Akane held herself against the walls of the tower. She could barely hold in her knife. The damage she took from the fight and the wind that acted against her had caused her inner organs quite pain. Despite that, she clung. She had to survive this. There were too many things that she needed to do. Maybe if there was someway she would survive this fall, maybe a magical prince from those fairy tales sweeping in and ‘princess carrying’ her to safety. No, it was no time to think about fantasy. Those things are and never will be the truth. The dark horses of her life would never allow it. A small crackling noise was leaking out of the knife. It was all but a confirmation that holding on was pointless. She was about to die. But despite that… she herself wanted to cling onto ‘Life’ more than anything. Maybe it was to prove a point or prove herself. The knife snapped as she fell downwards. The wind let out a vicious sound because of the velocity of her fall. She fell downwards towards the mines. Her eyes blurry, her pounding with regret.

“Why did I even try to pick up this fight?” she thought to herself. Suddenly, a person jumped from the side of the mines and grabbed her before she could fall to her demise. Her eyes weren’t able to catch it. She slowly opened them, thinking how the ground was so soft. Maybe people don’t feel pain in death? But to her surprise, it seemed she was a princess, carried to safety.

“Are you ok?” Ken asked. He looked down at her, checking to see if she was okay while looking outside, trying to spot Kuro.

“Noticed you were falling from far away, so rushed in. Luckily, I made it in time,” he responded with a smile. She realized the prince that was carrying her wasn’t some fairy tale after all. But a human, and a reckless idiot at that. It was hard not to let out a laugh of irony.

“Put me down,” she said in a giggling voice. Ken let her down while still checking to see if she had any bruises anywhere. The only wound that mattered was the small curving done by Vigle in her stomach area. Quite a huge amount of pain that she couldn't just ignore. She held that spot tightly so blood wouldn't flow out. Ken felt a bit worried, forgetting his own fight entirely.

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Akane remarked.

“Ah, sorry. I dragged us into this only trying to fulfill my selfish desires.”

Why did his face look so puppylike and adorable? Maybe a desire for a pinch in the cheeks too. But more so than that, a few comforting words.

“Ken. No, you-”

Before she could say anything, a giant rock came crashing down towards them. Ken instantly noticed and pulled out his gauntlet hands, smashing the rock with one powerful punch.

“What's the matter? Aren’t you gonna fight me?”

Kuro growled. His voice was menacing, as always. More vicious after realizing his comrades were defeated.

“Damn..it..damn it all!” He gritted his teeth. Ken looked down at the situation and back at Akane. She realized there was no time for comforting words. It was time for only action. Akane nodded her head and smiled.

“Go get 'em.”

Ken nodded in response. He jumped down right in front of Kuro. Both he and Kuro knew this fight was dragging on. For Ken, this meant the liberation of the people, which was a good cause indeed. But even for Kuro, this fight had a very high meaning. As Ken strolled forward, Kuro began seeing a different person than Ken. A PTSD from his past, perhaps? Remembering an encounter that led him to such a shit-hole like this. But whatever the reason it was, this was no time to back off. He swung his hand towards Ken. Ken grabbed the punch with his gauntlet hands. The force was immense, shaking their surroundings.

“This fight ends here!” Ken said, launching a strong fist right at Kuro’s stomach. Kuro was shoved back, but he did not yield. Pulling out his fangs, he began swinging his arms meticulously. Ken pulled out his own sharp blade as he countered each of his attacks. The spark from their clash was lighting up the already dark caverns. Akane observed the fight from the top, trying to find a weakness that she could aid Ken with. The small trolleys carrying hearthstones were being destroyed as Ken and Kuro went from one side to another dodging and landing attacks. Kuro jumped to the top, opening his giant mouth.,

“Sound Meto: Howling Tempest!”

A raging storm came roaring down from his mouth by the sound of his howl. Ken pulled up his shield, trying to top protect himself. But forgot to cover his ears. The vibration and sound let out by that storm scrambled his hearings as his guard was down. Kuro, using this chance, lunged at him, slicing him right at the chest. The cut was right beside the glowing Emerald. Ken’s veins looked as if they were about to pop. Blood was leaking out. But he held firm.

