The Achievement Junkie

"Of course you'd go kamikaze…" Oli sighed, realizing what his defeated opponent was up to. "You must be ISA. They're always cowards…"

While 12-13's energy swirled and prepared to explode without mercy, 12-13 smiled. He remained silent but showed that he proudly accepted the loss as an opportunity to die without failure. At the very least, he wasn't going to give up information via capture and a key figure in Silas's camp would be brought down at the same time. It was a proud loss in 12-13's eyes.

But Oli's gaze also showed no signs of regret or hesitation. In fact, Oli's smiling face turned serious for the first time as sweat began to bead down his forehead and cheeks. One hand held 12-13 by the neck while the other sat at Oli's side.

12-13 had no clue what Oli was up to until it was too late. His self-destruction was already imminent and irreversible by the time he felt the familiar pull of gravity, only it was toward Oli's free hand. In shock and horror, 12-13 realized what was about to happen but wasn't able to believe the reality his eyes were witnessing.

In the palm of Oli's hand was a tiny black sphere of raw energy. His hand quivered while trying his best to control the rampant increase of force that black sphere had created out of thin air.

Once that orb was steady and Oli's body stopped shaking, he thrust his arm forward and drove the sphere into 12-13's chest. Before the shadowy man was able to detonate himself as a living bomb of cosmic energy, 12-13's body and energy started contorting and twisting around Oli's hand.

"AaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAaahhhhhhh…"

12-13 finally shouted in fear and pain as his body snapped like a twig. There was no way he could withstand the drastic pressure of the tiny black hole in Oli's palm.

Both 12-13's energy and body gave in. They were forcibly dragged into the black sphere while the energy exploded but failed to escape the pull of gravity. In seconds, 12-13 had gone from realizing who his opponent was, to proudly attempting suicide at the chance of eliminating that opponent, to feeling the ultimate pain and regret as his existence was torn apart at the cellular level while failing to even scratch his foe.

The moment 12-13's body and warring energy was disposed of, Oli heaved a sigh of relief. He didn't bother maintaining his energy to stand in the air, letting himself begin the long fall to the ground.

Oli landed with a heavy thud and a small crater but he was smiling. Sweat still covered his body as Oli began to relax, as if the harsh landing hadn't affected Oli whatsoever.

'Daruun… He's been eliminated… Sorry, but there's no chance to probe his brain…'

'Let me guess, he chose self-destruction?' Daruun commented with a sigh. 'I suppose we were right to assume him as an ISA agent and not Jewel… It explains a lot… Thank you, Oli.'

'Hey… I'm expecting a bonus for this job… Making me use that move has to count for a pay raise…' joked Oli.

'In that case, consider it done. You kept it under control, right?'

'Yeah… But I'll just rest here for now… If you need me for more, let me know…' commented Oli. 'If not, just let me rest a little bit…'

Oli closed his eyes, letting his body focus entirely on replenishing his emptied energy reserves. This was to be expected after the stunt he just pulled, considering that such a move shouldn't be possible for any regular three-star cosmician, even late three-star cosmicians like Oli.

*****

"If you thought facing the power of a Dusk Dragon was hard, how about I show you what a Spectral Dusk Dragon can do?"

That sentence sent shivers down the spines of every Kartonian god able to witness Skaryn's return. Whether they were in the waiting area or still inside the enormous treasure chamber, they were floored by the very thought of such a bloodline.

Without delay, the energy around Skaryn's body shifted and transformed. The boundless dark energy began to intermingle with abundant spatial energy. Skaryn's skeletal, draconic appearance shifted as well. His claws and skeletal spine turned from dark black to deep violet as they became sharper and longer. The Dark God's entire body became more streamlined as a dark purple sheen overtook his body. Now, a crown of deep violet horns sprouted from Skaryn's skull, turning the man into the most dominating draconic god from appearance alone.

"Your advantage of offensive energies is gone now, Halmut…" Skaryn chuckled, forcing the Sun Dragon to rethink his strategy. "Now, I don't need dark energy to finish you off!"

Skaryn charged again, but Halmut failed to evade the faster, more agile Skaryn. Adding space to his lightning affinity along with his streamlined body gave the demon an undeniable speed advantage.

Halmut shrouded himself in holy energy as he took on the Spectral Dusk Demon. Fire, wind, lightning, holy, and nature energies were abundant as Halmut did everything in his power to counter Skaryn's new form and attacks. But it proved near futile.

While Halmut was still able to repel a majority of dark energy attacks thanks to the black bead that 12-13 had implanted in him, that couldn't stop the other energies. Now Skaryn wielded dark, water, earth, lightning, illusion energies along with fire and space energies. Skaryn effectively countered Halmut's fire with his own while adding the ruthless power of space to each of his strikes. That was a reality that Halmut was forced to accept.

As Halmut guarded himself, he already felt a deep wound form in his side. Halmut breathed his multi-colored flame but the invisible Skaryn had already retreated. Now the Sun Dragon would need to guess which of the visible and invisible Skaryn's was real while Skaryn was the most experienced at facing Halmut's all-seeing eyes. This was proven as Halmut struggled to identify where the true attacks would come from next. His wild breath and powerful claw attacks created waves and pulses of energy going every which wave in attempts to create space.