ECLIPSED BY DESPAIR: THE ULTIMATE SACRIFICE
Sionis Care hovered a few meters above the ground, his magnificent wings spread wide. The diamonds and other precious stones embedded in his wings began to shimmer with an intense brilliance, casting a radiant light that seemed to lift everything beneath it. The debris and fallen soldiers began to levitate, drawn into the shimmering diamonds as if they were ethereal spirits.
Once everything was gathered, Sionis bowed his head, his hand resting over his chest in a gesture of respect.
"It was an honor watching you fight," he said, his voice imbued with genuine admiration. "The next time we meet, I pray we are on the same side, Lord Fear." With that, he looked up to the sky and soared away.
The powerful beat of his wings created a windstorm that swept across the battlefield. Even though he only made one strong flap, it was enough to catch up with his retreating comrades. The air was pushed apart by the force of his wings, raising dust from the ground and scattering the clouds as he departed.
Royer couldn't take his eyes off Sionis as he flew into the distance. "Shall we, Lord Fear?" Isabella's voice, laced with a playful smirk, interrupted his reverie. He quickly glanced at her and saw that the president and Julia were already in the car, with Isabella holding the door open for him.
"Ah, please, after you, my lady," Royer said, with a gesture of gallantry. Isabella smiled and took her seat, leaving the door ajar.
Royer closed it firmly before rushing to the driver's seat. He started the engine and drove off in the direction where the monsters had retreated. The urgency of their escape was compounded by the increasing tension among the remaining three of the Big Five, which seemed to escalate by the minute.
Meanwhile, Julius, with a contemptuous smirk, addressed his adversaries. "I suppose your plan has been going well until now.
Let me guess, you thought cutting off Rage and Pain would be a massive boost in defeating me."
Guion's response was sharp and dismissive. "It was naïve of you to assume we depended on each other. We were raised as family, yes, but we are more than capable of standing on our own. I can kill you myself."
Julius's anger flared, and without hesitation, he transformed into his beast form. The beast, feared and known among monsters as the Devil, was a sight to behold.
deep red transitioning to dark brown, with two long, black horns standing vertically on his forehead. His black claws were sharp, his long, thin tail shaped like an arrow at the end, and his massive dragon wings unfolded menacingly. Even in his beast form, Julius retained a semblance of his human appearance with a beard and long hair, but his eyes had transformed into dark pools with fiery red pupils.
As Julius attacked before his transformation was fully complete, Guion had the upper hand, having already completed his transformation. He landed the first four powerful punches with a speed and force that seemed to barely affect Julius. When Julius's right wing finally emerged, he used it to strike Guion, piercing his right shoulder with a deadly claw and forcing him to bend sideways, clutching the wound with his other hand. Julius didn't waste a second.
He drove his claws into Guion's neck with ruthless precision, lifting him off the ground and slamming him down in a series of devastating impacts that covered a large area. The force of the final slam sent Guion flying miles away from the White House.
As Guion landed on his feet, Julius's second wing appeared, and he began to attack from the air, avoiding the ground entirely. Guion prepared to intercept, holding his fist in position. As Julius approached within range, Guion unleashed one of his signature bone projectiles. Julius dodged it effortlessly by twisting to the right. Guion, confident in his control over air medium, shot out four more projectiles. Julius avoided them all with ease.
After dodging the fourth projectile, Julius made a powerful downward beat with his wings, propelling himself to the other side of the clouds. He held his wings wide open to slow his descent, quickly stabilizing himself and positioning himself directly above Guion.
Julius dove down with the speed of a falling star, boosting his descent with his wings. Guion shot another bone projectile, this one much faster and more powerful than the previous ones, aimed directly at Julius. Julius, however, was prepared. He struck out with his right hand, shattering the projectile into a million pieces, then barreled through the debris, heading straight for Guion.
Grabbing Guion by the head, Julius used the force of his fall to punch him downward, lifting Guion's feet off the ground.
The impact of Guion hitting the ground caused cracks to spread out, even affecting the White House despite the distance.
A massive wind wave erupted from the impact, pushing vehicles away and nearly lifting Royer's car off the ground.
"Shit!" Royer yelled as he struggled to control the car, his hands gripping the wheel with white-knuckled intensity. "This is unreal! I can't believe this power belongs to a human."
Julia, bracing herself against the back window, stared at the fight in disbelief. "At this point, I'll believe anything," she said, her voice tinged with awe and concern.
As Julius flew back up, he held Guion by the neck with his tail, dragging him high into the sky. The battle was far from over, and the struggle between the Big Five's remaining forces was reaching its peak.
Inside the White House, Fury rampaged through walls with her fiery onslaught, relentlessly hunting Erick. The labyrinthine structure of the building made it difficult, despite her immense power, to corner him. Erick, ever the rational tactician, could suppress his emotions to the point where even a high-ranking Overwhelm like Fury struggled to sense him. The battle might have appeared one-sided, with Fury's overwhelming firepower dominating the scene, but Erick was no ordinary opponent. He was a mastermind, capable of turning the tide in any situation, even when facing an opponent far stronger than himself.
Erick knew that despite Fury's immense power as Rage, she was still human—prone to exhaustion, even if it was difficult to determine her limits. His strategy was simple: force her to exhaust herself by continuously using her powers. But Fury, no fool herself, only demolished walls where she believed Erick might be hiding. To keep her guessing, Erick taunted her from the shadows, his voice echoing through the wreckage. "You're burning up, but strangely, that's not a compliment," he quipped, using the explosions as cover to reposition himself.
When she blasted through another wall, Erick mocked her further. "Are you always this angry, or is it just when you're Rage? Serious anger issues, huh?" Fury responded by reducing yet another wall to rubble. "You ever had a boyfriend before? Probably not, but with a body like yours, you might be scaring them away." Her fury grew, and the walls continued to fall. Erick kept pushing. "Maybe you're angry all the time because you caught a glimpse of yourself in the mirror when you're in beast mode. It's your face, isn't it? That's what's got you so pissed off. You think everyone sees you that way—and guess what? We do."
His provocations finally led to him stepping out from behind a shattered pillar, revealing himself. "Seems like you were desperate to see me," he said, smirking as Fury turned, her flames burning hotter at the sight of him.
But Erick, unflinching, gave her a backhanded compliment. "God, you're hot." He was close now, armed with nothing but a shotgun and a knife strapped to his thigh a seemingly futile attempt against someone of Fury's power. She demanded to know how he had hidden from her senses, but he ignored her question, countering with one of his own. "Do you really see yourself winning this fight?"
Fury hesitated, confusion flickering across her face. Erick pressed on, "It's funny. They say I'm smart, but no matter how hard I think, I just can't picture myself losing to you." His words stung, and Fury, insulted and enraged, unleashed a massive flame from her right hand.