Episode 48: Truth and Tribulation

[Maria Zenovia]

"Ability activate! Abyssal Grim Force!" Maria took another ability card and rose it. Abyssal Grim Force is an ability akin to those of a dark transformation such as Hex Code or Chaos Takeover. However, it is not a transformation- Hydra's energy and elements become soaked with powers from Doom Dimension giving Hydra power that is very twisted and brutal even for Hydranoid standards. Only rare beings are capable of manipulating powers of Doom Dimensions without being negatively affected by them. Hydra's body gladly accepts the darkness from a chaotic mix that creature threw at them and absorbs it. Only light power remained and, alone, could not do much- it quickly dispersed into particles. Hydra was freed and ready to resume her job. With Abyssal Grim Force active streams of disturbing darkness emerge and dive back into her body; it caused her light colors on the body to go dark and make her look truly evil. After all, she was a Hydranoid and looking evil was her job. 

"How ironic..." Maria spoke.

"Power we speak of is created by gods... don't think lack of knowledge is a factor that determines one's capability to use it. It's their own free will that limits it." Maria said and took another card to mix it with what was there at the time. "Special Ability activate! Abyssal Grim Cannonade!" Hydra opened up all her mouths. Before every mouth a dark magical symbol was summoned. Each head fired a concentrated blast of flames that united with dark symbols turning flames into burning darkness from Doom Dimension. Multiple blasts united and hit the creature tearing its body apart. Power was so immense that it did not stop at the creature but it hit parts of the room facing the sea. It annihilated all of the equipment, crates and machinery in an instant proceeding to completely devour the ceiling, roof and walls in that direction. Now everyone could see Kyuki's and Hurranians' forces fighting outside; some of Kyuki's Twisted Sentinels and Hurranians' mechanical creations. Many of those were caught by the twisted blasts that not only tore them apart and destroyed them, but it twisted their very existence bringing them back to 'life'. However, there was a catch; all of those Kyuki's and Hurranians' forces were deeply corrupted by powers of Doom Dimension- they began acting as servants to Hydra by attacking and killing everything that Kyuki and Hurranians deployed, then corrupting that as well and bringing it to life. As some sort of creepy zombie horde that could infect even machines and bio-Bakugans. "Alex, just let it happen... You have been resisting it your whole life; even up to this moment. You have to stop wasting energy on resistance and embrace your misfortune." Maria said to Alex. She was referring to his power as misfortune; it was the main reason why he always had been on the run and was tortured- he hated it and Maria knew it. If he could make peace with it... that would be all he ever needed.

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

"Shit..." Creature muttered as its body began to regenerate. 

It finally began to feel the consequences of this long battle; Misfortune 13 was way too destructive in her direct output than the rest of these Bakugans combined. Doom Dimension energy within that Bakugan was way too high to be ignored; one would think that she would lose control eventually, but she seemed to be handling it very well. Creations outside began serving Misfortune 13 like puppets- that was such a terrifying thought; that an Admiral could taint someone and make them into a Doom being. “I have had enough of you, woman…” Creature said angrily to the Admiral. It had to get rid of her before that monster went for Golden Tyrant ability; then it’d be truly horrifying. 

“If that’s the case… If that’s all it takes…” Creature said. It clapped. Multiple elemental energies began appearing in form of orbs around it and then fused into one elemental orb. It was changing colors every half a second. Creature tossed it towards Misfortune 13 and hit the giant Hydranoid. Orb exploded and caught the Bakugan in a storm of elements damaging her with everything ranging from physical to transcendental. “…then I will kill him before he can.” Creature said. Elemental storm literally dissolved Hydra’s body into bits regardless of her power entirely ignoring and form of defense or counter she might have. That ability is known as Absolute Zero- all effects and transformations Bakugan might have are eliminated bringing Bakugan to zero G-power and making them ineffective. Creature then pointed its index finger towards Hydra and launched a beam of light through her heart. Hydra collapsed in her base form and fell unconscious after that attack. Whatever it did it was overpowered to do that to her form in an instant. However, it can use it only once every 2 hours…  

“But first…” Creature spoke and then teleported before Maria with its index finger pointed at her forehead. “…I’ll remove another obstacle.” Energy instantly formed on the tip of its finger. 

