Chapter 80 — The Death Phase: Escape from San Juan
The world was silent for a moment.
Then, the heavens cracked open.
The Rainbow Bridge trembled under thunder and blood — every beam of light that once shimmered like hope now flickered, dim, broken, and trembling beneath the fury of war. The battle of gods had reached its breaking point.
And at the bridge's shattered center, Moro stood alone.
Or rather, barely stood.
His body was drenched in blood — his own and others'.
His breath came in sharp, ragged gasps.
One arm hung limp at his side, broken. His right eye was swollen shut.
Yet still, he refused to kneel.
Before him stood Revo, the Time Breaker, his body pulsing with silver radiance. Every inch of him was calm, pristine, unbothered. His feet hovered an inch above the ground, and his expression was almost mournful — as though pitying the bleeding warrior before him.
The bridge groaned under their silence.
Lightning flared in the distance.
The once-colorful aura of San Juan now glowed dark, tainted with smoke and ash.
---
THE LAST STAND
Moro spat blood and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. "You think… you've won already?"
Revo's reply was quiet, cold, and absolute.
"I know I have."
He raised one hand. Time distorted. The fragments of broken glass and debris hanging in the air stopped mid-fall.
Reality itself froze, bending around Revo's will.
Moro tried to move, but his limbs were heavy — like the air itself refused him. Revo stepped forward, his voice cutting through the stillness.
"You're clinging to something that doesn't exist anymore, Moro. The era of your father is gone. The world belongs to those who can rewrite its laws… not die by them."
"Then you'll die rewriting," Moro muttered.
With a guttural scream, he broke through Revo's temporal hold, his aura flaring like a storm of blue fire. He lunged forward — faster than his body could sustain — and landed a punch squarely on Revo's face.
The impact shattered the still air — time resumed violently, sending a rippling shockwave across the bridge.
Revo staggered back, hand touching his cracked mask, a streak of blood marking his lip for the first time.
Moro fell to one knee, panting, his energy fading rapidly. "Guess… I can still bleed gods."
Revo's gaze hardened. "You're not a god. You're just a dying human who forgot his place."
He appeared in front of Moro in an instant, slamming his palm against Moro's chest.
Time collapsed again.
Everything went white.
---
THE PAIN BEYOND PAIN
The blow hit Moro so hard his back tore through the bridge floor, splintering rainbow stone into shards that fell endlessly into the storm below.
Blood exploded from his mouth. His body convulsed violently, his aura collapsing.
For a moment — just a moment — he saw the faces of his squad.
Yaya, smiling as she carried her blades.
Kiro, laughing by the campfire, his lion aura flickering softly.
Kaya, scolding him for eating all the ration bread.
Herbet, fiddling with his radio.
Wolf Hunter, sitting silently sharpening his blade.
All of them, together.
All of them alive.
Then, his vision blurred.
Darkness closed in.
But before he fell unconscious, he felt something warm hit his cheek — not light, not blood — a tear. His own.
---
THE SHADOWS MOVE
Across the other side of the collapsing bridge, Kaya struggled to drag Kiro away from the battlefield. Her arms trembled, her breathing sharp, her aura flickering like candlelight.
Her energy reserves were empty — she had poured everything into shielding Kiro earlier.
"Stay awake," she whispered. "You can't sleep, Kiro. Not now."
Kiro, half-conscious, managed to open one eye, the golden lion aura dim around him. "He's still fighting… Moro's still out there…"
"I know," she said, her voice cracking. "But if you go back, he'll die for nothing."
She pulled harder, her knees scraping against the bridge floor, every step a scream of pain.
Behind her, Herbet and Wolf Hunter had begun helping to evacuate nearby civilians trapped in the wreckage — the remnants of San Juan's outskirts. Explosions painted the horizon red.
And then —
a shockwave so immense it split the sky rippled across the bridge.
Kaya turned in horror — seeing Moro's body hit the ground with a thunderous crash, Revo descending slowly, silver energy swirling around him like divine wrath.
