He looked at his bruised hands and thought about the fight for a brief moment.
He didn't adjust his density consciously even once, no matter how hard he tried. It was his body.
If it hadn't, he would've died in that fight with little to no issue.
But now wasn't the time to think about that. Now was the time to fight. He looked ahead to see Bolt standing in front of the portal. It seemed his fight was enough of a spectacle to make him stay and watch.
He still had Paulina.
Not for long.
Zack kicked the air and charged at Bolt as fast as he could with the energy he had left.
Then he fell to the ground before Bolt could even notice him.
On the ground, he screamed at a sudden pain in his chest that had made him fall. That's when he saw a small hole with black flames seeping out of it. He looked ahead to see Bolt standing right in front of him, smiling. If he had had just a few more seconds, he would've reached him and finished all this.
His thought was interrupted by a foot stomping on his face.
"How dare you!"
It was Long.
"How dare you make my brother look so weak!"
"Now, now, Long, he beat him fair and square. In fact, I have a few words..."
"Shut it, you fucking geezer!" Long shouted, cutting him off. "I'm punishing this fool for his hubris, once and for all!"
Long then formed a small black flame on the tip of her index finger and formed a gun with the other fingers.
"L... Long, don't!" Blaze said, barely conscious. "Bolt is right. He defeated me fairly. He must be granted his wish to fight Bolt. It is the only honourable thing to..."
"I don't give a fuck about honour! We lost it the minute we wore these suits! You may cling to it, but I don't! Not anymore! There is no honour, and I can't let the fool who made my brother look bad live to see tomorrow!"
"Long!"
"Goodbye, Green Guardian," Long said, raising her finger to shoot Zack through the head. Bolt nearly set Paulina aside to rescue Zack, but he stopped suddenly.
Long, realising Bolt was taking too long to act, turned to see why, only to be greeted by another cocky smile from him. That's when she realised he wasn't the center of attention right now.
She turned again to see who it was, only to, this time, be greeted by a blue cloud of smoke...
"What the..." was all she could muster before three large tentacles grabbed her from behind.
She started to form her flames to get rid of them, but she got her last greeting right then and there: Ted's robotic fist, a fist powerful enough to knock her out cold.
"Wh... what the hell are you guys doing here?!" Zack screamed at his saviours, Ted and the kids.
"We thought it would be wrong to leave you behind," Ted said, looking away.
"No, I thought that. I had to convince you to come."
"I was considering it, though," Ted said. Rift ran over to Zack and used her tentacles to lift him back up. With Long unconscious, the black flames dissipated and no longer affected his healing, allowing him to quickly recover and draw his attention to the task at hand.
The moment Zack was free, though, Bolt frowned.
"Enough."
That was all it took. All it took to get everyone on their knees.
"I've seen enough," Bolt said, his face suddenly contorting to resemble a hobgoblin-looking monster. "You've failed, Blaze."
Blaze looked at him, confused.
"H... how? I know I lost this battle, but you know I'm not the strongest around.You literally saved my life for..."
"This isn't the kind of battle you lose, Blaze."
"What do you..."
"You failed the biggest test of them all: combat with an awakened."
"What does that mean? What does all of this mean? Why these tests?! Why do you even do this?!"
"If you want to know my plan, Blaze, fine. It doesn't matter if I tell you, since we won't be seeing each other again."
Blaze was silent. He didn't know how to respond to that.
"There is a nation, a secret one, filled to the brim with mumans, a utopia if you will..."
"I thought that was a myth!" Omniboy shouted, only to be met by a powerful glare from Bolt.
The glare was quickly replaced with a wicked smile.
"Oh, how wrong you are, my dear boy! I want you to build an army and wage war on that nation. Once I crush it, then I'll declare that humans have passed the test mumans once and for all."
"And why do you need me for this?!" Blaze asked, screaming.
"I wanted you to be my army. You had loyalty, bravery, charisma, and a great fighting ability, but you lacked potential. So, when faced with an obstacle that actually adapts to your solutions, you failed miserably, and I can't have that for my invasion."
"G... Guardian was right! You're insane! No way in hell I'm sacrificing my men for such meaningless bloodshed!"
"Meaningless? Testing the capability of man is meaningless? You're meaningless! Your men are meaningless! If you failed such a basic test, then your existence has no meaning! None of yours do! Speaking of which..."
"Wait..."
Before Blaze could even finish his sentence, they were gone. His men, their suits, Long, all of it was gone. With a mere hand gesture, Long's and his men's armor self-destructed, leaving small piles of dust where they used to be. Blaze couldn't even hear his sister's last words. He couldn't even remember the voices of his men.
And they were gone. They were erased by this psychopath.
Zack and the kids gasped in horror at the sight. They were still their enemies, but even they didn't deserve such a sudden death. Zack resolved within himself to make sure Bolt did not leave this area by any means necessary.
Blaze, on the other hand, was fuming more than he ever had in his life. So much so that, although he didn't know where it came from, a sudden pulse of energy surged through his body, forcing him to charge at Bolt.
However, it wasn't enough to pull through with the feat, causing him to fall back down the moment his eyes met Bolt's.
Immediately after he lifted his head off the ground, Bolt was right in front of him, with Paulina hunched over his shoulder.
"You couldn't even charge at me. Such a disappointment. You had everything I was looking for, except one major thing that puts the rest to shame."
Blaze only stared at him, too angry to reply.
"Potential," Bolt said, the last of his innocent facade fading for a few seconds. "That's why I don't really appreciate the look. Then again, I just disintegrated everyone you've loved in less than a second," Bolt said with a sadistic chuckle.
He then raised his arm and made a peculiar gesture with his fingers.
"What is it this time?" Blaze said, mustering up the courage to speak.
"Just tying up loose ends. Don't mind me," Bolt said playfully as he turned his arm into a plasma cannon, similar to the one that killed Jake...
Zack took a step forward, attempting to kick the air and charge at them, only to be stopped by Rift's tentacles.
"Let me go, girl! I can't..."
"You can't win!" Omniboy shouted, surprising Zack. "None of us stand a chance. Our best bet is to run now before he finishes..."
"I'm not leaving when there are lives in danger."
"But he's a criminal."
"Criminals have lives too!" Zack countered and charged at Bolt, using whatever little energy he had to escape Rift's tentacles.
Just as he reached a few meters from Bolt, who didn't even turn to look at him, he stopped and heard a loud noise near them.
An explosion... One whose origin everyone knew...
They all turned to see Bolt's portal destroyed and a large silhouette standing in the midst of debris and smoke.
Zack instantly realized who it was.
"Max!" he called, only for him to ignore it...
To be continued...