For a single heartbeat, Cain, Alita, and Bradly stood frozen, their eyes locked in each other. The storm around them went still, as if the desert itself was holding its breath.
Then, in the next instant, everything exploded into motion.
Cain reacted first. Without hesitation, he seized Alita by the waist with his tail, burning his life force without restraint. Crimson fire erupted from his skin as bone spikes tore through his body, and his wings spread wide, doubling in size until they eclipsed the dunes. The air shuddered under the weight of his unleashed Doomsday Incarnation.
He wasn't holding anything back. Allowing his existence to burn in order to raise his speed.
A roar of turquoise energy answered him. Bradly's aura flared like a newborn sun, flooding the desert in waves of blinding light. The Neo-Angel's muscles tightened as he clenched his right fist, veins glowing with divine radiance. With a single step, he shattered the ground beneath his feet and surged forward, his body a blur of turquoise lightning.
But Alita was no passive spectator.
She let Cain drag her through the storm, offering no resistance, saving every ounce of strength for one decisive strike. Her sword glowed as she poured her soul force into it, even as her veins lit with strain. Then she swung.
The result was imdiate - and astonishing.
No visible energy left her blade. Instead, the weapon shattered, each fragnt expanding exponentially, forming a colossal geotric barrier of light and form. The barrier unfolded between them and the Neo-Angel like a wall of living crystal - a construct powerful enough to restrain even a Peak Arch-Deity for several breaths.
"BOOOOOOOOOOM!"
Unfortunately, the barrier lasted less than a heartbeat, shattered in a single blow.
Bradly's fist tore through it, blasting it to fragnts with pure force. The shockwave alone rippled across the dunes, reducing mountains of sand to glass. His eyes burned with unrestrained killing intent as he stepped forward, his body trembling with divine fury.
But just as he prepared to continue his chase, the fragnts of the shattered barrier began to glow.
Before his eyes, the pieces folded inward, transforming into countless origami-like creatures - radiant beings the size of islands, each one pulsing with Alita's essence.
They scread as they charged.
Bradly sneered. He clasped his hands together and flexed, releasing a wave of pressure so imnse it warped the air. A single pulse of his power erupted outward.
"WHOOOOOOOM!"
The shockwave obliterated the origami beasts, tearing them apart like paper in a hurricane.
Alita gritted her teeth. Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth - yet her eyes glead with resolve.
Bradly caught that look and realized too late that her assault wasn't
over.
The remains of the destroyed creatures began to glow once more - and then they detonated.
"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!"
A tidal wave of green fire erupted across the desert, swallowing everything in sight. The storm itself was consud by the blast, and for a single blinding mont, the desert turned erald.
Cain and Alita didn't wait to see the aftermath. The Neo-Demon kept flying, his wings slicing through the burning air, every beat carrying them farther. His aura fluctuated violently as he maintained control over his mantle, deflecting the incoming waves of sand and fla through Divergence.
But before relief could take root, a massive shadow lood behind
them.
From within the flas, Bradly erged.
His armor was blackened and cracked, his flesh marked with burns -
but the damage ant nothing. His movents were unbroken, his fury undiminished. In fact, the fire seed to make his killing
stronger.
The turquoise glow around his body intensified, devouring the erald light as he flashed forward.
Cain clenched his jaw. "Even after all that... he's barely wounded."
Still, those few seconds had bought them precious ti - and in this battle, seconds were everything. He forced his body to keep moving, pushing his mantle to the limit. The Flow guided him, his domain over Divergence letting him part the storms that would hinder everyone else's speed.
It was the only reason they were still alive.
Bradly, on the other hand, had no such luxury. The raging sandstorms
resisted him, forcing him to break through one after another with brute force as he lacked the domain over The Flow needed to do what Cain did. Each ti he shattered a storm, his frustration grew.
He was an Alpha-Oga Overgod, a Neo-Angel. The idea that two lesser beings could evade him - even for monts - was an insult he could not endure.
When the next massive wall of sand rose between him and his quarry, his restraint finally snapped.
"AARGHHHH!"
With a thunderous roar, Bradly tore through the storm. His aura
exploded outward, vaporizing the burning sands around him. His right arm swelled, glowing brighter and brighter until turquoise veins of energy coursed down to his fingertips.
Then he threw a punch.
The sky itself responded.
The very air distorted as an ethereal arm - a colossal projection of raw force burst from his fist. It glowed with blinding turquoise light, semi-transparent, its surface rippling with flowing energy like
molten fire.
This was not a technique. Not even a power.
It was a phenonon - a byproduct of sheer, incomprehensible
strength.
The firmant thundered as the energy arm shot forward. Space
fractured in its wake. Each second it traveled, the surrounding air burned, leaving trails of vaporized sand and crackling lightning in its
path. Alita's eyes widened as the attack closed in.
Even at full power, she did not know if she could block it. The ethereal arm carried enough force to pulverize weak ArchDeities and rupture the ground beneath the desert itself. If it struck them, it would not necessarily kill them... but it would halt their escape.
And if they stop moving, they are dead.
Alita gritted her teeth and reached for her power again, ready to burn her soul once more to form another barrier. But before she could act,
Cain moved.
Without even glancing back, he twisted midair. His wings folded, his
aura pulsed - and in a single perfect motion, he slipped past the
oncoming blow.
The ethereal arm brushed against his shoulder, shattering the space
beside him, but Cain erged untouched. Bradly's eyes widened in disbelief.
That wasn't luck. That wasn't instinct.
That was mastery.
The Neo-Angel's roar shook the heavens.
"RAAAAHHHH!"
His fury beca a tempest as he unleashed another punch - then
another and another.
Each strike spawned a new ethereal arm, each one larger, faster, and brighter than the last. Soon, a dozen titanic constructs filled the sky, their collective brilliance drowning the surrounding desert in
turquoise light.
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