The Unkillable Foe
The dust clears, and Hakuna walks out of the cloud of debris, his face a mask of calm determination. The students in the stands are hushed, their eyes fixed on the spectacle before them. Hakuna then declares, his voice cutting through the silence, "Everyone, relax. This imposter is not who you think he is. This is a Level 8 Demon impersonating Jacob. I had to use full force to take it out. Do not get deterred, the crisis has been..."
But before he can finish his sentence, a dark feeling, a chilling sense of dread, washes over him. He jumps back into the ring, moving faster than anyone in the crowd could possibly realize. He thinks to himself, a mix of disbelief and bewilderment in his mind, "He's still alive? How?!"
"Well, you did hold back..." Psycha chimes in, her voice a calm, annoying whisper in his head.
"What in the hell?!" The prince gasps, his bewilderment turning into pure, unadulterated embarrassment.
Psycha then argues, "Hey, I'm in your head. Of course, I hear your thoughts..." The prince's face flushes as he realizes that someone knows his most embarrassing, internal thoughts. It was a new level of vulnerability he hadn't prepared for.
Psycha snaps him back to reality, her voice sharp and commanding. "Eyes on the ball, numbskull. Here comes the bad man—uhh—thing. Just get it over with..."
Merca walks out of the dust clouds, with the same sinister smile, a piece of the fake skin has burnt off his face, revealing his secret, his true, demonic form. This time, he's bigger, more muscular, and enveloped in a pulsating, demonic aura. He is a grotesque mockery of a human, his true nature laid bare for all to see.
"This is getting interesting! Show me the power of Psycha, Prince Hakuna!" He roars, a primal challenge echoing through the stands.
As soon as Merca finishes speaking, Hakuna throws a powerful punch on his face, a pre-emptive strike fuelled by his frustration and anger. The force of the blow sends Merca hurtling back. But before he even falls to the ground, Hakuna appears above Merca and points his arm to him, immediately after Merca opens his eyes.
He yells, his voice a commanding roar, "Concentrated Atmospheric Burst!" The blast of pressure shunts Merca on the floor of the ring with so much force that everyone in the stands has to brace themselves because of the force driving them back. After the blast, Hakuna jumps back.
"Well, that confirms our suspicions. That is fake skin. Merca is not possessing Jacob's body..." he monologues, having had another of his "Eureka" moments, as he puts the pieces together.
Psycha then blurts, her voice laced with a playful defeat, "Alright, fine, I get it, you're right, you egotistical brat..."
Hakuna's aura changes, it becomes purple in colour, his eyes have a distinct yellow glow, he has unleashed the power of Psycha. He then declares, a cold, calculated fury in his voice, "Then I guess I have to get serious, really serious..."
Merca immediately jumps up, sensing a change in Hakuna's energy. He screeches, his voice a high-pitched wail of excitement, "That's it! This is what I've been waiting for, yes! Today is the day I kill the Peripheral Psycha!"
"What in the blazes is going on here?" Super shouts, his voice a mix of bewilderment and fear.
Hakuna interjects, "Relax, you blockhead, this isn't Jacob, it's Merca, so I'll handle it..."
"You better kill him this time, or I'll kill you myself..." he warns, his words a tense mixture of threat and concern.
"Oh, I'm scared..." the prince responds sarcastically, his eyes having left Merca.
Merca, annoyed at this bickering, throws a punch at Hakuna. Super yells, "Look out!"
Hakuna catches it with relative ease, his hand wrapping around Merca's fist as if it were a child's toy. He turns to Merca with a cold look in his eyes as he says, "I really hate it when someone interrupts my conversations..."
In a split second, Hakuna lets go of Merca's fist, punches him in the gut, delivers three more punches to his face, and finishes with an uppercut powered by... "Fist of Inferno!" The impact shakes the ground beneath them and sends Merca back to the wall he was lodged in. This time, he suffered major damage, his demonic form bleeding and bruised.
Rage and Vengeance
Merca stands up with an angry face, a mix of fury and pain contorting his features. He yells out, "No, no no no no nooooooooo!" Merca's aura bursts as he screams in anger, the sheer force of his rage causing a pressure wave that pushed everyone back.
"What in the hell was that?" The prince questions, his confusion palpable.
Hakuna is confused. "Are we sure it's not Jacob?" he jokes, trying to lighten the mood. Psycha reprimands, "Stop it..."
Merca then roars, his voice filled with a desperate, self-righteous rage. "You are not using your full power at all! How many times do I have to kill vessels because of their idiocy?"
"What did you say?" Hakuna questions, yet his face says he is not.
Merca continues blindly, driven by his fury. "The previous Vessel of Psycha put up a good fight, but I was too late. You had already moved to the next, but still, he wasn't using his full strength, and now you will suffer the same fate as your predecessor, a gruesome death!"
"What... Did... You... Say...?" Hakuna asks, his face getting darker and darker, his voice a low, terrifying whisper.
Hakuna's energy changes, his aura bursts with a crimson colour, a blood-red light that illuminates the entire ring. He raises his head, and his eyes are red with a true demonic glare. This is a never-before-seen power, a combination of Hakuna's and Psycha's power, with the destructive fuel, Rage. No one can stop Hakuna at this state until his enemy is erased. This shuts off all points of reason in Hakuna's conscience, only one thing goes through, destroy...
Hakuna then roars, the sound of a thousand demons contained in one body. "Know this, you're gonna pay for what you have done..." This is Rage, this is Vengeance, this is, Mode: KILL.
Fade out.
End of Episode 16.