The rooftop was a stage set for a world-ending drama. The sky churned above them, a vortex of unnatural, magical energy. The crystalline cube at the center of the ritual pulsed with an unstable, flickering light, threatening to either implode or explode at any moment. The two mindless puppets, their faces beautiful and blank, continued to channel their raw power into the artifact, their movements graceful and robotic. And in the middle of it all stood the man with the broken wing, his mismatched eyes gleaming with a manic, predatory light.

Kenjiro, his mind still reeling from 03's abrupt departure and the bombshell of responsibility that had been dropped on his slender shoulders, prepared himself for a fight. He could feel the familiar, angry thrum of his muscular shadow just beneath the surface, eager to be unleashed. He could feel the cold, amused presence of his second, blue-haired shadow, watching the scene unfold with a detached, chilling curiosity. He was ready.

The man with the broken wing, however, seemed to be in no rush. He flexed his body forward, a strange, theatrical gesture, and then struck a bizarre, dramatic pose, his right hand covering one of his mismatched eyes, his left hand placed firmly on his hip.

"I am Yuto Tanaka," he declared, his voice a smooth, melodic baritone. "But right now..." He paused, drawing out the moment, a self-satisfied smirk on his face. "Right now... I AM TOKIGAMI!"

Bombom's entire party just sighed, a collective, unified wave of pure, unadulterated secondhand embarrassment washing over them. The sheer, unmitigated cringe of the villain's dramatic entrance was almost as powerful as the magical vortex swirling above their heads.

DragonSlayer was the first to recover, his embarrassment quickly turning to his usual, arrogant rage. He scoffed, pointing his sword at the posing villain. "So, Tokigami," he sneered. "I'm gonna defeat you." He pointed a thumb at his own chest, a look of supreme confidence on his face.

"W-wait!" SynchroNoice piped up from behind him, his voice trembling. "Let's fight together!"

"He's right," Gluteus rumbled, his voice a low, serious growl as he stepped forward, his massive, unarmored form a wall of pure, intimidating muscle. "We should focus on discovering his weak spot first."

"Weak spot?" Tokigami laughed, a high, unhinged sound that grated on the nerves. "I have none!" He vanished. In a movement so fast it was almost impossible to track, he reappeared directly behind DragonSlayer. With a casual, almost lazy motion, he swiped his hand, his fingernails hardening into razor-sharp talons that sliced through the back of DragonSlayer's draconic armor, leaving a deep, open wound. "Oops," he cooed. "My hand slipped." He vanished again, reappearing next to the pulsating cube, a look of pure, sadistic glee in his mismatched eyes.

DragonSlayer cried out, a sharp, agonized sound, and collapsed to the ground, the wound on his back bleeding profusely. Lyrielle immediately rushed to his side, her hands glowing with a soft, green light as she began to heal him. But the healing was slow, sluggish. The wound seemed to be resisting her magic.

"Don't worry," Tokigami said, his voice dripping with a cruel, mocking sympathy. "I'm healing him. I froze the time of his body, so the wound will take two years for it to heal, even with your help." He laughed again, the sound echoing across the windswept rooftop.

A cold, hard rage, colder and harder than any he had ever felt before, washed over Kenjiro. He pointed a trembling finger at the laughing villain. "Hey! Who do you think you are?! Only I can hurt DragonSlayer that way!"

"So what are you going to do?" Tokigami taunted, his gaze shifting to Bombom. "You're just a Lily. But I... I have the power of a god. Check this out." He gestured to the two mindless puppets on either side of the cube. "On my left, a woman of pure, radiant light. And on my right, a man of deep, consuming shadow. Don't you want to know who they are?"

A vein throbbed on Kenjiro's forehead. "Go ahead..." he growled.

Tokigami stuck his tongue out, a childish, taunting gesture. "This woman's body," he said, pointing to the beautiful, vacant-eyed woman channeling light magic, "is 03's mother. And the man," he continued, gesturing to the handsome, empty-eyed man channeling dark magic, "is his father." He laughed, and this time, the sound was tinged with a strange, bitter sadness. A single, genuine tear traced a path down his cheek. He knelt on the ground, his shoulders shaking, and looked up at the churning, magical sky. "Don't you find that ironical?" he whispered, his voice cracking. "The same power he had, the perfect balance of light and dark... I'm artificially using it, thanks to that necromancer..."

Bombom's mind flashed back to the moment he had arrived on the rooftop, to the figure in the black robes who had stepped into a coffin and vanished. The necromancer.

