The older man’s voice rang out, sharp and absolute.
"One more move—and I will consider it a declaration of war against the Daewyth Fiefdom."
Silence fell over the battlefield.
Then, from behind them, Nioh stepped forward. The swirling needles above him spiraled back into formation, folding into the umbrella on his back.
"I am Nioh Glev," he said evenly, his tone calm but carrying the weight of a nation. "Son of the Absolute Monarch."
His gaze locked with the Shurima leader’s.
"I want to see your Monarch."
The leader’s spear dropped with a soft thud as she clapped, slow and mocking. Clap. Clap. Clap.
"You played well," she said, eyes narrowing. "Deliberately leaking hints of your identity, just enough to make hesitate until the very last second."
A smirk curved her lips.
"Nice strategy... but do you really think this little detachnt is enough to make a Shurima Guardian submit?"
"There’s no need for talk of submission," Nioh replied, his erald eyes steady. "I only asked for an audience with your lord. I’ll get it—the easy way or the hard way."
The man with the flaming sword tapped his comm.
The deck of the ship hissed open.
Hundreds of elite soldiers dropped down in sequence, landing in formation. Each one ard, armored, and charged with killing intent. Their combined aura weighed down on the battlefield like a descending mountain.
A warning. A deterrent.
Nioh raised his voice once more.
"I repeat—I am not here for a fight... but I don’t mind bathing Shurima red tonight."
Suddenly, a sharp whistle pierced the air. A projectile streaked across the sky and landed with a controlled impact between the forces.
It was a woman—poised, radiant, wrapped in kinetic armor.
Lithaa Bris.
Daughter of the Monarch.
Heir to the Shurima throne.
And sister of Akron.
As soon as she landed, the Shurima warriors dropped to one knee in unison.
"Your Highness."
"At ease, Zura," Lithaa said calmly, her voice carrying authority as she turned her gaze to Nioh.
Her eyes narrowed slightly.
"When I heard a team had infiltrated, I had a strong feeling it would be you. I thought you’d take a little longer to show up."
Nioh shrugged, an easy grin tugging at his lips.
"What can I say? I’m eager to see my general."
Lithaa tilted her head, her expression unreadable.
"Is that why you brought an army?"
"That hardly counts as an army," Nioh replied casually. "Let’s just call it... an assurance."
Her eyes sharpened.
"You realize this could spark an international incident. Maybe even war."
"I don’t mind," Nioh said, voice growing colder. "Daewyth could use a victory to solidify its reputation. I wouldn’t mind making Shurima my next expedition."
For a heartbeat, tension buzzed between them like a drawn bowstring.
Then, his tone shifted, serious and demanding:
"Take to Akron."
Lithaa’s lips tightened.
"You are in no position to make demands."
Without hesitation, Nioh pressed a button on his headphones.
Since acquiring the Cosmic Suppressing Body, he had never unleashed his full potential. Until now.
This was the first ti he activated the Will of Sin: Envy.
So far, he had mastered two sins—Envy, granting him the ability to transmute harmonic energy, and Lust, allowing him to forge harmonic constructs.
His five-star biocore flared to life, spinning faster than a charged particle, as the energy around him surged like a rising tsunami.
He pressed a second button.
Track 2: Shifting Masses began to play.
Under the command of his will, the once-free harmonic waves distorted, morphing into violent gravity fields. The atmosphere around him beca heavy, chaotic, and oppressive.
Lithaa and Zura stiffened instinctively, feeling the shift in power.
"What are you doing?" they demanded almost simultaneously.
But Nioh didn’t answer.
His Cosmic Suppressing Physique began absorbing the chaotic gravity waves, swallowing them like a black hole.
His erald eyes glead with an almost feral light as the pressure rose higher, denser, until the very ground beneath him cracked.
"Showing you," he said, his voice heavy and low, "just how far I’m willing to go."
As if carrying the weight of the world, his left arm, which had begun to rise, trembled—and then fell, smashing into the earth with a muffled thud.
Everyone stood frozen in place, caught in the unbearable anticipation of what the madman would do next.
