The air hung thick with the stench of ozone and scorched concrete as Raphael de-escalated his aura, stepping over the fractured earth to reach Deck Master. Extending a firm, armored hand, he hoisted the veteran hero out of the rubble.
Deck Master leaned heavily on a chunk of debris, wiping a fresh trail of blood from his jaw with the back of his glove. He spit out a mouthful of crimson spit, adjusting the fresh cigar between his teeth. "Thanks, kid," he wheezed, his voice rough. "I owe you one."
Before Raphael could respond, a blur of motion cut through the smoke. Mystic Woman rushed forward, her energy flickering weakly as she threw her arms around Raphael in a desperate hug. "You vanished in the middle of the fight!" she sobbed, burying her face against his armor. "I thought... I thought something terrible happened to you!"
"I'm fine," Raphael said calmly, his hand resting gently on her shoulder. He looked past her, his gaze sweeping over the devastating ruins of the plaza, before settling on her bruised, bleeding face and ragged breathing. His silver eyes narrowed. "Who did this to you? What is this?"
Before Mystic Woman could utter a word, Rocket Boy stepped up. His eyes burned with sudden anger as he looked at the two of them hugging. Marching forward, he gripped Mystic Woman's arm, forcefully pulling her closer to his side and away from Raphael.
"He's the one that did it," Rocket Boy barked, pointing a trembling, gauntleted hand across the crater. "Hero Killer. Killian. The Dragon. The one I was talking about back on the roof. He's one of the most wanted people in the world."
Raphael turned his head, his cold, piercing gaze locking onto the silhouette standing in the distance. "I don't care about his title," Raphael said flatly. "He's ruining my city. He's killing innocent people." He took a decisive step forward.
Deck Master threw his hand out, blocking Raphael's path. "I know you're pretty strong, kid. I've heard a lot about you. But you ain't beating this guy by yourself."
"He's right," Rocket Boy interjected, checking the glowing screen on his damaged gauntlet. "I already contacted corporate back at the Hero Organization. They told us to fall back. To let him go. There have been too many deaths today. Too many heroes have already died."
"I'm not retreating," Raphael said, his posture straightening as his red force energy began to hum faintly around his boots. "He's gonna have to pay for what he did."
Deck Master let out a dry, hacking laugh, blowing a ring of smoke into the tense air. "Come on, kid. The Superhero Organization ain't gonna pay you extra money for this. They ain't gonna pay you overtime. Let's call it a day and just let him go."
"You're acting like this is just a job like you just clock in and out," Raphael replied, his voice dropping into a dangerous, quiet register. "But we can't just leave these citizens to fight by themselves. I'll do it for free. I don't need to get paid. I'm not a part of your organization."
"Are you crazy?" Deck Master stared at him like he'd lost his mind. "Doing this for free? Kid, you gotta find yourself a better manager. You'll never get to S-Class acting like that, and you're gonna stay broke."
"Then you guys go," Raphael said, completely unfazed. "This is my city. And I'll be the one to turn him in. I don't need a ranking around my name."
As he took another step forward, Mystic Woman violently ripped her arm away from Rocket Boy's grip. She lunged forward, grabbing Raphael's wrist. Her eyes were wide with terror. "One!" she pleaded, using his hero name. "Remember what you promised me. Please... don't kill him."
Raphael looked down at her hands, then back to the killer in the distance. He exhaled slowly. "I promise. I will get your brother the help he needs."
Across the battlefield, Killian stood in a low crouch, wiping blood from his shattered jaw. His dark eyes locked onto Raphael, analyzing the radiating crimson energy and the immense pressure of the kid's Battle Spirit.
Is that him? Killian thought to himself, a manic grin slowly creeping back onto his face. Hero One. The one Golrath wanted me to kill for messing with his products and his superdrugs. Suddenly, it all makes sense.
"Hey!" Raphael's voice boomed across the plaza, cutting through the crackle of burning debris. "This is your last chance to give up. Turn yourself in, or else. I don't know if you notice it, but you've been causing a lot of trouble."
Killian threw his head back, a mocking, echoing laugh vibrating through his teeth. "I'm not turning myself in! I would never submit to your false justice! You guys will be the ones submitting to my justice. But you heroes are quite boring to me. No true challenge left." He leveled his gaze directly at Raphael, his eyes burning with absolute, dark conviction. "At least since you are here, I can finally finish my job. I always complete a mission. I will assassinate you."
He snapped his finger, pointing directly at Deck Master. "And you! Don't think I forgot about you, or my sword. I'm not leaving here without it."
"Justice that, justice this," Raphael responded, stepping into the open space between them. "You act like you know what justice is. All you do is go around killing people for no reason. Look at all the innocent lives you took today. Look at your little sister. She's crying because of what you're doing. It doesn't seem like you even care. Just turn yourself in."
Killian's laughter grew darker, more volatile, as a torrent of magical energy began to warp the air around his limbs. "Justice? You think you heroes... the Superhero Organization... the government... you think any group of people are justice? No. It's not justice. You're just like me. Sinners. Killers. Disguised as justice!"
