A beat.
That was all the world allowed—just one beat of stillness.
And then—hell snapped open.
With a sudden flick of his wrist, Drayvok twisted the twin barrels out from his gauntlets—sleek, high-tech firearms etched with eerie crimson circuitry, humming with unstable energy. They weren't ordinary weapons. These were Sentinel-forged, illegal even by Aspen standards. Each one pulsed like it held a heartbeat of its own.
"Let's see if you bleed, Phantom."
BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.
He opened fire—projectiles ripping the air with high-frequency sonic trails. The bullets weren't simple; they fragmented mid-air into miniature seeking shards, each one adjusting its trajectory with micro-AI precision, closing in from all angles.
But Raven?
Didn't blink.
He stepped once—just once—and in that moment, the world flickered.
Schiinnk—
One wide arc.
Just one clean slice.
Every projectile stopped mid-flight. Split. Each in half—before they could detonate.
The silence after the slice was louder than the gunfire.
And before anyone could process—
Raven was already there.
Flash.
He was inches from Drayvok.
"Too slow."
Schiink—
A blade arced through the air again—this time, straight across both of Drayvok's arms.
They fell.
Both hands severed clean.
Drayvok stumbled back—but didn't scream. He grinned.
The detached arms didn't drop like dead weight—they twitched, like sentient limbs possessed. Sparks erupted from their cores, merging and melting into the very weapons they once held.
Mechanical tendrils extended—
The severed arms slammed back into the stubs, merging with eerie fluidity, the guns now fully integrated into his flesh.
Click—Whrrr—
"Heh… That tickled," Drayvok muttered, a wild gleam in his eyes. "Let's go again."
A second.Just a second.
That's all it took for the battlefield to become a whirlpool of weaponized chaos.
Drayvok grinned, blood trickling from the corner of his lips.
"Skill Activate—Weapon Fusion."
Raven didn't flinch.But the air around them cracked like glass.
From Drayvok's arms, plates snapped open and twisted. Internal nanorods spiraled out and morphed into two sleek, angular handguns—each one humming with red circuitry.
"Weapon Shift—Twin Vultures."
BLAM. BLAM. BLAM.A rapid burst of armor-piercing red streaks blazed through the air.
Raven stepped forward. Just once.SHINK.
His sword cleanly sliced each bullet mid-air.
A diagonal pivot. A short step. A flick of the wrist.
And the guns—both—were split in half as Raven appeared right in front of Drayvok.
But—
"Weapon Shift—Fang Claws."
A roar of steam—his hands reformed into vicious metal claws, like panther talons fused with serrated surgical blades.
He lunged, swiping for Raven's face.
Raven leaned sideways, barely off-axis. The claws missed by an inch.
In return?
BAM.A palm to Drayvok's chest. Not to hurt.Just to destabilize.
He tumbled back but twisted mid-fall.
"Weapon Shift—Storm Daggers."
From his wrists sprang curved, aerodynamic daggers, blades pulsing with violet plasma edges.
He vanished.
Raven's eyes flicked left.
CLANK.The dagger scraped his shoulder pad—but Raven twisted, caught the other with his own blade, and kicked Drayvok in the ribs, sending him tumbling across the floor.
Still not done.
"Weapon Shift—Spinal Chain."
His forearms burst open.A thin chain whip, spiked and alive, spun out with centrifugal madness.
He launched it.
WHIRRR—
It curved, cracked like thunder, zig-zagging around the chamber like a serpent on crack.
Raven backstepped, then ducked, letting it slice past his hair.The second arc came—he deflected it with the flat of his blade.
The third?
He caught it.Wrapped it around his arm. Pulled.
Drayvok was yanked off his feet—and flew straight into a waiting uppercut from Raven's elbow.
CRACK.
"Weapon Shift—Shatter Maces."
Two brutal, blocky morningstars clamped into place over his wrists, exploding with shockwave nodes.
Drayvok slammed both down like hammers.
BOOM.
Raven raised his forearm, absorbed the hit with his bracer, and spun around him like water, sword sliding up and—
SLICE.
Drayvok's shoulder armor exploded off.
He staggered, breathing hard.
But he was smiling.
Drayvok staggered back, panting. His weapons had been sliced, countered, disarmed—each transformation more violent than the last. His cloak was in tatters, smoke rising from his scorched shoulders.
