Dan and Stella exchanged a look, shock written on their faces.
— Th-that's impossible... we killed you! — Stella stammered, her breathing heavy.
— I saw it myself! — Dan took a step forward, clenching his fists. — I burned your body, I watched you fall into the void!
Hazau threw his head back and laughed, a deep, distorted laugh that reverberated off the abyssal walls.
— You're right, boy… you won. — his voice spread like the echo of a thousand voices. — But in the stupidest way possible. You threw an Abyssal being… into his own home. — his eyes glinted like living embers. — Down there, with infinite energy to recover, it was easy to come back and help the portal's release process.
He licked his teeth with sick pleasure. — You're pathetic even in victory.
Hazau took a few steps, until he noticed Amara behind the others. His smile widened even further.
— So that's it… you got a reinforcement. — his tongue curled around the words as if savoring poison. — Karmore... Or rather, Amara… I always knew you would betray us at some point. I felt it inside you. A side that leans toward what these mortals call 'right.'
He raised his hand, long fingers cracking. — That side I always wanted to crush. That side I always dreamed of killing. And today… it seems I will finally fulfill one of my greatest desires.
Amara stepped forward, facing Hazau firmly, even under the suffocating weight of his presence.
— Of all I've met, you… and Vernasha… are the only ones who simply appeared out of nowhere. — her voice trembled slightly, not from fear, but from contained fury. — Jouki… was an experiment of Dr. Isha. Kaze… a spirit corrupted by Dante. Myself… a stolen child, molded into a weapon. We all have origins, scars, explanations.
She narrowed her eyes. — But you two… you have no roots. No past. And yet Dante welcomed you… as if he already knew you. That… is strange. That terrifies me.
Hazau smiled, spreading his arms as if receiving applause.
— Excellent observation, little one. But it doesn't matter. — his voice became guttural, reverberating like thunder. — All you need to know is that it will be extremely… gratifying to crush each one of you until not even ashes remain.
The Abyssal energy began to tremble around them, the ground cracking in black stripes that glowed like inverted lava.
Tekio took a step forward, his firm gaze burning with defiance.
— Go to hell. You're not crushing anyone.
Dan and Stella lined up beside him, bodies tense, ready. The cold wind raised the dust around them, as if the ruin itself were breathing with them.
Hazau narrowed his eyes, observing each one. His mocking expression gave way for a moment to seriousness.
— The boy… Tekio… — he murmured. — He's different…
And then, as if the discovery were cause for celebration, he let out a low laugh, laden with anticipation.
— Let's go, then.
Stella took a deep breath, keeping her eyes fixed on the enemy.
— It's been a while since we fought like this, huh? The three of us together.
Dan nodded, offering a half-smile.
— Let's show how much we've grown.
Tekio's gaze shifted for a moment, fixing on Amara. She had already stepped forward, her body firm, white hair swaying in the wind. Without needing words, she simply positioned herself beside them.
In that moment, they were not isolated individuals, but a unit. Four forces that, when united, formed something greater.
Hazau licked his lips, like a predator about to bite. The scene for him was a feast: four prey deluded by their own confidence.
The wind howled, lifting debris. The ruins creaked like old bones. Then, the first move was made.
From the ground, twisted beams advanced like steel serpents; thorns emerged, seeking to tear them apart. But the four were already in action: leaps, dodges, every movement precise, laden with determination.
Hazau raised his hands and, in an instant, his body multiplied into dense shadows. Identical clones appeared all around, advancing in unison, a swarm of predators against four hunters.
And so, under the biting cold and suspended dust, the combat began.
The wind cut like razors at nearly a hundred meters high, as the group faced Hazau's suffocating presence. The colossal trunk, made of living, pulsating wood, served as an arena for a combat that seemed to defy nature itself.
Hazau watched in silence, his cruel smile not hiding his internal calculations.
The blonde… She slows my recovery and disrupts my flow. Not a huge problem, but she'll be one of the first I'll want to kill.
His golden eyes slid to Dan.
The boy's flames have grown… but so has my power. We'll be evenly matched.
He raised his arms and, in response, the trunk trembled. Beams and roots sprouted from the ground, bending like serpents, seeking to separate the group every second. His clones charged forth, replicating his distorted form, each step carrying a pulsating energy that Tekio soon noticed.
— These clones… — he murmured, narrowing his eyes. — They're going to explode.
Stella and Dan were already positioning themselves side by side. In sync, they conjured their energies: shimmering arrows and concentrated flames. Each shot targeted a clone before it could reach the group.
Tekio, however, never took his eyes off the true enemy.
"This bastard is using the terrain to his advantage… keeping the combat at a distance. Why? This trunk is his area. We need to get out of here before it becomes our grave."
Hazau laughed low, the sound echoing like cracking wood.
— Enough playing, children. Let's see what you're made of.
