— As long as you're already trapped in our web, you don't stand a chance against—
BOOM.
Kalio's sentence never finished.
His head slammed brutally against the ground with a muffled sound that echoed throughout the entire arena. The impact slightly cracked the surface, and for a fraction of a second time seemed to freeze.
The surrounding eyes widened.
Predro.
Eric.
Ela.
Lyria.
All of them.
Stunned.
Kalio's body trembled slightly… then grew still.
Hinata, on the other hand, had already set her foot back on the ground.
A simple blow.
Only one.
And class B number 2 had just been neutralized.
A heavy silence fell over the area, as if even the arena's chaos refused to disturb this moment.
Then Hinata slowly raised her head.
Her gaze fixed directly on Lyria.
— You're next!!
Lyria jerked back slightly, her pupils contracting. But she quickly shook her head, refusing to accept what she had just seen.
— You're talking nonsense!!
Her voice snapped, and instantly the mana‑web filaments began to vibrate.
They started to undulate, to tighten, to converge.
Like a living beast.
Like a trap shutting closed.
The threads shot toward Hinata, trying to enclose her, to capture her, to condemn her.
But—
Hinata moved.
She ran forward.
Fluid.
Graceful.
Every step seemed calculated to perfection.
The filaments passed within millimeters of her body, but never touched her. Not once.
Eric suddenly appeared to her left.
Ela to her right.
Without a word, without a visible signal, they synchronized their actions.
The webs changed trajectory.
Faster.
Tighter.
They were no longer trying to catch her head‑on.
They were redrawing the space.
They were forcing her into an invisible cage.
Hinata stopped.
Clean.
Her eyes settled on the filaments.
One second.
No more.
But in that second… she analyzed everything.
The mana flows.
The tensions.
The anchor points.
The micro‑variations.
A flaw.
Negligible.
Almost nonexistent.
But real.
And—
She disappeared from that zone.
One movement.
Only one.
And she passed through the opening, never being touched.
Because she knew.
One single contact…
And it would be over.
— Where do you think you're going?!
Predro appeared in front of her, materializing a mana saber in his hand. The weapon trembled with sharp energy, ready to slice through.
He attacked immediately.
Fast.
Precise.
Without restraint.
Hinata stared at him.
Then—
She sighed.
The battle shifted into the air.
The two silhouettes rose upward, exchanging blows at blinding speed. Predro's saber cut through space, leaving luminous trails behind.
But Hinata dodged.
Again.
And again.
Every movement was clean.
Minimalist.
As if she saw the attacks before they even existed.
She pivoted, avoided a strike, slipped under another, slid past a vertical blow.
No panic.
No pressure.
Just… mastery.
Then, in the middle of the exchange, she slightly turned her head downward.
Eric.
Ela.
Lyria.
They did not move.
They waited.
Their gazes were fixed on her.
Not to attack.
But to observe.
To wait for something.
Hinata understood instantly.
…They are not immune.
The web.
Their own technique.
It affects everyone.
Including them.
Her gaze settled back on Predro.
Everything became clear.
He was not trying to beat her directly.
He was pushing her.
Forcing her.
To fall.
Into the web.
Hinata suddenly stopped moving.
And—
She let herself fall.
Predro's body froze for a fraction of a second.
He did not follow her.
Not even a shift.
Hinata smiled.
Confirmation.
Perfect.
She was now falling toward the web.
Toward the trap.
Toward what should have been her end.
But—
Her body blazed.
Green mana.
Dense.
Violent.
Like flames.
The energy spread around her, distorting the air, heavying the atmosphere. Even the space itself seemed to react to her presence.
Gravity itself seemed to intensify.
Eric, Ela, and Lyria clenched their teeth.
They held the filaments.
They maintained the web.
To them, it was simple.
If Hinata touched it…
That mana would disappear.
Like everything else.
So they held on.
Harder.
More focused.
Hinata made contact with the web.
An instant.
Only one.
And in their minds—
It was over.
Victory.
But—
Their expressions changed.
Brutally.
The green mana… did not vanish.
