Chương 35: Episode 32: Raging

The portal detonated. Blue light ripped the sky apart like someone tore a hole in reality with bare hands. A shockwave blasted outward, glass shattered, banners disintegrated, flames bent sideways, and Class 101 got YEETED out of the rift like the universe rejected them. They hit stone hard. Golden towers folded in on themselves like dying stars. Fire clawed up marble pillars. The sky bled orange through a suffocating veil of smoke. Every breath tasted like metal and ash. Kwa'asja blinked.

"…Why does the ground feel loud?" she muttered, half-asleep, and an energy spear SCREAMED past her ear, splitting the bridge behind her into molten cracks. Emely grabbed her collar and yanked her forward.

"Because that was almost your obituary. MOVE." Anhia gasped as a chunk of flaming debris skidded toward her pristine boots.

"Oh absolutely not." She vaulted over it with elegant precision, landing perfectly, then stared at the ash speck on her sleeve like it had personally betrayed her.

"This city is RUDE." Mason tore past them, shoulder-checking a falling beam out of the way.

"I TOLD YOU DARK DON WAS OFF!" He pointed toward the skyline where lunar energy flashed like corrupted lightning.

"You don't 'accidentally' glow evil!" Sophia ducked as a cannon blast vaporized the air above her head. Dust rained into her hair. She stood back up, jaw tight.

"Okay. Cool. So today's a war." On the bridge ahead, Celestianite and Lunaranite forces collided like tectonic plates. Spears flashed silver. Cannons boomed. Bodies flew. The bridge cracked in spiderweb fractures beneath the strain. William cupped his hands around his mouth.

"We push through or we die here! There is no 'wait and see'!" A roar cut him off. A massive Lunaranite crashed down in front of them, crater forming beneath its feet. Its armor smoked. Its eyes burned violet. Emely didn't hesitate. Her hand snapped forward. Ice exploded outward in a jagged arc, the creature froze mid-lunge, its roar crystallizing in its throat, then shattered into glittering shards that skidded across the bridge. She exhaled hard.

"Next." That's when they saw them. A tidal wave of black-and-purple armored Lunaranites flooding toward them. Blasters charging. Spears raised. War banners ripping in the heat. Sophia's golden eyes sharpened. She grabbed Angel's arm.

"…Why are you looking at me like that?" Angel asked. Sophia didn't blink. Her arms flared with vibrating yellow-pink sound energy, humming like a rising engine. Angel's eyes widened.

"Sophia, wait—" Too late. She LAUNCHED him skyward. He spiraled up, dark blue energy trailing behind him like comet smoke.

"CREATE A DOMAIN!" Sophia roared. Angel flailed midair.

"WHY DO YOU SAY THINGS LIKE THAT WITH ZERO CONTEXT?!"

"You wanna get skewered or you wanna get legendary?!" Angel glanced down. The bridge. The fire. The wave of enemies. He adjusted his glasses.

"…Fine. But if this implodes I'm blaming you in the afterlife." The wind shifted. Then it snapped. Dark blue energy spiraled outward from Angel in violent rings. The sky twisted like fabric being wrung out. Portals flickered open around him in chaotic orbit.

"VORTEX DOMAIN!" The air collapsed inward. A massive gravitational rift formed above the battlefield, a churning sphere of dark blue distortion. Wind howled. Smoke ripped upward. Lunaranites staggered as gravity betrayed them. Sophia slammed her palm to the bridge. A shockwave of concentrated sound detonated outward — bright yellow and pink — launching the entire class forward like a human missile. They flew. Over fire. Over collapsing rooftops. Over a city dying in slow motion. Kwa'asja yawned midair.

Anhia clutched her robes in horror.

"If this stains I am actually suing someone." Below them — The Enchanted Kingdom burned. At the center of it all — Jaylen. And Dark Don. They collided like rival suns. Lunar energy crashed against blazing Celestian force. Every strike cracked the air. Every impact sent ripples across the broken city. Behind Dark Don — Incarceration stood like a conductor of chaos, summoning grotesque shadow-beasts that tore through Celestian ranks without hesitation.

