Yinka lay sprawled across the ground, drenched in sweat and trembling uncontrollably.
His body barely responded to him. Every attempt to move sent another wave of pain through his limbs, and his breathing came in short, uneven bursts. He had faced something beyond anything he had expected, something that had reduced his confidence, his strength and his pride to nothing.
A demon.
That was the only word his mind could find for Michael.
Across the battlefield, Precious coughed violently. A mouthful of blood spilled from her lips, staining the ground beneath her. Her body was exhausted, her remaining energy almost entirely depleted. The effort of saving Yinka had pushed her dangerously close to her limit.
Yinka noticed.
Despite his trembling legs, he forced himself upright. He staggered towards her, stumbling several times before finally reaching her side.
"Precious..."
He looked down at her, struggling to understand how someone who had seemed so composed could now be in such a terrible state.
Then he raised a trembling hand.
"PHOTOCOPY: HEAL."
The command left his mouth in a weak murmur.
A faint energy spread from his body towards Precious. Her wounds began to close, the blood on her skin gradually disappearing as her damaged body started to recover.
But Precious didn't thank him.
Instead, she smiled.
It began as a slight movement at the corner of her lips, then slowly widened into something far more unsettling. Her eyes remained fixed on Yinka, watching him with an expression that made the boy's stomach tighten.
"You fool," she whispered.
Venom dripped from every syllable.
Yinka froze.
"What?"
He barely had time to process her words before Precious spoke again.
"PROPHECY: YOU ARE MY SLAVE AND WILL DO WHAT I NEED."
Her voice carried an authority that left no room for resistance.
Yinka's expression went blank.
Something seized his mind. His thoughts spiralled into an inescapable illusion, his consciousness sinking beneath Precious's command. His body remained standing, but the person controlling it was no longer entirely himself.
Precious slowly rose.
She glanced towards Elizabeth, who remained on the ground, exhausted and barely able to move. Her arms were wrapped around Michael's battered body, holding him close as though letting go might mean losing him entirely.
Precious's smile disappeared.
"Yinka."
He turned towards her.
"Use the most powerful ability you have and erase them."
There was no hesitation.
No argument.
Yinka nodded.
"PHOTOCOPY: STORM OF OLYMPUS."
His voice was flat and mechanical, stripped of any trace of his former personality.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the ground began to shake.
A deep rumble travelled beneath the battlefield, growing louder with every passing second. The air became charged with energy, and the surrounding trees bent beneath an increasingly violent wind.
Yinka began to rise.
His feet lifted from the ground as energy gathered around his body. Lightning crawled across his skin, branching through the air like living veins. Above him, the clouds twisted and darkened, gathering into a vast formation that swallowed the sky.
Thunder erupted.
The winds intensified, tearing through the trees and ripping branches from their trunks. The atmosphere itself seemed to vibrate beneath the pressure of the ability.
It was no ordinary attack.
The sheer scale of the storm eclipsed everything that had happened before it. Lightning flashed across the heavens, illuminating the battlefield in violent bursts of white light.
Precious watched from below.
At first, satisfaction filled her expression. She had successfully taken control of Yinka and forced him to unleash his greatest weapon.
But that satisfaction didn't last.
The storm continued to expand.
Its energy grew more intense, its movements increasingly violent. The lightning no longer seemed to respond to the simple instructions she had given him. The power she had ordered him to unleash was becoming something far beyond her ability to manage.
Even Precious was beginning to lose control.
She stared up at Yinka.
"What...?"
Her expression tightened.
This was no longer simply a weapon she could point at her enemies.
It was a catastrophe.
And Elizabeth was standing directly beneath it.
The girl could barely move. Her body was battered, her energy almost exhausted, and Michael's weight rested heavily against her. Yet she refused to release him.
She looked up at the sky.
The approaching storm was enormous.
For a moment, she simply stared.
Then a faint smile appeared on her face.
"If I'm going to die here..."
Her fingers tightened around Michael.
"...then I'll go insane first."
