A dazzling golden slash tore through the front, piercing Neura with a precision that even his divine speed could not anticipate. It was a superior strike, a perfect execution that unmade Neura's body into hundreds of pieces, leaving behind a mirror of pure blood and metallic remains suspended in the air.
Hiroshi, with a much more mature and serene gaze, wrapped in that golden aura, took his position before the carnage. Almost immediately, the blood began to throb like bursting veins, clustering together to reform Neura's silhouette. The altercation resumed instantly: a mystical, fluid flurry of cuts and strikes, visible from every direction of the wasteland. They were two superior beings operating in tandem. Hiroshi did not make a single mistake; his control over the katana was historic—a mastery that defied any technical record in the world, staying level with a Neura who was falling deeper into a pit of irate hatred.
— How is it possible that you are keeping up with my pace?! — Neura roared, his voice distorted by fury —. Dammit! I only have 7 minutes left... To hell with it! If you want to see me dead, keep dreaming.
Neura abandoned the exchange with dizzying speed, turning into a dark bolt of lightning desperately seeking to leave the fourth dimension's zone of influence before being detected by the firewall.
— Coward, you're running away! — Hiroshi shouted, lunging in pursuit.
Tearing through destroyed mountains and valleys of ash, a colossal shadow stood in the villain's path. It was Noah. The two-meter giant, his prominent beard speckled with gray and his halberd worn, stood dying yet conscious. Noah intercepted Neura's trajectory, furtively raising his weapon to the heavens before bringing it down against the very foundations of the earth. The impact was dry, creating a hole directly through Neura's torso, who hit the ground with massive hatred in his eyes.
But Neura, in his desperation, responded with inhuman cruelty. His hands sank into Noah's face, piercing his eyes with a brutality that tore an immense cry of pain from the giant's vocal cords. Noah lost his vision in a second of agony. Without giving him respite, Neura began to break the bones across his entire body, twisting him in overwhelming pain while Noah's screams became more harrowing. Finally, Neura ripped out his tongue, broke his nose, and shattered his ears, leaving a man collapsed, invalid, and submerged in a silence of blood, waiting only for death.
— Noooooaaaah! — Charlotte's scream tore through the air. With tears in her eyes at the sight of her comrade's state, she charged at Neura, but he, with a side kick, dislocated her entire side and sent her flying across the wasteland.
On the ground, Noah felt his consciousness fading.
— I can't breathe... my body hurts... my heart hurts... I feel like I'm going to...
A sudden peace flooded him, a warm embrace that seemed to invite him to eternal rest.
— Noah, I will die... — he whispered to himself, but then something changed —. No... To hell with you, death! And you too, Neura! This won't end here. If it ends now, I won't be able to see... no, I won't go out this way. This will be my last desire: to finish what I started.
A violent reconstruction, followed by a blinding golden glow, invaded Noah's body in a fraction of a second. He was revitalized by his own conviction, though the aftermath was permanent: he did not recover his sense of smell or his sight, but his will screamed that his cursed hearing would be more than enough. Surprising Neura, Noah stood up and launched a halberd strike that landed flush on his side.
— What the hell?! You too! — Neura exclaimed, backing away —. I'm truly fed up with all of you.
Neura repelled the halberd with all his strength and attempted a finishing blow against Noah, but a golden flash prevented it. Hiroshi had intercepted the path once more.
— Go to hell, I'm going to kill you all! — Neura's hatred expanded, becoming a physical mass.
The three warriors exchanged blows at a speed that defied logic, while Neura summoned a rain of red lightning upon their position. All were repelled. They launched their best attacks, managing to knock Neura out for a few brief moments, but he summoned a ring of fire around himself that protected him. The ring began to expand to gigantic magnitudes, ramming everything in a massive area and causing severe damage to the warriors' bodies.
Neura was preparing to summon another rain of lightning when, suddenly, a golden chain emerged from the earth and twisted his arm with force. Arthur appeared through the smoke, brandishing his sword. It wasn't a fleeting cut, but hundreds of them that lunged against an already deranged Neura. The villain grabbed Arthur and slammed him against the ground before he could continue, but Charlotte, Noah, and Hiroshi lunged in a coordinated avalanche of attacks.
Only 4 minutes remained.
Neura, with bloodshot eyes, veins marked by black smoke, and his body covered in a rage that manifested physically, decided to end everything at once. The atmosphere became heavy, almost solid, as the monster concentrated all his resentment into one final movement.