The Golden Guardian woke to pure darkness. Muffled voices drifted around her. She tried to move, but thick ropes bound her tightly to a chair. She struggled hard, muscles straining against the restraints.
Footsteps approached. Someone leaned in and removed the blindfold.
Bright light flooded her eyes. As her vision adjusted, Max stood directly in front of her, calm and unreadable. More than a dozen cloaked figures surrounded them, faces hidden except for his.
Back at the Golden Tower, Ethan paced restlessly across the Golden Guardian's office, boots echoing sharply.
"Come on, Ethan, calm down," Carol said gently.
"How do you expect me to be calm?" he snapped, voice thick with emotion. "No word from her since she left. It's been hours now."
Carol and Cain watched him in heavy silence. They felt the same fear, but without answers, all they could do was sit.
In the unknown location, Sonia and the Golden Guardian were tied to chairs. More than a dozen cloaked Anti members stood before them, faces covered except for Max.
Max raised a hand. A chair was brought forward. He sat directly in front of the captives.
"Why am I still alive?" the Golden Guardian asked.
Max exhaled slowly. "Because we need you."
"Who exactly is 'we'? What are you people?" she demanded. "What do you want?"
Max stared at her with that unchanging calm. He stayed silent for a long moment, then spoke.
"You all in the Golden Globe live in lies. You live in an illusion. We see past those lies… and you ask who we are?" His voice remained level. "You can call us the Anti. We are anti-Elders, anti-Golden Guardian, anti-Golden Globe — anti everything you believe in."
Sonia stirred awake.
"Good. She's up," Max said. He stood and walked out without another word.
Another Anti stepped forward and used Earth Flow to seal both women's mouths with tight stone gags.
Max turned back. "I can't stand the sound of your voices… but you're free to watch. I want you to see everything and know that you couldn't stop us."
He left the room.
Back at the Golden Tower, Ethan and Carol sat alone. Ethan's leg bounced with unease.
A scout entered and stood at attention. "Ethan, Carol — we went to the last known location. We found nothing."
Ethan slammed his fist on the desk. "Damn it!"
Carol dismissed the scout quietly. Once alone, Ethan lowered his head. "Those cloaked fiends must have her… I should have gone with her."
"Ethan, please calm down," Carol urged.
"You don't get it," he whispered, voice breaking. "I won't be able to live with myself if anything happens to Debra."
Carol studied him. His pain ran deeper than worry. "Ethan… it's obvious you love her. I'm curious, why do you love her this much?"
He stayed silent for a moment, then spoke softly, head still lowered. "Because she saved my life."
He exhaled shakily. "People say the Golden Globe has absolute peace — zero crime. That's a total lie. Those cloaked individuals aren't the first. Our Last year at the academy, the same thing happened. But those one's motives were clear: total control. They wanted to build an item powerful enough to destroy anyone who stood in their way. To do that, they needed the Golden Light which in our time powered the school. Me, Debra, and three other friends were out for midnight training when they attacked. The other three were killed. I would have been next… but Debra stepped in and saved me. I froze after watching my friends die, but she stood strong. She fought and defeated more than a dozen of them alone. The Elders covered it all up — said the three got early promotions to keep stability. After that night… I fell for her. Her strength, her courage — everything."
Carol listened in silence, eyes soft. She opened her mouth to reply when Ethan suddenly screamed, clutching his head and collapsing to the floor in agony.
Carol rushed to him, panicking. "Ethan!"
In the unknown location, blood dripped from the Golden Guardian's nose. Her body began vibrating violently, like a seizure. The cloaked figures noticed and ran to fetch Max.
Max rushed in and saw her slumped unconscious. He bent down, reaching toward her face.
She woke with a sharp gasp, breathing hard.
Max studied her for a split second, then quickly left the room.
The Golden Guardian looked at Sonia and gave a subtle nod.
...
Sonia's hidden power of her Flow- see through. By staring into someone's eyes, she could see everything they had seen in the last hour — and through anyone they had looked at. She traced Max's gaze through a chain of eyes until it led to a watcher outside their hideout: a sealed cave in a remote area called the Sand Lands.
With the Golden Guardian's help, they relayed the exact location back to the Golden Tower scouts.
