Part 1: Pure Red Stella Power
The air inside the abandoned factory was thick with an overwhelming pressure, a direct result of Takuto's Step 3: Aura Flare. The crimson markings etched beneath his eyes pulsed, serving as a testament to his unwavering resolve.
Terrified, Baltos stumbled backward, his hands trembling as he unleashed a barrage of grey light from his Stone Eye. However, before the beams could even touch Takuto, they evaporated into nothingness, consumed by the swirling red aura that enveloped him like a protective cocoon.
"Impossible!" Baltos screamed, his voice cracking with desperation. "Why won't my gaze turn you to stone?!" In a fit of rage, he commanded a dozen stone statues nearby to swarm and crush Takuto.
Takuto let out a cold, sharp smirk. Flexing his fingers, he muttered, "Stella Echo!"
Suddenly, three crimson clones split from Takuto's body, materializing amidst the statues. These were no mere shadows; they were physical constructs forged from pure, volatile Stella Flow. In a synchronized blur of motion, Takuto and his clones struck. Within seconds, the statues were reduced to silent piles of rubble, unable to offer even a shred of resistance.
Watching from the side, Hana remained on her knees, her eyes wide with awe. The brother she knew was always kind—someone she had perceived as fragile. But the figure standing before her now was majestic and terrifying, like a God of War.
"Is that… really you, Onii-chan?" she whispered. Even her Wolf Eye trembled instinctively under the weight of his presence.
Hidden on the factory's upper catwalk, Shina was in a state of near-euphoria. Watching Takuto's new power, her face flushed deep red, and her breathing became shallow and jagged. She gripped her own throat tightly, her knuckles white.
"Oh… Takuto-kun… you are a true masterpiece," she hissed, her voice dripping with obsession. "My entire heart is melting under that crimson aura. I won't let anyone else have you. You belong to me!" Her yandere impulses had reached a fever pitch.
Takuto began a slow, deliberate walk toward Baltos. Each footstep sent a tremor through the concrete floor. He raised his palm, conjuring a sphere of glowing red energy that seemed to warp the very air around it. With a flick of his wrist, the orb collided with Baltos's defensive stone wall, shattering it into fine dust.
The impact sent Baltos flying into the factory wall, coughing up blood. "Wait… wait! I beg of you!" he gasped, but he found no mercy in Takuto's eyes.
In a flash of speed, Takuto appeared directly in front of him. He delivered a Stella Flow Punch to Baltos's gut, a blow so powerful it disrupted Baltos's internal energy flow and knocked the air from his lungs.
As Baltos slumped against the wall, Takuto prepared for the end. He extended his right hand, and dark crimson Stella Flow gathered in his palm, crackling like static electricity. He was charging the Fusion Core Strike (Laser), the pinnacle of Step 3.
"Your atrocities end here… Baltos!" Takuto's voice was as cold as the grave.
But as he stared death in the face, a sickening grin spread across Baltos's bloody lips. It wasn't the smile of a man who had accepted defeat, but the smirk of a predator who had just sprung a trap. Takuto felt a chill of intuition, but he was already committed to the attack.
"You're strong, Takuto… but you're too focused on what's in front of you!" Baltos cackled.
The floor beside Takuto erupted. A colossal hand made of fused stone fragments burst from the earth—a Stone Golem, ten times larger than the previous statues, powered by every last drop of Baltos's hidden Stella Flow. Before Takuto could react, the Golem's massive fist swung in a horizontal arc, slamming into him with the force of a falling mountain.
BOOM!
Takuto was sent hurtling across the factory, smashing through rusted machinery and finally crashing through the outer wall. His diverted Fusion Core Strike fired wildly, clipping the ceiling and causing parts of the roof to collapse in a roar of debris.
"Onii-chan!!" Hana screamed, rushing toward the wreckage, but the Stone Golem stepped into her path, its heavy aura pinning her down.
Baltos pulled himself up, leaning against the wall with a triumphant sneer. "My art isn't that simple. This Golem is my lifeline. I had it gathering strength beneath the earth while you were busy showing off your aura."
