Dust blanketed the streets as the smell of sulfur lingered in the city. The sun, while high in the sky, was still blocked out by the smoking debris that lingered. The smoking clouds that form crackled with irradiated lightning from time to time, but above all else, sunlight still broke through shining down upon Mahdri who now adorned with red skin, settled into her golden armor. Steam broke out from her pores and the ground beneath her feet smoldered, burning the pavement into a golden liquid.

Khinara felt the intense heat brush up against their face, sweat beating down their face ready to lean back into the shadows. Even with the sunlight beaming down onto Mahdri, Khinara took note of the many shadows in the debris and clouds. They had escape routes. All she needed to do was just…

Upon blinking their eyes, the intensity of the heat increased, burning hotter and hotter. Further realization finally made Khinara process a fist being sent towards her face. Time seemed to almost stop slowing down to a crawl. Was this life flashing before her eyes? There could be no error for mistakes here, only a small window of opportunity. Khinara ducked down, the fist nearly touching the ends of her hair. Time started to flow normally once again as a sudden burst of flames ruptured from the fist, eradicating any shadows from behind. These flames burned hotter and hotter, melting through the buildings behind. The attack itself was quick, only taking up about five seconds to unleash the flames entirely and five seconds more for the flames to die out, allowing the shadows to return.

Khinara quickly sank into the shadows of the ground, only to witness a gigantic hole being punched through several buildings where they stood. That single punch would have definitely knocked them out of the game.

Mahdri stood there for a moment, allowing the shadow warrior to escape. Clenching their fists tightly — Was this a god in control? Or something else? After a few seconds, Mahdri started to dish out a few kicks which ruptured the surrounding air, then a few punches, yet she halted all movements, starting to smile.

“Oh! It would seem I’ve got it down pat this time.”

This was indeed Mahdri in control.

“Alright, now le-”

Her words immediately halted with Alexia coming up from behind them. Mahdri turned, ready to strike at the girl, but this time their vision became obscured by strange dust particles that flickered in coloration.

“Now!” Alexia shouted.

From Alexia’s own shadow, Khinara arose, grabbing her and pulling both down to the ground. Mahdri flailed their arms around, trying to swat the dust away, but no matter how much she tried, it stuck to the air like a web.

Khinara and Alexia jumped out of Lei’s shadow. With Khinara having to throw Alexia out, the former having exhausted themselves trying to perform this little trick.

“Ha… Urgh… E-Explode it already!”

Khinara kneeled to the ground and turned towards Alexia.

“Argh!” Alexia landed on her back. It hurt like hell, but the adrenaline from the fight kept her going, and with a quick raise of her right hand, she gripped her fist!

“[Stellar Collapse!]” She shouted, and upon her hand finally closing tightly, the dust around Mahdri formed a vibrant array of colors, sparkling like the night sky. The dust was, in fact, a miniature nebula. With the extra help of heat surrounding Mahdri, the nebula heated up and started to gather closing together. After a few seconds, Mahdri saw a flash of white — in a matter of seconds, she became engulfed in a white dwarf star that reformed only for it to immediately collapse, sending out a titanic explosion that blew away, Khinara, Alexia, and Lei.

Alexia crashed through a building, the sound of glass crunching on her back. In almost a panic, she quickly raised herself up, seeing that she was now bleeding from her leg and arm from the cuts. Their aura flickered in and out, her thoughts thinking of the fact that maybe she put in too much power, but it was enough to knock out most of her past opponents.

“Urgh… Ha… Don’t think even Gabby or Mary could withstand that.”

Alexia dusted herself off, only to turn her head to the side. Hearing the glass crunch, Lei walked up to the girl. Seemingly unharmed, fate really did aid them in avoiding damage. Khinara dropped down from the ceiling shadow landing on her back.

“Ough!” Khinara yelped.

“Y-You okay?” Lei called out.

“No… But, please tell me that knocked them out of the game…”

“If that was the case, then we’d know by now, the system hasn’t even called out her name,” Alexia said, only to hop out of the building, looking onward at the destruction ahead. From the bellowing smoke and ash, a glimmer of red shined through swatting away what appeared to be bits of the nebula, Mahdri came out of the blast radius scorched, yet physically unharmed.

“Well… That answers your question. Okay, onto the second phase!”

Alexia paid the other no more attention, opting to charge ahead. Even Lei opted to follow through. Mahdri took a few seconds to adjust themselves. In fact, they had enough of the constant three versus one situation. So now was the perfect time to separate them.