His body contorted, reshaping itself. His arms elongated into black blades, sharp as guillotines, which shot toward each of their necks. The speed he gained was inhuman.
Tekio did not retreat. He advanced, eyes fixed, closing the distance. Dan accompanied him, flames crackling around his body. The two ran on parallel routes, as if they had rehearsed it a thousand times.
Hazau swung his blades in a wide arc, ready to reap everything in his path. But, before he could complete the movement, an arrow whistled through the air. Stella had fired with absurd strength and speed, the energy imbued in the tip like a golden lightning bolt.
Hazau had no choice but to raise his defense. The impact exploded against his blades, cracking his barrier and throwing him back a few meters. Smoke and wood splinters enveloped his body.
He laughed in the dark.
— You think you can blind me like that?
He felt Dan's approach through the ground. He turned his arm in a lethal slash, but the blade passed through a false body. The clone exploded in his face in flames, hurling Hazau against the trunk.
And before he could recover, more clones emerged from the smoke. One after another, they leaped and exploded, forcing him back, pushing him like pieces on a pre-arranged board.
Hazau's eyes widened amidst the detonations.
— What…?
The group had surrounded him. Each explosion wasn't just force, but strategy. They were guiding him, step by step, toward a destiny he had not chosen.
Hazau staggered amidst the fire. He tried to leap to escape the flames, but in mid-air he was caught off guard.
The real Dan appeared spinning, his body wreathed in white flames, and landed a devastating kick that exploded on impact. The blow was so brutal it slammed Hazau against the colossal trunk, crushing him against the wood with a thunderous crash.
The ground shook.
Hazau gasped, dazed, his skin raw, burning and deformed by a regeneration that could barely keep up.
He tried to get up, to gain sight, consciousness, and awareness, but of course they wouldn't let him.
Tekio wasted no time. He advanced across the trunk at speed, energy flowing from him and Yara in perfect synchrony. Every step accumulated electricity in his body, every muscle tensed to kill. When he got close, he initiated a brutal sequence: clenched fists aiming for joints, ribs, skull, vital points—precise blows seeking not just to injure, but to annihilate.
Hazau shuddered. Each of Tekio's punches pierced his flesh and struck something beyond—his very soul.
"These… these brats…" he thought, spitting blood and hatred. "I thought the light woman was the biggest threat… but these punches… these damned punches… feel like they're tearing my essence apart!"
Before he could react, Stella advanced. Tekio made space, and she slid across the wood like a golden arrow. Her ethereal blade of light shone and began to cut without mercy. Arms, legs, pieces of the trunk—every slash was a luminous arc tearing Hazau to pieces.
He screamed, trying to regenerate, but it was useless.
"I can't react! HOW?! How do these kids… have so much synchronicity and strength?!"
With a final cut, Stella hurled him against a gigantic beam emerging like a natural wall. And before he could recover, chains of light pinned him, crushing what remained of his body. Now, only his torso remained, pulsing with hatred and despair.
Hazau breathed with difficulty. His wounds tried to close, but his golden eyes could only watch.
Before him, side by side, stood Dan and Tekio, in attack stances. White flames burned around Dan. Lightning ascended from Tekio's body. Their energy roared, alive, unstoppable.
Behind them, Amara watched in silence. Ready to fight if needed, but marveling at what she saw.
It wasn't just blows.
It wasn't just technique.
It was synchronicity.
An invisible flow connecting Tekio, Dan, and Stella like intertwined threads of destiny.
The same bond she had once seen in Konan, Jade, and Yara. Not in power level, but in heart.
Hazau screamed in his mind, consumed by hatred. "I hate humanity! I HATE these brats!"
But it was too late.
The auras merged.
Tekio roared:
— ASCENDING LIGHTNING!
A flash erupted, blinding everything. Flames and electricity exploded together, and the impact made the wind howl, twisting the air in violent waves. The entire trunk trembled. The wooden wall shattered, and Hazau was hurled into the sky, burned, broken, with bones and muscles exposed.
For a moment, he found peace.
"It's over, isn't it?… I'll be able to recover… or have I died?…"
Then he saw it.
High above, against the cloudy sky, something golden cut through the air.
— To finish it.
Stella's ethereal blade shone like a sun.
And in one perfect cut, it traversed the void and severed Hazau's head.
The body plummeted, shattered, stripped of arrogance. An enemy who seemed eternal was now just falling ruin.
High atop the trunk, the three warriors watched in silence.
The cold wind howled, making their clothes and hair dance in the current.
Dan and Tekio breathed deeply, still on guard. Stella, firm, slowly lowered her blade.
Behind them, Amara was vibrating.
She hadn't lifted a finger. She hadn't needed to. Because those three, together, were something far beyond the sum of their strengths.
They were trust.
They were skill.
They were evolution.
And in that instant, they were invincible.
To be continued…