He took a slow step forward, his voice dripping with venom. "When I was a hero, you know how many heroes I watched kill? Allowed innocent people to be killed knowing they could have done something? Turning a blind eye while another hero commits a crime? None of y'all are true heroes. We're all criminals. All of us believe our own justice is true."
Killian raised his open hands, his stolen neon plasma energy crackling violently around his knuckles. "But true justice is power! Power that I have contained. Power that I have now! I see the vision. When I was back at the temple in my village, I received a vision from Heaven. From God. That I will be judgment. That I would judge all these false heroes. That my hand will be the hand that decides who lives and who dies!"
He gestured wildly to the sky, his face twisting into pure madness. "My people are destined to judge! Heaven wants us to judge! But look at the cowards! I'm the only one willing to step up to judge the world!"
Raphael stood perfectly still in the face of the magical tempest. He didn't blink. He slowly lowered his weight, dropping into a flawless, precise fighting stance, his red Battle Spirit suddenly exploding outward like a crimson storm.
"I'm no judge," Raphael said quietly, his silver eyes sharpening into absolute focus. "I'm just the one that stops bad people from hurting people. All because you had bad experiences with other heroes doesn't mean you get to judge all heroes."
Killian spat a mouthful of blood onto the concrete, his face twisting into an ugly, furious snarl as he stared at the silver-armored hero standing before him.
"You talk a big game for a guy that's already dead," Killian sneered, his fingers twitching over the empty space where his dark katana used to be. "I'm an assassin. The ogres hired me to kill you. I watched hours of tape of you fighting them, fighting those mutations they work with. I know how you move. I made a special technique just to destroy you. You would never escape. Now come at me! Come to your demise!"
With a crackle of dark sorcery, Killian launched himself high into the air. He didn't aim at Raphael. Instead, he spun around and unleashed a massive, volatile blast of magical energy directly toward the civilian sectors outside of Ice Cream Universe Land.
Raphael's eyes widened. The city.
Without a second thought, Raphael became a streak of silver and blazing crimson. He crossed the distance in a fraction of a second, positioning his body directly in front of the incoming blast. Channeling his tactile telekinesis into his forearm, he swung his arm like a bat, smacking the massive energy projectile straight up into the upper atmosphere, where it detonated harmlessly against the clouds.
Raphael glared up at the flying villain, his voice echoing with righteous anger. "Are you crazy? This fight is between just me and you! No one else!"
Up in the air, Killian chuckled, the sound dripping with sadistic satisfaction. "You did exactly what I expected you to do. Rushing to the blast to save those people. You are very predictable, always saving people first. Unlike the other heroes, you're truly foolish risking your life for nobodies. Peasants of society. I learned my lesson."
Killian immediately began conjuring dark magic into his palms. He unleashed a spatial portal using his stolen superpowers, but instead of leaving it open, he flooded the rift with dense, suffocating dark sorcery. The volatile magic consumed the gateway, expanding until it looked like a swirling, abyssal sphere of absolute gravity.
"Dark Arts: Event Horizon Paradox!" Killian roared.
Seeing the terrifying mass of localized energy, Raphael's instincts screamed. "No! Don't release that! I gotta stop it!"
Fearful that the sphere would obliterate the entire theme park and everyone left alive in it, Raphael rushed headfirst toward Killian to contain the blast. But the moment his body made contact with the sphere, the dark magic shifted. The energy ball didn't detonate it reshaped itself instantly into a massive, vacuuming cosmic gateway.
It was a trap. Raphael was pulled forward, his entire body plunging into the depths of the portal.
The world snapped. Raphael found himself suspended in a bizarre, non-Euclidean void. Looking back toward the entry point, he could see the circular window of the portal, and on the other side stood Killian, looking down at him.
"Most heroes would have just dodged the attack," Killian's voice echoed into the rift, mocking and distant. "But you had to save people. Like a fool. And now, look at you. Prison for eternity. And trust me, you're not escaping. This is not a regular portal."
Refusing to be contained, Raphael ignited his Red Force energy, flying toward the exit at incredible speed. But before he could cross the threshold, another portal materialized directly inside the rift. He flew straight through it, only to find himself instantly looped back to where he started.
He accelerated, pushing his velocity to its limits, but with every forward dash, Killian's dark magic reacted. New portals manifested small ones, big ones each one overlapping and connecting to the other.
He fell into one gateway, only to drop out of another. He spun around, completely disoriented, his mind racing as the architecture of the trap evolved. The loops of portals began multiplying exponentially, fracturing the space into pocket dimension after pocket dimension.
Raphael flew wildly, trying to find a true coordinate, but the visual feedback was overwhelming. He began seeing double. An infinite number of him appeared in the surrounding rifts reflections generated by the overlapping folds of space.
"No," Raphael growled, his jaw setting as pressure built in his chest. "I'm not gonna be trapped here forever!"
