Slouched over, Diego struggled but eventually stood back up. His intentions were far from the fighting; he was one to always know when and where to pick fights. Because of this, he had never lost any fights picking those weaker than him to go after. This was a whole different ball game. His mindset was to run. To get far away, no one else mattered; he was going to survive no matter what. Ready to do so, he tried escaping to Morto's expected result. Running ahead, leaving the children to their deaths, Morto shook her head, blocking off Diego's escape. He saw this well ahead of time but was still powerless to do anything about it crashing to the floor. "I expected nothing less from the coward who, through sheer luck, got to where you were today. While your ability to see into the future is quite remarkable, unless you can back it up with power, it's useless. You're nothing but a weak follower who copies what everyone else is doing in hopes of making it. In fact, I don't think you have a single original bone in your body, Diego Jolts."

Diego stared at the ground, knowing what his fate was to become. His future was black, his death inevitable. Because of this, he began laughing. This caught Morto off guard as he stood up, turning to her with a desperate yet crazed smile as he began tapping his forehead. "Well, isn't that just the story of my life?! I hate this all, saving people, risking my life. Why the hell would I do that for?! You tried convincing me otherwise, didn't you, Sae… Screw it, fuck it. If I'm going to die, there's no harm in trying something new, right? I'm good at that. So just this once, how about it? Let's see what being a hero is like!"

A shadow began dancing around Morto's arm as she stared, confused at this. "You saw what happened to your sister when she tried playing hero. Why the hell would you follow?"

Diego clamped his hands together with a smug look. "Your Goddamn right, all of this is utterly pointless, risking my own life for a bunch of kids who I don't even know their names. But you see, I'm already a dead man. We both know it. So how about I make your life a living hell until then."

"What could you possibly do to us?"

"Why don't I show you?" Diego whispered, turning the timer on his clock to five seconds. The clock began ticking as an alarm went off five seconds later. "Take this, future dark!" 

Morto flinched as time began to slow down to a halt. She could still move normally and defend herself, but she found Diego trapped on the spot. She stared on, confused. "What the hell is this?"

After images of Diego appeared all around, Morto overwhelming her, but like the others, none of them moved at all. Morto moved her hand through the afterimage, finding it transparent. Before she could conduct any more of what was going on, the five-second alarm went off again, and Diego suddenly appeared where the afterimage just was rolling back, kicking Morto in the face. Tumbling around, Morto went to strike again, only for the five-second alarm to activate, breaking the afterimage and moving Diego somewhere else. Now behind Morto, he swung his arm forward, knocking her off her feet. The moment she landed on the floor, Diego booted his leg forward, kicking her across the corridor into the wall.

Five seconds went by, and he vanished, breaking the afterimage appearing further away, giving him the run-up time to dropkick Morto when she was able to get back up. Once the dropkick connected, Diego vanished, standing up, hopping on the spot, moving his arms around. "Perfect Dark, it's my final stand where I can move between areas; I could appear in a given time. I chose five seconds for this battle. Whilst this state is active, I will always skip through time to the place I would be given the situation."

Morto spat blood from her mouth, picking herself back up. "Not even we knew of this ability. How fascinating. Forgive me, Diego, for underestimating you. It seems I will have to take this battle more seriously."

"Too late." Diego scoffed as the alarm went off, and he vanished. Morto counted down the time waiting for Diego's attack, and just like she anticipated, Diego appeared in front of Morto.

Diego flinched as Morto rammed her hand forward, smashing Diego into the wall, leaving a crack. The ceiling began to shake for a short moment as Diego glanced up, coughing. "What did you honestly hope to get out of telling me your power Diego?"

"The element of surprise." He smirked, adjusting his watch to one second, reactivating the future dark. "Try and keep up." The alarm was no constant as Diego kept appearing all over every second, bombarding Morto with continuous attacks, not giving her any time to react. Diego kept vanishing and reappearing without a single moment to respond with her own attack.

Being bashed around, Morto held her arms up, blocking all the attacks as she gritted her teeth, taking it head-on. Eventually, all thoughts stopped as a ticking clock ran through her head, counting down. For seven seconds, she giggled mischievously as her eyes rippled over, showing nothing but Diego. "I have to go this far?"

