As half of the varmint's corpse passed through the portal, it scented blood and turned menacingly towards Xavier.
Xavier's heart pounded as the varmint twisted its grotesque grin toward him. Panic shot through him, but before he could react, the creature blurred behind him, clutching the unconscious Prince Magnus, its gaping maw ready to devour him.
Without hesitation, Xavier fired his vector shield, blasting the varmint away from Magnus with a concussive force. The impact sent the beast skidding backward, its expression momentarily stunned—before twisting into something almost delighted. It licked its lips, intrigued by Xavier's abilities.
In a blink, the varmint materialized in front of Xavier. A brutal fist connected with his face before he could react. The sheer force detonated through his skull, sending him hurtling through the air like a ragdoll. Darkness engulfed him as he crashed into the shattered terrain.
The varmint let out a disappointed sigh, turning away from Xavier's unconscious form. It had expected more of a challenge. Dismissing him, it returned its attention to Prince Magnus, intent on its original feast.
But Xavier's cosmic eyes flared to life, snapping him back to consciousness. The sudden awareness made his breath hitch. His vision swam, and pain throbbed in his head. He lifted a trembling hand to his eye, feeling the swelling from the varmint's strike.
"When did it even hit me?" The thought sent a chill down his spine.
He replayed the moment in his head, but there was nothing—no sign of movement, no warning. Just raw speed and overwhelming power. The realization sent fear coiling in his gut.
"He's faster—no, he's beyond stronger and faster than Prince Magnus…"
Despite knowing he was outmatched, Xavier forced himself to move. He couldn't let the varmint devour Magnus.
Then he saw it—the portal was growing. The eerie glow expanded wider, and from its depths, more varmints emerged. A swarm, spilling out like a living nightmare.
Xavier's breath hitched. "This... this is bad."
The lead varmint noticed him stir. It dropped Magnus and launched forward, claws outstretched. Xavier braced as it struck—only for his vector shield to flare instinctively. The impact sent a shockwave through the air. The varmint recoiled, its wrist twisted and warped in confusion.
A flicker of annoyance crossed its face before it lunged again, swinging its other hand. Xavier vanished in a burst of speed, reappearing behind it mid-air. He fired rapid bursts of compressed air, but the attacks barely scuffed the creature's armored hide.
The varmint snarled, twisting, its claws slashing for him. Xavier barely evaded, teleporting once more. His sword—he needed his sword.
Stretching his hand, he manipulated the air molecules, summoning his blade from where it had been flung. The moment it settled in his grip, he slammed his foot into the ground, triggering a seismic quake with the use of his vectors. The earth split beneath them, trapping one of the varmint's legs in the shifting rubble.
Seizing the opening, Xavier flashed behind it, swinging for the exposed limb. But as his blade met flesh, it barely nicked the creature's skin. His stomach dropped.
Unfazed, the varmint grinned mockingly. It drove its foot down with titanic force, shattering the terrain further. The entire battlefield trembled, sending Xavier airborne along with the debris.
A shadow loomed above him. The varmint leaped into the sky, hands outstretched, ready to crush him in its massive grip.
Xavier exhaled sharply, closing his eyes. He released his vector barrier, allowing energy to pool into his blade instead. Blue light ignited along its edge, crackling with devastating force.
Then—he struck.
His sword sliced clean through the varmint's wrist, severing the hand entirely. The cut was so precise it cut the air itself.
The beast howled, confusion flashing across its grotesque face. Xavier smirked. "Not so tough now, huh?" With a swift kick, he sent the wounded creature plummeting back to the fractured earth.
Not wasting a second, he dove after it, blade poised for the finishing blow. This was the first time his Regokinesis Blade technique had held together long enough to use it properly.
But before he could drive his sword home, the varmint's wound pulsed. Flesh twisted, reknitting itself at an alarming speed. In mere seconds, the severed limb had regenerated entirely.
Xavier's confidence cracked. "You've got to be kidding me."
The varmint seized the moment, swinging its newly formed fist. Xavier barely managed to reactivate his vector shield before the blow connected. The force sent him rocketing into the sky.
His body ached. His mind raced.
This was no ordinary fight. This was survival.
And he was running out of options.
The Varmint lunged into the air again, aiming a devastating punch at Xavier. However, the moment its fist connected, it was violently repelled by Xavier's vector barrier, causing its hand to shatter with a sickening crack. Yet, the sheer force of the impact sent Xavier flying backward, his body being hurled miles away, finally slamming into the ground on an isolated island, far from the Grand Kingdom of the United States.
Groaning, Xavier pushed himself to his feet, shaking off the dizziness as he scanned his unfamiliar surroundings. But before he could fully grasp where he was, a whistling sound from above made his instincts scream. He looked up just in time to see the Varmint plummeting toward him at breakneck speed.
"Multi-Directional Echo!" Xavier roared, reactivating his Regokinesis Blade technique.
With lightning-fast precision, he unleashed a relentless barrage of slashes, cutting the Varmint's body into minuscule fragments. As the last slice tore through, Xavier stumbled back, panting heavily. Relief washed over him, but only for a moment. A searing headache struck like a bolt of lightning, his nose trickling with blood. His vector shield had reached its limit—three minutes was the absolute max before the strain became unbearable. On top of that, the overuse of his cosmic eyes had left him mentally drained, the sheer effort of complex calculations weighing heavily on him.
