Fire. Flames. Ashes and soot. Smoke and brimstone. Two pairs of hateful eyes. In the dark clouds the silhouettes of two men who had embraced evil were there for the sole purpose of destroying each other.
"You chose a good place to die," the younger man commented, grinning, looking at the lava gushes around him as if they were soap bubbles.
"I thought it was appropriate." Sneered at the older man, throwing a glaring dart at the other, which could bring back distant and painful memories.
The smile on Kazuya's face faded away as soon as he realized that the choice of place was not random, the vermilion eye shone with murderous light. He was ready to crush the man to whom he owed his own life and who throughout its span had committed himself to make it hell for him.
"Let's finish this story. It's time for your end."
As he finished the sentence he two fighters ran to meet, ready to vent all those years of contempt, resentment, hatred and desire for revenge that they had against each other. Kicks and fists flew frantically, each blow was full of desire to hurt and do more and more harm. How could father and son crave to annihilate each other? Humanly it was a concept not even remotely contemplable, but this time it wasn't about humans anymore: on one side there was the most evil man ever existed on the face of the Earth. On the other hand his son, who had sold his soul to the devil.
"Poor idiot" Heihachi mocked him, attacking him, one blow after another, hurling him further and further away, while in his mind came the memories of the abuses he had inflicted on the firstborn.
And even in the latter the same thing was happening, the sight of the father in that scene of lava and fiery rocks brought to mind when he was thrown into the crater of a volcano by Heihachi, deliberate action that put him out of action for years and made him lose the only person he ever cared about in the world. An irrepressible fury blinded him even more, reacting and struggling supported by anger, but Heihachi was a tough nut and with a powerful headbutt threw him far against a rock, reducing it to crumbs. Kazuya's wrath reached a new peak he never thought he would touch, and he let the parasitic gene that lived within him from an early age guide him in the fight against his worst enemy. With a liberating scream he hurled a powerful ray of energy, which forced the old man into a tiny patch of soil, while everything around him poured into magma.
"Damn it, Kazuya!"
The older Mishima was still determined not to give up and responded with great tenacity to his son's violent blows, even if his opponent was fighting with a second entity at his side that greatly increased his strength.
"Is that so?" he taunted him, immediately receiving a kick in the sternum. " Not yet!"
"Why don't you just die?" growled his son, who was seriously getting tired. " Let's try this..."
He was eager to end the match that had been going on for far too many years. He wanted to slaughter that slimy worm and send him to hell in the most painful way possible and to achieve his goal he would have no qualms. He thought of his mother Kazumi. The barbarian training as a child. The ruinous fall from that cliff that would have cost him his life if he hadn't sold his soul to the devil. The refusal to be connected to that human being devoid of any positive feeling and to the dispassionate desire for revenge, to take away everything and reduce him to nothing. Pure hatred allowed him to change his form and let evil take over: he was no longer Kazuya Mishima, but the purple-skinned being, the big bat-like wings, the harpy claws, the tail scales like that of a dragon and the horns on the head: it was Devil Kazuya, ready to kill.
"That's what I've been waiting for," Heihachi gloated, ready to prove that he didn't need any demonic genes to be invincible.
The fight started again, no one could strike the decisive blow to the other, which irritated the already angry soul of Kazuya beyond words. Why didn't that old bastard die? Was he endowed with powers he'd always been unaware of? No, it could not end like this, he had to pay, he had to suffer, he had to die.
"This place will be your grave!" He screamed with all the rage in his body, filling his father with potentially deadly blows for anyone, throwing him into the air and throwing him back on the ground. " It's over! Now die!"
Another powerful beam of flashes of purple energy branched from Devil Kazuya's body and hit Heihachi in full, causing an impressive explosion, which lifted a large amount of dust and rock. It took several minutes for all that devastation to come to an end and the clouds of dust that had been raised to dissipate. The demon watched the body of the parent lying on the ground, enjoying the taste of the long-awaited victory... Feeling that unfortunately lasted very little, because the old man's fingers moved, forcing him to turn.
"Huh?" he muttered in disbelief at the sight of the man standing on his own two feet. " You gotta be kidding me!"
Indeed, it was all true! Within a few seconds his opponent was standing in front of him again, more fierce and aggressive than ever!
"Kazuya!" he growled, getting back into combat position.
"Be quiet, idiot!" replied his son, contemptuous, ready to start the longest and most exhausting fight of his life.
He was so stunned by his father's tenacity that he dropped his guard temporarily, allowing his opponent to inflict hard blows like cannonballs.
"Your delusions of grandeur end here!" He shouted, after yet another powerful cleavage that made Kazuya hit a rock several meters away.
The latter emerged a few moments later, so proven that he had regained human form.
"Are you still alive?"
Kazuya couldn't take it anymore, there's no way that bastard was still alive after a fight like that.
