Battle Of Planets

"Why are you here?" Tyson asked, turning his head to Ryuk. "What about the others?"

"I made sure to pull them out of their current situation," Ryuk replied. "Now they just have to hold on until we finish things up here."

"Yeah, looks like it," Alex said, his eyes fixed on the distant Core.

"Is that a flying disc?" Tyson pointed. "That's cool."

"Thanks," the black Meta-bot replied. "Nice to meet you, strange human."

Tyson's eyes widened. "Hi there! Sir—I mean, machine—"

"Call me Black," it responded. "I am king of the Black Meta-bots."

"Less talk, more work," Ryuk interrupted, waving his hand. A dark chakra floated before him. With a flick of his fingers, it shot forward, slicing through the emerging hands in its path. "Let's see if I can cut the Core from here."

The chakra sped through the sandstorm, shattering countless arms along its way. Just as it reached the Core, a massive stony hand slammed down, deflecting the chakra weapon inches before it could slice the Core in half.

Tyson and Alex stood speechless.

This guy's powers were unlike anything they'd ever seen—controlling a weapon with just his fingers—but even that wasn't enough to destroy the Core.

Another hand appeared.

"I won't be able to cut it," Black said. "That's the Guardian. It'll stay near the Core, protecting it until someone shatters the Core and renders it useless."

"So how are we supposed to destroy it then?" Tyson asked.

Alex didn't wait. He dashed forward, leaping into the air and slashing through the wind and sand like a seasoned battlefield warrior.

"That was uncalled for," Ryuk muttered, watching him. "Is he always like that?"

"Yeah," Tyson replied. "Never mind him. So, what should we do?"

"Just attack," Ryuk grinned.

"Are all humans this stupid?" Black muttered.

Whitey blinked rapidly.

"Ahh," Black paused. "Glad you understand my pain."

Ryuk glanced at Tyson's chest for a moment looking at white trangular meta-bot, then returned his focus to the battle. His chakra weapon floated once more, and with precise finger movements, he guided it to slice through another incoming stony hand.

"Use sneak attacks," Black advised. "If you're sneaky enough."

Tyson dashed forward, dodging ongoing battles. Alongside him, the chakra disc floated, slashing off the fingers of the sand hands and ensuring Tyson stayed on the path to the Core.

Alex spun mid-air, slashing at the hands that tried to grab him again. "Not this time," he growled.

All three advanced toward the Core, determined to destroy it—while the whole world watched.

Everyone held their breath, praying that this supposedly ...easy level... would finally be cleared and that humanity would gain one more year of survival as a reward.

Meanwhile, on the other side, Blue and Red helped the others back to their feet. They had regrouped thanks to Ryuk's earlier intervention. No one understood what exactly had happened—but they all saw that floating chakra, tearing through monsters like they were made of paper.

They were stunned. Awestruck. But as soon as the chakra left, the monsters began to emerge again.

"We have to move!" Blue shouted. "We won't survive unless the Core is destroyed!"

"They're advancing," Rudra reported, eyes locked on his screen. "It's better if we stay here and cover them. If we move, the monsters might chase us—and that'll make things harder for both them and us."

"We should hold the line then," Shaun huffed as he slammed his shield into the sand. "Even if it means dying."

"I don't like your plan," Ken murmured. "But I don't see another way."

"You guys are hopeless," Lara muttered. She wanted to fight beside Tyson, but now she had to compromise.

Ryuk circled his finger as the chakra slashed around—just then, and hands grabbed him in place. "Shit."

"Ah... my bad. I was distracted by a white Ranger," Black blipped.

The chakra hovered motionless in the air as Ryuk struggled to free his hands from the grip of the hand that came up from beneath the soil.

Tyson jumped off an emerging hand, dashing toward the core—just as a stone-like hand slammed a fist near him, forcing him to leap away.

"I can't get close," Tyson reported.

"I will!" Alex shouted, stabbing the sandy hand multiple times before jumping back in frustration. No matter what he did, they always restored to their original state.

"Little help over here!" Ryuk called out.

Tyson turned to look at Ryuk—just as White blipped and a stone hand slammed into him, sending him flying into the storm.

