[Chapter 33 - Barko vs The Shadow]

The man who had just saved everyone's lives didn't seem to bring relief, in fact, his presence made them more tense than ever. Cydal beauty and Randa stood alert, as if the true danger had only just arrived. No one embodied that fear more than Beauty. Her fists clenched at her sides, trembling slightly. She tried to step forward, to speak, but her body refused to move, and her voice caught in her throat.

"My wife… are you alright?" the man asked, stepping closer with eerie calm. "I sensed you were in danger and came running as fast as I could. If he truly believes he can send his little puppets to harm my wife, then he's made a grave mistake."

He gnashed his teeth, glancing upward—as if looking directly toward the creator behind the chaos.

At that, Beauty finally snapped out of her frozen state. Her terror boiled over into fury. She shouted, her voice sharp and loud enough to echo:

"Don't you dare call me your wife! I thought I made myself very clear the last time we met, I want nothing to do with a hideous monster like you!"

Her eyes burned with rage. "You killed my parents. You stole everything from me. And for that, I SWEAR I will make you pay."

She laughed bitterly, "Wife?" she spat. "I've spent years fantasizing about torturing and killing you the same way you butchered my family!"

The man's expression softened and he gave a twisted smile.

"Aww… that's exactly why I love you, my Beauty," he said, almost adoringly. "You're strong… fearless…and perfect. Just the kind of woman I've always wanted!"

He tilted his head slightly. "I only wished to marry you. Your parents were evil. They stood in the way of love. Our love."

Randa stood in the background, visibly confused, trying to process everything being said. Meanwhile, Cydal narrowed his eyes, stepping forward slightly.

He didn't move recklessly. He was calculating. Cydal had a unique ability to see beyond the surface, he was able to analyze every fiber, every structure, every layer of his opponents down to the very core of their existence. He could extract knowledge, predict behavior, understand strength, and even decipher origins.

And something wasn't right.

As his senses scanned the man before them, what he saw deeply disturbed him. The man's structure was alien, unlike any human or even transcender Cydal had ever encountered. It wasn't just unnatural… it was something beyond the known spectrum of mortal strength.

This wasn't someone to underestimate.

A flood of questions ran through Cydal's mind. What is he? What's his true intent? Should he interfere now, or continue to observe? The man wasn't attacking. Not yet. His focus was locked onto Beauty. As much as it disturbed Cydal, attacking preemptively could provoke something far worse.

For now, he would watch. Wait. Measure the line between chaos and confrontation, until it was crossed.

"More importantly," Beauty snapped, voice quivering with disgust, "why are you even here, Barko?!"

She nearly choked on the name as it left her mouth. It was poison to her.

"You were sentenced to be imprisoned for longer than a lifetime," she said, her tone bitter with disappointment. "You shouldn't be here."

"Are you not happy to see me, my love?" Barko asked, voice dripping with false tenderness. "Why must you say such hurtful things to me?"

But his soft expression dropped the moment his gaze landed on Cydal.

Cydal stood firm, his body was low, his senses were razor-focused, every cell in his body primed for battle.

"Ah," Barko muttered, a grin forming, sharp as a blade. "Now I see… it's him, isn't it?"

He looked back at Beauty for a moment, his smile turning bitter. "You still care about the Creator's Vessel."

Then, without warning, he turned toward Cydal, each step deliberate, heavy, and confident, like a predator sizing up prey.

He stopped just a few feet away, letting the silence thicken.

"You know what, little mutt?" Barko's voice lowered, now dark and venomous. "I don't care about hurting useless animals who are beneath me… unless they stand in my way."

He stepped forward, and the air seemed to bend around him with pressure. "But you? You're giving me two damn good reasons."

"One," he raised a finger, "you've infected her life. Ever since you came around, she's been nothing but hurt."

"Two," his hand clenched into a fist, "you are the heir of that treacherous creator who dared to try and kill my wife just today because of you."

Barko's lips twisted into a snarl. "Did you know? When I joined the Game, I made a deal with the Creator. I offered him my strength, my loyalty. In return, he promised me a powerful, beautiful wife and that he would never stand in my way."

He laughed then, low and broken. "He lied. The devils always lie. Betrayal is your bloodline. You devils wear it like a second skin."

He took a final step forward, close enough that only tension held back the clash.

"Your death," Barko said coldly, "is in my hands now."

"How do you want to die, mutt?"

The world seemed to shudder around him.

Suddenly, his aura exploded.

A swirling cyclone of crimson and molten gold spiraled around his body, forming a colossal serpent-like shape, coiling and hissing above him with divine rage. The ground beneath him cracked with sheer energy, dust lifting like a rising storm.

