Darkness spread through the city before getting sucked into Miko’s body. His hair and eyes turned black. His wings slowly darkened, and a black trenched coat wrapped around him. The sword in his hand slowly darkened as if it was stained until it was pitch black.

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

Bloom stretched her hand out in front of her and countless purple spheres popped up. She fired the spheres at Miko. He flew into the air and avoided them. The spheres hit the ground and erased a huge portion of the earth. Miko swung his sword and dozens of black crows flew towards Bloom. The crows fired dark beams from their mouths. The beams became distorted and missed Bloom. She pounced at Miko like a beast, he thrust his hand in front of him and a black shield blocked her. She punched the shield and caused a thundering sound. Miko appeared behind her and slashed her back. She roared out and Miko’s body forcibly bent out of shape. Bloom spun around and swung her hand in front of her. An overwhelming force blew Miko away and everything behind him. Miko laid in a huge trench. He snapped his fingers and a mouth opened up on the shield behind Bloom. The mouth blasted Bloom in the back with a beam.

“Now!”

Miko blasted off the ground like a rocket and threw his sword. The sword turned into a crow and crashed into Bloom.

“Black Crow Restriction!”

Black chains shot out of the crow and wrapped themselves around Bloom.

“Now that should seal her stre-”

“AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!”

Bloom released a terrifying screech that caused the air to tremble.

“Wait, wait, wait!”

Cracks appeared in the chains around her which caused Miko to panic. The cracks grew and the chains burst apart.

“Hell no!”

He pointed at her.

“Those chains were indestructible! You shouldn’t be able to break them!”

Bloom vanished. She popped up in front of Miko and aimed a kick at his stomach. Miko lifted his knee and thrust down his elbow. He caught her leg between his knee and elbow. Bloom jumped with her pivot leg, twisted her body, and aimed a kick at his head. Miko ducked under it but he was hit on the opposite side by an invisible force. He released her leg and fist marks appeared all over his body. Bloom thrust her hand out and hit him with a purple sphere. Miko was blown into the distance with his body twisting in the air. He crashed into the ground and quickly got to his feet. He flew to the side to avoid being crushed by an invisible force. He accelerated towards Bloom with darkness gathering in his palms.

“Come forth, My Dark Regiment!”

Darkness spread out and hundreds of silhouettes wearing armors and even riding horses appeared from within it.

“Evil General!”

A silhouette wearing a jet-black suit of armor appeared with a giant war hammer in its hands. It roared and pointed its weapon at Bloom. The dark army charged towards Bloom while chanting.

“Destroy!”

“Destroy!”

Bloom lifted her hands overhead and the earth rumbled.

“…..Well, goddamn.”

The earth rose hundreds of feet into the air and came crashing down on Miko and his army like a tidal wave. Miko was buried under the earth with his whole body aching.

“….I have to admit, I never thought that she was this strong. I had less trouble fighting Jin and Shòuxíng together. Defeating her without killing her will be extremely difficult.”

(Then why not just kill her?)

Miko’s eyes widened when he heard the voice in his head.

“Stop messing around, Ishma. We can’t kill her.”

(Why not? We’ve witnessed what kind of life she lived. It’s obvious that she’s suffering and will only suffer more in the future, right? Isn’t that why you’re going to such lengths to stop her suffering? Then why not just put her out of misery? Just grant her the peace that she desires.)

Miko remained quiet before chuckling a bit.

“Ishma, I’m really grateful to have a partner like you.”

(What do you mean?)

“I know you, you’re only saying those things because you wanted me to argue that you’re wrong. By doing that, it will reinforce my resolve to save Bloom.”

Ishma said nothing but that was all Miko needed.

“Thanks again, Ishmavael.”

Miko’s eyes became sharp.

“I’ll definitely save Bloom.”

His body started emitting a black light. With a cry of a crow, the earth erupted and Miko appeared with black wings stretching for miles in each direction behind him.

“And if there is ever a time you need it, I’ll save you as well. Even if it means that there will be no salvation left for me.”

(…..Do as you like.)

Miko grinned.

