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Sweat.
Blood.
Clothes in tatters.
A scene of war frozen in time.
Amidst the smoldering rubble of a collapsing city, only one stood… and two bodies thrown aside, defeated, but not broken.
Akira staggered. His face, covered in dried blood, stared trembling at the ground.
Stella, without her sword, had fought to her last remnants of strength. She breathed with difficulty, her eyes heavy with pain. But she remained conscious.
Aisha… was in the king's hands. Literally.
Dante held her neck as if gripping something fragile and useless.
— Aside from him, I don't care about your lives. — He said, turning his face toward Akira. His voice was icy. — After you, I'll kill the little blonde.
He smirked. A dirty, cruel smile.
— Any last words?
Aisha answered with a bloody smile, a trickle running from the corner of her lips.
It was the kind of smile that didn't belong to defeat… but to something deeper.
Something had changed in the air.
Dante noticed.
Akira felt it.
Stella shuddered.
And Aisha… she knew.
It was like the fabric of the universe tearing.
An aura was approaching.
Overwhelming. Ancient. Furious. Alive.
Dante frowned.
— What…?
— You're going to regret being reborn… little king — Aisha whispered, her neck still in his grasp.
"MASSIVE NEBULA!"
A golden ray, thin as a blade, cut through the sky, coming like a comet. The impact was so brutal that Dante instinctively released Aisha and retreated, crossing his arms to block.
But the ray followed him, as if it had a will of its own.
The world turned white for an instant.
Smoke. Static. The cracked ground.
When the mist cleared, Aisha was no longer there.
A voice echoed amidst the debris:
— Rest. You did well… too well.
Mei Nuhay.
The Empress of Fire.
There, standing, her wavy hair danced like crimson flames. Her golden eyes burned like furious suns.
She gently placed Aisha under Akira's care, who watched her without words.
— Take care of her… and Stella.
Akira swallowed dryly. Their gazes met.
— I'll take it from here.
— …Finish him for us.
Mei smiled with an ancestral warmth.
— I'm going to incinerate this shitty king.
The drones broadcast.
The entire world watched.
Governments, deserters, children hidden in shelters, warriors, Sifs, and Reapers.
Mei's image emerged like a goddess, confronting the monster of history—the king who had conquered death.
Dante looked at her coldly.
— So… you're the woman Vernasha contained?
— Contained? — Mei laughed with disdain. — You think anyone can contain me?
— Your aura doesn't seem much greater than the others'. I expected more.
Mei covered her mouth. Feigned surprise.
— Oh, that's right. I forgot that detail... so important…
She slowly raised her arm. A finger pointing to the sky.
— Thanks for reminding me, little king.
Dante arched an eyebrow.
— See if my aura is good enough now.
BOOOM.
As if a comet had exploded in reverse, Mei's aura expanded in a red and golden wave, swallowing everything.
It was hot. It was dense.
It was imperial.
The clouds parted. The earth trembled.
Dante… stopped smiling.
— Is this better?
She approached, each step generating micro-explosions in the ground.
— I always wondered… when I heard stories about you. A demonic king, who required the union of nations to be defeated.
I wondered if I would be stronger than you.
She stopped, facing him directly.
— But looking at your face now, I can only think one thing:
You're a fraud.
Dante laughed, though his eyes were cautious.
— Impressive, child. You're a generational aberration. You shouldn't exist.
— Exactly why, before being this strong, I died.
They killed my family, drove a spear through my chest… the pain, the blood, were real.
— And I asked myself for years why I came back. Why I became so strong.
Today I know why.
She pointed at him.
— To show a king he should have stayed dead.
Dante clenched his fists. Black flames began to swirl around his hands.
— Enough talk.
Mei spread her arms.
— Finally.
The collision was brutal.
Mei struck him with a punch that launched him like a missile into a building.
Glass flew. Structures collapsed. Dante crashed through everything.
Mei appeared above him in the air, like an inverted comet, and kicked him brutally into the ground.
The impact opened a crater. The world exploded in flames and dust.
— The last one was weak. Let's see how you react to this one — Mei murmured mid-air.
— Flames of the Ancient Hell! — Dante shouted, summoning black flames like oil.
— Planetary Nebula! — Mei responded.
The powers collided.
The explosion made the ground scream.
The sky tore open.
When the dust settled, Dante was burned, but smiling.
— You really are very strong…
— If that's all, you die now, "King".
He roared.
Dante's eyes became black like abysses, without pupils.
The king's darkness awakened.
— Without the barrier, I can break the limits of my powers!
— What a coincidence — Mei smiled — I haven't even started warming up.
They collided again. The world exploded with each punch.
Dante vanished and tried to attack from behind, but burst into flames upon touching Mei's field.
— An energy barrier...? — Dante thought. — Rules that repel... I've only seen that once…
He retreated. Staring at Mei.
— What's wrong, little king? Giving up? Afraid of the fire?
Dante hesitated.
— You… were creative in your childhood?
— Huh? Maybe. Why?
— Do you know which family you truly belong to?
Mei narrowed her eyes.
— Where are you going with this?
— You are a Tsuki, descendant of a lineage I myself corrupted.
They manifest power according to their personality.
— Keeping that in mind, I've already figured it out. You have the Imaginary Technique.
"Even so, imposing conditions on your own energy for automatic activation, that's absurd." Dante thought.
Mei sighed.
— That makes sense, it really explains a lot of things.
But enough history lessons.
She dissolved the barrier.
— Come. No barrier.
I want to see your face clearly when I destroy you.
Dante laughed.
And once again, the king of the past and the empress of the present clashed.
Monsters in human form.
In every corner of the planet, the world held its breath.
On the other side of the screens, hope was reborn.
But on the battlefield…
The destruction had only just begun.
To be continued...