After several skirmishes, Hiro begins to match Ryo's speed. Within thirty seconds, Hiro begins to dodge Ryo's spear, and his body starts healing again. Ryo rushes forward to give him no room to attack. But Hiro unleashes flames from the ground around him, forming a massive pillar of fire that reaches the clouds, its end barely visible. He succeeds in pushing Ryo away.
"Only twenty seconds left; I just have to prevent him from growing at all costs."
As Ryo charged forward, particles of ash flew around him, and the burning flames behind him gradually faded.
Suddenly, without warning, the sun went out.
The daylight that had filled the Dream Forest turned into pitch-black night in the blink of an eye.
Dense black clouds covered the sky, with no sound but a heavy silence, as if nature's very breath had been held.
The wind stopped, sounds dried up, and all the creatures inhabiting the forest—birds, beasts, talking trees, even the shadows themselves—stared towards the sky in astonishment and fear, as if they sensed that something greater than the world itself was about to happen.
Then, amidst this ominous silence...
A golden glow erupted from the depths of the pine forest.
It wasn't ordinary light, but pure energy, so bright that it tore through the darkness itself.
The sky was illuminated again, not by sunlight, but by a greater light, a light that seemed to be from ages created before time.
And in the heart of this light... stood Hiro.
But it was not the Hiro they knew.
His form had changed...
His body exploded with superhuman power, and his features became harsher, more brutal, more... inhuman.
His face remained the same, but his eyes glowed amber, as if stars were imprisoned within them.
And from his right side, specifically from his lower back, a massive wing emerged.
Its feathers were not of bone or skin, but a strange mixture of pure gold and pristine crystal.
Every feather in it was like a precious treasure, polished, shimmering as if reflecting scenes from other worlds.
And when the wing moved slightly, it emitted a sound like the gurgling of meteors breaking through the atmosphere.
Its beauty was overwhelming... and terrifying.
Hiro began to descend slowly towards the ground, his body floating in the air as if gravity feared him.
His hair flew with the golden winds generated around him, and particles of light wove threads behind him like the tail of a falling star.
On the ground, Wendy stood beside Ryo, both frozen in place.
There was an absolute silence... but it was not the calm of peace.
It was the calm before the storm.
"Only a little left. Yet these seconds feel like hours now. This shield won't be able to protect anything now. If they both start fighting, Stella and I will surely die here. I just pray that nothing happens."
As Ryo and Hiro stood facing each other, Hiro began to speak to him.
"King of War, the battle with you was very entertaining. You are the strongest warrior I have ever faced. I respect the name you earned for yourself with your own strength. So, I think it's time to end this battle."
Those words dispelled the anxiety that had plagued Ryo. He relaxed his shoulders and smiled cunningly, saying,
"You can talk after all. But you didn't try to communicate or understand us. What a arrogant rogue. So be it, let's end this boring battle, monster."
Hiro raises his hand and points his index finger at Ryo. Then, a mass of circles begins to form in front of his finger. Each circle contains orbits, all revolving around the center of the mass of circles as if they were a group of atoms intertwined with each other. Then, the atoms begin to split.
"Now he's making the latent energy in atoms his weapon. To what extent can his power reach exactly? Just one strike from this and this forest will disappear from existence, and perhaps the damage might even reach neighboring cities. There's no escaping death now, even with my ability forming a shield. It can't withstand the energy generated by this explosion."
As Wendy lost hope of survival, she heard a voice calling her.
"I promised you, didn't I? No one will die in this battle. So try to survive this explosion for only five seconds. And I promise I will heal you."
He puts his spear aside, and his black horns begin to glow a deep red.
"He's using Aka. Is he planning to absorb this explosion? Is he crazy? If he does that, he'll never win, and there might not be a second chance to deter that monster."
"Don't worry, I will definitely win. So trust me, human girl."
With slow steps, Ryo gripped his spear again. He took a deep breath, focusing all his energy into his grasp, his eyes sharply watching Hiro, as if anticipating an unavoidable end. He knew what was coming was not just an attack… but a catastrophe.
As for Wendy, she felt something strange in the air. She quickly retreated, raising her hands, and around her, multiple layers of her magical shield formed, interlocking like turquoise glass circles. In a moment of tenderness amidst all that madness, she pulled little Stella towards her, hugging her tightly, enveloping them both in a double shield, as if her heart was screaming: "I won't let the world touch you with harm."
Then… everything began to change.
The atoms in the air, which moments ago danced like luminous dust, gradually turned a deep crimson. It wasn't ordinary red, but a red resembling starlight, dense, pulsating, and charged with primordial energy that did not belong to this world.
Hiro raised his hand, and roared with terrifying calmness, without words, without screams… just a pure intention of annihilation.
And the energy was unleashed.