✨ CHAPTER FORTY-THREE — MONSTER MODE: THE EXECUTOR UNLEASHED ✨
The street warped under the Executor's feet.
Not cracked—
warped,
like the pavement itself was shrinking away from the pressure.
Its crystal musculature pulsed, glowing brighter with every breath.
Red energy swarmed through its veins like fire through shattered glass.
Dara's jaw dropped.
"BRO—WHY DOES IT LOOK LIKE IT'S ABOUT TO EAT THE WHOLE CITY?!"
Maya grabbed his collar and yanked him backward.
"Because in Monster Mode… it can."
Aiden stepped forward, golden aura expanding into a fierce halo of heat.
"Then we stop it here."
The Executor roared.
"VESSEL — PRIORITY: TERMINATE."
And then it moved.
---
THE FIRST COLLISION
The ground vanished beneath Aiden as he shot upward—
the Executor appearing above him instantly.
Aiden blocked—
BOOOOOOM—!!!
The impact cratered the street, pulverizing entire storefronts.
Shockwaves rolled across rooftops like collapsing waves.
Maya's threads flared silver, pushing Dara and herself into an alley before they were vaporized.
Aiden skidded backward across asphalt, boots grinding sparks.
"That… was faster."
Maya's voice cut in through the dust.
"It's no longer calculating. No patterns. No delays. It's running on instinct—pure destructive instinct."
Dara poked his head from behind a car door.
"That's not comforting!"
The Executor lunged again—
its crystal arm twisting unnaturally—
blades of red light forming from its fingertips.
Aiden met the strike head-on—
CLAAAAAAANG—!!
Golden-white aura and crimson distortion clashed, lightning ripping across the sky.
---
THE EXECUTOR'S EVOLUTION
The Executor's voice warped into a screeching chorus.
"Countermeasures obsolete."
"Adapting—ADAPTING—ADAPTING—"
Its arms split into four.
Its torso elongated.
A second pair of crystal wings burst from its spine.
Dara's eyes bulged.
"What kind of FINAL BOSS TRANSFORMATION IS THIS?!"
Maya's threads spun into a shield around them.
"This is beyond Omega-Class… This is unregulated evolution!"
Aiden cracked his neck.
"Good. More pieces to break."
---
AIDEN'S RETURN STRIKE
Aiden vanished.
Golden trails burned across the air—
He reappeared beneath the Executor—
fist drawn back—
silver threads spiraling around his arm.
WHAM—!!!
The punch launched the Executor backward, smashing it through a ten-story building.
Glass exploded outward in a glittering storm.
Dara pumped his fist.
"SERVE HIM, BRO!!"
But before Dara finished celebrating—
The Executor emerged from the rubble—
wings shredding the debris—
body glowing hotter.
It raised one arm—
energy swirling into a sphere of compressed gravity.
Maya grabbed Aiden's mind through the thread-link.
"Aiden—DO NOT take that head-on!"
He didn't listen.
He charged.
---
THE COLLISION OF POWERS
Executor and Vessel collided mid-air—
KRK-KRRRRRAAAAAAASH—!!!
Energy spiraled outward in a dome of white, gold, and crimson.
Roofs disintegrated.
Roads split like cracked glass.
Entire blocks shook.
The Executor grabbed Aiden's throat—
"VESSEL—DELETE—"
Aiden's wings flared.
"Not today."
He slammed both fists into the Executor's chest—
a golden burst detonating like a star fragment—
BOOOOM—!!!
The Executor was sent crashing into the Citadel wall, embedding deep into the metal.
---
THE MONSTER DOES NOT FALL
Silence.
Dust.
Then—
crack… crack… CRACK—!!
The Citadel wall split.
The Executor clawed its way out, body burning crimson-hot, armor fragments falling off like molten shards.
It was no longer humanoid.
It was a nightmare.
Maya's voice wavered for the first time.
"Aiden… that thing's core is overloading. It's not fighting to win anymore."
Dara swallowed.
"Then what's it doing?!"
Maya looked at the Citadel rings spinning faster overhead.
"It's fighting to destabilize the Vessel…
…so the Dominion can take him."
Aiden's aura surged.
"They'll have to break every bone I have."
The Executor crouched.
Its body glowed blinding red.
Its wings opened like a star collapsing.
It launched.
Aiden launched back.
The collision lit the entire skyline—
and the city trembled like the world was ending.