END THE WORLD

Kojo flew through trees, sending a large dust cloud into the air.

"(I've devised a strategy to enable you to get out of here.)"

"Fuck that," he said, flying into the air.

"(Wait, you're not going to run?)"

"No."

"(But you are afraid.)"

"Of course I am. That's a freaking Demon Lord. She's so O.P she had to be imprisoned at the edge of time. How the hell am I supposed to face that?"

"(But you did bring her to the present.)"

"I was being mind-controlled."

"(Nefaria did control you to do so, yes, but you brought her here with your own power.)"

"Yeah, go figure," Kojo said. Nefaria was thrown at him, and they both crashed into the ground.

"Get off me," Kojo said, and she quickly complied.

"So, got any ideas how we're going to beat her?" Kojo asked Nefaria.

"I've got a few, but they're going to solely depend on you. Being forcefully pulled out of my realm has drained me," she said.

"And whose fault is that?" Kojo asked.

"Well, you did summon her."

"You controlled me."

"You allowed yourself to be controlled. I didn't even know my plan would turn out like this."

Kojo was about to respond but did a double take on her statement.

"What plan?" he asked.

"Hey, are you two done already?" Dona called out.

"You'll tell me what you mean by 'plan' when this is over," Kojo said, flying off.

"(If you survive, that is.)"

"Shut it."

Kojo charged forward, his sword engulfed with blazing purple energy. Instead of going directly, he flew around her so fast he created a whirlwind and attacked her from all directions, his slashes and kicks landing in rapid succession.

Dona stood firm as she blocked all the attacks with one hand. She tilted her head to avoid a blow and flicked her finger, which hit the blade and sent him flying back.

The energy whirlwind dissipated, leaving her unscathed.

Nefaria took advantage of this opening and lunged, her body warping reality to alter Dona's perception.

The environment bending to her will.

Dona raised an eyebrow, her gaze unwavering as large serpentine constructs shot out of the ground toward her. She vanished, reappearing behind Nefaria and slashed her with energy. This turned out to be an illusion, and chains shot out of magic circles that appeared around her, wrapping around her to form a cocoon. More magic circles appeared around her and shot concentrated beams of Arcana at the trapped Dona, which illuminated the entire area. The chains broke, and the energy blowback knocked Nefaria away. There was dust in the air.

"Is this the best you've got? I was expecting better from a demon of your caliber," Dona said. Kojo appeared behind her, but she impaled him without looking. The clone disappeared as an army of clones jumped her to attack. Kojo had used his Skill

Stampede in an attempt to confuse her and land a hit. Dona killed the clone, but many more appeared, each with a replica of Caliburn. Dona sensed that the energy output among the clones was stable with no fluctuations, enough to confuse even a being such as herself. But only one of them had energy slightly above the rest and had a weapon that was slightly distorting space.

She vanished as all the clones exploded.

"Found you," she said as she drove her fist into his chest, causing it to come out the other side. Her eyes widened in surprise. This wasn't Kojo but rather a life-sized Golem that was holding Caliburn. Kojo had rewritten the essence of the golem to make it the most unbreakable thing there was. The dust cloud and even the environment were all Nefaria's illusions.

The Golem hugged Dona as the rest of Kojo's clones pulled up on them. Kojo then made a whirlwind around the trapped demon lord. He concentrated on focusing only oxygen at the center of the tornado to create a state of oxidation with the hope of causing damage to her cells.

Nefaria then stepped in and sparked the oxygen, creating a flaming tornado. The flames burned for a moment before suddenly going out, leaving Dona standing in the center of a scorched ground but unscathed herself. Before Kojo could react, she gave him an uppercut that knocked him through the two barriers erected and into the upper atmosphere. Nefaria then charged at her, deciding to use her reality-altering abilities instead of casting illusions.

She and Dona moved around the forest with the speed of two beams of light, causing shockwaves that uprooted trees and cracked boulders when they connected. Kojo woke up and heard the wind rushing past him. He turned and looked down and realized he was falling. He was so high up that he could see the curvature of the planet and even the ends of the continent. He looked up and saw auroras in the distance, toward the northern pole of Gaia.

"(Snap out of it, now's not the time to be impressed with nature.)"

Kojo concentrated his Aura and crossed the thumbs and index fingers of both hands over each other. A large magic circle with a golden color appeared in front of him. Light from the sun behind him flew in the form of balls and flew into the magic circle, causing it to glow into a richer shade of gold and glow brighter.

"I haven't done this move since the tournament," he sighed and took a deep breath.

"Light Magic-Territorial Annihilation Spell: Solar Extinction," Kojo yelled as a large beam of light shot down at Dona. Nefaria, who was fighting with Dona, kicked her into the beam's path and jumped out of the way as the beam pushed Dona along through the landscape, bisecting mountains and melting the ground.

"How can he have so much power after the amount of Arcana he used to summon this monster?" Nefaria wondered out loud. Dona just stood there as the beam washed over her, the ground around her melting around her.

"I'm bored with this now. The thrill of this battle has left me. I guess I'll just end the world," Dona said.

Instantly, light flashed, and the whole world

was enveloped in darkness as if it never was.