Ryu laid sprawled on the floor, but he was only unconscious. For some reason, just as he was about to hit him away, Kirby made the spontaneous decision to allow him to live. He wasn't entirely sure why he did it, but it may have been because of what Akuma had said to him. The Pop-star warrior was beginning to grow tired of all of this killing. Although he despised the MvC for what they had done, and he still wanted to make them pay, the initial rage that had set him off on this journey was starting to dissipate. He could think more clearly now.

This wasn't just a battle for revenge anymore. This was a battle for his own life, the one that he had chosen to put on the line. Ryu was too weak to pose much of a threat to him, so he didn't need to kill him like he had done with the others. Kirby had to finish this job, but the ones he would kill, they would be the people who had orchestrated the murders of the Super Smashers in the first place. Self-defense was also a good of a reason as any to fight back too. Kirby really wasn't sure what to think anymore.

Akuma's fist deftly grazed Kirby's right cheek, but it was still enough force to knock the pink warrior back a few spaces.

"If you keep spacing out like that, Kirby, you're going to lose!" Akuma barked.

Kirby back-flipped along the matted floorboards, and, after sprouting horns and red hair, spit a ball of fire from his mouth. Akuma calmly slapped it out of his way. He was steadily making his way towards the small fighter, his steps leaving behind heavy imprints. Sprouting a blonde ponytail next, Kirby unsheathed a small laser pistol from behind his back. He fired a laser from the gun's barrel. It was just a shot burst of speed, but in the instant before the beam could have hit him, Akuma shifted himself to the right. He narrowly dodged the attack. Kirby fired again, only for the same thing to reoccur. Before Kirby even realized it, Akuma was already upon him. The ever-hungry fighter was sent flying with a kick to the face. He rolled along like a bag of trash until he was abruptly stopped by a wall.

"On your feet!"

Kirby did as ordered, but this time he was more ready to fight than ever. He donned a set of familiar blue spikes atop his head. Then, in the blink of an eye, he had closed the distance between him and Akuma. Kirby promptly switched out the spikes for a blue parka. Kirby hit Akuma in the stomach with his hammer, and while the large man was briefly stunned, he hit him twice more against the chest. Kirby went in for a fourth strike, but this time Akuma was able to counter. He grasped the wooden hammer before it touched his body, and a simple tug shattered the mallet. Akuma used his other hand to grab hold of Kirby before he could escape. He was going to squeeze him until he popped.

Of course, Kirby was prepared for this. He was now wearing a red cap with 'NINTENDO' on it. Akuma found himself staring down the barrel of a new gun, but this one was made out of wood, like the hammer. Kirby pulled the trigger. It was a peanut, not a bullet, that was expelled from the makeshift gun. Akuma caught it in his teeth and swallowed it, shell and all. Kirby gaped.

"Thanks for the meal," he growled with a sneer.

Following after this particular failure, Kirby made up for it by gaining a golden laurel and shooting a celestial arrow straight into Akuma's left eye. It didn't go deep enough to pierce his brain, but it still destroyed the entire eye and prevented it from ever functioning again. Not that he would need it for very long, anyway.

"Gaaah!"

Akuma's grip loosened, and Kirby was able to free himself. He watched for a time as Akuma struggled to carefully remove the arrow from his eye-socket. After eventually realizing the impossibility of doing so, Akuma seemed to suddenly accept the fact that this large, gaudy object was now jutting out of his face. He was even smiling broadly as he looked toward his tiny opponent. However, this was the smile of a demon that was about to strike down its prey for good.

"Impressive; I didn't think you would do something like that," Akuma remarked, blood trickling down his left cheek, "You have a large selection of techniques to use, Kirby. I can see that you're trying to find the one that will best take me down. Even though I commend your efforts, it is still not enough. You will need to try harder if you wish to end me and the MvC...harder than ever."