"So that's how you got your powers?" he asked, his voice a low whisper.

"Exactly," Tokigami said, a manic, triumphant grin returning to his face. "All I had to do was eat a small, broken wing he gave me, and boom! I'm like a god now. And with this power, I'm going to be the king of this universe! HAHAHAHAHAHAH!" He threw his head back and laughed, a sound of pure, unadulterated madness.

"King of the universe? What a lame idea," Bombom said with a shrug, turning to his hover-drone with a bored expression.

"Hey! You have your dreams, and I have mine!" Tokigami snapped, his good mood instantly souring. "If you want to save these walking corpses, you should focus on me!"

DragonSlayer, who had been lying in a pool of his own blood, pushed himself to his feet, his body trembling with a mixture of pain and pure, unadulterated rage. "Y-you dumbass," he growled. "I'm going to—" He coughed, a spray of blood erupting from his lips, and collapsed again. Gluteus caught him before he hit the ground. "You now rest," the giant brawler said, his voice a low, firm command. "Leave things with me and Bombom." He gave his wounded friend a thumbs-up.

"F-fine," DragonSlayer gasped. "But... you better defeat him."

Gluteus nodded. "Lyrielle," he said, turning to the healer. "Go back to the King's throne room. Raise a barrier. Protect him, and protect DragonSlayer."

She nodded, her face pale but her eyes determined. She helped the wounded warrior to his feet, and the two of them began the slow, painful journey back down the stairs.

"What about me?" SynchroNoice asked, his voice a small, terrified squeak.

"Try not to die," Bombom said with a shrug and a smile.

SynchroNoice made a soft "boop" sound with his mouth, and then, with a new, strange confidence, said, "Noice."

Bombom sighed. His chances of dying were high. He didn't know if he could survive this fight. What if Tokigami was telling the truth? What if he really did have the power of a god? He looked at the two mindless puppets, at the parents of the beautiful, mysterious man who had haunted his thoughts for weeks. 03 had told him to deal with this. He had to do something.

"So," Tokigami said, his patience finally wearing thin. "Since you guys aren't going to attack..." He lifted his left arm, and the woman's body, 03's mother, lifted her hand in perfect synchronicity. "Take this." A beam of pure, incandescent light, a laser of raw, holy power, shot out, aimed directly at them.

Gluteus jumped in front of Bombom and SynchroNoice, raising his massive, improvised shield—a large, thick slab of stone he had ripped from the rooftop floor. The beam of light slammed into it, and while the shield held, the sheer, concussive force of the blast sent the giant brawler skidding backward across the rooftop.

Bombom used the opportunity to charge, but Tokigami just raised his right hand. The man's body, 03's father, mimicked the gesture, and a forest of sharp, shadowy spikes erupted from the ground, blocking Bombom's path and forcing him to jump back to where he had started.

This was bad. They were completely outmatched. He rushed over to SynchroNoice and began to whisper a frantic, desperate plan in his ear.

Tokigami just laughed. "Whatever you're planning, it's futile against me," he taunted.

SynchroNoice listened intently to Bombom's whispered instructions, and then, with a look of pure, unadulterated terror and a grim, suicidal resolve, he gave a single, firm nod.

The rooftop was a stage set for the end of the world. The swirling, unnatural vortex in the sky cast a sickly purple light on the scene below. Gluteus Maximus, his massive, unarmored form a bastion of pure, intimidating power, stood ready. SynchroNoice, his face a mask of grim, suicidal resolve, stood beside him. And at the center of it all was Kenjiro, his red eyes blazing with a desperate, furious light, facing down the self-proclaimed god of time.

"There's no point in you coming at me," Tokigami laughed, his voice a high, melodic sound that was completely at odds with the raw, destructive power he commanded.

But Bombom wasn't listening. He rushed forward, his mind a maelstrom of conflicting emotions. The ethereal, blue-haired boy emerged from his back, a serene, almost bored expression on his face. As Tokigami raised his hand, causing a forest of sharp, shadowy spikes to erupt from the ground, the blue shadow simply waved a hand of his own. A bridge of pure, crystalline ice formed over the deadly spikes, a smooth, elegant arc that led directly to their target. Bombom didn't hesitate. He ran up the icy bridge, and as he reached its apex, the blue shadow materialized a long, beautiful sword made of the same translucent ice in his hand. He leaped, the ice sword held high, ready to bring it down on the smirking villain.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.