But he smiled.
Wider than before.Eyes twitching with something... unnatural.
He raised both arms, bruised and bleeding.
"You're good," he hissed."But now—I'll show you the reason they made me an executive."
The floor beneath him cracked.
His hands twisted inward.
His wrists fused.Fingers melted into each other like black mercury.The forearms snapped, rotated, and began reconfiguring.
Mechanical tendons stretched. Circuit veins glowed crimson.
Raven's eyes narrowed.
Drayvok whispered, almost lovingly—
"Weapon Shift V2—Grave Reaper."
BOOOOOOM.
A violent pulse of energy exploded from his core. The chamber quaked. Lights flickered. Air warped.
His merged arms had become one massive, monstrous weapon:A hybrid greataxe-scythe, obsidian black with a burning red edge. Runes pulsed across its jagged spine. The hilt was forged from vertebrae-shaped alloy, and the blade's inner curve looked like it could slice through dimensions.
He dragged it once across the floor.The tiles melted in its wake.
Then—
He lifted it onto his shoulder.Chin down. Hair shadowing his face.
Drayvok twirled the Grave Reaper with a snarl, but just as Raven prepared to block—
"Weapon Shift V2: Soul Halberd."
A mechanical grind erupted from his arms.The scythe's head split apart into dual spears. Then they spun and reconnected—this time with a crescent axe head fused to a jagged spear tip, surrounded by rotating soul-circuit rings pulsing with purple energy.
As it locked into shape, the halberd screeched, releasing a shockwave of spectral energy that momentarily blurred the space around them.
He lunged.
The halberd's wide arc nearly decapitated Raven, grazing the air just inches from his throat, but Raven ducked, slid under the sweep, and deflected the backhanded spin strike with his forearm blade, sparks raining like fireworks.
Drayvok growled.
"Not bad—try blocking this."
Signature Skill – "Phantom Spiral Reap"
Drayvok roared, planting his foot and spun like a turbine, the halberd glowing with an infernal vortex of slashing arcs.
A whirling black-and-violet spiral erupted from the halberd's blade, cutting through pillars and walls like paper, aiming to slice Raven into ribbons mid-dash.
But Raven—
Didn't stop running.
Time stilled.A blur.He bent low, coat grazing the ground, slipped into the spiral's blind spot, and with a single turn—
CLANG!
Blocked it—barehanded—with two fingers gripping the edge of the halberd mid-spin.A shimmer across his gloves glowed momentarily—deflection seal active.
"Too wide. Too flashy."
One twist of his wrist—and crack!—the momentum of the spiral shattered, halberd spinning off course.
He slammed the halberd into the floor, and immediately his entire fused arm started to morph again, this time collapsing inward with dense kinetic pressure.
"Weapon Shift V2: Godsplitter."
A towering greatsword emerged—broad, brutal, and cruel. Every inch of its blade was marked with impact glyphs, each pulsing with seismic energy. The edge was uneven, like it had been forged from broken stars and reforged in hellfire.
Drayvok roared and brought it down in a full vertical swing.
BOOOOOOM.
The ground split open. A straight-line crater ran across the obsidian chamber, nearly slicing the crescent table in half. Raven had leapt backward mid-air, cape fluttering, narrowly dodging the strike as molten cracks glowed beneath them.
Before the dust even settled, Drayvok's smirk returned.
"I can do this all day."
Signature Skill – "Heavenfall Execution"
Drayvok launched into the air with an energy boost, blade glowing red-hot from overcharged impact runes.
"Let's see you block this!"
He came down like a meteor, greatsword overhead, and unleashed a vertical obliteration wave aimed to split Raven—and the chamber—clean in half.
The shockwave moved faster than sound.
But Raven... didn't even look up.
He just raised one hand upward—snap!
The greatsword slammed through Raven's chest—except it passed right through him.A glitching, echo silhouette faded away in a burst of light particles.
Behind Drayvok, the real Raven stood, already drawing his blade.
"You aimed at where I was."
Then—kick to the ribs, sending the beast flying mid-recovery.
The greatsword's blade began to hum.
Then disintegrate.
Then rebuild.
His arms twisted one final time—now sleeker, elongated, the kinetic mass transferred into sheer piercing force.
"Weapon Shift V2: Pulse Lance."