From the ruins, Takuto emerged. His clothes were torn, and a trail of blood ran down his chin, but his Aura Flare had not flickered. His eyes locked onto the Golem, his fury now reaching its absolute limit.
"So this is your final card…" Takuto's voice vibrated through the structure. "Then I'll grind you and this heap of rock into the dirt together!"
Above them, Shina watched with bated breath. "Oh, did Takuto-kun get hurt? Don't worry… I'll personally kill that big rock and Baltos for hurting you… but first, I want to see more of that delicious rage in your eyes."
Part 2: The Innocence Behind the Stone
Seeing Takuto wounded shattered Hana's fear, replacing it with a primal protective instinct. She took a deep breath, awakening the dormant spirit within her.
"I won't forgive anyone who hurts my brother!" she roared. As she screamed, her black hair shifted into a brilliant, snowy silver. Wolf ears sprouted from her head, and a plush silver tail emerged. This was Step 2: Wolf Awakening.
Her eyes glowing a fierce red, Hana lunged at the Golem with beast-like speed. Takuto, seeing her move, didn't need words. With a single glance, the siblings synchronized.
"Let's go, Hana!" Takuto commanded.
Hana dived between the Golem's legs, her sharpened claws shredding its joints in a blur of silver. The Golem was too slow to track her, and it began to tilt forward, off-balance. It was the opening they needed.
"Now! Onii-chan!" Hana leapt into the air to distract the beast.
Takuto launched himself off the ground, his right fist glowing like a miniature sun as he poured every ounce of Red Stella Flow into it. "Stella Flow Impact!"
The punch landed squarely in the Golem's chest. The resulting explosion rocked the entire factory, shattering the Golem's stone hide. But as the dust cleared and the chest cavity was exposed, Takuto's fist began to tremble, and his aura flickered.
At the core of the Golem—acting as its power source—was not a crystal or a stone, but the body of a small girl. She was pale and motionless, her breath long gone. She was a "living doll," a hollowed-out sacrifice for Baltos's twisted art.
"What… what is this?" Takuto's voice shook. The sight of an innocent child used as a battery for a monster ignited a brand of rage he had never felt before—a mix of profound grief and absolute hatred.
Hana landed nearby, her hand over her mouth. "How could someone… this isn't human!" Tears welled in her wolf-like eyes.
Baltos leaned against the wall, laughing hysterically. "Beautiful, isn't it? She's one of my finest works. Her soul is what gives the stone life. Do you dare kill her, Takuto? If you destroy the Golem, you turn her body to ash!"
Takuto's eyes turned a shade of red so deep it was almost black. The air around him began to shimmer with intense heat.
"You… don't even deserve the mercy of a human death, Baltos."
Shina, watching from above, bit her lip. "Oh, Takuto-kun… I love it when you look this pained. But I won't let that little girl stop you." She gripped her dagger, ready to intervene.
The battle had shifted. It was no longer just a fight for survival; it was a war between Takuto's humanity and the demon rising within him.
Meanwhile, in the depths of the basement, the air was cold and stagnant. Aoi was bound by glowing purple gravity chains, her strength fading. Kage stood before her, his face obscured by shadows.
"Do you know, Aoi… what truly lies within Takuto's darkness?" Kage whispered. "Whenever he decides to hate someone enough to kill them, that darkness crawls out. You remember, don't you? The time he took a life before."
Aoi's mind flashed back to a painful memory from a year ago—the Old Park. She had been lying on a bench, wounded, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Takuto, his eyes bleeding red, as he erased their enemy, Toki Takamatsu, from existence with a Fusion Core Strike.
"Just like then," Kage smiled coldly, "all he needs is the right push. That dark power is exactly what I'm after."
Part 3: Step 4 - The Crimson Black Nova
On the main battlefield, Takuto's spirit had reached its absolute boiling point. Looking at the lifeless body of the little girl trapped inside the Golem's chest, his heart felt as though it were being torn apart.
"What did this child ever do to you?!" Takuto's voice trembled, vibrating with a rage that surpassed human limits. "How dare a monster like you treat a human life as a mere toy for your own ego!"
