Grand Finale: The End Of RED
Taki stood from his bed, barely believing what his ears had just heard. He waited for 3 long minutes, thinking that the voice would speak to him again. "If what that strange voice said is true, then I don’t only have to depend on the reward of the Summoners’ War," he muttered inwardly.
Greed, the most deadly feeling a person can ever have, that’s what started to settle in Taki’s heart. Soon enough, he gave in to his selfish desires, and overnight he suddenly changed. He was no longer kind and forgiving; he became cruel and obsessed with power.
Just as the voice said, the Nuxeon cult came to Taki’s doorstep the following day. It wasn’t just any random disciple that came, but the Grand Overseer himself.
"You must b—" Taki cut him off before he could finish his speech.
"I accept your offer... so what do I have to do?" he asked calmly.
The Grand Overseer was a bit shocked, but he didn’t show it.
"You aren’t going to even ask what’s in it for you?" Kalmar asked skeptically.
Taki smiled faintly. "I trust you’ll fill me in on the details properly." Taki invited the Grand Overseer inside.
After a long discussion, Kalmar told Taki everything he needed to know about the Nuxeon cult, their goals, and the Great One. He agreed to their terms and conditions.
After the meeting, he began to ambush summoners outside of the neutral zones and took over their domains. It wasn’t long before he lost himself to the hunger for power.
He was one hundred percent sure that Kalmar was using him, but he didn’t care. As long as he got what he wanted, it didn’t matter to him, so he turned a blind eye to Kalmar’s misdeeds and continued to serve the Nuxeon cult loyally.
He was soon corrupted by dark spirit energy and completely lost any trace of innocence or rationality that he had left.
The saying: pride comes before the fall was indeed true in Taki’s situation.
"I have come this far, I won’t let it end like this," Taki exclaimed loudly, upon finishing his reminiscence. He drove his hand into a subspace and brought out an eerie-looking syringe made of red muck.
He stabbed himself in the neck with the syringe and injected himself with its contents. Dark veins began to spread from his neck all throughout his body. His flesh trembled as it folded in on itself, turning into a large dark mass.
Crack....
The mass broke apart. What emerged wasn’t Berry, but a Class 12 humanoid Ravter Abomination, AKA Berry’s enhanced form. His skin was now dark as the night sky, a slender figure, a pointed long tail at his back, red eyes, two large horns stood atop his head, and curved, razor-sharp claws. He had truly abandoned his humanity.
A gust swept across the battlefield, accompanied by the strong stench of corrupt spirit energy. The sky turned crimson red, the air became heavy. "It’s time to meet your end, blankkk!!!" Berry groaned loudly.
Given the side effects of turning oneself into a Ravter Abomination, it’s a complete miracle that Berry managed to maintain his sense of self. Allow me to explain: what Berry injected himself with is an extract from the birth capsule of a high-class Ravter Abomination.
After various experiments, he discovered that he could use the red muck from the birth capsules of Ravter Abominations to greatly boost his combat prowess—not just any type of boost, but a tenfold enhancement of himself and his spirit energy capacity.
Revet blocked the gust of wind with ease. "So you would go so far for them, huh?!" he asked lacklusterly.
Empowered, Berry grew irritated by Revet’s lack of interest. He streaked towards Revet, opening his claws wide. Before they could reach Revet, they were blown to pieces. Berry quickly pulled back, but he was struck from behind with a fist that slammed him into the ground, spiderwebbing it.
"How did he get this strong?" Berry struggled to get up from the crater he found himself in. An invisible force pressed him deeper into it. Above him, a huge mass of golden light gathered and immediately shot down on Berry, forcing him further into the ground.
Revet was now able to use more than one of his summons’ abilities at once. Furthermore, he could merge their abilities together to create new techniques.
"Self-made technique: Ark of Judgement," Revet said as a massive golden greatsword pierced through the crimson sky and descended upon the exhausted Berry.