Moments later, a dozen iron wheels carrying up to seven scouts each raced toward the Sand Lands at maximum speed.
In one wheel, Ethan, Carol, and Cain sat together. Ethan still held his head. "What a crazy way to send a message, Debra…"
The scouts began leaping from the iron wheels while still airborne, dropping toward the target.
In the Anti hideout, one member burst into the main chamber screaming, "Scouts! Scouts!"
From below, energy beams shot upward — fast, precise, lethal. Bel stood with her arm raised, firing devastating beams that pierced scouts mid-air.
"Prepare for battle!" she screamed.
More iron wheels arrived. Bel's beams couldn't catch them all.
Carol's eyes glowed with rainbow patterns from inside her wheel. She saw the entire battlefield clearly, spotting traps everywhere. She deployed glowing mini orbs that guided the scouts to safe landing zones.
Dozens of scouts landed safely. The moment their boots hit the ground, cloaked Anti members charged.
The Sand Lands erupted into chaos.
Lightning cracked across the sky. Earth walls rose and shattered. Swords clashed against energy shields. Scouts fought defensively, aiming to knock opponents unconscious with stunning blows, binding vines, and precise pressure-point strikes. The Anti fought with lethal intent — going for throats, hearts, and vital organs without hesitation.
Bel became a nightmare on the battlefield. Slashing wind blades flew at her; she blocked them with a shimmering force field. Three scouts closed in fast. She moved like lightning — dodging a punch, countering with a beam that burned straight through one scout's shoulder, then spinning to crack another's neck with a brutal elbow. A third tried a spinning kick; she caught his leg, twisted viciously, and fired a point-blank beam through his chest. Scouts fell one after another. No one lasted more than seconds against her deadly precision.
A fireball hurtled toward her. She blocked it effortlessly. Cain charged in and drove a powerful punch into her force field. Cracks spiderwebbed across it. He roared and punched again — harder. The field shattered.
Bel stared at him, stunned for a split second, then charged with murderous fury.
Meanwhile, Ethan fought his way deeper into the hideout. Electrical and fire attacks slammed into him, exploding in a thick cloud of smoke.
Two Anti approached cautiously.
Ethan burst from the smoke, his entire body hardened like living steel. One devastating punch dropped both attackers.
He rushed into the next room and found Sonia tied to a chair. He shattered the earth seal on her mouth.
"We need to hurry — they took the Golden Guardian!"
Ethan and Sonia raced outside. The battle had grown even fiercer.
A surf vehicle skimmed toward them. They climbed on and it shot forward at incredible speed.
Using Sonia's see-through vision, they tracked Max carrying the Golden Guardian toward the Watch Office — the central hub overseeing all transportation in the Golden Globe.
The surf raced at breakneck speed.
They were closing in when Max and five other Anti appeared ahead, moving unnaturally fast. One carried the Golden Guardian.
She struggled, loosening the ropes on her wrists. With a final wrench she broke free, pushed off, and landed on her feet.
Max and the others stopped and turned.
She tore the earth seal from her mouth. "You guys seriously don't know how to treat a lady."
Max glared. He signaled — three of the five charged with roars.
"Oh, I wish my sword was with me," the Golden Guardian muttered.
One threw a heavy right fist. She dodged. Another launched a flying kick — she ducked low. The two pressed the attack with precise kicks and punches. From behind, vines erupted from the ground. She leaped, spinning in mid-air. The vines missed her and slammed into the two attackers instead, knocking them down. In the same fluid motion she closed on the vine user and delivered a devastating uppercut. He collapsed.
Max stared at her with pure fury.
The Golden Guardian met his gaze.
Ethan and Sonia's surf arrived.
"Just in time," she said.
Ethan leaped off and pulled her into a tight, desperate hug.
"Uhmmm, Ethan… I don't think this is the right place for this," she said softly.
He pulled back, embarrassed. "Sorry."
Sonia stood ready beside them. They faced Max and his two remaining allies — one wearing the replica Ekewo boots (moving at near sound speed) and the other firing searing lasers.
"No! You're not going to stop me!" Max roared. "I've come too far. I won't live in your illusion anymore!"
