When Fee looked up at the sound of his brother's voice, he saw Yugo half-turned toward him.
Beneath the fragments of his shattered helmet, his exposed face was a map of cuts and blood. Yet, despite the gore, his brother wore the same steady, powerful smile he always did.
That single look told Fee everything: there was no need to worry.
Fee felt his tears recede as Yugo—who continued to overwhelm Rush even while locked in a battle on the razor’s edge—spoke again.
"Fee, I’m going to teach you two things. Listen closely, because they’re the only things that matter."
Yugo kept his back to his younger brother as he delivered a heavy kick, sending the pouncing Magic Armor Beast flying.
As the monster spiraled through the air amidst a cloud of black dust, Yugo continued his lesson.
"Right now, I probably look like I'm cornered. It looks like I’m about to be skewered by those pincers and killed. But that’s just the nature of a Hero’s battle. It’s always like this. Protecting something is infinitely harder than destroying it. It’s grueling, it’s exhausting, and you have to give it every ounce of your soul just to survive. A Hero’s life is a constant series of life-or-death struggles. So, why do you think we choose to fight? The answer is simple—"
"What are you blathering about?! Concentrate on the—buhegh?!"
Yugo’s right fist buried itself in Rush’s left cheek.
Using the momentum of the hook, he turned fully toward his brother and the others. Still wearing that gentle, indomitable smile, he finished his thought.
"—Because someone I love is standing right behind me."
"Brother..."
Yugo's body was broken. His gear was in tatters. By no stretch of the imagination was he a graceful or elegant sight.
And yet, in Fee’s eyes, Yugo had never looked more noble.
"A Hero only becomes a Hero when they have something worth protecting. A Transformation Item or raw power means nothing on its own. Fee, the ones making me a Hero... it isn’t anyone else. It’s you guys. A Hero only shows his true worth when he stands up to protect what matters. Because you’re all here, I can become stronger than I ever thought possible."
The Blaster’s Micro-particle Metal was almost gone. By all accounts, Yugo was the one with his back against the wall.
Yet, looking at him brought a strange sense of peace. Even in this hopeless situation, Fee found he could still believe in the light.
"One more thing. Hero's Condition #1: Never give up. Especially not in front of the people who believe in you."
True to his word, Yugo refused to yield. To the very last breath, he would fight for those he held dear.
No matter how battered he became or how far he was pushed, he would look forward and smile.
Because that was what it meant to be a Hero—to be the personification of hope.
"You believe in me, don't you, Fee? You told me I'd never lose, no matter who the enemy was. So don't make that face. Just wait—I’m going to blow this guy away right now."
Fee's breath hitched.
His brother had remembered. He still held onto the words Fee had said after the Duel with Marcos.
Yugo would never lose. He would become the strongest Hero, the one who could overcome any foe. Fee had said those words with everything he had, and Yugo had taken them to heart. He had carried them through every struggle, fighting to become the Hero Fee believed him to be.
If that was the case, then as a younger brother, there was only one thing left for him to do.
"Go for it, Yugo! I know you can win!!"
"Win! You have to win, Yugo! If it’s you, I know you can shatter this despair!!"
"Yugo-onii-chan, don't lose!"
"Please, Yugo-san! Do it for the children!"
Despair wasn't the only thing that could spread through a person's heart. Hope was just as infectious.
The hope generated by the Hero now surged, drowning out the despair the Villain had tried to sow.
Melt, Marcos, the children, the staff—not a single one of them felt hopeless anymore.
They put their faith in the Hero fighting for them and raised their voices in a deafening cheer.
"What? Why?! How can you all look like that? How can you say those things?!" Rush screamed, his voice cracking. "Look at him! He's falling apart! So how? Why won't you fall?!"
Rush couldn't understand the weight of their hearts.
He had spent his life glorifying the lives and futures he stole as "necessary sacrifices." He couldn't comprehend why he was being overwhelmed by a man who stood there carrying the weight of everyone’s hopes.
He didn't realize that it was always the person who shouldered those feelings who overturned the impossible.
The seeds of a miracle had already taken root. Everything Rush had dismissed as useless or meaningless had become the foundation for his own defeat.
The fragments of the Blaster armor, shattered by the Magic Armor Beast, decomposed into Micro-particle Metal. Reacting to Yugo’s Magic Power, they surged back toward his bracelet.
Along the way, the metal absorbed the residual Magic Power from the sea of broken blades Melt had left behind, reforging itself into something harder and stronger. It drew in the golden fragment of Marcos’s Giga Scissors, drinking in its massive reserves of Magic Power before returning to its master.
"I believe in you, Brother! You're strong, you're amazing, and you're invincible! You're the coolest Hero in the world to me! So... please!!"
Watching Yugo stand tall as he absorbed the strength of his comrades and the hopes of the people, Fee screamed with every fiber of his being.
Yugo raised his arm. The bracelet began to glow in a brilliant sequence: the crimson of the Hero, the gold of The Shield That Did Not Break, and the purple of The Sword That Kept Challenging.
As if to provide the final, missing piece of the puzzle, Fee poured his entire soul into one last cry.
"Win, Brother! You have to win!!"
Accepting the strength of his friends and the love of his brother, Yugo let out a fierce, determined laugh.
He unleashed a Torrent of Magic Power so massive it dwarfed the shockwaves of Rush's own transformation. As the monster recoiled in a sudden, primal fear of the boy he couldn't understand, Yugo’s voice rang out across the battlefield.