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The explosion still echoed as the world seemed to hold its breath. Dust and smoke still hung over the shattered buildings, but at the center of the destruction, Mei Nuhay's figure dragged herself to her knees, struggling to stand. The impact of Dante's last technique had torn open her abdomen, exposed her flesh, and thrown her body against three metal structures that twisted like paper.
She coughed violently. Blood, thick and scarlet, trickled from the corner of her mouth.
But she smiled. A smile of stained teeth. — Is that your best?
Above, floating with the crown pulsing in living patterns of abyssal energy, Dante watched her in silence. His black eyes spun in hypnotic spirals. The shadow around him flickered like a living consciousness—as if every dark thread sought gaps in the light.
He didn't answer. He merely moved his finger. And three portals opened around him.
From within them, demons. One made of thorns and mouths. Another, a deformed titan, with too many arms and not enough eyes. The last, a skeletal creature with an iron mask and swords orbiting its head.
Fenra, watching from the top of the ruined building with the others, gritted her teeth. — ...Second-circle demons. He's calling reinforcements... again.
Aisha snarled: — What kind of king needs to summon all of hell to defeat one woman?
Dan couldn't tear his eyes from the fight: — This... isn't just power anymore. It's a collapse of dimensions.
Stella murmured: — But she's still standing. Still smiling...
Down below, Mei cracked her shoulders and wiped the blood from her face with her forearm. — Ah, Dante... already called daddy, mommy... now the cousins? You want me to call someone too? I can summon sarcasm and mockery, if you want.
Dante didn't smile. He snapped his hand, and all the demons attacked at once.
The city shook again.
The streets shattered. Buildings collapsed like cards.
Mei ran toward the demons, her body still wounded, but the flames enveloping her began to spin in a unique pattern—it wasn't just energy. It was movement. It was recovery.
— Stellar Pulsar.
With that whisper, her energy ignited differently. With each step, a mini-explosion radiated from her feet. With each blow, part of the impact converted into more heat, more fuel.
She punched the first demon—and its mouth shattered amidst the flames. With a sweep, she tripped the second and exploded its chest with a spinning kick that shook the city blocks. The third tried to strike her from behind, but Mei spun in the air and used her own momentum to grab one of the floating swords, break it with her hand, and drive the remains into the creature's eyes.
— Lack of synchronization, team! You need more training!
Dante raised his arms and, in a blink, dozens of energy spheres appeared in the air—each pulsing with a fragment of the abyssal domain. A coordinated attack.
The spheres fired.
Mei ran between them. One grazed her and burned part of her shoulder—exposing raw flesh. Another exploded near her leg, making her stumble for a second.
She fell to her knees, blood streaming from her nose and chin. But her eyes... alive. Hungry.
— Hahah... Damn, you almost made me fall that time.
The Pulsar energy burned intensely now. The flames around Mei danced in double spirals. And for a moment, she stood still.
Dante analyzed every detail. His eyes gleamed, and once again, the crown spun.
— Technique: Absolute Distortion.
The space around Mei bent. Gravity inverted, folded, multiplied. The walls of reality cracked, and her body was thrown sideways as if a planet had collided with her.
She crashed through four buildings before stopping. Chunks of concrete and metal collapsed on top of her.
The world held its breath.
— ...Mei... — Tekio whispered, eyes wide.
Silence.
Then… a spark. Then another.
The pile of rubble trembled. And exploded.
Mei emerged from the debris, her right arm hanging at a strange angle… until, with a crack, it snapped back into place, as if the time around it was rewritten.
Blood streamed, but the wounds closed slowly.
— That one hurt... — she said, rolling her neck. — But thanks for helping me warm up faster.
She ran with the Pulsar active, her eyes completely aflame now. With each step, she dodged better. Read Dante's movements as if she already knew the choreography.
— You dance well, little king. But you know what's wrong?
She appeared in front of Dante again.
— You never led a dance. You always let the rhythm dominate you.
BOOM!
A punch straight to Dante's stomach.
— And I.
Another punch. To the jaw now.
— I create the rhythm.
She grabbed the crown for an instant. A shock burned her, but she endured.
— Let me return this junk to the hell it came from!
With the last impulse of the Pulsar, Mei spun, igniting her own feet and delivering a knee strike that shattered Dante's chest and slammed him into the ground.
The world exploded into silence.
Cameras around the planet showed the impact. The ground split like an egg being crushed. The resulting crater stretched for kilometers.
And Mei floated in the air, panting, arms wounded, skin burned. But smiling.
— Man, I'm hungry...
The world seemed suspended in silence.
Her body had stitched itself back together with her molecular reversal technique, but it drained far more than energy: it drained time.
She panted. Sweated. But smiled.
— Getting better… little king.
Dante hovered before her. His body was covered in layers of dense energy. His open hands conjured ancient symbols in the air. The crown above him spun with cruel slowness, as if marking the countdown to the world's end.
Mei narrowed her eyes. Watched. She began to think.
"This energy… isn't his. I get it now."
Black chains connected Dante to the crown. That deformity wasn't just a symbol. It was a living antenna, a dimensional anchor, a bridge to the Abyss.
