The blade descended toward Luke's neck—green energy flaring, Drace's katana moving faster than sound—
Luke's hand moved.
CLANG.
His sword intercepted the strike without him even turning around.
Drace's eyes widened.
He didn't even look—
Luke twisted, deflecting the blade away with minimal effort, and moved—
He appeared beside Drace in an instant, sword already swinging—
Drace barely raised his katana to block—
BOOM.
The impact sent Drace skidding backward across broken asphalt, boots carving trenches, arms trembling from the force.
Luke stood where Drace had been, sword raised, expression still empty of emotion.
"Surprise attacks don't work," Luke said quietly, "when I can feel your intent."
Sera's water erupted from behind him—massive pressurized lances converging from every angle—
Luke didn't turn.
"Hercules"
He swung his sword in a wide arc.
CRACK.
The sheer strength of the swing created a shockwave that shattered every single water lance mid-flight, dispersing them into harmless mist.
Sera staggered backward, breathing hard, staring at him with wide eyes.
"This is impossible," she whispered. "How is he—"
"We end this," Drace cut her off, landing beside her. "Together. Full power."
Sera's jaw clenched.
She nodded.
Drace raised his katana high, mantra flooding the blade until it screamed with barely contained force.
"Phantom Cleave: Severance."
Sera brought both hands together, water spiraling upward from every direction—puddles, broken pipes, moisture in the air—condensing into a massive rotating sphere above her head.
"Aqua Spiral: Tsunami Cannon."
Both techniques pulsed with devastating power.
The air itself distorted around them.
Luke stared at both attacks, then at Drace and Sera.
"You fought well," he said quietly.
Luke raised his sword, mantra flooding the blade— magnified by both constellation powers flowing through him.
"Shatter Slice."
He swung.
The crescent of golden mantra that erupted was massive—larger than anything he'd released before, glowing with combined constellation power, tearing through the air with a sound like the world breaking.
Drace and Sera released their attacks simultaneously.
Green wave.
Blue tsunami.
Golden crescent.
All three collided in the center of the ruined street.
For one perfect heartbeat—
Everything stopped.
Silent.Still.
Then—
BOOOOOOM.
The explosion consumed everything.
Light swallowed the battlefield. Sound became meaningless. Pressure rippled outward in visible waves, shattering what remained of nearby buildings, cracking the street into a spiderweb of fissures spanning a hundred meters.
The shockwave was felt across the entire city.
When the dust finally began to settle—
Luke stood in the center of a massive crater, sword planted in the ground for support, breathing heavily.
Both constellations behind him flickered weakly but remained visible.
Thirty meters away—
Drace knelt on one knee, katana shattered, blood dripping from multiple wounds, eyes wide with disbelief.
Sera lay on her back ten meters from him, water constructs dissipated, staring up at the sky, chest heaving.
Both defeated.
Luke pulled his sword from the ground and straightened slowly.
"It's over."
Drace coughed, spitting blood, but managed a weak smile. "Yeah. It is."
Sera turned her head slightly, looking at Luke with an expression that wasn't anger or hatred.
Respect.
"You won," she whispered.
Luke said nothing.
Just stood there, alone in the crater, victorious.
Luke took one step forward.
Then stopped.
Something felt... wrong.His vision blurred slightly.
"No..."
He blinked.
Golden lines began to shift—Hercules and Pegasus dissolving, reforming into something else.
Luke's breath caught.
What's happening—Then
Heat.
Sudden, intense heat flooded through his eyes.
Like something was trying to push its way out from behind his pupils.
Luke gasped, raising one hand to his face—
And felt warmth.Wet warmth.
He pulled his hand away.
Blood.
Crimson drops staining his fingers.
His eyes were bleeding.
"Not again—"
The pain intensified.
He looked down at his hand, watching blood drip between his fingers, and felt something shift in his vision.
Circles.
Faint circular patterns forming in both eyes, overlaying his normal sight, geometric and precise and wrong.
"No—"
Luke's head snapped up, trying to focus, trying to understand—
But the world was already changing.
The ruined street. The crater. Drace and Sera kneeling in defeat.
All of it—Dissolved.
Like ink bleeding into water, reality blurred and twisted and inverted—
And Luke found himself—
Floating in darkness.
Pure, absolute, endless black.
Luke's breath came in short gasps, his body—did he even have a body here?—suspended in nothingness.
"I told you to leave me alone—"
His voice echoed strangely, distorted, stretching infinitely in all directions.
Then— A faint blue light appeared.
Impossibly large in size.
It blue light radiated from its form, illuminating the darkness just enough to reveal its shape—humanoid but proportions distorted, limbs too long, presence too vast.
And it was smiling in a cruel way.
Luke tried to move, to speak, to do anything—But he couldn't.And his blood ran cold.
He was standing in the center of a massive palm—blue, glowing faintly, fingers curled loosely around him like a cage.
Luke's gaze snapped upward, following the arm, the shoulder, until he saw the face—
Featureless. Blank. Except for that smile.
The figure's voice echoed through the void.
"It's my turn."
Luke's breath stopped.
"NO WAIT—"
The fingers began to close.
Far above, on a distant rooftop.
A figure stood in the shadows, watching the chaos below.
Explosions. Shockwaves. Plasma and flame colliding in brilliant flashes of light.
The figure turned slightly, addressing someone behind them.
"Boss," they said quietly. "Looks like we can go now."
From deeper in the shadows, another figure emerged.
Bald.
Completely bald, head shining faintly in the dim light.
He was eating chips casually.
He stared like he was watching a mildly interesting movie instead of a battlefield.
He chewed slowly, swallowed, then smiled.
Wide.
"Yeah?"
Crunch.
He popped another chip into his mouth.
"Let's party