Hydro steadied himself on the shoreline, waves lapping at his boots. He spoke under his breath, almost to himself: "We gotta do a clean-up first." His voice was calm — too calm, like a storm gathering just beneath the surface.
He reached behind his back and carefully slid God Eater and Ghost back into his duffel bag, the weight of both blades familiar against his spine. With a fluid motion, he closed the bag, tightened the strap, and launched into motion.
His feet left the sand, and suddenly, he wasn't running — he was surfing. A dark manta-ray shaped silhouette formed beneath him — his shadow construct riding the sea in perfect tandem with every wave. Shadow Surf. The wind whipped his hair and salt-spray sprayed around his ankles, as if the ocean itself was bending to his will.
Ahead, the Magic Beasts roared from the island's edge, their shapes jagged and monstrous under the dusk sky. Hydro's shadow manta-ray arched forward, slicing through the water, drawing the beasts out — baiting them.
He launched into the air, the manta dissolving into a swirl of shadow, replaced by Shadow Wings unfurling from his back. He glowed faint blue and black, the wings beating powerfully, lifting him high above the water. The beasts followed, claws and fangs glinting, lunging upward.
As he flew, Hydro dropped into a dive, using Shadow Blast. His shadow aura pulsed outward in a shockwave, sending multiple beasts tumbling backward, their bodies erupting into black-petaled energy that dissolved before they hit the waves. The sea shimmered where they disintegrated, like ink dispersing in water.
Then came the spear. Hydro's hand glowed, and Shadow Spear formed — a jagged, dark-blue projectile of pure void. He flung it toward a massive creature whose limbs were tearing at the sky. The spear cut through the air, striking hard. The beast roared in pain, its body glitching and flickering as the spear tunneled through it, leaving a trail of shadow tears.
Not pausing, Hydro surged forward, wings beating faster, diving between two other beasts. He unleashed another Shadow Blast, this time in rapid succession — pushing them apart, forcing two to crash into each other, their roars echoing across the sea.
The fight became a dance: Hydro weaving, diving, turning his wings to stall, surfacing again just above the waves. He pummeled the monsters with blasts, spears, and bursts of shadow energy.
At one point, a huge beast — larger and more twisted than the rest — lunged at him. Hydro twisted in midair, his wings snapping like black silk, then dropped his momentum and soared upward again, slashing with God Eater. The slash glowed bright blue — Shadow Exchange — and he reappeared inches away, kicking the creature's jaw so hard it staggered.
He hovered above the water, his breath heavy, wings shimmering. The remaining beasts hesitated, unsure whether to continue the assault or pull back. Hydro's shadow aura pulsed with quiet menace, as if calling them out, but also warning them: Not here. Not yet.
Hydro didn't shout. He didn't need to. The beasts slowly drifted away, their shapes melting into distant darkness as the last echoes of his Shadow Blast faded.
He dropped from the sky, gliding on Shadow Wings toward the ocean's surface. The sea settled. The night sky stretched dark and infinite above him.
Hydro landed on the water — the waves rippling gently — and stood tall, drenched in salt and shadow, his duffel bag slung across his shoulder. The only sound was the gentle hiss of the sea, like a breath held in suspense.
He whispered, "Cleanup done."
The afternoon sky over the Japanese Sea twisted like static — as if reality itself was buffering. Hydro stood on the water's surface, shadow-wings folded behind him, still catching his breath from the cleanup he'd just pulled. The ocean was quiet… but not peacefully quiet. More like that sick silence you get right before a nightmare decides to jump you from the dark.
And then he heard it.
A metallic groan. A distorted horn.
Something wrong.
Hydro turned.
A battleship — one of Japan's largest models — drifted through the fog like a ghost dragged from a corrupted hard drive. But this wasn't a normal hijack. The hull was moving, pulsating, glitching as if a virus was eating it alive. Sections of metal flickered between physical steel and corrupted data, pixelating, then reforming as nightmare-flesh.
Thick, crimson-blue veins wrapped around the railings. Tendrils crawled over the command tower like digital roots. The entire ship looked like a living infection.
Hydro blinked once.
Then smirked like this was low-key fun.
On deck, the Konohagure Clan emerged from the corrupted shadows — guns, relics, talismans, sigils, and cursed trinkets strapped across their bodies like they were prepping for war against reality itself. Most of them stood steady. A few trembled. All of them looked pissed.
The ship moaned again, like it was alive.
Ryo snarled, tightening his grip on a shotgun wrapped with glowing red charms.
"Kuso… this thing's breathin'. I hate this."
Hiroshi spat over the side.
"Man, who the hell hacks a whole battleship? This is nightmare DLC."
Kenta pulled out a relic dagger made of obsidian and bone.
"Yo, boss said don't hold back. No survivors. Ship or monsters."
Daisuke cracked his neck, spinning a stolen mage-staff that crackled with stolen mana.
"Hey, if we die, I blame all of you."
Takeshi smacked him on the head.
"Shut up and shoot straight."
Hajime looked out at the sea, eyes narrowing as he spotted Hydro standing like some emo demigod on top of the water.
"…Oh, fantastic. The gremlin's here."
Hydro just grinned wider.
Not mocking.
The clan members all tensed as the battleship suddenly lurched forward — like it *saw* Hydro and wanted blood. The glitch-infection pulsed, spreading across the superstructure. Lights flickered. Cannons twitched toward him like hungry animals.
Ryo shouted, "EVERYONE STAND READY—THIS THING'S MOVIN'!!"
The ship surged.
The sea exploded behind it.
And Hydro took off running.
Hydro sprinted across the ocean, shadow tendrils forming beneath his feet with every step, letting him run like he was on solid ground. Each stride accelerated him faster, faster, faster — until his body became a streak of black and neon-blue tearing across the waves.
The battleship roared after him.
Towers of corrupted flesh-metal scraped against the sky. The glitch virus extended and retracted like lungs inhaling. Tendrils wrapped around the cannons, twisting them into monstrous heads that fired bursts of corrupted energy.
Hydro dodged one blast — then another — flipping off a wave's crest. He skidded across a shadow platform, momentum snapping his body like a whip. The ocean erupted behind him.
He laughed under his breath.
Not out of joy — out of instinct.
This was where he thrived.
On deck, Kenta yelled, "HE'S BAITIN' THE SHIP—DON'T LET IT TURN TOO HARD OR WE'LL FLIP!!"
Takeshi screamed, "SHUT UP AND HOLD SOMETHING!!!"
The ship cut through the water at impossible speed, matching Hydro's pace like a predator locked onto prey. Its engine roared, glitching between earthly mechanics and something demonic.
Hydro twisted left.
The ship twisted with him, nearly capsizing.
Ryo fell to the railing and shouted, "I'M GONNA SHOOT SOMETHING IF THIS KEEPS UP—AND IT BETTER NOT BE ME!"
Hiroshi fired into a vein-like mass on the deck. "STOP SCREAMIN' AND START SHOOTIN'!"
The bullet hit.
The infection shrieked.
The entire ship leaned violently.
Hydro used that moment.