“Let’s play a game~! After all… I grow tired of this jumping engagement.”

Mahdri clapped their hands together as a noticeable shift in the area caught Lei’s eyes. Two… No three… Four Mahdri’s all moving in the same manner from the first. Even while giving chase with Alexia, she couldn’t tell if this was a trick or not. Until an intense pressure of a punch hit her chest, knocking the wind out of their sails. Even Alexia felt something brush past her, stopping to quickly turn around, greeting Mahdri face to face.

One millisecond… Two milliseconds… Three, Four, Five… Stardust ejected from her hands, raising up in defense as a few caught onto Mahdri’s fist. The dust sparkled, and as the second passed by — Exploding! The force knocked Mahdri back down the street past a finally collapsed Lei, whereas Alexia came out with a piece of their uniform burning from the attack only to — quickly put it out.

“Argh! Come on! Just go down already!” Alexia started to get frustrated. This game of jumping got old even for her and with the assault cracking open, she still had a few tricks left. Now the second phase of the plan would begin!

Bending their knees, Alexia prepared to jump forward, the process interrupted by Mahdri coming through the smoke fists wailing! The two braced for another engagement as the audience watched on the screens, seeing the two together, then their vision would blur. The Singularity Machine started overheating, a rumble beneath the stadium as the two fighters on the inside clashed back to back.

____

Deveron leaned back in his seat, exhausted, but his eyes were still glued to the monitor. He felt the rumble, as did Cheveyo and the rest. Heidi’s face laid against Roy’s lap as she slept, with nighttime fully here, her powers were minimal and exhaustion overtook her as well. The rumbling did not disturb nor awaken them. But, the shaking of the building did concern Cheveyo. His eyes could not look away from the screen, but the spirits within him screamed, some even begged for his eyes to turn away.

“Somethings… Not right…”

Turning his head around slowly, Cheveyo blinked for a moment as a spirit partially took over him, his left eye turning green in the process.

“S-Stop… Not now… Alexia’s fighting…”

There was a moment of silence. He blinked again, realizing time had stopped, and the owl stood before him situated on the table. The owl did not move, nor did it show any signs of hostility, but when its wings opened. It spoke.

“Do not be consumed. The field lay unstable… Gaze to your allies…”

The words of the spirit echoed through Cheveyo’s head. Before long, time resumed, and when he turned to look at Roy, Heidi, and Deveron. Their auras flickered in and out, and even his ears became aware of the constant beeping their suppressors gave off. What was going on? Why did he feel so drained all of a sudden?

“D-Dev. Hey, Roy… Something’s wrong.”

But neither replied back, their eyes glued to the screen — Not a budge. Upon closer inspection, they all appeared exhausted. Even Heidi struggled in her sleep to breathe. What’s happening?! Cheveyo thought to himself. He even tried to get up but felt too weak to move. Gotta get up! Gotta get up now! What are you waiting for? Get up Get up Getupgetupgetup! The spirits yelled in his head, a few starting to take control of his body until ultimately Cheveyo stood up to observe the others.

Heidi’s aura broke first, followed by orange particles being sapped out of her body, and her breathing became heavier. Next, Roy broke, resulting in yellow particles emitting from his body. Eventually, the boy that watched the screen slumped over and fell asleep. These particles… no the energy being sapped away went through the floor, all of them converging. Deveron still held in, but his aura weakened by the minute.

Cheveyo waved his hand in front of Deveron, but no response. The spirits in him didn’t understand, the entire pantheon within becoming chaotic, so many voices screaming, so many in confusion. Some of the spirits he tried to manifest wouldn’t even heed the call… nothing but silence. Cheveyo opted to move to the door, opening it up to the hallway. To his surprise, he found foundation members laying unconscious outside; they too were drained of energy. Stumbling over, he felt the urge of one of the spirits finally taking over.

“W-Wait… What’s g-going… on?”

A mixture of spirits echoed through his voice, and then replaced him as they finally took over. His eyes turned green, and his hair turned white — The Owl took control.

“We must stop this… Take a seat… Boy.”

Cheveyo stood up, his body regaining its energy. Time slowed to a crawl, his head steering in a direction of a faint red glow glimmering down the hall. Footsteps approached something that broke the pause of time. The owl that took control became curious and also approached the glimmer of red, but to its surprise, its guard raised up.

