Xavier's body crashed against the ground, the force rattling his bones, just as Reginald kept up his relentless assault.
Massive iron fists materialized one after another, pounding down without mercy.
"This is very fun," Reginald murmured, a twisted smile creeping across his face. "I'm surprised he's able to endure so much."
But then, a voice echoed, clear and powerful through the air:
"Black Star Authority: Gravitational Downfall"
In an instant, the very gravity of the world shifted — slamming everything downward. Even Reginald stumbled, dragged toward the earth by the crushing force.
Seizing the moment, Xavier summoned Excalibur back into his hand with a sharp pull of vectors. His eyes hardened as he cleaved through every iron construction Reginald had conjured, carving a straight path forward with ease.
As 'Gravitational Downfall' faded, Reginald gritted his teeth and rose swiftly, launching a barrage of iron pillars at Xavier faster than the eye could track.
Xavier exhaled slowly, closing his eyes — centering himself — as vectors swirled and danced around Excalibur.
"Regokinesis Blade Technique!" he shouted.
He unleashed a devastating vertical slash, splitting the ground beneath them in two with a roar of pure force.
What was that?! Reginald thought, momentarily stunned.
Without hesitation, Xavier released his grip on Excalibur, letting the blade float midair by his will alone. In the same heartbeat, both he and Reginald collided — fists clashing, their auras detonating outward in a storm of raw, uncontained energy.
"Power Fist!"
A violent surge of air force exploded from Xavier's punch, sending Reginald skidding backwards as the ground cracked and heaved under the pressure.
Fighting against the crushing barrage, Reginald slammed his palm to the ground, creating a massive iron platform that launched him high into the sky.
Xavier, not wasting a second, called Excalibur back into his grip. His eyes darted through the chaos — searching — until he spotted her.
Teslaine.
In a flash, he accelerated with vectors, reaching her side almost faster than sound.
He knelt beside her, hands trembling slightly as he held her up. His voice cracked with worry. "Are you alright, Teslaine?"
Somewhat conscious, Teslaine managed a weak smile. "I should be the one asking you that… haha..."
"Now's not the time for jokes," Xavier said, a faint, broken smile tugging at his lips.
From his pocket, he pulled out a small, ornate necklace — the very one gifted to him by Prince Ragnar Flashstride on his ninth birthday. His fingers lingered on it for a moment before he pressed it into Teslaine's hand.
"Break the gem when the moment comes. It'll teleport you far away… to safety," he said quietly.
Wrapping Teslaine in his shimmering vector shield, Xavier stood — leaving himself wide open — but he didn't care. As long as Teslaine was safe, nothing else mattered.
Above them, Reginald observed from his iron platform with a smirk. With a single gesture, he summoned an endless rain of metallic projectiles, enough to blot out the stars themselves.
"Let's see if you can escape from this, Xavier."
Xavier turned, just as a metallic shard struck him, piercing deep into his side. His breath hitched — not from the pain, but from the sheer scale of what he saw overhead. The night sky had turned into a storm of death.
In the next instant, the iron rain came crashing down.
Teslaine, shielded by Xavier's protective vectors, pressed the gem of the necklace without hesitation, vanishing in a flash of light — teleported miles away, just as Xavier had planned.
Xavier, meanwhile, fought alone against the hell raining down upon him.
He smiled despite the agony, relief blooming in his heart. Teslaine was safe.
Channeling every ounce of his strength, Xavier ignited his aura, blasting away nearby projectiles. He tore the spears of iron from his flesh, his face contorting with pain but never faltering.
Pulling himself together, he conjured four quantum blackholes, their gravitational pull shredding nearby metal shards.
Dodging, weaving, striking — he cut through the nightmare that surrounded him.
Reginald wasn't finished. He conjured towering pillars of iron, hurling them down at Xavier like divine spears.
But Xavier — unwavering — danced through the onslaught, carving them apart with Excalibur and the technique 'Multi-directional Echo.' Step by step, he climbed, using the very iron meant to kill him as a path toward the sky.
As he ascended, Xavier directed the quantum blackholes to absorb Reginald's remaining attacks, their power finally fading after devouring so much mass.
Finally — finally — he reached him.
Their eyes locked.
Xavier's grip tightened on Excalibur. His aura flared wildly, a raging tempest of light and force.
"VECTOR NOVA!" he roared.
Reginald responded in kind, summoning a colossal iron blade that stretched all the way down to the earth. With a mighty heave, he swung it downward.
