Zane found how fast he healed depended on two things. How strong his healing powers were and how strong his body was. The stronger the body, the harder it'd be to heal.
Right now Stormfire Renewal was overpowering. His body was laced with Elemental Steel. But Stormfire was a grade higher. Strange things started happening—things he'd never felt.
He felt body parts shifting inside him as they mended; he was regenerating so fast he could feel himself stitching together. Almost hear the muscles threading together, strengthening by the second.
He turned his hand over, admiring the work. His skin had been torn and bruised a moment ago—now there wasn't a scratch.
***
"Good god," breathed Tyler. "You'd think you'd know what to expect from him by now. But the Savage Sage just keeps blowing our expectations out of the water! What kind of growth is this?! If you thought Eze was fast…this is just—just absurd!"
"He's been wrecking all these bosses with ease!" said Becca. "We haven't even seen him struggle!"
"The question is, just how long can he keep doing this?! Here come the next set," said Tyler. "The Executioners!"
Two armored ogres were sauntering up the bridge, spiked, flaming maces hefted over their shoulders. They were small hills of sheer muscle.
Zane ran straight for them, hammers streaking smoldering blue trails. Frowning, the Executioners put up their maces—
With a tap of a Volt Step Zane was in their midst. It was like he'd teleported—the only evidence he'd hadn't was that jagged crackling electric-blue trail. And the sound, loud and fierce—like a peal of lightning.
And he brought death with him.
His hammers came flying. And he just ran the Executioners over. No resistance. They roared in shock, trying to scramble back to their feet. One of their maces had been split clean in two. The other's breastplate caved halfway through; blood erupted from its mouth. A mouth still open in surprise.
They hardly made it to their knees before Zane was all over them again. The hammers spiked down. Comets streaking to earth.
BOOM!
Stormfire splashed out, so bright it hurt to watch—it took Six smashes in all. Zane even took a mace to the face, one of the Monster's dying flails. It hardly fazed him.
"Look at that speed!" gasped Tyler. "How's he moving so fast—at his size?!"
"It has to be a new Skill!" said Becca.
"This is getting out of hand, folks," said Tyler, shaking his head. "Just imagine—if you thought that killer juggernaut was scary before… now imagine a killer juggernaut running straight at you! He just—just ate that mace like it was nothing!"
"If I had to guess—he's barely under 75%, if that!" said Becca. "He's always been able to take a punch… Look—he's grinning!"
Then a THUMP echoed out from the castle, and both reporters stiffened. So did the crowd; they stood there breathless; they couldn't look away.
"But now comes the real test," breathed Tyler. "The Colossus.
𝔻𝕣𝕖𝕒𝕕 ℂ𝕠𝕝𝕠𝕤𝕤𝕦𝕤
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟙𝟜𝟚
It had to stoop to get out of the castle. One great armored Monster. Rising like some kind of ancient evil god. Its whole body smoldered with Blackflame, leaking out between the chinks in the armor, giving it a devilish aura.
"The Savage Sage had to resort to tricks to kill it last time," said Becca, biting her lip. "And even then he barely survived… he may be a lot stronger now, but he's still got to be careful!"
"That thirty-Level gap could be serious trouble," Tyler agreed. Then—"What is he—he can't be serious!"
Zane was bull rushing the thing. Fearless. You could see the determination burning in his eyes. The Colossus swept one great arm down, angling to crush him—
He tapped a Blitz.
He streaked so fast it took a moment for them to find him. They followed that lightning-blue trail—
"Over its head!" said Becca.
An instant after, two exquisite blasts sounded off on the Colossus's head, one after another. The giant beast staggered, groaned; it was sporting a smoking crater in its massive stony head—a crater that wouldn't stop burning, flickering that telltale blue.
The Colossus rumbled angrily, tried swiping at him again. But Zane Volt Stepped and suddenly he was behind it again, lining up two more brutal shots, sinking craters through its broad back. It flinched, roared, spun around—but Zane was flying, streaking overhead. He kicked hard off its face—yet another Volt Step.
Then he was crashing into the ground. He landed in a crouch. Behind that huge Monster—again as it was spinning, trying to find him like some dumb bull chasing a red flag. And he cracked it twice behind the head for its trouble.
Now the Colossus' body was a patchwork of crater-blacks and sparking white-blues. Stormfire was spreading—and fast. Wrestling with the Blackflame, forcing it down, snuffing it out. Asserting its dominance all over its enormous frame.
The beast tried swinging its monstrous fist. A fist which—if it connected—would mean terrible news for Zane. A stupidly heavy length of steel soaked in pure Blackflame. Only…
"It can't hit him!" cried Becca. "He's just too fast!"
They watched the Colossus stumbling around. Watched Zane streaking all over it. Systematically breaking it down one blast at a time. Five blasts, six blasts, and the thing began to stagger; each wobble shook the bridge…
"He's making it look easy!" choked Tyler. "And the thing's got thirty Levels on him!"
"Wait," said Becca. "Look how he's moving. He's not even in full control!"
It was true. Zane constantly overshot and undershot. Once they looked for it, they could see he clearly meant to kick off the Colossus's shoulder one time, but ended up floating over it. Or another time—meant to land on his feet, but was forced to somersault dangerously close to the edge…
"My god. You're right, Becca—this isn't even his final form!" said Tyler. "He's getting better even as he's fighting!"
