Revelation and Descent

The wind howled past Flora's ears as she soared across the broken skyline, a green streak of electricity trailing behind her. Buildings blurred. Light bent. The entire world seemed to move in slow motion compared to her speed.

She landed in the heart of the crater like a bolt of judgment, dust erupting around her feet.

What she saw made her freeze.

Bodies. Smoke. Rubble scorched black. And at the center of it all—
"Klaus...?!" she gasped.

Her voice cracked with disbelief. For a moment, she thought her eyes were lying. But no... the black hair, the blue eyes, the shape of his face. Even under the metal and cables—she knew.

It was him.

He turned slowly, head tilting like a curious predator. The cables along his back twitched as if sensing her presence.

But Flora didn't move toward him.

She rushed to the figure crumpled on the ground—Loran, bloodied, barely breathing, the shield beside him scorched and cracked.

"Loran!" she cried, kneeling beside him. "What happened—?"

But she never finished the sentence.

Because in the next second, Klaus was there.

He moved without sound, like a shadow given flesh. One hand clamped around Loran's throat, lifting him like a trophy, and the other began to glow.

The glow grew brighter. Hotter.

And his smile... twisted wider.

"This," Klaus whispered to Flora, "is where the fun begins."

Loran struggled weakly in Klaus's grip, boots scraping against the broken concrete, fingers twitching near the edge of his shield. But it was useless.

Klaus's hand tightened around his throat with mechanical precision. You could hear the cartilage crack. The glow in his other hand intensified, now a sphere of rotating electromagnetic force—hot enough to melt steel.

"You said I was weak," Klaus whispered, bringing the glowing orb inches from Loran's face. "But look who's begging now."

"STOP!" Flora screamed.

She surged forward—but the moment she did, Klaus threw out his free arm and slammed her back with a blast of magnetic force. She was flung into a concrete pillar, cracking it on impact.

She gasped, dazed—but not broken.

Loran coughed blood, his head twitching toward her. He tried to say something, but Klaus interrupted.

The sphere in Klaus's hand shifted shape, became a spear of pure energy.

Without hesitation, he drove it through Loran's shoulder.

The scream that followed was raw. Human.

Flora watched in horror as blood sprayed across the rubble, sizzling where it touched the electrified ground.

Klaus didn't stop.

He slammed Loran to the ground like a doll and stepped on his chest, pinning him. Then he raised a finger and began cutting shallow, glowing lines into Loran's armor with surgical precision, almost playing with him.

"You think your shield will save you from me?" Klaus growled. "I'll peel it open and carve your pride out of your ribs."

Flora clutched her stomach, trying to stand again, her breathing fast and panicked. She looked at him, not the metal, not the cables.

The face.

His face.

"Klaus... this isn't you," she whispered, voice cracking.

Klaus paused, head tilting toward her like he almost remembered.

There was a flicker in his eyes.

A beat of silence.

Then, he laughed.

It wasn't human. It was wrong. Corrupted.

"I don't know who you think I am anymore, Flora..." he said, turning his full gaze to her.
"...but I'm not the boy you remember."

The weapon in Klaus's hand twisted mid-formation—its shape alive, pulsating, forming into a bladed whip of magnetized plasma. It cracked in the air with a high-pitched scream.

Flora took one step back, then launched forward.

She moved like a streak of green lightning, vanishing and reappearing behind him, a blast of laser firing from her palm straight to his shoulder.

The shot hit. Klaus grunted, sparks and blood flying from the joint.

But he didn't slow.

He spun, whip lashing through the air—and slicing across her side. The metal cracked her ribs and tore her skin open. Blood splattered the ground as she cried out and stumbled back, hand clenching the wound.

"I felt that," Klaus growled, smiling wider. "Finally."

His voice... wasn't his. It was deeper. Broken. Almost layered with something else inside—like a second voice speaking through him.

"System override successful," it whispered beneath his words.

His skin darkened, cables twitching wildly, teeth clenched so hard his gums bled. Veins of energy pulsed across his face like glowing blue scars. He started laughing—loud, wild, manic. His eyes rolled back, then snapped forward, locked on her.

He charged.

Flora dodged, barely, flipping backward as he swung the whip again. It hit the ground, and the earth cracked. Chunks of asphalt rose into the air from the magnetic force.

She launched herself upward, spinning midair, two concentrated laser beams shooting from her hands.

They hit his chest. A direct hit. The explosion flared—flames, smoke, shrapnel.

Silence.

Then, he walked out of the smoke.

Bleeding from his side. Face burned. But smiling.

"Faster..." he rasped.

He vanished—appeared right in front of her—slammed his fist into her stomach with bone-breaking force.

She gasped, blood spurting from her mouth as she flew back, crashing through two concrete walls. Her body twitched as she rolled to a stop.

Her lungs screamed. Her vision blurred. Her side was torn open, arm was possibly dislocated.

And still, she got up.

"Klaus..." she whispered, spitting blood. "You're gone, aren't you?"

He answered by hurling his whip at her head.

She ducked—barely—and countered with a burst of raw electrical energy from both palms. It hit him square in the chest and sent him flying.

He hit the ground. Hard.

For a moment, he didn't move.

Then his shoulders began to shake.

He was laughing again.

Only now... he was covered in his blood. Face slashed, chest glowing from her shot, one eye dark and leaking.

But he loved it.

"I could do this forever," he growled. "More blood. More pain. This is what I was meant to be."

Klaus rose slowly from the crater he left in the ground, steam rising from his back. His face was cracked, raw—but his grin remained.

"You're slowing down, Flora," he whispered.
"You feel it, don't you? The gap between us."

She clenched her jaw, wiped the blood from her lip, and forced herself to her feet.

She raised her hand to fire again—

Too late.

Klaus was already in front of her.

He grabbed her by the throat and slammed her to the ground.

Before she could react, he threw her like a ragdoll across the battlefield.

She tried to move—he was already there.

He drove his elbow into her stomach. Cracking ribs. She coughed blood into his face.

He held her by the hair now.

"You thought you were ready for me?"

He slammed her down.

Again.

Again.

Again.

Her body was limp. The floor is painted red.

She tried to fight back. He crushed her wrist.

Flora screamed.

Klaus leaned in. "This isn't revenge. This is... rebirth."

He raised his hand. The blast began forming.

She whispered: "Ignite."

The chip in her spine triggered.

A pulse of energy exploded from her chest, throwing Klaus backward in a burst of light.

She gasped. Alive.

But barely.