[Alex Andersen]

Alex and Dante were not going to let that happen. Alex came near the creature punching it in the face and sending it flying. “Yeah? Well, I’ve got an objection.” He said. Dante took the job of beating the hell out of that guy and landed near him. “Valiant Blade!” Dante named before lodging his sword into creature’s chest and swinging into things afterwards. After Hydra’s attacks there was barely anything to use to hit this guy against. Floor was still there, which was nice. “Admiral…” Alex looked at Maria with a thankful expression. “…you have my thanks.”  

“Ability unlock! Soul Unleash!” Alex named and lifted his gauntlet. It was broken at places already… it was not going to last much longer so while it was active might as well use it. Soul Unleash was a Subterra ability given by Admiral Izumo; originally owned by Lost General, Kabe ‘Kyoka’. Dante’s body became surrounded in divine light of enhancement gifted by the mighty General. Divine lights created a massive orb of light that did not seem anything like Subterra; Dante was trapped inside it and was being enhanced to a point where he could be compared to high-tiers of Misfortune 13. After a few seconds orb exploded releasing holy light all around the room. Dante’s body was now revealed. It was a new form- Unleashed; form artificially created to accommodate the user of Soul Unleash and their current form; regardless if base of some transformation such as Valiant Strive. Massive monster was nothing like Valiant Strive now- it looked very dangerous. “Counter this, you piece of rat’s ass!”  

“Ability unlock! Awakened Destiny Flare!” Alex named. It was an unleashed form of one of Valiant Strive’s abilities- normally it would allow Dante to launch a Pyrus-Haos combined flame that dissolves enemies and weakens them periodically while this new form has that damage multiplied by 10 by default and prevents them from using abilities or countering anything Dante uses. Dante unleashed four golden fireballs and launched them at the monster that was still recovering from Alex’s attack. Each orb made a hit and produced a massive explosion that knocked that thing down dealing massive damage with every hit. In that form Dante was barely going to receive any damage from it and doubtful it could repeat that instant shit as with Misfortune 13. Even if it could Soul Unleash would prevent such things for a few minutes. As for the purpose of this ability, Soul Unleash, it detects one’s current form and creates an artificial one giving it a massive power-up based on what the previous one had. So if it is given to someone that is already overpowered they can become virtually invincible; example of that would be giving it to Apollonir in his Duality form as it would just make a new form and create enormous amounts of power while amplifying old abilities to insane levels. Alex made a swift approach in his Achron Chaos form and gave the creature an uppercut before grabbing it by the face and throwing it into a wall that was still there. 

Alex jumped back and put both his hands into a praying pose. Waves of blue energy began flowing through and around him displaying a lot of unnatural power similar to one of the creature. Everyone in the room could feel its unnatural form and yet harmonic flow. It came to a certain point where it stopped expanding; still tied by Alex’s reluctance to embrace the power he was given. “Ugh… need a hand here, peeps. Give me a few seconds.” Alex requested aids of the team to keep that bastard off his neck so he could prepare this next move.  

[Vince Hardy]

Clayf was casually sharpening his axe on his own body while all the commotion was going down. Frosch was uncharacteristically licking himself. They snapped out of it upon seeing that Alex and Dante have started to get serious.

"Allow me," Clayf volunteered. He stepped back into the fray now that his assistance was needed again. Hydra had done significant damage at the cost of her participation in the battle, but that's okay. Someone had to do it. Now the big man can fill his role again. "Atomic Brave!"

Here it was. The famed strongest Subterra ability was now at his disposal. Clayf released his legs from underneath his body and planted his iron feet on the ground, sending everyone up into the air for a brief moment. Clayf began walking towards this "magnificent" creature as he got ready to show him who the god is around here.

"You can curse my elders if you see them for teaching me this one. They made a big mistake giving someone like me access to...an Advanced Fusion Ability," Clayf warned with a snarky tone. "Atomic Reverse!"

As Clayf was setting up, Frosch decided to make himself useful by forming a parameter around the creature. He spat out a gooey substance that formed a wall all around them. This was the beginning of the end right here.

Comparatively speaking, Clayf can take Excedra's power in his base form, which makes him a stubborn force already. Adding onto that with an Advanced Fusion Ability was overkill. This now meant that no one in this room would be able to even tickle Clayf at this point. In fact, he might not feel those either, because his power was on ridiculous levels now.