"Okay buddy, I don't know what you're talking about," Ethan replied, "but what I do know is — you're done. It's over."
Max screamed and charged. The super-speed user blurred around them like a ghost. The laser user fired beams from multiple angles. Max pressed forward with petrification Flow, trying to touch anyone within reach.
The fight exploded into pure chaos.
The speed user became a deadly whirlwind, landing lightning-fast strikes that cracked the air. Lasers sliced through the battlefield. Max lunged for openings, petrification spreading wherever he touched.
The Golden Guardian, Ethan, and Sonia moved as one — dodging, blocking, countering in perfect sync. Ethan's hardened body tanked a direct laser blast. Sonia's glowing eyes predicted trajectories, shouting warnings. The Golden Guardian weaved through the storm with graceful precision, her movements almost dance-like.
Then Max got close, attacked the Golden Guardian from a blindspot, Ethan rushed and stepped in front, Max touched Ethan's arm... Pulled back. "Bad luck," he hissed with a twisted smile. "It won't stop until your whole body is petrified."
Ethan's arm began turning to stone instantly, the gray spreading rapidly.
Panic flashed in the Golden Guardian's eyes. "Ethan!"
Without hesitation, Ethan roared in pain and fury. He hardened his other hand into a razor edge and — in one shocking, brutal motion — severed his own arm at the shoulder. The petrified limb dropped to the ground with a heavy thud. Blood sprayed.
The Golden Guardian's breath caught in horror and awe.
Ethan ignored the agony, blood streaming, and charged forward with renewed, terrifying resolve. "Not today!"
The battle reached its peak. The super-speed user blurred in for a killing strike on Sonia — she predicted it perfectly and cracked her staff across his knee, shattering the Ekewo boot and slowing him drastically. The laser user poured fire on the Golden Guardian — she closed the distance in a blur and dropped him with a spinning kick to the temple that echoed like thunder.
Max fought like a cornered god, but the trio overwhelmed him. Ethan tackled him low despite his injury. The Golden Guardian delivered a devastating elbow strike to his ribs. Sonia finished with a glowing strike to his chest that sent him staggering backward.
Max stepped back, blood dripping from his nose and mouth. All three heroes breathed heavily, exhausted but standing tall.
"No… No, this can't be over," Max gasped. "So close to reaching my goal of going to Ekekiri…"
"What are you talking about?" the Golden Guardian demanded.
"You're all living in an illusion. This sanctuary isn't safe. Soon it's going to fall. But before that, my brothers and I will reach Ekekiri and beg for his mercy. I won't let any of you stop me!"
The Golden Guardian appeared in front of him in an instant.
"You talk too much," she said coldly.
She punched him with every ounce of remaining strength. Max flew backward and slammed into the ground hard, unconscious.
She stood over him, chest heaving.
Turning to Ethan and Sonia, she managed a weak, tired smile. They returned it, bloodied but alive.
Back at the Anti hideout, the battle had ended. Many Anti were down. Sadly, many brave scouts had also fallen. But the threat was finally neutralized.
Cain charged Bel one last time, driving a powerful fist into her side. She coughed blood and collapsed.
The last Anti member was taken down.
The Anti were defeated. Many lives were lost… but no more would be added to the list.
Later, in the Golden Tower.
The Golden Guardian sat quietly in her office, mask off, staring at nothing.
Ethan walked in. "Hi, Debra."
She looked up and offered a calm smile. "Hi, Ethan."
"I got good news. The Elders said they have something that can help with my arm."
She smiled, but Ethan saw the sadness behind it. He came straight and pointed it out asking what's wrong.
"Max lost all hope for a better future after his father died. That's why he did all this. Planned to use a god item replica to reach Ekekiri and plead to be spared." She paused. "I'm not saying he was right in any way… but everything traces back to Ekekiri. We need to make her ready, and fast. Ekekiri needs to be stopped. Max was right about one thing — the Golden Globe could fall. And Koya… Koya is our biggest hope to stop him."
Back at the Flow Star.
Koya stood alone in the training hall, swinging IKUA's arm with all her might — sweat flying, determination burning brighter than ever in her eyes.
TO BE CONTINUED.