The air was heavy, thick with smoke and the oppressive heat of the five surrounding 3rd-grade Soul Reapers. Takashi, clutching the unconscious Kento to his back, descended from the broken canopy with the calculated speed of his Phore. This time, however, a strange, profound surge of energy coursed through him, a raw, primal force he hadn't accessed before. The moment his feet impacted the ground, the force of his landing was so explosive that it created a localized pressure wave, violently sweeping the dense smoke outward and away from him.
Slowly, Takashi straightened, settling into a cold, unwavering stance. His exhaustion was immense, his pain acute, but his focus was absolute. He had to act now, before the heat and the converging attacks consumed them both.
"I have to find Nitsuki and Sami now," he muttered to himself, his voice raspy. "Then, I need to take them and escape from this place before it's too late. There is no winning this fight right now."
At that very instant, fireballs—bright, scorching spheres of condensed energy—surged inward from all directions through the remaining smoke. Takashi didn't attempt to dodge them laterally; instead, he launched himself high into the air with a massive, vertical jump, narrowly escaping the synchronized attack. The fireballs, robbed of their intended target, collided with each other and collapsed in a series of small but violent explosions that further pulverized the terrain below.
"Not even close, dear," Takashi taunted, his voice cold and unnervingly steady as he began his descent.
Takashi landed, instantly dashing to the left at the highest speed he dared to use while carrying Kento. As he advanced, he continued his hyper-fast dodging, weaving through continuous incoming fireballs and destructive pressure waves. After moving slightly ahead, he suddenly found himself face-to-face with a single 3rd-grade Soul Reaper that had breached his perimeter.
"There you are!" Takashi hissed, his eyes locked onto the giant. "I know I can't kill you head-on. But I got a plan." A faint, almost predatory smirk touched his lips.
Takashi executed a brilliant, desperate tactical maneuver. He knew that defeating a 3rd-grade Soul Reaper—which required a massive energy attack like the one that had felled the first two—was impossible in his current state, and while shielding Kento. So, instead of engaging in direct combat, he began sprinting in a tight, rapidly expanding circle around the monster at near-maximal speed. The effect was immediate and catastrophic: the velocity of his movement created an intense, localized vacuum and kinetic wake. The surrounding smoke, air, and loose debris converged into the center of his rotation, forming a powerful, roaring tornado.
The enormous Soul Reaper was instantly caught within the centrifugal force, lifted upward, rising into the air along with the raging winds, its roars swallowed by the tempest.
"Huh. I got you," Takashi said, breaking out of his circular motion.
Having created the whirlwind trap, Takashi launched himself upward with a powerful jump toward the trapped Soul Reaper. Waves of intense, blistering heat were being released from the creature's body, yet Takashi pushed through the scorching barrier, his Phore acting as a temporary, fragile shield. He reached his target and delivered a massive, concussive kick, using the trapped monster's own momentum against it. The Soul Reaper was sent flying violently, thrown completely out of the jungle canopy and over the distant ruins.
"One out. Four left," Takashi noted grimly, landing as the tornado dissipated and the air rushed back in to fill the void. He immediately plunged back into the smoke, sprinting forward once again.
The constant, high-speed movement and the need for constant evasive action were draining him rapidly. The burden of Kento's unconscious body, secured tightly to his back, complicated every move.
"Damn it. Where did they hide," Takashi muttered, frustration mounting. "Now it's become hard to carry Kento like this and fighting." He called out futilely into the dense fog: "Sami…. Nitsuki…. Nitsuki…. Sami…! Shit."
Takashi was sprinting through the dense smoke when, suddenly, another 3rd-grade Soul Reaper emerged unexpectedly from the right side. Because the smoke was so thick, Takashi noticed it too late; he lacked the microsecond needed to fully dodge, and was struck by the Soul Reaper's enormous leg. The blow sent him crashing violently to the ground. The force of the impact tore the bindings apart, and Kento was flung away, sliding several meters across the uneven earth, his unconscious body coming to rest near a fractured log.
"Damn… I made a mistake," Takashi groaned, trying to push himself up. "I couldn't see him."
A sharp, searing pain surged through the right side of Takashi's abdomen where the leg had struck him. He clutched his stomach tightly, forcing himself to stand despite the agony. At that moment, Takashi noticed the Soul Reaper opening its mouth, preparing to launch a massive fireball straight toward the unmoving, vulnerable Kento.
"No, no, nononon!!!!!" Takashi screamed internally, the failure of his protection shattering his resolve. "I… I've… I've to do something right now... Aughhhh!"
And then, the Soul Reaper finally released the fireball from its mouth—a bright, lethal sphere of burning energy. But, just $0.01$ seconds before it could hit Kento, Takashi moved. He didn't just run; he moved at the speed of light, a velocity he had only theorized about. The world around him slowed to a complete, frozen standstill, reduced to shades of gray. He grabbed Kento and continued a few steps ahead, stopping exactly as the fireball impacted the empty space he had just vacated.
Witnessing this impossible, instantaneous travel, the Soul Reaper let out a furious, confused roar.