He unleashed a furious barrage of telekinetic strikes, his fists shattering individual portals like sheets of glass. But for every one he broke, three more looped into existence. It was endless.
This is pointless, Raphael realized, slowing his flight and floating in the center of the chaotic grid. Unless I find the entrance... if there's even one still left.
He took a deep breath, forcing his racing mind to go completely still. Wait. I have an idea.
Raphael focused his vision, pushing his spiritual energy upward. His silver eyes began to flicker violently before locking into a solid, brilliant, incandescent red. The Psycho Eyes were active.
Instantly, the chaotic void changed. The visual noise of the infinite reflections faded into the background. Through the Psycho Gaze, Raphael could see the lines of causality the invisible threads of cause and effect that governed the flow of the universe.
He looked around at the matrix of infinite portals. He could see how they were being generated, tracing the loop back, second by second, frame by frame. Like a reel of film playing backward in front of his eyes, he watched the chronology of the dimension. He saw the timeline trailing backward until he located the exact moment he fell into the trap.
"This isn't gonna help me find how to get out of here, man," Raphael muttered, staring at the conceptual echo of his own past self.
He reached his hand out toward the shimmering line of causality that anchored the portal's existence. He realized his heightened state allowed him to physically perceive the metaphysics of the trap.
My dad always told me the universe is like a giant pressure point, Raphael thought, dropping his weight and settling his feet into a strict, traditional martial arts stance. A pressure point that you can manipulate with your strikes. That's the ultimate Empty Fist.
He focused entirely on the "First Cause" the exact spark of magic Killian used to initiate the loop. He threw an experimental punch at the temporal line. Nothing happened; his hand passed right through the empty space. He struck again, shifting his frequency, and this time his knuckles hit a localized distortion. The void vibrated, a low hum rattling the pocket dimension.
The strain was immense. His red eyes began to flicker rapidly, his energy reserves draining at an alarming rate under the weight of the Psycho Gaze.
"I need to focus," he whispered, his breathing slowing to an absolute crawl as he entered a pure flow state.
He channeled every ounce of his remaining internal energy, his tactile telekinesis, and the raw pressure of his radiating Battle Spirit directly into his right fist. He didn't just aim for the space in front of him; he aimed for the structural joint of the dimension itself.
With a roaring surge of red force, he drove his fist forward in a flawless, hyper-precise strike.
The impact didn't make a sound. Instead, everything in his field of vision turned a blinding, saturated red. The infinite loops buckled. The lines of cause and effect shattered under the sheer authority of the Empty Fist. The cause was broken and because the cause was destroyed, the effect was undone.
With a violent shockwave of displaced air, Raphael materialized right back in the ruined plaza of Ice Cream Universe Land, standing exactly where he had been before he was pulled into the rift.
His chest heaved as he panted for air, the incandescent red light of his Psycho Eyes slowly fading back into his natural silver. He quickly scanned the perimeter to assess the situation.
Just a few yards away, Killian was standing over the defeated heroes. He had Mystic Woman gripped tightly by the back of her neck, her green vines completely gone. Slung unceremoniously across his massive, armored shoulders was the unconscious, bruised body of Deck Master.
"Both of you are coming with me," Killian was saying, his voice arrogant and victorious as he prepared to activate a displacement spell. He looked down at his sister. "You're lucky you're my little sister. I can't kill you. And him he will wake up one day and release my sword from that card."
Killian turned around to initiate his departure
BAM!
Out of nowhere, a silver-and-black blur intercepted him. Raphael's fist connected squarely with the side of Killian's face with extreme force. The sheer kinetic output smacked the Dragon completely off his feet, breaking his grip on Mystic Woman and sending him skidding sideways across the shattered concrete for twenty yards.
Killian dug his clawed fingers into the pavement, forcing himself to a halt. He wiped a fresh smear of blood from his mouth, his dark eyes wide with absolute, unadulterated shock as he stared at One. Almost immediately, the dark sorcery in his veins surged, and his body began healing with his magic.
"Impossible..." Killian muttered, his voice cracking. "How did you... That technique is perfect. I perfected it."
"With my fist," Raphael replied flatly.
He stepped in front of Mystic Woman and everyone else, shielding them from the baseline of the destruction. Behind him, Mystic Woman rushed over to the fallen heroes, immediately channeling her magic to heal everyone. Raphael raised his fists, settling back into his definitive fighting stance of the Empty Fist. His silver eyes locked onto the villain, cold and resolute.
"No more tricks. Just fists."
Killian forced his body into his own fighting stance, his face contorting into a snarl as he said, "I will teach you my ninja art. Fist art. I was top of my class! And who are you? Just a fast hero. A naive boy."
Raphael rushed towards him. Killian, with magical energy surrounding him, instantly created a dense ball of energy. He thrust his hands forward, shouting, "Dark Arts Portal: Infinite Death!"
He tossed the sphere directly at Raphael, and it immediately expanded, turning into a vacuuming portal.