Shadow Wings burst from his back. He launched upward, arcing over the battleship. Tendrils tried to grab him, reaching through the air like corrupted hands. Hydro kicked off a shadow step, flipped, and dove straight down toward the deck—
Then vanished into his own shadow.
He emerged behind the command tower, sliding across the glitching surface like he owned it, skidding between Konohagure members who yelled in panic as they fired at living steel.
Ryo hollered, "STOP SLICING THROUGH US LIKE WE'RE INVISIBLE, YOU LITTLE—"
But Hydro was already gone — sprinting across the deck, forcing the living battleship to turn sharply, dragging the Konohagure Clan with it as the infection fought back.
The ship lunged again.
Hydro shot forward, diving off the edge of the deck into the sea. He hit the water, shadow-surfs again, and kept running.
Hydro slowed down his pacing — not enough to get caught, but just enough to make the ship think he was tiring out. The battleship, acting like some glitching apex predator, lunged behind him, closing the gap.
Hydro kept looking back, making sure.
Timing mattered.
The clan yelled as the ship leaned violently.
Ryo: "IT'S GONNA RAM HIM!!"
Hiroshi: "THEN JUMP, IDIOT!!"
Kenta: "BRO, THE SHIP CAN'T JUMP—"
Daisuke: "SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!!!"
Then Hydro stopped suddenly.
Shadow wings snapped outward.
He vaulted straight up.
The battleship overshot, plowing forward, unable to stop its infected momentum — barreling into a rising swell that sent water exploding sky-high.
Hydro dove, twisted mid-air, and slammed his foot into the command tower.
Just enough force.
Just enough angle.
The ship turned.
But not under its own control.
Hydro's maneuver made it drift sideways, scraping against the waves, spinning in a wide arc. The clan screamed in unison as they held onto anything that wouldn't kill them.
Takeshi yelled: "HE'S USING THE SHIP LIKE DRIFT TOY—STOP HIM!!!"
Hajime: "YOU STOP HIM THEN!!"
But Hydro didn't even bother answering.
He dropped back to the ocean, letting the ship spin.
Then he took a deep breath.
And disappeared into the water.
The ship frantically searched for him — the infected metal twisting its cannons, scanning, trembling like a beast robbed of prey.
The Konohagure Clan froze.
"Uh… where'd he go?" Daisuke muttered.
Ryo's face turned pale.
"No. No no no. I KNOW that silence. That silence means—"
A shadow spike erupted from beneath the ship.
Hydro's attack pierced the hull, shaking the entire deck. The battleship buckled, groaning like a sinking monster. The clan fell in all directions, yelling curses that echoed across the sea.
Hydro burst up from the water with Shadow Wings, eyes burning blue.
He whispered:
"Round two."
Far from Hydro's battle, across the sky, six silhouettes arrived like falling stars — descending with trails of black, violet, and dark-green flame. Each one was a different kind of nightmare. Each one a powerhouse.
Noirach — the humanoid spider, wreathed in jagged armor made of void and bone.
Tensilang — the serpentine samurai with twin katanas, dripping with glitch-fluid and black mist.
Dreadmaw — a colossal shadow-dinosaur with jaws big enough to split buses.
Umbrion — the sleek, tanked entity with blades of pure shadowlight.
Terra — the fastest and swiftest knight with a heavy sword in his hands.
Doctor Totem — the mad puppeteer and the orc shaman wrapped in talismans and stitched flesh.
Their shadow minions poured from rifts behind them — thousands of spectral beasts, soldier-shades, and floating sigils glowing in the dark.
The sea around Aogashima Island erupted as Magic Beasts surged across the field — shrieking, snarling, tearing at anything in reach.
Noirach raised his massive arm and roared, "FORWARD! PURGE EVERYTHING THAT BREATHES!!!"
His minions obeyed instantly, charging into the horde.
Tensilang floated above the battlefield, twisting his long katanas through the air, chanting in a corrupted dialect. Glitch-sigils formed around him, firing beams of shadow energy that erased entire groups of Magic Beasts.
Dreadmaw slammed onto the deck of a smaller vessel, crushing a dozen monsters under his weight. His roar alone created shockwaves, scattering more creatures into the sea.
Umbrion moved undetected, flickering into existence behind magic beasts and slicing them apart faster than they could scream.
Terra slammed his sword onto the ground, causing pillars of stone-shadow to erupt, skewering beasts, then collapsing into dust and reforming again.
Doctor Totem, laughing like a lunatic, released shadow puppets that wrapped around enemies, draining them dry, leaving mummified husks behind.
The sky burned black.
The sea raged.
Magic Beasts clawed, bit, shrieked — but the Shadow Soldiers tore through them like the apocalypse itself.
They didn't fight like allies.
They fought like predators competing for the highest kill count.
Shadow minions swarmed waves, dragging beasts underwater.
Sigils exploded.
Beasts cried out in agony.
The ocean turned darker with every passing minute.
Noirach decapitated a monster twice his size.
Tensilang electrified the water with corrupted magic.
Dreadmaw swallowed entire groups whole.
Umbrion moved like death incarnate.
Terra slashes, and every sword comes out like Zenith in Terraria, collapsed on fleeing enemies.
Totem stitched corpses into new puppets mid-battle.
It was an orchestra of destruction.
A massacre in perfect rhythm.
A duet of shadow and slaughter.
Hydro fought the battleship.
The Shadow Soldiers massacred beasts.
The island trembled.
And far above the clouds…
Something else watched.
A presence older than the islands.
Older than gods.
Its eye opened—
Maroon and light red—
Leaving a trail across the sky.
Commander Jaeger saw it first from the bridge of another ship. His breath hitched.
"What… what is that?"
The maroon-light-red trail streaked across the heavens — fast, deliberate, coming straight toward the battlefield.
The storm over the sea didn't just rumble — it cracked, like the sky itself finally had enough of everyone's bs. Hydro stood on the churning dark water, wings folded tight against his back, chest heaving as the infected battleship kept twisting in the distance like a glitch trying to become alive.
Then something sliced across the sky.
A maroon-and-light-red streak — impossibly fast, disturbingly precise — cut straight down toward Hydro, like the universe was firing a sniper shot.
Hydro barely turned his head when—
CLAP.
His hand snapped up and caught a throat.
A throat that wasn't human.
A throat pulsing with celestial code and maroon energy.
The impact didn't send waves — it froze the ocean for a split-second, water rising around Hydro like glass before collapsing again.
Hydro's eyes narrowed.
He already knew.
Everyone in the Judgment System had whispered the name like a curse.
The Arbiter.
The Architect of Verdict.
The Executioner of Cosmic Law.
The Maker of the system that almost ended Hydro's life countless times.
The Arbiter grinned, unbothered by Hydro's grip crushing into his neck.
"Hydro," he said, voice glitching like broken radio. "Hah… it's really you. Been waiting a long time for this."
Hydro tightened his hold — the shadows around his arm rippling like ink boiling underwater.
The Arbiter's grin widened.
Then he cocked his fist back—
Hydro moved first.
A flicker.
A pulse.
A blink-and-you-miss-it distortion.
Shadow Exchange.