She drew in what little breath she had left.
Her body trembled as she summoned the remnants of her energy. The veins beneath her skin began to bulge, and the pressure gathering around her grew increasingly unstable.
She raised her head towards the heavens.
"SECRETS I HIDE!"
Her voice echoed across the battlefield.
"TRAUMA I COVER!"
The air around her began to distort.
"LOVE I SHARE!"
The ground trembled.
"HATE I GET!"
Blood trickled from the corners of her eyes.
"EMOTIONS I CONCEAL!"
Her voice cracked, but she continued, forcing every remaining ounce of strength into the declaration.
"ALL SHALL BE CONFINED BY MY LAWS OF GRAVITY!"
The pressure surged.
Elizabeth's body shook violently. Her veins stood out against her skin, and blood began to spill from her nose and mouth.
But she didn't stop.
"GRAVITY DOMAIN: GOD'S PRISON!"
The world seemed to halt.
The lightning storm froze mid-air.
Bolts that had been tearing through the sky moments earlier became suspended in place, held by an invisible force. The winds stopped advancing. The enormous mass of energy hanging above the battlefield was trapped, as though the heavens themselves had been imprisoned.
Elizabeth had confined the storm.
But the cost was immediate.
Her body strained beneath the enormous burden of maintaining the domain. Her arms trembled, her breathing became ragged, and blood continued to pour from her face.
She was holding back an attack that threatened to consume everything around her.
And she was running out of time.
Precious watched in disbelief.
She understood the danger.
If the storm continued to grow beyond her control, Elizabeth's domain might not be enough to contain it. Worse, Yinka was no longer responding to her commands.
Panic seized her.
"PROPHECY: YOU ARE NOT MY SLAVE!"
She shouted the words towards him.
Nothing happened.
Yinka remained suspended in the air.
Then his head began to move.
Slowly, unnaturally, it twisted to one side.
The movement continued until his neck had rotated a full 360 degrees.
A sickening silence followed.
Precious staggered backwards.
The figure before her was no longer behaving like an ordinary human being. Something had emerged through Yinka, something that seemed to regard her attempt at control as little more than a joke.
A deep, otherworldly voice erupted from his mouth.
"Did you think you could control this boy?"
Precious's eyes widened.
Her expression drained of colour.
Yinka's face twisted into a smirk.
Or rather, whatever was speaking through him wore one.
The entity looked down at Elizabeth.
Then the storm intensified.
The pressure multiplied.
The suspended lightning began to tremble against the invisible restraints, each bolt straining to break free. The clouds above darkened further, and the energy gathering within them grew increasingly violent.
Elizabeth coughed.
More blood spilled from her mouth.
Her arms shook as she struggled to maintain God's Prison. The force pressing against her domain was becoming unbearable.
She was reaching her limit.
Still, she refused to release it.
Her gaze shifted towards Michael.
He was barely conscious, his body damaged and unresponsive, his breathing faint.
She looked at him, and tears began to stream down her face.
"Michael..."
Her voice trembled.
She tightened her embrace around him.
"If you fought to protect me..."
She swallowed, struggling to draw another breath.
"...then wake up, old man!"
Her words pierced through the darkness.
Something stirred.
Michael's mind, which had been drifting in the depths of unconsciousness, snapped towards awareness.
For an instant, everything was silent.
Then a surge of red energy ignited within him.
His eyes began to bleed.
His fingers curled as his claws elongated, and the muscles throughout his body tightened. The energy surrounding him surged with renewed intensity, spreading through his battered frame.
His consciousness returned in fragments.
Elizabeth.
The storm.
The threat.
Her voice.
His eyes opened.
I have to save her.
His body began to rise.
No.
His expression twisted.
I need to do everything.
The ground beneath him erupted.
Michael launched forward with explosive force, moving faster than the eye could follow. He reached Elizabeth in an instant, lowered himself and gathered her into his arms.
A princess carry.
He held her tightly against his chest, shielding her as best he could.
