The air split open with a thunderous roar that shook the heavens themselves. The galactic serpent rose—its colossal form covered in scales that shimmered like shattered constellations. Its eyes burned like dying suns, and with every movement, the ground beneath cracked apart as if the planet itself could no longer bear its presence. The armies of Masked Chargers stood beneath it, small and fragile before the impossible. Dust, sand, and shattered tech filled the air. Sparks rained from destroyed mechs, and the world trembled as the Space Herald hovered behind his beast, his armor cracked but glowing with celestial energy. His laughter echoed like the cosmos itself—ancient, hollow, victorious.
Kenta, his Chainsaw Man armor sparking and broken, clenched his weapon. "You've got to be kidding me…" he breathed, sweat and blood mixing on his cheek. Elyra's Saber armor flickered between light and shadow, her blade heavy in her hand. The Teacher, still wearing his Printer form, clutched his side—ink leaking from the belt like dark blood. Lilith knelt beside him, her Cartoon armor barely holding together. The battlefield was painted in destruction—fallen Chargers, shattered mechs, and broken dreams.
The Space Herald lifted a single hand, and the serpent reared its head. Its mouth opened, revealing rows of teeth larger than buildings. The roar that followed wasn't just a sound—it was gravity bending, stars collapsing. Energy pulsed outward, sending bodies and debris flying. Elyra grabbed Kenta mid-air and used a mana burst to land them safely on a pile of rubble.
"This thing's a nightmare!" Elyra yelled, panting.
Kenta revved his chainsaw blade. "Nightmares can bleed too."
He dashed forward, roaring like a man who refused to die. The serpent struck, its head blurring through the air. Kenta dodged once, twice—but the third swipe caught him, sending him flying through a destroyed tower. His armor cracked, and blood splattered against the walls. Elyra screamed his name before blocking a tail strike that shattered the ground beneath her.
The Teacher raised his palm, his Printer Belt whirring. "Copy—All Chargers!" Streams of holographic light burst from his belt, summoning phantom duplicates of fallen heroes—blurry, fading, but still moving. They charged the serpent, slashing and firing everything they had. The serpent responded with a cosmic blast from its maw, erasing them all in a blinding wave of destruction. The Teacher fell to one knee. "Damn it… not enough power…"
The Space Herald descended slightly, his voice echoing like an eclipse. "Your resistance is beautiful… pointless… but beautiful."
Lilith spat blood. "Keep talking, space freak." She transformed her weapon into a cartoonish mallet and slammed it down, distorting the ground like an animated ripple. The serpent reeled for a brief second before countering with its tail. She blocked with her shield, sliding back meters.
Then the world darkened—an eclipse forming above. The serpent's scales glowed white-hot, charging energy from the sun itself. Elyra looked up, realizing what was coming. "Move! MOVE!"
But before anyone could react—
A colossal beam erupted from the serpent's mouth, tearing through mountains, cities, and the sky. It was a solar flare made flesh. Masked Chargers screamed as they disintegrated, their belts bursting into pieces. The explosion consumed everything. The battlefield was a white void of annihilation.
When the light faded, silence took hold.
Smoke rose from the ruins of France, now nothing more than molten earth and broken stars in the atmosphere. The few remaining Chargers struggled to stand. Elyra coughed, her Saber armor barely holding its shape. Kenta dragged himself from the rubble, half-conscious. The Teacher's helmet was cracked open, his face burned but defiant.
And then—
A golden ripple cut through the smoke.
A shadow emerged, glowing with blocky, pixel-like light. A pickaxe shimmered in one hand, and a diamond sword glowed in the other. The light formed a figure, rising from the crater like a phoenix of code.
Haruto.
His new armor was unlike anything they had seen—smooth diamond plating with glowing blue circuits and a shimmering cape made of digital pixels that flickered between solid and translucent. His helmet had a glowing cubic visor shaped like the letter "H," and his aura pulsed with power that seemed both ancient and new.
"Minecraft… Movie Form," he said softly, his voice layered with echoes.
Elyra gasped. "H-Haruto…?"
Kenta stumbled forward, eyes wide. "No way… You were—You died!"
Haruto looked down at his hand, the glow of the Totem of Undying fading slowly in his palm. "I got… one extra life."
The serpent roared again, and Haruto looked up at it. His eyes, glowing behind the visor, burned with fury. "Then let's use it well."
He leapt into the air—so high that clouds burst apart from the shockwave. The diamond sword gleamed under the starlight. He landed on the serpent's neck, slashing in a whirlwind of glowing blue trails. Sparks flew. Cosmic blood—liquid nebula—splattered across the ruined city. The serpent screamed and tried to shake him off, but Haruto built a digital wall midair and launched himself back at it using a grappling hook made of glowing vines.
The Teacher, stunned but smiling weakly, yelled through the comms. "Everyone! Back him up! He's bought us a second chance!"
Elyra stood up, holding her Excalibur aloft. "For Haruto!"
Kenta revved his chainsaw again. "For the dumbass who refuses to stay dead!"
