After the intense battle in the endless school hallway dimension, Tetsuya Saito emerged through a portal to the Cosmic base, dragging Amelia Silverheart's lifeless form behind him.
Though bloodied, her body remained strangely intact, showing no signs of damage from a cosmic beam.
Meanwhile, in the cyber facility dimension, Riku Masusa assisted by the Tengu warrior Amy Mori had a far more savage confrontation with Shiki Goldheart.
He returned to the base hauling Shiki's mutilated corpse by the hair, the damage far more severe than Amelia's.
As both warriors arrived with their fallen foes, Maki and Kuro stood in silence. Riku cast a glance their way and said, "Only Paulo's fight remains."
***
Meanwhile, the warehouse where Izumi and Paulo was groaned under the weight of tension. Moonlight filtered through shattered skylights, casting fractured beams across the dust-choked air. Crates lay scattered like forgotten relics, and the silence was so thick it felt like the building itself was holding its breath.
Paulo Satoshi stood alone in the centre of the concrete floor, his green hoodie with red stripes fluttering slightly from the draft seeping through broken windows.
His black hair glinted under the moonlight, and his piercing blue eyes scanned the shadows. But it was the single green eye, the COSMIC EYE that pulsed faintly, like a dormant star waiting to ignite.
From the far end of the warehouse, the rusted metal doors creaked open. Izumi Morningstar stepped through first, regal and composed, his crimson eyes gleaming with ancient hunger.
Behind him, 300 vampires poured in like a tide of shadows, silent, coordinated, lethal. Their pale skin shimmered faintly, their fangs bared, their eyes locked onto Paulo with predatory focus.
Izumi raised a hand, halting their advance.
"I want to see how long you last, since you are here for revenge after all," he said, voice smooth as silk and cold as death. "They'll go first."
Paulo did not flinch. Instead, he cracked his neck, then raised his hand slowly. A faint shimmer of light and lightning danced across his fingertips. His stance widened, one foot sliding back, arms loose but ready. The COSMIC EYE glowed brighter.
The vampires spread out, forming a semi-circle around him. Some crouched low, claws extended. Others hovered just above the ground, their blood magic swirling in anticipation. The air thickened with killing intent.
Paulo's clone shimmered into existence beside him, mirroring his stance. The real Paulo smirked.
"Come on then," he whispered, voice barely audible over the rising hum of power. "Let's dance."
Paulo Satoshi raised his right hand, and with a surge of cosmic energy, a three-section staff materialized in a blaze of shimmering light. Each segment pulsed with celestial power, connected by chains of pure energy that crackled like distant stars colliding. The COSMIC EYE flared, casting a green glow across his face.
The vampires hissed in unison, their bloodlust ignited by the weapon's arrival. Paulo spun the staff once, the motion slicing through the air with a sonic boom. Then he moved.
In a blur of motion, faster than lightning he dashed into the horde. The staff became an extension of his will, whipping, cracking, and stabbing with pinpoint precision. Each strike was aimed with surgical intent, piercing through skulls and reaching the one vulnerability vampires could not regenerate from: the brain.
One vampire lunged, Paulo ducked, spun, and drove the staff upward through its chin. Another tried to flank him, he twisted, the staff coiling around his body before snapping out like a serpent, impaling the attacker through the temple.
They fell like dominoes. Ten seconds. Twenty vampires down. Thirty seconds. Fifty more. One minute. A hundred vampires lay motionless; their bodies crumpled across the warehouse floor like discarded shadows.
The remaining 200 vampires hesitated, their confidence shaken. Izumi watched from the shadows, arms crossed, eyes narrowed—not with fear, but intrigue.
Paulo stood in the centre of the carnage, staff humming with residual energy, breath steady, gaze locked on Izumi. "Next?" he said, voice calm, daring.
Paulo's cosmic staff twirled like a comet in orbit, slicing through the air and cracking skulls with precision. The remaining vampires had regrouped, their tactics shifting, more coordinated, more vicious. They swarmed from all sides, claws flashing, blood magic swirling.
One vampire, faster than the rest, darted beneath Paulo's strike and lunged low. A sickening crunch echoed through the warehouse.
Paulo staggered back, his right leg severed at the thigh, torn clean by a jagged blood-forged blade. He dropped to one knee, the cosmic staff clattering beside him. The vampire hissed in triumph, ready to finish the job.
But Paulo's expression did not change.
The COSMIC EYE flared violently, and his body pulsed with radiant energy. Lightning crackled around him, and in seconds, the torn flesh began to knit itself back together. Muscle, bone, and skin reformed in a glowing spiral of regeneration.
The vampire's grin faltered. Paulo stood again, whole, furious, and faster. "You got lucky," he said, voice low and charged. "Now it's my turn."
He grabbed his staff, eyes blazing, and launched himself back into the fray. The vampires had drawn blood, but they had awakened something far more dangerous.
The warehouse trembled beneath the fury of the battle. Vampires swarmed like shadows with fangs, their blood magic slicing through the air. Paulo Satoshi, surrounded and breathing hard, gripped his cosmic staff tightly. His COSMIC EYE pulsed violently, no longer just reactive, but awakening something new.
He closed his eyes for a split second.
Then opened them.
The green glow intensified, and a surge of energy erupted from his body. The staff dissolved into particles of light, absorbed into his hands. Paulo raised both arms, and the air around him warped, space itself bending under the pressure of his will.
"COSMIC DEATH BEAM BARRAGE!" he roared.
From his palms, dozens of concentrated beams of cosmic energy shot out in rapid succession, each one a streak of blinding light, infused with the power of stars. The beams tore through the air like meteor showers, targeting vampires with terrifying precision.
Each beam struck with devastating force, piercing skulls, vaporizing limbs, and disintegrating blood-forged Armor. The barrage was relentless—like a celestial machine gun firing pure annihilation.
Vampires screamed and scattered, but there was no escape.
In seconds, another fifty fell.
The warehouse lit up like a supernova, the walls scorched, the floor cracked, and the air thick with the scent of ozone and ash.
Paulo lowered his arms, steam rising from his skin. His eyes, both blue and cosmic green, locked onto Izumi. "Still want to watch?" he said, voice echoing with power.
Izumi smiled, fangs gleaming. "Oh, I am done watching. "The vampire lord stepped forward.
Paulo Satoshi stood in the eye of the storm, his COSMIC EYE blazing like a miniature sun. His body radiated power, and his newly invented Cosmic Death Beam Barrage had already carved through half the remaining vampires.
But he was not done.
With a flick of his wrist, cosmic energy surged again. He dashed forward, his speed blinding, and summoned his three-section staff once more. It spun like a cyclone, slicing through the air and vampire flesh alike. Each strike was precise, each movement a blur of deadly grace.
One vampire tried to escape through the rafters, Paulo leapt, spun mid-air, and hurled a cosmic beam straight through its skull.
Another conjured a blood shield, Paulo shattered it with a lightning-infused punch, then drove his staff through its brain.
Ten fell. Then twenty. Then fifty.
The last vampire lunged in desperation, claws extended, shrieking with fury. Paulo did not flinch. He raised his hand, summoned a Cosmic Slash, and cleaved the creature in two with a wave of radiant force.
Silence.
The warehouse was littered with ash and broken bodies. Paulo stood alone, breathing steadily, his hoodie torn, his cosmic energy still humming.
From the shadows, slow applause echoed.
Izumi Morningstar stepped forward, his crimson eyes gleaming with amusement and hunger.
"Well done," he said, voice smooth and cold. "Now let's see how you fare against me."
Paulo's stance shifted. The COSMIC EYE locked onto Izumi.
The ultimate battle was about to begin.