"You coward," Raphael growled, his speed never dropping. "I said no tricks!"
As the portal expanded, rushing forward to swallow him whole, Raphael reached out and intentionally touched the very front of the portal just as he began falling in. Instantly, his Tactile Telekinesis and radiating Battle Spirit exploded outward, spreading across the threshold. The dense pressure solidified the portal's edge, turning it into a tangible wall that he could no longer fall through. With a deafening roar of effort, Raphael ripped cleanly through the spatial barrier, flying straight towards Killian.
Panicking, Killian began charging up and shooting out more spheres, launching a relentless barrage of rifts that rushed toward Raphael. But Raphael's fists were entirely full of his surging energy. He threw a rapid chain of punches, shattering the incoming portals like sheets of glass.
He systematically destroyed every spatial trap in his path until he finally reached Killian. The two clashed violently, throwing punches and kicks back and forth in a blinding flurry.
Raphael's strikes were different now. He was hitting Killian's pressure points, striking directly at his spirit and the internal flow of his body. With every precise landing, parts of Killian's physical form began to paralyze. Even when Raphael threw regular punches, the sheer telekinetic force vibrated violently through the assassin's muscles.
His strikes... they're so precise, Killian thought to himself, his vision blurring from the onslaught. Hard to dodge. It's hard for me to keep up with my healing at the speed he's hitting me!
Desperate, Killian countered back, throwing his own brutal chain of punches and kicks laced heavily with his Fist Art: Soul Binding Sealing Fist. Every time his hands connected, the ancient magic attempted a complete body and spirit sealing, trying to lock down Raphael's physical limbs and bind his spiritual energy simultaneously using the Fist Art Series Sealing Fist: Dragon's Absolute Resolve. But Raphael's raw physical power and Battle Spirit overflowed, instantly shattering the dual constraints through sheer force to strike back even harder.
Raphael targeted multiple pressure points at once, completely paralyzing Killian's defenses. Seizing the opening, Raphael wound up and threw a devastating flying sidekick.
The impact was cataclysmic. Killian was launched backward like a cannonball, his body rushing forward as he smashed through multiple theme park rides, tearing the structures to pieces before finally crashing hard onto the ground.
Raphael hovered in the air directly above him, his silver eyes looking down. "I see it's over."
"Over my dead body!" Killian screamed.
Using the absolute limits of his dark sorcery, Killian's body began to rapidly heal itself. Forcing his arm forward, he unleashed his ultimate point-blank devastation: "Hypernova Gamma Ray Dragon Breathing Burst!"
The colossal torrent of neon plasma and dark energy surged forward. Raphael reacted instantly, moving his hand with perfect kinetic precision to smack Killian's hand upward, forcing the cataclysmic trajectory away from the ground and guiding the beam safely into the sky. The devastating energy passed right next to his face, barely missing him, but the resulting cosmic radiation magic smoke and volatile chemical vapors hit him dead-on.
Raphael stumbled slightly, coughing from the toxic mist. He looked down through the haze, his teeth gritted. "Stop it," he said, dropping his weight to throw a finishing punch.
But Killian was already moving his other hand. Slicing cleanly through reality using the World Splitting Dragon Fist, he tore open the fabric of space and vanished entirely into the space between space.
Raphael looked around the empty, smoking crater, his vision obscured by the chemical residue.
"Where did he go?" Raphael muttered, coughing as his eyes scanned the empty air. "Where are you?"
The cosmic radiation magic smoke was everywhere, thick and suffocating. It wasn't just filling his lungs; it was actively seeping into his skin, burning his nerve endings and disrupting his internal flow.
Suddenly, Killian materialized out of nowhere, driving a brutal punch straight into Raphael's face. As his knuckles connected, Killian triggered his innate skill: Holy Blessing: Copy, attempting to siphon and replicate the teenager's unique force.
The physical force of the strike sent the Hero skidding backward across the cracked pavement. Before Raphael could even recover his balance, Killian vanished back into the fabric of reality, only to instantly reappear a few yards away.
"I will use your own power against you," Killian sneered, holding up his hands. "That Red Force around you seems interesting. Let's see what it can really do."
He focused his magical pathways, trying to ignite the copied crimson energy but absolutely nothing happened. The spark failed to catch.
Killian stared at his hands, his arrogant smile dropping. "Impossible. I can copy anything with my Holy Blessings."
Raphael wiped his jaw, his silver eyes cold. "My force and my martial arts are spiritually sealed. You can't steal them. The only way to learn them is by watching... assuming you're even skilled enough to comprehend them."
Killian's face twisted with furious indignation. "It changes nothing!" he snapped. "My own martial arts and my techniques are more than enough to crush you!"
With a burst of dark energy, he vanished once again. His mocking voice echoed from the empty, distorted space around the plaza.
"I see you're having a hard time focusing with all this cosmic magical radiation in the air. You can't even see where I'm at!"
