"When everything is at stake, the struggle becomes personal."
The Clash Begins
The jungle mist enveloped the scene, weaving between the two forces like a living entity, curling around armor and steel while tasting the air for traces of blood.
At the forefront of the Sandata Unit's formation, Gregorio Aguilar and Ricardo Magno stood resolutely shoulder to shoulder. The violet spirals of Kamay ni Bathala pulsed in counter-rhythm to the molten gold of Alab ng Tala.
Flanking them, Marian Dela Fuente, Agosto Santos, and Renato Ramirez fortified the line. Mist, flame, and prism intertwined, five heartbeats coalescing into a singular resolve.
Across the ritual circle etched into the earth, their adversaries emerged from the shadows:
• Mia Torre: The Aklat ng Katotohanan levitated at her side. With a smirk, she declared, "Your truths are small, Captain. I shall reveal the whole ugly picture."
• Crispulo Toledo: The demon-edge Anino trailed wisps of smoke. "It's been a while since I carved something that truly screams."
• Putik: The Balisong ng Dahas twitched in anticipation. "I hope you've polished your relics; I detest dull trophies."
• Natalia Saavedra: The Karambit ni Kain whispered curses. "I'll make you yearn for defeat."
• Maximo Imperial: With the Sumpit ni Dumalapdap at rest, his eyes flickered with intensity. "Don't underestimate them."
The air between them rippled. No herald. No countdown. They moved.
Opening Volley - Crossfire
Maximo exhaled a silent melody as pressure walls surged forward.
Renato planted himself firmly, the Kalasag blooming into a prism. "Try harder, Max—your storms still feel like mere drizzle to me."
Mia tore a page from the Aklat; the jungle warped into cliff faces and phantom battalions.
Marian hissed, "Beautiful illusions. It's a shame they will all fade." Her mist slid low, marking the real bodies for Gregorio.
Agosto collided with Putik, the Kampilan igniting.
Putik's teeth flashed in a grin. "Burns nicely. Keep going—I enjoy the aroma."
Flame arcs bit into molten serpents; explosions shattered trees like matchsticks.
Mid-Battle Chaos - Layered Combos
"Push right!" Ricardo's voice resonated with authority and challenge.
Kamay and Alab became twin comets. Ricardo unleashed molten crescents; Gregorio dismantled Maximo's sound glyphs mid-cast.
Maximo countered, "Surrender, Captain!"
Gregorio replied, "That is not a choice, Max."
Mia and Marian engaged in a truth-lie duel.
Mia taunted, "I can make you forget her name."
Marian's blade sliced through a phantom cliff. "And I can ensure you will fear mine."
Crispulo split into phantoms, blades chiming against the air.
Agosto blink-cut through them. "All smoke, no bite, Crisp."
Field Fracture
Gregorio commanded, "Pair off—rotate!"
• Marian and Renato confined Maximo within a prism-mist.
Maximo smirked despite the mounting pressure. "You'll suffocate before I do."
Renato shot back, "Funny—you're already gasping."
• Agosto and Ricardo pressed against Putik.
Putik grinned through the heat. "Two against one? Flattering."
Ricardo replied, "You're not even worth one."
• Gregorio faced off with Natalia and Mia.
Natalia's curse-whispers coiled around him. "You'll beg for mercy."
Gregorio responded, "You'll die of waiting."
• Renato pulsed the Kalasag, giving Marian the opening to sever the Aklat's glyph anchor.
Pages screamed into the air.
80 Seconds of Hell
The circle erupted into chaos.
Gregorio hurled Natalia into the path of Maximo's disrupted sonic burst.
Ricardo met Crispulo's charge head-on—sparks and smoke flew.
Agosto feinted toward Mia; Marian's mist yanked Mia's footing from beneath her.
Putik unleashed balisong storms. Agosto carved an X overhead, detonating them skyward. "Your aim is as sloppy as your footwork."
Maximo inhaled deeply for a dome—Marian's prism-light mist filled his lungs. He doubled over. "Still… not… finished."
Marian declared, "You are."
