Dead, pulverized, atomized, this was the state Mike, Sora, Lum and Clarc were in.
"But I guess it's not just going to end like that, huh?"
Suddenly, as Shinki had just said this sentence, the four reappeared at the place where they were before being hit by the explosion, in exactly the same state. Shinki stopped smiling and frowned slightly but didn't get angry:
"I'm going to take a risk and assume that we owe this nice surprise to you, Mike, am I right?" he asked.
"Heh, maybe" Mike replied.
"This line is very annoying, it's a good idea" Shinki said. "Anyway, is this the moment where you explain to me how you did it, or do I have to guess?"
It was Mike's turn to show an annoying smile:
"Nah, it's okay, I'm nice enough to explain" he replied." Actually, it's really simple, remember that recently I learned to Imagine movements? And, when you teleported that sun to try to burn us, I realized that it wasn't just about the movements of physical objects, but also about temperature
And so I thought to myself: hey, if I can Imagine the movement of so many different things, can I also do it for time? It would basically be like manipulating time and could prevent you from being resurrected. After all, when you undo your own injuries, it's basically a step back in time.
So I asked Lum to help me gather the energy to do a test, and when you attacked, I had just enough to give it a try. And it worked: we got pulverized but we survived by going back in time"
"Oh, so overall, you copied my ability. And while you were explaining all this to me, the four of you went at it and managed to gather the energy so that you could once again create a movement in time, to prevent me from coming back to life again. next time you manage to kill me" Shinki concluded.
"Ok, nothing to say, it's well done"
"I learned from the best" Mike said before the fight resumed.
Lum was exhausted, Sora had just given all his energy to Mike and Mike himself had to stay ready to prevent Shinki from resurrecting when he was killed again.
Clarc was therefore alone against the destroyer. On the other hand, after going through all that effort, coming back from all those deaths, and launching all those large-scale attacks, even though he could recover his energy at will, Shinki simply didn't have the focus needed anymore. to use Imagination other than to undo one's deaths and injuries.
Clarc, who was basically a beginner in this area, obviously couldn't use it in such a situation either. So it was a fight purely based on their natural abilities: Clarc's naturally abnormal strength and Shinki's telekinesis.
The latter was in a precarious position, because being still in the Platonic Sea, he had no viable projectile nearby, and Clarc was too resistant and agile to be controlled by his telekinesis. Suddenly, knowing that a single blow from Clarc would be fatal, he found himself having to maintain the distance and play for time, even knowing that it was disadvantageous for him, because each second spent was a little more energy recovered by Lum, Sora and Mike.
"Hey, former Captain Clarc, wouldn't you like to settle this peacefully?" Shinki asked. "After all, a wise man resolves conflicts with words, right?"
Clarc ignored him superbly and tried to punch Shinki in the head, which was dodged at the last minute by the latter.
"Come on, as a reward for all those times I took care of Sora for you!" Shinki tried.
"Oh, it's true that I must thank you, dear king. Hey, that's my thanks for taking me hostage!" Clark shouted.
He swung his fist towards Shinki's head. The latter managed to deflect the blow by telekinesis, but Clarc's enormous fist still brushed against his arm and that was enough to make him explode.
"Argh, I guess that'll teach me how to piss off a guy twice my size" Shinki joked, putting some distance between them.
He tried to undo his arm injury, only to find he couldn't:
"Mike, smart guy!"
To reverse the damage, Shinki used Imagination to make his body go back in time. Except that now that he could imagine movements over time, Mike continuously imagined an opposite movement. In this way, Shinki's last dangerous ability was neutralized, and at the rate things were going, even if he could survive Clarc's incessant attacks, he would die from the blood lost from his arm wound.
"Haha, obviously, no one comes to save me when I'm about to die!" Shinki yelled, laughing. "But it's nothing new, after all even my master doesn't believe in me, that won't stop me from getting through this time again!"
He always had a smile on his face, but that one came purely from his stubbornness to win. Suddenly, he used his telekinesis again, not on one of the enemies but on his own blood, which was floating around him.
"Here's a gift!"
he sent dozens of drops of blood flying towards Lum at a speed that would make a rifle bullet seem slow in comparison.
Mike and Sora were protected by black iron armor and Clarc was too durable even without any protection, but the fairy had no way to survive such an attack. Thus, Clarc was forced to jump back to protect her with his body.
"Urgh!" he shouted as drops of blood hit his back.
