(As Flare starts to give in to the enormous force of the rock pillar, her hair starts glowing and turning into a darker shade of red, and her aura starts shifting into crimson flames. She reacts in shock and horror, knowing what that is, but she can’t help it anymore. Just as the pillar fully crushes her, she pierces through it like an arrow and dashes at Stone, punching him in the face with a fiery fist, to everyone’s shock. A wide, wicked smirk forms on her face, and her pupils turn dark red. This punch sends Stone crashing into a wall and disrupts the rock pillars crushing everyone else. They collapse into pieces, setting the others free, and Focus glances at Flare’s new form in shock, seeing her stand completely still on her feet, her crimson, fiery aura blazing and her dark red hair glowing.)

  Focus: (shocked, muttering to himself) Flare? What is that all about?

  (As he glances at this form, he reminisces witnessing a glimpse of it way back during the climax of their first encounter. Back then, he noticed her fiery aura flickering into some sort of neon red flames that engulf her, with her hair and pupils showing a similar transformation, as if something deep inside of her has started to surface as she grins in excitement, kind of like the same thing as what’s happening now, with that same wicked smirk.)

  Focus: (gritting his teeth) Is that… her full power?

  (Mistrick and Jackpot finally manage to break free after what happened and emerge from the rubble, heading to Boltix and helping him stand up on his feet. The trio react grimly as they see Flare’s new form, worried about Stone most of all. Elsewhere, as Jax, Proxy, and Pulse emerge from the rubble of the rock pillars in bafflement, they look around and sense an even greater, warmer energy in the area. Proxy glances at her watch and finds another energy signal equaling that of Stone, even occasionally surpassing it in random, unstable energy spikes, hinting at much greater power beyond what is currently present.)

  Proxy: (grimacing) Is that real?! There’s… another Beacon in here!

  Pulse: (grimly) Could it be the one that Focus was initially sent to capture? After all, she’s here too.

  Jax: Beacon versus Beacon? Man, that’s gonna be tough. Forget about us, I’m worried about the world.

  Pulse: (firmly) Then we have no time to lose.

  (The trio immediately run off through the tunnel in an attempt to catch up with what’s going on. Back at the surface, Infinity glances at Focus’s new form through his surveillance cameras, and upon laying eyes on it, the purple infinity sign on his mask widens and slightly glows, as if in amusement. As he inspects the energy coming from Flare in this moment, he notices that it’s even more powerful than the initial energy signature she released when she was first found out.)

  Infinity: (impressed) Very impressive indeed. She’s done it again. Her Surge Beacon form has awoken once again, even more powerful than the last time. Perhaps she truly is fit to serve my endeavors. You’re out to the test, Flare. Impress me enough… and you’ll certainly earn the privilege to stand by my side… and the power to destroy the balance.

  (Meanwhile, Flare — in her new form, Red Flare — keeps standing still, a wicked, wide grin on her face as she sees Stone getting back up on his feet with a scowl. The silence between them is deafening and only amplifies the tension in the area, and the other Surge users watch in silence as they get ready to witness two super-powered Surge Beacons in action. Stone launches another giant rock pillar at Red Flare, but she obliterates it into pieces with a narrow fire lance, her smirk only widening further.)

  Red Flare: (with a wide grin, her voice slightly raspier) Nice power you’ve got there. Too bad you’re just wasting it throwing rocks at me. Is this really what the hype was all about, or will you step it up?

  (Stone’s scowl turns into something fiercer, and he takes a fighting stance against Red Flare with clenched fists, while she firmly waits for him with that same sneer. He obliterates the ceiling into pieces and launches the debris right at Flare, but she throws it all away with a quick burst of fire and eloquently punches past the numerous pillars forming in front of her as she lunges at Stone at high speed. He keeps forming even more pillars with the rubble he’s got, but Red Flare successfully closes in on him and punches him in the gut, pulling him along through a wall and onwards.

  (Stone forms a rock barrier that sets him free from Red Flare’s fist, and upon regaining his balance, he lands a punch at her gut before she gets to retain her balance. However, she takes on the punch with ease, then at unbelievable speed, she propels herself in the air with a crimson trail and destroys the rubble surrounding her, crossing her arms midair with a snicker.)

  Red Flare: (wickedly grinning) All that muscle, and yet you still punch like you’re seven. What was that hefty gym membership for?

  (Upon setting foot on the ground, she lands a narrow fire lance at Stone’s gut, sending him skidding back despite the fact that he applied his hardening ability on his body beforehand. She rapidly revolves around him while attempting several blows at him from all sides, and he keeps blocking the blows through gritted teeth. Red Flare’s rapid and repetitive blows eventually overwhelm Stone, who desperately blocks her advances, his pupil-less eyes glowing even brighter as his expression shows more fury. With a yell, he stomps the ground with his foot, sending even more upwards, and those flying pieces of rock swarm Red Flare. Almost immediately afterwards, those pieces of rock blow up in close proximity to Red Flare, effectively disorienting her this time around. With her disoriented midair, Stone launches a pillar of rock at her and strikes her gut, sending her crashing through several walls. She ends up crashing into the tunnel that Jax, Proxy, and Pulse were just running through, to their shock.)

