the first time, the Shadow Core-enhanced Zero was severely wounded.
"Im... impossible... my body..." Zero stammered, his voice trembling before he finally collapsed onto the dirt.
Kaori, Ayano, Kaito, and Mei stood panting, looking at one another. Through their perfect synchronization, they had managed to halt two of the Fallen Eclipse's strongest members. But they were all nearing the point of total exhaustion.
At that moment, the main doors of the old factory were blown off their hinges. The sight that emerged from the shadows left them all breathless.
[END OF CHAPTER 33]
[Start of Arc 4: Rise from the Dark]