His lion-like eyes that were yellow dimmed to black, two razor-sharp vertical lines were slashing through each pupil, glowing faintly red.

He stood in front of Cydal towering him like a building, he was almost eight feet tall, casting a long shadow over Cydal, who, though sharp and solid at six feet, looked dwarfed beneath him. Barko's presence wasn't just physical; it was overwhelming, like standing before a living weapon designed to break men.

Before the tension could snap—

Beauty rushed forward.

She stepped between them without hesitation, fists clenched and eyes burning.

"Stay away from him, you jerk!" she barked, her voice trembling with fury.

"If you don't want my anger to grow far worse than where we stand now, back off."

She stood like a wall, even as her legs shook from fear and rage both.

"He… he has nothing to do with you," she growled. "Stay away from him."

For a moment, Barko simply stared at her, unimpressed… until a new voice pierced the air.

"Stay away from them!!"

Randa's scream cracked like lightning.

Barko's head turned slowly. His eyes locked onto her, those bright blue eyes gleaming with fire and innocence, and the two small moles near one eye, like stars framing a planet.

He paused. He remembered that description well, she was someone the creator really hated and by the looks of it she didn't know who she was yet.

A low chuckle escaped him.

"Hah… now I get it."

"So that's what the Wretchhounds were sniffing around for…"

His voice dropped into a delighted growl. "They weren't just here for my beautiful wife. They were here… for her."

His shoulders shook with satisfaction.

"Oh, this just got better."

Now there were two targets to eliminate.

He turned slightly, cracking his neck with a loud pop.

"Don't worry, little sunshine," he said, voice dark and giddy. "Once I'm done tearing apart the Creator's Vessel—"

His eyes burned into Randa's.

"—I'm coming for you next."

Randa's breath caught in her throat. She was scared now.

"Stop threatening my students—"

Beauty stepped forward, her voice like venom, eyes blazing with fury.

"You're pissing me off."

But Barko had grown tired of her interruptions. His brow twitched with irritation and without warning, he raised his massive hand, a hand like a slab of iron and struck her face.

CRACK!

The sound echoed like a whip.

Beauty's body jolted from the force, her feet lifted clean off the ground and she was sent flying.

She crashed into Randa's arms, she was all limp and breath was knocked out of her, her eyes were wide and glassy.

She couldn't even understand what had just happened.

Randa gasped, catching her by instinct, barely keeping them both upright.

Barko sneered, voice dripping with twisted affection.

"Shut up, woman! I love you… but you need to be taught discipline. A wife should know how to speak to her husband."

He waved dismissively.

"We'll deal with that later. Right now…"

His lion-like eyes turned toward Cydal.

"...I want to crush the Creator's mutt."

Up until now, Cydal had been silent. Calm calculating his situation but something about that slap made him very upset or it could be because of Barko's unearned rage, his mockery of love, the way he walked like a god.

His glare sharpened. His breath slowed.

Then, without a word—

The bandages on both his arms unraveled, whipping through the air like living serpents.

A low hum filled the space, and suddenly…

The ground beneath him cracked.

His aura flared, black and heavy like smoke trapped in gravity. It wrapped around him in layers, devouring light.

His green limbs, usually contained and calm, now burned lit with veins of purple and black Null, unstable like broken glass.

The very air around him warped, the molecules vibrating as if fearing what he was becoming.

Atoms snapped out of alignment. The scent of ozone filled the air. The grass beneath his feet died in an instant.

Seeing Cydal powering up, Barko didn't flinch, instead, he laughed with ecstasy, the sound guttural and unhinged. His canine teeth glinted unnaturally, sharpened like fangs under a predator's grin.

"Now we're talking!"

With a violent stomp that cracked the earth beneath him, Barko launched forward his massive fist cocked and roaring with pressure.

He threw a punch straight at Cydal's skull, it was very fast and brutal.

But Cydal backflipped with perfect precision, his coat snapping in the shockwave.

The instant Barko's fist slammed into the ground, there was a flash then a concussive blast.

BOOM!

The earth detonated in a focused atomic burst. Cydal had subtly destabilized and split the atoms beneath the soil while dodging, turning Barko's own punch into the trigger of a miniature nuclear explosion.

The air screamed. A wave of heat rolled across the field.

Randa's heart pounded.

She'd never seen the power like this.

As the smoke peeled away— A sound broke through the silence.

A deep laughter echoed, and Barko clearly enjoyed this little power demonstration. 

He emerged from the fading haze, he was completely unharmed. His dark skin, no matter how dense, and unholy hadn't even taken a scratch from a real nuclear explosion.

