After hearing the loud thud from afar that announced his defeat, both Cat and Radu looked towards them again. Radu spoke first.

  “No way… Even as-”

  “Yeah, even as a human. I suppose it wasn't enough. Kiddo, who's gonna save you now?” Cat said visibly worried as he put his right paw on his hips and the left one on his forehead. “There's no way. Soul energy is supposed to close elementalist energy channels. Just how much energy does this woman actually have?”

  “Seemingly limitless. Do you not see the world that is around us?”

  “That is no elementalist anymore. That woman, no, that thing. It takes a monster to fight another monster. We need someone, something. Something on the same level or brutality and cruelty."

  . . .

  Iulia gracefully stepped down onto the platform to check Ares’ condition. His body suddenly began twitching like crazy, noticing her energy nearby and trying to wake him up.

  “You hate me so much that you want to kill me even when you're unconscious, don't you?” Iulia said as she squatted down to take a closer look.

  “The fight is over. You can put him to rest~.” She continued, whispering quietly.

  “N-no…” Ares spoke unconsciously. “No defeat…”

  He started standing up, kneeling with one leg, trembling like jelly. After a few moments, he managed to stand up. In an instant, his bones shattered, making him fall on his back, his body finally giving up for real.

  “Well, that was anticlimactic.” Iulia said before standing up.

  She looked over to Cat and Radu, noticing that they were looking at her. Raising her left hand, she charged up a beam on her middle finger. A loud whirr accompanied by a red flash was created before the release, a strong and quick beam of raw energy aimed at Cat. Cat braced himself with his right arm. The beam pierced his blue barrier alongside his entire body.

  “Ugh, this bitch!” Cat said as he felt himself get pierced.

  “CAT! NO!” Radu shouted as he tried to extend himself towards him but only managing to lose his balance and fall down to his knees with a thud.

  Iulia zoomed over, grabbing Cat’s neck into a chokehold.

  “You're. Mine.” Iulia said with a low growling tone.

  Cat struggled as he tried to grab her hand with his right paw. He pulled out his little claws but they were not effective.

  “Cheap tricks aren't going to-”

  Cat aimed his left limb at her face. From it, several small cannons came out, followed by a strong flash bursting out of them at once.

  “ARGH, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE?!” Iulia screamed as she covered her eyes and backed off a few steps.

  “I'm done with you.” Cat said before a portal opened behind him. He backed off through it before it closed with a quiet zoom.

  Radu watched as Cat left him there alone, panting. Iulia broke free from the stun and looked at Radu angrily as she let out an annoyed growl. Radu frowned upon her as he slowly stood up again, preparing himself for anything. He threw a weak right punch at her which she quickly caught and countered with a right punch right through his chest, piercing through with ease. Upon further inspection, her smug expression faded as she realized she punched a vessel of dirt. Radu left a puppet of dirt to attack her as he went behind her underground, only to rise up and kick her in the back of her right knee, catching her off guard and forcing her to fall down. The vessel of dirt collapses onto her, dirtying her up. She groans before bursting with some energy in order to splash the dirt off of her. She quickly stood up and turned to Radu. He threw a left punch at her face. The impact was strong enough to break his hand, not damaging her whatsoever. He let out a groan of pain before locking in and kicking her in the face with his left leg, whose femur broke on impact as well, making him fall back down with a thud. Iulia grinned down at him. Suddenly, all the bruises and all the wounds on her body started healing. In mere seconds, her body was in perfect condition. Radu's eyes widened upon realizing the healing factor that she possessed. Iulia began to laugh quietly once she saw the terror on his face. Her laughter grew into a psychotic one, getting louder and louder.

  “What's wrong, huh?! Where's all that determination at?!”

  The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

  Radu could do nothing but look up at her from below, his body beginning to accept its fate.

  . . .

  The sphere of energy kept on draining stefan3B, using the chains as its malicious conduit, managing to leave not even a stain of power within his corpse. However, this wasn't enough for the greediness of the chains. They began extracting power out of the hoodie itself. The power storage, panicking, sent shock signals through stefan3B’s limb body, desperate to wake him up. The storage gave indirect information to stefan3B about the situation they're in through his psyche, allowing him to feel how the hoodie itself was being drained in the present moment. stefan3B felt responsible to do something about it, so stop the robbery. With struggle and encouragement from the hoodie itself, stefan3B managed to slow down the absorption of energy from his power storage by becoming one in mind together with the hoodie temporarily. After about 10 seconds, the chains stopped the extraction, making them lose their glowing as they turned into a dark shade of red. stefan3B could finally exhale at once. The hoodie kept on nudging stefan3B, as it was seemingly not satisfied with just that. Focusing their minds together once more, stefan3B clenched the muscles of his arms and legs, forcing the chains to reactivate. This time however, the chains would respond in a different manner. Instead of absorbing energy… they were actively feeding his vessel energy straight from the outside atmosphere. Slowly but surely, stefan3B felt a weird surge of power within his body. As if the tables were flipped, his hoodie became greedy, demanding more and more energy to make up for its loss. The more stefan3B was charged, the more he forced the chains to feed into him, constantly accelerating this process.