Hydro vanished — and reappeared behind Arbiter, choking him from another angle, twisting the momentum. But Arbiter reacted instantly, driving his elbow back with god-tier precision.
Hydro ducked.
The air exploded.
Arbiter spun, throwing a punch straight toward Hydro's skull.
Hydro dropped into a shadow puddle, sliding under the punch, popping out behind Arbiter again.
"Guess I got no choice," Hydro muttered, hand rising.
His Shadow Crest glowed.
The sea darkened.
A circle of frost-cold black runes opened beside him.
Crystals grew out of the void.
Blue fire dripped upward.
Cold air stabbed the battlefield like winter arriving early.
From that swirling rift stepped—
Cryzor, Shadow General of the Ice Elves.
Tall.
Elegant.
Deadly.
Armor made of cracked frost and voidstone.
Hair like glaciers braided with shadow.
Eyes glowing cyan, colder than murder.
Behind him, dozens of Shadow Ice Elves marched out — each one armed with icy void spears, bows crystallized from frozen darkness, and blades that emitted cold so sharp it could cut nerves before flesh.
Cryzor bowed slightly.
"Liege."
Hydro didn't waste time.
"Cryzor, disarm them. Arbiter, Let's go somewhere."
Arbiter tried to interrupt — but Hydro flicked his wrist.
Shadow Exchange.
In a blink — Hydro and Arbiter BOTH vanished into the void, sucked into a distortion that sealed behind them.
Cryzor stared at the fading shadow gate.
"…I've returned to this battlefield after too damn long," he muttered. "I hate waiting."
He pointed his spear toward the corrupted battleship.
"ICE ELVES — DISARM."
A silent wave of frost tore across the ocean.
Shadow Ice Elves sprinted over the water as if it were solid ground, forming glacial trails behind them. The temperature dropped so fast even the sea mist froze mid-air.
The battleship — still glitch-infested, writhing with virus tendrils — turned its cannons toward them.
Cryzor lifted one hand.
"Scatter."
Ice Elves darted apart with supernatural speed.
The corrupted ship fired — beams of red glitch energy slicing through the night like demonic lightning. But the Ice Elves were already gone, reforming behind the shots, their silhouettes flickering with cold shadow.
Cryzor stomped once.
A glacier erupted under him, launching him into the air.
He somersaulted, spear glowing blue-black.
The battleship tried to target him—
Too late.
Cryzor hurled a javelin of absolute-zero frost straight into the ship's hull.
The moment it hit —
FWOOOM—CRACK—BOOM!
The infection shrieked, pulling back like something in pain.
A frozen crater spread across the side of the battleship, glitch-flesh struggling to defrost. Ice Elves poured in from all sides, firing icicle arrows and slashing through corrupted tendrils.
One Elf got grabbed by a virus limb—
Cryzor snapped his fingers.
The entire limb froze solid.
The Elf shattered free with a single kick.
The arbiter and Hydro were gone, locked in their own dimension.
Cryzor was in charge now.
And he was craving blood.
"Freeze the infestation," the General ordered. "Break the ship. Leave the humans."
The elves howled in unity — a cold, sharp sound that vibrated the sea.
And the massacre began.
Meanwhile, back on shoreline—
The battlefield was chaos.
Magic Beasts flooded the sands.
Shadow minions charged across the terrain.
And in the middle of the burning coastline…
Bea cracked her neck and gripped her new tonfa — the shadow version of her Tonfa.
The design changed.
The tonfa was now matte black, pulsing with blue fire veins, blades forming when she swung too fast.
Bea:
"Alright… round two, but make it fashion."
She dashed forward and slammed her tonfa into a Beast's jaw, cracking it sideways. A blade erupted from the end of her tonfa mid-swing, slicing the creature clean through.
Kai sprinted past her, Folding Blades shifting shape like origami turning deadly.
"Oh we stylish now? Bet."
Atlarus slammed her halberd — now shadow-forged — into the sand and ripped it upward, creating a crescent shockwave that sent Magic Beasts tumbling.
Her halberd was taller, darker, sharper — runes glowing across the blade.
Atlarus:
"I can walk again! Yes!"
Terry leaped in, her gauntlets now glowing with shadow plasma, each punch exploding like miniature grenades.
Terry:
"BACK THE HELL UP—WE AIN'T DYING TODAY!!"
She uppercut a Beast so hard it cratered into the sand.
Kristine fired her shadow-crossbow with Mina piggybacking behind her.
Mina held onto her tightly, pointing at enemies with panic:
"THERE—MISS KRISS, SHOOT THAT ONE!!"
Kristine:
"Gotchu, sweetheart—hold tight!"
The arrow split into six mid-flight, landing in a perfect circle before erupting into a black flame dome that burned everything inside.
Yurei stood at the cliffside, his shadow bow extending into a full, arcane longbow with three separate strings.
He drew one arrow —
Three shadow arrows formed automatically.
Yurei:
"Yo—this is sick."
He fired — the arrows split into nine and annihilated an entire line of beasts in silence.
Nate twirled his Twin-Bladed Staff, now wrapped in shadow glyphs that extended the blades with every rotation.
Nate:
"Aight, ima be real with y'all… this is the coolest weapon I've ever held."
He spun the staff so fast shadows spiraled outward, shredding beasts left and right.
Bea:
"Ayo we're actually doing WORK—"
Kai sliding across the beach:
"We always do work—Hydro just makes it flashier!"
Terry cracking another skull:
"And way more psychotic!"
Atlarus slicing two beasts in half:
"He always had a dramatic flair."
Kristine shooting rapid fire:
"Girl, WHAT flair? He just shows up amd we never get to tell him!"
Yurei firing another volley:
"Honestly? Accurate."
Nate laughing while killing monsters:
"Facts."
The group fought as one —
faster, sharper, stronger.
Hydro's shadow energy didn't turn them into monsters…
It amplified who they already were.
Their teamwork was insane.
Their banter was chaotic.
Their damage output? Criminal.
But they weren't done.
Bea spun her tonfa and yelled:
"ALRIGHT GUYS — FINAL SWEEP!!"
Everyone charged together — Kai flipping over Atlarus' halberd swing; Terry landing a punch that synced with Yurei's arrows; Kristine firing cover bolts as Nate cut down everything around them.
The battlefield turned into a rave of shadow-blue sparks.
Magic Beasts didn't stand a chance.
Hydro's allies —
his friends —
had finally returned to full strength.
And they were unstoppable.
Meanwhile… Hydro and the Arbiter crash through floating buildings.
Far away, in a space between spaces—
Hydro pinned Arbiter against a wall of glitching void-light.
Arbiter wiped blood from his lip, smirked, and said:
"You think shadow tricks scare me?"
Hydro's voice dropped.
Low.
Cold.
Dead serious.
"No. But I'm done being hunted."
The void trembled.
Arbiter laughed like a man who wanted a fight so bad he didn't care if he died.
"Then show me."
Hydro didn't even blink. Just one casual little finger-click — snap — and the whole damn sky decided to lose its mind.
