Ikari and Zang stepped out of the ruined mall, the scent of blood and destruction still thick in the air. Just as they began walking, a blur of motion sliced through the silence—blindingly fast.
A massive sword tore through Ikari's chest.
Zang's breath caught in his throat as he turned, horror-stricken, to see Ikari staring down at the blade impaling him. Blood dripped from his lips as he gritted his teeth, his eyes flickering toward Zang. Before he could utter a word, an unseen force wrenched him from the ground, flinging him through the air like a ragdoll. His body crashed through the side of a neighboring building, vanishing in a cloud of dust and debris.
Zang barely had time to process before a crushing impact struck his ribs. He twisted instinctively, blocking just in time to prevent himself from being sent flying. A second attack came immediately—a blade aiming straight for his skull. He jerked back, narrowly avoiding the fatal strike.
Lucien stood before him.
His once-aristocratic features were now monstrous. His skin had paled to an almost ghostly white, his eyes a solid, glowing red with eerie blue sclera. His pupils, dark as blood, pulsed with malice. A crimson armor of living, writhing blood coated his arms, legs, and torso—sentient, shifting, and radiating pure malice.
"You fools thought you could just kill my younger brothers and walk away?" Lucien's voice was low, venomous, his lips curling into a snarl. "How foolish."
He lunged, his arm morphing into a lance of hardened blood, thrusting it straight at Zang's heart.
Zang barely parried, but the force sent him staggering. Before he could regain his footing, Lucien's knee drove into his ribs, sending a fresh surge of pain through his body. Another strike followed—a punch aimed for his skull.
Zang ducked under the blow and retaliated, his fist slamming into Lucien's face. At first, it seemed ineffective—until a delayed shockwave of endo energy erupted from the impact, sending Lucien skidding backward across the cracked pavement.
Lucien recovered quickly, gliding eerily across the ground. Zang tried to take to the skies, hoping to gain distance, but before he could ascend, a massive blood tendril shot up from the ground, coiling around his leg.
Lucien yanked.
Zang was ripped from the air, swinging violently before being slammed into the side of a building like a human wrecking ball. His vision blurred as he gasped in pain, debris collapsing around him.
He clawed at the tendril, twisting, thrashing—finally wrenching himself free. Gritting his teeth, he pushed himself onto his feet, panting.
I can't keep up.
The thought crept in, unbidden, cold. His hands trembled as he clenched them into fists.
He's too fast. Too strong.
A crushing weight settled in his chest.
I'm going to die.
Lucien blurred toward him once more.
Desperate, Zang fired a blast of dark endo, but Lucien sidestepped in a blink. Before Zang could react, Lucien's fist slammed into his gut with bone-shattering force, driving the air from his lungs. The impact sent him flying, tumbling across the ruined streets.
Above him, Lucien floated, his palm raised. A swirling mass of blood, massive and seething, coalesced into a sphere above his head—pulsating with devastating power.
"This is the end," Lucien sneered.
Zang barely had time to brace. He forced all his endo to the front of his body, forming a makeshift barrier.
The blood sphere detonated.
The explosion sent a shockwave ripping through the city, shattering windows, flattening debris, and sending Zang tumbling across the battlefield. His ears rang, his vision swam. His entire body ached.
Lucien landed leisurely, striding toward him.
"I'll kill you here and now," he said, his voice calm, almost amused. Then, with a smirk, he continued, "And once I'm done, I'll find your family. Your mother. Your two precious little sisters. I'll turn them into my personal vampire slaves. Then, I'll wipe out your entire planet."
Zang's breath hitched.
His hands curled into fists.
A deep, visceral rage clawed its way to the surface. His core burned—both cores, yellow and red, intertwining, surging, colliding within him. The energy spilled from his body in waves, uncontrolled, raw.
Lucien took a step back, sensing something wrong.
The memories of Ikari's words echoed through Zang's mind.
"If you're not alive to protect your family… who will?"
"Stop holding back."
"Die trying, or die anyway."
"Get even, or get even worse."
A violent explosion of white-rainbow energy erupted from Zang's body, tearing through the air with such force that the ground beneath him cracked. His hair lifted, charged with raw power. His eyes burned with a golden glow.
Lucien froze.
A deep, primal fear slithered down his spine.
No.
His instincts screamed at him.
No, that will kill me. If I don't run now, I am going to die.
Without hesitation, he launched himself into the air, two massive wings of blood spreading behind him.
But it was too late.
A blinding beam of energy, searing and absolute, tore through the sky. It vaporized everything in its path—air, matter, even the very oxygen molecules.
The city behind them ceased to exist.
As the light faded, Lucien lay on the ground, his body ruined. His right arm was gone. His left leg was a mangled stump. Half the skin on his chest had been erased. His breathing was ragged, uneven.
But even now, even as his body attempted to regenerate, a smile crept onto his bloodied lips.
"…You… you really are… remarkable." He coughed, dark liquid dripping from his mouth. "If I hadn't teleported… I'd be dead."
Zang stood tall, his body still thrumming with power. The red corruption of his artificial arm had spread further—over his shoulder, his neck, his face. The jagged red hood-like growth loomed over his head like a crown of rage. Yellow energy seeped from his very being, flickering, unstable.