Class 101 landed hard in front of the Officials, boots scraping across fractured gold stone. Dark Don turned slowly. Lunar energy crawled over his armor. Silver eyes glowing. Blood streaked his jaw — not weakness. Trophy. He smirked.

"Well. Reinforcements. That's adorable." Coltz stepped forward, green energy erupting around his fists. Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"Drop the villain monologue. You lost the right to dramatic pauses." Dark Don tilted his head.

"You think this is drama?" He raised a hand. The sky flickered violet.

"This is efficiency." Guervens limped forward, magma flaring around cracked wings.

"When was the last time you fought without stacking the deck?" Dark Don's grin widened.

"I don't play fair." His voice lowered, colder than space.

"Fairness is a luxury for people who weren't broken first." Silence. Battle roaring around them. Jaylen's energy flared brighter. Yellow and cyan spiraled around his arms. Dark Don looked past them, almost bored.

"Celestial Pillars will activate soon. Power Gems will surface. And when they do…" He shrugged.

"They'll come to me." He wiped blood from his lip with his thumb.

"Deal with the small ones." He vanished in a flash of lunar distortion. The Lunaranites surged forward. Class 101 didn't flinch. Elements ignited. Beast forms roared into existence. Energy tore through smoke and fire. Jaylen cracked his neck, stepping into the front line.

"Alright," he said, voice steady despite the inferno around them.

"Let's remind them whose sky this is." At the Wrecked Kingdom of Hearts Don dragged the night with him. His ragged platform shoes scraped against fractured marble, skrrrkk… skrrrkk… thick soles cracked, fabric torn, laces half-burned and snapping loose in the wind. Each step hit heavy, THUD… THUD… elevated by those battered platforms, like he was forcing himself to stand taller than the shame trying to fold him in half. The sky above the Land of Hearts was layered like torn animation cels.

Smoke drifted in violent ribbons, lightning streaked sideways in jagged KRRRZZZKT! slashes across ash-choked clouds. The moon glared down, sterile and merciless, bleaching the world in bone-white light. Every fracture in the earth, every scorch mark across Don's armor, every twitch in his shoulders, exposed. His cape whipped behind him, FWHAPP FWHAPP FWHAPP! shredded ends snapping like broken wings.

Dark Celestial energy leaked from his back in slow, liquid tendrils, violet-black ribbons curling and uncoiling like living ink in water. They didn't glow cleanly. They pulsed. Thrum. Thrum. Thrum. Out of sync. Craters breathed molten orange. Bridges sagged. Towers leaned inward like exhausted giants. Above, Duke hovered, thrusters humming a low mechanical MMMMMMMRRRR, neon optics scanning the six figures still upright in the smoke. Still watching Don.

"Tch." He descended, VVVRRSHH, and let the Power Gems fall from his grip. Clink. Clink. Clink. They rolled across ash, glowing faintly. Engines flared. VRRRRRRROOOOOOM! And Duke vanished into the storm without another word. Silence dropped like a curtain.

"Don!" Olsen's voice cracked through the smoke. Don stopped. The ash spiraled around him, caught in the gravity of his dark aura. He turned. Violet fractures crawled across his armor like lightning trapped beneath glass. Energy bled from the cracks in smoky spirals, thin at first, then thicker, coiling around his arms, his neck, his face. His eyes burned purple.

"What," he asked softly, "do you want me to ruin now?" Olsen stepped forward anyway.

"We're not whole without you." Don laughed. Short. Sharp. Hah.

"Then maybe the prophecy miscalculated." The air collapsed inward. Then exploded. WHOOOOOOOM! Dark Celestial energy detonated from him in concentric rings. The ground spiderwebbed, KRRRRAAACK, fractures racing outward like ink across paper.

"You ever feel that shift?" Don's voice sharpened, rising.

"That microsecond when everyone adjusts their expectations downward?" The earth buckled again, CRAAACK.