Lilith reloaded her cartoon gun, smirking. "Let's give the serpent some animation!"
All of them charged.
Kenta's Chainsaw form screamed through the battlefield, slicing through the serpent's lower tendrils and spraying cosmic gore across the ground. Elyra boosted herself into the air, striking its head with holy light that cut through the darkness. Lilith warped around like a cartoon shadow, striking and vanishing. The Teacher summoned a wall of copied mechs using his Printer Belt—EVA units, Jaegers, and even the remains of their old mech fused into a hybrid giant.
"Let's turn this movie into a blockbuster!" he roared.
Haruto landed back beside them, his armor cracked but his totem glowing again. He pointed the sword at the Space Herald. "You and me!"
The Herald smirked, stepping down from the sky, his armor now cracked and dark energy leaking from his body. "You've returned from death just to die again? Admirable. Futile."
Their blades met, diamond against starlight. The shockwave split the earth, sending ripples through the clouds. Haruto swung with fluid precision—mixing martial arts, swordsmanship, and pixel weapon creation mid-combat. Each clash broke apart the ruins further. Haruto's sword turned into a glowing axe mid-swing, then a hammer, then a bow firing blocks of energy.
The Herald countered with cosmic gravity slashes, bending space itself to his will. The battlefield warped—mountains floated, oceans reversed flow, lightning struck upward.
Kenta shouted, "We can't even tell which way is up anymore!"
Elyra gritted her teeth. "Doesn't matter. Just keep fighting!"
The serpent lunged again—but this time Haruto summoned something from his hand: a glowing purple egg. He whispered, "Rise."
The ground cracked as the Ender Dragon erupted from beneath the rubble, its wings breaking through debris and ash. It screeched—a sound that echoed across time. Its scales shimmered in violet light, eyes glowing pure chaos.
The Space Herald laughed, spreading his hands. "Then let the universe have balance."
From the black hole above, his Space Dragon descended—sleek, silver, its body burning like meteor trails, wings tearing reality itself.
The two dragons clashed midair—one roaring with primal void energy, the other screaming with pixelated fury. They circled the earth, colliding again and again, lighting up the night sky like the end of time.
Haruto and the Herald continued to duel, both gaining speed with every strike. Buildings exploded, meteors fell, and lightning carved through the sky. The totem of undying shattered once, twice—each time Haruto fell, he stood again, defiant, bleeding, broken, but alive.
Kenta yelled from below, "How the hell is he still standing!?"
Elyra's voice cracked. "Because he's Haruto!"
As the dragons locked jaws, Haruto broke through the Herald's defense and slashed across his chest, tearing through the cosmic armor. The Herald retaliated with a point-blank blast that sent Haruto flying across the battlefield, smashing through a tower of obsidian shards he had summoned earlier.
Haruto staggered, coughing blood into his helmet. The totem flickered—it was fading for good now. But he smiled. "Guess I'm running out of extra lives."
The Space Herald raised his hand, gathering power. "Then let me end your story!"
The serpent's remnants coiled, the Space Dragon roared, and the Herald unleashed a beam of condensed solar annihilation. Haruto screamed, deflecting with his sword, his armor burning away piece by piece. Elyra and Kenta charged in, slashing and firing to break the beam apart. The Teacher's copies surrounded them, shielding everyone as the light devoured the land.
When the smoke cleared, Haruto stood—barely. He leapt, one last charge. The sky turned red, the music of the battlefield slowing like a heartbeat. The Herald's eyes widened as Haruto brought the diamond sword down, piercing through his chest.
A bright explosion of light—stars collapsing, gravity folding.
But the Herald, even impaled, smiled faintly. "You think you've won…?"
He raised his free hand to the sky. Above them, a spatial flare shot upward, tearing through the clouds into the atmosphere—heading toward space itself.
Haruto gasped, realizing what was coming next. "No…"
The Herald's voice echoed, fading into static. "Let the final curtain fall…"
The world trembled again—signaling that this was not the end.
The world stood still. The flames of the battlefield dimmed, leaving only drifting ash and distant thunder. The Space Herald, impaled through the chest by Haruto's glowing diamond sword, staggered backward. His body trembled as cracks of light spread across his armor, fragments of celestial metal falling away piece by piece. His once-blinding aura faded into a faint, flickering shimmer.
Haruto's breathing was ragged, his hands shaking as he slowly pulled the sword free. The Herald looked down at the wound—light pouring out like liquid stars—and then up at Haruto. For the first time, his voice was calm. Almost… human.
"Do you think…" he whispered, a faint smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, "…this victory means the end?"
Haruto stumbled backward, gripping his chest, the Totem of Undying shattering completely in his hand. "You're done, Herald. Whatever this was—it ends here."
The Herald shook his head. His armor began to dissolve, turning into a mist of cosmic dust that floated upward, scattering like fading constellations. His exposed face was pale and cracked, eyes hollow yet aware.
"No… this is only… intermission…" His body wavered, disintegrating into motes of starlight. "The world eater is coming… in… three… months…"
And with that, his form completely dissolved—leaving behind nothing but silence, and the faint echo of his words across the broken sky.
