It was well past midnight, Elon was pretty much reduced to rubble. It was because of the intense three-way battle that has been raging on for several hours now.

“Shit!”

Gear cursed and flew up in the air to avoid a blast of compressed air. Axel flew up into the air and chased after him. Debris floated off the ground and followed behind him. He fired that debris at Gear who used his thrusters to increase his speed. He avoided the debris while firing lightning and fire bullets at Axel. The debris formed a huge wall in front of Axel and blocked the attacks. Gear increased his speed further and circled behind him. His arm turned into a giant cannon and he fired a huge blast at Axel.

“Ahh!”

Axel swung his staff like a sword and cut through the blast. He accelerated towards Gear and slammed his staff in his midsection and sent him flying back.

“Dammit! Just how powerful was that guy’s attack?! Hours later and I still can’t beat Axel!”

Axel’s Libra Suit had the ability to make its user as strong as their opponent as long as their body can handle the stress from doing so. Axel had matched the power behind Ace’s finisher and became as strong as Ace himself.

“If I can make the suit reset and match an even stronger power there’s a chance that his body will crumble under the stress. But…”

Axel flew towards Gear surrounded by a storm. He thrust his staff and fired a tornado at Gear.

“Are you telling me that Ace was this powerful?!”

Gear formed a golden shield in front of him and blocked the tornado. It tornado clashed against the shield like a drill. Sparks flew and Gear was slowly being pushed back. He clicked his tongue and flamethrowers appeared from his shoulders and spat flames at the tornado. The wind caused the flames to grow and they raced towards Axel who formed a wall with debris to block it.

*BAM!*

Gear broke through the wall with a fist and landed a strong right hook. The punch forced Axel out of the sky and towards the ground. Gear put his arms together and they fused and transformed into a large cannon.

“Railgun!”

*BOOM!*

The air quaked when it fired. Axel was hit in the stomach and crashed into the earth causing it to burst open and erupt into a huge explosion. The ground was now covered with melting rocks and the heat it emitted was overbearing.

“……...”

Gear saw Axel emerge from a pool of flames at the bottom of the crater.

“Equilibrium: Reset.”

“It took me using my railgun to force the suit to reset…..That doesn’t really sit well with me.”

He observed Axel. His movements were rough and he seemed slow. However, that was only for a second. He quickly flew out of the crater and headed straight for Gear. He threw his staff with so much force that by the time Gear could react he was centimeters from being hit. His body twisted out of the way but the force behind it blew him away. Axel appeared above him and slammed both arms on his chest. Cracks ran through the chestplate of Gear’s suit and he was forced to the earth. The safety mechanism kicked in and the suit made him land softly on the ground.

“It was for a moment but I saw it. His body is buckling under the pressure of the suit. If I continue to force it to reset he’ll crumble under his own power.”

The cracks on his suit repaired itself. He looked up and saw Axel summon back his staff in his hand.

“To do that I need to fight without reserve.”

A message popped up from the artificial intelligence that operated the suit.

(Do you wish to use God Butcher Mode?)

“Yes.”

His suit lit up and changed from a radiant golden color to an ominous black with red highlights. He stretched his hand to the side and a giant sinister ax appeared in it.

“I originally wanted to use this against Bloom but you forced my hand.”

He pointed the ax at Axel.

“So I’ll butcher you as punishment!”

He blasted off the ground and Axel flew down. The two swung their weapons and they clashed sending shockwaves through the sky. The shockwaves caused the air and ground to tremble. The two locked in the air.

“How does it feel, Gear? You probably thought that you would have an epic battle against the queen and come out victorious as king.”

Axel laughed.

“Forget that, you can’t even make it past me! It must be humiliating!”

“Ha! Don’t talk so cocky when you’re relying on that suit!”

“Aren’t you doing the same?”

“Same? Don’t make me laugh. I created this suit myself, this is power I worked hard to attain! You were just given that suit! You haven’t accomplished anything yourself!”

Gear pushed Axel back.

“So you don’t have the qualifications to breathe the same air as me!”

He lifted his ax and swung down it on Axel, who blocked it with his staff. The force behind the ax was too much for the staff to handle. It snapped and the ax cut through Axel’s body severing him into two.

“Remove yourself from my sight!”

Gear used his ax and split Axel’s skull. Blood stained his ax as he split him down the middle. Axel’s body liquified and distance itself before coming together to regenerate from its injuries.