"Frosch, let's do this," Clayf said in a very eager tone.

"Coming right up," he acknowledged. Frosch manipulated his rubber wall into smacking the creature towards Clayf. Clayf then socked the creature right in its face. The impact was so monstrous that it nearly flew as fast as Oberus all the way across the room. The rubber wall broke its fall, but in a very painful manner. Frosch's Liquid Compulsion had universal usage, so he really doesn't need to activate anything else to fight. The walls had a feedback system that grew in power based on what it received, so the creature was being hit with an overpowered force and having that same level of power stressing its back. The rubber wall then sent it back to Clayf who decided to repeat the entire process. All this was now was a pinball party.

There was another attribute that Liquid Compulsion had. The size of Frosch's attacks were much bigger, even bigger than everyone's size combined. With this in mind, he shot a highly lethal jet stream into the mix that continuously bounced off of the rubber walls and easily slice cleanly through the creature. Fortunately, Frosch could do this safely thanks to the secret art guarding against friendly fire, so everyone else could not be killed because of it.

"Hop in whenever you like," Frosch recommended to Alex. He was chuckling about what was going on, because he thought it was funny that the creature was being beaten in ways that no other Bakugan can really tolerate, aside from the obvious outliers in Diablo 2 and Fury. "If you mess up, it's okay. I'll reverse it and you can try again. Try to get him in one shot though."

[Alex Andersen]

“Thank you kindly.” Alex acknowledged the assist from two Legendary Soldiers. He really needed the help; what he has been preparing was about to be used by him for the first time- it required one to empty their head and concentrate on releasing the shackles inside one’s mind; in Alex’s case that was his fear and indecisiveness. While preparing it for the first time he needs to be fully concentrated on it because one needs to be literally 100% freed of their personal shackles. Considering subconscious content cannot be reached normally for this process one has to struggle with this technique. Once it is completed Alex will be able to use it unlimited amounts of time in the future. By Achron logic there are several locks/shackles binding the user and their level depends on person’s emotions; Alex has only 4 locks/shackles so process will be relatively short- two minutes or something like that. Two Soldiers gave Alex about half a minute. He was still in danger of being attacked tho… If process is interrupted it needs to be restarted. Even when Frosch restarts it, it will take some time. 

“You have to learn… you can’t save everyone out there! Stop pushing yourself into it.” Alex said. 

“Truth… that does not mean I should not try.” Daniel replied. 

“Yes it does!” Alex replied with obvious impatience. 

“…Perhaps you are right. Some are just… beyond salvation, aren’t they?” Daniel replied quietly. 

“That’s right. You should not be blaming yourself for all death outside. It was not your fault- you fight, you sweat, you fall and you rise. You have your limits- stop trying to push yourself and you’ll see a change… “  

Alex was recalling this memory- this shackle. Ignorance. While not as big as his fear and indecisiveness it played important negative role in his life. “What I failed to realize was… you were talking about yourself…” Alex whispered silently only realizing these things now. Daniel thought he was beyond salvation and seeing Alex making peace with deaths that might happen in this warzone from hell led him to thinking it was not worth fighting Virus… he gave up. “You were suffering. Even when you were with me. With Lydia. With Maria… And even in death the suffering will go on until this nightmare has been lifted. I promise you, I swear to God… we will end this together.” Alex spoke silently after being reminded on his own ignorance, on how painful it must have been for Daniel to live inside the same body as a mass-murderer, being seen as a monster, left without childhood and with a big scar on his soul. Barely able to hold tears thinking of Daniel, Alex let out a sigh and a noise of shattering glass filled the room. Blue flames and energy around Alex became bigger and began to spin furiously rising even bigger and bigger. “Hereby I release you… First Lock… Ignorance.” Alex said causing flames to jump up wildly as a reaction. It still takes three locks to be shattered. “Please, just a while longer…” Alex asked silently knowing the monster was not about to give up. 

[Markus Hederick]

The Legendary Soldiers were literally making the creature their bitch. Markus found it difficult to believe that the creature would be able to stop them. He wasn't sure if Clayf himself could be stopped at this point. From what Markus saw of Allen, the Advanced Fusion Ability is no joke. Something tells him that Clayf was not using the full power of that technique either.

"Skystar, do you trust me?" Markus asked through Tracy.

