The blue-lit territory trembled as Mitsuo walked toward Diablo. The Demon Prince, once arrogant, now looked like a cornered animal.

  "You were fun," Mitsuo said, his voice devoid of emotion, "but I have work to do."

  Mitsuo extended his palm toward the sky. Suddenly, the Space Territory began to warp, expanding rapidly like a balloon being pumped with too much air.

  With a deafening crack, the territory exploded from the inside out, the shockwave returning both combatants to the fractured reality of the base.

  Without missing a beat, Mitsuo raised his hand, a massive Blue Void coalescing at his fingertips.

  He launched it with a flick of his wrist.

  Diablo roared, pouring every ounce of his Aura and Mana into a single, desperate barrier.

  The void didn't deflect; it ground against the shield, a relentless force of annihilation. Before Diablo could find an opening to counter, Mitsuo vanished.

  He reappeared inches from the Prince’s face. With a single, concentrated punch to the gut, Mitsuo sent Diablo hurtling through the air, the demon’s body breaking the sound barrier as he was thrown kilometers away from the base.

  At the back gate, Rose and Jack were still walking. Rose’s breathing was heavy now, her posture slightly less rigid. "Nothing really seems to get to you, does it?" she asked.

  "Well, I’ll admit it was fun meeting someone like you," Jack replied casually, his hands behind his head.

  Rose shrugged, wiping a streak of soot from her cheek. "Don't flatter me. You haven't even been trying."

  "True," Jack admitted. "And honestly, my objective here is already finished. Killing you now would just be a waste of energy."

  A massive, distant boom echoed from the Divers' quarters—the sound of Mitsuo’s final strike against Diablo. Jack stopped, a knowing smile spreading across his face as he looked toward the sound.

  "You guys really did well. Better than expected," Jack said, letting out a genuine laugh. "Tell me... was this all his plan?"

  Rose offered a tired, knowing smile. "Yeah. Sometimes that arrogant bastard actually plans things through."

  "He is my cousin, after all," Jack shrugged, his eyes softening for a fleeting second.

  Inside the distorted Space Territory, the battle was reaching a desperate climax. Aldric was sent crashing into a wall, his aura flickering dangerously. Haether was still in her Phoenix form, raining fire down from above, but Olivia retaliated with a blinding Aura slash.

  The blade of light nearly cleaved Haether in two, but Aether dove in at the last second, shoving her out of the path of the strike. The cost was high; the slash tore through one of Aether's primary thrusters, sending his suit into a spiralling descent.

  As Aether struggled to maintain altitude, two figures blurred into motion. Velvet and Arthur had finished a complex ritual, their bodies now radiating a blinding, high-density Mana. Moving at four times their usual speed, they became streaks of silver and crimson light, surrounding Olivia in a lethal, high-velocity cage.

  The scene opens in the heart of the base as Colonel Z, Rafael, and Vincent kick open the doors to the central control room. They are met with a graveyard of charred wiring and smashed monitors.

  "Damn it!" Rafael shouted, slamming his fist against a ruined console. "The manual overrides are shredded! We’re blind!"

  The Colonel stepped into the room, his mind already cycling through backup strategies, but he was interrupted by the quietest voice in the room.

  "This can work," Vincent said.

  "What?! What do you mean it can work?!" Rafael barked, his stress boiling over. "Look at this mess!"

  "Rafael," the Colonel said firmly. The Blazer went silent.

  Vincent stepped into the wreckage. As he did, a high-tech holographic visor flickered into life over his eyes. His pupils darted back and forth, scanning the broken circuitry. "I’ll have it operational in twenty minutes," he stated flatly.

  This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  "Is that a guarantee, Vincent?" the Colonel asked.

  "Positive, sir."

  From Vincent’s Technology Core, a swarm of spider-like nanobots and mechanical arms erupted, immediately crawling over the destroyed systems. They began to weld, recode, and bridge the broken connections with terrifying speed.

  Outside, near the back gate, the air was cooling. Jack looked up at the sky and stretched. "Well, lady... it seems it’s time for me to leave."

  "Going so soon?" Rose asked, her hand still resting on her side.

  "Something tells me we’ll meet again," Jack said with a casual wave. In an instant, his form flickered and vanished into a spatial rift.

  Deep within the base, the Second Demon Prince, Diablo, was barely clinging to consciousness. His armour was shattered and his breath was ragged after Mitsuo’s devastating strike. Coughing up dark ichor, he forced a portal open and dragged himself through it, retreating back to the demon realm.

  Curiously, Mitsuo was nowhere to be seen near the Prince’s location.

