The battlefield had become chaos.
Nine barrier points.
Nine World Martial Arts Super Generals.
Nine Mask Men.
And above them all, the ancient gate continued to tremble.
But one battlefield suddenly became completely silent.
A Mask Man stood in the middle of a destroyed street.
His mask was different from the others.
A horned mask, covering most of his face.
His long dark coat moved gently in the wind.
Across from him stood—
General Jian Long.
The quietest of the Ten Super Generals.
His long black hair moved across his shoulders while his dark-red eyes remained fixed on the masked warrior.
Jian Long slowly raised his hands.
"You."
The Mask Man didn't answer.
Jian Long's eyes narrowed.
"I recognize those eyes."
The Mask Man finally tilted his head.
One eye slowly opened beneath his mask.
A strange crimson pattern rotated inside it.
The Eye of Laliguras.
Jian Long's expression changed.
"You're one of the descendants of the Eye of Laliguras."
Silence.
"And you have a younger brother."
The Mask Man's fingers tightened.
Jian Long said his name.
"Renge Akihana."
The air suddenly changed.
The Mask Man's aura exploded.
"I hate him."
Jian Long remained calm.
"Why?"
"Because of him…"
The Mask Man's voice became colder.
"Ten years ago, the Alien Queen attacked."
His other eye opened.
A completely different pattern appeared.
The Eye of Lotus.
"My parents died."
"My clan disappeared."
"Everything I had was taken from me."
His eyes began glowing.
"And you stand there…"
"…and remind me of my little brother?"
Jian Long lowered his stance.
"So that's your reason."
The Mask Man looked directly at him.
"No."
A faint smile appeared beneath his mask.
"My reason is much simpler."
"I want to fight him."
---
The Eye of Lotus
His Eye of Lotus rotated.
"Azure Soulfire."
WHOOSH!
Blue spiritual flames erupted from his eye.
But they weren't ordinary flames.
They moved like living threads.
They wrapped around Jian Long's arms and torso.
Jian Long immediately released his Spiritual Energy.
BOOM!
The blue flames were thrown away.
But they returned.
Jian Long's expression finally became serious.
"So they consume Spiritual Energy…"
The Mask Man nodded.
"Exactly."
The flames began absorbing Jian Long's aura.
The energy disappeared into them—
then flowed back toward the Mask Man.
"And wounds caused by Azure Soulfire…"
His eye rotated again.
"…don't recover normally."
Jian Long suddenly vanished.
FLASH!
He appeared beside the Mask Man and struck.
The Mask Man blocked.
BAM!
The impact sent him sliding several meters.
Jian Long followed immediately.
A second strike.
Third.
Fourth.
His fighting style was completely different from the other generals.
No wasted movement.
No unnecessary attacks.
Every movement was precise.
Every strike targeted an opening.
The Mask Man kept blocking.
Then—
Jian Long suddenly stopped.
The Mask Man smiled.
"Too late."
The Eye of Lotus flashed.
GENJUTSU-LIKE MIND MANIPULATION.
Jian Long's surroundings changed.
He was suddenly standing in the same street.
Then—
He attacked.
Again.
The same street.
The same opponent.
The same attack.
Again.
And again.
And again.
An infinite loop.
Jian Long realized it.
"This isn't real…"
He tried breaking the illusion.
But every time he escaped—
he returned to the beginning.
Meanwhile, in reality, the Mask Man calmly walked around him.
Azure Soulfire followed.
One strike.
Then another.
Then another.
When Jian Long finally broke through the illusion—
he dropped to one knee.
His breathing was heavy.
The Mask Man stood over him.
Jian Long looked up.
"…You really are dangerous."
The Mask Man turned away.
"Good fight."
Jian Long fell unconscious.
The Mask Man glanced toward the other battlefields.
"I have somewhere else to go."
---
Nine Battles
At another barrier—
Raizen Kuro slammed his fist into General Ryuken Arashi's guard.
BOOM!
Ryuken countered with a devastating elbow.
Raizen twisted away and struck with a low kick.