When the dust settled, Berry was nowhere to be found. He suddenly appeared by the side of Revet, striking him with his claws. Revet bent down, dodging the attack; the shockwave from the strike cut a nearby mountain into two halves.
"If that had hit me?!" Revet thought to himself. Berry was still very much dangerous.
But Revet still had a trick up his sleeve. That time Berry used his Ultimatum Release wasn’t the first time Revet had heard about it. Aria had mentioned it to him previously, but he never got the chance to practice it—but that didn’t matter.
Revet had always been able to adapt to any ability or technique he came across with little to no practice at all. Yes, he was a genius—the kind that stood out among other geniuses, a prodigy.
"Ultimatum Release."
Revet’s voice echoed throughout the
battlefield. "What did he just say now?" Berry’s eyes widened in shock. "I mustn’t let him finish!" Berry dashed towards Revet with the sole aim of throwing him off balance so that the Ultimatum Release would fail.
Though it was a powerful technique, it had two crucial flaws: when an individual or entity is activating the technique, they are left vulnerable to attack as their spirit energy is entirely focused on releasing their ability.
It only took two seconds to activate, but that was all the time Berry needed.
Even though Revet managed to dodge, that wasn’t a problem because the drawback for failing to activate an Ultimatum Release was total depletion of the individual’s spirit energy. In special cases, the individual is rendered unable to use their spirit energy for three minutes; instead of total depletion, they enter a refractory phase.
Berry’s claws dove into Revet’s chest, but he made one crucial mistake—his claws froze over inside Revet’s chest. He didn’t consider the possibility of Revet having a passive ability that activates without his command once certain conditions are met.
"Crossover to Oblivion."
They were both sucked into Revet’s subspace, a plane of pure white that extended throughout the vastness of the dimension. "A subspace-class Ultimatum Release on his first try... this is simply
unbelievable," Berry mumbled to himself.
"I too have one last card to play."
Berry slammed his fists into each other, his dark spirit energy flaring and encompassing him completely. Then a dark fog burst forth. "Ultimatum Release V2."
The fog covered half of the subspace—it was now split between white and black. "Shrine of Malice." Towering spires erupted from the fog.
Berry unleashed his final hidden weapon—his second Ultimatum Release that required him to be in the enhanced state. He was neck and neck with Revet as the battle approached its climax.
The ground around Berry froze over immediately, holding him in place. In the next instant, Revet appeared before him, both hands burning with a mix of orange, blue, and silver flames. "Ultra Triple Flames Burst." He slammed his flaming fists into Berry’s face.
Berry blocked the attack with the dark fog as he pulled back from Revet.
Revet streaked towards him. While mid-air, he and Berry exchanged numerous blows. They moved with lightning-fast speed that made their figures blurry.
They both crashed into opposite ends of the subspace. They didn’t wait—they charged at each other. Revet created two swords in his hands while Berry sharpened his claws,
then they clashed.
"Malice Drive!" Berry screamed, attacking Revet rapidly with his claws. "Amenomie no Kage." Revet moved his blades with a speed that Berry couldn’t comprehend. He discarded the swords as they disappeared. "Well played, but I’m not done yet!" Even with the multiple cuts on his body, Berry lunged forward at Revet.
Just as Revet was about to finish him off for good, the space behind Berry distorted. A slender hand with green-painted sharp claws dove into Berry’s chest and uprooted his heart.
Bam...
Berry fell to the floor, almost lifeless. "I promise you, Heria... you will meet a more gruesome end than mine," Berry uttered those words furiously with his last breath of life as he dropped dead and began to fade into dark shades. A black, eerie-looking box with multiple mouths was all that remained of him.
Before Revet could destroy the box, a voice echoed, "If you don’t mind, I will be taking that now." A red light beamed the box upward as it vanished into thin air.
A familiar female figure walked out of a pink-colored spatial rift.
"Surely you jest... I mean, that pitiful mindset of yours was what brought you to your sorry end." A smile crept across the lady’s face. "Oh, oopsie... it seems he’s already dead."