It was still there.
Intact.
Worse—
It seemed denser.
Heavier.
More crushing.
As if the web… had never existed for her.
The filaments vibrated.
Unstable.
Unable to react properly to this anomaly.
Eric's eyes widened.
— It's impossible!!!
The silence that followed weighed even more than the one after Kael's fall.
Because this time—
It was not just about power.
It was a contradiction.
A glitch in their reality.
And Hinata…
was at the center of that glitch.
The mana filaments still trembled between her fingers.
Then—
Hinata pulled.
With a sharp gesture.
Brutal.
The portion of web held by Lyria stretched violently, like a rope under extreme tension. The next instant, Lyria's body was ripped from her position.
— Wh—?!
She did not even have time to understand.
Her body was hurled toward Hinata at an absurd speed.
Hinata slightly bent her fist.
Her gaze turned icy.
— I told you you were next.
BOOM.
The impact was monstrous.
For an instant, pure blackness seemed to swallow the scene, as if even the light refused to witness it.
Then—
Lyria's body was thrown to the ground.
Lifeless.
Unconscious.
A brutal silence fell.
Eric stepped back, eyes wide, breath caught.
— She's not a class B…
His voice trembled.
— It's impossible to be that strong!!
Hinata, still standing at the center of the web, still held the mana filaments between her hands, as if she completely dominated this technique that was not even hers.
She slowly turned her head toward Eric.
Her eyes locked onto his.
— I hope you're ready…
A pause.
Heavy.
Inevitable.
— …because now it's your turn.
Eric felt crushing pressure slam down on him.
— NEVER!!!
He screamed.
And in a desperate motion, he stretched his hands forward.
Red lightning exploded in every direction.
Violent.
Unstable.
Arcs of lightning shot out, striking the space around Hinata, shattering the floor, tearing the air, saturating the zone with energy.
But—
Hinata did not move.
Or rather—
Something was moving for her.
Her mana.
That dense, burning green mana seemed to anticipate every trajectory. It distorted her motion, bent her angles, forced her body to move in impossible directions.
At each lightning bolt—
She was no longer there.
At each attack—
She was already elsewhere.
As if the world itself refused to let her be touched.
As if no attack could reach her.
Even the ones… she had not seen.
She advanced.
Calmly.
Inexorably.
Then—
She vanished.
Ela instantly appeared behind her, using her movement technique, an almost‑teleportation.
Her fist shot out.
Straight.
Powerful.
But—
It passed through.
Hinata's body dispersed like an illusion.
A lingering afterimage.
— What?! An afterimage?!
Ela shrieked, panicked.
Too late.
The shadows behind Eric began to vibrate.
Then—
Hinata emerged from them.
Silent.
Close.
Too close.
— Paff.
A punch to the stomach.
Brutal.
Sharp.
The air immediately left Eric's lungs.
— PAFF.
A second one.
Under the chin.
His head snapped violently backward.
His eyes went blank.
His body collapsed heavily onto the ground.
Unconscious.
Definitively out of the fight.
Silence fell again.
Heavier.
More crushing.
Predro stepped back.
Then another step.
His mana saber trembled slightly in his hand.
— This is…
His voice broke.
— This is a nightmare…!!
Around them, even the other fights seemed to slow down.
Gazes converged.
Because what was happening here…
was no longer a simple clash.
It was total domination.
Them.
The group.
The five.
Known for their perfect coordination.
Their strategy.
Their mastery.
Those who approached A‑class level.
They had set a perfect trap.
A flawless execution.
A web with no escape.
And yet—
In a few instants—
Everything had reversed.
Kalio.
On the ground.
Lyria.
Unconscious.
Eric.
Crushed.
Ela.
Disoriented.
Predro.
Terrified.
The hunters…
had become the prey.
And at the center of this reversal—
Hinata.
Standing.
Calm.
Untouchable.
Her green mana still burned around her, heavying the air, crushing every opposing presence.
Her eyes slowly settled on the two still standing.
And in that gaze—
there was no more play.
No more waiting.
Only the end.
Approaching.