The scene slowly shifted back to Takashi. He placed the unconscious Kento beside a large, supportive tree trunk and slowly straightened up, turning his gaze back toward the monster. As he turned, it became terrifyingly clear that Takashi was no longer the focused, fatigued teenager. He was almost unconscious, not completely, but operating on pure, devastating instinct. His eyes had changed: his pupils had vanished, replaced by a glowing white light, and his sclera (the whites of his eyes) had transformed into a blazing, electric yellow.
Takashi released a long, heavy breath—a sound like compressed air—and in the very next instant, moving once again at the speed of light, he unleashed a barrage of physical force. He delivered nearly twenty punches and ten kicks in a single, frozen moment of time. The Soul Reaper began screaming as the kinetic impact forced it to release intense, painful waves of heat from its body, trying to repel the attacker. The scorching heat spread to Takashi's skin, which slowly began to burn under the pressure. But he didn't care. Without stopping for even a second, he kept throwing punch after punch, kick after kick, giving the Soul Reaper no time to even prepare a defensive fireball.
Then, Takashi leapt high into the air, preparing his final, definitive attack. He descended at tremendous speed, his fist drawn back for the finishing blow—a strike that would surely annihilate the monster. But at that exact moment, Takashi suddenly lost consciousness completely. The extreme use of his latent Phore and the physical trauma had finally exceeded his capacity. Before the final punch could land, his body went completely limp, and he crashed down hard onto the ground.
Seeing this, the Soul Reaper, though severely damaged and staggered, instantly relaxed. It let out a weak, guttural cry, and more 3rd-grade Soul Reapers began to arrive from the surroundings, drawn by the commotion and the fresh scent of immobilized prey. Slowly, they closed in, encircling both the unconscious Takashi and Kento from all sides. The smoke, having been forcibly dispersed by the fighting, finally cleared completely, leaving the scene visible in the cold moonlight.
Among them, two Soul Reapers moved forward. They grabbed Takashi and were forcing his eyes open with brutal strength, just about to begin the process of consuming his soul.
Suddenly, two massive, sharpened tree trunks came crashing down with tremendous force from the upper left side, slamming straight into the faces of the two Soul Reapers who held Takashi. The monsters dropped him instantly, roaring in pain and confusion.
A voice, new and empowered, sliced through the night. "Nah, I'd not let you consume their soul."
All the Soul Reapers looked upward at once. And then they saw her—a girl with long, silver-colored hair standing above them. It was Sami.
Sami was floating in the sky, completely enveloped in a powerful, glowing silver aura. Right beside her was Nitsuki. He was unconscious, yet his body was also surrounded by the same silver aura, keeping him suspended effortlessly in the air.
"Maybe I am late," Sami murmured, her voice steady and confident, an immense contrast to the trembling girl from moments ago.
"This unique Phore is absolutely thrilling and intense," Sami declared, her mind processing the unbelievable power. "I could feel an overwhelming surge of power coursing through me."
Then, suddenly, the same silver aura began to glow around Takashi and the unconscious Kento. Their bodies lifted off the ground, floating lightly into the air as they slowly drifted toward Sami's side.
"This Psychokinesis (Telekinesis) Phore is amazing," Sami said, flexing her control. "I can control anything."
She exerted her power. The shattered trees, massive rocks, and heavy debris surrounding her instantly began to levitate. With a decisive surge of will, she hurled the devastating mass of debris straight toward all the remaining Soul Reapers, sending a punishing barrage crashing down on them.
The Soul Reapers tried launching fireballs, but it was useless. Sami's telekinetically controlled wall of levitating trees and rocks blocked every attack, smashing forward relentlessly. They brutally struck the monsters, hitting their bodies with unstoppable, crushing force. The bombardment was relentless, and as a result, the Soul Reapers below were completely destroyed, reduced to smoking wreckage.
"Sigh… controlling so much at once is exhausting," Sami muttered, the silver aura around her flickering slightly. "I've almost drained all my energy in the process. Let me land first and lay them somewhere safe."
Sami descended, the silver light guiding her. She gently landed on the ground and carefully set all three unconscious figures—Nitsuki, Kento, and Takashi—down, ensuring they were safe and unharmed on a relatively clear patch of ground.
"All three of them are in bad shape," Sami observed, looking over her comrades. "Nitsuki had gone unconscious the moment he touched the stone and hadn't gotten up since. Kento had been unconscious for a while, and now Takashi had also collapsed, completely out cold. Ahh… what should I do?"
Slowly, the first light of dawn began to break the horizon—the long, perilous night between life and death had finally come to an end.
"Sigh… I'm exhausted too. Uff!" Sami said, her body aching from the tremendous, if brief, expenditure of her new power. "I'll sit down for a moment and take some rest as well."
Sami sat down beside them, finally allowing herself a moment of peace.
"With this, the first night of the apocalypse finally ended," she thought, watching the sun rise over the smoking devastation. "All of this felt so unreal—there was no logic to it. How could something like this even happen? Is it the will of God? Does He want to play with us? Or… is it actually happening for real?"
Sami took a deep breath, letting the cool morning air fill her lungs. She gazed down at Nitsuki's unconscious face, a small, gentle smile forming on her lips.
"Nitsuki," she whispered, her resolve firm as the morning light. "We must find out all of this together. Please don't die, you guys. You two are the only precious people left to me right now."