Act 13
Inside the dark, protected war labs of Eden, scientists celebrated, smiling and applauding Malik's genius. The bomb's explosion was so powerful even mortal ears heard the shockwave.
Malik's room was in quarantine, fully armored, his satisfaction was notable, he had erased the stain. Security was deactivated, the windows opened, and a flash of light entered the cold room... He just didn't expect the sight he was about to see.
That light wasn't normal, the explosion had released a huge amount of energy, but... that flash wasn't expected. As Malik fixed his eyes on the village, he realized the explosion wasn't in the expected location but in the sky, hovering a cloud of smoke with the flame of a burning hero inside it.
Seconds before...
Masayoshi entered a frozen state. Something wasn't right, time seemed to stop. Something within him broke, and his spirit hardened with a burning flame of power, in an instant, he tore the bomb from the woman's neck and, with a divine reflex, contracted his leg muscles in one enormous leap.
In the air, he saw everything. Dozens of meters high, he saw the village, the people with desperate eyes seeking help, his spirit was too generous, he needed to save those innocents, he needed to show... justice.
At that moment, he looked at the bomb, almost cracking in a huge explosion of energy, and held it, almost like an embrace, leaving no gap for escape...
Would this be the hero's end?
Would this be the people's awakening?
Well... in the air, something emerged behind Masayoshi, almost like a blanket a mother places on her child. But that wasn't common, It wasn't a blanket, It was a cape, It was Masayoshi's Omega Power simply enveloping him. Something unique our hero did for himself, something never seen before, even by ancient users of this power. A way to symbolize protection and justice in the world, it was the core of Masayoshi materializing to save that small village.
That enormous cape projected by him surrounded him completely, and when the explosion happened... the roar was deafening, the light blinding, and its power was enough to reduce every being in that place to an atom. Still in the sky, the cloud of smoke formed as that cape dissipated, and our hero descended back to the ground, not as a frightened boy who witnessed the worst of the world, but as the savior of those who once believed in him.
Masayoshi, upon landing, looked at his hands, for the explosion had destroyed part of his clothing.
"Ah man... I just got this..."
All those in the village entered the house and began thanking Masayoshi as if he were a god to them. The freed elderly said,
"Now, boy, show the world who you are. Make it worth having kept your old mask, haha!"
At that moment, the pride in Masayoshi's mind was indescribable. He looked at everyone applauding and even getting emotional at the feat he had demonstrated. Despite not even knowing what had happened, he was determined to finish this job.
The people made way for the hero, and he set off at tremendous speed, using 50% of his power, to the ends of that road. He was returning to where everything had coincided, he was going after... Malik.
His feet, propelled, didn't run, they devastated the ground. Each impact was a dry roar, launching craters and dust clouds into the sky. He was a furious straight line drawn towards the distant heart of Eden, a human missile.
From inside his control room, Malik's triumph vanished, replaced by ice in his stomach. The status holograms before him, which moments ago celebrated success, now flashed in alarm.
SYSTEM: Target detected. Trajectory> Direct to Primary Sector.
Malik:
"Impossible... No... he won't reach here."
With a brusque movement full of impotent rage, he activated total war protocol.
"All drones in the southern sectors! Immediate engagement! Stop him, delay him at any cost!"
In the desert, dozens, then hundreds of silver points converged on the hero advancing like a missile through the dust. Combat robots, energy weapons trembling as they charged, the first squad fired, a hail of rays crossing the air, vaporizing the ground where Masayoshi had been a millisecond before... he didn't stop... he accelerated.
A robot tried to block his path, mechanical arms extended for a crushing embrace. Masayoshi didn't dodge, his fist, wrapped in a subtle aura of energy, hit the center of the robot, which simply exploded into the air, its parts flying back like shards of broken glass. Two others lunged from the sides, energy blades emerging from their wrists, Masayoshi crouched in a movement, spinning with his leg sweeping the air in a circle, hitting both at the same time. The machines were thrown away, sparks scratching the sky, he left behind hundreds of Drones, and by concentrating his power, he hit them with an intense and powerful Omega Power ray directly from his fists.
Malik watched, horrified, through the cameras of the surviving drones. His most advanced defense line was being reduced to scrap without slowing the hero's momentum.
Malik:
"WHAT IS HE?" he screamed into the room, his voice a mix of fury and dread, his fists hitting the table hard enough to threaten to crack it.
In minutes, Masayoshi reached the suburbs of Eden. Prefabricated structures began to appear around him. With a leap, he left the ground. His feet found the side of a building, and he ran, concrete cracking under his feet, he jumped to the next roof, then to another. He knew where to go, he knew where Malik was.