"Humans have the navel. Spirits, the plexus. Where does this come from? It has to be that crown."
"And I swore I destroyed it with that kick, but what a resilient little thing."
She followed the subtle lines with her eyes. Everything led to the crown.
— Hm.
She took a step. Then another. Her gaze sharp as a collapsing star.
"If I cut the thread... maybe the body falls."
Dante watched her. His pupil-less eyes seemed to scour her soul. He spoke:
— You are not human.
Mei stopped. The smile didn't fade, but her eyes narrowed.
— So what?
— Something about you... reeks of ancient curse. You do not belong to this world. So why protect the weak?
Mei sighed. Looked at the torn sky. The clouds had vanished. The blue had turned a dark purple, as if the atmosphere were dying.
— Honestly… — she began, spreading her arms — …I don't know.
She closed her eyes for a moment. Thought of Tekio. Of Fenra. Of Stella fallen. Of Aisha wounded. Of Tenklyn's smile. Of Akira. Levi. Izabela. Of the sound of children crying when cities were attacked. Of the silence of the dead.
— I'm selfish. Egocentric. Probably cruel. But… my chest hurts. When someone I could have protected dies… — she brought her hand to her own heart — …it burns more than any wound. So I protect. Maybe out of pity, maybe out of rage. Maybe to ease the guilt. It's just an excuse. But it's mine.
Dante curved his lips. A dark, slow smile.
— The strongest always have an excuse. But deep down… they're all selfish.
— Good then… — Mei replied, rolling her shoulders — …that I'm the strongest.
BOOM.
She charged forward.
The ground split. The flames spread like a furious river. Dante raised his hands. Spiritual chains emerged from the earth, trying to ensnare Mei. Demons rose from the rubble: malformed bodies, too many limbs, too many eyes, too many mouths.
— Oh no — Mei said, dodging one of the monsters. — Called daddy, now comes mommy, the cousins, the dog, the abyss's building manager? Building a family tree, little king?
She exploded the demon with a punch that left the air vibrating.
Two more charged. She spun, kicking one into the other. A building behind them was pierced by the deformed bodies.
Dante appeared behind her, conjuring a black sphere spinning with ancient symbols.
— Gravitational Prison.
The sphere pulled Mei, compressing space. She gasped, trying to move, bones creaking. But then she smiled.
— Pulsar.
The flames around her exploded in a living rhythm. She moved even while trapped. Her muscles glowed. Her energy began to produce itself as she moved. Each punch, each step, each movement created energy. She spun, using the gravitational force itself against the sphere.
— Dance with me, let's go without fear "oh great king"!
The floor cracked. She hit him with a kick to the chin. Dante retreated but summoned three more abyssal swords.
They came from different directions. Mei used a shattered concrete slab as a shield. Cut through the wall, leaped over it, and slid on the ground, dodging the third.
— Resorting to cheap tricks, huh?
She passed close to Dante. Left a trail of flames in the air. He tried to grab her with tentacles. She dodged, spinning her body.
— Trying to trap me or dance the lambada with me?
Dante roared and the crown glowed. Spheres fell from the sky like black comets. The impact destroyed entire streets.
Tekio and the others, atop a destroyed building, watched in silence.
— She… — Tekio whispered — …she's trying to defeat a god.
Aisha completed: — And she's having fun.
Stella clenched her fists. — But she's wounded. She's spending too much energy…
Fenra looked at the sky. — She's going to do something crazy. I know this woman all too well.
Down below, Mei panted, knees bent, blood streaming from her forehead.
But her eyes… were analyzing.
— Okay. Enough games.
She leaped. The flames formed three rings on her back.
Mei devised a plan. A route. She thought like a star: every explosion would have to create an impulse. A movement. A decoy.
She activated a sequence of feints, making Dante defend his body. Leaped, faked a punch. Made him block. Spun in the air. Created a gust that raised dust—obscuring her true direction.
She moved between two black spheres and spun like a living spear. — Imaginary Technique: Stellar Rend!
With both fists, she charged through the air. The target: the crown.
Dante tried to dodge. The crown moved. But she was expecting that.
Or at least some defensive reaction.
On the other side of the air, what seemed like a shadow of her appeared: it was Mei's ghost technique, created seconds before.
She collided with it.
CRAAAAAAAACK!
The crown trembled. Screamed.
Fragments of purple energy flew from it like shards of a divine crystal breaking.
Dante staggered in the air. His empty eyes contracted for a second. The pulse of the abyss hesitated.
Across the entire world…
— She hit it! — a Sif leader watching the transmission shouted — MY GOD! — THE CROWN!
In the ruined building, Tekio jumped to his feet. — SHE FIGURED IT OUT!
Aisha smiled, panting. — Blessed be our star…
Dan punched the air. Akira laughed, knowing she had just created that technique. Fenra just smiled, a glint in her eyes.
And up above, Mei spun in the air, bleeding, panting, but smiling.
— Lift your head, king, or the crown will fall. --- Mei said with that expression everyone knows.
Confidence.
— And I haven't even started yet.
And arrogance.
To be continued...