Killian appeared again, materializing right beneath Raphael to deliver a devastating punch to his stomach, sending him flying high into the sky. In a fraction of a second, the assassin reappeared in mid-air, raining down a barrage of sealing punches. The Fist Art: Soul Binding Sealing Fist struck Raphael repeatedly, completely locking his body and spirit in place.
Before Raphael's Battle Spirit could overflow to shatter the constraint, Killian wound up and threw a heavy kick laced with dark magic, slamming Raphael violently back down onto the ground.
The impact cratered the concrete. Raphael slowly pushed himself up, coughing up a mouthful of dark blood. The radiation was still burning through his system, but he forced his posture straight and settled back into his immovable fighting stance.
"I don't need to see you to defeat you," Raphael said, his voice steadying. He closed his eyes for a brief second, feeling the baseline vibrations of the area. "I can see the flow of the energy of the universe with these eyes of mine... as well as I can feel it."
He looked toward the empty air where Killian's aura lingered. "It's not too late for you to give up. Your sister told me you used to be such a good hero. It's not too late. You can still be a hero."
Killian's voice rang out from the invisible void, completely detached from any single position. "I am more than a hero. I am justice!"
"How are you justice?" Raphael called out, his silver eyes tracking the ripples in the air. "When you're working with gang members? Drugging entire cities and causing crime? How can you truly see yourself as the good guy?"
"I was going to kill them too!" Killian laughed maniacally, the sound echoing from all sides. "I use them to find heroes to kill. Once they trust me, I kill them. Neither side is just!"
Suddenly, Killian reappeared in a blur, landing a sharp punch on Raphael before instantly disappearing again. He kept up the relentless assault appearing, kicking, sealing, and vanishing into the space between space.
But Raphael stopped chasing the movements. Instead, he stood his ground, watching carefully. Inside his body, his cellular structure and Battle Spirit were fighting off the toxic haze; his body was actively adapting to the cosmic magic radiation.
As his breathing cleared, his precision returned. Killian materialized for another blindside kick, but this time, Raphael twisted his torso, dodging the movement perfectly. Another strike came from his blind spot Raphael countered it instantly. The exact millisecond Killian appeared, Raphael drove a devastating, telekinetic uppercut straight into his jaw.
How is he countering me?! Killian thought in pure shock, his body violently ejected back into the space between space. It's like he's adapting!
Floating within the dimensional rift, Killian looked back out toward reality. What he saw made his blood run cold.
Raphael was moving his hands in a very specific, fluid pattern. For a brief, terrifying second, Killian didn't just see the hero he saw a reflection of himself. It was as if he was staring directly into a mirror. Raphael's silver eyes were wide open, looking directly through the spatial barrier, staring straight at his location.
"World Splitting Dragon Fist," Raphael whispered.
With flawless execution, Raphael drove his fists straight through the fabric of space. Bypassing the dimensional wall entirely, his hands pierced into the space between space. Killian's eyes widened in horror as Raphael rushed forward inside the rift, delivering a massive, solid punch directly to the assassin's face.
The impact ripped Killian cleanly out of the Space between space, dragging him back into reality. Both of them crashed hard onto the ground, tumbling across the debris before sliding to a halt.
Killian scrambled to his knees, clutching his bleeding face. "Impossible... How did you do that?! How did you do that technique?!"
Raphael stood over him, his armor gleaming and his breathing perfectly controlled. "I am a master at martial arts. I am a master at movements. My eyes can track your movements all the way down to your soul, and beyond. And I realized what you were doing was not magic. It was pure martial arts."
In truth, Raphael's combat prowess had entered the realm of the transcendent. To gaze upon his battle spirit was to look into a spiritual reflection an essence so attuned to movement that it naturally reflected the technique back onto the attacker.
Raphael took one final, commanding step forward. "Now give up. Your game of fake justice ends today."
Killian stared up at him, trembling in absolute shock. Rage, humiliation, and disbelief fought for control inside his chest as his mind raced. He's mocking me... He dares copy me? He dares take my techniques?! Forcing his broken legs to move, he staggered back to his feet, his posture twisting with venomous fury. "I will never fall to your false justice! You're the weakest hero you're not even willing to call yourself justice! I will show you my true art. Fist Art: Dragon Fist Dance!"
A torrential geyser of pitch-black magical energy erupted around Killian's knuckles. His physical strength and processing speed spiked exponentially, the air screaming as he launched himself forward. Raphael charged right back at him, a streak of silver and red.
Suddenly, Killian vanished, flickering entirely out of reality via instant teleportation. Raphael paused, his eyes widening in confusion but before he could react, Killian materialized directly behind him.
"Die!" Killian roared, unleashing a Soul Binding Sealing Back-Kick. The impact connected flush with Raphael's spine, the kinetic force sending him flying across the plaza.
Killian didn't give him a chance to breathe. He teleported directly on top of Raphael's trajectory, raining down a devastating onslaught of punches and kicks that shook the literal foundations of the earth, triggering localized earthquakes that ripped open massive fissures across the theme park.