"Yeah..." Skystar hesitantly asked. She knew Markus was about to do something crazy if he had to ask that question...

"Ability activate! Chrono Stance!" Skystar's spirit companion shifted to Angelight, a being who could manipulate time. Her scepter became longer as a result of this transformation. A blue-colored Haos symbol appeared in its hilt and spun rapidly. All Markus had to do was put it into action.

"Go! Chrono Effect!" An invisible blue wave was sent out of the scepter to strike the buffeted creature. Its body was now covered in a bluish aura to match that of the one on the scepter. Now, Skystar was effectively keeping the creature from activating any abilities for a limited time, because its body was now stuck in a time-loop of not activating anything. As long as this ability is active, the event of using nothing will continuously be played through by the foe's body. As a price, Skystar cannot attack herself while she's doing this, so this was a one-way street.

"Skystar and I will hold him! Protect Alex while he does his thing!" Markus said to Gargulion.

"Understood. Gladion?"

[Tank Stryker]

"Right with you," Gladion proactively joined. He joined Gargulion in standing in front of Alex while the process was being carried out. As a countermeasure, he would need a weapon that can give him the sensing abilities needed to counter an unforeseen maneuver, since this monster loves to employ those tactics.

"There's no way in hell you're getting past me!" Tank loudly declared. "Ability activate! Weapon of the Gods - Spear of Mars!" A red pillar of light soundly erupted from Gladion's position. A powerful polearm rose from the ground and ended up in capable hands. With this weapon in hand, Gladion can now sense danger from anywhere, as the weapon itself will vibrate whenever something threatening is about to take place. In this way, he could either stop the advance himself, or alert others to the incoming assault before it happens.

With that being done, Gladion started sending some of his power into the weapon itself, and then went on to lodge the weapon into the floor. "Wrath of the Gods!"

Hopefully, this will not have to be used, but if it came to it, the weapon itself will auto-counter an attack made against them by the overwhelming force of the gods' wrath. Whatever form that takes is left up to the creature if it ever escapes and wants to test the waters. Unfortunately, it will not be forewarned about how ugly it's going to get if it comes face-to-face against this power.

"Next time, let's come up with something that can kill these sons of bitches so we don't have to do this anymore," Tank suggested to Gladion.

"No objection from me on that one," Gladion chimed.

[Alex Andersen]

The way this was going situation appeared favorable for the team. Creature was additionally slowed down and prevented from reaching Alex. It would be pretty unfortunate if he got hit in the process. “Good… that’ll do…” Alex said silently seeing how favorable this teamwork was for his technique. Next shackle Alex had to deal with was fear, which also partially shared place with the indecisiveness. Using the power that could move to the layers of subconscious he could get himself free of certain thoughts. He has known this the whole time, but was too scared to use any of it. After Daniel, Alex began recalling a moment of conversation he had with another person- Tracy. Perhaps the reason he started remembering her specifically was her death by Traqdrach’s jaws. In all honesty, those thoughts, no matter how horrible they were to remember in these painful situations, were helpful in reaching the goal. 

"You're not a monster. None of you are. You're just different, and that's okay.” Tracy’s voice went through Alex’s head as he began recalling the scene. "You don't need to compare yourself to our enemies; they are the actual monsters. That Kyuki, Dharak, the Hurranians, Daniel's Virus...none of them are like you." 

"I don't want to be different. No one asked me if I wanted this. I don't even know why I have it." Alex recalls his words. 

It was not okay. Not for Alex. Daniel made peace with the power he was given and began using it for good purpose. Lydia was scared of it, but she would use it here and there for necessary events in her life. It was Alex who always needed motivation, it was him who always needed to be pushed into using it; he was the only one who was too scared to do absolutely anything. Many could have died because of his indecisiveness and fear, but he was still in deep fear. “You were right… I should not have compared myself to them…” Alex admitted silently. “In a way… you were heart and soul of Resistors. You were always giving- putting yourself before others and people like you… they are always in the line of fire. Even when they do not fight. I will make sure your efforts do not go to waste- you’ll never be forgotten.” Alex said silently. With those words it was another push to his emotions… thinking of Daniel, thinking of Tracy… it was hard for him to think of them, but he had to and it made him realize what was going on around him. “Second lock… released… Fear.” Alex informed. Blue flames practically exploded and spread across the room. Whoever was touched by those flames was not hurt either; it was not doing anything to them. “Third lock…released… Indecisiveness…” Alex then said as two of these locks were closely related. Flames became even bigger and spread further across the room. “One more to go.” 