The blow only hurt but didn't really injure him. On the other hand, it was enough to push him away from Shinki, giving the destroyer a moment of respite.
"Heh, looks like four enemies in a disadvantageous location was too much for a loser like me" Shinki laughed. "Come on, see you again!"
He headed towards the entrance to a story, running as fast as he could with one arm missing.
"Oh no, he's going to escape!" Mike exclaimed.
But there was nothing they could do: Clarc and Lum were in no position or condition to stop him and Mike had to continue using Imagination to prevent Shinki from making his injuries disappear. If Shinki managed to enter the story, even if the group miraculously managed to find him before he had recovered, they would lose home advantage: in the Platonic Sea, there were no viable projectiles but in the stories, there were all kinds of objects of various sizes that he could throw at them with his telekinesis.
He'd already proven he could move objects of all sizes, so it was almost certain they'd end up buried under mountains the second they entered the story after him.
"Hehe, if I really can't win, then the least I can do is stop you from doing it" Shinki said.
He was only a few meters from the beginning of the story when, suddenly, he stopped dead in his tracks and lost his balance. As he was still in the Platonic Sea, he did not fall, but floated where he was, looking at the enormous thirty-centimeter nail that pierced him right through.
"Sorry, Mr. Shinki, but...sniff...I can't let you...sniff...go away and come back later to...sniff...hurt my friends" Sora said, sobbing.
No matter how much the former king had done and how much he wanted revenge. For Sora, it was despite everything the one who had been his best friend for years, the one who had helped him become a Traveler, the one he considered almost like his second dad.
"He's not going to get better this time, Mike?" Clarc asked, without knowing what he himself was hoping for.
"No" Mike replied. "This time it's over... at least for him"
Shinki tried to laugh, but he couldn't even do that anymore, and coughed several times before recovering his voice:
"Mike, I don't know... if you realize... but it sounded like a personnal attack, he managed to say. Heh, it's not nice... to attack a man on the ground..."
His voice was already weakening, a sign that he didn't have much longer.
Mr. Shinki… Sora began, without knowing what to say.
"Hey, don't be sad, buddy... it was the game and you won... that's all..." Shinki said.
He struggled with each of his words.
"If you want to make me happy… then come a little closer…"
Mike and Clarc watched the scene, a little hesitant to let Sora approach without knowing if there was a trap or not.
"Suspicious to the end...eh? It doesn't matter, you can get closer too... even you, the fairy who comes out of nowhere..."
Lum and the other two looked at each other for a moment before moving closer, just like Sora who had preceded them.
"This is going to sound stupid but... I thought there would be more than four people at my funeral... A fitting end for a loser, I guess..."
"If it helps you leave in peace, know that I never considered you a loser" Mike said. "All this time, I was the one who kept acting like a loser, but I never stopped getting better because of the people who pushed me, the people I worked so hard for for Frey who I must help, for Chloé who must be saved, for Sora and Clarc who believed in me. But most of the credit goes to you. All the time I was losing to you over and over again, I couldn't help but hate you for your crimes, but in the end, deep down, I was also jealous, jealous to see someone who saw me exceeded on all levels. I didn't try so hard to win against a loser, but against you, so I know the difference"
"Wow, you flatter me... but hey, in the end... there is still... one thing where you have always surpassed me..."
Shinki spat out a mouthful of blood but continued:
"It's really cliché but… you at least have… real friends. Look at me, beaten by four people... without anyone coming to help me... not even my master..."
"Mr. Shinki, all this time I, I, I really considered you my friend" Sora said.
Shinki was starting to lose consciousness, his eyes staring vacantly.
"Maybe... I too... should have considered you a... friend, Sora. You too, Mike, Clarc… I guess it would have been… nice to hang out with you more… I kind of regret that"
For the first time, Shinki showed a real smile, pure and sincere, not a provocative smile or one to hide what he was thinking.
"But, you know... even if I knew I could die... Even if it was only on principle... Even if... my pitiful defeat was a foregone conclusion... I had to try. After all…"
He raised his hand upwards, as if to reach the surface of the Platonic Sea:
"What's the point of playing the game of life if you don't try to win?"
With these words, Shinki's arm fell and he closed his eyes.
"Don't blame yourself for that, Sora... After all... this ending... I'm the one who chose it"
He stopped breathing, and his body disintegrated into particles of light, which dispersed into the Platonic Sea.
Shinki, Noir's right-hand man and inveterate gambler, had finally sunk into eternal rest.