~CLANG~
“…” Stark looked down at the sculk collar that had been placed around his neck, meaning he couldn’t move as freely as before.
The first thing he did as he saw Warden swing down his hammer at him was back away, avoiding the blow as a single attack, even if it only as much as brushed his little pinky, would be enough to deal one damage and thus kill him.
And of course, Stark would never want to go in such an anticlimactic way.
“Oh? You can move now… you got stronger…” the first time he had been hit by [Prisoner Chain], the sculk and chain made it impossible for him to move as he was restrained, yet now… he was able to move with a neutral expression as it if meant nothing.
And then…
~BOOM~
Stark’s neck literally exploded with aura as well, letting out a crimson fire that burned all the sculk, and weakening the chain as it was made of the same stuff.
“…?” Warden was surprised: his chain was actually designed to be EXTREMELY durable, so durable actually that it would take around five hits from his hammer to break it.
And yet… here Stark was, weakening the chain with that same neutral expression, with his aura alone.
Just how powerful was that crimson aura? Maybe even more powerful than even his?
‘It’s fine, he weakened it, but I can still act!’ Warden dashed at Stark as he knew that the chain wouldn’t go down with only that.
“Crimson Spears,” but the boy summoned two spears: one was aimed at the chain that came from the ceiling, cutting it in half.
The [Prisoner Chain] collar that had been around his neck immediately vanished as its link had been cut, thus freeing him and allowing him to retrieve his movements.
And as for the other spear…
“Crimson spear, please shape my path,” Stark’s eyes glowed as he sent it toward Warden.
“FOOLISH,” but Warden just crouched down to avoid it, since it was aimed at his head, why would the prisoner even attempt such a useless attack after everything they had gone through, did he not learn that Warden was now much faster?
But wait… was it truly aimed at his head?
Or…
“=)” Stark smiled as he saw the warden crouch, because at that moment, he knew that he had won.
~FWISH, SNAP~
“…!”
Warden actually stopped in his rush toward Stark, his eyes widening as he clenched his chest, his body trembling as he looked up at Stark, who was still smiling.
“What?” Stark mockingly asked as the warden had stopped.
“Y-You…” Warden looked up… and… one of his cores had been shattered by the spear.
The dust and dark blue remains fell in his hands, and all he could do was clench them both, anger filling his entire being.
He didn’t receive damage from that, but it greatly decreased his powers and actually hurt him like hell, who said monsters couldn’t feel pain? Judicator, Sierra and Warden sure as hell did, but maybe it was because they could talk that Stark noticed it.
Basically, Warden’s cores are like his hearts, so what Stark did was like stabbing a human heart and shattering it in 1000 pieces.
“PRISONNNERRRRRRRR,” he shouted, creating yet another spiral of sculk around him.
“Fine by me,” Stark kept smiling.
After all… if one of the [Dark Spheres] that had been blocked was destroyed, it meant… that he got back one of his abilities!
[‘Double Assault’ has been retrieved!]
Stark joined his hands together as he saw Warden approach him, spinning his hammer in his right hand as his eyes were filled with darkness.
“…” Sora on the other hand was just a spectator of it all, “These two are… what the hell are you… Stark Heartsouls…”
She knew of Stark’s real name since she knew about him in real life, but she would have never, even in a thousand years, guessed that this guy was such… a monster.
And he was doing all of this to save her (at least that’s what she told herself).
“Aura Smash,” Stark sent three fists toward Warden, who didn’t even bother to avoid them: the sole spiral of aura surrounding him literally evaporated the attacks, meaning no projectiles could get close to him anymore.
It was a physical match now.
Warden put himself in his position, he spread his legs, his sculk arm placed in front of his face, while he was spinning his hammer in the other one: he truly was ready to end it all.
Stark, on the other hand made quick jumps from left to right, his two fists in front of his face.
Both of them knew that this was the final assault of this battle.
“It was interesting while it lasted, prisoner.”
“Couldn’t agree more!” Stark smiled.
And then…
“DOUBLE ASSAULT!”
“THE END OF THE LINE!”