Diego stopped his future dark, jumping back as the shadows began consuming the entire area drowning him with no escaping chance. Everything vanished as Diego looked around into the darkness. Morto's voice cackled, keeping Diego on edge. "This… You bastard to think you're using Sae's powers…"

Looking into the future, Diego flipped forward, avoiding a shadowy attack only for it to still latch onto him, pinning him down to the ground. Morto appeared walking towards Diego, staring down at him. Holding her hand out, she began to drain his life essence, making Diego scream in pain. "You think we brought that pathetic girl into our ranks for aid? She was a weak human with extraordinary powers. She desperately wanted to help people and use her dark powers for good. It was the perfect plan to send her off on the impossible mission she couldn't say no to. Save the world from her father, of course, she would have sacrificed herself for the goal, and that's what we wanted. Taking her powers for our needs, she served her purpose perfectly."

Diego tried stopping Morto swinging his arm around desperately. The shadow world faded as Diego lay on the floor, wheezing for air being stood on. Diego glanced up, whimpering. "Was that the reason you pushed me up to the top? You wanted to steal my own power?!"

"At a time, yes. Your future sight was seen to be remarkable, but now we do not require it. But the future dark? That changes everything; you can rest easy knowing you served your purpose perfectly, Diego Jolts."

"No…" Diego whispered, using the last of his future dark appearing behind Morto leaning against the wall, not fighting back. Morto shot around, attacking Diego, smashing him against the wall cracking it. Diego coughed up more blood, falling to the floor. Looking up, he vanished again, appearing behind Morto once again, leaning against the wall, not moving. A shadow rippled from Morto's back, pinning Diego against the wall, breaking it apart. Collapsing again, Diego slouched over, bleeding out as he smirked. "Your reign of terror ends here…"

"Throwing out every heroic clique? Just accept the grace of death and become one with Mortem." Morto taunted, going to grab Diego. She stopped seeing Diego laughing to himself as he vanished, appearing a little distance away. Morto looked up as the ceiling caved in on itself, thanks to exactly where Diego was crashed into. Unable to react in time, Morto was crushed by the rubble trapped. 

Diego laid against the wall watching his future play out as he held his stomach, stopping the bleeding. "You're right, Sae… Turns out I was good at something…"

"Is everyone alright?!" Petra yelled, rushing ahead as Vanguard and the others appeared. "What the hell happened?!"

Alice crouched down, trying to help Diego. "Can you stand?"

Diego turned his head as the tunnel began to cave in. "This won't hold for long… I took down one of the CEOs… But there is nothing else I can do. You need to go before this place takes you too."

Shadows began to creep out from the rubble as Alice stood up, shocked. "But."

"I said, go! My future is dark. I'm all out of luck. Just run…"

Alton stood by, pulling Alice away. "Let's go, Alice. I'm sorry, Diego."

"Don't be. There was nothing to be sorry for… I'm free, just like Sae. Please, stop the CEOs. Don't let them hurt anyone else."

"That's a promise."

Diego turned to Alton, looking at him, peering into his future, going as far as possible. The sight made him fall silent with devastation. Alton gave him a stern look walking off as Diego stared down, whispering to himself. "So that's your plan, Alton Brantley… God help you all." The shadows began to tug at Diego as the cave fell apart. "Did you see that, Sae? Did you?" He smiled to himself as he was crushed by the tunnel ending his future dark, trapping him and Morto in a prison of life and death forever.

****

Back on the top, Alton stood at the entrance as it collapsed. Alice stood behind, biting her lip. "He didn't have to die."

"No. No, he didn't. No one did, and no one else will."

Sam placed her hand on Alton's shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"Fine… Did we learn anything for Percy?"

"He's given up on us," Sam stated. "Before he vanished, he said something about going after the one who hurt him the most. Who could that be?"

Alton stared down, sighing. "Who else? His number one hero. Zinnia Trost."

This made Alice panic worried. "Zinnia?! She hasn't got any idea what's coming; she wouldn't stand a chance. She'll need our help!"

Alton gripped his fist-shaking his head. "No. She's on her own. You couldn't find her after two years of searching. We don't have time to waste going on a scavenger hunt. Let's hope since we couldn't find her, Percy can't either. Our focus should be on Mortem."

"We're just abandoning her?! Percy is going to kill her!"

"She abandoned us, no? We got to take down Mortem no matter what. Percy is a distraction so give it up, Alice. One was taken down. We still got three more."

"I understand."

"Good, let's meet up with the others for the final front. We take back Victoria now." Alton whispered, waiting for everyone to leave. Sam stood idly by watching as Alton punched the wall, snapping. "Fuck! Zinnia… Please, stay safe…"