Flashback
William lay broken on the cracked earth, his blood seeping into the soil.
"You cannot defeat Ron," Rio said, looming over him like a shadow.
"I've grown stronger," William spat, coughing up crimson.
"As has he," Rio countered coldly.
"Then how?" William's voice trembled. "How do I win?"
"By embracing the 'Darkness After the End.'"
William frowned. "What is that?"
"An authority reserved for the Transcended."
William opened his mouth to ask how he could possibly attain such power, but the words died in his throat. A translucent, ethereal window flickered into existence before his eyes.
[You have received a new ability — "Darkness After the End"]
"I have granted you this gift," Rio said, his voice dropping to a whisper. "Now, go. End him."
William nodded, though a seed of doubt remained. "One more thing," Rio added, his eyes narrowing. "You can only use this once."
He's lying, William thought, his ego flaring. He just fears what I'll become if I wield this power twice.
But as the thought crossed his mind, a second, blood-red window appeared:
[Warning: This ability can be used once in a lifetime.]
Present Day:
"This is the last card he has to play," Sami muttered, his eyes darting through the oppressive gloom.
"Sami, I'm summoning the Relic," Rad announced.
Sami glanced at him. "Do it. I only asked you to bring it because I didn't think you had the mana left to pull it from the rift."
Rad nodded solemnly, his hands beginning to glow. "Too many innocents have died for this madness. I'm ending it."
Across the battlefield, William stood tall, his body knitting itself back together with unnatural speed. Ron stood opposite him, gasping for air.
"This is the end," William declared.
Suddenly, Ron's vision fractured. The world turned into a blurred smear of grey and black. Is it the needle? Ron wondered, his legs feeling like lead.
"Struggling to see?" William mocked. "That injection was a masterstroke. In this domain, darkness is the finality. It is the end of all things, and I am its master. No one surpasses the End."
William raised a hand. "This is the final round."
Ron swayed but forced his hand to move. He summoned the Blade of Vengeance, channeling a surge of lightning. But the moment the bolts left the steel, they warped, their trajectories bending toward the ground before simply... vanishing.
Shock rippled through Sami and Rad as they watched the laws of physics fail.
"Nothing surpasses the darkness," William repeated. But his triumph was cut short by a flickering error message:
[Alert: Ability imperfect. Flaws detected.]
William's jaw tightened. You should have told me that sooner, Rio.
Sami seized the moment. Activating his core, he realized he could still move. He lunged at William, their blades clashing in a shower of sparks.
"You can still use your powers?" William hissed, struggling against the parry.
"Barely twenty-five percent," Sami grunted. "What about you?"
"I am the architect of this void. I am its god!" William roared, driving a manifested blade through Sami's foot, pinning him to the earth.
Sami screamed, but a sudden, blinding light cut through the dark. William spun around to see Rad holding a shimmering, crystalline bottle.
"What is that?" William gasped.
Rad offered a sad, final smile. "Goodbye."
The bottle began to howl, creating a vacuum that pulled at the very fabric of the darkness. "NO!" William bellowed. The shadows coiled around the bottle like oily snakes, trying to crush it, but Rad held on with white-knuckled desperation.
Ron watched, his mind racing. I have to save them. I need more... I need HIS power.
An image flashed in Ron's mind: a silhouette with burning red eyes standing over his cradle. The Crimson King.
Ron's eyes snapped open, bleeding into a deep, terrifying crimson. A violent, blood-red aura erupted from him, incinerating the darkness. The shadows surrounding Rad's bottle fled, diving into the glass to escape the heat of Ron's new power. For a fleeting second, William was stripped bare, his divinity gone.
The bottle, unable to contain the concentrated essence, shattered in a violent explosion of light.
[Power Nullification Activated.]
Ron vanished. He reappeared instantly in front of William, his fist wreathed in a flickering purple flame.
William saw many message windows at once.
[ERROR] [ERROR] [ERROR]
[DANGER: LETHAL THREAT DETECTED]
What... is this? was William's final thought before Ron's fist connected with his jaw.
The shockwave was cataclysmic. Every bone in William's body shattered instantly. He hit the ground like a ragdoll, the remaining darkness erased by the sheer pressure of the blow.
In a high-rise office across the city, Rio watched the rain streak against his floor-to-ceiling window. He felt the pulse of energy—the death of a god. He smiled.
"So, William fell. Interesting."
Far away, at Liora's house, Ava and Liora gripped the furniture as the earth shook. In the hospital, Finian looked toward the horizon, his heart heavy. Ron?
Back at the crater, the silence was deafening.
William lay dead, his body pierced through the brain, throat, and heart by Ron's final, vengeful strikes. Ron collapsed onto his back, staring at the grey sky.
"We won," Ron whispered.
"Yes," Rad replied, his voice thin.
Ron turned to look at his friend. Blood was streaming from Rad's eyes, nose, and mouth.
"Sami..." Rad looked at his brother. "Thank you for being the best brother I could ask for. I'll see you... later."
Rad turned his fading gaze to Ron. "I'm grateful to have known you, Ron. Forgive me for my failings."
Rad slumped.
"No!" Ron scrambled over, pulling Rad's head into his lap. "Rad! Stay with me!"
He tried to trigger his ability. [Infinite Copy: Dream's Healing Activation Failed[
Rad didn't hear him. He was looking past Ron, a peaceful smile touching his lips. "Mother..."
His hand went limp. The light left his eyes.
Ron let out a gutteral sob, but it was cut short. A wet thwack echoed through the clearing. Ron's eyes widened as a hand, slick with blood, burst through the center of his chest.
He coughed, a fountain of red spilling over his lips. He looked down to see his own heart gripped in a stranger's fist. As he was shoved forward, Ron turned his head one last time.
Standing behind him was no monster or shadow. It was Kevin—grown, cold, and unrecognizable.
Ron's vision was about to go black.
"Dream, Ines, Ai and Ava. I am sorry. To all my friend, Forgive me for everything" He murmured,
His vision turned black. The world fell silent.