[Lydia Andersen]

"Evil Bomber!" Devilin named her ability.

She spawned hundreds of dark-purple glowing orbs around the creature. Each of them detonated after another causing heavy damage with every explosion. "Eat shit, freak! Swap!" Devilin's body flashed and disappeared; she was respawned as Angelight this time. "Judge's Arrow!" Angelight named and formed the bow on her glove. She prepared the arrow and launched it. It lodged deep into the creature's head paralyzing it temporarily and dealing lightning damage periodically. "You have overestimated yourself." Angelight said. At that moment Lydia, who was affected by Devilin's effect, appeared before the creature kicking the arrow's end lodging it even deeper. She then palm-chopped creature's neck causing fountains of white blood emerge. With these effects she was like a destructive monster and with everyone's efforts she had no chance of getting hit and creature could only stay stuck in a spot and take punishment. In only a couple of seconds creature was going to feel the wrath that has been lying within the Achron power. Alex's power was complex and is used to detect and delete anything that would try to create fake forms of power; that unique power simply cannot be copied- it can only exist in one spot. Fakes can be strong, but eventually expire.

[Alex Andersen]

Flames were getting progressively stronger and stronger with every moment. Ridiculous amounts of unknown power began to surge quickly through Alex’s body. Power was huge and Alex could feel it. He had never felt that amount of power before these moments, it felt amazing allowing that ‘misfortune’ of his flow through his body so freely and give him strength necessary to handle the nightmare. Of course, Alex could not waste time on savoring the moment and that empowered feeling he had never felt before. His mind was plunged into thoughts once more; recalling the moments he lived through, thinking of them, facing them, facing the sins and negativity born from them. This time he was remembering a specific moment; a scary moment he managed to live through thanks to Admiral Maria and General Yami Yin; it was the moment when he activated Chaos Strive for the first time. He was not aware that its activation would be triggered on usage of Valiant Strive through Chaos Takeover. It was an accident, but still… it revealed some of Alex’s darkest thoughts to both Maria and Yami; they learned of his completely dark side. Behind the face of someone who is always helpful and friendly was another face; a dark and grim face. Face that could not accept that what happened happened and that nothing could have been done to change the past. Even Lydia and Daniel learned that fact, but Alex was too stubborn about it. 

“How long are we going to play these games, Zenovia?” Alex asked impatiently. He was panting and blinking quickly; after usage of Chaos Strive it was a shocker he was still conscious. 

“Huh? What are you saying?” Admiral questioned. Her appearance back in the day was quite different than the actual one. 

“We are here… standing still… And there is a whole army of lunatics out there. They killed so many people… so many innocent people. And what are we doing? We are pretending nothing has happened…”  

“Pretending? We are doing everything we can…” Maria was saying when Alex cut her off. 

“Seriously!? You call these idiotic activities serious business? There is a maniac out there… All of this is because of him and we are being little bitches about it when we could actually do something. You know what he did. How can you be so calm, Admiral? Don’t you, too, want revenge for all the people who suffered by his hand? Don’t you want him dead?” Alex appeared to be very upset all of a sudden. That Chaos Strive transformation made some dark and unhealthy thoughts surface. 

“In a way I do, but… not by emotion but justice. Revenge is not justice. We all hate him, but we cannot blindly attack him either, Alex. Hatred is not strategy.” Admiral took a calm approach. 

“Tsk… that’s easy to say for those who either hadn’t lost anything or sit comfortably in a chair while their footsoldiers do the work…” Alex was even more upset. He complained angrily at Admiral’s decision. 

“Alex…”  

“What!?”  

“Chrono Elite… my parents were torn apart by them right before my eyes. Me and my sister were tortured and experimented on by the same man who caused suffering to you and your family. Ever since I was freed thanks to Keto’s efforts I fought stubbornly like yourself.” Maria explained slowly and silently. 

“…Admiral… I-I’m… I didn’t mean…” Alex attempted to apologize after giving her such rought treatment without giving it a thought first on how rude it was. 

