The smoke had not cleared yet.
Ayelen walked out of it slowly. The dark around his body felt cold, and it made the air heavy. Every step he took made a small crack in the ground under his feet.
Behind him, Flauge was on one knee. Blood was on his mouth. His ribs were broken and every breath hurt. Arnold could barely stand straight. Vermilliya's hands were still glowing a little from healing them.
Vadel laughed.
He did not look scared at all. He looked happy. Like he had been waiting for this.
"Ayelen," Vadel said and opened his arms wide. "Come."
And in that one quiet second before everything started, Ayelen remembered a table.
It was evening. A simple wooden table. Two cups of tea had gone cold between them.
"Arnold," Ayelen said. He was looking at his own hands. "Let me ask you something. If someone gets too much power... does that make him feel like a villain?"
Arnold blinked. "Huh? What kind of question is that?"
"Just answer it."
Arnold laughed a little, but it faded fast when he saw Ayelen was serious. He scratched the back of his neck.
"I never thought about it like that," Arnold said. "I mean... I never imagined hurting other people with my own hands. Not once in my life. Yeah, I feel strong. But something inside me never told me to use it the wrong way." He shrugged. "That's just... my principle. You know? The rule I live by."
Ayelen stayed quiet for a moment. Then he said, very softly, "Then promise me one thing."
"What?"
"If you ever get so much power in your life that you can't handle it..." Ayelen finally looked up at him. His eyes were empty. "Then erase yourself. Before that power corrupts you."
Arnold's smile died. "Ayelen... what are you"
But Ayelen had already looked away.
The memory broke apart.
They moved.
Arnold didn't even see it start. One moment Ayelen and Vadel were just standing there, thirty meters apart, not moving at all. Two still objects in the smoke.
Then the air between them ripped open.
The shockwave came late, slamming into Arnold's chest and knocking the breath out of him. Fire burst up where the two had clashed. Not from any attack. Just from the force of them hitting each other. The air itself had caught fire.
They fought like monsters now. Brutal. No form, no mercy. Just killing intent crashing again and again, and every crash pushed them deeper into the flames.
Arnold's eyes jumped left and right, trying to follow. He couldn't. "What... why can't I see them? They're just standing there! Why can't I"
"Because you can't," Flauge said. His voice was low and tired. "Nyloxin power is too heavy. Too destructive. So the God of Operator put a curse on it. A limit." He watched the fire. "Every Nyloxin user can only use their full power after the key is activated."
Arnold stared at him. "What?"
"I've been talking to you this whole time, haven't I?" Flauge said. "And now Ayelen has that key. Our normal Nyloxin eyes... they can't track movement that fast."
Inside the fire, the two shapes kept slamming into each other. The flames bent around them like they were afraid.
Arnold's throat felt dry. "Then why is Vadel fine? Why is he immune to the curse? The Nylomites too?"
Flauge didn't look at him. "Because the Nyloxin energy in their bodies... it IS their body. It's not something from outside. It's a part of them." A pause. "That's why the curse can't touch them."
Arnold nodded slowly, trying to take it in. Then his eyes caught something, and they went wide.
"Flauge," he whispered. "Why does Ayelen's skin... why do his clothes look like they're burning?"
Flauge's whole body went stiff.
"AYELEN!!" he screamed, and threw himself forward, but the two fighters were too fast, just blurs tearing through the fire, and Arnold grabbed Flauge's arm with both hands and pulled him back with all his weight.
Flauge was shaking. His face had gone pale. "We have to stop him! Arnold, we HAVE to stop him, or his body will burn! Do you hear me? It will burn away!"
And right then, inside the flames, Ayelen felt it.
Heat. Under his skin. Crawling up his arms like insects. He looked down for half a second and saw the edge of his sleeve starting to blacken and curl.
Flauge's voice ripped across the battlefield. "If you don't unlock perfect form, your body will END! The full energy of Nyloxin is too much! It will tear you apart from the inside!"
Ayelen gritted his teeth. Sweat ran down his face and dried almost instantly in the heat. "You told me way too early for that! Just tell me fast! HOW do I unlock perfect form?!"
"Give me the activation key!"
Ayelen's hand tightened around the keys in his fist. He didn't want to give them up. These were his. His secret. His edge.
But his arm was starting to go numb from the heat.
With a curse, he pulled one key out and threw it hard toward Flauge.
Give it to Arnold, he thought desperately. Please. Give it to Arnold.
Flauge caught it out of the air.
And used it himself.
Light exploded around him.
Ayelen's jaw clenched so hard it hurt. Of course. Of course he did.
Without a word, Ayelen threw more keys through the air. One spinning toward Arnold. Another toward Vermilliya.
Flauge closed his fist around his key...
...and the world went dark.
He was on the ground.
Everything hurt. He could barely see through the blood and the dust. Above him stood his opponent, looking down at him with a slow, creepy smile. The smile of someone who knew he had already won.
This is the last time, Flauge thought. His whole body was shaking. The last time I use Nyloxin's perfect form. I know I'm not perfect enough to handle this power. I know that.
The opponent lifted his foot.
But if I don't do this... this universe might be in danger.
Flauge's eyes snapped open.
The planet groaned.
It started as a deep sound, like something huge shifting underground. Then the whole system shook. The planet. The planets next to it. Everything. Their paths wobbled. The sky itself seemed to tilt.
And in that exact moment, Flauge moved.
One step. That was all. He appeared in front of Vadel and drove his fist straight into Vadel's abdomen. Sharp. Clean. Perfect.
Vadel's body folded around the punch. Blood sprayed from his mouth.
He smiled anyway.
"Now!" Flauge shouted.
The three of them charged together. Ayelen, Arnold, Flauge. Three perfect forms rushing Vadel from three sides.
Vadel's smile got wider. "MULTIFIST."
The air detonated.
A storm of fists burst out in every direction at once, and it hit all three of them head on. The punch was deadly. Even powered up, even transformed, they were thrown backward like broken dolls, crashing across the cracked ground.
Ayelen coughed and forced himself up on one elbow. His whole body ached. "Flauge... what is happening? The planet... the whole system..."
Flauge was breathing hard, blood dripping from his nose. "The Nyloxin power got bigger when it entered the user. We have to control it." He shook his head. "But none of us ever used this before. Not me. Not you two. It's going out of control."
Vadel laughed. He wiped the blood from his mouth with the back of his hand and looked down at Flauge like he was something small.
"Tell me, Flauge," Vadel said. "Are you the god of generation... or the god of trash?" He tilted his head, grinning. "Wasting your power has been your favorite hobby all these years, hasn't it?"
Nobody answered.
Because Vadel was already gone.
He shot straight up into the sky, faster than eyes could follow, until he was a speck in the black of space. And there, above the shaking planet, he raised both hands high.
Energy began to gather. More and more of it. A ball of destruction so big it covered the stars.
He was going to blast the entire planet.
Vermilliya screamed and threw both hands up. Light burst out of her and wrapped around the three of them like a shell.
The blast came down.
The shield held. Barely. Cracks of light split across its surface.
But the attack was too big. The ground split open under them. An earthquake ripped through the land, buildings falling in the distance, the earth itself screaming.
And then the force of it caught them. The shockwave. The broken air. The planet shaking apart beneath their feet. It tore all three of them loose.
Flauge. Arnold. Ayelen.
Ripped off the surface of the planet. Thrown upward. Into space.
The burning planet fell away below them.
And Vadel was waiting above.
CHAPTER 29 ENDS~