Eight smashes. Nine. Ten, and the Colossus was going down like a sunken ship. A tenth Smash Brought it to its knees—
Then it happened.
The Monster got lucky.
Zane overshot a little too much.
The Colossus was desperate—flailing all it could—and It just so happened one of its wild bashes went straight in Zane's path.
When it happened, the Colossus seemed as surprised as Zane did.
But accident or not… it still landed with the same devastating force.
CRACK—BOOM!
Hundreds of tons of raw power, raw fire, went straight into Zane Walker's body. Crushed him into the bridge so hard it shook to its very foundations…
Silence.
The crowd stared, open-mouthed. So did the reporters. Up in the Minas Tirith hotel, one woman was clutching a big pillow, huffing, glaring daggers at the projection…
But it said something that after seeing one man take a full-power shot from a giant thirty Levels above him—
That when the dust cleared, and the arm raised, and they saw Zane's huge shattered body splayed out in the crater, facedown and unmoving, oozing blood all over, one arm bent at a very strange angle…
Not a single person watching believed he'd stay down.
That was not the Zane Walker they knew.
If they saw anyone in the world shattered like that they would've thought it was over. For sure.
But Zane Walker was no common man.
That man had a will like none of them had ever seen—so much so that some of his most fervent fans didn't even believe he was human; he was something more, he had to be. When they saw him stand again and again—there was something there, in his eyes…
Zane Walker would not go down to a shot like that.
And they were right.
The body began to stir. Began to groan. Build itself up. They couldn't see much of his face, other than that it'd been crushed pretty bad. Stormfire exploded all over his body, masking him, mending him at a terrifying speed…
But they saw his eyes.
He'd been plain having fun before.
But that shot made him angry.
He lunged at the Colossus in a heaving, bleeding fury. And unleashed his rage on its burning melting body.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Like the world was some great drum and Zane was beating it over and over. Stormfire licked the skies, spread to the very stones of the bridge, overpowering its protective runes—and suddenly everything was alive with Stormfire…
And where the Colossus had been, there was now a lake of viscous black liquid. Its melted, ruined remains.
There Zane stood. Fist clenched, head raised to the heavens. Radiating pride and fury; you could feel his spirit burning through the projection... he was staring straight at the castle.
Daring it to give him its best shot.
"Pure destruction," gasped Becca; her voice sounded faint, awed. "Just… just brutal! That Colossus got in the cleanest shot it could have hoped for—its just wasn't enough!"
"Forget the Bosses," roared Tyler. "The real Monster's standing right in front of you. Imagine having to face that—it's like you have to fight him twice! Even when you beat his body, which is hard enough, you've got to beat his spirit too! Or he just might will himself back to life!"
Becca coughed, cleared her throat. "And they'd better come fast," she breathed. "That Stormfire of his is doing work! Look, he's hardly even bleeding anymore! Just a minute ago there was no skin on that arm. Now it's almost good as new!"
"I never thought I'd say this," said Tyler, shaking his head. "But god damn. I almost feel sorry for the poor Monsters they'll send out to face him… here comes the last wave now! Eight more minions—then the final Boss!"
The last minions were all in the Level 130s.
They might as well have not come out at all.
All they did was give Zane a little more time to recover. Even hobbling and broken, standing on one leg, it was like watching pigs walking into a meat grinder. So long as those hammers could still fly, they had no hope. Zane could summon fire from the sky, a fire like nothing they'd ever seen. They could only look up in awe and horror as the wrath of the heavens fell upon them. And wasted them.
"It's just too easy!" said Becca.
Then came the final challenge.
Everything got quiet. Unnaturally quiet.
Then the castle began to tremble. All of it—from its spires to its walls. Stones broke off; clouds of dust leaked out.
Then the whole thing blew.
Shattered. Spires capsized, fell over into the lava. The walls, the gates, it all tumbled straight down…
But while the castle fell, a shadow rose from within. Spreading its tattered wings against the sooty sky. A giant demon with a gnarled crown of horns, a shriveled dragon-head. Batlike wings, and the legs of a goat. A Frankenstein's Monster of bloated decayed animal parts, brought to horrible life.
It roared. And its body erupted in Blackflame. It was one massive burning pyre; the aura roared out, dazzling and oppressive and suffocating…
𝔸𝕤𝕦𝕣𝕒 𝕂𝕚𝕟𝕘, ℝ𝕦𝕝𝕖𝕣 𝕠𝕗 ℍ𝕖𝕝𝕝
𝔼𝕤𝕤𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕃𝕖𝕧𝕖𝕝 𝟙𝟜𝟠
"The final Boss," breathed Tyler. "Here it comes!"
"With that Level difference," said Becca. "It could all come down to who hits first!"
Then the beast squinted.
Another aura brushed up against its Blackflame. A rising aura. It came from a single blue star rising high into the sky—
Gasps rankled the crowd.
And when that star reached its peak, it flared. Flared so hot, so bright it changed the world. Made everything take after its color. A shockingly intense bright-blue. They swept over the Asura King's aura the way a blizzard wind sweeps over a candle flame. Voiding it. And suddenly the Asura King was left shivering.
Its veiny eyes bulged. It opened its mouth to scream, to roar—
And Zane fed the Asura King his single strongest attack.