“Alex… we both lost people we really love. I KNOW how you are feeling. I wanted and I still want revenge, but… revenge is a gamble. It is a cup of poison. Once you drink it there is no turning back. Once you shake a glass of water you cannot see its bottom clearly… same is with hatred, anger and revenge. We do not have our families anymore, but we have one another; we are friends, are we not? I have not talked with you much, but in a way I consider you my family.” Maria explained herself with a soothing tone. 

“…Admiral… I… thank you… and I’m sorry…” Alex muttered once words got back to his mouth. 

“Haha, that’s okay, Alex. We all have these moments. Me too. I promise- we’ll make sure we put an end to this suffering. Yours. Mine. Everyone’s.”  

Alex began to feel a slight cold stream escaping his eyes and running down his cheeks. He silently made a statement with a stutter in the tone. “You were my friend, you were hurt- and I hurt you even more. I promised I would be safe and I kept rushing into this… I was lying to you every time I would promise those things… I think of you as my family, too, and this is one promise I swear to keep- we will end this together.” Alex muttered silently. The pinnacle of power he could reach on that level has been reached; flames from all over the room hurled at him and became one with his body. He could feel an insane surge of power rush through his body. It felt so… easing. As if he was lighter than a feather. His mind was finally clear and his goal was finally set. “Fourth shackle… released… Vengeance.” Alex said. With those words a burst of flames came out of his body forming a blue flaming tower and capturing Alex inside it. Alex could not be seen, but from inside the flaming tower everyone could hear his roar; it sounded like a wild beast and the display of power was giving a sign of obvious change. Flaming tower exploded, bursting into flames and showering the area in sparkling snow that was born out of fire itself. Flames were gone revealing the new form that was born in the process. 

( STAGE 3 :: Final Resolution )

“Stage 3- Achron Order.” Newly formed creature spoke declaring the state of its form. “First Key Dominion- Wielder!” Creature declared. In that moment two tiny transparent orbs, seemingly made of glass, appeared by this creature. One orb quickly moved in front of Gargulion and other orb moved in front of Kuzuha. Orbs began to lightly electrocute these two Bakugans; not as much to hurt them but enough to feel a bit of pain. Orb near Kuzuha began to glow in bright red and one near Gargulion in purple. With that both orbs returned to this creature who turned its head towards the rest. “Everyone… you have my utmost gratitude. Ease your nerves and gain some rest. I will finish the job.” It said. Then it turned towards the white-and-gray creature from before facing it with an emotionless expression. “I am your opponent.”  

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

“Ugh…” Creature muttered silently. Its gaze was set upon the new creation standing right before it. Having felt the intense and oddly familiar aura coming from it creature stopped for a second. “You can’t be serious…” Creature said when it realized that all of that intensity was coming right from the blue-colored being… certainly, that was the Alex guy from Silver Knights. There was an oddly familiar feeling to it so it had to be Alex. But this new power… it was so unnatural and odd. It had a very similar feel to the powers of Second and Perfect Key but intensity was going beyond both of those combined. No, it was not stronger… just way intense. Perhaps that is the complexity of power that cannot be understood by anyone else but the rightful owner of the power. Statistically, Alex had no chance against the creature since one key could never defeat two keys at once… but then what was that discomfort creature was feeling?


“It fascinates me on how long you plan to postpone your fate, kid…” Creature said.


With one mad screech a flash of light bathed the creature in holy power cleansing it of all negative effects that people and Bakugans here affected it with. Another flash occurred and teleported the creature right before transformed Alex. “Too much power, slow reactions.” Creature said before quick-charging its right fist with holy and dark powers to gain a chaotic mixture on the fist which would quadruple the damage… as if base damage was not high enough. Ability is known as Chaos Impact which not only deals massive damage but paralyzes the opponent for a full minute decreasing all their parameters by 70% during that minute and causing heavy periodic damage every 2 seconds. Creature then targeted the face and shoved its fist into Alex’s left cheek.