Pinning Raphael mid-air with his left hand, Killian aimed his glowing right palm directly at the teenager's chest. "I'm gonna kill you!" he screamed. "Hypernova Gamma Ray Dragon Breathing Burst!"
The point-blank cataclysmic blast engulfed Raphael completely, the sheer propulsion sending him hurtling backward across the skyline. He smashed through building after building, traveling eighty entire city blocks in an absolute blur before the core of the blast detonated. The resulting explosion expanded violently, threatening to vaporize the entire district.
Gritting his teeth through the searing pain, Raphael channeled his Energy Counter-Flow technique. Manipulating the kinetic momentum, he violently redirected the remaining explosive radius upward, forcing the nuclear-level column of plasma to shoot harmlessly into the upper atmosphere.
When the smoke cleared, Raphael stood bruised and battered in the dead center of a completely leveled sector of the massive city. He looked around, his heart sinking as he witnessed the widespread devastation.
With a space-folding pop, Killian teleported directly in front of him, his aura crackling with arrogant triumph. "It's time to finish it. Your death is guaranteed."
"You call this justice?!" Raphael yelled, his voice cracking with pure outrage as he gestured to the ruins. "What you just did... the innocent people you killed! You would have wiped out this entire city if I didn't force that blast upward! There were innocent people here!"
"This is justice," Killian sneered coldly. "There's no such thing as innocent people. We're all sinners. Back at the temple in the Ninja Village, we worshiped a God. I worshiped her my whole life. I praised her. She is justice, and so we must obey her because of her absolute strength."
He stepped closer, his dark eyes wide with zealotry. "Citizens, governors, presidents, superheroes the world only sees them as justice because of their power and their rank. That is what I will be for my God. I'll be justice on earth. Justice in the mortal realm. I will decide who sees Heaven. I will become the strongest and judge who goes to Heaven to meet the ultimate judge. But first, I must kill everyone who believes in their own version of justice. I must kill all the heroes, all the villains... and even someone like you. A fool who doesn't even believe his own hands are justice. A weak hero."
Raphael stood perfectly still. The silver in his eyes darkened.
"Shut up," Raphael said, his voice dropping to an absolute freezing point. "Enough talking."
His Psycho Eyes began to flicker violently. Killian opened his mouth to force out more words, but Raphael met him instantly, closing the distance in a microsecond.
The two clashed in a savage, beyond light-speed trade of blows. Raphael targeted Killian's spiritual pressure points with hyper-precision, but the assassin's dark magic constantly worked overtime, healing his body mid-combat. Killian fired back, landing heavy magical strikes and sealing punches, but Raphael's internal reserves over-flooded, his own body rapidly healing the damage.
Killian's face twisted into a maniacal smile. "It's over for you! I will show you that I don't need to copy your martial arts. My own martial arts are mixed synergistically with every combat style, power, and magic I know!"
Utilizing his advanced processing speed, Killian began chain-teleporting, using his dark portals to flicker in and out of reality. He unleashed his signature World-Splitting Dragon Fist, striking Raphael from multiple angles simultaneously through the spatial rifts. Raphael's defenses began to lag; he couldn't keep up with the overwhelming spatial displacement attacking him from every direction. Blood sprayed from fresh cuts across his armor as the onslaught tore through his defenses.
"It's time to end this!" Killian shouted, materializing from a blind spot to deliver a devastating uppercut that launched Raphael clean into the stratosphere.
Leaping after him, Killian positioned himself directly below the rising hero. He thrust both hands upward, channeling every ounce of his stolen neon plasma. "Hypernova Gamma Ray Dragon Breathing Burst MAXIMUM OUTPUT!"
The beam didn't just fire; it expanded, its width stretching across the size of multiple city blocks as it surged forward. The sheer, ungodly force of the blast carried Raphael entirely out of the atmosphere, pushing him deep into the cold void of space before detonating in a silent, blinding magical Gamma Ray Bursts.
Floating in the vacuum of space, Raphael drifted, his body heavily bruised, bleeding, and exposed to the cosmic elements.
Killian popped into existence directly in front of him, entirely unbothered by the lack of oxygen. "Hypernova Gamma Ray Dragon Soul-Smashing Fist!" he roared, channeling the cosmic blast into his right knuckle while igniting his left with the Fist Art Series Sealing Fist: Dragon's Absolute Resolve.
He struck Raphael in perfect tandem one hand triggering a massive cosmic radiation explosion, while the other systematically locked down Raphael's physical nexus and spiritual body.
They were now fighting inside the massive, planet-sized planetary ring that encircled their world. This cosmic ring didn't just contain dust; it held regular-sized planets, moons, and stars trapped within its massive gravitational field. As Killian unleashed his final, frantic combination, the stray shockwaves from his punches literally shattered passing moons, planets, and stars, reducing them to absolute space dust with each strike. As the energy from his punches brushed forward, it surged outward, expanding into the far reaches of space and obliterating everything in its path.