"MORO!" she screamed.
---
THE RACE OF LIGHT
Revo floated down calmly, his expression unchanging. "End of your chapter," he said softly, raising his hand again.
A sphere of condensed time — glowing silver — formed in his palm.
> "Chrono Collapse."
The energy swirled, bending the bridge around it. Even space itself screamed.
Moro, on his knees, could only stare as the energy approached — his body too broken to move.
Then —
a flash of crimson light cut across the air.
A figure blurred in faster than sound — moving like a meteor wrapped in scarlet streaks.
Yaya.
She slammed into Revo mid-cast, sending him flying backward with enough force to distort the air around them.
"Touch him again, and I swear I'll break every piece of time you own!" she shouted, her aura blazing violently red.
Moro's half-lidded eyes flickered in disbelief. "Yaya…?"
She knelt beside him, her breathing heavy. "Don't talk, idiot. I told you — I admire strong men, not dead ones."
She hoisted him up, blood soaking into her uniform, and darted toward the far end of the bridge, moving so fast her footsteps left trails of sparks.
Revo reappeared instantly ahead of her, his voice echoing. "You can't run from me."
"Watch me," Yaya hissed.
She vanished — reappearing past him in a blur. Revo's eyes widened.
"Speed phase… Level Nine…?"
Yaya smirked, teeth bloodied. "You're not the only one who bends rules."
---
ESCAPE FROM SAN JUAN
Every step Yaya took shattered the bridge's surface behind her. The world around them collapsed — towers fell, flames devoured what was left of San Juan's skyline.
She felt Moro's heartbeat weakening in her arms, each thump slower, lighter, fading.
"Stay with me," she whispered. "You promised to finish this war. You can't break that now."
Moro mumbled incoherently, eyes half open. "Dad… I saw… him…"
"Shut up and breathe," Yaya snapped, her voice trembling. "You're not dying here."
Ahead, Kaya saw them and screamed, waving frantically. "Here! This way!"
Kiro, still on the ground, lifted his head weakly as Yaya sped across the cracked rainbow floor.
The bridge began to collapse behind them — massive chunks falling into the abyss below.
Revo appeared once more in midair, floating above the destruction, his silver aura spiraling around him. "Let them go," he murmured — but his tone carried both anger and calculation.
Kuzak, standing on the distant ruins, roared in frustration. "We could've ended it! Why let them flee!?"
Revo didn't answer immediately. His gaze followed Yaya's shrinking silhouette, then turned toward the horizon where the bridge led — toward the unknown lands beyond San Juan.
He smiled faintly. "Because I want them to see what comes next."
---
THE FINAL DASH
Yaya's body screamed in pain, but she didn't slow down. Her aura burned her skin raw — her speed tearing through the atmosphere. Every second felt like a lifetime.
Behind her, explosions bloomed like dying stars.
Ahead, the bridge grew thinner — the edge of San Juan nearing its end.
Kaya and Herbet ran ahead, clearing debris and guiding her path.
Wolf Hunter covered their rear, firing bursts from his rifle into falling rubble to keep them clear.
They were running not from war — but from death itself.
Yaya's lungs burned. "Just a little… further…"
Moro stirred weakly in her arms. "Why… why save me…"
She gritted her teeth. "Because I can't lose another one."
He blinked slowly, confusion flickering in his fading consciousness. "…Another… one?"
But before she could answer, a final explosive tremor tore through the bridge.
The structure tilted violently, half of it collapsing into the abyss below.
Kaya screamed, clutching Kiro. "We're not gonna make it!"
Yaya's eyes locked onto the faint golden horizon ahead — the end of the bridge, shimmering faintly.
"Hold tight!" she shouted.
She poured the last of her energy into her speed — crimson flames erupting from her heels as she broke the sound barrier. The shockwave blasted rubble away as she leaped across the collapsing edge, carrying Moro and landing hard onto the opposite cliffside.