At first, nothing happened. Just wind brushing loose dust across the ruins, magic beasts still screeching across the battlefield, the Arbiter floating above it all like some smug cosmic judge ready to drop a sentence on humanity.
Then the light changed.
Slow. Creeping. Like the world itself suddenly felt wrong.
The Arbiter froze mid-air, eyes narrowing.
"…Wait."
Far beyond Earth, way out past the blue, the MOON started sliding. Actually moving — way too fast, way too clean, like someone just grabbed it and dragged it by hand.
And then the Sun — that untouchable fireball that's been roasting us since forever — started shrinking behind it, swallowed by a circle of shadow. But instead of the normal black-out, the rim of sunlight bent, warped, and bled into a deep electric blue.
An eclipse.
But not a normal one.
Not even close.
Light hit the horizon like a shockwave, bouncing off skyscrapers, rivers, car windows, everything — blue sunbeams that looked unreal, like the Earth entered some cosmic photo filter.
People freaked out instantly.
Manila, Philippines —
A group of teens hanging out under an overpass halted mid-scroll, staring up.
"Yo what the—? Why is the Sun BLUE??"
"That's not a global warming anymore, that's global WARNING."
New York City — Times Square
Tourists screamed, pointing phones at the sky.
"It's an eclipse? It shouldn't be today— why is it blue?!"
"Google ain't tell me about this! Somebody reboot the weather!"
Tokyo — Shibuya Crossing
Crowds froze mid-stride. People whipped out phones like they were about to catch a legendary Pokémon.
A mom shielded her kid:
"Don't look directly! Don't— stop!!"
Screens glowed as everyone filmed anyway.
Berlin — Alexanderplatz
A street musician just dropped his guitar.
"Yo… we good? This feels like boss-fight energy."
Dubai — Downtown
Drivers abandoned their cars on the highway, staring up through their windshields.
"It's daytime— why is it going DARK??"
São Paulo — Rua Augusta
People leaned out apartment windows, arguing.
"That's not a normal eclipse!"
"Doesn't matter! It's still pretty! I'm posting it!"
London — Piccadilly Circus
A whole café emptied out into the street.
A barista whispered:
"Bruv… our solar panels doesn't even have enough power ."
Back on the battlefield — the Arbiter felt the shift first. Magic surged across the air, thick, blue, electric. He floated backward a bit, like instinct told him to *not* get too close.
His eyes widened — not in fear, but in a violent, offended shock.
"Helio-Menekinesis… You…!"
Hydro hovered across from him, arms loose at his sides, expression so calm it was disrespectful. His hoodie rippled in the light, shadows curling around him like smoke.
"I've been cookin' since Soma handed me that extra power," he said, voice steady, cold, almost bored. "Yeah it's early. Yeah I'm not supposed to use it yet. But hey— life ain't fair. Try me."
The Arbiter's jaw clenched.
"You dare manipulate the Sun and the Moon themselves?!"
Hydro shrugged.
"Bro I literally said try me."
Blue eclipse light rained over him — and instantly the shadows around his body FLARED, reacting like they'd just been fed steroids.
The Arbiter clicked his neck.
"Very well. Let the heavens judge you."
The world didn't even get a warning.
BOOM—!!
Both of them rocketed upward at the same moment, pressure shattering the air into shockwaves that rippled all the way to the ocean. Buildings trembled. Birds fell out of the sky. The ground cracked like old bones waking up.
They launched themselves above Earth — so high the clouds became small smudges beneath them.
The blue eclipse bathed space in ghost-light.
Then everything went insane.
The Arbiter struck first.
A vertical slash made of condensed cosmic energy tore through the air, bending gravity around it. It screeched like ripping metal as it closed in on Hydro.
Hydro flickered — literally flickered like a glitch — and it passed through nothing but shadow.
He reappeared behind the Arbiter, fist drawn back.
Shadow Blast.
A point-blank wave of compressed dark energy detonated from Hydro's palm, exploding on the Arbiter's back and launching him across the sky like a comet.
But the Arbiter recovered instantly, wings of white cosmic light erupting behind him as he stopped mid-air and snapped his fingers.
The floating buildings began.
Chunks of old Tokyo, broken skyscraper pieces, ruined bridges, cars, entire street blocks just— lifted.
Gravity bent sideways. Upward. Downward. All wrong.
Debris hovered around the two like a storm frozen in time.
Hydro cracked a smile.
"Damn. You're flashy."
The Arbiter clenched his fist. "I will bury you under the sins of your world."
He thrust his hand forward and EVERY floating object shot toward Hydro at light-speed.
Hydro exhaled.
"Shadow Wings."
Black feathered wings ripped out from his back — sharp, jagged, and radiating some unnatural aura. They snapped outward, and Hydro pushed off them like rocket boosters.
He surfed through the air, dodging building fragments, flipping over cars, weaving between collapsing chunks of concrete.
The Arbiter chased him, throwing cosmic spears, beams, and gravitational bursts.
Hydro curved sharply downward — the city-size battlefield spinning around him.
He extended his hand. Shadows gathered into a long, jagged lance —
Shadow Spear.
He hurled it with all his weight.
The Arbiter tried to deflect — too slow.
The spear pierced clean through his shoulder, pinning him to a floating slab of asphalt.
The Arbiter growled, ripping the spear out as dark vapor spilled from the wound.
"You insolent—!"
Hydro blinked behind him again and kicked him straight through another floating building, sending cosmic glass everywhere.
The fight only escalated.
The Konohagure Clan members were in full panic mode.
One of them yelled over the chaos,
"EVERYONE DON'T LOOK AT THE ECLIPSE! KEEP FIGHTING!!"
But honestly? Too late. Everyone saw it.
Didn't matter though — because something else happened.
The shadow soldiers — Hydro's summoned army — twitched when the blue light hit them.
Then their eyes glowed neon blue.
Darkness wrapped around their limbs.
Their forms thickened, sharpened — becoming far more monstrous.
Shadow advantage: 100%.
They charged at the magic beasts like total demons.
Shadow soldier #1 vanished into thin air and reappeared behind a beast, slicing its legs clean off.
#2 dissolved into a pool of black liquid and dragged a beast down screaming.
#3 pulled a tendril from its own torso and used it like a whip.
The battlefield flipped.
For the first time, the shadows were not the ones struggling.
But the Konohagure Clan?
Yeah, they were the opposite.
Even with all their training, weapons, and willpower, the sudden spike in magic pressure from the eclipse was wrecking them. Their bodies felt heavy. Their vision blurred. The beasts were multiplying faster than they could keep up.
Hiroshi swung his blade, panting hard.
"Dammit— we're losing ground—!"
Ryo blocked a beast's claws with a tonfa, teeth gritted.
"I can't feel my legs— what the hell is happening?!"
Daisuke tried to shoot a spell but the energy fizzled in his hands.
"Magic's unstable—! I can't cast—!"
One by one, they were overwhelmed.
A magic beast tackled Kenta, slamming him into a concrete pillar. Hajime tried to pull him free but got caught in a chokehold by another beast twice his size.
Takeshi stabbed a beast in the gut — but another grabbed him from behind, squeezing his neck with a huge clawed hand.