  From outside, the sphere began to visibly and audibly shake, grabbing Iulia’s attention as she turned around to watch it.

  “Huh? What could he even be doing in there?” Iulia said to herself, confused.

  The chains suddenly turned white and started twitching like crazy. stefan3B flexed his body once more, pulling them straight. He opened his eyes and looked up as he clenched his teeth. His body began to be covered in a faint, almost peaceful dark blue aura. Around the sphere, white cracks began to appear. The power feeding was still in process, actively accelerating beyond any level it was meant to be used at.

  stefan3B forced his eyes shut, but when he opened them… he was no longer tied up, no longer feeling hell energy being injected into him, no longer powering up.

  He found himself standing in an empty white void, even emptier than the Purgatory himself.

  “Hey” a familiar voice called out behind him.

  stefan3B slowly turned around… only to be greeted with the sight of… himself?

  “Hey there, missed me?” Stefan said with half lidded eyes and a warm smirk, his hands behind his back.

  “You look like me, no, you must be me. But, where's your hoodie?”

  Stefan chuckled deeply as he leaned forward slightly while keeping eye contact.

  “You clearly don't know me then, do you~?” Stefan said with a teasing tone.

  He wore a blue t-shirt which featured a patriotic American gangster singing into a microphone. For some reason, that shirt reminded him of something. A very, very old memory, that traced back years ago.

  “Welcome to your own void, Stefan. I am the memories you lost. Remember?”

  stefan3B took a step back.

  “No… No, get out of here… I don't need you! I've tried my best to avoid you! Do you know how much I tried saving his body?! You can't just show up and ruin everything I did until now!” stefan3B shouted defensively while pointing accusingly.

  Stefan raised an eyebrow, his expression turning smug.

  “Hm~? I think he deserves to know his origins, my dear soul. Painful or not, he has to know his true past.”

  “No! He's been through enough! I'm done with this! As his soul, I will not allow his trauma to keep haunting him!”

  Suddenly, the void began to shake. Both of them looked around curiously.

  “Well, looks like we don't have too much time left. Tell me… what did you even accomplish while I was gone? Hm? Did you just cower away like an animal? Did you want to forget the wrongdoings that everyone forced him into? Is that it?”

  “You would've done the same if you were in my place. Don't you dare say that to me.”

  “Oh, cut the bullshit.” Stefan swipes his hand gently into nothingness, his other hand resting on his hips as he straightens his pose. “What did you even try to become? Do you think you're better without me?”

  “Matter of fact…”

  The void began to shake vigorously. Audible cracks echoed around the dimension.

  “... Yes.” stefan3B said with a challenging expression, visibly sweating.

  “Hm~? Become a better what? A better person? A better friend? A better… brother?”

  stefan3B clenched his fists and teeth in rage.

  “You just want to hear me say it, don't you?”

  Crack. Boom.

  Stefan smiled widely as he opened his arms. He chuckled deeply.

  “You became the own thing you're trying to destroy-”

  “A better weapon.” stefan3B said suddenly while looking down.

  The sudden interruption shocked Stefan, his arms falling limp around him.

  “H-huh…? What…? No… you've lost your mind…” Stefan said, the terror in his tone being crystal clear.

  stefan3B looked into his eyes.

  “THAT'S WHAT I'VE BECOME!” stefan3B said before lunging at Stefan and pinning him down to the floor. “A BETTER WEAPON! A BETTER WEAPON! A BETTER WEAPON!” stefan3B chanted as he repeatedly bashed his fists into Stefan’s face.

  Battered and messed up, Stefan smiled into his face. The room was on its final breath of stability.

  “Looks like we're gonna have a rough time mixxing together~...” Stefan said with a bloody face.

  stefan3B’s expression contorted further with anger.

  “NO! I WILL NEVER NEED YOU! BURN IN HELL, YOU SCUM-” but before he would deliver his final punch, the void collapsed into a singularity, mixing the two personalities together.

  . . .

  The now white chains were at their limit. The accelerating speed of power transfer heating them up and destroying their durability. Once outside the discussion within himself, stefan3B raised his arms above his head and let out a wild, primal battle cry before snapping the chains in one swift motion, forcing the zone to collapse and burst into nothingness, sending an impending warning to Iulia.

  “So… the fight resumes, huh? What a bum.” Iulia said as she cracked her knuckles. “The disintegration storm will prove itself worthy. After all, everything I do is perfect. There's no way he'll be able to outsmart me this time.”