The man with the flaming sword, the boy clad in icy crystals, and Althea all stood on high alert, shielding Nioh from any sudden strike.
But even they struggled—the sheer pressure of Nioh’s presence behind them was mind-breaking.
It didn’t feel like they were guarding a man.
It felt like they were standing in front of a demon, a lord of ruin, a harbinger of the end.
His killing intent and the raw might of his five-star biocore crushed both enemies and allies alike.
Thirty seconds dragged by.
Doubt crept in.
Was he bluffing?
Was it all an elaborate show?
Then the world made a sound—
A grinding, damning roar.
The sky trembled.
Everyone looked up.
A suffocating force engulfed the heavens, an on of sothing monstrous.
And then it ca into view.
The clouds split apart, revealing a giant rock, the size of an entire city, hurtling downward—wreathed in flas, a burning titan destined to obliterate Shurima.
Lithaa stared at Nioh in horror, her face twisted between rage and disbelief.
Without a word, she vanished.
The rest of the Shurima guards followed, scattering like frightened birds.
Only Nioh and his small entourage remained, standing alone beneath the apocalyptic sky.
Nioh’s chest heaved violently.
Huff. Huff.
The mont the enemies were gone, the facade cracked.
His biocore was empty.
His willpower drained dry.
"Young Master!" The man with the flaming sword rushed to him, catching him before he could fall.
"Are you alright?"
"I’m fine," Nioh panted, voice hoarse, "Just... need a second.
It’s been two years."
Tears threatened the edges of the man’s eyes as he hugged Nioh tightly.
"I thought... I thought you’d never co back, Young Master," he choked.
"You’re gonna crush ," Nioh said, laughing weakly as he patted the man’s back.
Another figure approached—
The icy young man.
He dropped to one knee, bowing low.
"Young Master."
Nioh looked at his old friends properly for the first ti in years.
X had lost weight, but his towering presence remained as unshakable as ever. The aura of a five-star warrior blazed from him, steady and fierce. His flas burned cleaner, sharper. His hair was cropped shorter, but he still wore that absurd purple uniform with pride.
Cryo the Teen with the frozen bracers had grown too.
A fourth-star biocore now pulsed inside him, and the air around him shimred with a biting cold.
It seed that bonding with the Gyroshark shard had evolved his abilities even further.
He stood quieter, stronger. A silent wall of ice.
"No need for formalities," Nioh said, his voice soft.
"Ahem."
Althea coughed loudly, snapping them out of their reunion.
She pointed urgently at the blazing cot descending toward Shurima.
"Uh, are you not going to do anything about that?
Because if that thing hits, we’re going to trigger a second world war!"
Nioh smiled faintly, the madness in his erald eyes replaced by sothing almost tender.
"Don’t worry.
There’s soone out there who would shoulder the weight of the world to protect Shurima."
He turned back to his comrades.
"X, Cryo, this is Althea, my teammate."
After a quick nod of introductions, he motioned forward.
"Co on," he said, the faintest excitent returning to his voice.
"We don’t want to miss the spectacle."
-
The panic was absolute.
From the palace to the outer markets, the people of Shurima scattered like leaves in a storm.
Children scread and clung to their mothers. Warriors cursed and dropped their spears. rchants abandoned their treasures, letting gold and silk spill across the sandstone streets as they fled without a second glance.
Above them all, the sky burned with terrible beauty.
The cot—no, the harbinger of annihilation—tore through the heavens, a flaming titan with a roaring voice that drowned out even the tolling of the ergency bells.
"We’re dood!" cried a rchant, collapsing to his knees.
"Save the children!" a woman sobbed, her voice lost in the chaos.
"Pray! Pray to the Ancients!" a priest bellowed, lifting bloodied hands to the sky as if trying to hold back the inevitable.
The shadow of the cot grew, swallowing the stars, and the world felt monts away from being consud.
Then—
A blinding golden light split the heavens.
A deafening BOOM rocked the earth as a massive, gleaming figure shot into the sky like a divine spear.
It was Lithaa Bris.
She appeared clad in her royal ch—a majestic titan of polished chro and radiant gold.
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