Author's Note: Do Not Unlock.
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The air itself seed to kneel.
Aleman felt it the mont Kurogane stepped forward — not fear, not panic, but pressure. The kind that didn't crush the body imdiately, but instead whispered to the instincts that sothing was wrong. Sothing apex.
Kurogane rolled his shoulders slowly, black armor plates shifting with a tallic whisper. Crimson runes pulsed faintly along the seams, responding to his presence rather than fueling it.
"One ability," Kurogane said casually, eyes locked onto Aleman. "That's all I was ever given."
Lightning crawled along Aleman's Thunder Spear, shadows pooling at his feet.
"And you think that makes you special?" Aleman replied, voice calm despite the tension coiling in his spine.
Kurogane smiled.
"No. What makes special," he said, taking another step forward, "is that I mastered it."
The world bent.
Aleman didn't see the attack coming — he felt it. Space compressed violently around his torso, invisible force slamming into him like a freight train. His feet left the ground as he was hurled backward, smashing through a reinforced wall and skidding across the floor in a storm of sparks and debris.
"Aleman!" Sable shouted.
Aleman rolled, coughing once, then forced himself upright just as the air above him collapsed downward.
He Shadow Stepped.
The floor where he'd been standing cratered inward, steel folding like paper under crushing pressure.
Kurogane hadn't moved.
He hadn't needed to.
Aleman narrowed his eyes.
Gravity manipulation.
Not raw telekinesis. Not spatial warping. This was worse.
Kurogane controlled directional gravity, refined to surgical precision.
Aleman vanished again, reappearing behind Kurogane mid-strike, Thunder Spear stabbing toward the man's spine in a crackling arc of lightning.
Kurogane tilted his head.
The spear froze inches from his back.
Aleman's eyes widened.
The gravity around the spearhead inverted, forcing it downward, pinning Aleman's own weapon against the floor with crushing force. The lightning discharged uselessly into the ground.
Kurogane turned slowly.
"You rely too much on montum," he said, and flicked two fingers.
Aleman was slamd face-first into the ground.
The impact shattered tiles and sent a spiderweb of cracks racing outward. Aleman felt his ribs scream in protest as gravity multiplied against him, pressing him into the floor like a pinned insect.
He gritted his teeth.
Shadows writhed beneath him.
Shadow Step triggered — not outward, but sideways, twisting the axis of his own position just enough to escape the crushing center. He rolled free as the floor imploded where he'd been.
Aleman rose, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth.
Kurogane finally stepped forward again.
Each step was deliberate. Controlled. The gravity in the room shifted subtly with his movent, making it harder to breathe, harder to stand.
"Two abilities," Kurogane continued calmly. "Thunder. Shadow. Flashy."
He raised a hand.
"But refinent beats variety every ti."
The pressure spiked.
Aleman's knees buckled.
Then Kurogane's gaze shifted — not to Aleman — but past him.
Toward the team.
Toward the containers.
"Enough," Kurogane said. "This ends now."
He turned away from Aleman.
And walked toward the others.
"No—!" Aleman shouted.
He launched himself forward, Thunder Spear blazing, lightning screaming through the air — but Kurogane casually swept his arm sideways.
Gravity sheared.
Aleman was flung into a pillar hard enough to crack it down the middle. He slid to the floor, vision blurring for half a second.
When he looked up—
Kurogane was already among them.
Ridge charged him with a roar, stone armor flaring as he swung both fists in a crushing arc.
Kurogane raised one hand.
Ridge stopped mid-stride.
The gravity around him inverted violently — slamming him face-first into the ceiling with bone-cracking force. Stone shattered. Ridge fell limp, crashing down in a heap.
"Ridge!" Dante yelled.
Dante unleashed a torrent of white-hot plasma, the air warping as it scread toward Kurogane.
Kurogane didn't dodge.
He compressed the gravity in front of him.
The plasma folded inward, collapsing into a blinding sphere before detonating harmlessly upward.
Kurogane stepped through the heat untouched.
Sable tried to intercept, reflective energy flaring as she redirected a wave of crushing force back toward him.
It hit him.
And slid off.
Kurogane turned his head slightly.
"Clever," he acknowledged — then snapped his fingers.
The gravity around Sable multiplied tenfold.
She slamd to the floor, armor cracking as she scread, unable to move.
Vera tried to unleash her sonic distortion, but the pressure crushed the soundwaves before they could form. She collapsed, gasping.
Hex attempted to overload the facility systems again—
Kurogane gestured.
Hex was pinned to a wall, limbs spread, unable to move.
Aleman forced himself up, body screaming in protest.
This wasn't a fight.
This was domination.
Kurogane reached the containers — massive reinforced crates lined with containnt seals — and placed a hand against one.
"You will not take these," he said calmly.
Aleman Shadow Stepped one last ti, reappearing directly in front of Kurogane, Thunder Spear held in both hands, lightning roaring with everything he had left.
"For soone with one ability," Aleman growled, "you talk too much."
He thrust.
The spear struck.
Lightning detonated point-blank, the explosion ripping through the hangar, hurling debris and fire outward in a violent shockwave.
For a split second—
Kurogane was forced back a single step.
Aleman's eyes widened.
Kurogane looked down at his chest.
A shallow scorch mark marred his armor.
Silence fell.
Then Kurogane laughed.
A low, genuine laugh.
"Good," he said. "Very good."
He stepped forward.
Gravity crashed down on Aleman like a mountain.
Aleman hit the ground hard, unable to move, unable to breathe properly.
Kurogane lood over him.
"But not enough."
He turned away.
Behind him, Oni reinforcents surged in, reclaiming ground, securing the containers.
"This facility will fall," Kurogane said over his shoulder. "But not today."
He paused.
"Tell Wright this," he added calmly. "Oni has noticed him."
Then the gravity shifted violently upward.
Kurogane and the remaining Oni supers were launched through the shattered roof in a thunderous boom, disappearing into the night sky.
The pressure vanished.
Aleman lay on the floor, chest heaving, staring at the ruined ceiling.
They hadn't won.
But they hadn't been wiped out either.
And now…
They knew exactly what kind of enemy Oni had been hiding.
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