Haruto stared at the empty space where the Herald once stood, his sword lowering slowly. "World eater…" he muttered weakly, before his legs gave out. His vision blurred—the world spinning as exhaustion finally claimed him.
His body began to fall.
"Haruto!" Lilith shouted, sprinting forward. Her Cartoon armor cracked and flickered as she leapt through the smoke, catching him midair just before he hit the ground. The impact sent a shockwave of dust around them, but she held firm, sliding to a stop among the rubble.
Haruto's head rested against her shoulder, his armor flickering between broken blocks and fading pixels. Lilith looked down at him—his breathing shallow, his expression peaceful. "You idiot," she whispered softly. "You really did it."
Elyra and Kenta ran toward them, battered and bruised, but smiling through the exhaustion. The Ender Dragon above disintegrated into violet dust, while the Space Dragon exploded into collapsing stars, lighting the horizon one last time before fading away.
The Teacher limped behind, dragging his broken Printer Belt, the holographic duplicates around him fading out one by one. His face was weary but relieved.
Elyra knelt beside Lilith, brushing the dirt from Haruto's armor. "He's still breathing."
Lilith nodded. "Barely. But yeah, he'll make it."
Kenta stood there, hands on his knees, panting heavily as he looked around the ruined battlefield. "It's… finally over."
The wind blew through the scorched plains. The cities were gone, the mountains broken, but for the first time in what felt like forever—the world was quiet. No explosions. No screams. Just the slow, healing silence of survival.
Elyra looked at Kenta, her voice soft. "You fought like hell today."
Kenta gave a tired grin. "You too."
For a long moment, they simply looked at each other. The tension, the battles, the near-deaths—all of it weighed between them like gravity. Elyra's eyes glistened with the faintest tears. Without another word, she stepped closer, grabbed the front of his cracked armor, and kissed him.
It wasn't rushed, nor hesitant—it was fierce and tired and real. Kenta froze for half a heartbeat before his hands found her waist, pulling her closer amid the ruins.
Lilith smiled faintly, looking away with a small chuckle. "Took them long enough."
The Teacher just sighed, adjusting his cracked visor. "Finally. Maybe now they'll stop bickering during missions."
Lilith laughed, though her voice trembled. "You wish."
Elyra pulled away slightly, forehead resting against Kenta's. "We made it," she whispered.
Kenta nodded. "Yeah… we actually made it."
In the distance, the sun began to rise—dim and red, filtered through the haze of destruction. The light spilled across the battlefield, painting the broken mechs and armor in a bittersweet glow.
The Teacher looked around, seeing the remnants of their comrades—some alive, some gone. He clenched his fist silently, mourning them in his own quiet way.
Lilith looked down at Haruto, brushing his hair gently aside. "He saved us all," she said softly.
Elyra stood and nodded. "Let's get him to safety."
The Teacher summoned the last bit of power from his belt, materializing a small hover transport from spare mech fragments. It floated shakily, half-broken, but functional. Together, they lifted Haruto onto it, his breathing steady but weak.
Lilith climbed on beside him, never letting go of his hand. "Don't you dare die now, hero," she murmured, voice cracking slightly.
Kenta and Elyra walked behind the transport as it began to move. Their hands brushed, then linked together silently as they followed.
The Teacher walked ahead, leading them down the cracked road that used to be a city street—now a wasteland lit by morning light.
No one spoke for a long time. The sound of distant waves and the low hum of the hovercraft were all that remained.
They reached what was left of the city's medical center—half destroyed but still standing. The emergency beacon was still active. Lilith, with surprising gentleness, lifted Haruto from the transport and carried him inside, her expression unreadable.
Doctors—tired, dirt-covered survivors—rushed to assist, pulling Haruto onto a stretcher. Machines flickered to life. The heart monitor beeped steadily.
Lilith exhaled, finally allowing herself to relax. "He's stable…" she said, her voice soft and trembling.
Elyra and Kenta stood side by side near the doorway, still holding hands. The Teacher leaned against the wall, eyes closing for a moment as if letting the weight of the entire war fall off his shoulders.
Outside, the wind carried the faint whispers of peace—a fragile calm after endless chaos.
Lilith turned to look out the shattered hospital window. "The Herald's gone," she said quietly. "We did it."
Kenta nodded, his tone solemn. "Yeah… but whatever that 'world eater' thing was…"
Elyra squeezed his hand tighter. "Then we'll be ready. When it comes."
The Teacher opened one eye, smirking faintly. "Three months, huh? Guess we've got time to rebuild before the apocalypse round two."
Lilith smiled weakly. "Let's just get one night of rest first."
The group fell into a peaceful silence. The machines hummed. The sun rose higher.
And as Haruto lay there—still, pale, but alive—a faint glimmer appeared on his chestplate. The remnants of the totem's power. A single pixel of light, pulsing softly like a heartbeat.
For now, they had won.
But somewhere beyond the stars, something vast and ancient stirred.
The countdown had already begun.
End of Chapter 10.