"I cracked once," he snapped.

"Once. And now I'm the liability." The sky flickered purple.

"I'm not doing that again." He vanished. POP.

"50-50-50 CELESTIAL DROPKICK!" Ella barely gasped before one of those battered platform soles drove into her gut. The impact exploded outward in a violent ring, BOOOOOM, rock vaporizing, debris spiraling in slow motion as she tore through a boulder. Prince turned. Too slow. Don blinked beneath him. WHAM! An uppercut launched Prince skyward, lightning bursting from his wings in wild forks, ZZZKRAAAK, electricity crawling uncontrolled over the sky. Don teleported above him mid-ascent. His tail scythed downward.

KATHOOOOOM! Prince cratered the earth, lightning scattering like shattered glass.

"No cheers?" Don's voice ripped through the wind.

"No applause? GOOD." Archie erupted forward. His orange flames roared like a living solar storm. Fire spiraled upward in corkscrew towers, FWOOOOOOSH, tongues snapping and cracking in radiant bursts. Sparks flared like embers in zero gravity, swirling around him as his eyes burned molten gold.

"You don't get to rewrite us!" Archie shouted, voice vibrating through the heat. Don caught his wrist. SSSSSHHHHHT! Fire wrapped around Don's arm, sizzling against dark energy that hissed back like it had teeth. Violet tendrils coiled around Archie's flame, swallowing brightness, dimming it by degrees.

"You always grin when it's your turn," Don murmured. He pivoted. KRAAASH! Archie smashed through a collapsed archway, orange fire scattering in streaks like brushstrokes across the night. Eli blinked in. Time fractured. The world stuttered, TIK… TIK… TIKTIKTIK. Afterimages of Eli layered over each other, each movement leaving ghost trails, pale cyan clock sigils spinning behind him. He struck, rewind, struck again, rewind, reality snapping back like elastic. Don stepped forward into the distortion.

He moved between frames. Grabbed Eli mid-phase. THUD! Kicked him through a leaning tower. RRRRRAAAAM! Stone folded inward in jagged chunks.

"STOP FREEZING ME IN YOUR WORST FRAME!" Demaurion roared, water spiraling around his arms into a compressed helix. The liquid glowed deep ocean-blue, pressure lines vibrating across its surface like spinning turbines. He fired. SHHHHHRRRAAAAAAAM! The beam carved across the battlefield, slicing trenches, steam detonating upward in violent clouds, PSHHHHHHT. Through the white mist. Don walked. Platform shoes scraping. skrrk… skrrk…

Water tore across his armor, sizzling, SSSSSHHHHHTTT, dark energy bleeding through the cracks like ink dissolving in rain. He lunged. Grabbed Demaurion by the throat. Spun once. Threw him into Olsen. BOOOOOM! They skidded across fractured ground, carving twin scars. Don landed before them, aura spiraling violently now, not smooth ribbons, but jagged arcs snapping outward like broken neon, ZZZZT ZZZZT.

"You keep getting up," he said, breathing hard.

"Why? To confirm I'm unstable?" They answered. Archie surged again, FWOOM! Demaurion's water coiled, SHHHH! Prince's lightning detonated, KRAK-BOOM! Ella's sand spiraled razor sharp, SHHHK-TKTKTKTK! Eli's time sigils flared brighter, concentric rings rotating backward, forward, sideways. They hit him together. A collision of color. Orange. Blue. Gold. Tan. Cyan. The air went white. For half a second. He staggered. THRAAAAAAAAAM! The explosion tore the battlefield open.

Shockwaves rippled outward in visible rings, distorting the horizon like heat haze. Trees ripped from the earth. Towers folded midair. The sky cracked with a thunderclap that wasn't weather. Don blurred. He didn't teleport. He jittered between frames. Flash-kick, Ella down. WHAM! Backhand, Prince airborne. CRACK! Elbow, Archie flattened. THUD! Above him, ten colossal celestial fists formed, not smooth constructs, but swirling masses of silver-white plasma shot through with black lightning.