“Equilibrium Reset!”

Axel’s eyes became bloodshot and his voice was shaking.

(He’s reaching his limit.)

Gear smiled.

“Soon you’ll be dead and I’ll take that suit from your corpse! After that, I’ll go on to kill everybody else and reign as king!”

“Fuck you! The only one that will be king is the current queen, traitor!”

Axel roared at the top of his lungs.

“All this talk about kings and not a mention of Miko or myself.”

They looked down and saw Ace looking up at them.

“Don’t you think that’s stupid?”

“Huh? He’s alive?”

Both Gear and Axel had confused looks on their faces.

“Wait, wait, wait. My suit declared you dead earlier.”

Gear said. This was the truth. After Axel got a clean hit on Ace after matching his power, Gear used his suit to check his vitals. According to his suit, Ace’s brain had received irreparable damage and was to die in minutes. He was skeptic at first so he blasted him in the head to be sure. Axel also thought Ace was dead. After all, he attacked him with his full strength which was Ace’s strongest attack. So he didn’t doubt that he killed his opponent. Gear did keep an eye on Ace’s body to make sure at first, but after a few hours, he thought he really died.

“Well, you’re not wrong to think that. I mean my organs ceased all operations and everything.”

Ace smirked.

“But does that mean that I really died? And so what if I did die? Dying doesn’t necessarily mean game over, you know?”

“What?”

“Hey, hey. Don’t tell me that you didn’t research my abilities? I’m hurt.”

Despite the words he was saying sounding playful, Ace’s tone was far from being playful. From the moment he reappeared he had a dreadful aura to him.

“I am a Real-Life Game Character and what’s one of the most famous abilities of a game character?”

Gear’s eyes widened when the thought came to him.

“Respawn.”

“As expected of this countries technology director. You got it.”

“Respawn? Are you saying that you have multiple lives? Or do you multiple bodies that you can switch between? Or is it that your organs can forcibly restart?”

Gear bombarded him with questions.

“Now why would I tell you how it works. This is a trade secret. Not even my siblings know how it works. Only the one who taught me knows.”

He took a step forward.

“More importantly, you two seem to have gotten cocky while I was resting. Talking about kings and whatnot.”

He glared at them fiercely.

“In my presence, there’s only one king and that’s Miko. Everyone else isn’t worth mentioning.”

A devilish black light shot towards the sky. Gear and Axel saw black static started dancing around Ace’s body while he looked up at them with a frosty gaze.

“Character Change:…”

The sky became overcast and a lightning bolt fell on top of Ace and illuminated the area. They felt the air shaking around them. A cold sensation assaulted their heart and their instincts started screaming for them to flee.

“What’s happening?”

The light from the lightning faded and the air stopped shaking. They saw a completely different being. It was a muscular man wearing a black armor that looked like it was made using the bones of various races. He had black hair that stretched down to the center of his back. His eyes were gold and beastly and his face was stern and terrifying. Finally, he had a claymore on his waist that had a skull on the hilt.

“Overlord.”

“….What the hell is that…”

Gear and Axel started backing away. This was because of the oppressing aura that they were getting from it. They blinked and Ace was gone.

“How dare you look down on me from above?”

Gear looked up and was shocked to see him floating above him.

(When did he-)

Ace swung down his heel and forced Gear out of the sky. Axel accelerated towards him swinging his staff. A storm of wind blades rushed towards him. Axel also controlled the debris in the area and fired them at Ace from all directions. He also rushed towards him while forming wind drills around his fists. Ace saw all of this and casually swung his arm. All of the wind blades and debris were turned into nothingness. Axel was left in the open.

“Was that an attempt to bore me or something?”

Ace appeared behind him.

“If so, you have succeeded.”

Axel’s body was instantly filled with holes and his limbs were blown off.

(W-What just happened?)

He was left confused and frightened. Gear blast off the ground and swung his ax at Ace’s neck. Ace slapped the ax from his hands. He then punched Gear in the face and shattered his mask. Gear flew back as fast as he could to give his mask time to regenerate.

“What the hell is this?!”

“This is the difference between myself and you.”

Ace popped up in front of him and kicked him in the stomach and caused his armor to burst apart. He then grabbed him by his face and threw him into the ground so hard that the whole city shook.

“Equilibrium Reset!”

He heard a shout and saw Axel fully recovered. However, he was clenching teeth as if to break them and he was crying tears of blood.

