Previously on Hakuna, in a cataclysmic confrontation at the ruins of the Tshabadira Palace, Nolitha sacrificed her life to save Hakuna from Rorisang's fatal blow. The sheer trauma of losing his love unlocked a devastating, uncontrollable level of Divine Energy within Hakuna—a power far beyond what his foretold potential would amount to. He now stands at a terrible precipice, fueled by limitless grief and primal rage. How will he navigate this predicament? Will he succumb to the monster his power wants him to be?
Fade in…
Unleashed
Hakuna, now a blinding, ethereal silhouette of pure purple energy, flies toward Rorisang with terrifying speed. He is utterly silent, his eyes radiating lethal intent. He immediately grabs her by the neck, his grip tightening with the power of a collapsing star.
Rorisang strains, clawing desperately at his unyielding hand. "Uagh, stop! Come… on… Hakuna, this isn't you! This isn't the boy I fell in love with! You wouldn't do this!" she gasps, the pressure on her throat immense.
Hakuna speaks, but the voice that emerges is not his own. It is an eery, echoing, multi-layered sound, the product of raw, uncontained cosmic power being channeled through his young vocal cords. "AND YOU, PITIABLE WRETCH, KNOW WHO I AM? YOU DARE PRESUME TO KNOW THE EXTENT OF MY BEING?" he questions, the air around him crackling with instability.
Super thinks to himself, his mind reeling from the sight of the transformed prince. "What's up with his voice? It sounds like a hundred people speaking from the bottom of a well. This isn't just power; this is something primal, something terrifyingly new."
Hakuna begins to squeeze Rorisang's throat further. The sound of her struggle is lost in the hum of his energy. Rorisang, powered by the ancient demon Sparta, focuses her immense will, realizing she must break his concentration.
Rorisang struggles violently to free herself, but the grip is absolute. She ultimately decides to attack the source of the constraint, delivering a series of focused, powerful kicks to Hakuna's arm. The first kicks do nothing, merely bouncing off his energy shield, but she persists with brutal determination, leveraging a tiny gap in the Divine Energy field, until she manages to dislocate his shoulder with a sickening snap.
Rorisang jumps back the instant the grip loosens, collapsing onto the ground and violently gasping for air, her relief palpable.
Psycha chimes in, her mental voice laced with shock and a hint of terror. "Woah, vessel! Were you really going to kill her?!"
Hakuna remains utterly silent, refusing to acknowledge the demon spirit. He simply focuses his energy on the broken joint, and with a sickening thump and a surge of purple light, he instantly relocates his arm. His right hand is immediately engulfed in a roaring, concentrated purple fire, the destructive flame of his ultimate attack.
"FIST OF INFERNO…" he mutters, the synthesized voice still haunting and low.
He punches the ground beneath himself, not at Rorisang, but at the earth itself. The sheer force and heat of the blast instantly vaporize a massive, multi-acre area of the palace ruins, causing the already unstable ground to crumble violently. Rorisang loses her footing and plunges into the newly formed ravine.
Rorisang then growls, hauling herself out of the fissure, her desperation turning to irrational anger. "Grr, this new-found power of yours is starting to make you cocky, Hakuna! You think you can toy with me?"
She attacks Hakuna with a barrage of focused dark energy blasts, but he casually blocks all her attacks by simply raising his forearm. The blasts dissipate against his passive energy field. He then delivers a single, devastating, open-palm punch to her chest. The strike is so immense it sends her crashing through the air, out of the initial ruins, and into the surrounding landscape.
Rorisang attempts to stand, staggering in the newly formed crater, but as she looks toward the source of the attack, Hakuna is already there. He punches her again, the force of the second strike sending her hurtling backward, straight toward the inner wall of the palace court, which somehow remains partially standing.
As she crashes through the remnants of the wall, Rorisang is quickly able to be on her feet, powered by Sparta's relentless drive. She prepares to counter-attack, but before she can even raise her guard, Hakuna appears instantly in front of her, his rage reaching a critical peak.
"Inferno: Fists of Fury…"
He launches an inconceivable, unstoppable number of flame-shrouded, purple fists towards Rorisang. The attack is a relentless torrent of pure, concentrated energy, utterly destroying the entire wall, the structure behind it, and the ground they stand on. It is a targeted, destructive blizzard of kinetic force.
Rorisang attempts to escape the relentless barrage, but Hakuna is too fast. He grabs her by the neck again amidst the destruction and shoves her into the ground, grinding her face into the rubble as he drags her toward the outer wall. He bashes her violently against the rough stone of the wall, the repetitive impacts shaking the foundations of the mountain.
Rorisang mutters, defeated and broken. "Hakuna… ghuu… please… stop…"
Hakuna slowly raises his fist for the final, fatal blow. He charges his strongest Fist of Inferno yet, drawing in the boundless power of his Divine Energy.