With one final, catastrophic punch to the face, Killian slammed Raphael out of the orbit.
Raphael plummeted like a meteor, hurtling toward a nearby ring-planet characterized by massive, jagged mountain ranges. He tore through the atmosphere, slamming directly into the surface and fracturing the continental plate, creating a smoking, miles-wide crater.
Killian drifted down, landing on the edge of the crater. He looked down at the motionless, blood-soaked armor of the hiro.
"He's dead," Killian muttered, exhaling a breath of dark magic. "Not bad for a fighter. I expected more of a challenge, though. Haven't had to go this hard in a while..."
Rumble.
Killian's eyes widened as a low vibration rattled the planet's crust. Inside the center of the crater, a blood-soaked hand gripped a shattered boulder. Raphael was slowly, painstakingly forcing himself back up.
His body trembled, barely able to stand, and his Psycho Eyes were flickering erratically. But as he drew a breath of the foreign planet's air, his posture began to violently straighten. His cellular structure adapted instantly, his wounds sealing shut as his Psycho Eyes locked and solidified into a brilliant, permanent incandescent red.
Killian dropped back into his stance, a vein popping on his forehead. "So, you want some more?!"
Raphael looked down at his bloodied fists, then back up at the tyrant.
"You're right," Raphael said, his voice echoing across the desolate mountain peaks. "How can I be a hero if I don't believe what I do is just? If I'm not willing to say I stand for justice? I promised your sister I would get you some help. I told her I wouldn't kill you... that I would bring you back. And I think I finally know how to do that."
Raphael raised his right fist, aiming it directly at the self-proclaimed god.
"You want to see justice? By the end of this fight, you're going to see Heaven."
Killian threw his head back, laughing hysterically. "You think you can kill me and send me to Heaven?!"
"No," Raphael said, taking one commanding step forward as his crimson Battle Spirit flared so violently it illuminated the entire planet. "Heaven is not a place. It's my fist... and I decide where you go."
Flashed.
Raphael completely vanished.
Killian's laughter died instantly. "Where did he go?!"
Before the thought could completely even process, Raphael materialized directly in front of his face, swinging a devastating straight right.
He's gotten so much faster! Killian panicked, immediately activating his magical teleportation to escape through an instant spatial jump.
But Raphael's punch didn't stop. His fist followed through the exact coordinates where Killian had just been, the sheer physical force tearing through the dimensional wall. Raphael's entire body disappeared from the planet's surface, crossing over into the baseline path of the instant teleportation a conceptual realm where time and space did not exist, the absolute void of pure, Instant teleportation.
He caught Killian mid- Instant teleportation.
BAM!
Raphael drove his fist squarely into Killian's face just as they finally reached the destination of their instantaneous teleportation on the exact opposite side of the planet. As Killian took the punch to the face, the localized shockwaves from the strike sent him crashing violently through the celestial bodies around them, the sheer kinetic force causing passing planets and stars to explode into cosmic debris as he was sent flying backward through the vacuum of space. Before Killian could even register the displacement, Raphael was already there, Getting ready to throw the next punch.
He unleashed a relentless, hyper-precise barrage of strikes. Every single punch vibrated through Killian's entire body, hitting every single one of his spiritual pressure points simultaneously and leaving him completely paralyzed, floating helplessly in space. Even from the far distance they were from the planet, the kinetic output of the onslaught was so massive that the pure force moved multiple planets and stars from the surrounding planetary rings. With every punch Raphael threw, he physically drove Killian back towards the planet, rushing through space and hurtling back toward their original homeworld.
Raphael rushed forward ahead of the falling assassin, his red eyes tracking the very soul of the villain. Pushing his velocity to its absolute zenith, he wound up and threw a devastating flying sidekick.
The strike connected with absolute, pinpoint accuracy, hitting the perfect cosmic pressure point. Instantly, Killian's internal magical circuitry short-circuited. His body completely shut down, and his dark magic healing factor was instantly severed.
The two of them plummeted back into the Earth's atmosphere like dual shooting stars.
As they cleared the clouds, heading directly toward the skyline, Raphael vanished one last time. He reappeared directly behind Killian's falling, paralyzed body, catching him gently mid-air to completely absorb the kinetic momentum, preventing a catastrophic, city-destroying explosion upon impact.
With perfect control, Raphael hovered down through the billowing smoke, gently setting the defeated assassin onto the pavement. They landed right back where it all started: the ruined plaza of Ice Cream Universe Land.
Killian stared up at Raphael, his mind fracturing with a final, desperate thought: Impossible... I am judgment. I am the future God of this world... But his body refused to obey. He couldn't even blink. His eyes remained wide open, staring blankly as his consciousness finally slipped away, leaving him completely paralyzed.
Raphael took a heavy breath and looked around the battlefield. Some of the fallen heroes were already groggily pushing themselves up from the rubble. Mystic Woman was rushing from one hero to the next, channeling her magic to heal their injuries. Finally, she sprinted over to her brother's rigid body, checking his pulse.