“Oh? The suit can actually replicate my strength? Although, it doesn’t look like your body can handle it.”

“Sh-Shut up! This is nothing!”

His body flickered and popped up in front of Ace throwing a punch. Several explosive sounds rang out and Axel’s body danced in the air before stiffening up. Blood drained out of his eyes, nose, and mouth.

“You’re right. That level of strength is nothing. Look how easily I surpassed it.”

(…The fuck?... How can he be this strong?! Was this why Kaido said that he was almost as dangerous as Miko?!)

Axel started falling towards the ground.

*BAM!*

A fist-shaped hole opened up in his chest the moment he fell below Ace.

(Almost?….. Isn’t this guy at least as dangerous?!)

His body was blown to pieces and they rained down on the earth.

“I doubt that there’s any coming back from that.”

Ace descended from the sky and landed on the ground.

“Oh? You’re still alive?”

Behind him stood a bloody Gear who was trembling like a newborn lamb.

“I refuse to be beaten! Especially in such a pathetic manner! Even if I die here, I’ll take you with me!”

“….I see.”

With an unimpressed look on his face, he turned and saw that Axel’s body had liquified and was coming together. However, he felt a change in it, as if it was evolving.

“It seems that your pride has made you two delusional. This form is me without any restraints meaning I’m at full strength. There’s no way you-”

“Shut up! I will win and become king and no one’s going to stop me!”

Gear’s suit stabbed into his body and started sucking his blood. It then started fusing with him turning his skin into metal.

“He can fuse with his suit? Then that means that his ability to manipulate machinery will apply to him. So he should be able to manipulate his body to push itself beyond its limit.”

He turned around and saw a new being emerge from where Axel was. It was a black-skinned humanoid monster with wings and horns. It roared at the top of its lungs and made the area tremble.

“And this one looks like he did the same.”

Ace sighed and a twisted smile appeared on his face.

“You fools better entertain me.”

Axel and Gear moved at the same time. They threw punches and Ace lifted both arms to block them. A deafening sound rang out and the earth burst open underneath them.

“Now this is what am I talking about!”

He kicked Axel away and ducked under a punch from gear before blasting him off the ground with an uppercut. Axel charged at him with storm-like winds surrounding him and blew him away with a punch. He chased after him and stepped in his chest. Ace grabbed his leg with a smile and threw him into the ground. He was kicked in the back by Gear and forced to the ground. He looked up and saw a heel inches away from his face. He moved so fast that it seemed like he teleported. Gear’s heel sent cracks through the area. He turned around and Ace slammed his fist into his face and blew him away.

*BAM!*

The spot Ace stood exploded after being hit with compressed air. Ace pulled the sword from his waist and swung it down cutting through the wind. He accelerated and cut Axel in two. His body quickly regenerated itself. He spun around and kicked Ace on the side of the head.

“Too light!”

Ace buried him with a punch before deflecting a blast of energy fired at him with his sword. He looked at Gear with a beastly look which caused him to freeze up. Ace’s body flickered and he appeared in front of him. He cut him across the chest and blood sprayed and stained his face. Gear quickly retreated but Ace instantly caught up to him slamming his fist into his stomach. Ace was stomped into the ground by Axel who fell out of the sky. Axel blasted him away with compressed wind and then sent countless tornado drills to tear him into pieces. Ace clenched his sword and swung it in front of him destroying the tornadoes. Gear flew at him fired a gigantic beam at him.

“You think that this is enough?”

He sheathed his sword and threw a punch and deflected the beam into the air. He then cut the distance and slammed Gear’s head into the ground. Axel took the chance to attack him from behind but Ace grabbed his face and slammed him on top of Gear. He stomped on Axel’s back and opened up a huge crater underneath them. They tried to get up but Ace would just force them back down with his feet.

“You two had more fight in you than I thought. However, that’s all you had. Fight.”

He smiled.

“You didn’t even come close to defeating me…But you deserve a reward.”

A dark glow surrounded his body.

“So I’ll show you my full power.”

Cracks started spreading out around him. These cracks started emitting ominous black light. The cracks spread through the city at an alarming rate with him in the middle.

“If you survive this I’ll give you my honest praise.”

The smile on his face turned into a demonic grin.

“Finisher: Demon King’s Judgement!”