They rotated slowly, grinding into shape with a low crushing hum. RRRRRRRRMMMMMMMM.

"Three hundred and sixty-five days!" Don screamed, voice shredding. The fists dropped. KA-THOOOOOM! KA-THOOOOOM! KA-THOOOOOM! Each impact bent the land inward. Wind blasted outward in violent rings. The Land of Hearts buckled. When dust thinned. Olsen was still rising. Don descended slowly. Platform soles touched ground. THUD. He pinned Olsen down, corrupted energy lashing outward like living fear, snapping in jagged arcs around them.

"WHY?" Don roared, voice breaking.

"Why trust anyone when I can see the shift in your eyes?" His hands trembled.

"I LEFT ONCE!" he shouted.

"Why come back just to fail in high definition?!" Olsen coughed. Blood at his lip. He smiled anyway.

"Because," he said quietly, "best friends don't run analytics on each other." Everything slowed. The wind softened. Archie's flames dimmed to a low glow. Eli's time rings slowed their spin. Demaurion's water fell in droplets.

"We've been friends seven years," Olsen continued.

"You were my first friend. I don't care if you fall. I care if you vanish." Don's foot trembled.

"…You're not laughing?" he whispered. Olsen shook his head. A tear cut down Don's cheek. The violet fractures splintered. CRK… CRK… SHATTER. Dark Celestial energy fragmented into drifting particles, dissolving into the air like dying stars. His shoulders collapsed. The mask fell. He stepped back. Then forward— And fell into them. They caught him. His voice small.

"I hate being watched." Archie's reply was soft but steady.

"Good. We're not your audience." Behind them, the Power Gems began to hum. Low. mmmmmmmm. Then louder. MMMMMMMMMM. They lifted into the air, radiance intensifying — prismatic beams slicing through the clouds. Colors spiraled together into a radiant halo. Starla gasped.

"They're synchronizing." The Gems rotated faster — faster — until they blurred into a ring of orbiting stars. WHOOOOOOOOOOOM! A rainbow shockwave detonated across Avangard. Mountains echoed. Forests bent. The blue Gem drifted to the center, spinning like the eye of a cosmic storm. The wind howled.

"Brace!" Demaurion shouted. The Gems collided. KRAAAAAAAAAASH! Light ripped through the sky. The ground split open. Lunaranites burst upward — BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! — armor gleaming. Uragas twisted midair, frames snapping and reshaping into mechanical hover-jets with grinding jaws — CLANK-CHRRRKK! — cannons charging with neon pulses. The sky filled. Chaos returned. Don lifted his head. Violet-white Celestial energy ignited across his scales — flames burning clean and bright.

Wings burst open behind him with a violent crack of displaced air. KRAAASH! He shot upward, platform shoes slicing through wind as if gravity itself hesitated. Below, Lunaranites scattered as he tore through them in streaks of silver light, precise, surgical, relentless. Not rage. Clarity. His team surged beneath him, orange fire, blue water, golden lightning, spiraling sand, bending time, a storm of Elements carving toward Celestia. Don hovered for one breath. The storm dimmed around him. Inside. He felt the pull.

Cold. Patient. King Dreadixz. Predator in moonlight. Don flexed his claws.

"This one's mine." Not ego. Not fear. Decision. He turned toward the distant continent of Foreshade. And vanished into the storm. His friends looked up just long enough to catch the fire in his eyes—a mixture of fury, fear, and heartbreak. Olsen's fist clenched in the clouds, Archie's flames flickered with hesitation, Ella's wings shivered, and Prince's lightning sputtered for a brief second. They knew. The swarm below didn't stand a chance.

The storm swallowed him, light and chaos streaking across Avangard as he tore through Lunaranites like a living comet. Yet beneath every strike, every flash of celestial fire, the weight of that alone fight pressed heavier than any enemy. The battlefield screamed with light, fury, and power, but somewhere in the tempest, Don's heart knew the next storm would be his alone: the face-to-face reckoning with King Dreadixz.