“You rookies thing you’re the heat of the world. Trying to go against people you know nothing about. Only to fail miserably,” Kuro remarked as he slowly walked towards Ken. Ken kept panting, trying to let the wounds heal.

“You guys are nothing but idiots! You think you can change a damn thing in this world without absolute strength?!” he shouted at Ken. Ken didn’t know how to respond to that.

“You will only bring a curse to your loved ones. No matter how big or how bright your visions are, they will keep tumbling to the ground!!”

Ken listened to his rant, letting out a deep breath. He had realized what Kuro hadn’t.

“Aren’t you just talking about yourself?”

He said casually. Kuro was taken aback by those words. He became speechless.

“Just because you had your hopes and dreams crushed doesn't mean I have to, too. If those dreams were that dear to you, then no amount of failure would ever bring it down!”

Kuro felt pissed hearing those words. It almost felt as if Ken was calling him out, calling his dreams worthless. He popped his fangs out, ready to finish Ken off.

“What would you know!!!” Kuro shouted as his hands were incorporated with Meto.

“Force Meto: Heavy Fangs!!”

Coating his fangs with Meto, Kuro began desperately swinging at the young human. But that let out an opening and Ken wasn’t gonna let this chance go.

“I know… a lot.” Ken said. He titled his right shoulder to the back, dodging one of Kuro’s attacks. Using his shoulder, he tackled Kuro back. But this tackle did little aside from pushing him back a little. But that was plenty of time.

“I am the man who will become the Cosmic Emperor! I would rather die than give up on that dream!!”

In a split second of fast movements, Ken manipulated his left arm into a gauntlet. This differed from his regular gauntlet. As he dragged the arm across the surface, it ignited in flames because of the friction.

“Original Move #1: Burning Crater!!!”

A fist filled with fiery ambition hit Kuro right in the chest. The impact and force of the punch were immense, sending him flying straight towards the wall. Akane looked at him, amazed. Ken’s hand let out a small smoke because of the flames. From the looks of it, the fight was over. Back on the top, Miku had Kalo strapped to her back as she tried to jump away from Gorger.

“What the hell are you even made of?” Miku asked, confused. It was already the 10th bullet that pierced him. Yet he was standing firm, dashing at her with fast speed.

“Stop running away!” he said. His voice was giving up. But his body kept on moving.

“If I lose here as well, then the boss..no, then the boys… all of them will be killed. I can’t let that happen!”

Miku felt a bit ticked off by it.

“That doesn’t give you the right to hurt others!” she said, jumping on top of his head.

“Your boss is gonna go down. Despite having just a single brain cell, I’m sure that captain of mine is capable of that,” Miku said.

Gorger let out a malice laugh.

“Then you don’t know our captain either. Because he has a trick up his sleeves!”

Ken was walking away from that site towards Akane when suddenly Akane felt a jolt of Meto bursting out of that hope; e that Kuro was sent flying towards.

“Ken, he is still standing strong!” She shouted at him. Ken looked back as the cavern fell downwards. From the smoke came a small glass container. He tilted his head to the side, avoiding it. Unbeknownst to Ken, that was the container that had the green fluid Ondhokar had given Kuro. From the smoke, Kuro’s whole body was mutating.

“What is this… AAAAAH!” He began screaming in pain.

Ken looked at the horror that was happening in front of him. 2 new hands began popping out of Kuro’s back. His tail splitting in two, body enlarging as it turned pale green.

“Cosmic Emperor ey? You think you can achieve it with vigor alone?! Then let's put that to the test!”

Kuro was a towering 10 feet tall giant monster. His face now had 20 or more eyes. Body that resembled a mixture of different animals, like spiders and monkeys. Akane could sense the power level. Her face became pale as sweat poured from the sides.

“This meto… it's over 10,000!”