Gemini floated silently in midair, a glittering blade of qi in his hand. Sweat rolled down his face, but the Constellation’s face was focused solely on the foe impaled on his blade. His opponent, the truck-like Exemplar who wielded large weapons like they were nothing, struggled feebly, but enough of Gemini’s power had flooded the Exemplar’s body to render him powerless.

Blood vessels continued to explode. Tendons twisted, and his foe’s muscles convulsed and tore apart as yet another surge of qi stormed into the demon’s body. Qi manipulation was something everyone could do, but Gemini’s Champion Support System had turned it into a fine art.

The primal demon laughed madly, despite his impending end. “In the end, you’re part of us. Insane, broken, greedy — do you feel it? The joy of breaking your opponent beyond repair! I can feel my own core breaking apart, and it is a feeling so sweet, I can’t help myself!”

Flesh crumbled away as Gemini withdrew his blade from his foe’s body. His vision turned red for the faintest of moments, before a surge of power surged out from his body, wiping away the insanity that had infected his mind for a second or two. Gemini stared at the primal demon, who had fought with him for months for end, watching intently as his foe’s form began to crumble away.

Hissatsu. It was a Japanese word — Gemini was sure of it. He didn’t know the meaning of it back on Earth, but here, it meant the act of utterly destroying a demon, denying them the chance of revival. Generally speaking, the lifespan of demons was fixed in stone, their maximum lifespan (which apparently spanned millennia) only dropping a tiny bit for every death and revival.

But the act of hissatsu took that conventional wisdom and burnt it to ashes. By crushing a demon’s core — which in legend housed the demon’s soul — one could deny them their rebirth. He’d asked Lila about how such an action was carried out, and her answer was rather simple.

One just needed to have the intention of doing so while crushing their core. It had to be deliberate — even if the enemy was a mass of flesh, you had to crush the core personally with that intention. Otherwise, it wouldn’t work.

She couldn’t explain how that worked, nor had she questioned why it worked. It was, like many things that Gemini had observed in the past year when his mind was clear, something to do with the mind. Intentions were everything. Actions were secondary. This was Orb…and Orb was a cruel world.

The Constellation forced himself to watch the true end of his foe. He didn’t know his name — something that cut both ways — but the months of fighting had given him insight into his enemy. When the demon wasn’t raging and crazy, he gave off the impression of a confident student, eager to learn from his mistakes, something that had showed in the regular fights between the two.

Gemini had been forced to improve and refine his fighting techniques throughout the whole time. His enemy was growing as he did. There was some weird joy in watching how his foe had improved over fights. And therefore, it was with some regret that the Constellation finally put an end to the demon.

Forever.

Smoke began to rise from the convulsing body.

“You’re odd,” the demon rasped. “Most people would have rejoiced at the true death of a monstrous butcher like me. Why…are you crying?”

Gemini raised his hand and pressed it onto his cheeks. A damp warmth met his touch, and with a jolt, he realised he was indeed crying. The Constellation moved to wipe his face, and then stopped halfway.

“Why do you insist on attacking us?” Gemini asked sadly.

“His orders are absolute,” the demon replied slowly. “Obey or die. I would rather meet my end at your hands. Friend.”

Gemini felt his heart twist. Clarity had returned to the demon in front of him, but it was too little, too late. His body had crumbled away, leaving only his head behind. Power continued to whirl around the demon, keeping him alive, but the Constellation could tell that he only had moments left.

“Your name,” Gemini said. “What is it?”

“Poi-Ruga,” the demon replied. “I now remember it. And everything I’ve done, now presented to me through clear eyes. The shadow was part of me. And I…I was defeated by it.”

“Poi-Ruga…no, Ruga.” Gemini breathed out slowly. “Do you have anything you want to say?”

“Do not feel grieved for my passing, friend.” The qi around his head weakened visibly for every word he said. “It is a fitting end for one who, in the end, slew his own tribe. But please, I beg of you, do not forget our name. The Poi Tribe. Preserve it in the annals of history…and look in the past of us primal demons.”

The demon smiled, and his head faded away. The sphere of qi around his head came apart, scattering into the winds. Within the span of a few seconds, the existence of a mighty Exemplar had been truly erased from the world — all done by Gemini’s hand. He had felled a huge threat to Ark City, preventing a fearsome killer from wreaking havoc in it…but the Constellation felt no joy in his action.

Specks of brilliance appeared all around him, each of them glowing with scintillating light. With Gemini in control over the upper airzone, the battle’s outcome was sealed in stone. He could feel gazes from both sides stare at the promise of impending death, each of them tinged with trepidation — only the Lords could barely identify the winner.

But all that had nothing to do with Gemini.

After a few seconds of gathering his strength, Gemini brought his hand down, an action mirrored by the storm of energy around him. Light gathered together, forming solid stakes that stabbed downwards. Sages and Scholars died en masse as an irresistible force tore through their bodies. They would be back — attacks like this couldn’t carry the hissatsu property.

The falling stakes of light bloomed into giant balls of heat as they struck the ground. The ground troops of the assault force, already a non-factor due to the defenders of Ark City, vanished entirely as hundreds of explosions swallowed them up.

By now, it was a routine for him. These demons would revive and attack once again a few days later, but that was a story for another day. Gemini didn’t care about that, not as he was right now.

Right now, he just wanted to return home.