[Alex Andersen]

Monster’s fist hit Alex’s face head-on, full force. Extremely loud thump was heard as if two giant concrete blocks collided at the speed of 300 km/h. And to monster’s surprise Alex had not moved one inch; cold gaze from before was fully focused on the enemy without a flinch after receiving that strike. Alex rose his left hand and slowly held it before monster’s forehead. “Fly!” Alex’s index finger was quickly stuck out. It barely touched monster’s forehead, but result was severe regardless of that fact. Monster was sent flying across the room as a giant crack opened up on its forehead and began to spread all across its head. It crashed outside in the water before being pushed by another force from deep below and into the air where it was completely exposed for another strike. That movement was known as Mark of the Wolf; once opponent is struck their movements are detected and another strike is dealt via telekinesis. Damage equals 75% of original strike but it causes drop on all parameters by 13% and continuous loss of health and stamina. Alex pointed his left palm towards the monster while it was airborne and used telekinesis to pull it towards himself. Once monster was there Alex dealt an uppercut with right fist, followed by a severe punch in the belly, spin-kick into the face and one final punch in the face that sent it crashing down. 

“Training and science are merely two of millions of ways to attain power. Science can surpass training because both are bound to physical. Morals… ethics… That cannot be replicated. Not by you, Hurranians or anyone. You have fooled yourself thinking such cheap copy is valid.” Alex scolded. His power is bound purely to one’s true personality and moral integrity; it cannot be copied and used genuinely. One could copy person’s personality but it is still not them. Original is one. Hurranians may kill and revive families of Resistors, use their knowledge and power but they cannot manipulate laws of certain integrity those people own.  

“You’re wide open.” Alex prepared another attack within a second. Divine Retribution is its name. Different elements were formed in his hands; with ridiculously quick movements he began bombarding the monster with them causing massive damage with countless effects. Monster was given a treatment that was never to be fixed regardless of any recovery it might use. This special effect is known as Scar in Time; damage done becomes a permanent scar that cannot be removed from the timeline so healing, pushing time back/forward will not remove the damage. With one final throw a charged orb is launched and it explodes upon touching the creator adding a cherry on top of the damage cake. 

“I call upon the Second and Third Key.” Alex called. Orbs that were formed after taking Achron powers from Gargulion and Kuzuha touched Alex and willingly became one with him giving him power. That is the purpose of so-called Wielder; ability to handle mistreated power, stolen power or one that was freely given. Taking one by force is not out of the question but implies a certain process.  

[Prof.Dr.Kyuki]

“Morals… heh, you learn something new every day. Achron are such… tricky beings.” Creature said seemingly confessing its own mistake in the process of creating copies. Any form of replication is set to fail however it is taken. It is like a new form of fingerprint. No matter how fascinated the creature was it was not abandoning its goal of murdering everyone present. “Impressive. Can’t let you live though. My rebirth must be complete.” It said before getting up. It was not recovering as much as it used to; defeat was coming closer so this had to be wrapped up. With a quick approach creature got a body-slam on Alex, but it could not push him back. After that distraction Alex was grabbed by his hands. 

“Traqdrach!!!” Creature yelled. 

Juggernaut monster from before suddenly took off. It was lying on the ground motionless but it has been awakened. How? Override protocols in its programming allowed it so. After releasing a morbid roar it hurled towards Alex. With ridiculous speed it ran past Legendary Soldiers and the rest who could not catch up to stop it. Alex was not looking in that general direction and could not attempt to stop the creature without visualizing the space. “Devourer’s massacre!” With that ability given by the creature Traqdrach can gain an insane reflex of 500% intensity that is combined with strength of tearing victim apart. Combination results in victims being torn to bits in an instant and their power absorbed.  

[Alex Andersen]

“On defense!” Once Alex’s new form was shown telepathic communication was established as well. Unbeknownst to the enemy Alex could perfectly sense back-attacks and communicate telepathically to strategize without real verbal communication that might reveal the content of the strategy. “Roger!” Dante acknowledged and positioned himself in between Traqdrach and Alex. His newly gained form thanks to Soul Unleash was lost seconds after taking defensive stance. It was to be expected considering two minutes is the best Bakugan like Dante can keep up with. He knew it was going to happen and that there was zero chance of him surviving a battle against Traqdrach but there was a method; a way that the enemy would not have expected in that very moment. Traqdrach collided with Dante’s shield pushing the Bakugan back violently and effectively with no signs of major obstacles in the attack.  

“Angelight! Devilin! Get ready for some turbulence. I will need a hand in a second.” Dante noted the dual Bakugan that was on standby. What was the turbulence? Something that Alex was supposed to do. Or undo. 

