Their fists locked in a violent clash, shockwaves pulsing from the center as both pushed harder with grit-teeth determination.
Eleo's feet slid back in the dirt. Agharna's claws dug in. The air vibrated from their power.
In Agharna's mind, a thought crept in:
Is he… catching up to me in strength?
Eleo suddenly leaned in, pressing harder, veins bulging in his arms as he forced Agharna back by inches.
"Not bad, bunny," Agharna growled.
Then—with a twisted grin—he unleashed a sudden flurry:
"BEAR BARRAGE!"
Agharna's fists became a blur. His arms blurred in red arcs, dozens of punches raining down on Eleo like a monsoon of destruction. Each impact boomed like a drumbeat.
Eleo threw up his arms—blocking, weaving, staggering. He grit his teeth through the onslaught.
As he absorbed the hits, Agharna chuckled between blows.
"Thank you, Eleo," he said mid-barrage. "Your Ink Barrage inspired me."
With a final punch, Agharna suddenly stopped.
Eleo flinched, staggering back, blinking. "W-what the—why'd you stop?"
Agharna didn't answer. He simply closed his eyes, breathing slow.
Then—his arms moved.
Fingers curled, hands twisted, flowing in smooth, foreign motions—like a dance. His body gave off a faint glow.
Everything around him dimmed, shadows pulling inward. Time seemed to slow.
From Eleo's point of view, Agharna just stood there doing weird hand movements.
Eleo tilted his head, dumbfounded. "Huh...? What are you doing? Practicing sign language?"
Agharna didn't respond.
He opened one eye—then punched the air.
Nothing happened.
Eleo stared blankly—then burst into laughter.
"HAH! That's it?! All that hand-waving for—"
He stopped.
His grin faded.
"...Wh-What?"
His arms wouldn't move.
His legs wouldn't budge.
His whole body was frozen mid-motion.
"H-Hey! I can't move! Why can't I—?!"
Agharna cracked his neck and smirked wide. "Not bad, huh? A little trick I made. May not kill you… but I can spam it as much as I want."
Before Eleo could respond, a final invisible blast erupted from Agharna's fist.
Eleo was sent rocketing across the battlefield, bouncing like a skipping stone before crashing in a heap. Smoke and dust billowed around him.
Agharna wiped imaginary dust from his shoulder. "I call this dirty trick" he muttered with a smug curl of his lips.
The dust began to part.
Eleo coughed. "Ow… ow ow ow… what the hell was that?" he groaned, dragging himself to his feet. "He didn't even touch me…"
Then—his one good eye widened.
Through the settling haze, Agharna stood in that same position—doing the weird hand signs again.
"Oh no you don't!!" Eleo shouted, panic in his voice.
He sprinted forward at full speed—every step a blur. Then leaped, legs tucked, arms cocked back.
"I'm not falling for that again!"
Agharna's eyes flicked up just as his hand finished the motion.
He punched the air.
Eleo froze in midair, body rigid, suspended like a puppet on strings.
"Wh—?! Not again!!"
"Bye-bye, bunny boy," Agharna said, waving mockingly.
Another blast detonated across Eleo's body, this time midair, and he was hurled like a cannonball—slamming into the the island with a thunderous crash.
A crater formed beneath his impact.
And the island trembled.
Eleo groaned, dragging himself up from the wreckage.
Dust and steam rose off his battered body as he stumbled across the dock, one eye swollen shut, the other barely focusing. His shirt was torn, ink-stained, and bloody. His legs wobbled with every step.
"Man," he muttered, his voice strained, "this jerk is annoying…"
He wiped blood from his lips, wincing.
"…And I can only see with one eye still. Great."
He glanced to his left, toward the distorted blur where his right eye used to help him. Then he nodded slowly.
"It's okay, Broken Eye. One day I'll use you again."
His voice cracked with unearned optimism. He tried to smile through the pain. But then—
His good eye widened.
Agharna was at it again. Hands moving in slow, deliberate patterns. That glow. That same eerie stillness.
Eleo groaned loudly, dragging his hand down his face.
"Good grief."
He clapped his hands together.
His arms shifted into a sleek black cannon. "INK CANNON!" he roared, firing a roaring blast of concentrated ink straight at Agharna.
Agharna didn't flinch.
He punched the air.
The world twisted.
The cannonball froze in midair like it hit a wall made of silence.
"There's no point," Agharna said, his tone mocking. "You're not reaching me."
BOOM.
The backlash erupted.
Eleo screamed as he was hurled backward once again—slamming through the hull of the Ascendants' ship, tearing through crates and walls until he burst out the other side, tumbling like a ragdoll across the dock.
He coughed violently, blood gushing out of his mouth as he dropped to his knees.
His fingers dug into the wood beneath him.
"Damn it…" he choked.
His shoulders shook. His hands trembled.
"I'm… I'm gonna lose…"
The words escaped before he could swallow them.
