Adam and Piercebox were falling through the sky, the enormous mechanical hands of a ship waving at us. It was Toho and Kiso, evacuating the people and animals—driving the monsters, and any living creature, to safety.
Above, a massive behemoth writhed as a long white-haired woman, draped in flowing silk, slashed at its hands. "How dare a monster trap me," she spat, struggling as coils of chains lifted her into a massive balloon skycraft.
Piercebox leaned back, his cloak flaring wildly on the wind. "You know, Adam…"
I glanced at him. "What?"
"I really hate war… There's nothing to gain from it. But I guess it has to be done." His lips curved faintly into a smile. "I always lose something." His bunny head floated upward, drifting from his shoulders, leaving him momentarily embarrassed while trying to look cool.
Meanwhile, he dipped his hand into a jelly-like fluid, pulling at it with calculated force. Adam, calm as ever, kept his hands in his pockets, landing gently on the ground. Piercebox struck the earth with a harsh thud, sending cracks sprawling outward.
As dust enveloped us, we sprinted toward the center of the chaos.
Corrupted monsters, black fluid dripping from their bodies, closed in, the air thick with miasma. Piercebox grabbed a scroll and activated it, forcing the miasma to recede from our path.
A memory flashed in Adam's mind: being pulled into the dark miasma, dying, and waking on a bed. "I guess I really did die in that thing," he muttered. Corrupted monsters and panicked humans alike surged toward us.
I hurled a refrigerator at the corrupted humans. Then, a massive worm-like creature with spiraling eyes lunged forward. I raised my hands, and thousands of black tentacles shot out, seizing the creature and pinning it to the ground.
Piercebox, kicking aside enemies and igniting fire from his scroll, and binding them looked at me with shock. "Seriously… are you the one behind all this? Main character?" His face twisted. "Maybe you're the villain, the mastermind. You've been brainwashing me."
Adam chuckled. "Hahaha… Shut up. Don't judge a person based on their abilities, man."
Thousands of black humanoids surrounded us, wielding bendable arrays of hardened matter to trap us. Adam pushed them aside, his rope-like tentacles lashing with lethal precision.
Piercebox scanned the battlefield through his goggles, sending flocks of pigeons, doves, and birds into the air to locate the man we were after. We ran toward the center, where the figure stood atop the clock tower, high above the chaos.
The gray-haired man waved at us, a sinister smile curling his lips. "Hello, Adam. We meet again… I guess you failed your task?" His slit eyes burned red, bloodshot and menacing.
Adam's eyes widened. "Why are you here?"
The man leapt, pivoting on a platform of miasma, descending stairways suspended in midair. "You must think I'm evil, don't you?"
Adam's jaw tightened. "I've heard that line before." He readied his hands, summoning a field of indivisible matter that ensnared the gray-haired man. His expression was calm, blank—but fury simmered beneath the surface. "Stop this. Or I'll kill you."
The gray-haired man stood distant and weary. "I only seek peace, for myself… by any means necessary." His eyes betrayed exhaustion.
Piercebox clapped his hands, hurling potions and toxins that swirled around the man in miasma. Adam restrained Piercebox with indivisible matter, preventing a fatal misstep.
Drinking a red-hued potion, Piercebox smirked, striking a confident pose. "Now, I command you. Lay down your weapon and surrender… though I wonder, do you even have a weapon? Or power?"
The gray-haired man smirked. "Sure. I'll do that." In an instant, he swiped his hands dark shadow of black, flinging Piercebox into a building. Piercebox coughed, grinning despite the impact. "Wouldn't it be funny if love potions worked amid all this chaos?"
He bolted, and so did Adam. Darkness and miasma cloaked the gray-haired man, decaying Adam's hands into dead, lifeless limbs.
"Go back, Adam," Rehan's voice echoed.
Grimacing, Adam tore off his own petrified limbs. "This… this is something else."
[Analyzing matter]
My arm reformed instantly. This opponent couldn't be underestimated. Rehan, are you done yet?
[I just can't… we can't disintegrate or delete something that wasn't created in this world.]
"So he's like a creator… an avatar?" Adam muttered.
[Maybe.] Rehan shrugged.
Piercebox noticed Adam faltering and drank a barrage of agility, regeneration, and strength potions. Cobblestones shattered beneath his feet as he hurled a sword at the gray-haired man.
"You can't harm me," the man said, realizing his cheeks bled along with his neck. Piercebox grinned cheekily, his sword fluid-like, shattering and reforming as he attacked.
The gray-haired man's body vanished into darkness. Piercebox bombarded him with hundreds of dynamites, detonating the area, while Adam grabbed him and teleported us far away.
[Constructing]
Thousands of shattered swords erupted, moving at lightning speed, encircling the man like a swarm of bees. Darkness shrouded his body, yet the weapons pierced relentlessly.
He coughed, kneeling.
Pierce: "Cheater...That's my ability"
[Complete analysis of power]
Adam raised his hands. Purple miasma engulfed the town, seeping into the man's flesh, rotting him from the inside out. "Finally," he whispered.
The gray-haired man still smiled weakly. "I guess I lost… but you're stronger. I always knew it."
Adam said nothing.
"I really hate you… as much as I hate myself." His hand clawed through the ground. "This wasn't in my control. The miasma will trap you even if this version of me disappears… but Adam… good luck being trapped here for eternity." His glasses shattered, and his gaze hardened. "I'll be back."
The man's eyes glimmered with greed as he died.
Piercebox slashed the air with his sword, blood dripping. "Anticlimactic… but I'm still the best," he said grimly, sizing up the fallen foe.
A voice cried out. "HELP! HELP!"
A person, trapped under rubble, bloodied and bruised, called out. Piercebox dashed, teleporting to them.
"Hey, you alright?"
A yellow-haired boy with round glasses coughed as Piercebox lifted him. "Where are we?"
Adam appeared beside them. "Well...You're coming with us."
The boy's eyes widened looking at me, and he smiled faintly. "Thank you."