What formed was a 7-foot long kinetic spear, the tip vibrating at hypersonic frequencies, glowing with a crimson-white pulse core at the center. The lance itself looked like a railgun forged into a melee weapon.
Signature Skill – "Singularity Pierce"
This was Drayvok's kill move.
He powered the lance with internal reactor coils and launched forward like a ballistic missile, tearing through space with sonic booms at his back.
The lance tip began bending light, drawing energy into itself like a black hole ready to implode on impact.
A point-blank deathblow—unstoppable.
But Raven...
Stepped forward.Face-to-face.
"Predictable."
Just as the lance tip came an inch from his chest—
"Form Shift: Wing Guard."
Two curved obsidian blades snapped out from Raven's wrists in a perfect X, catching the lance in its core and absorbing the kinetic force.
The ground cracked beneath his boots, coat fluttering backward from the impact wind, but—
He held firm.
Then: a twist, and he shattered the lance in half.
Drayvok's eyes went wide.
Raven smirked, "You're strong. But you shout too much."
A moment after the Pulse Lance shatters, the chamber falls into eerie silence.
Dust hangs in the air like suspended ash.
Drayvok steadies himself, his armor dented, steam rising from each joint. Raven—expression unreadable—adjusts his stance.
And then…
"Silence."
The voice isn't Raven's.
It's Phantom's.Cold. Controlled.But now—pissed.
"Stop your fucking circus skills. I'm done watching."
His glare cuts sharper than any blade.
The room shivers. Even Drayvok freezes for a breath.
Raven pauses, glances sideways, and—without a word—vanishes into the smoke, giving the stage to his origin.
Phantom steps forward. Calm. Each footstep echoing with authority, not fury.
"My turn."
His coat flares as he raises one hand into the air. Light twists unnaturally, converging around his fingers like shadow-stardust.
"First Skill: Black Star Rain."
The air splits open.
A dozen black arrows appear midair—hovering, humming, glowing faintly with runes like dying comets. Then—
FWSSSHH—
They launch like celestial spears, tearing through space.
Drayvok's eyes widen. Instinct kicks in.
"Weapon Shift V3: Titan Wall!"
Both his hands fuse into a towering shield—thick, angular, forged of deep-black adamantium, reinforced with kinetic runes.
He slams it down, bracing hard.
KRRAAKKKK—
The impact is cataclysmic.
The arrows hit like artillery, denting the unbreakable shield, shaking the foundation. Sparks. Shrapnel. A guttural growl escapes Drayvok's mouth as he holds on—barely.
When the barrage ends, the shield is cratered and glowing red at the core.
"Tch… Impressive…"
He lifts his head, grinning again.
"Then it's my turn to end this."
Drayvok growls—both his arms split again then twist together—Spines, cables, and cores reform into one monstrous weapon.
A railgun-sized sniper rifle now rests on his shoulder, black-red, humming with magnetic energy.
"Weapon Fusion—Ultimate Form: Hell Sniper."
Its core glows crimson.Targeting lens locks onto Raven's heart—he's still standing calm and still in the distance.
Just as the rail-chamber hums louder and the glowing lens narrows its aim—Drayvok's smile deepens into something twisted.
"Let's add a little chaos to the precision."
From slots hidden beneath his arms, he flicks both wrists outward—Click. Clink.
Six small black beads shoot out from both sides, bouncing violently across the obsidian floor.
TINK… TINK—TINKTINKTINK—TINK!
They ricochet faster and faster, their surfaces glowing with erratic red cracks, until they've surrounded Raven on three sides, boxing him in like a deathtrap.
The air starts vibrating unnaturally.
"Cluster Beads: Sync Detonation Mode."
Target: Locked.
Drayvok doesn't wait.
"Weapon Fusion—Final Phase: Hell Sniper."
A deep pulse trembles through the air as the massive sniper charges fully.And in one ruthless breath—
"Fire."
BOOOOOM—
The sniper unleashes. The bead-cores flash.
And all seven points of death erupt at once.
A brilliant, blinding white-red explosion consumes the arena.Walls shudder. Floors crack. Smoke floods the air.
Silence.The whole council chamber is blanketed in thick dust and searing heat.
And in the center of it all…
Raven's silhouette stands unmoved—still unknown if it's shadow, clone…or the devil himself.