The city was silent—at least for a moment.
Sorata floated casually atop a tall building, arms folded as he enjoyed the view.
"Man… perfect scenery," he muttered with a relaxed sigh.
Then—
FWOOOOOM!
His eyes widened. Something massive—fast—was coming straight at him.
Sorata instantly leapt off the building just before a gigantic laser beam sliced through it, turning the entire structure into ash.
He landed safely on the streets below, but the assault didn't stop.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
More beams rained down like meteor strikes. Sorata sprinted through the destruction, dodging as many as he could—until one finally clipped him, sending him flying through several buildings.
The smoke cleared. Purple destructive energy wrapped around Sorata's body like a roaring flame.
"What the hell just happened? So I can't even take a peaceful look at scenery anymore?"
As he leaned against a ruined wall, a figure descended from the sky—mechanical wings glimmering behind him.
Sughi.
"I finally found you," Sughi said with a grin. "I sensed a ridiculous amount of energy entering the city. Should've known it'd be you."
Sorata clicked his tongue and stood straight, internally analyzing the earlier assault.
If I didn't coat myself in destructive energy, that beam would've caved my chest in. I didn't even have time to absorb it.
"Where's Kojin?" Sorata asked. "Can't sense him anywhere. I wanna see that guy."
"Kojin's out of the city," Sughi answered. "And I can already guess what you'd do if you saw him."
Sughi's lab coat transformed—shifting into a full mechanical battlesuit, claws glowing with solid energy. Two additional wings deployed from his back.
"And I've gotten stronger," Sughi said with a smirk. "So don't blame me for whatever happens to you."
Sorata's destructive energy roared to life around him, swirling violently.
"You know… I just came here to enjoy the view," he said with a grin. "But since you insist… I guess it can't be helped....
Remember—this is your fault!", Sorata said to Sughi with an evil grin.
Sorata fired a massive blast of destructive energy, erasing entire rows of buildings in seconds.
Meanwhile…
Alex and Kazuki continued their clash with Kuro.
Lightning swords rained down like a storm as Kazuki sliced rapidly through the barrage and Alex punched through them using his demonic arm.
Suddenly, Alex appeared inside his inner consciousness—face to face with the demon sealed within him.
"I never knew I had this power… You helped me unlock it?"
"No," the demon replied calmly. "This isn't your power. It's mine."
Alex blinked. "Huh?"
"You were never meant to unlock this alone. The contract we made—your left arm—exists so that when you lack strength, I lend you mine."
Alex crossed his arms and smirked. "Whatever. I appreciate the backup."
Returning to reality, Alex unleashed more power, punching through lightning swords while Kazuki created massive purple flame fireballs to counter Kuro's onslaught.
"There's no end to this!" Kazuki sneered.
Alex formed a series of magic circles and called out:
"Blade of Death — Hell Stream!"
A storm of lava-made death blades shot toward Kuro. Kuro answered with a gigantic lightning sword. A violent explosion erupted, yet Alex's final blade tore through the smoke and blasted Kuro violently across the sky.
Back to Sorata vs. Sughi
The two tore through the city skies, exchanging catastrophic firepower.
Sughi launched missiles, beams, light-speed blasts—Sorata dodged and countered with destructive energy explosions that vaporized entire blocks.
The city became a battlefield of fire, smoke, and collapsing structures.
"I just came for a peaceful view… and maybe to taunt my old man,", Sorata thought. He continued "And now this guy pops out of nowhere…
Sughi fired another massive beam from his wings that moved at light-speed.
Sorata was able to sense the threat level of the attack flying towards him and was able to narrowly dodge it just in time. The beam caused a massive explosion in the city.
Sorata thought to himself "If I hadn't sensed that ahead of time, I'd be toast.".
Sughi muttered, "He can't move at light speed. So how the hell is he dodging my attacks…? Reaction speed? Maybe.". Sughi continued to fire attacks non stop at Sorata.