One by one, the strongest Yakuza fighters in Tokyo were lifted off their feet and...
Choke-slammed into the dirt.
Not killed.
Not wounded beyond repair.
Just— knocked out cold, bodies dropping limp, unconscious, immobilized.
Like the beasts were clearing the board.
The Konohagure Clan fell silent.
All of them asleep.
MEANWHILE
The giant armored monster Dreadmaw stomped over beside Umbrion, still clashing with minor beasts but clearly struggling.
Dreadmaw growled,
"How do we remove that thing in the Tokyo Tower?"
He pointed with a massive claw — and yeah, it was still there.
A huge pulsating glyph-like structure attached to the tower's peak, feeding a giant unstable portal swirling above the city like a blender made of lightning.
Umbrion flicked a blade of shadow from his wrist and sliced a beast in half.
"We split," he said sharply. "Three groups."
Dreadmaw snarled. "Explain."
Umbrion didn't waste time.
"One group searches around the tower — look for anything unnatural. Forced magic, containers, sigils, anchors. Anything."
"Second group moves underground. If the portal uses roots, veins, or magic channels, they'll be there."
"Third group stays in the air — watch for energy trails connecting to the portal. If it's pulling energy from multiple sources, we track them."
Dreadmaw nodded.
"Fine. But if we don't shut this down soon— the whole city's gonna get shredded."
Umbrion's eyes narrowed at the swirling portal.
"Hydro better hurry."
BACK IN THE SKY
Hydro and the Arbiter were both breathing heavily now.
The eclipse brightened. Blue light flashed like a heartbeat across the atmosphere.
Floating buildings drifted around them as they hovered face-to-face.
The Arbiter wiped dark ichor from his mouth.
"You shouldn't have awakened that power."
Hydro spat blood onto the drifting rubble.
"Yeah well, here I am."
The Arbiter twirled his staff, cosmic symbols glowing along its length.
"This eclipse… it accelerates the death of the world. You doom yourself."
Hydro cracked his knuckles, letting shadow wrap around his arms like armor.
"I don't care if it kills me. I care if it saves everyone else."
The Arbiter's grin twisted.
"Then fall with your world."
He lunged.
Hydro countered.
Their fists collided —
BOOOOOM.
A shockwave blasted the floating debris into dust and kicked the Earth's upper atmosphere into a ripple.
The final clash lit up the entire eclipse.
Light and shadow tearing reality apart.
Hydro's boots barely grazed a drifting chunk of concrete when he lunged back toward the Arbiter. The blue-light eclipse above them pulsed like a heartbeat, shadows rippling over Hydro's hoodie and face. His breath steamed from the cold of space, but his eyes?
Unbothered.
Sharp.
Cold.
The Arbiter floated opposite him, cosmic cape torn, ichor dripping off his jaw. Their energy warped the space between them — cracked starlight, bending light, twisting debris.
Hydro wiped blood off the corner of his lip with his thumb.
"So real talk…" he said, voice flat as ice. "Why the hell are you doing all this?"
The Arbiter didn't answer at first.
He just stared.
Expression blank.
Too calm for someone in a world-ending battle.
Hydro narrowed his eyes.
"You're not some mindless kaiju. You talk. You plan. So explain it. Why destroy everything? What's the point?"
The Arbiter tilted his head slightly… almost curious.
Then he spoke.
"To cleanse," he said. His voice was deep, steady, disturbingly serene. "To rebuild the world into its perfect form."
Hydro laughed once, like he couldn't believe the stupidity.
"Perfect? You're literally evaporating whole cities."
The Arbiter raised a hand, tracing a glowing circle of cosmic code in the air.
"The world you cling to is polluted by weakness. Fear. Inefficiency. Humans are fragile, emotional, divided… barely capable of survival without machines doing everything for them."
Hydro's expression darkened.
"And your solution is genocide?"
The Arbiter's eyes flickered with faint amusement.
"Not genocide. Evolution."
"Same damn thing," Hydro shot back, jaw tight.
The Arbiter folded his hands behind his back.
"Humanity's time is over. I will build a world where only Players exist — a society crafted from the strongest, the most capable, the most efficient code. No sickness. No regret. No chaos. No self-destruction."
Hydro's face turned cold as stone.
"You wanna wipe out everyone who's normal."
"Yes," the Arbiter said without hesitation. "Those who cannot fight do not deserve to remain in the new world."
Hydro scoffed.
"You're insane."
The Arbiter flinched — a slight twitch, like the truth annoyed him.
"I will give them a chance," he said slowly. "Through the Judgment System. Every human will be forced to evolve. Their bodies rewritten. Their minds re-coded. They will become Players — weapons capable of destroying anything."
Hydro stepped forward, shadows flaring off him like fumes.
"And if they don't want to be turned into… whatever the hell you're talking about?"
"Then they are deleted."
There was silence.
A long, heavy one.
Hydro's voice dropped to a whisper.
"You're sick."
For a brief moment — a flicker — the Arbiter's smile cracked into something unhinged.
"Well," he said. "I WILL REBUILD THIS WORLD… JUST LIKE I HAVE TO!!"
Cosmic gears burst out of his back — spinning rings of metal, wires, blades, mechanical arms — transforming him into a horrifying, weapon-packed monster. Like some demonic Inspector Gadget designed by an eldritch god.
Hydro's eyes widened.
"…Crap."
The Arbiter threw his head back and LAUGHED.
Not a human laugh.
A corrupted, mechanical, glitching screech that crawled under Hydro's skin.
Every new mechanical limb extended with weapons:
• cannons
• plasma blades
• rotating scythes
• missile racks
• high-speed drills
• floating laser halos
• even more cosmic tendrils
Hydro braced.
The Arbiter charged.
The entire floating battlefield detonated into chaos.
Hydro dodged a plasma beam by inches — it carved a crater into the drifting rubble behind him. A missile barrage shot toward his ribs; he twisted midair as they exploded past his shoulder.
A mechanical arm snapped upward like a whip — Hydro blocked with a shadow wall, but the impact split the barrier in half.
Another arm launched.
Hydro ducked.
A scythe spun toward his throat.
Hydro deflected with a forearm but the force sent him spiraling through chunks of ruined city.
He caught himself.
Barely.
"Damn— He's moving like he installed something over his whole body."
The Arbiter fired a barrage of lasers.
Hydro zipped sideways.
Another cannon fired.
Hydro somersaulted over it.
The Arbiter stopped holding back — and it showed.
Explosions filled the sky.
Cosmic light tore across the atmosphere.
Hydro was forced defensive, constantly diving, flipping, twisting out of every angle of death.
But then—
A missile clipped his shoulder.
Hydro spun, gritting his teeth, arm numb.
"That's it. I'm not doing this barehanded."
He reached into his bag.
Shadow rippled.
Space folded.
Hydro pulled out Ghost with his left hand — ethereal blade humming with Kabuto's spirit — and GodEater with his right.
"Alright," Hydro said, holding both blades in an X.
"Run it back."
The Arbiter launched.
