3rd Day of the 2nd Earth Cycle[1], 2000, g.c.
Violet snowflakes drifted over the battlefield like the sky had decided to mourn in style.
They fell slowly across the ruined Sycamore grounds, glowing faintly as they passed through smoke, firelight, and moonlight. Each flake carried a shimmer of reconstructed mana, turning the scorched dirt into a strange, beautiful mess of ash and starlit frost. The stump of the World Wonder loomed behind us, jagged and dead, still taller than most castles even in its ruined state. Fresh cracks split through the ground around it. Broken platforms leaned at ugly angles. Half-melted stones smoked in piles. Every few seconds, some leftover pocket of mana popped somewhere in the wreckage, sending tiny sparks crawling across the dirt like glowing bugs that had become zombies.
I stood across from the two Dark Elves and the Red Dragonkin with my eyes glowing bright enough to paint the smoke in ultramarine streaks. Cali, Raion, and Akai had already tested the waters with me. They dipped a toe in, felt the temperature, and realized real quick that the pool had teeth.
So now? They had no choice but to come with stronger abilities. That was the only smart move left. Otherwise, they were gonna die by accident once I turned up the temperature on our Freestyle Battle.
The grounds around the ruined area began to tremble. Not from a spell. Not from a footstep. Just from my mana signature breathing a little heavier than before. The pressure rolled outward in slow waves, making stones jitter, loose bark rattle, and the violet snowflakes bend around me in spiraling patterns. My magickal aura started to boil and twist close to my skin, creating visible ripples through the air like reality was being heated over a stove.
I kept the God Qi sealed. Because flexing it there would've been like bringing a rocket launcher to a slap-boxing match.
With the understanding I had gained over my own divine particles, I knew better than to let that power spill out recklessly. Whenever God Qi took over more than half of your mana signature, normal mortals stopped being able to sense it properly. Their senses just gave up. Plus, I didn't need that tremendous amplification for them. I wasn't trying to kill anybody.
But they didn't know that.
The rookie girl in the Brazen Society looked toward Cali, fear tightening her face as the ground shook beneath her boots.
"Everyone, get ready. If we don't help the Vice Captain..."
Jahil grabbed her arm before she could take a step, his voice cracking under the weight pressing against his lungs.
"Don't be stupid. We need to run. We're all going to die staying here."
The third rookie had already fallen back into prayer, his eyes wide and unfocused as his fingers trembled around his weapon.
"Mother Gaia, please don't forsake us."
Still, my aura didn't care about their courage, fear, or religious emergency contact.
The amount of charged magitons released from my body was miles beyond what those rookie Dark Elves could handle. The suffocating dizziness of magickal pressure hit them one after another, pressing down on their bodies and choking the air from their lungs. Their knees buckled first. Then their eyes rolled back. One dropped face-first into the dirt. Another collapsed against broken stone. Jahil tried to stay upright longer than the others, but his body gave out with a rough gasp before he hit the ground beside them.
Cali saw them fall. His eyes snapped from Jahil to the girl, then to the third rookie face-down in the dirt. For half a second, the Vice Captain mask cracked. His hand tightened around the handle of his katana so hard that his knuckles paled beneath his caramel skin. A large bead of sweat formed at his temple, rolling down the side of his face before catching on his jaw.
"Where the fuck did this pressure come from?"
His gaze cut toward his unconscious subordinates, and the anxiety that flashed through his expression made him look a lot less cocky than he did earlier. When he turned back to me, his teeth were clenched tight enough to crack.
"I knew that bastard was hiding his real strength."
Raion didn't look away from me as he shifted his spear in his grip. The fiery stripes across his skin pulsed brighter, but his voice stayed steady.
"We're going to treat him like the old days. Akai, get ready. I'm about to activate my Sonata. Cali, I'm adding you to the link. Be ready for the heat."
Akai adjusted her stance behind them, bow lifting as her violet eyes sharpened.
"Roger!"
Cali gave one short nod, katana angled forward.
"Kick that shit."
Raion raised one arm toward Gaia's three moons, his fingers spreading wide as Angel Mana gathered around his palm in baby-blue and pink streams. The energy sang like Patti LaBelle. Soft and radiant, layered with spiritons that spun like glowing ribbons around his forearm before expanding outward.
"Activate and expand—[Diabolus Caritatis]!"
The word hit my ears and settled into my thoughts with interest.
"Diabolus? A Vyrtue, huh?Sharing strength instead of hoarding it. Interesting."
The Angel Mana flowed from Raion and spread across Cali and Akai's skin like a protective coat of ethereal light. Baby-blue and pink luminescence rested over them in thin layers, soaking into their muscles, bones, and mana circuits. The air around them immediately shifted into a heated tempest, wind twisting in a low spiral while the ground beneath their feet cracked from the sudden increase in pressure.
