The tension crackled in the air. Hellfire stood in the corner, still simmering with fury over Pyro Minotaur's defeat.
Toxica twirled a vine idly around her finger, smirking. "Another round of rock-paper-scissors?" she teased.
But Aquadrown stepped forward, his voice calm but cold.
"No need," he said, summoning a swirling orb of black water in his palm. "It's my turn now."
The orb expanded, twisting into a dark, writhing form - tentacles slithering out, each one tipped with jagged barbs.
The Abyss Kraken - a massive, otherworldly sea beast - roared, its ink-black body glowing with eerie blue veins.
Dark Void's hollow smile widened.
"Drown Soluna in despair," he ordered.
Soluna's Coastal City - The Next Day
The ocean, usually a brilliant blend of Solar yellow and Lunar blue, had turned a murky black.
Waves thrashed violently, battering the coastal city's docks.
Then, without warning - tentacles burst from the sea, wrapping around buildings and snapping ships in half like twigs.
The Abyss Kraken rose from the water - its body a terrifying mass of shifting limbs and glowing patterns.
The people screamed, fleeing the docks - but the Kraken's tentacles stretched far into the city, smashing through homes and marketplaces.
Rei arrived alone transforming into Black Lunar Warrior as always.
Her boots skidded across the flooded streets, stopping just before the towering creature.
No Heatsun. No Moonsalt. No Jim.
Just her.
She stared at the massive monster - its tentacles flailing wildly, breaking everything in their path.
The ocean roared behind it - a swirling, endless abyss.
"Another test," Rei muttered. "Fine."
Her Lunar Crescent Hatchets glowed softly in her hands - but she didn't move.
Not yet.
The Solunar people - those who had mocked her, doubted her - watched from a distance.
"She can't beat that alone," someone whispered.
"She's not Heatsun or Moonsalt," another scoffed.
Even now - after all her victories - their trust was like a locked door.
Rei didn't react to their words and readied her battle stance.
_ _ _
The Abyss Kraken struck first -
A tentacle lashed out, aiming to crush Rei.
She dodged - a flash of silver - but another tentacle swung from behind.
Rei barely avoided the blow - the impact shattering the stone street beneath her feet.
The Kraken was fast - too fast for something so big.
She gritted her teeth.
"No weak point?" she muttered, scanning the beast.
The Kraken attacked again - a flurry of tentacles from every angle.
Rei's body blurred - her movements razor-sharp - slipping between the crushing limbs.
But she was on the defensive.
She couldn't strike.
Every time she tried to move in, another tentacle blocked her path - the Kraken's size and speed keeping her at bay.
The Solunar crowd murmured.
"She's struggling."
"She can't win this."
One voice rose louder: "Where's Heatsun? Moonsalt?"
Rei's mind burned.
"I have to end this - now."
Then - she noticed it.
When the Kraken's center tentacle moved - the glowing blue veins pulsed harder.
Its core.
The Abyss Kraken roared, swinging all of its tentacles at once -
A crushing, inescapable attack.
Rei didn't dodge.
Instead - she ran toward the attack.
The crowd gasped -
"She's crazy-!"
At the last moment - Rei slid beneath the tentacles, her hatchets glowing with pure Lunar light.
With a flash of silver - she severed the core tentacle.
The Kraken screamed - its body convulsing - the glowing veins dimming as the creature flailed.
Rei didn't stop.
She leapt onto the Kraken's body - climbing it as its limbs thrashed wildly.
Dodging a near-fatal swing, she reached the beast's heart - a glowing, pulsing core buried beneath its mass of tentacles.
"Lunar Crescent Strike."
With a single, precise swing -
She slashed through the core.
The Abyss Kraken let out one final, deafening shriek - before collapsing back into the ocean - its body disintegrating into black water.
The sea slowly returned to its natural gold and silver hues.
Silence.
Rei stood alone at the dock's edge - soaked, bruised - but victorious.
Her hatchets dripped with the Kraken's black blood.
The crowd stared.
No cheers.
No jeers.
Just... silence.
Finally -
"She did it... alone."
"...Again."
The whispers carried a different tone this time.
Not quite admiration - but not contempt either.
Something in-between.
Rei didn't care.
She wiped her hatchets clean and turned away from the crowd - walking past them without a word.
But as she passed -
She felt something.
A shift in the air.
Not acceptance...
But maybe - the beginning of something else.
At Dark Void's Base...
Toxica's fingers tapped impatiently against the wall as the others stared at her. Hellfire smirked.
"Lost again?" Hellfire teased, the embers around him flaring slightly.
Aquadrown crossed his arms, his cold stare unblinking. "You're making this too easy for her."
Toxica hissed. "Then let's see how she handles this."
She raised her hand, summoning a mass of writhing vines, which twisted together, forming into a new shape.
A shadowy figure emerged - tall and lean - its entire body composed of sharp, twisting thorns and dark green tendrils. A long, curved scythe made of brambles and poison roots formed in its hands.
The Thorn Reaper - a monstrous blend of speed, agility, and sheer cutting power.
Dark Void, seated on his obsidian throne, chuckled softly.
"Rei cannot dodge forever," he mused. "Let's see if she can survive something faster than her."