Hydro slashed Ghost downward — slicing through a plasma scythe like butter. God Eater swung up — deflecting a laser barrage that cracked open the clouds.
He vaulted off a floating car, flipping over a missile swarm.
Ghost cut three missiles midair.
God Eater split a energy beam clean in half.
He pushed off air with Shadow Wings, weaving through the barrage like a damn acrobat with a death wish.
The Arbiter's attacks grew faster — dozens of weapons moving at once like a spinning storm of metal and cosmic light.
Hydro blocked from every angle.
His arms burned.
His lungs burned.
Even with two swords, the pressure was insane.
The Arbiter screeched with fury, launching a mechanical arm like a snake — Hydro ducked and sliced it off with Ghost, then rotated and cleaved another cannon apart with God Eater.
He spun both blades around him — a tornado of steel and shadow — blocking and cutting through a storm of projectiles.
But the Arbiter wasn't slowing down.
Not even close.
Far below the atmospheric war, the Shadow Generals sprinted through Tokyo's remains. Five towering, humanoid shadow commanders — each with different forms and powers — circled the massive floating Crystal attached to Tokyo Tower's peak.
Umbrion stepped forward, claws sparking with black light.
"This is the anchor," she growled. "Break it — and the portal collapses."
Terra lifted his massive hammer.
"Together. On my mark."
Their combined strike hit the Crystal —
CRAAACK—!!!
Shards erupted.
The Crystal flickered violently.
Dreadmaw snarled, "Again!"
They struck.
Cracks spread deeper.
The portal above the city spasmed, shrinking.
But then—
Umbrion paused.
His head tilted.
"…One anchor remains."
"What?!" Doctor Totem snapped. "Where?!"
Umbrion pointed at the sky.
At Hydro's battle.
"It's connected to him. The Arbiter holds the final anchor."
The generals froze.
And then their sensory runes activated, glowing red.
A timer appeared in the shadow-sight.
GREAT CALAMITY: 6 MINUTES
Tensilang's voice trembled for the first time.
"…If that anchor doesn't break…"
Hydro swung God Eater upward, cleaving through two more mechanical arms. Ghost parried a drill aimed at his face.
But he was slowing down.
Not his instincts — those were sharp.
His body.
The Arbiter's pressure was too much.
The weapons too many.
The precision too perfect.
Hydro blocked a laser with God Eater —
The impact sent him flying backward.
He slammed into a floating concrete block hard enough to crater it.
His ribs screamed.
His vision shook.
His breath caught.
"...nngh—"
He forced himself up, blades in hand.
But the Arbiter wasn't giving him space.
He was already there.
A mechanical claw grabbed Hydro by the throat and lifted him off the ground.
The Arbiter hissed, voice glitching like broken code:
"You… cannot… win."
Hydro clawed at the grip, shadows flickering weakly off his body.
The Arbiter slammed him into another chunk of building.
Then another.
Then another.
The third hit cracked something inside Hydro's chest.
He coughed blood.
Ghost fell from his hand.
God Eater slipped loose.
The Arbiter tossed him upward like a toy — then fired a point-blank energy blast straight into Hydro's stomach.
The world exploded around him.
Hydro's body crashed through floating rubble and fell toward the atmosphere — blue eclipse light fading behind him.
He tried to move.
He couldn't.
Shadows flickered weakly around him, like dying flames.
Above him — the Arbiter descended slowly, weapons ready, silhouette framed by the blue eclipse.
Hydro reached for Ghost.
Couldn't touch it.
His breathing stuttered.
The Arbiter raised one of his cosmic cannons, charging it.
"You will witness the rebirth," he said coldly. "Your resistance ends here."
The red air of Moon cracked like glass.
Hydro's body hit the dust with a sound that shouldn't exist — like a meteor screaming against metal. His vision blurred, limbs refusing to move. Arbiter stood over him, boots leaving no print on the ground, cloak glitching in and out like the universe couldn't decide if he was allowed to exist.
"Your resistance," Arbiter whispered, voice warping between three different tones, "has been recorded."
Hydro pushed himself up an inch, fingers shaking. "Man… shut up… I'm still—"
Arbiter's heel pressed on Hydro's chest before he could finish. The pressure wasn't physical — it was like code itself was forcing him down.
"Correct," Arbiter said, almost soft. "You are still. That is the problem."
And then —
He kicked Hydro so hard the planet bled dust into the atmosphere.
Hydro's body flew, crashing into a crater wall and sliding down, limp. His breathing choked, rapid, uneven. God Eater flickered nearby, its divine light sputtering like a dying star. Ghost lay half-buried in the sand.
Arbiter didn't even look back.
He faced Earth — a blue marble hanging in the void.
The smile behind his cracked mask could be felt, not seen.
"Phase Two begins."
And in a blink, he vanished.
A deafening boom shook the shoreline as Arbiter blasted through the clouds, turbulence exploding behind him. Sand whipped into spirals. Palm trees bent, nearly snapping from the force. Birds scattered like broken pixels.
Hydro's friends— all seven of them — turned at once.
Bea was the first to step forward, her tonfa drawn, jaw clenched.
Kai unfolded her twin blades, the metal catching the sun.
Terry's gauntlets ignited with a violent orange glow.
Atlarus braced her halberd, eyes sharp.
Nate spun his twin-bladed staff, grounding his stance.
Yurei notched a dark arrow, gaze cold.
Kristine loaded a quarrel into her crossbow with trembling hands but steady aim.
Mina gripped Kristine's hoodie, eyes wide.
Arbiter landed so gently it pissed them off more — like he didn't even respect the ground enough to disturb it.
He stared at them, head tilted, mask glitching across three different expressions.
Terry cracked her knuckles. "Where. Is. Hydro?"
Arbiter smiled.
Not a friendly smile — more like he remembered something funny from a nightmare.
"Oh," he said lightly. "He didn't make it."
Kai lunged first.
Kai came in like a bullet, both blades crossing for a clean decap strike. Arbiter slid backward without moving his feet — the ground itself pulled him away.
"That's not even fair!" Kai yelled.
"Correct," Arbiter replied. "I do not need fairness."
Bea cut in from behind, tonfa swinging. Arbiter's arm flickered into glitch fragments, her strike passing through empty static before his elbow drove into her ribs.
Bea gasped but twisted, snapping Mother Dear upward. This time, she connected.
CRACK.
A thin fracture spread across Arbiter's mask.
His head jerked.
He froze for half a second, like the hit triggered a memory he didn't authorize himself to feel.
Then—
A red syntax wave blasted out, hurling Bea into the sand.
"BEA!" Kai called.
Atlarus charged, halberd spinning in wide arcs. She fought like a storm — unpredictable, fierce, grounded. Arbiter raised a hand and the sand beneath her feet liquified into red code, dragging her down.
Nate flipped in, cutting Atlarus free with the staff's spinning edge, pushing her behind him.
"You're not touching her again," Nate snapped.
Arbiter opened a portal right beside Nate and kicked him through his own blind spot. Nate hit a boulder so hard it cracked in half.
"Correction," Arbiter said. "I touch what requires moderation."