Cali's mana signature nearly doubled.
Akai's completely tripled.
Her aura expanded in a clean burst that pushed the nearby smoke away from her body. The glow over her cinnamon-brown skin made her red scales shine like polished gemstones, and the Astral Water bow in her hands responded by humming with a sharper note.
Raion was the catalyst. He was boosting them. Amplifying their ability to stand in front of me without getting steamrolled in one breath. That had my curiosity moving.
With only one true vanguard, I wondered how they planned to approach me. I wasn't beatable with one DPS attacking from the front. That was just bad raid design. Somebody needed to tell them to respect the party composition.
Akai looked down at her glowing hand, awe spreading across her face as the baby-blue and pink aura flowed between her fingers.
"So hot feeling. I can feel the spike in my Magickal and Physical stats. With my offense at an S-Grade again, let's see him catch these arrows."
Raion glanced back toward her.
"You don't have to hold back against the Devil. Spam shots when you see an opening."
Akai's lips curled as she pulled her bowstring back slightly.
"Whatchu mean? I never hold back."
When they finally returned their attention to me, I gave them exactly what their egos needed.
A taunting wave of my finger. "Come on. Pull up."
Cali didn't disappoint.
He dashed forward immediately, his body cutting through the violet snowfall in a sharp blur. The boost from Raion's Sonata put real force behind his movement now. The ground broke where his boot launched, dirt and ash kicking up behind him as he angled toward my blind spot. His katana came in fast, blue-white moonlight crawling along the edge angled for my face, but his wrist told me the real plan was my neck.
Since he wanted to test swordsmanship, I gave him the respect of answering properly.
Astral Mana gathered at my side, swirling into a long, sleek shape. The Red Queen formed in my hand with a low, hungry hum. My ōdachi solidified in a bloom of violet-black particles, its edge laced with Devil Mana that smoked faintly like the blade had been dipped in night and sin.
His katana struck.
My Red Queen blocked. The impact detonated between us.
A violent explosion of air raced outward with us at the center, blasting through the clearing in a circular shockwave. New trees that had somehow survived the earlier chaos snapped like toothpicks. Glass still clinging to broken wall sections shattered into glittering dust. The violet snowflakes scattered in all directions before slowly correcting their fall.
I leaned into the clash, watching the strain hit Cali's arms.
"Someone's using performance enhancers."
He bared his teeth, pressing harder.
"You sure like to talk, huh? At least someone as ugly as you has a good eye for swords."
I smiled, my glowing eyes locked on his.
"You couldn't fathom how good my eyes are."
With a sharp thrust, I forced him away from me. Cali slid back, boots cutting through the scarred ground as he twisted into a controlled landing. Before he could reset the pressure fully, Akai timed her opening from the rear.
Her bowstring pulled back.
The nocked Astral Mana arrow began to condense additional mana at its tip, the point growing denser, brighter, and sharper with every second. The scent in the air changed, creating a ghostly, bitter feedback I could taste on my tongue. It reminded me of old metal, cold rain, and something spiritual burning too cleanly to leave smoke.
She was packing a nasty amount of magickal energy into that shot. Enough to punch a hole through a mountain if she placed it right.
Raion's voice snapped across the battlefield.
"Let's do it, Akai!"
Akai's breathing grew heavier as she fought to keep the spell contained and steady. Her arms trembled slightly from the strain, but her aim never wavered. Then her eyes narrowed, and her voice cut through the smoky night.
"Feel the pain, Superior Astral Mana Arts: Imagine Dragons!"
The bowstring released.
The arrow launched at an insane speed, crossing the distance with a scream that split the air. Halfway to me, it divided and transformed into four separate bolts of Astral Mana. Each bolt unfolded into a dragon construct, spiritual and magickal energy forming long serpentine bodies with glowing jaws, spectral claws, and wings that flickered like torn banners.
They homed in on my location from four angles.
I watched them come, honestly, a little impressed.
"That's kinda cool."
Then the dragons hit.
A massive astral explosion swallowed my position, blooming outward like a mini-nuke had touched down on the already ruined ground. The blast threw wind, dust, bark, and dirt into the air in a thick cloud that blocked the moons. The shockwave rolled across the clearing, flattening loose debris and digging deeper into the torn soil.
The unconscious rookies would've ended up buried and suffocated under the sudden dirtfall, but Dream Flower moved fast.
She vanished in a flash of movement, grabbing the first body by the cloak and dragging them out of the blast radius. Then the second. Then Jahil. Her boots barely touched the ground as she relocated all three bodies behind a safer section of broken stone. Dust washed over her as she dropped them in a row, then turned back toward the battlefield with concern tightening her mouth.