Compression Strike
Ricardo's tone sharpened. "Now."
Gregorio tagged Natalia with a mercy glyph.
Marian's mist blinded Mia.
Renato's reflected burst struck Crispulo squarely in the chest.
Agosto cleaved Putik's last rune; Ricardo's Alab halted at his throat.
Putik's grin faltered. "Do it."
Ricardo replied, "Earn it."
A Storm of God Strikes
Maximo's gaze narrowed. "Now."
Maximo – Punishment of the Gods! - Judgement Symphony
Maximo's melody is a requiem. The Sonic Fracture glyph marks the moment when harmony breaks into weaponized sorrow.
Sound shattered like glass, each note a blade of devastation slicing through the air.
Natalia – Punishment of the Gods! - God's Assassin
Natalia's blades whisper before they strike. The Twin Fang Spiral glyph is the assassin's prayer—silent, precise, and fatal.
She moved with ethereal grace, her curved blades poised to strike at imagined vulnerabilities.
Putik – Punishment of the Gods! - Divine Treachery
Putik's daggers do not stab—they bloom. The Dagger Bloom glyph is betrayal made beautiful, a storm of blades that never asks permission.
A cascade of gilded balisong runes descended, each set to detonate in the blind spots of unsuspecting foes.
Mia – Punishment of the Gods! - Death's Novel
Mia's words do not persuade—they condemn. The Page of Final Truth glyph is the last chapter written in blood and sealed by fate.
Each turn of the page crafted a fatal narrative, ensnaring her targets in predetermined destinies.
Crispulo – Punishment of the Gods! - Hell's Eclipse
Crispulo's blade does not cut—it vanishes. The Shadow Blade Halo glyph is the eclipse that swallows light, leaving only the scream.
A shroud of darkness enveloped the canopy, with only his lethal edges gliding freely within it.
Five god-arts converged, potent enough to erase a mountainside from existence.
A Split Second Choice
The world contracted for Maximo, narrowing down to the hum of the Sumpit ni Dumaladap in his hand and the thunder of his team's God Strikes erupting around him. He felt the immense power of his comrades, a seismic wave of reality-bending force as they unleashed the Punishment of the Gods.
But then, two distinct voices—one a whisper of ancient earth, the other a current of silent air—filled his mind in chilling unison.
"Now."
It was Sitan, the God of Death, and Dian, the Goddess of Fate.
Maximo responded with a nod.
His fingers shifted in formation. A sonic doppelganger burst from him, a shimmering translucent copy that moved with impossible speed. As his team's Godfist Strikes charged with divine fury, Maximo's doppelganger unleashed a haunting melody of mana parasitic curse notes. The notes weren't loud, but they were precise, a silent, unseen counter-curse intended to sever the enemies' connection to their source of power. He targeted Putik, Natalia, Mia, and Crispulo.
The invisible curse tunes drained them of arcane energy with parasitic speed.
Eye for an Eye
Marian – Punishment of the Gods! - Mountain Goddess
Marian's blade sings the lullaby of mountains. The Mist Crown glyph marks the moment when illusion becomes terrain, and terrain becomes divine wrath.
Mist billowed upward, forming the colossal apparition of Mount Makiling behind her. As its ridges crowned the horizon, her figure transformed—armor dissolving into a flowing gown of cloud and green silk, her hair cascading like the forest canopy. She emerged as the Goddess Makiling reborn, wielding a Sundang that unleashed torrents of molten-silver glyphlight. With a single sweep, the mountain's silhouette leaned forward, her blade-light crashing down like a divine landslide, intercepting Mia's lethal prose and smothering Natalia's spectral angles beneath the weight of an immortal peak.
Agosto – Punishment of the Gods! - Lam‑Ang's Wrath
Agosto does not strike—he erupts. The Flame Spiral Vortex glyph is a war dirge, a datu's fury made manifest in ten thousand slashes.
From a modern warrior, Agosto suddenly transformed into a legendary datu. The Kampilan emitted a war dirge, unleashing ten thousand spectral cuts that fell like meteors, reducing Putik's treacherous rain to harmless ash.