The ground cracked under the impact. Dust and debris exploded outward.
Silence followed.
For the first time in hours — silence.
---
AFTER THE FALL
Yaya fell to her knees, gasping, every muscle screaming. Moro lay beside her — pale, barely breathing, blood still trickling from his chest wound.
Kaya crawled over, hands trembling as she pressed against Moro's side. "His pulse… it's weak…!"
Herbet rushed over with medical supplies, quickly injecting a stabilizer. "We can stop the bleeding, but if we don't get him to a med station soon, he won't make it."
Yaya's eyes burned, but her voice was steady. "Then we move. Now."
Kiro tried to rise but winced, clutching his side. "He… he fought Revo to save us. We can't leave him behind."
"We're not," Yaya said, standing. Her body shook, her knees wobbled, but she refused to fall. "We're going to drag him to the next continent if we have to."
Wolf Hunter reloaded his rifle, eyes scanning the horizon. "The enemy won't follow for now. Revo's watching. He's planning something."
Herbet nodded grimly. "That's what scares me."
The group began to move — limping, dragging, bleeding — but alive.
The once-mighty Rainbow Bridge behind them cracked one last time, collapsing into the abyss.
San Juan — the city of miracles — burned in the distance, its lights fading into the night.
---
THE SMIRK OF A GOD
High above, floating amid the falling debris, Revo watched their escape with calm amusement.
The silver aura around him flickered faintly as he turned toward the horizon.
Kuzak landed behind him, fury radiating off his massive frame. "Why didn't you finish them? That was your chance!"
Revo's reply was almost a whisper, but it carried through the wind like thunder.
"Because death isn't their punishment, Kuzak. Survival is."
Kuzak frowned. "You're playing a dangerous game, Time Lord."
Revo smirked faintly. "Games end. But time… time never ends."
He turned his gaze toward the glowing crack of dawn in the far distance — the direction Moro and his squad had escaped to.
A thin smile crept across his face.
"Let them run," he murmured. "Let them believe they've escaped. Every second they breathe… belongs to me."
The wind howled. The bridge's last fragment fell into the abyss, vanishing.
Revo extended his hand, catching one falling petal of light — the last fragment of the Rainbow Bridge's aura — and crushed it slowly.
The light went out.
And San Juan was no more.
---
THE OTHER SIDE
Meanwhile, miles beyond the ruins, the squad stumbled across the edge of a massive forest — the first region beyond the city's reach.
Kaya collapsed beside Moro, tears streaking her face. "He's still not waking up…"
Yaya, still trembling, placed her hand on Moro's chest. "He will. He always does."
Kiro sat beside them, staring back toward the faint glow of the destroyed city. "We made it out… but at what cost?"
Wolf Hunter reloaded his weapon, his expression grim. "At the cost of peace. There's no turning back now."
Herbet looked to the others. "Then we make this place our new base. Moro will need time to heal. We'll regroup here."
Yaya stood slowly, staring into the distance where the faint lights of a new land shimmered faintly — untouched, unscarred.
A place rumored only in myths: The Continent of Veyra, where the lost archives of the Ancients lay hidden.
She whispered quietly, almost to herself,
> "We escaped San Juan… but not its ghosts."
The wind blew softly through the trees. For the first time in weeks, it carried no scent of blood — only silence, and faint hope.
---
EPILOGUE
Far behind, on the smoldering remains of San Juan, Revo hovered one last time above the ruins.
The bells that once marked the city's peace now hung shattered, silent.
He closed his eyes, whispering to himself,
> "The Death Phase has begun."
When he opened them again, a cold, merciless smirk curved his lips.
> "Let them think they escaped. Every phase has its price."
Lightning struck behind him — white and pure — illuminating the shadow of a man who controlled time itself.
And beneath that fading light, far across the endless horizon, Moro's squad disappeared into the unknown — wounded, broken, but still breathing.
Still fighting.
Still alive.
The world turned.
The bridge collapsed.
And the war…
was far from over.
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