“I call for the power of the Third key. Return the owner’s mind and soul!” Alex commanded. With that Lydia was surrounded by purple lights that returned her mind and soul in place. For those who do not recall, Gargulion took those away for safety reasons. Now it was not them who needed safety. Once her body, mind and soul became one again Alex spoke again. “Again, Third Key… I ask you to lend me your power. Release the Art of Unsealing” A purple orb formed above Alex’s head. It divided into two smaller orbs. With that both orbs began to shine; one combining white and red sparkles while other had black and white. Previous orb hit Dante’s back and was absorbed into his body in an instant. Latter orb hit Angelight causing both her and Devilin to be spawned simultaneously near one another. One half of the orb was absorbed into Angelight and other into Devilin. Dante, Angelight and Devilin began glowing emitting threatening amounts of power. “Dante!” Alex called. 

“You got it.” Knight replied. His body was given immense strength; more than plenty to resist Traqdrach’s push. He focused on the monster before him. “Playtime is over.” He said confidently before his body ‘exploded’ into light forming a burning star of light and flames and scattering countless angelic feathers across the battlefield. Whoever was touched by the feathers experienced a flow of healing course through their body and recover them of any damage previously dealt. Their parameters began to increase as a result as well and by the time all feathers scattered blinding light disappeared revealing what was, obviously, Dante’s evolved form. Knight clad in crimson armor from head to toe, wielding a holy sword and a holy spear. On his back are two sets of wings; each set has five so five pairs of wings in total. The form is known as Scarlet Seraph. He firmly held the spear single-handedly blocking Traqdrach’s attack.  

(Scarlet Seraph:: 1 :: 2 :: 3 )

“One Justice!” He named the sword ability and within a second he passed through Traqdrach by turning himself into a distortion while the sword was active. It sliced through the monster cutting its lower jaw off and dealing massive damage to the rest of the body. It was not going to last with its healing abilities. “Angelight! Devilin! Let’s finish this!” Dante called for the allies to take care of the rest. 

[Lydia Andersen]

Same effects that happened to Dante could be seen with Angelight. Her body became a huge shining object whose intense light had a blinding impact. It caused golden rain to soak the battlefield boosting the recovery rate from Dante and adding a multiplier to the buffs. Devilin’s body turned into a dark-purple object radiating darkness that reduced enemies’ parameters and added Dark Moon buff to all allies temporarily granting them immunity to any damage to come. Two objects collided exploding as a consequence and releasing one final effect- Absolute State. All allies covered in the dark-and-light rain became immortal; buff lasts for 30 seconds.


“Get ready!” Angelight’s voice could be heard from the collision point that was still bursting with light and dark powers. “There’s no one to stop me now!” Devilin could also be heard. After their voices came another flash.


Flash ended in a divine light spread across the battlefield while being followed by streams of pure darkness. “I greet you, humans and fellow Bakugans.” Mysterious voice said in a tone gentle and captivating like the most beautiful melody. An angel, colored in black and white, with six white wings on her right and six black wings on her left. Mysterious beauty descended and looked in Lydia’s direction; girl was clearly surprised by the twist and she greeted the beauty with a happy smile. “You…you’re so pretty.” Lydia said captivated in the moment. Angel mildly smiled at the girl and then introduced herself. “My name is Maste.” Her gaze turned towards Traqdrach in that moment. “And I am your worst nightmare.”


( Maste:: 1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 )


“Eight Pillars of Judgement!” Maste named the ability. She pointed towards Traqdrach who was surrounded by newly spawned dark dust. It formed into a perfect orb colored in dark-purple and partially translucent. It looked as if it was made of glass material. Traqdrach was trapped inside and its body was paralyzed. Maste did a finger snap and the orb flashed. One piece fell off followed by another and another and all until the orb fell apart into 8 pieces of same size. The horrifying thing about it was that each piece contained one part of Traqdrach’s body. One of them flashed and disappeared followed by other ones in same order of falling apart moments earlier. And it was done. That simple- Traqdrach was gone. Maste smiled, obviously satisfied by the results. “My power is back. At last.” She cheered. She looked at the creature then. “What awaits you is fate worse than death, Beelzebub. Alex, send him back to hell.” Maste said confidently. No one was bothering help Alex get away from the grip- it was obvious he did not need it.