[Third Person Pov]
Momo watched in silent awe as Clark zipped through the air like a streak of white lightning, his movements blurring between the towering obsidian rock mantises. Each swing of his sword clashed against their scythe-like forearms, sparks flying with every impact. He twisted and flipped in midair, deflecting their razor-sharp blades while aiming for the vulnerable gleam of their eyes.
At first, it was working—until the creatures began to adapt. Their movements grew more calculated, their eyes now shielded behind jagged forearms and plates of dark, chitinous armor. They started keeping their distance, learning from every mistake. Clark was being forced to evolve along with them.
"I don't know what's worse," he muttered, grimacing as one of the mantises swung its claw and sent him crashing into the side of a mountain with enough force to make the ground quake. Dust and stone exploded outward.
'The fact that I'm starting to enjoy this,' he thought as he tore himself free from the rubble, 'or the fact that I can actually feel myself improving.'
Clark shot back into the air like a meteor, smashing through the dust cloud with renewed ferocity. Every strike of his sword burned hotter than before, every parry more precise. The mantises' strength wasn't just impressive—it was enough to make him careful. They were teaching him something he had almost forgotten: just because he could survive an attack didn't mean he should take it head-on.
Meanwhile, behind a massive boulder, Momo and Lala watched the chaotic aerial dance unfold.
Momo's hands were clenched tightly against her knees. Her eyes narrowed with determination. Then she sat down, crossing her legs on the cold stone ground.
"What are you doing?" Lala asked, blinking in confusion.
"I'm going to help him," Momo said calmly, her voice steady. "Clark's not the only one with hidden power. Even if we're not related by blood… he's still my brother. And I'm about to show why."
She pressed her palms together. Her breathing slowed.
A brilliant emerald light began to pulse from her chest, wrapping around her body like an outline. Her hair rose with the growing energy, the aura shimmering brighter and brighter until the air around her vibrated.
"Grandma didn't just train Clark," Momo continued as her eyes glowed the same shade of green. "She trained me too. And with my spiritual energy—I can be just as strong as he is."
The light around her intensified until it burst outward in a ring of pure energy. Her spiritual form began to materialize—an enormous, translucent body of green light surrounding her. Two meters tall. Then three. Then four. The air rippled from the sheer pressure.
By the time the transformation stabilized, Momo's spectral figure towered over the battlefield at nearly five meters, a radiant spirit warrior hovering above the earth.
Lala stared in disbelief as Momo, who was in the torso of the spiritual body, raised her arm—and the giant spiritual avatar mirrored her perfectly, its movement smooth.
"Let's kick some monster butt," Momo said, cracking her knuckles with a confident grin.
Without hesitation, she leaped over the boulder, the ground cracking beneath her. The colossal spirit followed her motion, delivering a devastating dropkick to the side of one of the rock mantises. The impact was thunderous—sending the creature tumbling away from Clark.
Clark saw the opening instantly. He dashed forward in a streak of light and plunged his blade through the creature's eyes, piercing straight through its skull and emerging from the other side.
He landed beside Momo with a smirk, spinning his sword effortlessly. "So, you finally decided to stop hiding?"
"Couldn't help it," Momo said with a teasing grin. "Watching you struggle out here was painful."
"Struggling? I was analyzing their attack patterns."
"Sure you were," she said, rolling her eyes. "Sounds like an excuse to me."
Before Clark could retort, Momo charged forward. Clark laughed under his breath and followed, the two siblings launching themselves back into the fray side by side.
Their teamwork was seamless. When one mantis tried to strike Momo, she used its claw as a foothold, flipping backward and kicking it under the chin, sending its head snapping back. Clark followed through in midair, diving downward like a comet and driving his sword into its exposed eye.
Each strike between them was perfectly timed. Clark's blade cut through the air in molten arcs, his sword radiating intense heat, while Momo's ethereal fists struck with the strength of a train. The battlefield lit up in flashes of red and green.
At one point, Clark froze an entire mantis solid with his icy breath—crystals spreading across its black exoskeleton. Momo slammed her fist across its chest.
But their victory wasn't without cost. The mantises were adapting yet again.
Each time they struck at Momo's spirit form, the damage reflected on her physical body. A gash across her thigh appeared after a swipe at her avatar. Another across her arm. Her breathing grew heavier, but her resolve didn't waver.
Seeing this, Lala clenched her fists. She couldn't just watch anymore.
"Peke!" she shouted.
At once, her mechanical assistant responded. A pair of leather wings unfolded from her back. Lala took off into the air, joining the fight with a determined yell.
She swooped past Momo and Clark, her tail glowing brightly before firing multiple energy beams that rained down on the mantises. Each shot struck with precision, weakening their armor and giving Clark the perfect chance to cut them down one after another.
Now it was all three of them—Clark, Momo, and Lala—fighting as one. Their combined power turned the once overwhelming battlefield into a symphony of motion, color, and light.
Clark's sword flashed crimson as it carved through the smoky air. In the reflection of the red-hot blade, he caught the faint shimmer of movement—one of the obsidian mantises was stampeding straight toward him, its jagged limbs slicing through the ground like knives.
Without hesitation, Clark charged his heat vision. The air shimmered around his eyes as twin beams of molten light erupted forward—only instead of firing directly, he angled them toward his sword.
The moment the beams hit the blade, they ricocheted in a concentrated blast. The reflected energy lanced across the battlefield and struck the mantis square in its face, burning through its eyes and exploding out the back. The creature screeched once, then collapsed in a plume of molten debris.
Clark twirled his sword with a smirk, landing beside Momo and Lala, who were now standing back-to-back with him. Both girls were panting heavily, sweat and streaks of blood running down their arms after what felt like hours had passed.
