The massive, golden beam of energy continued to spear out of Gary’s mouth, a concentrated torrent of draconic fury that illuminated the dark corners of the city. The raw pressure of the attack forced the atmosphere to scream, but eventually, the torrent began to taper off and finally stopped.
As the blinding light faded from the sky, the onlookers on the rooftops squinted into the hazy night. For a few seconds, there was nothing but a silent, empty void where Unozoku had been. Then, a small, dark object appeared, tumbling helplessly out of the clouds. It fell with a heavy, wet thud into the center of the shattered plaza.
On closer inspection, the sight was grueso. Half of Unzoku’s body had been utterly disintegrated by the beam; his chest was a hollowed-out cavern of charred bone and his left side was missing entirely. However, Gary didn't celebrate. He knew the terrifying nature of his opponent too well. Just as he had feared, even this catastrophic level of damage wasn't enough to secure a permanent kill.
Almost imdiately, Unzoku’s remaining flesh began to bulge and twitch with a sickening, rhythmic pulse. The red mist gathered around the mangled remains with a frantic intensity, weaving new muscle, bone, and skin at an impossible speed. By the ti Unzoku pushed himself up from the crater, his body was whole again, though he was visibly panting, his red eyes darting around with a newfound desperation.
“That’s fine,” Gary said, his voice echoing with a deep, tallic resonance. He hung in the air, a dark power of ash and gold. He flapped his massive wings once, and the resulting displacent of energy destroyed a large chunk of the Haunted House ruins behind him. “I still have ti left on the clock. And honestly, it wouldn't be much of a punishnt for what you've done if you just died in a single hit.”
Unzoku roared, stretching out his newly regenerated arms. As he saw Gary descending toward him like a falling star, he gathered every scrap of his red aura. At the perfect mont, he slamd his hands together in a thunderous clap, aiming to crush Gary’s head between his palms.
But Gary’s wings were more than just a ans of flight. They snapped forward, folding in front of him like a pair of celestial shields. The draconic power infused in the fur was strong enough to deaden the impact, completely blocking Unzoku’s strike.
The progenitor’s strength was a physical reality that couldn't be ignored; the pressure was so imnse that Gary wasn't able to imdiately flap his wings back open to shrug off the hold. However, in this evolved state, Gary effectively had an extra pair of limbs. While his wings were occupied countering the attack from above, his primary hands remained free.
He gripped the warhamr and swung it from below in a brutal, rising arc. The head of the hamr caught Unzoku squarely under the chin. The combined green and golden energy bypassed the his external defenses, tearing through his jaw and skull. A vertical pillar of mixed light erupted upward, lifting Unzoku’s entire fra into the air once again.
As Unzoku’s body was launched, Gary reached out with his free hand. The green energy of the pack swirled and coalesced, forming a giant, ethereal hand that reached out and snatched Unzoku mid-air. He wasn't grabbing him with physical strength; he was using the pure, condensed energy of the Howlers to hold the monster in place. He pulled him back toward his body with a violent jerk.
The hamr was already winding up. Gary swung it with a force that defied physics, the head of the weapon glowing with an unstable light. It tore right through Unzoku’s right leg, vaporizing the flesh and bone instantly. The impact sent Unzoku crashing back to the floor, his pride finally beginning to crumble.
‘This is impossible,’ Unzoku thought, his mind racing as he lay in the dirt. ‘I am the origin! I can grow stronger! I just need to eat... I just need to consu more Gluttons, and everything will be fine!’
As Unzoku struggled to push himself up with his one remaining leg, he looked up and saw Gary hovering directly above him. A second beam of golden energy began to rain down, but this ti it was different. It wasn't a wide-area blast; it was a concentrated, needle-thin ray of pure heat focused entirely on Unzoku’s other leg.
The ray consud the limb in an instant, leaving only his upper torso and head lying in the rubble. Just like before, the charred muscles began to bulge as the regeneration kicked in, but the process was noticeably slower. The dallion might be gone, but Gary’s current output was simply overwhelming his ability to keep up.
“Unzoku, I need you to stay put for just a second,” Gary said, his eyes radiating a cold, golden light. He hovered higher into the sky and lifted the warhamr high above his head with both hands.
The golden energy of the Dragon Ash form began to swirl toward the weapon in a violent spiral. At the sa ti, the green energy—the life force of the entire Howler pack—flowed into the hamr’s core. Across the city and the park, even the mindless Gluttons began to grow weak and tired; since so were technically considered part of the Alpha’s wider pack through the system.
Lastly, Gary didn't just rely on external forms. He reached deep into his own core and gathered every drop of Qi he had ever cultivated, pumping it into the weapon to overcharge its active skill. This was the final strike—the hit that had to land perfectly to end the cycle.
Gary began to twirl the hamr above his head. The combination of powers created a swirling vortex of erald and gold that began to warp the sky itself, changing the color of the clouds into a bruised, electric purple. As the hamr vibrated through the air, massive pulses of energy rippled through the the park with every rotation. Each circular swing added more montum, more weight, and more raw destruction to the head of the hamr.
“UNZOKU, THIS IS THE END!” Gary scread, his voice carrying the weight of everyone who had fallen.
He tucked his wings and dove. He flew down like a spear of lightning, the weapon still spinning at a blurred velocity. Just at the mont of impact, Unzoku’s legs finally finished forming. He looked up, his face a mask of primal defiance.
“We won back then! All of us did the impossible to survive!” Unzoku roared, putting everything he had into a final, desperate punch. “If I could overco the sealing of the past... then I can overco this!”
The hamr crashed down onto Unzoku’s fist.
For a heartbeat, there was absolute silence as the two titanic forces t. Then, the world turned white. A giant explosion of energy expanded outward from the point of impact, covering every square inch of the the park in a do of blinding light. It consud the rubble, the remaining Gluttons, and the air itself, looking like a localized nuclear explosion that signaled the end of an era.
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