Then he moved.
The lightning struck.
Its force crashed into Michael's body, engulfing him in blinding light. His skin burned beneath the electrical assault, and his muscles convulsed as the energy tore through him.
But he didn't stop.
He continued forward.
Another bolt struck.
His body twisted as he attempted to evade the worst of the attack, but the storm was everywhere. Lightning tore through the air, striking the ground around them and forcing him to endure the energy that reached his body.
His skin burned.
His body shook.
His strength began to falter.
Still, his arms remained wrapped around Elizabeth.
"Michael..."
Her voice was faint.
She looked up at him, her eyes filled with fear.
"Michael... you'll die..."
He didn't answer.
He simply continued moving, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Yinka.
There was no room for anything else in his mind.
He had found her.
He had promised himself he would protect her.
And he wasn't going to let her die now.
As they approached Yinka, the entity controlling his body began to laugh.
A deep, mocking sound rolled across the battlefield.
"This boy is under my control."
Michael's gaze sharpened.
His face was covered in blood, his body charred and trembling, but his expression remained fierce.
"I don't care, stupid god."
The words were barely out before the sky erupted again.
The distance between them narrowed.
The storm raged.
Michael continued forward, carrying Elizabeth directly towards the being controlling Yinka.
Their collision seemed inevitable.
But before either side could deliver another attack, the battlefield changed.
The world shifted.
The storm vanished from around them.
The trees, the broken earth and the vast expanse of the battlefield disappeared.
Suddenly, they were somewhere else.
A pristine room.
Bright walls. Clean floors. A space filled with students whose bodies bore the marks of their own trials.
Some lay motionless. Others struggled to sit upright. Bloodied faces, torn clothing and exhausted bodies filled the room.
The students had been through their own ordeals, and the condition of the room's occupants made that painfully clear.
Michael barely registered any of it.
His first concern was Elizabeth.
He gently lowered her onto the floor, making sure she was settled before turning around.
Yinka was there.
And Michael was not finished.
He launched himself forward.
His fists clenched, his expression contorted with fury as he charged towards the boy who had threatened the person he loved.
Yinka, however, was barely conscious. His body was on the verge of collapse, and he seemed unable to comprehend the sudden change in his surroundings.
Precious stood nearby, equally stunned.
Michael closed the distance.
"ENOUGH!"
The voice boomed across the room.
It was authoritative, powerful and impossible to ignore.
Before Michael could reach Yinka, an overwhelming force struck both boys.
Michael was flung backwards.
Yinka was thrown in the opposite direction.
Their bodies slammed into the walls with tremendous force.
The room fell silent.
Yinka's body finally gave out. His eyes rolled back, and he collapsed, unconscious.
But Michael was still moving.
He staggered, one hand pressing against the wall as he struggled to stand. His body was barely holding together, yet the anger in his expression had not disappeared.
He turned towards the source of the voice.
Mr Bola.
Michael's eyes narrowed.
"I will kill anyone who gets involved in my welfare..."
His breathing was ragged.
"...or Elizabeth's welfare!"
He pushed himself away from the wall.
Then he swung a fist towards Bola.
But his body had finally reached its limit.
The strength left his limbs halfway through the movement. His arm dropped, his knees buckled, and he collapsed before his fist could connect.
Bola stepped forward and caught him effortlessly.
For a moment, the General looked down at the unconscious boy in his arms.
Then he shook his head.
"Just like your father..."
He sighed.
"Complete psychos."
The room remained silent.
The students stared.
Some looked horrified. Others seemed unable to comprehend what they had just witnessed. They had all endured the dangers of the trials, but what they had seen from Michael was something else entirely.
A boy who had continued fighting after his body had practically given out.
A boy who had confronted a storm, challenged an unknown entity and attempted to attack General Bola himself.
All for one girl.
Precious stood trembling, her eyes fixed on Michael's unconscious body.
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"He's become a monster."
She looked towards Elizabeth.
"You're lucky he loves you, Elizabeth."