The air around him began to warp. His sense of justice, his inability to tolerate the suffering of the innocent, had pushed his anger beyond the threshold of control.
"If your art is darkness," Takuto growled, "then I will become the thing that devours that darkness whole."
With a guttural roar, Takuto's hair shifted into a blood-red hue. Beneath his eyes, the crimson markings multiplied until four distinct lines pulsed with light. The Pure Red Stella Flow surrounding him exploded outward, but within seconds, the color deepened, swirling into a terrifying Crimson Black.
This wasn't fire. These were heavy, suffocating waves of energy capable of compressing and crushing anything in their path. The ground beneath his feet didn't just burn—it shattered under the sheer weight of his aura. Behind him, the crimson-black energy spread like a cosmic explosion. There was no image of a phoenix, no flickering flames—only pure, concentrated Annihilation Power.
Even in her Step 2 form, Hana couldn't withstand the pressure. She was forced back, shielding her eyes. "Onii-chan... stop! Your aura... it feels like it's going to tear me to pieces!" The person standing before her was no longer her warm, kind brother; he was a cold, unstoppable demon made of pure power.
For the first time, Baltos felt the cold breath of true death. "What... what kind of power is this?! It's not fire... what are these crimson-black waves?!" He frantically ordered the Golem to attack, but the Golem's massive stone arms crumbled into dust the moment they entered the radius of Takuto's aura.
High above, Shina watched with a crazed, ecstatic smile. "Oh... Takuto-kun... this crimson-black aura is breathtaking. This power that destroys everything... it excites me so much. Show me! Show me your destruction right now!"
Takuto took a slow, deliberate step forward. With every footprint, streaks of crimson-black lightning carved craters into the floor. He didn't say a word. He simply raised his hand, and the atmosphere became so heavy that Baltos found it nearly impossible to breathe.
As the energy reached its peak, Takuto looked one last time at the girl inside the Golem and spoke in a low, solemn voice. "Don't be afraid anymore... I'm releasing you from this hell. Rest in peace."
"Fusion Core Strike..."
A beam of crimson-black energy erupted from his palm like a thunderbolt. It sliced through the Golem's reinforced stone hide as easily as a hot knife through butter, obliterating the construct from the inside out. The massive stone titan vanished into a cloud of red light without a trace of resistance.
Baltos stumbled back in horror as his greatest creation was reduced to ash in a single second. "Im... impossible! My art..."
Before he could finish, Takuto blurred into a streak of red light, appearing instantly in front of him. His eyes were devoid of any human emotion. He delivered a simple punch to Baltos's midsection, but with the weight of Step 4 behind it, the blow felt like being hit by a massive iron mallet.
Baltos couldn't even scream. He spat out a spray of blood and was launched backward. Takuto didn't let up. He vanished again, reappearing behind the mid-air Baltos, unleashing a relentless barrage of strikes that drove the villain toward the factory's exit.
Finally, Takuto wound up his right leg for a devastating kick. "GET OUT!"
The impact was so violent that it didn't just send Baltos flying—it ripped the massive iron factory doors off their hinges. Both the man and the metal doors were launched like a missile into the open field outside.
Outside Battlefield
Kaori, Ayano, Kaito, and Mei—who were struggling in their fight against Zero and Ren—jumped at the sound of the explosion. They watched in shock as the factory doors smashed into the earth, followed by the broken, battered body of Baltos.
Zero and Ren stood frozen, staring at their fallen comrade. Then, from the dark maw of the factory, a figure emerged.
Walking slowly through the dust, wreathed in flickering crimson-black Stella Flow, was Takuto in his Step 4 (Phoenix Nova) form.
Kaori's eyes widened in disbelief. "Is that... Takuto? His aura... why is it so consumed by darkness?"
Takuto's red hair and the four markings beneath his eyes looked chilling under the moonlight. He cast a freezing gaze at Zero and Ren, his voice echoing with an unnatural resonance.
"Finally... you're all in one place."
[END OF CHAPTER 34]