The Energy Sector was a graveyard of missed strikes. Barkan was a whirlwind of demonic violence, his four arms blurring as he rained down punches that could level cities. But to the eyes of Neweland and Alya, Techyon was simply... standing there.
Every "Helllight" strike passed directly through Techyon's chest, arms, and head as if he were a ghost.
He isn't a ghost, Barkan realized, his four eyes twitching in panic. He is moving, dodging, and returning to the exact same millimeter of space so fast that my retinas can't capture the movement.
Techyon didn't wait for Barkan to finish his tantrum. He stepped forward and delivered a single, straight punch to Barkan's gut.
BOOM.
Barkan's massive frame folded. A fountain of black, demonic blood erupted from his mouth. The kinetic energy didn't stop at the Monarch's body—it traveled into the ground, causing the very tectonic plates of the continent to scream and shift.
The Golden Observer
Miles away, standing atop a jagged peak, a woman with flowing Yellow Hair stopped in her tracks. She looked toward the Southern Sector, her eyes narrowing as the sky turned a brilliant, pulsing white-blue.
"That mana... it's raw, unstable, and ancient," she whispered, her golden locks whipping in the shockwave. "This mana level what kind of monsters are fighting there."
She vanished in a flash of gold, racing toward the epicenter.
The Final Countdown
Back at the crater, Barkan was losing his mind. "STAY STILL!" He lunged with a Helllight Punch, but his fist met only empty air. Techyon was already hovering ten feet above him, looking down with cold, glowing eyes.
Barkan leaped, his leg wreathed in dark fire. "HELLLIGHT KICK!"
Techyon didn't dodge this time. He opened his mouth and let out a primal, mana-infused scream. The sonic shockwave was so dense it acted like a physical wall, blasting Barkan back into the dirt and pushing Neweland's Hydro Shield back another fifty meters.
Techyon's vision flickered. A translucent blue screen appeared before his eyes, pulsing with a warning red border.
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
TIME REMAINING: 03:50
WARNING: TOTAL SYSTEM COLLAPSE AT 00:00
I have less than four minutes, Techyon thought, his heart hammering like a drum against his ribs. If I don't erase him now, I'm dead, and so is everyone else.
Barkan clutched his bleeding stomach, his four eyes trembling as they looked at the boy of light. "Who... who in this world are you?!"
Neweland stood tall, his voice ringing across the wasteland. "He is the son of the strongest Arcon! You are not fighting a boy, Barkan—you are fighting the blood of Hope!"
At those words, Barkan's vision blurred. For a split second, he didn't see Techyon. He saw the towering, world-shaking shadow of Arax standing behind the boy, looking down with judgment. Terror, cold and absolute, gripped the Monarch's heart.
"I will not... I will not lose to a ghost!" Barkan roared, his hands weaving together. "DOMAIN EXPAN—"
SHLUCK.
Before the words could leave his mouth, Techyon vanished and reappeared. His arm was buried deep in Barkan's torso. No speed, no flash—just instant displacement.
Barkan stumbled back, his internal organs failing. In a final act of desperation, he opened his maw and fired a Helllight Demonic Blast at point-blank range.
Techyon didn't dodge. He raised a single hand, his palm glowing with a mixture of his own lightning and the leftover Hydro mana from Alya. "Hydro Light!"
The two beams collided, but the Hydro Light was like a tidal wave hitting a candle. It completely overpowered Barkan's blast, engulfing the Monarch in a pillar of purifying energy. Barkan fell to the ground, his skin charred and his golden armor melted into his flesh.
Techyon walked toward the fallen King, his hand raised for the final execution. But then—
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION]
TIME REMAINING: 00:00
FORCED SHUTDOWN INITIATED.
The light died. Techyon's eyes went dark, and he collapsed onto the hot ash, his body smoking from the strain.
Barkan let out a wheezing, bloody laugh as he struggled to stand. "I was scared for a second... I actually felt fear. But look at you now. You are nothing but a broken toy."
Techyon, face down in the dirt, let out a tiny, weak whisper. "It's time... launch it."
Barkan froze. "What are you talking abou—"
The sky didn't turn red or blue. It turned a deep, impossible Vermilion.
"3000% Annihilation Technique: UNIVERSAL VERMILION!"
From a hidden spatial fold in the air, Lapis appeared—his face half-destroyed but his one remaining eye glowing with a light that could restart a sun. He had been gathering mana since the moment he hit the ground.
"You insects... you were just distracting me?" Barkan screamed, trying to raise a shield. "How could I not feel this?! I AM A MONARCH! I AM NOT GOING TO DIE—"
The Vermilion beam didn't just hit Barkan; it erased the space he was standing in. The Monarch of Demons was atomized, his soul torn apart by the spatial pressure of Lapis's final ego-move.
Silence returned to the sector. Lapis limped over to Techyon's unconscious body, his legs shaking. Techyon cracked one eye open and weakly raised a thumbs-up. Lapis returned the gesture with a bloody grin.
"TECHYON!" Alya's voice broke the silence as she sprinted toward them, her hands already glowing with the most powerful healing mana she had ever summoned.