Lum walked to Frey and Mike and lay down next to them.
"You're probably wondering why I told him to go, right?" Lum asked. "Honestly, even I think it's suicide"
The other two couldn't answer, but Lum suspected their answer.
"I'll tell you, it's because we have no choice" she explained. "We're running out of options, and letting Inferno recover his strength would be the worst outcome. Damien managed to break a chain without any help or tools and is the main character of this story. There is no doubt that he will be much more formidable than the average resistance fighter, not to mention that Inferno is tired. Now we just have to pray that Damien can stop him without taking a fatal blow"
Fear was finally starting to catch up with Mike and Frey: was this their last chance? That a guy they had met two hours earlier could beat a world destroyer without taking a single punch? When had the situation escalated to this point?
However, there was nothing more they could do to change the outcome.
So they just lay on the ground with Lum, praying silently and watching the resistance fighters who had gathered around the hole.
Eventually, the situation became the same as in every adventure novel ending: the main hero versus the final villain. Now all we had to do was pray for a classic happy ending.
Damien ended up jumping and falling the entire length, before feeling himself falling again. Through a clever maneuver, he managed to land directly on the island board, only to be able to roll on the ground to avoid a punch from Inferno.
"Hi, little shit" Inferno said with a deranged smirk.
The latter gave Damien a big kick, who nevertheless took advantage of the effect of the blow to roll a few meters away before getting up, putting distance between the destroyer and himself, time to regain his senses.
He studied the situation: Inferno was covered in wounds from head to toe and looked more like a skinned person than a living one, so much so that just the fact that he could still move a little finger was already supernatural. But he had reached the end of his resistance, and Damien could feel it.
This time it's the end for you, you dirty monster, said the latter.
This intervention had the only effect of provoking bursts of laughter from Inferno:
"Pfouahaha, you're funny!" he said. "But… do you know how many idiots have already said shit like this to me? How many of them were much better than you? How many years I've been doing this without anyone being able to stop me?"
"How much ?" Damien asked.
Inferno rushed towards him at full speed, ignoring his injuries, and began throwing punches at him continuously, which Damien had all the difficulty in the world to dodge. He was reduced to defensiveness, and could not even risk the slightest attack against Inferno at the risk of taking a bad hit and ending up pulverized.
"Thousands, tens of thousands of hypocritical righteous jerks like you!" Inferno shouted.
Damien was finding it more and more difficult to dodge. He had to find a solution. Quickly. That was it, there was always a solution. As always, he would end by narrowly escaping and receiving the acclamations of his loved ones.
"AND AMONG THEM, HUNDREDS WERE BETTER THAN YOU!"
Damien stumbled and tried to roll on the ground again to escape, but Inferno held him down with his foot, and tried to finish him off with his brass knuckles. Damien grabbed his forearms and mobilized all his strength to prevent the destroyer from approaching his fists any closer.
"HUNDREDS OF YEARS! And all this time, there has only been only one outcome…"
Damien pushed Inferno away with his legs, sending him flying several meters, before he crashed to the ground. But, once again, he stood up, and this time his smile had definitely lost all humanity.
"And this outcome can be summed up in three words" he finished. "Inferno. Wins. Again."
"Are you speaking in the third person now?" Damien asked sarcastically. "It won't change anything anyway, because I'm going to stop you here and now. I no longer have time to doubt, this time it's time to be a hero and rid the world of a trash like you"
"Hehe, that looks like a good program to me" Inferno said. "But I think you made a little, slight mistake in your pretty tirade of heroism"
"What are you talking about, scum?" Damien asked angrily.
"You say that you are going to get rid of waste. What you mean isn't 'getting rid of it', is it? Nah, what you want is to kill me"
Damien flinched listening to this.
"What are you talking about, motherfucker?" he asked.
"Pfft, I can't believe it, this idiot doesn't even understand something that simple" Inferno sighed, pretending to slap his hand on the forehead.
"Shut up, you-"
"No, you, shut up"
For the first time, Inferno had spoken without any trace of mockery, and for a brief moment he had stopped smiling.
"You heroes always only think of yourself" he said. "With your sweet words, you take people who had not asked for anything into your adventures. And when they sacrifice themselves for you? No problem, you shed a tear or two for the show and you finish the job, reaping all the acclamations in the process"
"No, I will never sacrifice anyone that s-"
"Ha, really? Wow, such kindness of heart. Actually, you're right, it's true that after all those friends of yours who sacrificed themselves earlier, even though you encouraged them to fight, there shouldn't be many people left for you to sacrifice, hehehe"
In anger, Damien took his shoe and threw it with all his might at Inferno's hand. The shoe disintegrated, but the blow had been so strong that the brass knuckles had broken in two, the pieces falling from the hand of the destroyer, whose fingers had been broken on impact.
"Hey, react with anger? I love it" Inferno scoffed. "It's just in character for a FUCKING LITTLE HEROIC BASTARD LIKE YOU!"
He threw himself at Damien once again, brandishing his good hand in the air, the one that still had brass knuckles on it. Damien prepared to dodge the blow, while watching for a possible new surprise kick. However, he was totally taken by surprise by a headbutt, which sent him to the ground.
"I told you so, didn't I?" Inferno asked.
Damien tried to get up but Inferno firmly maintained him on the ground.
"This time, the scenario won't save you. And Inferno. Wins. Again."
With these words, Inferno struck Damien's head with all his might with his sword hand, killing and disintegrating him instantly.
"Heh, I'm a real poet" he said.
In a final effort, being near the main character, or at least where he had ended his existence, Inferno used Imagination and returned to the Platonic Sea.
It was his victory.