Chapter 141: The World Kneels
The sky above Playmore no longer looked natural. The enormous crimson-purple vortex that had formed above the city continued to rotate with terrifying speed, swallowing the remaining clouds and blotting out what little sunlight had managed to survive beneath the spreading darkness. Purple lightning crawled through the blackened heavens while veins of dark-red energy stretched between the ten pillars of Savage Power, creating the appearance of a gigantic living organism suspended above the city. Playmore had become a kingdom of shadows, and beneath that unnatural sky, every battlefield had begun to feel like a place from which there would be no return.
At the center of it all stood Shogun.
Or rather, ten Shoguns.
Each clone stood somewhere within the ruined city, their bodies motionless as the energy of Gluttonous Depth continued to spread throughout Playmore. Their presence alone was enough to make the air feel heavy, and the countless mouths forming inside the vortex above them continued to open and close as though the darkness itself were breathing.
Inside the ruined store, Mirage held Baekho's lifeless body tightly against his chest. His tears had finally stopped, but that did not mean his grief had disappeared. Something inside him had simply gone beyond crying. His expression was empty, his eyes fixed on the darkened heavens, while the memory of Baekho's final smile remained burned into his mind.
Slowly, Mirage looked down at his younger brother.
A small smile appeared on his face.
It was a broken smile, carrying none of the warmth it once would have had.
"See that, Baekho?"
Fwooosh!
The wind outside howled through the ruined streets, carrying ash and dust through the broken walls of the store.
"Today…"
Mirage lifted his eyes toward the enormous vortex as his pupils began to glow.
"The world kneels before your brother's power."
The moment those words left his mouth—
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Every Shogun clone transformed simultaneously.
Their hair shifted first, the strands changing from their original color into a deep crimson red that seemed to glow beneath the darkness. Their eyes turned golden, bright enough to be seen even through the thick shadows covering Playmore, while dark markings spread across their bodies like living tattoos. Their clothing changed with them, transforming into flowing black-and-red battle attire that moved violently in the energy surrounding them.
Then their power exploded outward.
WHOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The shockwave spread across the surrounding districts, sending rubble flying and forcing anyone nearby to brace themselves. Each clone now radiated an overwhelming amount of Savage Power, the pressure around them so immense that it felt as though an entire army had appeared wherever a single Shogun stood.
And then they moved.
SWOOOSH!
* * *
Champagne's Sector
Champagne had only just turned toward Brandon when something inside him screamed that they needed to leave.
"Run—"
He never finished the sentence.
The Shogun clone vanished.
There was no movement to follow, no visible acceleration, and no transition between one position and the next. One moment the clone had been several meters away, and the next it was standing directly in front of Champagne.
Champagne's eyes widened.
"What—?"
The clone extended its palm.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
A black-and-crimson blast erupted from its hand at point-blank range.
The explosion swallowed Champagne completely.
The ground beneath them disintegrated as the blast tore through the street, and entire sections of nearby buildings folded inward under the pressure. The attack continued forward like an enormous spear of condensed darkness, carving through Playmore and leaving destruction in its wake.
Champagne's body was launched through the explosion.
CRASH!
He smashed through the first building.
BOOM!
He tore through another.
KRAAASH!
His body continued travelling through concrete, glass, and steel until he finally crashed through the side of an apartment tower. The structure shook violently as he broke through several floors before falling out the opposite side and skipping across the ground.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
His body bounced across the ruined street before finally coming to a stop beneath a cloud of dust.
For several seconds, there was no movement.
The dragon user hadn't even been given the opportunity to defend himself.
Back where the attack had begun, Brandon didn't get the chance to react either.
An invisible force suddenly exploded outward.
CRAAASH!
Brandon was launched backward with enough force to send his enormous body through a concrete wall. He smashed through the first structure, then another, and then another, each impact producing a deafening BOOM as the buildings collapsed around him.
Eventually, he became embedded in the side of a damaged building.
The wall cracked around his body.
Brandon's muscles strained as he tried to pull himself free, his arms trembling beneath the immense pressure surrounding him.
"What…the hell…?"
The Shogun clone slowly began walking toward him. Every step it took seemed to increase the pressure in the area.
THOOM.
Brandon's body sank slightly deeper into the wall.
THOOM.
His muscles tightened.
THOOM.
His bones screamed beneath the force.
Brandon clenched his teeth and pushed against the wall with everything he had.
"AAAAAARGH!"
The concrete beneath his hands shattered, but the pressure continued to bear down on him.
For the first time since joining 'The Outsiders', Brandon felt genuinely helpless.
* * *
Mardale's Sector
Several districts away, the King and Mardale were still standing opposite one another. Their battle had temporarily stopped, and neither man was interested in attacking the other anymore.
Both were staring toward the sky.
The enormous vortex continued to rotate above Playmore, while dark energy moved through the clouds like veins beneath skin.
FWOOOM!
Then a figure appeared between them. The Shogun clone had arrived without either of them sensing its presence.
The King immediately jumped backward as Mardale's eyes widened.
The clone simply stood there.
It's black-crimson eyes moved between them without emotion.
The King tightened his fists.
"What are you supposed to be?"
The clone didn't answer.
Fwoo....
Instead, it slowly raised one finger. As a small black sphere appeared above its fingertip.
Mardale's instincts reacted immediately.
