Gira charged.
Red light tore across the throne room.
I barely had time to bring Saba up before the Ohger Calibur crashed into her blade.
CLANG!
The shock ran through my whole body, but this time the golden mantle armor on my shoulders absorbed part of it, dragging the force downward into the floor. Marble cracked under my boots.
"Oh," I muttered. "That's new."
"Told you the gold chunk had purpose," Saba said. "Fashion and violence can coexist."
Gira didn't let up. He twisted his wrist and turned the clash into a sliding cut aimed for my side.
My body moved on instinct.
The Dragon Dagger snapped up in my left hand, catching the strike before I fully understood what I was doing.
Two blades.
Two blocks.
My arms crossed in a perfect X.
Sparks burst between us.
Yanma's voice rang out from the side. "Yo, look at that. He doesn't know what he's doing, but the gear does."
"Encouraging," I grunted.
I shoved forward. Gira gave half a step, then spun with the motion and drove a kick into my chest.
The impact launched me backward. I skidded across the floor, the heavy gold armor grinding like an anchor.
I slammed through one of Hymeno's polished pillars and
I stopped inches from second one
"Please tell me that wasn't expensive," I said.
"It was," Hymeno replied flatly. "Try not to damage the next one."
Gira advanced slowly now. No wild rush. No shouting.
Just pressure.
"You rely on reaction," he said. "That is the habit of prey."
"Funny," I said, dragging myself upright. "I was thinking the same about speeches."
He vanished.
I felt him before I saw him.
The weight on my shoulders shifted hard to the left, like the armor sensed the incoming strike.
I turned with it.
CLANG!
Saba caught the blade inches from my neck.
For a second, we were face to face.
Behind the red lenses, Gira looked almost pleased.
"You learn quickly."
"I panic efficiently."
He jumped back. Then pointed the Calibur at me, his thumb sliding over the trigger.
[OHGER FINISH!]
Red energy gathered around his blade, sharp and violent, swirling like a localized storm. The air in the throne room began to hum with the sheer amount of power he was channeling.
Across the room, Yanma was already tapping at a screen. "Heart rate spiking. Suit output unstable. He's about to redline."
Saba's gem flashed. "BJ, if you're doing something heroic, do it now."
"I hate when you phrase it like that."
I tightened my grip on both weapons. My lungs burned. My shoulders felt crushed under the golden armor.
But the fear had burned off.
Only motion remained.
Gira lunged.
This time, I moved first.
I moved low.
Not a charge. Not a sprint. A sharp glide across the marble, like my body finally stopped asking permission.
Gira's blade came down in a brutal vertical arc meant to split me where I stood.
I wasn't there anymore. The strike smashed into the floor behind me, stone exploding upward. I slipped inside his reach.
Saba drove toward his ribs.
CLANG! He turned just in time, catching it on the side of the Calibur, but the opening was enough. My left hand moved on instinct. The Dragon Dagger slammed into his chest plate.
THOOM! A burst of green-white force erupted on impact. Gira staggered back three steps, boots carving lines through the marble. Yanma barked out a laugh. "There we go!"
I stared at my own hands. "…Did I do that?"
"No," Saba said dryly. "A ghost borrowed your body for confidence."
Gira straightened slowly. Then he laughed. Not mockery. Not madness. Just Joy.
"Yes," he said, rolling his shoulders. "Now you understand."
"I understand that you're insane."
"Also true."
Red energy surged around him again, tighter this time, sharper. The room pressure climbed so hard my visor flickered. Hymeno finally stood from the couch.
"Enough data," she said coolly. "He is reaching his limit."
"Counterpoint," Yanma replied without looking up. "This is getting good."
"I said enough."
Gira glanced toward her, then back to me. Even armored, he somehow looked apologetic.
"One last strike," he said. "For certainty."
Before I could answer, he vanished. Too fast. I felt the shift above me. I looked up just in time to see red light descending. Instinct took over. I crossed Saba and the Dragon Dagger overhead.
BOOM! The impact dropped me to one knee. Cracks spread beneath me in a spiderweb. Every muscle screamed. Warning lights flashed inside the visor. But I held. For one second, we stayed locked there.
Then I did the only thing I could think of. Stupid. Desperate. Very on brand for survival. I jerked the Dragon Dagger's mouthpiece to my lips.
"BJ," Saba said. "You do know how to play that, right?"
"Nope."
I blew anyway.
[TRILL—!] The sound that burst out wasn't music. It was a violent wave of green-white force. The sonic blast exploded upward between our locked weapons and slammed straight into Gira's chest.
BOOM! He was launched backward through the air, landing hard across the marble and skidding several feet. The pressure vanished instantly.
Yanma shouted from the side, "Kid just hit him with a flute!"
Hymeno pinched the bridge of her nose. "Why does that sentence exist?"
The white suit flickered violently. The golden shoulder armor felt ten times heavier.
"BJ," Saba said sharply. "Power collapse incoming."
"Bad time to tell me."
The armor dissolved in white light. I dropped to both knees in my regular clothes, drenched in sweat and breathing like I'd borrowed lungs from someone weaker.
The throne room went quiet. Gira reached up and de-morphed, returning to himself. He walked toward me slowly. No theatrics now. Just the real him.
"You are no king," he said.
"So are you," I rasped, looking up at him. "You stole the King's royal arm. You're a wanted criminal."
Gira's expression didn't flicker. Instead, he let out a dark, satisfied chuckle.
"That is why I am the Tyrant King!"
He placed a hand on my shoulder, his grip firm.
I looked at him, my vision already starting to swim at the edges.
"Great," I rasped. "I'm going to… go ahead and lay down for a while."
I didn't wait for his permission.
The floor came up faster than my brain did. Darkness hit like a switch turning off. I don't remember falling. Just the sound of the throne room getting very far away.
Then nothing.
Somewhere above the palace, alarms started screaming.
Outside Ishabana, the ground groaned. It was a heavy, grinding sound—the kind that meant something massive was digging its way up through the foundation.
Yanma didn't even look away from his monitors as the room shook. "Second wave. No—full breach. Right on schedule."
He spared a glance toward the center of the room, where I was currently an immobile heap on the floor. He scoffed, clicking his tongue in annoyance.
"Unbelievable," Yanma muttered. "Kid's gonna miss the whole show. Worst timing for a nap."
Hymeno stood up, her dress fluttering as the air in the room pressurized from the external explosions. Her eyes were already on the balcony. "He's reached his limit. Leave him. We have a city to protect."