The blast hadn't even scorched his clothes.

"Is that all?" he sneered, cracking his neck. "Cute trick."

Then he lunged again, he was so fast his punch was a blur.

But the second his knuckles came close to Cydal—

FLASH!

The very air ignited. A ripple of blinding white light exploded outward, followed by another blast that sent Barko flying back, stumbling as his chest caught flame from yet another atomized detonation.

Cydal had primed the stones beneath their feet splitting their atomic bonds just enough to turn every surface into a minefield.

He moved everyone fast, bouncing and jumping, making every step and every punch a risk.

A risk Barko couldn't calculate.

He growled, patting out the flames, his eyes darting around. He couldn't even tell where it was safe to move.

The ground hissed. The air pulsed. It was like fighting inside a collapsing star.

Cydal didn't need to overpower him directly.

He was going to turn the entire battlefield into a weapon to trap him in his own confusion and fear and slowly shave away his advantage.

He planned to dull his senses and drown his instincts.

But when you're fighting a near-immortal monster, one who hadn't even flinched through atomic-level detonations, there comes a moment when power alone simply isn't enough.

That moment had arrived for Cydal.

His traps kept detonating under Barko's feet, setting off one explosive after another but this time, Barko didn't even bother patting out the flames.

He walked through the inferno even when he burned through it, he just gave an evil laughter to taunt Cydal.

Before Cydal could reset his footing barko demonstrated his speed and approached him instantly. 

He grabbed Cydal by the face bare-handed, his claws started digging into his skull. He moved him higher from the ground, his feet were no longer touching the grass. Then came a barrage of punches, each faster than the last, punching at a blinding-speed gut shots like battering rams wrapped in air pressure.

CRACK!

BOOM!

KAPOW!

BOOM!

Beauty and randa both screamed in concern "CYDAL!"

"Let him go, you monster!"

Cydal's entire frame convulsed with each impact.

His body buckled under the momentum, his bones were shaking, his breath was ripped from his lungs.

His legs swung up and he tried to kick Barko away, summoning the full might of his Null-infused limbs, which weighed tons and carried enough power to obliterate steel walls…

But Barko didn't move. Not an inch.

He just stared at him with his wild eyes, they were lion-like, black sclera with those eerie twin pupils and then lifted him higher.

Higher.

And with a roar, he slammed Cydal down directly onto one of the very nuclear traps he had set himself.

KA-BOOM!

The earth shattered beneath them. Smoke, debris, and flame erupted like a miniature volcano.

Chunks of scorched stone and searing mud were thrown into the air like bullets.

Beauty and Randa screamed—

"CYDAL!!"

But they couldn't see him.

The air had become a weapon in itself,

gale-force winds pushed them back as they fought to stay upright.

Their hair whipped across their faces. Their ears rang. The heat licked their skin.

There was no sign of him—

just smoke and flame and the towering shadow of a monster that refused to die.

Beauty cried.

She fell to her knees. She could barely breathe.

Randa couldn't even look.

Her body froze. Her lips trembled. Her soul felt like it was being torn apart.

Then—

Barko emerged from the smoke.

He was laughing and dragging something behind him.

It was Cydal he was dragging, his body was ravaged and torn open by barko.

Both of his Null-infused arms were missing, they were ripped clean off, leaving only jagged, bleeding stumps trailing black energy and purple mist.

Inside him null screeched in pain, his voice was fractured like a broken machine.

"You miserable fool,"

"You refused to let me take control. And now we're both dying. You expect to win like this?!"

"I can't regenerate instantly unless I feed. You ruined everything. What are you going to do now?!"

Cydal's teeth clenched in agony. He tried to move, to even flinch but Barko's massive hand gripped his hair, dragging his limp, shredded form across the burning earth.

And Barko laughed at Beauty, he was full of madness and full of pleasure.

"Now, my dear wife…"

"I want you to watch this. This will be our first marital discussion. You insulted your husband in front of others, so now I'll teach you the consequences."

He raised Cydal's broken form into the air like garbage.

"Lesson one: A wife doesn't speak down to her husband."

"Lesson two: There will never be another man between us."

And with that he threw Cydal hard towards, his mutilated body hit the ground at Beauty's feet with a wet crack. There wasn't much he could, Null's power weren't enough, barko wasn't even using his abilities for null to cancel anything, it was just sheer physical strength and speed, there was nothing he could do against something like that and it frustrated him, he needed to recover and think of something fast.

Then Barko's hands began to morph, massive blade-like claws stretched out of his fingers, they were sharp as swords, glowing faintly red from heat and energy.

"Now, let's take out his two hearts so you don't forget this lesson."

 To be continued