"He's still alive," she breathed, looking up.
"Yeah," Raphael replied. "He's not gonna be paralyzed forever."
As the heroes gathered, checking on one another and talking in hushed, recovering tones, a massive high-tech jet roared overhead. It touched down smoothly in the center of the plaza, its landing gear hiss-clicking onto the cracked concrete. The ramp lowered, and Victor stepped out, flanked closely by his assistant, Valentina.
Victor walked past the recovering heroes, paying them little mind, and pulled Raphael to the side.
"You did a good job, kid. I can tell," Victor said, lowering his voice. "Look, unless I hired the big guys, I couldn't get these little heroes to arrest you for your 'crimes' of acting as an unlicensed hero. But what I can do is offer you a lot of money. We need someone like you on our side." He slid a thick, heavy envelope into Raphael's hand. "Just think about how many times you could get paid this much if you officially worked for our organization. All you have to do is sign some contracts to guarantee your loyalty to us."
Raphael stared at the envelope, stepping back slightly. "I don't know... I don't think I can accept this."
"Just think about it," Victor said smoothly, raising a hand. "You ain't gotta give me the answer right away."
Curiosity getting the better of him, Raphael peeked inside the envelope and quickly counted the contents. His jaw dropped. It was 100,000 credits.
I can definitely buy that card now, Raphael thought, his mind racing. But... I don't know if I should accept this. This doesn't seem right.
Trying to clear his head, he slipped the money into his pocket and ignited his energy, flying off into the sky before anyone else could press him.
He soared across the city, eventually heading back toward the college campus. As he neared the dorms, he zipped past Topanga's window. He slowed to a hover, staring at the glass. Maybe I should go talk to her, he hesitated. I did promise her that interview. But... maybe I should stay away from her. If someone sees me with her, they could try to hurt her just to get to me.
Ultimately, he couldn't just leave things unresolved. He flew forward and gave a soft, rhythmic knock on her window.
Topanga slid the window open, a bright, relieved smile immediately breaking across her face. "Long time no see! I thought you were too good for me now," she teased, leaning against the frame. "You finally here to give me that interview?"
"Yes," Raphael said, his tone turning serious as he hovered outside. "But you gotta do me a favor first."
"What is it?"
Raphael reached into his suit and handed her a small computer drive. "I know you've been working on this story about the mutations how they're happening. Well, I broke into one of the rogue scientists' labs, and this is the data I gathered from it. Maybe you can help me find out what's really going on. Do some deeper investigation."
Topanga took the drive, her eyes widening slightly. "Yeah... yeah, I can definitely check this out."
She set the drive down, looking back at him. A soft warmth settled in her eyes. Slowly, she raised herself up on her toes, leaning out the window to try and kiss him.
Raphael gently pulled back, his expression conflicted. "I can't."
Topanga blinked, her smile fading into a slight pout. "You did it last time. What's wrong? You don't like me anymore? You found someone else?"
"No, it's not that," Raphael responded quickly, looking around the dark campus. "I just... I can't get too close to anyone right now. What if one of my enemies finds out about you?"
Topanga scoffed softly, crossing her arms. "I can take care of myself, you know."
Looking at her determination, Raphael couldn't help himself anymore. He reached out, his hands gently framing her face, and pulled her into a deep, quiet kiss.
But outside the window, completely unnoticed by either of them, a tiny, mechanical fly buzzed silently in the air.
Miles away in a dark, glowing laboratory, a rogue scientist watched a live video feed transmitted directly from the cybernetic fly. A sinister grin spread across the villain's face. "So... I see. He does have a weak point. And he goes to this school?"
Back at the window, Topanga pulled Raphael inside, closing the glass behind him so they could speak without waking the entire floor. Raphael sat on the edge of her desk, answering her core questions in a short, rapid-fire interview while keeping a close eye on the clock.
Knowing his time was running out, he finally stood up and walked back toward the glass. "I gotta go," he said, sliding the window back open and pushing off into the cool night air.
As he blasted backward to head to his own dorm, his moving shoulder accidentally clipped the mechanical fly in mid-air. The sudden kinetic force sent the tiny drone spinning wildly out of control, completely breaking its tracking lock. Raphael vanished into the night, moving far too fast for the damaged drone's cameras to follow.
In the lab, the scientist slammed his fist on the console as the screen glitched. "Where did he go?!"
Unaware of the high-tech surveillance, Raphael slipped through the window of his own dorm room. He exhaled a massive sigh of relief, peeling off his silver-and-black costume and tossing it aside.
"Finally... I can just study," he muttered, glancing at the desk clock. His eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Oh no. I only have four hours until class!"
He scrambled to his desk, cracked open his massive textbooks, and began frantically reading. But after a grueling battle across planetary rings, the academic text felt completely mind-numbing. An hour and a half into his study session, utterly bored and mentally exhausted, Raphael's eyelids grew heavy, and his head slumped forward onto the open pages, fast asleep.