The entire city was dyed in black. A second later the spot where Ace stood exploded. The explosion stretched for nearly a mile before turning into a pillar of black flames that reached up to the heavens. When the pillar disappeared a gigantic hole was left in the center of the city. Ace stood at the edge and looked down. It was like he was looking into an abyss.

“That would certainly kill them.”

He turned around.

“If they were hit anyway.”

He looked at Sora who was holding Gear and Axel in his arms.

“Oi, deactivate that form.”

He spoke with an angry tone.

“And if I don’t?”

Ace asked with a smirk. The look in Sora’s eyes immediately changed. There were no signs of compassion or mercy. They were cold as ice.

“Do you want me to remind you why I’m the eldest sibling? If so, I’ll gladly break you like I did before.”

Ace looked at him silently before smiling.

“Boost Cancel.”

He returned to his normal form.

“Don’t be like that, Brother. We’re forbidden from fighting each other seriously, remember? It would only lead to the two of us dying and if that happens what about our cute little sister?”

“Hmph.”

Sora ignored him and stomped on both Gear and Axel. A loud sound resounded and their suits shattered. The black blub that made up the zodiac suit was immediately sucked into the sky.

“So, why did you spare them?”

“You know that Silver Crow is needed for the aftermath of this war.”

“And Gear? He’s not needed.”

“…This is my own decision. I think it would be a waste to kill someone with his talent. If we make him work with Edward won’t Renacido become even stronger? Especially considering Miko’s plans for the future.”

“I see. It makes sense….Hey, wake him up.”

“Hm? Ah, sure.”

Sora slapped Gear until he woke up.

“Sup, bitch.”

Ace walked over to him.

“You must be confused so I’ll keep it short. I beat your sorry ass and now you won’t be able to participate in battle of the strongest.”

He grinned.

“I guess you were nothing but an insignificant NPC in the grand scheme of things.”

(….He’s going to break him.)

Sora felt sorry for what Gear was about to endure.

“…Kill me.”

Gear muttered weakly.

“If I can’t be king then there’s no point.”

“Kill you? You don’t have the luxury of death.”

Ace stomped on his arm and sounds of bones breaking could be heard. Gear screamed out in pain but Ace ignored him.

“Listen up. As of today, you work for Renacido. This isn’t optional nor avoidable. It is your fate, or rather your new life. Don’t even think that killing yourself will save you from it either.”

He smirked.

“I have ways to revive you.”

(Lies. He can only revive himself but he doesn’t know that.)

Sora thought.

“I-I-I…”

(Gear was someone who hid his identity and location from others most of his life. That alone is a testimony of how much of a coward he really is. He only boldly entered battle because he thought he had an overwhelming advantage. Let’s fix that.)

“You should just accept your fate.”

Sora spoke up.

“Bastian is dead, the Luna Family has retreated, and Natasa Kingsley is MIA. You’ve lost Gear.”

A look of devastation painted his face. He wanted to believe that Sora was lying but after seeing how powerful Ace was he was starting to believe that Miko’s group was far more powerful than he originally thought. Not mention, Sora said the Luna Family by name. It meant he had crossed them…But he was still alive.

(If he said they were killed I wouldn’t believe him but he said retreated. It’s possible that the situation wasn’t favorable so Didier chose to retreat. It fits his personality….If that’s true then I’ve really….No, I refuse to accept that. I’m going to be-)

“Hey, how long are you going to be in denial?”

Ace cut his thoughts.

“You’re no king so stop acting like one.”

“?!”

Those words were like a hammer that hit the final nail in the coffin. When the man who crushed your ambitions say that to you when everything is crumbling down not many would remain strong. The look in Gear’s eyes became lifeless like he lost his purpose.

“Ah, this is bad. You overdid, idiot.”

Sora slapped the back of Ace’s head.

“Tsk. It will take time but we’ll need to restore his confidence if he’s to be of any use to us.”

“Well, let’s just leave that job to the boss.”

Ace laughed.

“You’re a really shitty person, you know that?”

Ace laughed louder and spoke.

“I know.”

Elsewhere, it was a sea of flames. Three powerful warriors faced off against each other in a deadly battle. Miko looked at Shòuxíng and Jin and grinned.

“Looks like all that’s left is for me to keep fighting until I’m the last one standing.”

He spread his arms and shouted for all to hear.

“The climax is near, so I welcome all challengers to come at me whenever they want! Let’s come together and make this finale as epic as possible!”

His eyes became slit and his fangs looked extra sharp in his mouth.

“Let’s go out with a bang!”