"Move!"
He dashed and the King swung at the clone at almost the same instant.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The black sphere detonated.
The explosion consumed the entire area.
BRRRMMMM!
SWOOOOSH!
Buildings disappeared within the blast, roads were torn apart, and a massive shockwave raced through the surrounding district.
The King was thrown backward. Mardale barely managed to evade far enough away to escape the center of the explosion.
When the smoke began to clear, an entire city block had vanished. For the first time since the battle began, the King and Mardale stopped looking at each other as enemies.
Something worse had entered the battlefield.
* * *
The Aircraft
Far above the city, Nyx was still recovering from the chaos below while Fah-jin remained beside her.
Booom....
Baaang....
The aircraft shook violently as another distant explosion erupted beneath them.
Then the pressure changed.
Fah-jin looked toward the front of the aircraft. A figure was floating directly in their path.
A Shogun clone.
It remained completely motionless in the air, its crimson hair moving gently in the surrounding energy while its black-and-crimson eyes stared directly at the aircraft.
It looked less like a fighter and more like an executioner waiting for permission to begin.
Nyx froze.
Fah-jin immediately raised her weapon.
"Everyone, brace!"
The clone raised one hand.
The aircraft's alarms immediately erupted.
BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!
Warning lights flashed throughout the cabin.
Then lightning struck.
KRAAAAAAAAAAAK!
Before the attack could reach the aircraft, another figure appeared between them.
Electricity exploded across the sky.
Monday Valhalla.
His fist slammed directly into the Shogun clone's face.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
The impact produced a shockwave powerful enough to split the surrounding clouds apart.
GRAAANKK!
The aircraft rocked violently as the two fighters disappeared into the sky.
Monday grinned.
"There you are."
The clone slowly turned its head back toward him then it smiled.
Monday's grin disappeared.
There was something wrong with that expression. It wasn't the smile of someone enjoying a fight. Instead it was the smile of something that had just found prey.
The next moment, both figures vanished.
BOOM!
A burst of lightning erupted several hundred meters away.
KRAKOOOM!
Dark energy collided with it.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The sky became their battlefield as lightning, crimson energy, and explosions tore through the atmosphere.
* * *
Zachia's Sector
Near the Dam, the battlefield where Zachia and Mirage had previously fought had become a graveyard.
Bodies covered the ground.
Stars.
Freakers.
Monsters.
The remains of buildings and broken weapons were scattered across the battlefield.
Then—
THUD!
A Shogun clone landed.
Zachia immediately turned toward it.
His expression hardened.
He raised his hand.
"Ghosts of the Seven Samurai."
Energy gathered around him.
One by one, seven spectral warriors appeared behind him, each carrying a different weapon as their ghostly bodies flickered with supernatural energy.
Zachia pointed toward the clone.
"Take it down."
The seven warriors charged.
SHOOOM!
The clone reached behind itself and drew a blade formed entirely from darkness.
The first Samurai swung but the Shogun moved once.
SHING!
The dark blade passed through the spectral warrior.
The ghost disappeared.
A second attacked.
SHING!
Gone.
A third.
SHING!
Gone.
Three Samurai vanished in the space of a few seconds.
Zachia's eyes widened.
"…You've got to be kidding me."
The remaining four warriors attacked simultaneously.
Step.....
The clone stepped forward, it's dark blade moved through the battlefield with frightening precision.
SHING! SHING! SHING!
One ghost fell.
Then another, then another.
Zachia's expression changed.
This wasn't simply overwhelming strength. The clone was dismantling his technique, and it was doing so effortlessly.
* * *
Wei-Wan's Sector
Elsewhere, Wei-Wan was helping contain the Freaker outbreak when he suddenly felt the same pressure descend upon him.
He stopped.
The sounds of battle continued around him, but his attention had shifted toward the darkness spreading across the sky.
He could feel something within it.
Hunger, pressure and uncharted darkness.
A Shogun clone appeared directly in front of him. Wasabi, who had been nearby, immediately froze. Fah-jin's earlier warnings echoed through her mind.
Danger.
Step.....
Wei-Wan stepped forward, placing himself between the clone and everyone behind him.
The clone stared at him.
For several seconds, neither moved.
Then the black-and-crimson eyed figure tilted its head.
"Interesting."
Wei-Wan narrowed his eyes.
"What?"
The clone continued staring.
"You survived."
Silence followed.
Wei-Wan's instincts exploded. There was something deeply wrong about those words. The clone wasn't speaking randomly. It sounded as though it knew him.
As though it remembered him.
Before Wei-Wan could ask what it meant, the clone disappeared.
BOOM!
Wei-Wan barely raised his arms before the attack struck.
The next battle began.
* * *
Across Playmore, the war had changed completely.
It was no longer simply the King against Mardale, Silver Moon against Daito, the Stars against the Freakers, or one faction against another. Every battlefield had been forced into the same conflict, because the Shogun clones had become a threat to everyone without distinction.
The King.
Silver Moon.
The Stars.
The Outsiders.
Monsters.
Freakers.
Nobody was safe anymore as everyone was now fighting Shogun. Or rather, everyone was fighting a nightmare born from grief.
And far away, within the monster dimension, Daito Greyhell had absolutely no idea that Playmore itself had become a battlefield against one of the most terrifying Savage Powers ever unleashed.
to be continued....