Terry clashed straight-on, metal gauntlets colliding against red constructs. Sparks sprayed across the beach. Terry screamed through the pressure, pushing him back step by step.
Yurei shot a shadow arrow that split into twelve midair — Arbiter lifted one finger, and every arrow rerouted into the ocean like they obeyed him instead of physics.
Kristine fired bolt after bolt, each one catching on Arbiter's armor but not piercing.
Mina covered her ears, terrified.
Arbiter scanned the child with a shifting red lens.
"An unregistered participant. Strange."
Kristine immediately stepped in front of Mina.
"Back off."
Arbiter tilted his head. "Your protectiveness is unnecessary. I do not require her."
"Good," Kristine spat, trembling but solid. "Because you're not getting her."
Arbiter flicked his wrist. A red construct — shaped like a massive hand — smashed forward, the sand exploding upward like a tidal wave.
All of them were flung.
Bea tumbled three times and rolled to a painful stop.
"Tch… dude's built like a walking malware," she groaned.
Kai crawled to her side. "You good?"
"No. But I'm alive. Hate that for me."
Terry staggered up, blood trailing from her forehead.
Atlarus dropped her halberd, breath shaking.
Nate clutched his ribs.
Yurei held one arm limply, bow snapped in half.
Kristine shielded Mina as sand rained down.
Arbiter floated above the ground now, modulating his presence like a broken signal.
"These injuries are sufficient," he announced. "Minimal… yet discouraging."
The others glared at him.
Then Arbiter extended a finger — and pointed at their swords lying in the sand.
"Your weapons," he said, "will end this nuisance permanently."
Red syntax chains shot outward, latching around their weapons.
Bea's eyes widened. "He's trying to—"
"Steal our forms," Kai whispered.
"Overwrite our fighting styles," Nate muttered.
"Integrate us," Yurei said quietly.
Arbiter nodded.
"You understand. Compliance will reduce suffering. Resistance will—"
Suddenly he paused.
He looked upward.
The mask cracked again from the earlier hit — a thin fracture running across the cheek.
His voice glitched.
"Re—source… in—coming…"
Hydro lay motionless on the dusty surface, suit torn, eyes half-open but barely tracking anything. His body floated inches above the ground from lack of gravity. God Eater flickered faintly beside him, resonating weak pulses like a dying heartbeat.
His breathing was shallow.
His fingers twitched once.
Then stopped.
The stars spun in his vision like he was underwater.
"...i... can't… make it..." he whispered to nobody.
Silence.
Then the moon trembled.
His heartbeat — or whatever cosmic imitation he had — jolted, forcing his eyes to widen.
Ghost vibrated.
God Eater blazed for a second.
Something pulled at his chest — not physically.
Emotionally.
Like he could feel the fear of his friends across space.
He saw flashes.
Bea coughing blood.
Kai screaming.
Terry's gauntlet shattered.
Atlarus trembling.
Nate collapsing.
Yurei clutching his broken bow.
Kristine crying into Mina's hair.
Hydro's fingers curled.
"…hell nah…"
He forced one knee up.
His bones cracked.
His lungs convulsed.
Blood dripped upward into zero gravity.
He pushed again.
And again.
Until he was kneeling on the moon.
His head hung, hair floating faintly.
He whispered:
"I'm not… done."
Arbiter finished scanning the fallen fighters.
"Your resistance was statistically admirable," he said, "but ultimately meaningless. Without him, you lack any—"
Atlarus spat blood and screamed, "SHUT UP! He's not dead!"
Arbiter tilted his head. "Incorrect."
Kai lunged but fell to one knee mid-step.
Kristine hugged Mina tighter, whispering prayers.
Terry tried to stand but collapsed from a cracked leg.
Bea glared at Arbiter with tears burning in her eyes.
"You think just 'cause you got fancy powers, we're gonna fold?" Bea growled. "We are the only ones Hydro got us."
Kai dragged herself up beside her. "And if you think Hydro's gone forever… you're dumber than your own mask."
Arbiter chuckled.
Cracks along his mask pulsed, glowing red.
"I admire your delusion."
He raised a hand.
Red syntax charged around his palm.
The energy swirled faster.
Louder.
Violent.
"Let me demonstrate reality—"
Arbiter paused.
Everyone froze.
The air changed — pressure dropping like a god inhaled everything around them.
Yurei whispered, "…no way…"
Kristine gasped.
Mina pointed upward with tiny shaking hands.
"S-shadow…"
Arbiter looked up.
Hydro's silhouette descended through the atmosphere, breaking clouds apart like they were paper.
His eyes — faintly blue, faintly red — locked on Arbiter.
He wasn't smiling.
He wasn't screaming.
He wasn't even angry.
He was tired.
Heavy.
Crying without tears.
Arbiter's mask cracked a little more.
"…Impossible," he whispered.
Hydro landed — silent.
No shockwave.
No explosion.
Just… there.
He stood between his friends and Arbiter.
Hair messy.
Blood dried on his chin.
Suit torn.
Hands trembling.
But alive.
Bea sobbed. "HYDRO—!!!"
He didn't look back.
He spoke only one sentence.
"Touch them again, and I break your entire system manually."
Arbiter stared.
Something inside the mask twitched — anger, fear, heartbreak, something unidentifiable.
He stepped forward.
"So be it."
Hydro charged.
Arbiter glitched forward.
The sky tore open.
Their first clash didn't make sound — it erased it.
Sand flew upward in spirals.
The ocean recoiled.
Clouds warped into digital grids.
Ghost and God Eater spun in Hydro's hands like extensions of breath.
Arbiter countered with red constructs, chains, portals, and code-laced shockwaves.
Hydro ducked, blocked, twisted, using science-infused angles and gravity shifts — striking at vital points he remembered from the first fight.
Arbiter pushed him back with a glitch-light explosion.
Hydro skidded across the sand but slid into a stance immediately.
Arbiter said, "Your mortality—"
Hydro cut him off.
"Silence."
He dashed again.
The battlefield trembled under the weight of Hydro's glare.
Sand spiraled around him, the air cracking with pressure. The shadows at his feet swirled like they were breathing—alive, waiting, hungry.
Arbiter didn't blink.
Hydro inhaled sharply, voice dropping to something ancient yet painfully human.
"O heed my call."
The sky darkened… even though it was noon. The Blue Eclipse is back to it's roots.
The beach dimmed.
The shadows stretched like spilled ink.
Then—
Hydro sprinted forward.
Every footstep splashed darkness across the ground, spreading like oil. The darkness cracked open, forming circles—no, rifts—from which figures clawed, rose, and erupted into existence.
Shadow Soldiers.
Hundreds.
Fast, silent, disciplined as hell.
Their eyes glowed faintly blue, echoing Hydro's. They took shape as soon as they surfaced: humanoids with sharp armor, wolves carved from midnight, serpents of smoke, knights formed from fractured shade
All sprinted beside Hydro. Not behind him — with him.
Arbiter tilted his head, amused. "Summoning external units. Predictable."
Hydro ignored him.
The ground behind him ruptured once more — this time violently — as the Shadow Generals emerged.
Umbrion rose first.
