They saw swarms of soldiers descending from space. Leo smiled as he teleported to his usual position, now gazing down with satisfaction. "Those guys deserve it," he said. "Now then, time to go see what Leo is doing."
The scene shifted.
Vultra and Denzan were alone. Both were damaged, exhausted, and ready to finish it. Vultra exhaled, "I think I've gone on long enough."
Denzan scowled. "Oh, so you're telling me that both of you have been toying with me this whole time? That's blasphemy! I won't forgive you. Now, feel my wrath!"
He unleashed his full power, reaching 90%. The universe around them shattered. Space-time throughout all the universes in Multiverse 9 distorted and came to a complete halt.
Vultra released his full power to counter him, but at that moment, Leo appeared.
"I think Denzan is going out of control," he said, staring at the ever-growing monster who was absorbing everything. Denzan's size had now increased to the equivalent of 300 million galaxies stacked on top of one another.
Leo narrowed his eyes. "I think it's time to use that power."
As if Denzan had heard him, he stretched his colossal arms, preparing to slap them into oblivion.
Leo turned to Vultra. "Bro, rest easy. You've done enough. Now let me stall that bastard until we're ready."
He materialized his twin blades. Channeling the power of Wukong, he summoned one million perfectly synchronized clones. Leo addressed them: "It's time."
He activated his Yang powers, then tapped into every god power within him. He inhaled deeply, then exhaled. He crouched into a runner's stance, his entire form now vibrating, phasing in and out of existence at incomprehensible speeds.
"Override Mode."
His body distorted, as if slipping between dimensions.
Vultra, worn but hopeful, smiled faintly. "Go get 'em, tiger."
Leo shot off like a bolt of divine lightning, gripping his twin blades. He moved so fast that his energy trails lingered for an hour after he'd already landed several slashes on Denzan. Wounds appeared across the titan's body, one after another.
Denzan retaliated by materializing an army—swarms of enemies appeared from every direction.
But Leo was a blur of destruction, instantly slicing and obliterating all of them. He charged toward Denzan's massive face.
"Surprise, motherfucker," Leo snarled as he ascended even higher than Denzan.
He hovered for a moment, inhaled and exhaled again, then twisted his body into a spear-like form. Three million of his blades materialized and melted into one colossal, golden spear.
He launched downward.
His acceleration shattered known speed limits. Denzan couldn't even register his movement.
Leo whispered with deadly calm, "This is for Vultra."
His speed increased.
"And this is for all my family and warriors."
Then, he completely phased out of existence.
Denzan, still growing, approached full power—100%.
In that instant, Leo matched him, clocking 100% as well.
They clashed.
The resulting shockwave rocked the entire multiverse. Even the Omni Being flinched.
"What is going on in those multiverses?" the Omni Being muttered. "For now, I won't interfere."
The scene shifted again.
The entire area had been absorbed by the cataclysmic shockwave. Leo and Denzan were nowhere to be seen. Vultra, still standing, could sense something—he didn't know what—but his instincts screamed that something unnatural had just occurred.
Suddenly, the shockwave rewound itself, as if time had been reversed. All the destruction vanished like it had never happened. Then, from within the void, a man emerged—holding a beaten, bloody Leo by the neck.
Vultra tensed. He instantly zoomed in to rescue Leo, but Denzan anticipated the move, grabbing Vultra by the neck as well. With both of them in his grip, Denzan rose high into the sky. At his chosen altitude, he hurled both of them upward, then ascended above them, aligning himself mid-air for a devastating double-kick.
With brutal force and incredible speed, he descended.
Just before hitting the ground, he pulled back, letting Vultra and Leo slam into the hard floor. They crashed violently, spiraling in mid-air before landing in twisted heaps.
Denzan materialized an orb—dark, sinister—and began infusing it with his power. It spun rapidly, growing until it was the size of an entire universe.
Then he hovered high and declared, "To dust thou came, and to dust you both shall return!"
He hurled the orb at them.
Leo barely managed to stand. His regeneration wasn't working. The same was true for Vultra. Their bodies were beyond exhausted. Still, Leo channeled what little energy remained.
"You asshole," he growled. "You want to erase this universe—my family, our sacrifices, our suffering! Vultra just reunited with his family, and now you want to take that too? Over my dead body! I won't allow it!"
His voice roared across the stars.
"If fate itself dares to oppose me, then I'll override fate itself! I am Leonard Noblei, and it is my duty to protect my people!"
Those words triggered something deep inside him.
A radiant surge burst from his core—an undiscovered power: Nobles Drive. It allowed him to surpass even multiversal gods—for one minute.
Leo's eyes turned golden. His clothes shimmered with divine brilliance.
He unleashed his full strength and obliterated Denzan's massive attack with a single blow.
Denzan snarled and charged up another attack, even larger than the last.
Leo blocked that one too.
But the moment passed. The Nobles Drive expired. Leo collapsed to the floor, drained. He looked up helplessly as Denzan charged a third, even more massive attack.
He clenched his fists. "What can I do now…? It was never just about me and Vultra. It was about us, together."
Vultra, barely conscious, saw Leo falling.
He jumped—caught him in mid-air—and they both tumbled to the ground again, coughing blood. Their bodies were torn and scraped beyond recognition.
Denzan now stood high above, finishing his third charge. The attack he conjured was triple the size of the previous two combined.
Leo and Vultra exchanged a look.
"If we just sit here… we all perish," Leo said.
"I think," he added, "we need to use that technique."