Lucien chuckled weakly.
"This just got interesting."
His remaining arm twitched as blood tendrils erupted from his open wounds, rapidly reforming his missing limbs. The grotesque process was near-instantaneous, flesh bubbling and twisting back into place until he stood whole once more.
Zang, however, was different. He wasn't regenerating. His body wasn't healing like Lucien's. Instead, the power seeping from his artificial core was warping him, pushing him beyond his limits. His head tilted slightly, his glowing yellow eyes locking onto Lucien like a predator eyeing its prey. He clenched his fists, the veins in his arms bulging with raw energy.
Lucien wiped a trail of blood from his lips and smirked, though there was an unmistakable tension in his stance now. "You look different, Zang… More monstrous. More dangerous."
Zang didn't respond with words. His feet scraped against the rubble as he leaned forward, vanishing in an instant.
Lucien barely had time to react before a fist, charged with the blinding white-rainbow energy, collided with his jaw. The impact sent shockwaves through the air, ripping apart the pavement beneath them. Lucien's head snapped to the side, his feet lifting off the ground before his body was flung backward like a cannonball, crashing through three buildings before stopping.
A thick cloud of dust and debris filled the air. Before Lucien could fully recover, Zang appeared above him, already bringing his knee down like a hammer. Lucien threw his arms up in defense, but the sheer force of the impact sent him plummeting into the streets below, forming a deep crater upon impact.
Blood spewed from his mouth as he staggered to his feet, his crimson armor cracked and broken in places. He wiped the blood from his mouth again, his smirk faltering for the first time.
"Impossible…" he muttered. "Where did all this power come from?"
Zang, still silent, slowly landed on the ground a few feet away. His artificial arm pulsated with power, extending its red corruption further over his body. His breath was heavy, but his gaze remained unshaken, focused. He took a step forward, and the ground beneath him cracked from the sheer pressure of his energy.
Lucien gritted his teeth. I have to end this now.
His hands raised, blood surging around his body like a sentient storm. It hardened, forming dozens of crimson lances, each brimming with concentrated energy. In a split second, he launched them all toward Zang.
Zang's eyes flickered. He twisted his body, weaving between the lances with inhuman speed. The few that came too close, he deflected with his arm, the corrupted energy shattering them on contact.
Lucien clenched his fists, summoning more blood tendrils from the ground, which shot up like spears, aiming to skewer Zang from below.
Zang countered with a pulse of energy, sending out a shockwave that obliterated the tendrils before they could reach him. He lunged forward again, reappearing directly in front of Lucien.
Lucien's eyes widened.
Before he could react, Zang's fist, coated in spiraling endo energy, slammed into his gut. The force distorted the air itself, sending another shockwave rippling through the battlefield.
Lucien's body bent forward, his mouth opening in a silent scream as blood erupted from his lips.
But Zang wasn't done.
Grabbing Lucien by the throat with his artificial arm, Zang lifted him off the ground. The corrupted energy from the arm surged violently, creeping up Lucien's neck and face, burning into his flesh.
Lucien's smirk was gone now. His body trembled in Zang's grasp, his fingers clawing at the arm holding him, but he couldn't break free.
Zang slowly raised his other hand, a sphere of compressed white-rainbow energy forming at his palm, crackling with untamed power. The air itself trembled as the sphere expanded, ready to erase everything in its path.
Lucien's eyes filled with terror.
"W-Wait!—"
Zang didn't wait.
With a flick of his wrist, he slammed the energy sphere into Lucien's chest.
A deafening explosion tore through the city, the force of it disintegrating the ground beneath them and sending waves of destruction outward in every direction. The shockwave uprooted entire buildings, reducing them to dust. The sky itself seemed to split open, the sheer pressure of the attack causing the air to vibrate.
Lucien's scream was drowned out by the roaring energy as his body was engulfed in the explosion. The blast stretched far beyond the battlefield, a blinding pillar of energy shooting into the heavens.
And then—silence.
As the dust and smoke settled, Zang stood in the center of a massive crater, his body still radiating the golden-white energy. His breath was heavy, his body shaking from exhaustion.
At his feet, only a charred, unrecognizable husk remained of Lucien. His regeneration had finally failed him. His once-pristine armor had been vaporized, his limbs no longer reforming. The vampire prince, for all his arrogance, had been utterly destroyed.
Zang exhaled, his yellow eyes dimming slightly.
Then, he turned toward the rubble where Ikari had been flung earlier.
"…You're not dead, are you?"
A groan answered him, followed by the sound of shifting debris.
A moment later, Ikari emerged from the wreckage, bloodied but very much alive. He cracked his neck, shaking off the rubble as he walked toward Zang.
"Damn," Ikari muttered, looking around at the sheer destruction Zang had caused. He whistled lowly. "You really went all out, huh?"
Zang finally let out a tired chuckle, his body swaying slightly.
Ikari sighed, wiping the blood from his chin. "Well, you saved me the trouble of finishing that bastard off." He gave Zang a knowing grin. "And that new form of yours? Pretty scary."
Zang smirked weakly. "Yeah… I think I finally stopped holding back."
Ikari slapped a hand on Zang's shoulder. "Good. Because this was just the beginning."