A mountain of shadow muscle, dragging his comically massive broadsword behind him. The blade carved a long trench into the sand.
He lifted it like it weighed nothing.
"LIEGE," he bellowed, voice rattling the earth.
Beside him, Noirach unfolded like a nightmare origami — limbs sharp, feral, hissing through needle teeth.
"SSSssssservant reports," he rasped.
Terra stepped through calmly, sword already raised, posture flawless. No wasted movements. The knight moved like a man who'd fought a thousand battles before breakfast.
Dreadmaw crashed down next — a distorted T-Rex silhouette built from glitchy shadow. Its roar sounded like a corrupted audio file destroyed by bass boost.
Tensilang flashed into existence with twin katanas spinning at blur speed. His scarf fluttered behind him like an execution banner.
Cryzor, the Ice Elf Assassin, slipped through last — twin long daggers gleaming with frozen shadow. He didn't run. He glided.
DoctorTotem emerged as a rising tower, his orcish shaman frame expanding until he reached titan-size, eyes glowing with harsh green magic.
They formed a line behind Hydro.
And then…
All of them — absolutely every one — roared.
Hydro lifted Ghost and God Eater in a cross.
"This," he shouted, voice shaking the entire beach, "is my regards to Noctis."
The Shadow Army exploded forward.
Arbiter flicked his fingers.
Hundreds of portals erupted across the battlefield.
Beasts crawled out — red-coded monsters with jagged polygons for bones and glitching flesh. Some were dragonlike, some chimeras, some weird abstract creatures that moved like GIFs played backward.
Arbiter whispered, "Execute."
And hell began.
Umbrion charged the biggest beast, broadsword swinging like a wrecking ball.
Each impact shook the cliffside.
Every swing left a crater.
Tensilang leapt off Umbrion's shoulder, flipping into the air, slicing through a glitch-hound in eight clean slashes before landing without sound.
Noirach ambushed three red beasts at once, ripping through their digital bones like wet paper.
Cryzor assassinated anything that touched shadows — one blink, one cut.
Terra blocked a barrage of red syntax spikes, redirecting them into other enemies.
Dreadmaw opened his fractured jaw, firing a massive soundwave that turned monsters into broken static.
Doctor Totem stomped, creating dark-tower pillars erupting from the ground, impaling beasts through their cores.
All while Hydro dashed between them like a lightning strike, blades cutting through enemies with calculated precision.
He wasn't just strong.
He wasn't just angry.
He was focused.
No wasted motion.
No screaming.
Just determination.
Arbiter moved through the battlefield like a glitch ghost — teleporting, summoning beasts, redirecting attacks, conjuring red constructs shaped like spears, chains, and blade-wheels.
The battlefield looked like two armies launched out of a fever dream.
Far back, Bea and the others watched with horrified awe.
Bea: "Bro… what the hell did Hydro summon—?"
Kai: "No, no, I'm sorry — when did he have a wholelegion??"
Nate wiped blood from his mouth. "Shadow constructs… but on THIS level— this is insane."
Atlarus whispered, "They're… alive."
Yurei squinted. "They're not mindless. They're moving smart."
Terry braced herself. "They're like… a real army."
Kristine shielded Mina's eyes. "This is too much for her—"
Suddenly—
A gigantic Shadow Orc Soldier materialized beside them, towering and armored, holding a massive spear.
He spoke with a deep, rumbling voice:
"Humans. You must leave. This island is no longer safe."
Bea threw her arms out. "Not without Hydro!"
Kai: "Hell no!"
Terry: "He's our friend!"
Atlarus: "I'm not abandoning him—!"
Nate: "If he's fighting, we're staying."
Yurei nodded. "We stand with him."
Kristine clutched Mina. "We're not leaving Hydro."
The Shadow Orc slammed his spear into the ground — the shockwave silenced all arguments.
"THE LIEGE," he boomed, "MUST FACE HIS NEMESIS ALONE."
They all froze.
His presence wasn't threatening — it was protective.
He pointed toward the battling shadows.
"Go. NOW. We will secure the humans and remove all dangers. The Liege commands it."
Atlarus swallowed. "Hydro… commanded this?"
The Orc nodded.
"This is his war. Not yours."
After a long moment, Bea finally breathed out.
"…Fine. But if he dies— all of you are haunting me."
The Orc grunted, confused. "We already haunt."
Kai smacked her face. "Oh my god."
The Orc gestured them away.
In the abandoned event,
The shadow soldiers, despite batting literal digital demons, still found time to multitask,
Two Shadow Knights carried entire merch booths, running like football players with them over their shoulders,
A Shadow Spider wrapped up cosplay props in webbing and dragged them like suitcases,
Ice Elves froze melting ice cream machines to prevent leakage
Knights redirected falling stage lights with perfect sword taps
Spiders hissed at confused attendees and guided them to safety like a terrifying airport marshal
Orcs carefully picked up the entire judging table with one hand while blasting beasts with the other
The Dinosaurs roared at a group of con-goers taking selfies, scaring them into the evacuation path
A small Shadow Goblin wrote "TEMPORARILY CLOSED" on the maid café chalkboard before shuffling off.
It was absolute madness — but everything and everyone got moved.
Fast.
Efficient.
Safe.
Because Hydro wasn't just fighting.
He was protecting their world.
Arbiter turned toward Hydro, annoyed.
"You are stalling."
Hydro pointed Ghost at him. "Nah. I'm preparing."
"For what?" Arbiter asked.
Hydro smirked — tired, cracked, but still there.
"For your uninstall."
Arbiter's aura pulsed red. "Impudent."
A red portal opened above Hydro's head.
Hydro dashed forward, leaving an afterimage.
Arbiter countered with two beasts—their maws snapping shut—but Hydro slid under them, dual blades carving their legs.
Ghost cut clean through corrupted code.
God Eater burned red syntax like it was kindling.
Hydro's shadows surged around him, feeding his speed.
Arbiter created eight portals at once, firing projectiles from each direction. Hydro parried four, dodged two, shattered one, and tanked the final burst with a dark barrier from Umbrion's assist.
Shadow Generals swarmed around Arbiter.
He countered them with unbelievable precision:
He redirected Terra's strike with one fingertip. He teleported behind Cryzor and shattered his dagger. He blasted Tensilang with red shockwaves. He bent space to warp Noirach's claws. He froze Dreadmaw mid-roar. He forced Umbrion to one knee with raw pressure
Hydro broke the freeze using his own shadow to crack the spell.
Arbiter reappeared right in front of Hydro.
"For all your effort," he said, voice glitching, "you cannot defeat me."
Hydro spat blood onto the sand.
"And for all your power—"
He raised Ghost.
"—you still ain't special."
Arbiter swung first.
Hydro parried.
Their foreheads collided.
CRACK.
Both stumbled back, snarling breaths ripping from their lungs.
Then they charged each other again—
HEADBUTT.
CRACK.
Again—
CRACK.
Both of them refusing to fall.
Both bleeding.
Both furious.
Both locked in a collision of pure stubborn will.
Their armies clashed behind them.
The world trembled.
And the fight…
was nowhere near done.