  Jax: (shocked) What the — ?!

  (Stone crashes through the wall as well, lunging at Red Flare for another blow, but she propels herself upwards to dodge the blow. Stone ends up noticing Jax, Proxy, and Pulse then turns to them with a scowl, and the trio take their fighting stances through gritted teeth. However, they’re interrupted when Red Flare shockingly kicks Proxy in the face, punches Pulse in the chin, then punches Jax in the gut, sending him crashing into a wall, all in quick succession.)

  Red Flare: (glancing at Jax, wickedly smirking) Out of the way, normie! That’s my fight!

  (She lights up her palm with crimson flames, ready to land another blow at Jax, but she’s forced to block a punch from Stone instead, her wide, wicked smirk unwavering. Almost immediately, Stone attempts a punch with his hardened fist at her gut, but she headbutts his chin, sending him skidding back. Jax steps out of the way, gritting his teeth as he watches the fight between those two Surge Beacons. He’s soon joined by Proxy and Pulse, who remain silent in shock, and adding to their surprise, Flare starts chuckling darkly under her breath. Stone too is subtly shocked as her chuckling erupts to full-blown hysterical laughter, then after a while, she glances at her palms, lit up with crimson flames, a wicked grin on her face.)

  Red Flare: (wickedly grinning, glancing at her fiery palms) Now that’s what I’m talking about! This power never felt so good! I could burn this dung hill of a world into a crisp a million times over on the mere whim… just because I can! Hell, I might actually get on with that the moment I’m done with you, see how it goes for me! After all… who’s gonna stop me?

  Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

  (She faintly glances at Jax, Proxy, and Pulse as she utters that last line, as if intentionally sending that message to them. Jax’s pupils widen in shock upon seeing that, realizing how monstrous she really is, and Proxy and Pulse too remain frozen in shock. Stone grits his teeth and, with a yell, charges up his aura even further, then he angrily stomps the ground, causing the ground, the ceiling, and the walls to collapse. Jax, Proxy, and Pulse immediately get out of the way and to the other end of the tunnel, seeing Stone grunting with all his effort as he turns the entire surrounding area into a giant, wide, deep pit.)

  Pulse: (gritting her teeth) This is far from normal. We’re seeing two monsters having it out right before our eyes!

  (The trio watch the impending catastrophe take form, safely standing far away at the end of the tunnel, which has been mostly demolished. Stone levitates in the middle of the wide, deep pit, enormous pieces of rubble circling around him, while Red Flare keeps herself afloat with the flames underneath her legs. Focus, Boltix, Mistrick, and Jackpot get to witness the action as well from another tunnel, albeit grimly, Focus gritting his teeth as he glances at Red Flare. She smirks once again as she takes a fighting stance against Stone.)

  Red Flare: (chuckling darkly) Gonna give me the silent treatment, huh? Alright, then, Stone-cold. Show me whatcha got.

  (Stone launches several rock pillars at Red Flare, who effortlessly skips past them and attempts to head straight for the direct blow. However, one of the rocks revolving around Stone blocks the blow and explodes, sending Red Flare skidding back, and then she’s struck by another rock pillar coming from her right, which sends her crashing into a wall. She quickly propels herself out of the way of another pillar and runs across the wall, sidestepping past several more rock pillars launched at her. Stone attempts to control the wall that Flare runs on and possibly cause it to collapse, but even upon doing that, she jumps across and out of the way just in time and continues running on another wall, and he growls in annoyance.)

  Red Flare: (with a wicked grin) Is “grr”s and “gar”s all you’re capable of, or are you doing that just to spite me?

  (Red Flare then jumps off the wall, dashing right at Stone once again. He launches several rock pillars at her, but she propels herself upwards with a simple push from the flames in her palms and grinds on one of the pillars at high speed. He launches two more pillars to destroy the other pillar she’s grinding on and attempts to derail her, but she jumps off and grinds on one of the two collapsing pillars, maintaining her momentum. She jumps off the pillar to attempt a blow at him, but he shields himself with several pieces of rubble while launching some other at her. Seeing that, Red Flare propels herself to the right and away from the rocks. Stone blows up the rocks in an attempt to disorient her, but she’s already managed to stay out of the way.)

  Red Flare: (annoyed) Talk about fighting dirty. Are you even trying to be aggressive? You can keep being a wuss behind all of your cute little boulders, but that’s not gonna come in the way between my fist and your face!

  (Red Flare repeatedly propels herself with simple pushes from the flames coming from her palms and legs, circling around Stone while dodging his rock projectiles. She launches her own fire lances to obliterate them into pieces, but they keep reforming. That doesn’t deter Red Flare, however, who repeatedly kicks the rocks onto each other while propelling herself in the air at high speed. Focus observes this with the rest of the Sparks through gritted teeth and an underlying shock.)