"They are getting serious, now. Xiro better not underestimate that teamwork," she murmured to herself.
Akai lowered her bow, chest rising and falling hard from the output.
"Direct hit!"
Raion's grin flashed bright through the firelit smoke.
"Good shot, Akai."
Their celebration didn't last.
The dust cloud around me began to twist. Spatial warping from my aura bent the air in smooth waves, pushing the dirt and smoke away from my position like reality was clearing its throat. The cloud peeled back in layers, revealing the ethereal shield of Devil Mana hovering around me.
Ultramarine magick shimmered across its surface, deep and glossy, like blue fire trapped behind black glass. Smoking trails of mana poured from my eyes, curling upward across my face before dissolving into the violet snowfall.
I stood untouched. Mostly annoyed at the area damage.
"If I hadn't impeded that attack, she would have destroyed even more of the Sycamore area."
Not that I had moral high ground there.
Still, I looked toward Akai with a small nod.
"You really put your back into that one."
Suddenly, Cali appeared behind me.
He came low, squatted, katana already rising in a cleave meant to take my head clean off from behind. The timing was good. The angle was better. His speed, even boosted, was still too slow to surprise me.
Without looking, I shifted the Red Queen into position.
Magisteel met Astral Devil edge again.
But Cali was clever. The moment our blades touched, his mana signature spiked sharply enough to drag my full attention toward him. His grin widened behind the pressure of the clash.
"Replicate—[Dominus Invidiae]!"
His katana started glowing with the sudden production of Astral Mana. The energy crawled off the blade like tentacles, writhing and spreading through the space between us. He wasn't copying the projectile from memory. He was replicating what Akai had just shown him and forcing it into close quarters.
"Superior Astral Mana Arts: Imagine Dragons!"
The Astral Mana tentacles snapped into dragon-like constructs at point-blank range.
Then they exploded.
It was brilliant. Dangerous as hell, too. With Cali being stronger than Akai, his version carried actual weight behind it. The recoil alone could rip through most fighters. But I wasn't about to let them have that one.
Before the kinetic energy of the explosion touched me, I stopped time with [Dominus Desidiae]. The world froze.
The explosion hung mid-bloom, spiritons and magitons locked in place like a violent flower opening one petal at a time. Cali's eyes stayed wide, caught in the moment before consequence. Violet snowflakes paused in the air around us, each one suspended like a tiny jewel.
I teleported out of the spot. Time resumed.
The point-blank impact erupted fully, and the recoil smashed into Cali instead. The blast tossed him backward in a trail of smoke, his body flipping across the scarred ground before bouncing once, twice, then skidding hard. He stabbed his sword into the dirt with both hands, dragging a deep trench as he forced his momentum to stop.
That attack was a double-edged weapon in close-quarters combat.
And he had eaten some of the brunt himself.
Dream Flower stood near the relocated rookies, eyes searching the battlefield. Dust and smoke rolled thick where the explosion had bloomed, and for a few seconds, she couldn't find me anywhere. Concern showed on her face, not because she thought I was weak, but because she didn't know the full depth of my bag yet.
"Where is he?" Dream whispered. "No way that killed him... but what the hell is he doing?"
Cali pushed his glasses back onto the bridge of his nose, breathing hard as he scanned the clearing. When the dust thinned, I wasn't anywhere to be found. He tried sensing my presence. Tried reading the air. Tried catching some trace of mana.
Nothing. Then my spatial portal opened from his shadow. I emerged behind him with the Red Queen raised, blade poised to strike him down from the back. Eyes glowing indigo. But this wasn't a one-on-one.
Raion jetted in at full speed, flames tearing behind him as he lunged with his spear, aimed for my ribs. He moved with real desperation this time, putting his whole body behind the stab to save Cali from getting split.
I dodged the blade by a narrow tilt, then grabbed the spear shaft with one hand. His eyes widened.
I reversed the momentum immediately.
With a hefty one-arm swing, I lifted Raion off the ground and slammed him straight into Cali. Their bodies collided headfirst with a brutal crash, tumbling across the dark, snowy ground together. Dirt, ash, and violet flakes kicked up around them as they rolled through the ruined clearing in a tangled mess of limbs, fire, cloak, and bruised pride.
Dream watched them skid to a stop, then let out a breath.
"I guess not. Damn, Xiro really is on a different level. Even against Endora legends. We are so going to be undefeated at the tournament."
My laughter echoed across the ruin site. Loud. Wild. Maniacal enough to make every future rumor about me worse.
The atmosphere around me crackled with sparks of charged magick and mana, ultramarine smoke leaking from my eyes as the violet snow continued to fall. Did I look more like a villain than the hero of anybody's story?
Yep.
Was I having fun, though? Fuck yeah. They still couldn't stop the reign.