Sorata charged straight through the chaos of beams shot at him by Sughi. But then....
BAAAM!
Sorata punched Sughi with an incredible amount of destructive energy infused on his hands, the explosion of the blast was much more incredible and powerful than the last blasts.
Sughi was able to tank the blow before he threw a blow of his own at Sorata who was sent flying back by the punch before smirking and charging back at Sughi. Suddenly, both fighters started to go blow for blow at dangerous speeds, the power of their hand to hand combat was enough to send shockwaves through the city for a moment. Sughi after having a short hand to hand combat fight with Sorata proceeded to fly back into position.
"What do you want here, Sorata? You drop into my city—I'm guessing to destroy it?"
"Can you shut up? You talk too much," Sorata said. "If I wanted this city gone, it'd be gone already."
Sughi's grin sharpened. "After I'm done with you, I'll drag your corpse to your father. Might save him the trouble of dealing with you."
Power erupted from Sughi, beams firing nonstop.
Sorata simply raised a hand and absorbed them.
Sughi froze in shock "Huh? He absorbed my attack?", he briefly remembered Sorata doing the same thing in their fight three years back. Sughi clicked his tounge "Tch! I forgot he could do that!".
"You figured out my weakness," Sorata said. "Light-speed. If I don't react fast enough, I die instantly. That's the level of speed a C- ranker should'nt normally have unless they try their damness to move that fast, right? Looks like i broke that speed limit for myself.", he continued "Honestly, even with the tricks i have up my sleeves, I still don't get why Ukina labeled me the second-strongest in the Dark Sign.".
Sughi rolled his eyes. "Oh please. Trying to give a sad villain speech? Don't turn soft on me."
"Shut up. I was in the middle of an inner monologue you overconfident prick!".
Sughi powered up even further. "It doesn't matter how well you try to adapt or break your limits, I'll just obliterate you while i still have the chance."
Sorata smirked darkly as he watched Sughi build up and overwhelming amount of power.
Sughi's final attack gathered, a massive ball of energy enough to erase the entire city.
Sorata thought to himself,
"With that much power, he can level everything. But not a single civilian's been caught in the crossfire… interesting. As for me, I could erase this city with a few special moves. But using full power would burn my body. Only two people in the world are worth me going all-out against.".
Sughi shouted:
"Detroit Destroyer!"
A colossal light-speed beam swallowed the city.
No time to react.
No chance to absorb.
The entire city was annihilated in a single apocalyptic explosion. Even tho the attack was this dangerous, only buildings got affected, no life was taken regardless of the level of destruction caused.
After the explosion had cleared off, Sughi floated alone over the ruins, panting.
"Well… damn. I just wiped out the whole city, but no one's dead. Well thank God, Sorata's dead. Kojin better thank me for this."
He turned—
BOOOOOOM!
A pillar of purple destructive energy burst from beneath the rubble and rocketed into the sky, exploding violently and sending Sughi crashing back to the ground, burned and exhausted.
Sorata emerged from the crater, walking toward him Sughi as his hands sizzled and with a slightly amused smirk on his face.
"No doubt, if that had hit me, I'd be dead," Sorata said. "Couldn't even absorb it in time."
Sughi coughed. "H-How did you avoid it…?"
Sorata shrugged. "Isn't it obvious? If I took it head-on, I'd die, i just went out of the way with the little time I had. Guessing plot armor saved me. Wait, Is that even a real thing?"
Sughi said nothing, he had a frown on his face and anger written all over his eyes.
Sorata stepped on his face.
"You were talking big earlier. Look at you now—like an overcooked piece of bread."
He raised a glowing orb of destructive energy above his hand.
"I warned you. Lose, and it's your fault."
Sorata floated into the air, eyes cold.
He smirked as he looked down at Sughi "I'll see you in hell."
He dropped the orb.
KRAKOOOOOM!
A massive destructive blast engulfed the area—completely erasing Sughi and everything nearby in one powerfull blast.
END OF CHAPTER