The Monk’s words rang through the space as White slowly stood.

He watched the Monk’s hand fall limp at his side, his body only a husk of what it had been before.

It was as though every trace of life had been drained away, leaving a skeletal frame, a hollow face, and a neck too frail to keep his head from drooping.

Yet, even through his weakness, his shadow began to spread once more, and out came the beast.

It held the same vigor as it had since the beginning, shadowy eyes staring at White in blind rage.

White took his gaze away from it, turning to his hands.

There was a crack on his form, beneath which showed something he had almost forgotten he had.

Aether Pulse.

It was beneath this white exterior of his, the blue lightning power that he had obtained from the Orb.

"I understand now..."

His eyes quietly shut, and his right hand slowly rose into the sky.

CRACK!

The sound of cracking echoed out as fractures trailed across his white skin, sparks of blue lightning coursing out from the cracks.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOAR!

The creature roared out once more, sending the terrifying shockwave ripping toward White, who, in return, quietly swung down his hand like a sword.

RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIP! 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

The droning sound of space being sliced into nothing echoed out as a massive arc of blue lightning burst outward from White’s slash.

It appeared before the shockwave and, like a knife through butter, ripped it to pieces.

BOOOOOOOM!

The void shook as the beast bounced, covering hundreds of meters in seconds.

Its enormous claws spread, then came crashing down toward White.

Their shadow consumed him, but when they struck and reduced the space beneath to nothingness, he was gone.

The creature’s head snapped sideways, finding White standing upon its shoulder.

His hands slowly reached out, landing on the beast’s shadowy forehead and piercing through the shadows.

"Begone!"

FLICCCCKER!

Light followed after White’s word as his entire body became a blue pulse of energy.

All of that energy was transferred through his hands and into the beast, sending blue light coursing through its shadowy body.

ROOOOOOOOOOOOAR!

It roared out in pain, scrambling back, gripping at its own head, before it turned its claws into itself, trying to rip out the lights, but it did nothing.

The light only grew fiercer and fiercer, devouring its shadow, and in the next moment,

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

The beast exploded, sending forth an explosion of shadow and light.

The explosion reached towards the Monk, seeking to erase him, but all at once, everything paused as White appeared before him, both of his hands reaching outward.

Rolling them as if around a ball, the entire explosion was pulled into itself until it became a tiny sphere, whose colour continually changed from blue to dark.

It landed in his palm, and he turned back to the Monk.

"You understand it now, don’t you?"

He asked White, who watched as the man himself began to quietly fade away into dark motes.

"If you had a chance to go back... would you have done things differently?"

"Would you have chosen not to give it all up for one final burst of monstrous power?"

White asked, looking down at the ball in his hands.

"I wouldn’t have changed a thing... not even in a hundred lifetimes."

Those were the Monk’s final words before he was fully reduced into dark motes of light, disappearing into the void.

All that remained standing was White, his blue body flickering in the space.

His fingers slowly folded against the ball in his hands, turning it to nothing but ashes that drifted beneath him.

"I’m sorry."

He whispered as his hands quietly fell by his side, head dropping low.

"I’m truly sorry."

---

"There’s no hope, High Scientist Lucas."

A scientist said by the side, pulling on the shoulders of the old man whose staff had fallen to his feet and whose fingers repeatedly typed across hundreds of flashing panels.

GRUUUUUUUM!

The sound of the heavy door opening echoed from behind, and in stepped a man who made the scientists bow.

"Commander Zoltan."

The scientists greeted him as he appeared before them.

"How has he been?"

The man asked, the corner of his gaze looking at the High Scientist, who seemed to have aged a few years.

"It’s been six days now, and he has not taken a step away from the holographs."

The scientist said with a downcast expression.

"All of you leave. You have my authority as a Commander. Take a week off."

Commander Zoltan said, and the scientists bowed before all of them began leaving.

GRUUUUUUUM!

The heavy door shut, and it left Commander Zoltan alone with High Scientist Lucas.

The commander looked up at the cylindrical tank where the humongous body was still floating, but now there were changes hard to ignore.

Firstly, the tank, which was previously covered in golden liquid, now had its liquid reduced to foamy black.

The raging and overwhelming aura from the creature had also disappeared, replaced by the feeling of death.

Before, looking at the creature gave one a feeling of power.

But now, it simply gave off the aura of a corpse.

"We failed, Lucas."

Commander Zoltan said.

"The body is dead, and there are no readings on the boy’s soul existing within."

"We’ve lost both, and time moves on. The more time we take to get over this... the more human lives are lost."

"We must put this behind us..."

He said to the High Scientist, whose fingers finally paused over the holograph.

"I know. I... I just wanted to know how we lost."

He said.

"You didn’t lose..."

The voice echoed out, and both paused, turning their heads backwards.

"Is someone still there? I said to give us some space!"

Commander Zoltan shouted behind him, but then,

"There’s no one."

It said, the voice echoing in both their minds.

FLICKER!

Rays of blue light shone upon them, and both men immediately snapped forward where an unbelievable scene unfolded in the tank.

"Im...Impossible."