Neither had activated their Spiritual Beast.
Raw martial arts alone shook the street.
---
At another location—
Shirogane Rei fought General Mei Lin.
Rei's movements were smooth and almost impossible to read.
Mei Lin answered with precise counterattacks.
Her jade shoulder guard deflected a strike.
She spun and struck Rei across the chest.
Rei slid backward.
"Impressive."
Mei Lin smiled.
"You too."
---
Vega fought General Viktor Dragunov.
It was practically a battle of monsters.
Vega's armored fist collided with Viktor's reinforced gauntlet.
KRAAASH!
The road beneath them cracked.
Viktor laughed.
"Finally! Someone who can actually take a punch!"
Vega raised her horn-shaped mask.
"Try hitting harder."
---
Akane Tsukishiro fought General Ayaka Shirogane.
Their battle was almost silent.
Step.
Strike.
Block.
Counter.
Both moved like assassins.
Neither gave the other an opening.
---
Jinro crossed weapons with General Hassan Rahman.
Two enormous weapons came crashing down.
Hassan blocked with his metal gauntlets.
CLANG!
Jinro grinned behind his wolf mask.
"You're stronger than you look."
Hassan answered:
"And you're louder than you need to be."
---
Mika faced General Marcus Vale.
Mika's speed was ridiculous.
She bounced between walls, attacked from above, landed, disappeared again.
Marcus simply waited.
Then—
BAM!
He caught her punch.
Mika froze.
Marcus smiled.
"Got you."
"Oh."
Mika's smiling mask tilted.
"That's bad."
---
Raven fought General Sora Hayashi.
Dark coat against dark hood.
Their battle looked almost like two shadows fighting.
Sora ducked.
Raven's kick passed over his head.
Sora countered.
Raven blocked with one arm.
Neither spoke.
---
Darius fought General Elena Voss.
Golden armor collided with black martial armor.
Elena moved elegantly.
Darius relied on overwhelming physical strength.
Every collision sounded like thunder.
---
And finally—
Noir fought General Daichi Kurogane.
Daichi's wooden staff moved with incredible precision.
Noir avoided every strike by centimeters.
Daichi smiled.
"You're very fast."
Noir's expressionless mask faced him.
"So are you."
---
One by one—
the battles reached their limits.
And then—
BOOM!
A massive shockwave spread across Shanghai.
The nine Super Generals had fallen.
The Mask Men stood victorious.
But they didn't get time to celebrate.
A dark aura suddenly appeared behind them.
Everyone turned.
The horned Mask Man had returned.
He walked toward them.
Mika raised her hand.
"Hey! We won!"
No response.
Raizen Kuro looked at him.
"Where's Jian Long?"
The horned Mask Man pointed behind himself.
"Unconscious."
Vega laughed.
"Nice."
The Mask Man stopped.
His Eye of Lotus opened.
Everyone froze.
Raizen's voice became serious.
"…What are you doing?"
The Mask Man answered calmly.
"You're in my way."
Blue light filled his eye.
Azure Soulfire.
The flames exploded outward.
The other Mask Men immediately raised their guards.
"What?!"
"You're attacking us?!"
The blue flames wrapped around them.
Their Spiritual Energy began disappearing.
The Mask Man watched silently.
He didn't care who stood in front of him.
General.
Enemy.
Or even—
his own teammates.
He wasn't interested in the battle.
He wasn't interested in the Alien Queen.
He wasn't interested in the ritual.
There was only one person inside his mind.
Renge Akihana.
His little brother.
His Eye of Laliguras glowed.
"I'll find you."
The Azure Soulfire consumed the remaining Spiritual Energy of the Mask Men.
One after another—
they collapsed unconscious.
The nine Super Generals had already been defeated.
Now even the Mask Men themselves had fallen.
And the horned Mask Man stood alone in the middle of the battlefield.
His two mysterious eyes slowly closed.
"Renge…"
His voice was almost a whisper.
"Wait for me."
Far away—
the ancient gate shook again.
BOOOOOOM.
The countdown continued.
And the final war had officially begun.