Lenny felt it - an almost supernatural confidence in his own mass and resilience. Even if he fell from ten stories up, his body would tank it. He could feel it in his bones. It was instinctual as he dropped and slammed into the road below.

Crack!

The ground buckled beneath his feet, asphalt splintering out like spiderwebs. Dust exploded outward. Amina shrieked, barely holding on, but Lenny didn't even stagger. He launched again, soaring into the skyline with nothing but muscle and will.

A blur. A blur of scales, wind, and adrenaline.

Amina could hardly breathe, eyes wide and mouth open, wind tearing tears from the corners of her eyes as they zipped over bridges and rooftops, faster than any bus, car, or cab could've dreamed of going.

By the time they reached the coast, her arms were trembling, and her voice was hoarse from screaming. They had also left chaos in their wake in the city, shattered pavements, accidentally smashed through buildings and lamposts as if they were nothing more than twigs in their path.

Lenny gently slowed to a halt near a small café facing the waterfront. He knelt low to let Amina slide off, careful not to drop her after such a wild ride. She practically collapsed onto the bench outside the café, dizzy and blinking at the ocean like it had just spoken to her.

"I-I think I left my soul in that office floor we crashed through," she mumbled, hair wild and eyes glassy.

Lenny chuckled nervously, scratching the back of his scaly neck. "Uh… sorry about that."

"You're insane," she muttered, flopping back against the bench. "I love it."

'S-She loves it?' Lenny's heart raced, but before either of them could say more, the sky began to glow.

A blinding light erupted in the distance - brilliant, golden, and expanding far too quickly to be natural. It lit up the horizon like the sun had detonated. Buildings reflected the glow like mirrors. Even from here, it was like staring into heaven's wrath.

Lenny didn't hesitate.

He turned, crouched low, and without even looking back, said, "Stay here."

"Wait, Lenny-!"

But he was already gone.

Launching forward with a thunderous roar, the giant lizard-man hurled himself toward the chaos. Toward the battlefield. Toward the light that threatened to swallow the entire port.

For the first time in his life, Lenny didn't want to hide.

He wanted to fight.

-

Meanwhile, Kai stood at the edge of annihilation.

His legs felt like lead. His blood - it clung to him sluggishly, as if it, too, was afraid. With trembling focus, he reached out and pulled on what little blood remained scattered around the battlefield. Most of it had already evaporated or been lost in the chaos, but he still formed a thin, crimson shell around himself, jagged and uneven.

It wouldn't be enough. Not this time.

'My own blood's more durable than the rest,' he thought grimly, as he drew as much blood as he could. 'But even that won't hold back a damn sun.'

The air trembled with unnatural heat. The very oxygen felt heavy, corrupted by divine fury. He could feel the power swelling, the light thickening like an ocean about to collapse.

'Isaac won't make it in time.'

He grit his teeth. 'Even if I survive, the pain's going to be beyond anything I've ever felt. That's if I don't get turned into a glowing skeleton in the next second.'

A desperate thought crossed his mind - 'Takeshi… show up and come save me.'

He hated the thought. Hated needing to be saved. But the words echoed in his mind regardless. He didn't want to die, not like this. Not reduced to ash by some zealot with a god complex.

And then, a wave of green.

"I'm here, Kai."

A voice. One he hadn't expected.

Time seemed to freeze.

Lenny landed in front of him with a heavy thud, claws digging into the concrete as he shielded Kai with his massive, reptilian frame. It all happened in the blink of an eye before...

The world went white.

The light wasn't loud. It was silent, terrifyingly so. It swept over the port like the wrath of a vengeful god. No sound. No shockwave. Just blinding, holy radiance and unbearable heat that vaporised everything in its path. Concrete sizzled. Steel containers melted into slag. Vehicles, fences, bodies - erased.

Even the Messiah's own subordinates were caught in the blast. Gone. Along with the crates of drugs and everything else, he'd been so proudly standing above.

And yet…

Kai blinked.

"I'm alive?!" he blurted out, voice cracking with disbelief.

His body was scorched, blackened in places from the light that had pierced around the edges of his crude shield. Pain stabbed at him, sharp and raw. But he was breathing. He was whole.

And above him, standing like some mythical guardian, was the one who'd taken the brunt of it all.

"L-Lenny…" Kai stared up, wide-eyed. The mutant's huge, scaly back was between him and death. The same kid who'd once been afraid to leave his apartment.

Lenny groaned, rolling his shoulders as if he'd just stepped out of a sauna. "That stung a little…"

He stretched, his thick arms cracking audibly, and stepped aside slightly to let Kai see the damage, or the lack of it.

Aside from a few darkened patches and singe marks, Lenny looked… fine. Not just alive, he was barely injured.

Kai's mouth opened. No words came out.

'What are his scales made of?!' he thought, reeling internally. 'Titanium? Dragon hide? That Divine Retribution was like a damned atomic-light nuke! Yet he's completely fine!'

More thoughts surged, rapid-fire. 'How did he even get here in time? Did he leap across the entire city? He must've used that ridiculous leg strength. I knew he was durable after Nadya's explosion and Sven's punch, but this…? This is on another level. And where's Amina?'

Then, almost reflexively, Kai found his thoughts turning darker.

'Could I kill this lizard?'

It wasn't malice. It was instinct. The same instinct that made him size up every ally and enemy alike. A survivor's instinct.

But as his eyes studied Lenny's frame, those thick arms, plated limbs, and the nigh-invulnerable scales, he doubted he could even make him bleed.

And that frustrated him more than he expected.

Not because he had it out for the humanoid lizard, or because he envied him.

But because… he felt weak.

'I've been too reliant on my healing. On going berserk. On bloodlust pushing me past the edge. But if I can't draw blood… if I face someone like the Messiah, Takeshi or any of those other overpowered mutants that are beyond me… I'm helpless.'

The thought sat bitterly in his throat. But now wasn't the time to dwell on his shortcomings.

Because as he looked up, through the fading haze of holy light, the figure at the centre of it all still hovered.

Untouched.

Radiant.

The Messiah was still here.

And their battle wasn't over just yet.

But this time Kai had someone on his side who could tank all his blasts without even batting an eyelid...

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