Afterwards

Back to the Present.

BAM!

X's massive arm smashed into RiZu's chestplate, sending him flying into a crumbling building. Concrete dust filled the air.

RiZu coughed blood. His ribs screamed.

His right arm went numb.

But he got up.

"I'm not done," he growled.

Their fight resumed — a war of gods.

Each blow RiZu struck was surgical.

Twisting X's joints. Striking pressure points no one else saw. Kicking at tendons. Dodging with a hair's breadth.

And with each attack, another memory.

Flash:Meditation at 2 AM

Knees bloody on stone.

Body shaking.

Stomach empty for two days.

But he pushed through, feeling his blood hum.

The world slowing.

The first taste of inner power.

Flash: Running From Dhading to Kathmandu

A test. 120 kilometers in under 2 hours.

No one saw him.

No one knew.

But the old cultivator he met at an abandoned shrine did.

"You are meant for a path few can walk."

Now, his body failing, armor cracking, eyes bloodshot — RiZu saw his opening.

The crystalline core beneath X's mutated chestplate — a flickering heart of otherworldly energy.

He went in.

A thousand strikes in a heartbeat.

Fists, knees, elbows, spinning kicks.

So fast it looked like lightning.

The air screamed around him.

He wasn't just fighting for the city anymore.

He fought for every lonely boy.

Every misunderstood genius.

Every outcast who was told he'd never matter.

CRACK!

The core shattered.

X roared in agony, his body unraveling.

But before death, X laughed — a deep, monstrous sound.

"I-9 is coming… you're nothing compared to her…"

And with a final detonation of alien energy, RiZu lost his right hand — vaporized in the blast. His suit peeled away. His blood now a bright, unnatural blue from the alien infection.

He stumbled, barely standing, panting, body broken.

But the world watched.

Helicopters. Drones. Live feeds.

And no one saw his face.

Just a warrior battered, standing tall.

A symbol..!?

Lina, watching through cracked visors, weeping for her fallen comrades, had one last look at him before he vanished into the smoke.

He left behind a single card in the rubble's

A silver emblem.

A phoenix rising from shadows.

And below it...words etched:

"Destroyed"