The battlefield went quiet.
Not the kind of silence that comes from peace, but the kind that presses down on everything at once. The air itself seemed to tighten, growing heavy as if something invisible had taken hold of it. Even the wind hesitated.
Then a single voice broke through.
"Call your Astrals."
Zenthrai flared, but not outward in some explosive display. It pulled inward first, condensing deep within each Van X operative as they reached into themselves and answered the call. One by one, they drew something out—not from the sky, not from the world around them, but from within their own existence.
Light answered.
It spilled out of their bodies in bursts of color, taking shape beside them. Blue, green, yellow, teal—each glow different, each presence alive in its own way. The Astrals formed rapidly, shifting and stabilizing into incomplete yet overwhelming entities made of pure energy. Wings stretched wide, tails coiled and lashed, claws took shape from condensed light that flickered like living flame.
For a brief moment, the humans and their Astrals stood apart.
Then they moved. The collision was instant.
Zenthrai erupted as bodies dissolved and reformed, merging into something entirely new. The operatives vanished within the light and emerged transformed, no longer human, no longer Astral, but something that carried both and exceeded them.
A warrior reborn.
One figure rose with vast blue wings unfurling behind him, each feather blazing with energy. Another crouched low, a long green tail sweeping across the ground as his claws dug in, ready to tear through anything in front of him. A third straightened slowly, his form twisting into something more feral, jagged fangs visible beneath a reshaped face that carried something almost predatory.
Across the battlefield, all thirty completed their transformations. Some were built for speed, sleek and sharp, their movements already twitching with restrained motion. Others stood heavier, their frames dense with power, radiating destructive force with every breath they took.
The ground cracked beneath them. The air shimmered with the sheer pressure of their presence.
The stray felt it. And it roared.
The sound tore through the battlefield, deep and violent, its massive body shifting as Zenthrai surged wildly around it in response.
But one figure had not moved.
Yamato still stood apart.
Still human. Still calm.
"…Vice Captain?" someone muttered, their voice uncertain even through their transformed state.
Yamato stepped forward, slow and deliberate. Orange Zenthrai flickered faintly around him at first, unstable and uneven, before suddenly surging outward with force. It didn't explode wildly; it burned, violent yet controlled, wrapping around him in tightening layers.
"Guess it's my turn."
The energy coiled around his body, building instead of bursting, shaping itself into something more precise. It wasn't armor. It wasn't a simple enhancement. It was a complete transformation.
"Let's end this."
The moment the words left his mouth, the Zenthrai detonated outward. A shockwave blasted across the battlefield, kicking up dust and debris, forcing even the transformed operatives to brace themselves.
When it settled, Yamato stood there changed.
His form wasn't bulky or monstrous. It was refined, almost perfectly balanced between power and control. A long tail of orange energy swayed behind him, moving like a living thing. His hands ended in curved claws, sharp and glowing with condensed Zenthrai. His face had shifted just enough to show what he had become—fangs visible, eyes burning with a steady orange light.
Faint arcs of lightning flickered beneath his skin.
"Target confirmed," he said quietly.
The stray answered with another roar, louder this time, more aggressive, as if it understood the threat standing before it.
Yamato looked up at it, completely unfazed.
"Time for you to die."
The next moment shattered whatever stillness remained.
All thirty operatives launched forward at once, their movements blurring as they tore across the battlefield. The ground fractured beneath their feet as they closed the distance in an instant.
They struck from every direction.
Claws carved into the stray's body, tearing through its unstable form. Tails lashed with crushing force, slamming into it from the sides. Fists collided with explosive impact, each hit sending shockwaves rippling through the air. Zenthrai blasts erupted from every angle—fired from hands, from mouths, from extensions of their transformed bodies—filling the battlefield with violent flashes of color.
The stray fought back.
Its massive limbs swung wildly, yet with terrifying strength. One strike alone crushed through an incoming attack, sending an operative flying into a distant structure. Another barely avoided a sweeping blow that tore a deep trench through the ground.
Its body began to shift again, expanding, growing larger as its Zenthrai spiraled out of control. Muscles thickened, its form stretching upward until it loomed even more heavily over the battlefield, nearing sixteen meters as raw power surged through it.
Despite being surrounded, it didn't fall.
It matched them.
Blow for blow.
The operatives pressed harder, their attacks becoming more aggressive, more coordinated. They tore into it, burned through its form, pierced and shattered pieces of its body again and again.
For a brief moment, it looked like they had gained the upper hand.
Then the damage vanished.
The torn flesh reformed. The burns disappeared. The holes closed as if they had never existed.
"…You've got to be kidding me," one operative muttered, staggering back slightly.
"Just die already you damn stray!" another snapped, charging in again.
The stray roared, louder and more violent than before, its presence growing heavier with each passing second.
Then everything shifted.
Yamato moved.
"…So that's how it is," he said, almost to himself.
The others hesitated for just a fraction of a second.
"…Vice Captain?"
Orange Zenthrai surged around him again, sharper now, more focused, carrying a dangerous edge it hadn't shown before.
"Good."
He stepped forward, his gaze locked onto the stray.
"Then we take it apart piece by piece."
The stray roared, its massive form shifting violently, Zenthrai flaring uncontrollably as if reacting to the sudden surge of power now opposing it.
Yamato roared back and in the next instant, Yamato vanished.
They collided head-on.
The impact split the ground beneath them, a violent shockwave ripping outward and turning many buildings to dust, as their forces met. The stray swung a massive arm toward him, but Yamato slipped past it with precise movement, reappearing at its side and driving a clawed strike deep into its body.
Orange and purple energy clashed violently, tearing through the air with every exchange.
The stray retaliated immediately, bringing its full strength down in a crushing blow. Yamato caught it, his body skidding backward under the force, the ground cracking beneath his feet. In the same motion, he twisted and countered, striking upward with enough precision to stagger it.
They moved too fast for the others to follow clearly. All that remained visible were flashes of light, bursts of impact, and the constant sound of collisions shaking the battlefield.
Despite the difference in size, neither gained the advantage.
The stray had overwhelming strength, its attacks capable of destroying everything in their path.
Yamato had control.
Every movement was measured. Every strike deliberate.
They were evenly matched.
For a moment.
Then Yamato slowed, his stance shifting slightly as Zenthrai gathered around him once more.
"…You're tougher than I expected," he muttered.
The energy around him changed. It sharpened, becoming unstable in a different way, as if something deeper was being drawn out.
"…Then I'll stop holding back."
Lightning sparked across his body, bright orange and violent, crawling along his limbs and snapping through the air.
"Try to keep up."
He disappeared.
Not through speed.
Through something sharper.
Lightning cracked across the battlefield as he reappeared mid-strike, his fist slamming into the stray with explosive force. Before the impact fully settled, he was already gone again, striking from another angle, then another, his movements impossible to track.
He attacked from every direction at once.
Lightning-coated blows rained down, each one faster than the last. Arcs of energy split off into projectiles, striking from above, from below, from angles the stray couldn't defend against. Explosions followed each hit, the battlefield lighting up with violent flashes.
"Too slow."
The stray roared, its massive body shaking under the relentless barrage.
Then it snapped.
A deafening roar erupted from it, louder than anything before. The Zenthrai around it surged wildly, and a shockwave exploded outward, tearing through everything in its path.
Yamato, mid-air, was thrown off balance.
"…Tch—!"
The stray reacted instantly.
It locked onto him.
And fired.
A massive Zenthrai blast formed in an instant and launched forward at point-blank range, swallowing everything in its path.
Yamato's eyes widened.
"Shit—"
A blur of blue cut across the battlefield.
It intercepted the blast.
And the world exploded.