THE VOID
"AHH!! These snakes are all over me!"
Ton struggled beneath the endless mass of snakes as they coiled around him, dragging him deeper into the strange world Dom had created.
Above him, Dom slowly rose into the air.
He looked down from the sky, watching Ton disappear beneath millions of snakes.
"It's over."
Ton suddenly felt the ground beneath him disappear.
"What—?"
He dropped.
The surface beneath him shattered like a mirror.
CRACK!
Ton fell through the broken surface.
But he didn't hit another floor.
He kept falling.
His body suddenly stopped accelerating.
Then—
he began moving upward.
Then downward.
Then sideways.
There was no consistent direction anymore.
Ton's eyes widened.
"Wait…"
He looked around.
"An anti-gravity room?!"
There was no true floor or ceiling.
The room had effectively removed the normal reference frame for gravity. Instead of accelerating toward a single gravitational source, Ton was being continuously redirected through different orientations of the space.
He was falling—
but there was nowhere to fall to.
Dom floated above him, completely unaffected.
"You'll be falling for the rest of your life."
Ton looked up.
Dom continued.
"And you'll die when the poisonous gas reaches 100%."
A faint green haze had already begun spreading through the space.
"You have five minutes."
Dom turned away.
Then disappeared from the room.
Ton was alone.
For a few seconds, he said nothing.
His body continued drifting through the impossible space.
Five minutes.
Ton clenched his fists.
"As much as I know…"
He looked around.
"I can't escape this place."
Every few seconds, the scenery changed.
A forest.
A ruined city.
An ocean.
A completely black void.
Then another world.
Then another.
Ton's eyes followed each one.
"I'm falling into different worlds every second…"
His expression slowly became serious.
"My end is near."
He remembered Junyu.
Salim.
Ikiro.
Michael.
Katsa.
Mil.
His crew.
"My crew may win without me."
He smiled faintly.
"I trust them."
His smile disappeared.
"But I'm probably not surviving this."
Ton closed his eyes.
"This is my end."
Silence.
Then—
"Endgame is real."
Ton opened his eyes.
"Time is ticking…"
He looked around desperately.
"I have no ideas."
He was silent for several seconds.
Then a thought appeared.
"Well…"
Ton frowned.
"What even is the Void?"
THE VOID
Far outside the room, Dom walked through his own strange dimension.
He smiled.
"Wow."
He stretched his arms.
"I won again."
He looked back at the endless space behind him.
"But isn't that fun?"
His smile widened.
"They died easily."
Dom continued walking.
"People can't really defeat us."
He looked toward the distant battlefield.
"Our team is full of completely different people with completely different abilities."
He laughed.
"And that's why…"
"We can never taste defeat."
TON'S THEORY
Ton continued falling.
But now—
he wasn't panicking.
He was observing.
He watched the worlds appearing around him.
Then disappearing.
Then returning.
His eyes narrowed.
"The Void…"
He began connecting the pieces.
"It's not just a place."
He looked at the space around him.
"It's creation and manipulation of energy."
Ton remembered Dom's abilities.
Water.
Fire.
Snakes.
Different environments.
Different worlds.
Everything responded to Dom's thoughts.
"But he can also access different worlds."
Ton watched another world flash past.
"And I'm moving between them."
His eyes widened.
"Which means…"
He started thinking faster.
"If these worlds are connected, there has to be some kind of pathway."
A bridge.
Not a physical bridge.
Something more fundamental.
A connection through spacetime.
Ton remembered how quickly the worlds changed.
"He's creating a time-bending bridge between them."
Ton's expression became serious.
"Maybe he's bending the geometry of space itself."
The thought made him pause.
"Does this guy even know how strong he is?"
Ton looked upward.
"I don't think he does."
Then another possibility entered his mind.
"But…"
His eyes sharpened.
"What if I break the bridge?"
THE BRIDGE
Ton studied the movement of the worlds.
Every transition happened along the same strange path.
The environments changed—
but something remained constant.
A faint distortion.
A thin stream of light running through the darkness.
Ton looked upward.
"There."
A tiny light appeared above him.
His eyes widened.
"That's it."
He watched it carefully.
"That has to be what's keeping this pathway stable."
