The Epic Fail

Kaion was absolutely certain about one thing as he stood in the middle of the battlefield: he had no idea what he was doing.

The creature—this so-called "Voidbringer Avatar"—was standing right in front of him, looking absolutely menacing, with its pulsating purple eyes and dark energy swirling around it like a cosmic blender. It was so intimidating that even the wind seemed to be scared of it, blowing in the opposite direction.

Yet here he was, holding his sword, looking like a deer in the headlights.

"Alright, Kaion, time to bring the thunder," Kaion muttered to himself, psyching himself up as he took a deep breath. He didn't have a plan—who needs a plan when you've got sheer willpower and… ridiculous amounts of confidence, right?

But before he could even take a step forward, Raya slapped him on the back. "You good, big guy? You look like you just saw your mother-in-law for the first time."

Kaion shot her a glare. "This is not the time for jokes, Raya. We're about to face—"

Grin, who had been quietly inspecting his nails, cut him off. "Oh, relax. We've got this. I mean, look at this guy. He's probably just a high-level demon with a bad case of purple fever."

Raya snorted. "Yeah, I'm sure it's nothing that a little bit of aloe vera couldn't fix." She pulled out a small bottle of aloe gel from her pouch and tossed it at Grin. "You know, for your skin care routine."

Grin caught it mid-air and gave her a dry look. "You know what, if we survive this, I'm going to start a beauty channel. 'How to fight cosmic destruction while keeping your glow.'"

Kaion facepalmed, utterly defeated by the absurdity of it all. But that didn't stop the Voidbringer Avatar from looming over them like a bad breakup. Its voice boomed out again, clearly unimpressed by their antics. "You mock me now, but I will show you no mercy, mortals. The Void is inevitable."

Kaion's eyebrow twitched. "Yeah, yeah, you've said that a dozen times. But, like, do you ever stop talking about the Void? We get it, it's your thing. Just... just fight already."

The Voidbringer Avatar seemed almost taken aback by Kaion's lack of fear, which was both terrifying and slightly amusing. The Avatar raised one enormous, shadowy hand and swiped at them. It was the kind of move that would send most people running for their lives, but not Kaion and his friends. No, they were a special kind of stupid.

Kaion, determined to impress, swung his sword with all the grace of a drunken squirrel on roller skates.

And missed.

In fact, the sword flew out of his hands completely, spinning in the air like it was auditioning for a bad action movie. "No, no, no!" Kaion yelled, his arms flailing in an effort to grab it.

The sword landed with a loud thud... right into the dirt. Grin, who had been trying to avoid eye contact, couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Man, you know, I thought I was bad at this, but you're a whole other level of disaster."

Raya was laughing too, covering her mouth with her hand. "I—I can't breathe, Kaion. You literally just tossed your weapon away like it was a hot potato."

Kaion scowled, completely ignoring the fact that he was still being glared at by the towering cosmic terror in front of him. "Shut up, guys! I'll get it back!"

The Avatar, who was waiting patiently for Kaion to do... something, finally raised a finger and shot a beam of dark energy at them. The beam was fast and deadly, but Kaion, having already made a dramatic decision in his head, decided that this was the moment he would prove everyone wrong. He was going to dodge it with the greatest leap of his life.

Except…

Instead of dodging, he tripped over a rock.

And face-planted into the dirt.

"Kaion!" Raya shouted. "Get up!"

Grin, holding his stomach from laughing too hard, barely managed to choke out, "This is the best fight scene I've ever seen. Someone get this man an Oscar!"

But then, as fate would have it, Kaion's fall was not entirely in vain. As he landed face-first into the dirt, his foot kicked the sword that had earlier fallen, sending it hurtling straight into the Avatar's foot.

The Avatar paused. Not because it was hurt. No, no—it was just staring down at the sword like it was the weirdest thing to happen all day. Kaion, now on his back in the dirt, stared up at the avatar in disbelief.

"Did… did I just win?" Kaion asked, blinking up at the cosmic terror.

The Avatar raised a shadowy eyebrow. "This is... unexpected."

Grin's voice broke through the momentary silence. "I knew you had a plan all along, Kaion! Just, you know, maybe next time, try actually dodging."

Kaion slowly pushed himself up, dusting himself off as if he hadn't just face-planted in front of a god-like creature. "What can I say? I'm full of surprises." He gave the Avatar a wink. "You're not the only one who knows how to mess with people."

The Avatar's gaze flickered between them, clearly conflicted. "I… I have underestimated you, mortal. But mark my words. This is not over."

Kaion stood tall, sword in hand once more—this time a lot more carefully. "Yeah, yeah. We'll see about that."