With a final leap that bent the roof metal under his feet, Masayoshi crashed through the control room window. He landed in the center of the room, his breathing calm, but his eyes, behind the mask, burned with the light of power. Parts of his uniform were charred and torn, revealing intact skin beneath. Malik was leaning against his console, his face in pure shock.
Masayoshi:
"It's done, Malik. You failed, and the village is saved."
Malik:
"You... you are an accident. You shouldn't exist!"
Masayoshi:
"You're absolutely right... and yet... I'm here... standing and ready to put an end to everything, but not in the way you expect."
Masayoshi extended his hand.
Masayoshi:
"Your attempted genocide was big enough for the people of Eden to notice. Surrender."
Malik laughed, a hoarse, desperate sound.
Malik:
"Do you really think this makes any difference? Thousands of inferior beings die every day. There's a war happening on the other side of the universe, and you think the ignorant people of this world will care about what happened to that insignificant village?"
Malik then pressed a button, showing the view of drones hovering over the city.
Malik:
"Look at them. Do you think they're scared or worried? Obviously not, they believe in me and what I can do, people care little for beings like you."
Masayoshi looked in astonishment at the people in calm.
Masayoshi:
"This isn't over yet. One day your mask will fall, people will see the truth."
Malik:
"Ah, my little ghost... it's already over... you're only here because I let you come."
At that instant, soldiers previously camouflaged emerged from the shadows with much more powerful armor than seen before and leaped towards the hero through the hole Masayoshi made in the window. They fell towards the street, the impact was tremendous, and all the people began to see soldiers falling from the building, heavily armed and beating that masked being. The hero was in trouble, he had no escape, almost 50 soldiers with the most powerful armor surrounded him, the blows were increasingly powerful, the impact on his face like a cannon shot.
For the first time, the people of Eden saw their "ghost" and they saw the price of defying the system. Citizens stopped on the sidewalks, pale faces witnessing the brutal spectacle.
He grabbed the arm of a soldier trying to immobilize him and, with a touch, twisted it. The armor metal groaned, yielding with a metallic snap, throwing the man against two others. he created a gap. His elbow found another's mask, and the reinforced metal shattered. With one arm free, he used the momentum to throw the soldiers holding his left arm away and stood up, his fists, now wrapped in concentrated energy, hit a soldier's chest. The armor didn't just dent, it vaporized at a point, and the man was thrown back. Seeing this, other soldiers acted quickly, trying to strike him, but in vain. Masayoshi's reflexes were such that he could dodge everyone around him. He then jumped to get a better view of where to go, but when he raised his head and his eyes upwards...
A shadow loomed over him.
A figure descended from the hole in the building towards Masayoshi. With a single blow, he launched him with an extremely heavy impact towards several surrounding buildings, shaking their structures, breaking the pure concrete and steel.
It was an enormous armor that made the soldiers look like toys. It was a masterpiece of the city's technology, on its chest, the emblem of human dominion shone with a light. The visor was a single piece of dark crystal, impenetrable.
That... was Malik.
With an impulse, he launched himself at Masayoshi. Without a word, a mechanical arm moved with impossible speed, exhausted and focusing on the remaining soldiers, Masayoshi couldn't react. The armor's fist, the size of a man's head, hit his abdomen.
Masayoshi's world collapsed, the air was forced from his lungs. A pain he had never felt radiated throughout his body, his body trembled uncontrollably, desperately trying to regain his breath. His vision failed, the Omega Power, once a bonfire, was now an ember. The soldiers looked at this with awe for the grand scientist and a mixed feeling seeing that being completely crushed by power.
From inside his office, where he watched everything with horror, Mr. Saba saw his son fall, the old historian's face contorted in pure anguish. He grabbed his personal communicator, his trembling fingers dialing a code to his informant residing within Eden's security labs.
Mr. Saba:
"Channels 7, 15, and the main page of the Capital. This is an order from me, connect all transmission drones to this battle NOW! Show EVERYTHING. The world needs to see."
On the other end of the line, a hesitant voice tried to protest but was cut off by Mr. Saba.
Mr. Saba:
"Please, son... resist... I believe. You promised not to leave me."
Meanwhile, on the giant screens adorning the city, the soap operas and government-controlled news were replaced by a shaky but clear image. The image of a hero in a torn uniform, fallen on a devastated street, surrounded by soldiers and the terrifying figure of Malik in his war armor.
In Mr. Hightremur's workshop, tools fell to the floor with a metallic clang. The old tailor stood paralyzed, looking at a screen, his eyes filled with resigned horror.
Mr. Hightremur:
"No... it wasn't supposed to be like this, boy..."
In the alien village, the celebration died. The faces froze, looking at an improvised news terminal, the old woman held her husband's hand, her silent tears cutting through the dust on her face.
