The survivors were everywhere.
Some sat slumped against cracked walls, clutching their sides or nursing shattered limbs. Others lay motionless on torn blankets, their breathing shallow but steady. Faces were streaked with soot and blood, eyes hollow with shock. Children clung to parents who could barely stand, their bodies trembling long after the danger had passed.
Makeshift bandages wrapped around burns and broken bones. Shaking hands tried to stop the bleeding of others while ignoring their own pain. Every breath carried the scent of smoke, metal, and fear.
Gravixor's gaze moved over them slowly, not with pity, but with a quiet heaviness. She saw the cost of the battle etched into every body, every shattered home. These weren't soldiers. They were people who had simply been caught in the path of destruction.
As Gravixor moved through the wreckage, a familiar warmth stirred deep within her, her Abi returning at last. It flowed back into her body in a slow, aching surge, filling the hollow spaces left by exhaustion and loss.
But with its return came something else.
She stopped.
Her hand rose to her head, and froze.
Her bear ears were gone.
For a moment she couldn't move. The realization settled in slowly, heavily. The power was still there... but the form that defined her wasn't. Something essential had been stripped away.
She was human.
Not a guardian. Not a beast. Just a woman standing in the ruins.
Her chest tightened. She closed her eyes and reached inward, past fear, past doubt, forcing her Abi to answer.
Pain flared.
A sharp pressure burned across her scalp as energy gathered, twisted, and surged. Her breath hitched. Her body trembled. Then, with a soft pulse of light, her ears forced themselves back into existence, reshaped by sheer will.
She gasped as the sensation faded.
They were there again.
And that was when she broke.
Her shoulders shook. A sob tore free from her chest, raw and unrestrained. She raised a trembling hand to her face, tears spilling over as the weight of everything she had endured finally crashed down on her.
She wasn't just reclaiming her power.
She was reclaiming herself.
She couldn't hold back the tears, she was not a bear.
Some looked up at her as she passed, eyes wide with a mixture of hope and disbelief. Others couldn't bring themselves to look at all.
She said nothing. She didn't need to.
Her presence alone carried the weight of what had been lost, and what could not be undone.
Then Larix suddenly turned, sensing something.
Gravixor quickly wiped away her tears, "What is it?"
"Lanni," Larix said. "The Zoner Knight, she is alive. One of the other larixes are currently healing her."
"That's good news," Gravixor whispered. "Is there a way for you to contact her."
Larix "I can take you there."
Moments later, Lanni arrived at Gravixor's side, worry carved into her face.
"Gravixor... It's good to see a familiar face"
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"Yeah I feel the same," Gravixor said, though her voice trembled.
Lanni stared at the destruction. "I'm sorry about Euly."
"How did you know" Gravixor muttered.
Lanni tightened her grip around the hilt of her sword.
"The Larixes..." she said quietly. "They may look like monsters, but they hunt with precision. They've scouted the entire island, every ruin, every path. They were the ones who confirmed the location of the Fallen Knight."
Gravixor's expression darkened.
"I suppose we've both lost someone important."
Lanni's jaw tightened. She nodded once.
"Yes. I lost the one I was bound to." Her voice lowered. "When two souls are joined, when they pledge themselves completely, their essence begins to merge. The bond deepens until it becomes one."
She looked down at her hand, clenching it slowly.
"When Hido fell... the connection shattered. Every trace of his power inside me vanished with him."
She exhaled, steady but heavy.
"That was the moment I knew he was truly gone."
Lanni "One thing we can agree on the Zeta Elders are extremely powerful."
Gravixor nodded. "The old woman who killed Euly. She was insanely fast and strong, I tried to stop her but-."
Lanni placed hand on Gravixor's shoulder "Listen, the fact that we survived means seomthing, we need to help Braxill"
But the thought was interrupted by the sound of whirlpool overhead.
Lanni's head shot upward. "What is that?!"
Gravixor narrowed her eyes. "That's Braxill."
And then—
A poratl began to steadily open
Lanni's stomach dropped.
"Braxill... is fighting Sephiss right now?!"
Gravixor's eyes widened. "I think so."
Lanni panicked. "That's not good, he's going to kill him."
The two blitzed moving at Mach 5, a speed equivalent to a Nasa jet.
Meanwhile, Braxill locked eyes with Sephiss.
His pupils sharpened, turning green.
"Redlock!"
Each time Braxill's gaze fixed on Sephiss, an explosion detonated.
Sephiss moved effortlessly, evading every blast.
"You hurt Lanni... and your mean thugs killed Euly... I won't forgive you!"
Braxill thrust his hand out.
"Imagine!"
The portal tore open.
A massive grizzly kaiju arm burst from it, reaching for Sephiss.
The hand missed by inches but tore the street apart, shredding stone and steel.
For the first time, Sephiss stepped back.
"That hand... that's the kaiju's hand. Just that alone caused so much damage... I think I'm going to enjoy this."
Braxill's grin was wild, momentarily exhausted. His nose dripped blood.
"You seem tired," Sephiss observed. "Imagining such a beast must be taxing on a young mind."
Braxill "No, I'm fine."
He raised his hand to deliver the finishing blow, but then "BRAXIIIIL!"
Braxill turned.
"Lanni!"
Behind her, Gravixor
"Gravixor!"
Sephiss studied them. "So the wolf and the Bear is still alive. I suppose I should handle this. I cannot fight all three. I'll focus on erasing the child first."
He opened Damon's Penalty Book.
"Damon. Simulate."
An enormous Abi sphere formed, expanding outward until it enveloped Sephiss and Braxill, sealing them in like a floating stadium of shimmering blue light.
Lanni stopped just short of the barrier.
"No... Braxill!"
Gravixor reached out feverishly. "BRA-XILL!"
Lanni pressed her hand against the barrier. "It's an Abi simulation. He's trapped in a battle space. The only way out"
Gravixor's eyes widened. "Is what...?"
Lanni whispered, trembling:
"He must defeat Sephiss or Sephiss kills him."
Gravixor "There has to be away we can get iinside!"
Lanni "I'm afraid there isn't."
Inside the sphere, Sephiss opened his arms calmly.
"No interruptions now. 10k Abi and Summoning a kaiju is quite the phenomenon... but let me demonstrate the gap in experience."
Braxill's eyes glowed bright green.
He clenched his fists.
He took one step forward.
And the entire simulation trembled.