Renato – Punishment of the Gods! - Stalwart of the Heavens
Renato's Kalasag does not block—it remembers. The Prism Dome glyph is the echo of every vow made to protect, refracted through divine resolve.
Renato suddenly became enveloped in divine armor. His Kalasag unfurled into a dome of auroras, then plummeted like the sky itself, shattering Crispulo's eclipse into fleeing wisps.
Ricardo – Punishment of the Gods! - Supernova
Ricardo's blade is a sunrise that never dims. The Solar Burst glyph is the moment when light chooses violence.
For a moment, Ricardo transformed into a celestial being. Alab condensed into a white-hot sphere and erupted, a nascent sun incinerating the sound-blades of Judgement Symphony to smoke.
The Impact
God-arts collided in a maelstrom that flattened trees, sheared ridgelines, and tore the air into screaming fissures.
At last, Gregorio's Punishment of the Gods was unleashed, his focus directed toward Crispulo, Putik, Mia, and Natalia.
Gregorio whispered,
Punishment of the Gods! - Ender of Worlds
The Spirals of Erasure Glyph expanded. All relics fell silent, humbled, and the entire area transformed into a void where Baybayin runes floated as if an equation for erasure was being calculated.
He raised his hand, preparing to clench his fists as the backdrop shattered like fragments of voidglass.
Juan Luciano emerged, absorbing the shockwave of their divine strikes.
Juan's Intervention
Habagat ni Silang swirled in his hands, a tempest of storm, tide, and dragon's breath converging into a formidable wall of typhoon.
The combined Punishments crashed against it, ultimately expending their force and losing vigor. However, the exertion left Juan on his knees, his arcane reserves nearly depleted, and his Sandata in a cooldown state.
With his final vestige of strength, Juan shouted, "Enough!"
The battlefield was enveloped in profound silence, both sides still standing but drained of their resolve.
The Divided Sky
As the wind shear parted the treeline, The Adarna descended, its claws gripping the Kabalyero. Joaquin, stationed at the rail, commanded, "Activate Voice Control. Initiate suppression fire." The Kabalyero's Gatling guns aimed and unleashed a barrage of arcane bullets at their adversaries, pushing them backward.
Shortly thereafter, MID-Zeta paratroopers were deployed to encircle Juan and Maximo's team.
Just as the encirclement was nearing completion, shadows emerged: The Mulawin—the formidable airship of the Babaylans, adorned with razor-sharp azure feathers on its wings, commanded by Magda—and The Ravenus, the famed pitch-black air raider decorated with crimson curse runes, led by Kalawit for the Ahas ng mga Lakan, swooped in low to extract their comrades using grapnels.
On the deck of the Mulawin, Juan exhaled deeply, resting wearily on his trident. He watched as Ricardo and Joaquin saluted him in acknowledgment while departing aboard the Adarna.
The Sandata Unit regrouped at the bridge. Marian's gown of mist and ridgeline dissipated, the phantom mountain gradually sinking into the horizon. Gregorio glanced at her, a half-smile breaking through the soot on his face. "Makiling herself couldn't have done better."
"They will return," she assured him. "And so will we," Gregorio affirmed.
Mandirigma, Puerto Princesa Port
The Adarna gracefully returned to Puerto Princesa, transporting the Sandata Unit, whose spirits were elevated by their recent victory. Upon disembarking, Joaquin congratulated the team for their resilience and teamwork.
He turned to Ricardo, offering a hand of gratitude for his pivotal role in both the battle and the safeguarding of the Left Eye of Bathala. With a sense of camaraderie, Joaquin bid the team a temporary farewell as he prepared to report back to Central Command, assuring them of his ongoing support.
Guido, observing the team's weary yet determined expressions, suggested they take this opportunity to recover and regroup.
He reassured them that the Mandirigma would undergo comprehensive repairs and restocking in preparation for their next journey to Davao.
As the sun set over the harbor, the team found comfort in the knowledge that they were united in their struggle, their solidarity serving as a beacon of hope amid the challenges that lay ahead.