~BOOM, FWISH~
Both their legs exploded with aura as they closed in the distance between each other, Warden’s hammer swinging while Stark’s arm responded.
But Warden didn’t realize, just HOW strong Stark was when using [Double Assault].
~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~
Stark was WAY, WAY, WAYYYYY too fast, even for Warden to comprehend.
~BLOCK~
He blocked the blow with his hammer, but before he could even respond, Stark disappeared from his view.
[Horns Detection: Behind]
He turned around to block another attack.
Stark was running everywhere around the floor, leaving a trail of dark crimson aura, impossible to completely follow his movements as he attacked from different spots.
[Horns Detection: LEFT! RIGHT! UP! DOWN! BELOW! ON YOUR LEFT!]
Even his [Horns Detection] was struggling to keep up as it was clearly overwhelmed.
[15 seconds of ‘Double Assault’ remaining]
In addition to that, Stark had upgraded [Double Assault] before, and the new perk increased the usage from 10 to 20 seconds, meaning he could afford to do what he was doing.
[Horns Detection: L-Left!]
Stark appeared on the left as instructed, and Warden swung his hammer toward it.
But…
~FWISH~
Before the hammer connected with his attack, Stark used his speed to slide behind Warden.
[Horns Detection: BEHIND! BEHIND! BEHIND!]
~SMASH~
He instantly smashed his hammer behind him thinking that Stark was there, but…
“Idiot~” Stark jumped in the air and… punched another one of the warden’s cores.
~SMASH, SNAP~
It shattered as well.
[Two cores destroyed, one remains]
“GAhhhh…” Warden fell to his knees while still deflecting Stark’s attacks, his entire body was trembling, a second one of his hearts was destroyed, and if this kept going then he would surely die, “FUCK YOU PRISONER-”
But right as he shouted…
“Shhh…” Stark arrived in front of him, punching his hand upward, resulting in the heavy hammer to be sent flying toward the ceiling as his grip on it weakened.
~FWISH~
Stark jumped in the air toward the hammer, and while he was still above, both Sora and Warden looking at him…
~CRACK… BOOM~
He split the hammer in two, separating its handle from its head, meaning that it was useless and unusable, then launching the two parts in different directions.
[‘Dodge Control’ has been retrieved!]
“DODGE CONTROL,” he immediately used his skill as he descended back toward Warden, who through his sheer determination got up and was waiting for Stark to use his entire strength to punch him.
But…
~FWISH~
Thanks to [Dodge Control], he is easily avoided all the attacks.
~FWISH, FWISH, FWISH~
Warden went on a crazy rampage, swinging his fists everywhere and extremely fast, putting his entire energy on his attacks as he only needed to just TOUCH Stark once.
And yet… nothing would hit.
Stark would LITERALLY teleport away from his attack at times, making it impossible for the warden to hit him.
[7 seconds remain for ‘Double Assault’]
[12 seconds remain for ‘Dodge Control’]
The reason Stark wasn’t actually hitting Warden was because he literally couldn’t: he threw way too many attacks, and [Dodge Control] gave him less control over his own body, meaning that even with its new perk, it was still hard to throw even one punch.
And yet… after a few seconds…
Stark saw THE opportunity.
A crimson line formed, moving in different directions toward the boss.
“IT’S THE END, WARDEN,” Stark rushed while following that line, avoiding all the attacks.
~FWISH~
He spanned in the air as he avoided a [Warden Smash], arriving in front of the last [Dark Sphere], and then…
~PUNCH, BOOOOOM~
He punched it, using all his strength to take over his body for this simple action.
[All cores have been destroyed!]
[‘Heaven’s Wrath’ has been retrieved!]
Suddenly, the warden stopped everything he was doing, kneeling on the ground as liters of blood poured out from his mouth and nose.
“This is… insane…” he had a hard time breathing, and once he looked up… all he saw… was Stark, who was peeking at him from above, a wide and terrifying smile on his face.
“Are you done?” he asked, his gaze piercing the warden’s soul.
And all the monster could do… was look down.
He was finished: even though he could rebuild his cores over time, he was too weakened to fight back anymore.
Stark… won.
The prisoners… won…
