"This is it, Oliver. Your last fight. I'm so proud of you! You went further than I ever did, than I probably ever could. I believe in you."
Lyra's voice hums in his ear, steady and warm, but Ollie barely hears her. His eyes are locked on the closed elevator doors, waiting for them to open to the last arena.
They open to a space unlike anything he's seen before.
It's a room, or something like one, shaped not from crystal hills or ruined cities, but from sterile white cubes suspended in flawless symmetry. It looked like the UnderNet, but someone had actually turned on a light and organised the Q-Bits. The walls pulse faintly with soft blue veins of light, flickering erratically like a heartbeat out of sync. The ground beneath him is translucent, layered with countless crystalline panels that shimmer beneath his feet like ice over deep water.
It feels clinical. Cold. Like the inside of a dream that doesn't know it's a nightmare.
Then he sees it, another Glaive model.
This one is all shades of black and deep red, silver lightning pulsing malevolently throughout its frame. Splashes of that same crimson streak across its form, as if painted on in violent, desperate strokes. A sickening thought twists in Ollie's mind: it looks like a scab, crusted and deep with dried blood. His hands wince slightly from the pain.
A chill crawls down Ollie's spine. Something about this fight feels wrong.
The Glaive waits.
"What the hell is this?" Ollie breathes.
His MIND unit chimes. "Pilot Ollie Greenfield. You've reached your final battle. Defeat your opponent to claim the HyperCube for yourself."
The figure activates, but stands still as if waiting for Ollie to summon his own Glaive.
Ollie hesitates, something twisting in his gut. He exhales sharply, forcing himself to push past the unease, and accepts the battle.
Where is the Pilot? How can an OverKnight exist without a Pilot?
His own Glaive materializes before him; it doesn't appear in the same way as before.
"What the hell?! Glaive?" he gasps, unable to hold back his reaction.
His Glaive had changed again. The cape now fully drapes its back, and most of its frame is wrapped in bandages. It looks wounded, repaired hastily, as if barely holding itself together. Glaive looks like it's been through hell and barely stitched together, like him.
His eyes shift back to his opponent.
"I don't like fighting OvKs if I don't know their pilot's name. So… I think… I think I'll call you Dark Glaive! Yeah, that sounds right to me 'cos you're my enemy here. Okay, Dark Glaive, let's do this!"
Dark Glaive does not respond to its new name.
It's Ollie who is allowed to make the first turn. He activates Blade Boost, discarding a card, the motion itself a promise of amplified power for his next attack. Then, with a practiced flourish, he plays Adrenaline Strike. A surge of raw energy courses through Glaive, and the familiar thrum from its core signals his first OverClock point of the battle.
The Dark Glaive blocks, absorbing the blow with a stoic defiance that grates on Ollie's nerves. Glaive's strike connects, five points of damage biting into Dark Glaive's defenses, but the impact feels muted, as if Dark Glaive merely acknowledges the hit. Still, the Adrenaline component within Ollie's attack pulses, readying a buff for Glaive's next advance.
Dark Glaive mirrors Ollie's opening exactly, activating Blade Boost and then playing Adrenaline Strike. The raw power emanating from it feels subtly more focused, more efficient. Ollie, in turn, mirrors Dark Glaive's defense. The Adrenaline Strike hits Ollie's Glaive with a punishing thud, and a cold, chilling hum confirms Dark Glaive has also generated a buff for its next turn. The equivalence feels less like balance and more like a taunt.
"Kinetic Mega Strike!" shouts Ollie, playing his next attack card with desperate force. The earlier Adrenaline buff fuels it, pushing Glaive's raw power to its peak. Dark Glaive reacts, using two cards as a defense, a stark, unyielding barrier. The strike impacts, a powerful kinetic explosion, tearing through Dark Glaive's defenses. As the Kinetic component flares, Ollie feels a surge of energy—another OverClock point gained. But then, a subtle, almost imperceptible shimmer: the two cards Dark Glaive had used for defense return to its hand, a stark display of its Power Edge ability. It's a gut punch.
Dark Glaive retaliates instantly with Burst Strike. Ollie reacts on instinct, throwing up his last remaining two-capacity card, a desperate gamble. The blow connects with a jarring impact, rocking Ollie's Glaive and chipping away at its core. Dark Glaive immediately presses its advantage, getting another immediate turn.
The Dark Glaive unleashes its counter, a move that feels like a mockery of Ollie's efforts. It plays Kinetic Mega Strike. Its version of the attack is not just powerful; it is overwhelming. It rips through Ollie's Glaive, a concussive force that leaves Ollie reeling, the weight of the blow settling deep in Glaive's frame. As the Kinetic impact registers, Dark Glaive's power surges again, gaining two more OverClock points. The disparity is undeniable.
The arena's hum intensifies, thick with the residue of spent energy. Ollie stands, breathing heavily, every joint in Glaive protesting. Yet, a spark of grim satisfaction ignites within him. Glaive has endured. He has seized the arena, claiming the strategic upper hand, even if the individual exchanges have been brutal.
He plays Core Burning Overclock, sacrificing three of Glaive's Core Points, the system groaning under the strain, to force three more OverClock Points into Glaive's reserves.
Dark Glaive responds, cold and efficient. It activates Blade Boost, discarding a card with practiced ease, amplifying its next strike. Then, the true threat emerges. It plays OverClocked Giga Strike, the very name a promise of annihilation. By spending an OverClock point and leveraging its earlier Blade Boost, it summons an attack that ripples with destructive potential, poised to tear through Ollie's Glaive.
Ollie braces Glaive, blocking with every card in his hand except for one. His gaze locks onto that final, desperate hope. He won't block with it. He can't. The incoming damage is immense, threatening to shatter Glaive, pushing his Glaive's Core Points to a critical, perilous level.
"Just one," Ollie rasps, his voice raw. "All I need is just one Core Point to end this."
"You can do it, Oliver. It's all led up to this."
"Lyra?" asks Ollie out loud, but no one responds. "Yeah, let's end this!"
He's been outmaneuvered by other pilots, forced to confront his own reflection, his every tactic turned against him, and surpassed. This is where it stops. Ollie knows now. True victory doesn't reside in Glaive's brute power, nor its formidable strengths, but in its profound vulnerability—a desperate, forbidden maneuver no Glaive pilot, not even Lyra, would ever attempt.
Glaive's arm begins to shift, Q-Bits rearranging themselves in a flurry, morphing from a blade and into a cannon. The OverKnight stands ready, its barrel trained on the Dark Glaive as energy begins to build up around it.
"Glaive, now! PentaDrive Phasing Giga Blast!" Ollie screams.
Glimpses of Lyra, of the faces of his tormentors, of his parents, flood his vision. Glaive surges, uncorking a cataclysmic burst of pure energy so immense it doesn't just rattle the arena; it vibrates through every molecule of the structure, tearing at the very fabric of reality around them. Everything in the arena dissolves into a brilliant, blinding white.
As his focus returns, Ollie sees the Dark Glaive, or what's left of it, crumple to the ground, its frame dissolving into Q-Bits.
Victory.