The ground did not crack. It dissolved. A pillar of ravenous, purple energy erupted into the sky, and from its heart, a figure settled in the dust. It was not born; it was unveiled. A humanoid silhouette of pure calamity, pushing the very rubble of the world away with an indifferent, terrifying grace.
"That's the Humanoid of Calamity!" a soldier screamed, his voice cracking.
Lloyd's gaze was iron, his knuckles white. "Its strength is immeasurable."
"As a unit," another soldier chanted, a desperate mantra, "I fear any act may lead to death. But the main priority is to protect the main force. Even if it means death."
"No, no! We were not trained for this!" a third soldier wailed, clawing at his helmet. "This is gonna shred us into pieces!"
"Don't you be a weakling!" Misuzu's voice cut through the panic like a knife. "You got a family, right? Then you have people to protect! This is what you signed up for! All units, FIRE!"
A storm of plasma beams and explosive rounds lit up the twilight, crashing against the Calamity in a symphony of fire. It did not flinch.
Shiro watched, a cold dread settling in his gut. "Get down!" he roared.
The Humanoid of Calamity simply… inhaled. Then, it roared.
BOOM.
The world turned white, then purple. A sphere of erasing energy expanded, silent and absolute. When the light faded and the dust settled, a terrible silence fell.
A female soldier pulled off her helmet, her face a mask of soot and horror. Her eyes landed on a comrade on the ground, the top half of his body simply gone. His remaining hand twitched.
"Help me…"
Her scream, "KYAAAA!", was a needle in the silence.
Shiro stood frozen, until he felt a touch on his leg. He looked down. A hand. Just a hand, reaching from beneath the rubble. His breath hitched.
"What is this?" he whispered, the question a plea.
Nearby, Misuzu rose, her body trembling with rage and power. 'Most of our units were annihilated… is this how it ends? No. They were all weak. But I am stronger!'
"Go to hell, you piece of shit!!" She charged, a comet of raw energy. In the space between one instant and the next, the Calamity's gaze fell upon her. A flicker of purple light, and half of her body was obliterated. She looked down, confused.
"Huh…?" Then she fell.
Lloyd caught her, lowering her gently. His face was a stone mask of grief and fury. "This can't end like this! Everyone who is alive, evacuate the area! Looks like I'll have to finish this."
Shiro stepped forward, his own fear hardening into resolve. "You are not alone."
Lloyd's eyes, fierce and desperate, met his. "Are you willing to throw away your life like this?"
"No," Shiro said, his fists clenching, a flicker of orange fire igniting around them. "This is what we were created for, right? Now let's end this."
A grim, understanding smile touched Lloyd's lips. "If we make it alive…"
They charged as one.
What followed was a dance of annihilation. Shiro teleported, a blur of fire, striking from the Calamity's flank. Lloyd provided a barrage of precise energy blasts. The Calamity responded with waves of force that shattered the landscape, with lightning strikes that turned the ground to glass. Shiro, pushed beyond his limit, screamed and fractured the earth, pulling forth lava and shaping it into a weapon.
The Calamity roared, and its voice was a chorus of the dead—"How dare you! Hyaaaa! You let us die! Why?! Why?!"—a psychic assault that was as damaging as its physical blows.
It grabbed their heads, smashing them into the ground before hurling them into the sky. They fought back, a relentless tag-team, their blows finally making the creature's form crack. In retaliation, it unleashed a devastating purple-black laser, teleported behind them, and seized their legs, trying to consume them. Shiro broke free with a point-blank fire blast, only to be slammed into the ground, kicked through exploding buildings, and have his arm torn from its socket by the monstrous entity.
As it prepared a final, killing lightning blast, Lloyd intervened. His hair flashed white, his power erupting. He drove the Calamity into the earth, down into the magma, unleashing a volcanic eruption. But the Calamity adapted, emerging bigger, stronger, hungrier.
Lloyd knew it was the end. "I leave it to your hands, Shiro," he murmured, his body glowing with a sky-purple aura. His nose bled as he unleashed his ultimate technique: "Slice and Dice!"
A storm of energy rays focused on the Calamity. Lloyd walked through his own barrage, a walking sacrifice. "If that's the case, I don't mind dying on the battlefield. I have done my part."
The Calamity regenerated, and in a final, terrible pulse of energy, it obliterated everything. The world became rubble.
Shiro regained consciousness. His left arm was gone. Through the ringing in his ears, a voice—Hiro's—spoke telepathically. 'Shiro! Stop that thing! This is my will! I'll leave you an opening!'
"I understand," Shiro grunted, searing the stump of his arm shut with his own fire. He saw Hiro in the distance, his mechanical arm transforming into a cannon. "Arial Subjection!" A blue energy ray slammed into the Calamity, buying a precious second.
Shiro stood. "I have one last chance…" He pushed his body into overdrive, his hair bleaching white and red. He speed-blitzed forward, unleashing everything he had left. "Cosmic Ray!"
Lloyd, with his final breath, coordinated their attack. "Number Six! All attacks focused!"
The resulting explosion was a sun being born on the earth—a cataclysm of pink-red energy and red flame that shot into the heavens. When it faded, only a circular field of purple fire and dust remained.
Shiro stood, stumbling towards the cracked, exposed core of the Calamity. "Our attempts were not in vain… everyone… finally, it all ends here."
A spear of light shot through the air, impaling the ground before him.
Figures emerged from the smoke—his own comrades.
"Answer me, damn it!" Shiro demanded.
"You know it's us," the lead betrayer said. "This is not how we imagined it would end, but we're gonna need that core. You guys are legends. You will survive. But you know what they say… the legend always fades."
"What will you accomplish when you do this?!" Shiro spat, his body failing him.
"None of your concerns," the betrayer replied, leveling a weapon. "Choose: a painful death, or an easy one. Any final words?"
Shiro looked at the carnage, at Lloyd's body, at the world they had broken themselves to save. He met the betrayer's gaze.
"…I hope you rot in hell."
Darkness swallowed him.
---
He felt his existence fading. I can't feel my own body… So this is how it ends…
A voice echoed in the void. "Are you willing to throw away everything you worked for? Because you got betrayed? Or is it that your team died for nothing? I can give you a chance to become stronger. But I must warn you… the life that comes after this is just the beginning. Do you accept my proposal, or decline it? The choice is yours."
White light swallowed everything.
Consciousness returned slowly. The smell of woodsmoke. The feel of a soft bed. He was in a simple wooden cabin. A figure sat in a chair beside him.
"Ohhh," the figure said, a playful, knowing tone in his voice. "You're awake."