"Not bad," Clark muttered, eyes scanning the battlefield. "But they're not slowing down."
Momo's breathing was ragged, her aura flickering around her. But as she looked over at Clark, realization struck her—something important. Her expression shifted from exhaustion to determination.
"Hey, Clark," she called out between breaths, "remember Grandma's training?"
Clark blinked. "Not really," he said in the flattest tone imaginable. "That's one of the many traumatic experiences my brain decided to repress for my own mental health and safety."
Momo couldn't help but laugh, despite herself. "You're so dramatic."
Then her grin widened, her voice brimming with mischief. "Remember what she taught us about Spirals?"
Clark's expression shifted instantly. His eyes glowed faintly red, a dangerous spark of understanding lighting up within them. "Ah… that." He gave her a sideways glance. "You must've used all ten of your brain cells for that one. Good job. Try not to short-circuit."
"Why can't you ever compliment me like a normal person?!"
Clark raised an eyebrow, his sword resting on his shoulder. "What part of me would you even consider normal?"
Before Momo could retort, Lala tilted her head, curiosity sparkling in her wide eyes. "Wait—what's this about spirals?"
Momo straightened, taking a quick breath to explain. "It's the application of spiral dynamics to amplify natural power and ability. Grandma said it's used in martial arts, sports—anything that relies on harnessing momentum and precision to push past your limits." She smirked. "In short… it's how you turn raw strength into something unstoppable."
"Like Clark's about to demonstrate," she added proudly.
Clark exhaled once and raised his sword above his head which he grabbed with two hands and began to spin. Slowly at first—then faster, and faster, until the air around him screamed from the force of his rotation. His sword began to blaze, glowing brighter with each turn. Fire burst from the blade, spilling molten trails that spiraled outward and scorched the ground. Lava sprayed and danced in concentric circles, forming a fiery vortex that surrounded him.
To Momo and Lala, Clark no longer looked human. He was a living drill—a spinning spear of molten light and fury.
Momo's eyes widened in awe. "It looks like we just discovered our first combo move!"
Before she could second-guess it, she grabbed hold of Clark's blazing form with both hands. The heat was unbearable—her palms blistered instantly—but she only roared through the pain.
"Time to test it out!" she shouted, stepping forward and hurling Clark like a javelin with all her might.
The moment he left her hands, the air shattered with a sonic boom. Clark's velocity tore through the sound barrier; the ground split beneath his launch point. He became a streak of red and gold light, cutting across the battlefield like a meteor.
The first mantis in his path never stood a chance—Clark drilled straight through it, shattering its obsidian armor into a hundred glittering shards that scattered across the mountainside. He didn't stop there.
Clark ricocheted midair, zigzagging like a burning pinball, piercing through mantis after mantis. Each time he struck, fiery explosions followed, echoing like thunderclaps. The sky lit up in bursts of red light, molten rock, and crystal dust.
"Whoa…" Lala whispered, her eyes wide as she watched Clark bounce from target to target in impossible patterns.
Momo shielded her eyes, trying to follow him. "I can't even track him!"
"He's everywhere!" Lala added as they both spun around, watching trails of molten light zigzagging across the horizon.
For nearly a full minute, Clark's assault continued unabated. The mountain shook, the sky flashed, and the swarm of obsidian monsters was reduced to rubble and flame. Wherever Clark passed, the world itself seemed to split apart under his sheer force.
When the dust finally began to settle, he curved around one last time and returned to them—still spinning, though much slower now. He landed in front of the girls, his boots melting shallow grooves into the crystalized ground. A halo of fire encircled him.
The flames dimmed. Clark slowly exhaled, his sword lowering as the air around them shimmered. The world began to distort—mountains bending and fracturing like reflections in water.
In a single wave, the simulation peeled away, revealing the crystalline architecture of the Fortress of Solitude.
"Yay!!" Momo and Lala shouted in unison, throwing their arms up. "We cleared the level!!"
Clark scoffed, twirling his sword before tossing it casually into the air. "We? Pretty sure I was the one who vaporized everything that moved."
"Yeah, but we helped!" Momo protested, hands on her hips.
"Right," Clark said dryly. "You helped bring them to life, you bunch of brain-dead monkeys."
He turned away while rolling his eyes. As he walked, the sword he'd thrown into the air shimmered—morphing and unraveling until it transformed back into his crimson cape. It drifted down gently and settled over Momo and Lala's shoulders like a soft blanket.
Both girls blinked in surprise as the warm sheet pulsed faintly, glowing with restorative light, red sand slithering towards their wounds. The pain in their bodies faded, cuts sealing as if they had never been there.
They looked at each other, sharing a brief, tired laugh. Then, as Clark started walking off, they both shouted after him.
"Wait up!" Momo called.
"Let us give you a tour of the place!" Lala added as they ran to catch up, still clutching his cape between them.
Clark didn't look back—but the faintest smirk crossed his face as their laughter echoed through the crystalline halls of the Fortress.
[End of Volume 1]
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A/N: I know I should have ended the first volume by like chapter 17 but I kinda forgot and never got the chance to. But oh well I suppose we have to end Volume 1 here which is as good of an ending to a volume as I have ever seen.
So a lot has happened and I'm curious about what is your favorite part of the first volume.
For me it was the first month montage, when he was flying all over the world practically announcing his presence.
I, unfortunately, peaked too early during his battle against the Kirin.
Although I will say, him breaking down over the little girl was another good moment in my opinion.
But anyways I hope you guys enjoyed the First Volume.
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Read More advance Chapters on: patreon.com/Shadow_D_Monarch3