"Damn Heihachi..." he hissed, dragging himself to meet his worst enemy, with the serious intent of ending it once and for all.
One punch. Two punches. Three. Four. Five. And many others. They staggered, but they didn't give up. A devastating blow by Kazuya was followed by a deadly warhead by Heihachi. That battle that had been going on for almost 50 years seemed destined to continue forever. Kazuya took a few steps back to observe his nemesis, while other memories of his terrible childhood returned to his mind at the mere sight of the one who had made him a martyrdom.
"You think you're stronger than me? I'll break you in two pieces." the old man yelled. " Your delusions of grandeur end here!"
Those words resonated in his brain, reaching the point of no return.
"I'll take everything back!" he murmured.
And then a rabid scream. A run-up. And the strongest punch ever struck on Earth that hit old Mishima right through the heart. A purple aura that surrounded him. A damp rattle. A ruinous fall. And a last breath. Kazuya observed Heihachi's lifeless body with an impassive expression and without the slightest regret. He lifted him in his arms and approached the edge of a cliff, throwing the corpse into the lava as his father did with him many years ago. For the first time in his life he finally felt fulfilled. He had made it. He, Kazuya Mishima had won.
"A fight's about who's left standing. Nothing else."
Several miles away, two men and an android remained silent and powerless. What they had just witnessed was unbelievable and unfortunately also inhuman. Heihachi Mishima was dead and this time for real. This meant that Kazuya now had the whole world in his hands. Both sides of that battle would have been disastrous, but the winning option was definitely the worst. Now they definitely were all in terrible danger and it was this that disturbed more the Swede, more than being definitively orphan.
"And so it is over..." the silvery-haired Chinese muttered, also fresh from mourning, but very disinterested in loss too.
"Yeah..." the other boy replied in a serious tone.
"What will happen now?" asked the robot, who seemed simply a defenseless young girl with a gentle soul.
"I don't know... But anything good! I predict big trouble on the horizon." Lee replied, looking down.
"What do we do?" Alisa asked, increasingly worried.
"Nothing at all... We can do absolutely nothing, we are powerless..." replied Lars. "Only one person is possibly able to stop him and he is in a deep coma behind us right now." He muttered and turned to watch his nephew vegetate for weeks on that bed, bound and submerged by electrodes.
But it was just as he turned to look at him that he realized that the vitals on the screen were changing.
"Lee... Lee, look!" he exclaimed, approaching to observe better.
"I can't believe it! He's waking up... Lars, gather the men! We can't know how he'll react..."
The head of the Violet System hastened to activate all possible security measures. If he was waking up exactly after his father's triumph, it was obvious that the monstrous being living inside both of them was in turmoil. Praying with all his heart that there would be no more catastrophic consequences, he gathered around his allies and watched Jin Kazama blink with a loud gasp...
He knew it wasn't really over. He knew that once the matter was closed with his hated father, he still had two more open: one with his equally detested son. The other one with that monster that came out of nowhere claiming to have been sent by none other than his mother Kazumi. And he was aware of his silent, but deadly presence and that he had enjoyed all the previous show. He dodged the blow launched behind him. It was cowardly, but even in that battle everything would be granted.
"I figured you wouldn't stay dead for too long.…" he remarked disdainfully.
"I will not rest until your end," answered a familiar hoarse voice.
"You will die!" Kazuya replied, summarizing the demonic form and lashing out at the enemy.
It would have been a no holds barred fight, but he had never in his life felt so confident and powerful.
"My power is absolute," Akuma said, without giving up.
But it was all useless. He could have hit him with the strength of ten thousand men that would not have been enough. He was a formidable and powerful opponent without a doubt, but not enough for him.
"Get ready!" he yelled, ready to launch yet another attack.
Kazuya was not afraid, that feeling had never touched his heart since he sold his soul to the devil.
"I'm the one who has the upper hand," he replied. " This place will be your grave!"
Akuma was savagely shot and thrown everywhere, but he still didn't give in. He was a tough guy.
"It's over! Now die!
He miraculously survived the first ray of energy that was thrown at him and staggered to his feet despite the damage.
"All I'm looking for is the blood of battle!" he declared, once again charging, unable to give up. " Come to me like your life depends on it," he provoked.
But it was a mistake. He hadn't yet realized how much power the Devil's Gene could unleash.
Kazumi could never prepare him for such a confrontation, not even she could imagine what his beloved son would become.
"I'll send you straight to hell!"
It all happened in a blink of an eye. A blinding flood of purple light sprang from both of them, but one was far more powerful than the other. More powerful than anything in the universe. The explosion lasted less than a second, but it was enough to make Akuma's body a steaming pile of ash. Kazuya smiled maliciously, contemplating his actions and realizing how strong he had become. The second act had also been accomplished. He only had one thing left to do that he'd been putting off for too long.
"Get ready Jin... I feel you're alive, but still for a while... You'll be next..."