Suddenly, Akuma's body began to change. Fumes of dark energy poured out of his skin, swirling around him like a veil of smoke. His blood-red hair turned white as snow, and his skin blackened in color. The darkness emitting from him was so strong that it completely evaporated the celestial arrow. Kirby understood now; this was the power that Akuma had used to defeat Ragna's demonic form, and it was what still kept him alive despite his grave injuries. It was a power that only someone who sold their soul to Hades could hope to obtain. Akuma took a step forward. His fist met with Kirby's face, and this time, it hurt far more than before.

Kirby fell, unable to keep standing after such a simple, yet effective, attack. It felt like his very insides were tearing apart, and his muscles were atrophying. Kirby spat out a large wad of his own blood onto the floor. Kirby could barely take in enough oxygen anymore; his head throbbed like crazy. Several times did Kirby try to get back onto his feet, but he found that he could not do it so soon. It would take a few minutes just to get back all of the strength that had been so suddenly sapped from his body. Akuma stood over him, glaring at him with subtle disappointment.

"A single punch at full power was able to do this much to you? I am not sure if I can trust you with this mission any longer, Kirby. It would be better to put you out of your misery now with my greatest technique. I'm sorry."

Akuma's hands began to glow with a radiant, blue energy. Spheres of this same energy began to form in the air around him. One, five, ten, twenty balls of this mystical light hovered over Akuma's head. Kirby coughed again, his body starting to adjust to the pain. He looked upward, saw what was happening, and utilized all of his strength to jump back from the menacing martial artist. The spiritual energy mixed together in the air, spinning and flowing, until it all converged directly into Akuma's left palm. Akuma clenched the fist tightly, and for a second, the blinding energy seemed to vanish.

And then Akuma proceeded to throw it straight at the pink puffball. The ultimate Hadouken; an incredibly massive amount of spiritual power, all packed together into a single blast capable of obliterating just about anything in its path. Kirby could only stare into its very core, this vivid whiteness. None of his friends' abilities were enough to block an attack of this kind of magnitude. He couldn't stop it with punches or kicks, either. For a moment, Kirby thought he was finished. But then he realized that there was still one move he hadn't used yet. It was a ability he had been born with. It was the thing he did best of all.

Kirby opened his mouth. Akuma smiled broadly.

"Show me what you can do! Can you stop this?"

All he could see was white, overwhelming white...and then it sank into darkness.

Kirby succeeded in stopping it. The Pop-Star denizen caught the entire thing in his mouth, and fired it back as a massive beam. Akuma was hit head-on by his own Hadouken, and he lost consciousness almost immediately after the initial impact.

He woke up a short while later, lying on the floor, a pool of blood forming underneath him. The injuries Kirby had given him and the injuries he had already sustained against Ragna were starting to take effect. He could barely make out the figure of Kirby staring down at him.

"Ha...that didn't go as I had planned..." Akuma laughed. His voice was barely a whisper now. The fight was over, and he had lost. Surprisingly, it didn't leave him feeling as bitter as he had expected. It may have been because he knew that Kirby would be able to make things right. He could stop whatever Iron Man was planning, and save the innocents, and put down this organization of his that had grown so corrupt. Akuma, as his life started to slip away, felt an odd sense of satisfaction about everything.

"You did...a good job, Kirby..."

Kirby continued to stare at him with deep pity in his eyes.

"My ultimate attack...no one was ever able to knock it back at me like that before...I only survived because of my strength, but even then I'll still have to die...that's the way things are...I lived far longer than a normal man thanks to the dark power I acquired, but now, it's time to put it all to rest..."

Akuma made a small gesture with his left hand. The wall behind Kirby shifted to the right, revealing a hidden passageway.

"You have to go down there, Kirby...the ones responsible for the murders of your friends...they're waiting. I overheard it from Wesker that it's not just the MvC, but it was an inside job too...one of your own had helped them...a traitor..."

Kirby's eyes widened. He couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"Go now...confront them...and leave me be."

Kirby nodded. He grabbed the still-unconscious Ragna and dragged him along, unwilling to simply leave him behind. Kirby took one final look at Akuma's motionless form before he continued onward. He ate what was left of his Maxim Tomato, and gave a piece to Ragna as well.

This night of revenge was almost at its end.