Tears spilled from his eye, dripping into the blood pooling at his knees.
"I was so close…" he whispered. "So close to beating him…"
His fists slammed into the dock with a loud crack.
"I… I can't win…"
His breathing hitched.
And then…
Mist.
It curled in silently around him—creeping across the dock, swirling between splinters and crates like breath from the sea.
Eleo didn't notice it at first.
But then something—a hand—tapped his shoulder gently.
Eleo flinched and whipped around, eyes wide.
Behind him stood a man—tall, graceful, and strikingly handsome. His long, flowing white hair shimmered faintly in the mist, and his blue eyes were unnaturally vivid, gleaming like frozen oceans.
He smiled down at Eleo with a look of calm mischief.
"Hello, Eleo," the man said smoothly.
Eleo blinked in confusion. "W-Who are you…?"
He looked around, finally noticing the strange fog curling around the dock like a ghost's breath. "Wait… Where did this mist come from?"
The man ignored the question. "Don't worry about that. What matters is—I'm here to help you."
Eleo frowned. "Really? But… I want to be the one who beats him. Not someone else…"
The man gave a low chuckle.
"Technically, you still can," he said, brushing a strand of white hair behind his ear. "I'll use your body. Beat him in your body. Same way I handled the plant monster, remember?"
Eleo's eye twitched.
"That was YOU?!"
"Yes. I was the one who—"
Eleo swung a punch at him—but his fist passed clean through the man's chest like smoke.
"What the hell?!" Eleo shouted.
The man laughed again, more amused than offended. "You can't hit me, fool. I'm just a spirit."
Eleo gritted his teeth. "I don't want your help with Agharna. I want to win on my own. Using my own power. Not someone else's."
The man stared at him for a moment—genuinely surprised.
Then he sighed.
"Fine, fine," he said, raising both hands in mock surrender. "You drive, bunny boy. I'll only use your body for a couple of seconds."
Suddenly, Eleo's eye flared red—his entire body stiffening for just a second. The mist slithered into his skin like smoke into cloth.
His posture shifted.
His expression hardened.
His one good eye narrowed with deadly calm.
Agharna, still forming those strange hand signs, barely registered it before—
Eleo appeared right in front of him, driving a fist deep into Agharna's gut with brutal force.
Agharna choked. "Wh—!"
Morte's voice came from Eleo's mouth, smooth and sharp:
"So you're the one who's been toying with the boy? Pathetic."
Agharna was uppercutted clean off the ground.
A blur of strikes followed—Morte using Eleo's body to slap Agharna left and right, taunting him as if this was beneath him.
Then came a savage headbutt, and finally—
A vicious spin-kick launched Agharna backward, crashing him through a dock post.
Agharna grunted, dazed—but not unconscious.
Just then, the red faded from Eleo's eye. He stumbled forward, blinking.
"Ugh, that jerk—" Eleo muttered. "Didn't even ask permission that time."
He looked down at his fists, flexing his fingers. "Still… he got in some good hits."
Agharna stood up, planting his foot into the dock, cracks forming beneath him.
His breathing was heavy. "What the hell was that… Bunny Boy?"
Eleo hopped into the air, spinning once. "None of your business!"
Agharna's eyes snapped into that eerie crimson again, ready to counter.
But—they flickered.
Something was off.
The glow vanished for just a second.
Eleo's punch came fast—but Agharna caught it mid-swing.
"You've become predictable," he said, grinning cruelly.
But Eleo didn't look concerned.
Instead, he smirked.
"So have you."
Tap.
Eleo lightly tapped Agharna in the stomach with his other hand.
Agharna blinked. "Hmm? That was pitiful. Your punches have gotten—"
"Nope." Eleo said, grinning wide.
"INK DRILL!"
The ink exploded from Eleo's arm like a spiral engine—twisting violently, drilling into Agharna's gut.
Agharna's body began spinning uncontrollably, faster and faster, until—
BOOOOOM!
He was blasted across the sky, spiraling like a torpedo. The clouds parted as he shot across the horizon—vanishing into the ocean with a massive splash, so far that even the birds paused in confusion.
Silence followed.
Eleo stood there—eyes wide, breath held.
He looked down at his hands.
"…What the…"
He blinked.
"Did I… win?"
A pause.
"I WON!"
He yelled so loud it echoed across the entire harbor.
"I WON! I BEAT AGHARNA!"
He started hopping in place, then spun in a clumsy circle, limbs flailing.
"I beat the jerk! I came up with a new move and everything! INK DRILL!"
He laughed, wiping blood and tears from his face.
"I gotta tell the others! They're gonna flip! I actually won!"
He threw his arms up, did a goofy little dance across the ruined dock—his footsteps skipping between shattered wood and ink splatters.
"THIS is what happens when you mess with Eleo the Ink Bunny, baby!"
He laughed again.
Then paused.
"…Okay but first I need like, five naps and carrots."
He limped away, still smiling.