The crimson sun dipped below the horizon as Barlie stood atop the ruins of the shattered metropolis. The air crackled with an energy foreign to this world—an ominous force heralding the arrival of his greatest foe. His fingers twitched with anticipation, his brown hair matted to his forehead from the weight of impending battle. His catchphrase slipped out instinctively as he clenched his fists.
“Nah man.”
A cold wind blew as Maximus Jahames Eel emerged from the shadows, his long, flowing hair shimmering with divine power. He looked like a messianic warrior, his eyes burning with a cruel intelligence. The sheer presence of his being warped the air itself, bending reality as he generated a wavelength unseen but deeply felt—an artificial camera wave designed for one sinister purpose.
Barlie's pupils dilated in horror. His limbs trembled, his mind cracked. It was happening.
Charlie was emerging.
“No... not now...” Barlie groaned, his body convulsing as the second consciousness within him clawed its way to the surface. His identity fractured, his persona split. Charlie—the coward, the runaway, the terrified child—seized control. His eyes darted frantically as if searching for an escape, any escape.
Maximus grinned. “Yes... flee, little one. You cannot resist me.”
Charlie turned on his heel, sprinting into the ruins, gasping, stumbling, desperate to escape the nightmare. Maximus walked leisurely behind him, each step exuding dominance. The hero of this tale was collapsing, his greatest weakness exposed.
And then, from the heavens, came a thunderous BOOM.
The sky split asunder, parting like the gates of divine judgment. From the rift descended a colossal figure—a man of immense girth, his mass bending the very gravitational field around him. His robes flapped as he landed heavily upon the battlefield, dust rising in waves around him.
Faris Hader Aliakboos.
Maximus narrowed his eyes. “You dare intervene?”
Faris sighed, rolling his eyes, his belly jiggling with each movement. He gazed upon Charlie, who was still quivering in fear. He despised Barlie, but Charlie? Charlie he could tolerate. No—Charlie he could love. But even so, both souls had to survive for the balance to be maintained.
“You absolute cretin,” Faris muttered, his voice thick with reluctant care. “Barlie... take this.”
He raised his hands, summoning forth an ethereal energy unlike anything ever seen—a radiant, blinding force of PURE. FENT. ENERGY. The very essence of divinity and power coursed through the cosmos, funneling into Barlie’s trembling form. His body arched, convulsing as the energy fused with his soul.
Then silence.
A deep breath.
Charlie’s presence was obliterated, shackled deep within Barlie’s subconscious. His brown hair ignited with an otherworldly glow, his frame expanding beyond its limits. Muscles rippled, veins pulsated with newfound vigor. The once-disappointing 5’9” warrior now towered with an aura of unyielding supremacy.
Barlie had entered Giga Mode.
Maximus Jahames Eel’s smug confidence wavered. “Impossible.”
Barlie smirked, cracking his knuckles, feeling the raw power searing through his very being. He lifted his hand, and in an instant, the battlefield itself shattered under the sheer force of his aura.
“Nah man.”
He vanished.
No—he moved too fast to be seen.
Before Maximus could react, Barlie materialized behind him. A single strike to the ribs sent Maximus flying, his divine form slamming into the earth with cataclysmic force. The land itself quaked under the blow. He struggled to rise, gasping, blood dripping from his lips.
Barlie was relentless.
A flurry of strikes followed, each one faster than the last, a blur of destruction as Maximus—once untouchable, once invincible—was reduced to a battered shell of his former self. The sky itself darkened as the climax neared.
Barlie raised his fist, now crackling with FENT energy, prepared to deliver the final blow.
Maximus coughed, looking up at his executioner. His lips curled into the faintest of smiles. “You think... you have won?”
The punch connected.
A blinding explosion engulfed the battlefield, an impact so intense it carved a canyon through the very planet itself. When the dust settled, Maximus Jahames Eel was no more.
Silence.
Faris watched, arms crossed, nodding in grim approval. “About time.”
Barlie stood triumphant, his aura dissipating, his body returning to its normal form. The battle was over.
Or so he thought.
As the last remnants of Maximus Jahames Eel’s form disintegrated into the wind, a single, faint whisper echoed through the void.
“...camera wavelengths... can never die...”
Barlie’s heart skipped a beat.
From the distance, an unseen lens flickered. Somewhere, beyond the realm of sight, beyond the reach of mortal men, a camera shutter clicked.
Charlie stirred.
The battle... was not yet over.