"Oops," Ryuk muttered, then wriggled inside the hard grip of the hand. Alex was busy, and Tyson had just been thrown away.

"I guess there's no way but to use Aura," Ryuk murmured.

"I would advise not to, since you're new to it," Black said. "But at the moment, let the destructive nature of me come forward."

The black-colored aura flared like a blazing fire, instantly shattering the hand and the others nearby as Ryuk tried to control the energy.

Ryuk curled his fist into a ball, shouting as flames surged around him uncontrollably.

Alex paused, watching Ryuk—visibly impressed by the newcomer. He had always tried to use Aura, but no matter what he did, there wasn't a trace of it in him, as if something was restricting him.

"Focus, Alex," he muttered. "You can do it too."

Alex tried, but it was no use. He sighed, frustrated. "Fuck it. I'll do it my way."

Tyson stepped out again, stumbling as he looked toward the black aura—it looked menacing and powerful.

"Maybe we have a chance now," Tyson murmured, eyes fixed back on the core.

"This feels amazing," Ryuk said, smiling inside his helmet.

"Yeah, but you won't be able to fuel it for long," Black replied. "You'll burn through all your reserves before you know it... so you better make it count."

The chakra soon caught fire with the same black flame, and it seemed as though the air was being sucked into it ever so slightly.

"Hurry before I call it a day!" Ryuk shouted. "I'll handle the hands—you go after the core!"

Tyson and Alex nodded, darting toward the core with everything they had, while the chakra—now charged with new energy—sliced through the arms completely. The power of the aura seemed too strong for the sand's regeneration to keep up.

A massive stone hand stood before them. As they ran toward it, Alex and Tyson stepped aside, trusting Ryuk to handle it. The chakra crashed into the stone hand, flaming with the intense black energy of Ryuk's aura.

Cracks began to appear along the surface of the stone hand, and Alex and Tyson took the opening to charge toward the core of the boss monster... The Haboob.

Alex plunged his katana deep into the core. Cracks spread out across it, but the core still held—until Tyson's blade struck.

The core exploded, sending both brothers flying through the air. At that moment, the Haboob vanished into thin air.

[ Ding! Boss monster defeated.]

[ You have cleared the first map...]

On the other side, they struggled against the surging numbers of golems. They did their best to keep up, but even so, a few golems managed to slip past, moving toward the core to protect it.

Red began burning the last of his nano-particles to fuel his flame, transforming his armor into a flamethrower. His metallic suit began to disintegrate, reconfiguring into nanobots that filled the guitar in his hands—channeling heat through it to unleash waves of fire.

Ken, Lara, and Shaun supported each other just to stay on their feet, protecting the others while silently thanking Blue and Rudra who were keeping the biggest golems occupied.

Ron, on the other hand, was completely spent. His armor was gone—he was now just human. He had done his part as the healer, replenishing others, and now could only hope to survive until the wave ended.

Shaun was kneeling, his shield half-shattered, staring at the massive golem as its colossal fist came crashing down toward him and the others. Ken fired his pistol desperately, but the bullets were swallowed by the sand-like surface of the golem's head, rendering them useless.

Lara watched helplessly. Her armor was at 26% and stuck in manual mode. The dagger in her hand felt unbearably heavy now—there was no way she could get up again and try to leap toward the golem for a final strike.

Then suddenly, the sand monster dissolved—turning into a fine grain of sand and collapsing around them like a wave.

[ Ding! Boss monster defeated.]

[ You have cleared the first map...]

They had done it. They cleared the map... and not a single one of them had died.

They won.

"About time" Blue smirked, huffing. "Assholes you are something"

[ Ding! the reward has been grained... 1 year for Earth]

[ Ding! rewarding the participants...]

Blue watched as his interface displayed the reward—he had gained 2 power points. Now sitting at 29, he smirked, feeling that satisfying surge of strength again.

He glanced around at the others. They, too, seemed to have received power points as a personal reward for their efforts.

"I hope mine are better than Tyson's and Alex's," he muttered under his breath. "I did save their asses, after all."

With a glance at the floating screen before him, he sighed and dropped to the ground."I need sleep,"