Malik, inside his armor, lifted Masayoshi by the head, pointing him to everyone on the street, then threw him directly into the center of the people. His voice, amplified and distorted by the loudspeaker, echoed through the silent street, perfectly captured by the transmission drones.
Malik:
"Look at your symbol. Look at the weakness. He thought he could challenge us humans, thought his willpower would be enough. He is just an animal, teaching everyone a lesson about the price paid for messing with us."
At that moment, he looked at the people who, instead of paying attention to Malik, were actually fixing their eyes on the fallen hero dragging himself away from the villain. Malik notices and goes after him, stepping on his feet, crushing him as if he were an insect.
Malik:
"Oh, now you want to run... show the world what you are. Show everyone the blatant failure."
Masayoshi, lying face down on the ground and practically broken, turns to Malik and fires a weak energy ray from his hands, making him lose balance and step off Masayoshi's foot.
But the hero wasn't trying to escape.
With a last, desperate remnant of energy, he propelled himself, not away, but diagonally—a suicidal movement towards a child watching, paralyzed by terror. She closed her eyes, expecting the impact...
That never came.
Instead, Masayoshi's hands, injured and firm, grabbed a heavy concrete beam that, loosened by the fighting, was falling directly onto the small being. The effort made something crack inside him, maybe a rib? It didn't matter.
Masayoshi:
His voice came out as a breath, only for the child's ears. "Calm... I won't hurt you... I'm here to protect... you... even if I have no breath left..."
The people, dumbfounded by the situation, found themselves in a moral impasse, for they saw Malik as a hero and Masayoshi as the real villain. But that... changed something inside them. The soldiers were even more stunned, not expecting such an attitude from someone visibly incapable of even fleeing, Malik, realizing, goes for the hero, grabbing him by the neck.
Malik:
"Do you really think this little show will make a difference? We've eliminated beings much worse than you." The mechanical hands around his neck tightened more and more.
His mechanical fingers squeezed, suffocating, crushing. Masayoshi, with his vision darkening, looked at the crowd. He didn't see gratitude, he saw terror, the terror of knowing that could be any of them. That same silent injustice he swore to fight.
It couldn't end like this.
It was like a snap inside his skull, a primordial trigger being pulled. Masayoshi's hands, once inert, closed like a rope around Malik's mechanical wrist, a monstrous, raw, ancestral force emanated from his core. The Omega Energy, until then contained and fearful, gushed like a river breaking a dam.
With a roar from his guts, Masayoshi tore Malik's hands from his neck. Malik's armor groaned, before the tyrant could react, Masayoshi grabbed the plates on the chest of the armor and PULLED. The metal, made to withstand bombs, distorted with a metallic scream, though not torn off.
Enraged, a ray of pure energy shot from the open chest of the armor, hitting Masayoshi in the shoulder and throwing him back, where he collided with a building's facade. Glass showered down.
Masayoshi held his shoulder where the ray hit him.
Masayoshi:
"Are you crazy? There are people on the streets."
Malik, taken by rage, said,
"I don't care what happens here. As long as you're alive, the other billions of people will be in danger."
Masayoshi didn't hold back. He moved, a red lightning bolt. He exploited the only flaw of the colossal armor: its weight, while Malik turned with the slowness of a titan, Masayoshi was a machine of blows. Precise, devastating punches hammered joints, connection points, sensors, each impact was studied, the fruit of months training against robots.
Malik felt, through the armor's feedback, internal circuits breaking, systems failing. The danger was real, with a roar of frustration, he activated a last resort: a sonic bomb that exploded around him. The wave of brute force threw Masayoshi into the air, as high as possible, like a rag doll.
But the hero recomposed himself in the air, spinning with a smile. He slowly raised his arm, and his fist clenched, an aura of pure energy, dense as a miniature sun, formed around him. For those watching from the ground, the sight changed forever, he wasn't a villain. He was the symbol of justice, ready to descend with the fury of the sky.
Malik then began to prepare a powerful blow to hit him as he fell... he just didn't expect Masayoshi to descend like a fireball. His fist stopped forming an aura and became a powerful Omega blade, hitting Malik's armor squarely, not in the head, but in its center.
The impact was silent for a fraction of a second before an explosion of light and kinetic force threw everyone back. The Omega blade pierced the armor like paper, the glowing core went out with a snap.
The three-meter armor, now an inert metallic shell, toppled. Malik, inside it, had fallen. The false god had been toppled, the silence was absolute.
Some remaining soldiers retreated. Others, loyal, hesitated. Masayoshi, panting, illuminated by the remnants of energy dissipating from his body, raised a hand to stop them.