  Focus: (thinking to himself, grimacing) So this is the full might of Surge Beacons. The commander wasn’t exaggerating after all. I wouldn’t be able to keep up with them at all. This is a whole other level of Surge mastery, and the fact that it’s so spontaneous and uncontrollable makes it all the more unsettling. (glancing at Red Flare, gritting his teeth) That thing… it’s not Flare. It’s something else. Something horridly wicked. What exactly is that?

  (Boltix, Jackpot, and Mistrick glance at the berserk Stone in worry, unable to help out in any manner, while Jax, Proxy, and Pulse glance at the fight from a separate tunnel in grim silence. Back at the surface, as Infinity watches the fight through his watch, the purple infinity sign on his mask narrows, as if in amusement. Suddenly, he senses something going on with the Catalyst in his pocket, and when he pulls it out, he notices that it’s glowing and whirring with energy once again.)

  Infinity: (firmly) The Catalyst… it’s supercharged once again. Could it be… that I could take the first step to destabilizing the Surge Core… right now? (glancing at Red Flare, letting out a low chuckle) That girl really is something else.

  (Meanwhile, Red Flare starts lighting up her palms with crimson flames and amplifying her dark red, fiery aura as she keeps dashing around in the air and dodging Stone’s projectiles. As her pupils glow with energy, she sets her eyes on Stone, who keeps attacking with brute force with a venomous scowl, and she faintly smirks at him.)

  Red Flare: (grinning) That’s enough foreplay.

  (Red Flare lunges right at Stone with open arms, with a large sum of rubble surrounding her, but then, she forms countless fire lances all around her and launches them all at once, unleashing a massive attack against Stone’s rock-solid defense. The fire lances destroy the rubble launched around her, changing their trajectory to take out all of the projectiles, and even when some rocks reformed, they were destroyed once again by the revolving lances. Stone grits his teeth as he starts to feel overwhelmed by Red Flare’s barrage of fire lances, and with a yell, he launches a rock pillar right at her, but she obliterates it into pieces with her lances, and then those pieces into even smaller pieces.)

  Red Flare: (smirking darkly) You’re done for.

  (The other Surge users watch this in horror, with Boltix, Jackpot, and Mistrick loathing their helplessness and inability to help out Stone. Meanwhile, back at the surface, the Infinity raises the supercharged Catalyst up, the purple infinity sign on his mask glowing as he activates it once again.)

  Infinity: It’s time… to land the first blow at the fragile balance!

  (Upon activating the Catalyst once again, the core of the Earth starts to supercharge even more with intense green energy. The side effect of that is seen back at the underground excavation site, which experiences tremors and powerful energy shockwaves once again, amplified even further by Stone and Red Flare’s fierce clash. Focus and the other Surge users are disoriented by this, glancing around in shock.)

  Boltix: (shocked, glancing around) That again?! It’s even more powerful this time!

  Focus: (gritting his teeth) This place won’t hold out for long that’s for sure!

  (Jax, Proxy, and Pulse notice the ceiling above them start to drop pebbles, as if on the verge of collapse, and they momentarily get disoriented as well by another round of tremors and energy shockwaves. Back at the surface, Infinity glances at the chaotic scene through his watch with an unreadable expression underneath the mask, while one of his soldiers glances at his own watch and examines the situation at the Earth’s core.)

  Soldier 1A: (glancing at his watch, firmly) Sir, the Earth’s core is losing grasp of even more Surge Energy contents. The energy is spreading all over the world right now.

  Infinity: (firmly) That doesn’t mean our job’s done. This is only the first blow, and when we’re done, the world won’t be ready for what comes next. For now, I just want to see how this little spat ends.

  (Back underground, despite the constant tremors and powerful energy shockwaves, Red Flare and Stone keep going on with their clash, the former overwhelming the latter with her barrage of fire lances. He attempts to find some open space, but the lances close off all of his possible routes while simultaneously destroying his projectiles. The area around them starts to actually break apart, on the brink of full collapse, and Stone notices that, but he’s forced to block a lance from Red Flare.)

  Red Flare: (smirking) Eyes on me, Rocky.

  (As Red Flare keeps pressuring on Stone with her fire lances, she charges up her palms with crimson flames once again, as if preparing a finishing move. The other Surge users glance up at her in a mix of awe, shock, and fear as she forms a giant beam of crimson flames and gets ready to unleash it. Stone notices that through gritted teeth and — in a desperate bid to put her down — submerges himself with even more rubble, hardening his body and supporting it with pieces of rock, then with a yell, he lunges at her and swings his fist at her, his electric brown aura intensifying even further. Red Flare finally prepares her fire beam, and Stone strikes it just before it gets unleashed from her palms, causing a massive flash of white that submerges the entire underground area and a massive rumbling sound, as if the Earth itself is yelling. This right here finally puts an end to this cataclysmic clash between the super-powered Surge Beacons, but it still may not end well.)