____

Crashed across the street, Alexia found herself pitted in a 1v1 against Mahdri, neither giving in to the blows they exchanged, toppling over buildings, and filling the air with an unholy cloud of debris that overtook half of it.

“Urgh…”

Alexia slowly sat up only to feel the weight of Mahdri’s foot firmly place them back into the ground.

“This has been fun, Starlight. Honestly, I didn’t quite expect you to be so durable. How is that, I wonder?”

Mahdri’s curiosity got the better of them as they moved in closer to take a look at the battered Alexia.

“A shame you weren’t here last year… It would've turned the tide~.”

Raising up her fist, Mahdri slammed it right into Alexia’s face, dust kicking up around them. An eerie silence loomed over Mahdri. To her surprise, she couldn’t move her body. Her fist stuck inside what appeared to be black ooze leaking off Alexia’s face. Then Alexia opened her mouth, but the voice was different.

“Yeah, it really is a shame, huh? Mahdri~.” Khinara’s voice rang out as the body of Alexia started to alert and shift into a plethora of shadows that all latched onto Mahdri paralyzing her!

“Oooh~! Now, that’s clever!”

Mahdri was more excited than worried, only to turn her head behind them, sensing an alarming spike of energy. Down the street, Alexia stood with Lei clinging to her waist. The duo was charging up an attack.

“Almost… Almost g-got it…”

Alexia struggled to maintain her posture as Lei supported their back. Electricity flashed around the duo. The former holding both arms out to the side — palms open! Two spherical orbs of energy sparked above the palms, electrical volts bouncing off the spheres, ripping up pavement, concrete, and even the sides of the building. The bioluminescent glimmer shone brighter and brighter on the ends of Alexia’s hair, even Lei, whose own hair glimmered in a bioluminescent green.

“Hurry up!” Lei’s grip around Alexia began to wane the girl pushing in more of her power into Alexia to help charge up this attack. The two spheres grew bigger and bigger as the shadows continued to hold Mahdri in place.

“Now! [SPIRAL VORTEX]!”

Alexia’s voice raised to its height, and her left arm swung first, throwing out a volleyball-sized star. Immediately followed by a surge of wind pressure forcing them back! Lei felt her legs giving out and a few bones cracking. But still, the two didn’t give in as Alexia moved in to throw the second. Putting in even more power, and with every ounce of force she could muster, her right arm flung out a similar-sized star that quickly caught up to the other.

As the two stars hurtled down the road, they mixed together, suddenly breaking out into a quasar that took up the entire street, it ripped up the roads, consumed buildings, and burned everything in its path to ashes! Mahdri witnessed the light of the quasar approaching, in her eyes facing forward as the name suggested it looked like a vortex about to consume them. First, the light hit their skin, searing the girl in an unholy flame, followed by it making contact, uplifting a mushroom cloud that reached the atmosphere of the field. The intense explosion blew away Lei and Alexia together, and the field itself up in the sky disrupted. This attack let out another rumble in reality as the stadium shook.

An irradiated storm continued to brew further and further as a nebula descended from the very top of the field. Alexia and Lei rolled through the city, with Lei taking the brunt of the hits that cracked even more bones and knocked them unconscious, with Alexia still in their arms. From the nearby shadows, Khinara slowly crawled out, exhausted once more. Morphing into another person mid-fight to swap them out mentally and physically made it a pain for her to keep up. They almost wiped from that attack, also trying to keep Mahdri down.

“N-Next time throw it faster…”

Khinara leaned against a wall to catch her breath. Her eyes looked in the direction of a massive mushroom cloud. Such a sight sent shivers down her spine. Upon closer inspection, the very sky broke apart in a few spots from the titanic energy.

“Great… You might as well just break the fie-”

Horror overtook Khinara. Their body instinctively tried to get up the shadows around them latching out in defense of them — like tendrils. Alexia turned to look in the direction of where her attack hit. A fierce wind that knocked away the mushroom cloud struck the two. From the center of the impact, Mahdri once more made her way out, disrupting the irradiated storm that brewed across the city, her skin no longer red and back to normal. Parts of her uniform burned with holes in it. One of her leggings was also missing — Blood trickled down her face as it brushed up against her left eye, her arms suffered from burns, and her legs looked as if they were about to give out.

However, the fear that struck Khinara came in the realization of the sun-like crown that now lay on the top of Mahdri’s head. A symbol of power? Or another god? Whatever the case, Mahdri gave the duo a warm smile, the crown collecting the radiation in the area — powering up.