“When haven’t I?!”

He blasted off the ground and headed straight for Bloom, who was floating in the air.

“I didn’t want to use something incomplete but I guess I have no choice.”

He took a deep breath and five dragons appeared behind him.

“Quinta-Dragon Martial Arts!”

He created a spear in his hand. Bloom clasped her hands in front of her and the ground came alive. Two waves of earth sandwiched Miko and caused him to halt.

*Bam!*

Holes opened up in the earth covering Miko. Azure, purple, green, black, and crimson light seeped out of the holes. It exploded and five dragons rose in the air. They looked down on the earth with disdain. Miko appeared underneath them with his spear continuously changing colors. The spear grew wings and extended several times its original size. He took a step forward and cracks ran through the earth. Lumps of the earth started floating into the sky that was quickly becoming overcast. Multicolor lightning danced in the black clouds while the dragons circled in the sky.

“Bloom!”

Miko shouted at the top of the lungs while his trench coat was torn to pieces starting from his arm leaving him half-naked.

“If you can hear me in the madness in your head, put up your strongest defenses!”

His arms slowly turned black and blue. Blood started squirting out of the bruises as the skin started peeling off his arm. Even so, Miko still had a smile on his face.

“This is an incomplete technique. Just trying to use it is destroying my body so I can’t control it at all. In other words, there’s a high chance that this might kill you!”

He spread his other arm.

“But don’t worry, I believe that you’ll survive! If you believe that you’re gonna die when it hits then believe in yourself! If you can’t believe in yourself then to quote one of your favorites characters!”

He pointed at himself.

“Fine, don’t believe in yourself! Believe in me, the me who believes in you!”

“AHHHHH!”

Bloom roared and released an insane amount of Vita. An image appeared behind her. It was a gigantic silver bird. Its wings were clipped, it was stained in blood, and was covered in chains. It was her a Battle Avatar. Everything started crumbling around her as if it was being destroyed from its core. Miko saw this and grinned from ear to ear.

“That’s my girl!”

He started sprinting towards her. Bloom leaped on the back of the avatar and it flew towards Miko like a jet. Everything they passed became deformed before breaking down completely. The dragons flying overhead dove towards the earth and followed behind Miko.

“Quinta-Dragon Martial Arts Secret Technique….!”

Miko halted and clenched the spear. Blood spurted from his hideously purple arms. He took a step forward and the city trembled. Bloom was only a few seconds from reaching him. He pulled his arm back.

“Heaven Killer!”

He threw the spear with a sonic boom. It flew towards Bloom and stopped right in front of her as if it was being blocked by an invisible barrier. Colorful static spread out and destroyed everything it touches.

“You stopped it, that’s great. Now, let’s see how you deal with the delayed attack that follows.”

The dragons flew from behind Miko and crashed into the barrier. A shattering sound resounded and the dragons and the spear rushed towards Bloom. They crashed into her and an earth-shattering explosion erupted and blew she and everything behind her away. When the explosion faded Bloom laid out on the ground with her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Behind her was an abyssal crater that stretched for miles.

“Hahahaha!”

Miko laughed while stumbling a bit. His arm was disfigured from the shoulder down. Blood leaked from it and stained the earth.

“She actually survived that? Amazing!”

He approached her with stumbling steps. He returned to normal and Ishma appeared at his side and held on to him.

“Easy. You should relax.”

Miko shook his head.

“There’s no sleep for the wicked.”

He advanced.

“I defeated her but I didn’t save her. Until I do that, then I’ll have to keep going.”

“Then, we’ll help.”

Tia and Regis appeared and held on to him. The three of them helped him until he was next to Bloom. They released him and he sat down beside her. He placed his hand on his head and started glowing.

“You don’t even have enough energy to heal yourself but you’re healing her.”

Tia mumbled. After a while, Bloom’s eyes opened and she turned to look up at Miko. He smiled at her.

“Yo.”

At the same time, a “beast” was walking through the country that was in ruins. The beast looked at the destruction and death around it and smiled. It continued on its way while humming an ominous tone, closing in on its target.