Then, the island trembled beneath him. A guttural roar echoed across the desolate land. Xavier's blood ran cold as he turned to see the impossible—the Varmint, the very one he had reduced to nothingness, was regenerating.
"No way... it can regenerate even after being sliced down to specks of dust?" Xavier whispered, disbelief settling in.
The Varmint sneered, its freshly formed body lunging forward with terrifying speed. Its fists rained down in a relentless flurry, each strike carrying enough force to break bones. Xavier barely managed to deflect them, redirecting the blows back at the creature with his vector shield which was now much weaker, being pushed past its limited time—three minutes. But the Varmint didn't care. It healed instantly, pressing forward without hesitation, its attacks unrelenting.
Frustration mounted in Xavier's chest as he expanded his vector shield, forcing the creature backward. Gritting his teeth, he thought, I need to end this. Now. Before my body isn't able to handle any more ethereal energy.
Lowering his stance, he exhaled slowly. He knew he had to create something stronger—something beyond Regokinesis Blade technique. Something destructive.
As he recalled Instructor Joshua's lessons, the power of aura flashed through his mind. Aura is not just intimidation—it's a force, a means to enhance your physical capabilities, to absorb and manipulate energy.
Xavier's body trembled as he gathered the ethereal energy from his surroundings, reabsorbing the ethereal energy he had expended. His vector shield flickered and faded, his focus shifting entirely to the buildup of raw power. His blade, once ordinary steel, now pulsed with an intense glow, radiating an overwhelming force.
A violent whirlwind erupted around him, the sheer energy threatening to tear the land apart. The Varmint hesitated for the first time, recognizing the imminent danger. It turned to flee.
"Too late!" Xavier roared, eyes burning with determination. "VECTOR NOVA!"
With a single, decisive slash, an explosion of pure destruction erupted. The air itself seemed to distort as the attack consumed everything in its path, annihilating the island, the ocean surrounding it, and the Varmint along with it. Every molecule in the blast radius was torn apart, leaving nothing but an expanding void.
But even as the dust settled, a lone fragment—a small piece of the Varmint's eye—floated in the aftermath, stubbornly clinging to existence. The creature had survived, albeit barely.
Now adrift in the depths of the ocean, Xavier's vision blurred. He had exhausted everything. His body refused to move, and his consciousness teetered on the edge of oblivion. But before he could succumb, a familiar, nightmarish grip coiled around his throat.
The Varmint, barely reformed, grasped him with its one regenerated hand. Its face, half-reconstructed, twisted in sinister glee.
A portal, the same kind that had brought it and its kin into the human realm, began to form beneath them. Without hesitation, the Varmint dragged Xavier through it, their bodies plunging into a chaotic limbo of shifting dimensions and fractured realities.
Desperately, Xavier reached for his sword, but the once-reliable weapon was gone—shattered to pieces from the force of Vector Nova. With no other choice, he grabbed a jagged fragment of the broken blade and drove it into the Varmint's neck, twisting it with every ounce of strength he had left.
But the creature merely scoffed, tightening its grip around Xavier's throat. His strength faded. His vision darkened. Yet, at that moment, something within him awakened.
His cosmic eyes flared back to life—but this time, the brilliance was beyond anything he had ever experienced. The glow surged, illuminating the void with bright intensity.
Then, space itself trembled. A colossal, imperial gate—larger than a palace—manifested before them. The sheer presence of the divine structure sent shockwaves through the chaotic realm. The Varmint snarled, eyes widening in disbelief.
The gate creaked open, unleashing a blinding radiance that swallowed them whole.
And then, they fell.
The next thing Xavier knew, he was crashing into solid ground. His body screamed in pain, barely able to move. He could only watch as the remnants of his shattered sword lay just beyond his reach—a bitter symbol of his struggle.
Even after surpassing his limits, after pushing himself beyond anything he thought possible, he had lost.
The Varmint stood tall, victorious. It regenerated one of its legs and, without hesitation, reached down, gripping Xavier's skull with a slow, deliberate squeeze.
Xavier gasped, struggling to stay conscious. But as he lay there, battered and broken, a shadow loomed behind the Varmint—a presence both unknown and unfathomable.
The figure loomed over everything—the Varmint, the mountains, and the very world itself. Its immense presence seemed to blot out the stars, radiating a power that was both majestic and terrifying.
The Varmint, once a fearsome predator, froze in place as an overwhelming sense of dread consumed it. Slowly, it turned, trembling, to face the source of its fear. Behind it stood a colossal, shadowy beast—its piercing eyes radiating the raw, predatory dominance of a true Alpha.
Before Xavier's dimming eyes, the Varmint began to dissolve, its form fading away as though it had never truly existed. Its very essence seemed to unravel, erased by the incomprehensible might of the being now towering over it.
Xavier mustered what little strength he had to lift his gaze. What he saw defied belief. A dragon—a massive, otherworldly creature of apocalyptic power—stood before him, its form shrouded in shadow yet exuding a palpable aura of destruction.
Compelled by awe and curiosity, Xavier tried to move closer, but his battered body refused to obey. His vision swam, and darkness crept in as exhaustion claimed him. This time, not even the power of his cosmic eyes could save him, for he had pushed far beyond his mortal limits.
And as unconsciousness overtook him, the last thing he saw was the dragon, silently watching him with eyes that seemed to peer into his very soul.