The searing white light engulfed everything.
For a heartbeat, Reo felt as if he were floating, weightless, suspended in the void between moments. Time slowed to a crawl. All sounds faded. Even the pain choking his throat seemed distant.
And then —
— the world snapped back into motion.
With a crack like thunder, Reo reappeared twenty meters away, stumbling onto the soaked, broken asphalt. Kael stood where he had been only seconds before, his massive form twisting, confused, his grip now clutching only empty air.
The recall device had worked.
But it was a last resort, not a victory.
Reo gasped, clutching his bruised neck, tasting blood in his mouth. His legs threatened to buckle under him, but he forced himself to stay upright. He couldn't afford weakness. Not now.
Across the broken battlefield, Kael turned slowly toward him, his chest wound still oozing that strange silver blood, his muscles flexing with barely restrained fury.
"You're starting to piss me off," Kael snarled, his voice distorting with an unnatural metallic resonance.
Reo wiped his mouth, his breathing shallow. "Good," he rasped. "It means I'm getting under your skin."
Kael's lips curled into a feral grin. "Then let's end it."
Without warning, Kael slammed both his fists into the ground.
The earth buckled. A shockwave tore through the street, sending chunks of concrete and steel flying. Buildings groaned and cracked under the sheer force of it. Cars flipped over like toys.
Reo had no time to think. He leapt back, his body moving on instinct as the ground beneath him shattered. Rubble rained down around him, the air thick with dust and chaos.
But this wasn't just destruction.
Kael was reshaping the battlefield, forcing Reo into a corner where raw strength would rule.
And Kael had more of that.
Reo skidded to a halt near the twisted remains of a lamppost. His mind raced — analyzing, calculating. The Dimensional Cutter thrummed in his hand, eager, almost alive.
"Think, Reo. Use your head. You're not a brute. You're a tactician."
He needed to bring the fight back to his terms.
Kael came for him again, faster this time. The ground cracked under each monstrous step. His silver-lined muscles gleamed under the storm, an unstoppable juggernaut.
Reo darted toward the collapsed ruins of a nearby building, weaving between debris as Kael gave chase. Each time Kael smashed through an obstacle, it slowed him just a fraction — but not enough.
Not yet.
Reo's plan was risky. Suicidal even.
But it was all he had.
He sprinted into a half-toppled skyscraper where exposed steel beams jutted out like skeletal ribs. The structure was weak, groaning under the strain of the earlier shockwave.
Exactly what he needed.
Kael roared behind him, shoving aside wreckage like paper, his rage blinding him to anything else.
"RUN, LITTLE BROTHER!" Kael howled. "I'LL BREAK EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODY!"
Reo ignored him, sprinting through the maze of steel. His fingers brushed the small controller tucked into his belt — another of Doraemon's emergency gadgets: the Collapse Beacon.
It wasn't meant for combat.
It was meant for demolition.
He skidded to a stop halfway through the wreckage, spinning to face Kael.
Kael grinned savagely. "Cornered."
"Wrong," Reo whispered.
He slammed his palm onto the Beacon's button.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
A deep tremor shook the building. High above them, the skeletal remains of the tower began to shift. Massive girders groaned, and a storm of dust rained down.
Kael's grin faltered.
He realized the trap a second too late.
With a deafening roar, the entire building collapsed.
Thousands of tons of steel and concrete plunged downward, an unstoppable avalanche aimed directly at Kael.
The mutant screamed in fury, raising his arms to shield himself, but the sheer mass overwhelmed even his monstrous strength. Reo leapt backward as a wall of dust and debris blasted outward, shielding his face.
The sound was deafening — a symphony of destruction.
When the dust finally began to settle, a massive mountain of rubble stood where Kael had once been. Cracks of glowing silver blood trickled through the wreckage, but no movement came from underneath.
Reo staggered to his knees, coughing, his body trembling from adrenaline and exhaustion.
It was over.
At least... for now.
---
Later, under the still-falling rain, Reo sat against the ruins.
His hands trembled slightly as he stared at the dark clouds above. His mind was a blur — part relief, part sorrow.
Kael was his brother.
The only family he had left.
And now...
He had buried him under a mountain of his own making.
Reo closed his eyes, feeling the rain wash the blood from his skin.
Not victorious.
Not triumphant.
Just... surviving.
---