"No, Hakuna, you don't want to do this. Remember your heart!" Psycha's mental voice is sharp, desperate, and urgent.
The energy emanating from his fist is so powerful that it makes a sound akin to a boiling kettle, the heat from it so intense that it could challenge even the celestial body of the sun itself.
Hakuna, his eyes purple with incandescent, burning rage, cocks his arm and prepares to end it all—the war, the pain, the girl who took his love.
"GYHAAAAAAAAAA!" The primal roar of his power detonates in the air.
He throws the punch, the momentum terrifying, but…
Psycha shouts, her mental voice now a physical command. "HAKUNA STOP! STOP THIS INSTANT!"
He stops. His colossal fist, enveloped in the fire of a dying star, freezes right in front of Rorisang's terrified face, mere millimeters from incinerating her completely.
Psycha then continues, her words measured and filled with painful truth. "Is this what you do to honor her sacrifice? Become a monster? Is this what Nolitha died for—to turn you into a cold-blooded killer? Hakuna, this isn't what Nolitha would've wanted! Killing Rorisang would only give her mercy, an easy end to her twisted life. And she is absolutely not worth that mercy. Leave her to face the shame of her failure."
Hakuna's eyes slowly, agonizingly, return to their normal, familiar color—the intense purple receding, replaced by a profound, vacant sorrow. He lets go of Rorisang, his hand falling limply to his side.
As she gasps for air, Rorisang looks up toward Hakuna, her face a mixture of fear and incomprehension.
"Come on, Hakuna. Leave her be. Fate and the rest of the world will deal with her. You have another duty," Psycha says softly.
He turns towards the castle ruins and vanishes, leaving Rorisang whimpering in the rubble, completely spared.
Silent Farewell
Moments later, Super is seen attempting to carry the unconscious, caged BBC members away from the ruins. He is struggling, exhausted from the battle and the power surge.
Hakuna appears silently beside Nolitha's lifeless body, the purple remnants of his power receding into his core.
"Hakuna, did you… did you actually finish her? Did you kill Rorisang?" Super mutters, setting down his heavy burden, unsure of what he just witnessed.
Hakuna says nothing. He gently scoops Nolitha's body into his arms, holding her close to his chest.
"Bro, tell me you're okay. Say something, anything. Talk to me, man," Super says, his voice thick with uncharacteristic emotion.
Hakuna walks towards the demolished entrance of the castle, his head bowed, and stops beside the imprisoned boys.
He looks down at his friends. "Ad Plenam Salutem," he utters, his voice normal now, but hollowed out by grief.[1]
A soft, golden light washes over every one of the BBC members, including Super. Their injuries—broken bones, concussions, internal damage—are instantly healed. The unconscious awaken with a gasp as Hakuna begins to walk away, Nolitha held protectively in his arms.
Enzo strains, sitting up and rubbing his head. "Ugh… what in the hell happened? My head feels like a drum."
Super responds, watching Hakuna's retreating figure. "We failed, Enzo. We failed spectacularly."
"No, how…? I don't understand," Bodega stammers, trying to process the pain that just vanished.
"She's gone, Bodega. Nolitha… she's gone," Super says, the truth heavy in the air.
They all look towards Hakuna, but he and the body he carried have disappeared completely.
Freddie murmurs, staring at the empty space where the Prince stood, the devastation of their loss sinking in. "We... failed...?"
The Prince's Burden
…At the grand Mehlomanelo Palace, the ancestral home of the Xhosa Clan…
Hakuna appears at the front gates, the imposing structure seeming to mock the devastation he just left. He holds Nolitha's lifeless body, which still looks heartbreakingly serene, in his arms.
Hakuna sighs, the sound of profound exhaustion. "How do I begin to explain this, Psycha? How do I tell a King that his daughter is dead because of me?"
Psycha speaks, her voice no longer sassy or fearful, but somber and empathetic. "There's nothing I could say to prepare you, Hakuna. As old as I am, as much destruction as I've witnessed, I have never had this kind of experience. I, a demon, have always destroyed without a care in the world, always facing forward, never looking back. This pain is uniquely human. I would, however, advise you, to speak from the heart, the pain will lend truth to your words."
The massive, carved stone gates open silently, sensing the presence of the Royal Tie bearer and the tragic payload he carries.
He walks in hesitantly, his steps heavy with the burden of grief.
As he reaches the inner doors of the palace, they open on their own accord.
He sees both King Mehlomanelo and Queen Nandi inside the throne room, waiting. The moment he steps across the threshold, their eyes lock on the terrible sight.
And as he walks in, the immense doors shut silently behind him, sealing the Prince and the King to their destiny.
Fade out…
End of Episode 38.
[1] Another spell he learned from Max, only normally it is intended to be directed to one's self, and due to Hakuna's new found power...