"But we haven't even mastered it yet," Vultra replied, weakly.
Leo's eyes burned with resolve. "Do we have a choice? We can't think of ourselves. We have to think of everyone else."
Vultra sighed. "Then let's do it."
They stood—barely.
Vultra spoke first, "Before the darkness, there was—"
Leo continued, "—and the light overcame the darkness."
Then together, in perfect unison, they declared:
"Now, the darkness agrees with the light, and the light agrees with the darkness. With the power of both vested in us… I command fusion!"
The Yin and Yang crests tore free from their bodies, transforming into domain forms.
The domains collided and began spinning, faster and faster. Vultra and Leo levitated as their combined energy rocked the multiverse to its core. Even other multiverses trembled from the overwhelming force.
The crests fused completely and swallowed Leo and Vultra.
Denzan paused, confused. "Where… are they? I can't see them… but I feel… something terrifying coming."
Then the scene shifted.
The fusion domain shrank into a new crest and embedded itself into the chest of a single being who stepped forward. His wounds were gone. His power—immense.
All the gods across the multiverse trembled.
Even the Omni Being flinched. "Who is that? His power… it's equal to a multi-multiversal god—but he's no god at all."
Denzan saw the figure and was immediately forced to his knees by the sheer pressure of the being's aura.
The being looked down. "I never thought a god who held his head so high would be this weak."
He continued calmly, "Power isn't greed—it's the solution to all problems."
He vanished and reappeared in front of Denzan.
Denzan gasped. "I didn't even see him move!"
The being said coldly, "You want to know what I am?"
Then he gave Denzan a single blow—so powerful it sent him flying through reality itself.
Denzan recovered. The being tossed him a pill.
"Take it. I'm not done with you. I'll torture you."
Denzan absorbed the pill. His power was instantly restored. He smirked. "You messed with the wrong man."
He transformed into his true form and rushed in.
The being blocked everything with just one finger. Thousands of weapons materialized. Tentacles burst from the void. The being said, "Are you done with this shit?"
Denzan froze.
Then the being uttered one word: "Kill."
He was pierced from every angle—front, back, and center—with no space to escape.
Denzan coughed blood. He was breathing heavily. The pain was unbearable. But he wasn't finished.
"You… think this is enough… to kill me?! I AM A GOD!"
He roared, shattering the weapons that had pierced him, and a shockwave exploded from his body. His wounds regenerated instantly. His eyes gleamed red with fury and desperation.
The fused being calmly replied, "You misunderstand. I never said this would kill you. I said it would torture you."
Denzan charged again, even faster than before—his strikes now god-speed. Every blow carried the weight of a collapsing star. And yet, the fused warrior—Leotra—dodged effortlessly. He moved through Denzan's attacks like a ghost through raindrops.
Leotra gripped Denzan's fist mid-swing.
"I've studied your every move… in every timeline… in every version of you across the multiverse. You can't surprise me."
He crushed Denzan's fist, then delivered a blinding strike to his abdomen. Denzan folded, spit flying from his mouth. Before he could react, Leotra vanished and reappeared behind him, driving his elbow down onto the back of Denzan's neck.
Denzan cratered into the ground with a sickening impact.
The gods watched in stunned silence. Even Zeus, now awakened from his restraints in the divine courtroom, whispered, "That power… it surpasses all of us."
The Omni Being's voice trembled slightly. "This... this is no fusion I've ever seen. It's not just power combining—it's destiny fusing. It's the convergence of two cosmic truths."
On the battlefield, Leotra began walking slowly toward Denzan's fallen body.
"You took everything from us… you robbed Vultra of his past, his people, his children. You took my life, my love, my hope… and still, we rose."
Denzan coughed, trying to stand. "You're not a god. You're just a mistake… a freak born from failure."
Leotra stopped. "No… I am the answer to everything you couldn't become."
He snapped his fingers—and suddenly, Denzan's divine aura vanished.
"My technique isn't just brute force. I've overwritten the very laws of your divinity. You're no longer a god. You're just a soul with power… and that power now belongs to me."
Denzan screamed in rage and despair, erupting in a final suicidal explosion that threatened to tear apart the multiverse itself.
Leotra whispered, "Void Compression."
The explosion froze mid-air—then collapsed in on itself, forming a sphere the size of a marble. He flicked it into the sky, and it vanished.
Silence.
Then the fusion began to dissolve.
Leo and Vultra reappeared, collapsing back into their separate forms. Their bodies fell to the ground, twitching, bleeding—but alive.
Above them, the sky changed color. The multiverse began to heal. The cracks in space mended. Time itself stabilized.
The battlefield was silent no more. Cheers erupted from the forces below. The gods watching from beyond stood and applauded. Even the Omni Being lowered its head in reverence.
Leo, lying broken beside Vultra, smiled weakly.
"It's over," he whispered. "We did it."
Vultra nodded, tears streaming from his one remaining eye. "Our people… our families… they're safe."
But just as they closed their eyes, a shadow emerged.
Not Denzan.
Something else.
The Omni Being recoiled. "No… it can't be. That presence—it's…"
A new figure stepped into view. Neither divine nor mortal. Neither light nor dark. Its aura was… unknowable.
Vultra's eyes opened in fear.
Leo whispered, "No… it can't be."
The figure raised its hand. "You two have done well. But the real war is only beginning."
And in that moment, across all realms, something stirred.
The gods fell silent.
A new GOD—greater than anything before—was on the horizon.