Masayoshi:
"Now it's over... Malik... everyone saw what you are."
Malik looked at the sky and saw many drones that had filmed everything. The people who were previously worried about Masayoshi now celebrated that evil was defeated and the hero could win, but Malik was cunning. He didn't accept losing so easily.
Pressing a button, he said,
"They... apparently chose you... didn't they? Then let them stay with you, in the end... I'll make sure this is nothing more than a quiet Monday..."
Masayoshi found his words strange, suddenly, an enormous shadow darkened Eden's streets. That floating statue that symbolized justice* (Act 1*) now hovered in the sky in front of the sun, with several robots changing its direction with huge thrusters. Malik was altering the gravity of that structure and was about to launch it at Masayoshi.
Masayoshi:
"Are you crazy?? You'll kill everyone on this street."
The moment he turned back, Malik was no longer there, as if he had teleported away. Despite his absence, the danger wasn't over. That statue, which once orbited the city, was now coming at an incomparable speed towards the streets, the people were in chaos, not knowing what to do. This would be impossible to stop... but there were still many people on the street.
In Masayoshi's mind, chaos echoed but was quickly silenced by a memory. The memory of himself, months ago, paralyzed in an alley, watching a life being taken, the voice of a weaker self echoed:
(I don't... want them to die!)
(I don't want to see them suffer anymore!)
(Why won't my mouth open!?)
(Why am I trembling!?)
(Why won't my legs move?)
.
.
.
(Well... I would be motionless if this were a few months ago... but...)
Here, Masayoshi wasn't stopped, his feet moved on their own, the hero had now been born, and he wouldn't let anyone leave there lifeless. With a great impulse, almost like a lightning bolt of energy, he moved through the people towards the enormous statue now just a few blocks away. He was determined to lose his life saving those people who, minutes ago, didn't even know of his existence.
He then arrived, meeting the statue's platform, he was practically floating when suddenly his feet met the ground. The soles of his shoes tore the concrete like a cutting blade, he couldn't let those innocents die, his feet were destroying the ground. His hands enveloped the cold metal of the platform, but in his mind, the pain he was feeling mattered little. He just wanted and needed to stop that statue.
The impact was like stopping a continent. Every muscle, every bone screamed in agony, the roar of the thrusters was deafening, he began to give way, his feet slipping, the crushing metal advancing inch by fatal inch. But his effort was such that the pain was insignificant. More robots arrived to push the statue, their thrusters were very powerful. Masayoshi was about to give in, his feet couldn't take that enormous load anymore....
But... someone touched his back... that same child who had been saved a short time ago now tried to help the hero by pushing his back.
Child:
"Please... save us."
People on the streets:
"GO FOR IT, KID."
"YOU CAN DO IT."
"WE'RE WITH YOU."
"SAVE US."
From Mr. Saba's office:
"Please, son... resist... I know you can do much more."
Mr. Hightremur:
"Kid, kid, you'd better push this damn statue, or I won't make this very expensive uniform."
People in the village:
"It was him. He saved us, I'm sure he can do it, he held a bomb!"
Even that young delinquent:
"Go, human, destroy those machines..."
Masayoshi glanced at the people calling his name, and he felt an enormous burning on his back. That same cape that once enveloped him appeared, It was enormous and hovered in the sky above all those people on the streets.
They looked up. A tone of light, transparent red began to envelop them, It was a call for protection. Everyone couldn't avoid the anguish until one person said,
Person:
"Hey, let's help him. It's no use standing here."
Then those citizens went to push Masayoshi. Adults, children, aliens, all were together for that purpose.
Masayoshi then glanced at all those people making an effort, and in an instant, his pupils filled with a blue energy that, when directed at the robots, a huge Omega sanction was released, piercing his mask and destroying each of those machines pushing the statue. The rain of optical rays didn't stop, Masayoshi, now freer, could move forward. He was only fighting the gravity of that enormous platform. His muscles were very tired, but it didn't matter anymore. It was his last resort.
He then managed to walk forward more and more, now able to grab that statue with just one hand. He prepared as if to throw a spear, brought his hand back, and projected the statue into the sky with all his strength, in a strategic direction to make it fall far from that city, the grand statue flew like a rocket spear and landed perfectly in that great red desert. That symbolized the demolition of false justice in that world. That was the beginning of the long journey of world salvation.
Silence returned, Masayoshi stood for a moment, a silhouette against the sun, the energy cape dissipating softly. Then, his legs finally gave way, he fell to his knees, absolute fatigue upon him.
And around him, there was no distinction of race or class, just people, united by shock, gratitude, and a new hope, in one colossal round of applause and tears of joy. The hero had fallen, but the saving legend had finally been born.