  Back inside the distorted territory, the battle was reaching a desperate fever pitch. Velvet and Arthur were streaks of red and silver, their boosted speed allowing them to strike at Olivia from every conceivable angle. Yet, Olivia moved with a sickening grace, dodging and parrying as if she were dancing.

  She was studying them—learning their rhythm.

  Finding the split-second gap she needed, Olivia lunged. She struck Velvet with a blow so powerful it sent the vampire flying. Arthur dove through the air, catching Velvet’s limp body before she could collide with the jagged debris behind them.

  Olivia turned her cold gaze toward Aoi, who was still paralyzed with fear. But before Olivia could reach out, she froze. Her expression shifted into one of confusion and then fury.

  ?RETREAT IMMEDIATELY?

  a cold, telepathic command echoed in her mind.

  "What do you mean?!" Olivia hissed aloud, arguing with the voice. "I definitely won't—!"

  Back in the control room, Vincent was centimetres away from finishing the repair.

  Suddenly, the shadows in the corner of the room coalesced. A Great Demon Assassin lunged from the darkness, a poisoned blade aimed at Vincent’s throat.

  Rafael moved like a flash, his sword clashing against the demon’s blade just inches from Vincent’s face. "Focus on the tech, kid! I've got the bug!"

  But before the assassin could strike again, the heavy reinforced door of the control room flew off its hinges.

  The metal door slammed into the demon, pinning it against the far wall with enough force to liquefy its internal organs.

  Through the dust and debris, Mitsuo walked into the room, his expression bored and his hands in his pockets.

  "Ah, there you are, little thief!" Mitsuo said, his voice dripping with a dangerous playfulness as he looked at the Demon Assassin pinned under the door.

  The assassin snarled, heaving the heavy metal off his chest and standing upright. In a desperate move, he triggered a high-density smokescreen, filling the control room with an impenetrable grey fog.

  He lunged for the window, but before he could cross the threshold, a fist materialized through the smoke.

  Mitsuo’s punch connected squarely with the demon’s face, sending him reeling back into the center of the room, unconscious before he hit the floor.

  Colonel Z stepped through the haze, his expression grim. "What’s going on here, Mitsuo?"

  "Nothing much," Mitsuo replied, though his eyes were sharp. "But these people crawled under our skin way better than we expected."

  "Explain yourself," the Colonel demanded.

  Instead of answering, Mitsuo reached into the unconscious assassin's tactical pouch. He pulled out a small, pulsing red stone and held it up for the Colonel to see.

  "What?! How did they get their hands on it?" The Colonel’s face went pale. "What about the rest? Are they compromised?"

  "Don't worry, boss," Mitsuo said, his smirk returning. "No one is getting away while I’m around."

  Mitsuo didn't walk out of the room; he ascended, floating vertically through the ceiling until he hovered high above the center of the military base.

  He took a deep breath, his blue eyes glowing with a terrifying, celestial light.

  "Space Territory Expansion: Primordial Sapphire!"

  A wave of crystalline blue energy exploded from Mitsuo, sweeping across the entire facility like a tidal wave.

  The sheer weight of his territory was suffocating. Below, the lower-tier demons who were still scavenging began to decay instantly, their bodies crumbling into ash.

  The stronger demons felt a searing, agonizing burning sensation as the sapphire light rejected their very existence.

  Mitsuo closed his eyes, his consciousness expanding to every corner of the base.

  Found you. In the basement of a distant building, another assassin was trying to slip away. Mitsuo didn't move a muscle; he simply fired a concentrated Aura Bullet from his fingertip.

  The streak of blue light pierced through layers of concrete and steel, hitting the target with surgical precision.

  "One of six," Mitsuo muttered, his aura already locking onto the next signature. "Stay still, bugs."

  Inside the severed arena, Olivia’s territory—which had seemed invincible just moments ago—suddenly spider-webbed with cracks.

  With a sound like shattering glass, it imploded. It wasn't a targeted attack; it was simply the weight of Mitsuo’s Primordial Sapphire expanding over the base, crushing her smaller territory by its sheer presence.

  Olivia hissed, her skin beginning to sizzle and burn under the sapphire light. Despite the pain and the collapse of her advantage, she refused to retreat. She lunged toward Aoi, determined to take her prize.

  But the field was no longer hers. Steve, Sera, Harry, and the three Feather space-holders stood in her path. No longer forced to expend their energy holding back Olivia's territory, they stood tall, their weapons glowing with renewed power.

  The elite units were finally back on equal footing.

  To be continued…

  ? MYukH. All rights reserved.