Ton understood.
If the worlds were connected by some kind of energy structure, destroying that structure would sever his connection to Dom's controlled pathway.
But there was a problem.
"If I break it…"
Ton swallowed.
"I can't return to the real world."
He looked down into the endless darkness.
"But…"
A determined smile appeared.
"I can survive."
Ton reached toward the light.
"That's enough."
He pushed himself toward it.
The space around him warped.
The bridge began to fracture.
CRACK.
Ton fell.
The world disappeared.
THE DRAGON KING
Ton dropped into a completely dark world.
He slowly looked around.
"Whoa…"
His eyes widened.
"How big is this place?"
The darkness seemed endless.
Then—
something moved.
Ton looked down.
A massive shadow emerged from the darkness.
Two enormous eyes opened.
Ton froze.
"WHAT?!"
A dragon emerged from the darkness and charged toward him.
Ton's face went pale.
"SHIT!"
The dragon roared.
Ton raised his arms.
"I'M DEAD!"
Then—
Ton remembered something.
A dragon.
His eyes widened.
"Wait…"
He stared at the creature.
"Mil's dragon…"
A smile appeared.
"The Dragon King."
Ton raised his hand.
"With this great presence of a dragon…"
His voice echoed through the darkness.
"I SUMMON THE DRAGON KING!"
The dragon stopped.
A massive shockwave tore through the world.
BOOM!
Darkness split apart.
A figure appeared through the distortion.
Long hair.
A familiar presence.
Ton's eyes widened.
"…"
The figure opened his eyes.
"TON!"
Ton nearly laughed from relief.
"MIL!"
Ton pointed toward the broken bridge.
"Mil! It's me! Help me!"
Mil looked toward the fractured connection between worlds.
Then toward the Dragon King.
"Break it."
The Dragon King roared.
Its energy surged through the space.
The bridge shattered completely.
Ton was thrown out of the collapsing pathway.
Mil remained behind.
"I am still sleeping…"
He looked toward Ton.
"But this dragon will bring you back to the real world."
Ton looked at him.
"What's happening outside?"
Mil's expression changed.
"A fight."
He looked toward the distant distortion.
"Us versus Organization X."
Ton's eyes widened.
Mil clenched his fist.
"I gotta wake up."
The Dragon King opened its wings.
Ton disappeared in a flash of energy.
THE RETURN
Back in Dom's world—
the air suddenly twisted.
A dragon-shaped distortion appeared.
Dom turned around.
"What?"
Ton dropped out of the distortion.
He landed on his feet.
Silence.
Dom stared.
Ton smiled.
Dom's expression changed.
"How did you escape?"
Ton dusted himself off.
"I did it with my brain, dumbass."
Dom's eyes narrowed.
Ton walked toward him.
He wasn't running anymore.
He wasn't afraid anymore.
He understood the Void.
"Don't try to act tough."
Dom remained silent.
Ton stopped directly in front of him.
"I know all your energy is gone."
Dom's eyes widened.
"What?"
Ton grabbed him.
He pulled Dom closer.
"I studied that bridge."
Ton tightened his grip.
"That thing required a massive amount of energy."
Dom's expression shifted.
"And where does that energy come from?"
Ton smiled.
"You."
Dom froze.
"You can't possibly have that much NIT."
Ton's eyes narrowed.
"So I figured it out."
"Your weakness."
Ton punched Dom across the face.
Dom stumbled backward.
Ton stood over him.
"You're right, Ton."
Dom slowly wiped his face.
"This is my weakness."
Ton looked at him.
Dom smiled.
"But you're late."
Ton's expression changed.
"What?"
Dom looked toward the distant battlefield.
"Time is ticking."
He pointed toward the massive ore reserves.
"The ores are coming."
Ton clenched his fist.
"We will win."
Dom smiled.
"Will you?"
Ton stepped forward.
"Not until I'm gone."
He looked toward Dom's throne.
Then—
he sat down.
Dom stared at him.
Ton crossed his arms.
"I have to wait."
The battlefield continued raging in the distance.
The ores were approaching.
Organization X was still fighting.
And somewhere beneath the chaos—
Mil was beginning to wake.
THE BATTLE WAS FAR FROM OVER.