Their weapons collided.
The impact unleashed an earth-shaking explosion — a catastrophic storm of energy that tore through the night, lighting up the heavens like the birth of a second sun.
—
As the dust slowly settled, Xavier found himself lying broken against the cold, jagged floor of the underground dungeon hidden beneath the now burned-down facility. His fingers twitched weakly against the cracked stone.
Above him, rain began to pour through the shattered ceiling, the aftermath of the catastrophic explosion he and Reginald had unleashed. Each droplet stung as it mixed with the blood streaking down his battered face.
His limbs felt like lead. He tried to move, but the pain weighed him down like chains. His RealmHeart form had collapsed, leaving him reverted back to his normal, weaker self—agile, yes, but fragile now.
Did I win? Xavier's mind spun as he weakly shifted his head, trying to find Reginald. But the ruined dungeon around him was silent, empty. No sign of the enemy.
Maybe… maybe I did it… he thought, hope flickering weakly.
Then a voice sliced through the storm.
"You sure were fun to fight, Xavier," came the low, gruff tone from above.
There he was—Reginald. Standing tall atop the fractured ceiling, cigarette smoldering between his lips, black bear coat draped over his wide shoulders as rain poured down, soaking him to the bone.
"No wonder you managed to beat Ashfang. You're a beast of a kid yourself, y'know?" Reginald exhaled a plume of smoke, the ember of his cigarette briefly glowing in the darkness.
Xavier tried to rise—but his body refused. Agony lanced through him as he coughed up blood, staining the stone beneath him.
Maybe I can conjure a vector shield… he thought desperately. But just as he reached within, a sharp pain stabbed through his skull, forcing a groan from his lips. His nose bled freely.
No… He had already hit his time limit. Three minutes max.
He could no longer use his shield. He was naked before his enemy.
Xavier let out a shaky sigh. Should I call for Master? he wondered. But if I do… what if they have another trick waiting for me?
"Master Alcmena is my trump card. I can't use him until I've used everything else..."
Yet another thought clawed at him—a raw, vulnerable one.
What am I even talking about? Xavier scoffed bitterly to himself. I'm going to die if I don't act.
I don't want to die.
Above him, a crowd began to gather—hardened criminals clad in piecemeal armor, their faces twisted with malice. They flocked to Reginald like vultures to a carcass.
"Let's finish this," Reginald said casually, flicking his soaked cigarette into the void. "It was nice knowing you, Xavier."
He chuckled, a low, mocking sound. "I'm honestly surprised Percival gave me the green light to kill you, considering how obsessed he is with you. But hey, I'm getting paid. That's what matters."
Reginald's smile faded. His eyes gleamed menacingly as he spoke words Xavier would never forget:
"You should've killed me when you had the chance. You didn't. And now—you die."
Xavier's heart pounded in his chest, his breath quickening. No shield. No strength. Alone.
Just as despair threatened to consume him, the world shifted.
The skies, already storming, turned darker—suffocating, furious. The rain became a deluge, pounding the earth like war drums. Thunder cracked like the roar of some ancient beast.
Everyone froze.
Reginald frowned, glancing up at the heavens. Something was wrong. Deeply wrong.
Still, he forced himself to act. Raising his hand, he summoned a spectral spear, its tip sharpened to pierce Xavier's heart clean through.
The spear vibrated with deadly energy—and then he hurled it down.
In that instant, heaven answered.
The clouds above raged open with a blinding, holy fury. Thunder boomed so loud it rattled the earth itself. Winds howled, almost as if screaming.
A single silhouette emerged from the gaping heavens, descending slowly through the storm, carried by winds that seemed to worship her.
Crimson-pink hair flowed like banners in the storm—a celestial figure of wrath and beauty.
Misaki.
Her entire body was wrapped in a blazing aura, lightning dancing around her like living serpents.
And then—
"Tenrai no Chigiri."
"The Judgment of the Skies."
"Heavenly Retribution: Arrow of the Thunder God—"
She spoke the ancient words with a voice that was both a whisper and a command to the cosmos.
"RAIJIN!"
A cataclysmic bolt of lightning, faster than sight and light itself, tore through the heavens and slammed into the earth with unstoppable might.
Reginald didn't even have time to blink. The criminals around him vanished—disintegrated to ash—without a scream. The spear he had thrown never touched the ground. It evaporated.
And Xavier, lying broken on the ground, could only watch in wide-eyed awe as the heavens themselves unleashed their judgment.