And honestly, that made it totally worth the future rumors.
The Sycamore stump smelled like wet ash, old wood, and lightning pretending to behave. Violet snowflakes continued to fall from the sky above the battlefield, drifting between the black ribs of broken branches and shattered platforms with a slow, almost peaceful grace. The breeze carried motes of mana clusters through the air, and every time those tiny particles kissed the falling flakes, they sparked with soft brilliance. For a few seconds at a time, the whole ruined clearing looked less like a war zone and more like somebody had spilled a galaxy over a crime scene.
The collateral damage kept stacking up while my little test of the Endoran trio continued. Broken stone had been melted, shattered, frozen, and blasted open again. Scorched trenches cut through the ground in uneven lines. Pieces of Sycamore bark the size of wagons smoked where they had landed. Nightcrawler sat behind me like the world's most expensive abandoned side quest, still completely intact, which was more than I could say for the land around it. I was starting to feel like Endora was gonna send me a repair bill and a strongly worded letter with tear stains on it.
Akai was still trying to recover her vitality after that last attack drained her hard. Her breathing was heavier than before, her shoulders rising and falling as she kept one hand near her bow. Her violet eyes were still sharp, though. Tired didn't mean harmless. It just meant I didn't have to worry about her for the next few heartbeats.
So I tightened my focus on Raion.
The Inferno Cycho lay unconscious in the dirt, fiery stripes still glowing across his dark skin like molten ink. Heat rolled from his body in shimmering waves, but even that flame inside him flickered a little weaker than before. He had power, heart, and that kind of stubbornness that made a fighter dangerous even when half-conscious. I could respect that. I could also exploit the hell out of it.
"Your Sonata Vyrtue's ability is a more advanced Crest Link, I see," I said, lifting the Red Queen slightly as the violet snowfall spun around the blade. "Powerful as hell, but you gotta play support to get the most out of it."
With a smooth raise of my ōdachi, Lunar Mana gathered along the edge. Photons clustered against the dark obsidium in shimmering threads, glowing pale cyan as they hardened into a razor-thin coat of light. Electric-sharpened wind curled around the blade, humming low enough to make the hair on the back of Akai's neck rise. The air in front of me bent as the Combat Art took shape, forming that familiar crescent pressure that begged to be released.
"Lunar Gale Slash."
Akai's eyes widened as she realized the angle of the attack was lined up straight for Raion.
"Raion, nooo!"
My arm swung.
The crescent wave tore free from the Red Queen, racing across the battlefield as hardened photons and wind sharpened by electromagnetism. It cut through falling violet snowflakes, leaving a glowing cyan trail in its wake. The attack moved clean and vicious, slicing through smoke and frost with enough force to split the ground beneath its path.
Cali barely made it back to his feet in time.
His legs shook under him, but his will didn't. He staggered forward, katana lifting as he forced his mana to answer him one more time. The jade glow behind his glasses sharpened, and his aura snapped open in a quick burst of Envy.
"Replicate and nullify—[Dominus Invidiae]!"
He didn't think twice.
Cali stepped directly between Raion and my attack, even though his body looked seconds away from filing a complaint with the union. Lunar Mana coated his katana in a rough, unstable layer, copying the structure of my Combat Art with an impressive amount of speed. He swung downward with both hands, fangs gritted, boots digging into the dirt as his own crescent slash erupted from the blade.
The two Lunar Gale Slashes met in the middle.
A muted crash rolled across the clearing as pale cyan light flashed between them. The collision flattened the wind for a strange second, turning the battlefield quiet and breathless. No breeze. No drifting smoke. Even the falling violet snowflakes seemed to stall before the pressure shattered and threw them outward in glittering spirals.
Cali stood at the center of that broken air, slouched over and breathing heavy, his katana still pointed forward. His jade eyes leered at me through the lenses, exhausted but defiant.
Dream Flower watched from a safer distance, her expression shifting from worry into honest admiration.
"Wow! They are really covering each other's backs. I wish I could get some of my clan's Artists that well in sync."
Akai exhaled hard, one hand pressing against her chest as relief washed through her face.
"Whoa, shit. I thought that could have been the end. Thanks, Cali."
I rested the Red Queen over my shoulder, looking him over with a small nod.
"Nice work, Cali. You seem to have your Sonata Syn mastered pretty well."
Cali's stance told a different story than his glare. His shoulders rose and fell with each rough breath. Sweat ran down his face, catching along his jaw before dripping onto the dirt. His knees were slightly bent, not from strategy, but from his body arguing with gravity. I could see it in those jade eyes. He was almost gassed, almost emptied out, but pride had both hands around his throat and refused to let him stop fighting.
His thoughts practically screamed through his face.
"I copied that one Combat Art from him, and I'm nearly wiped out on MP. Without that bonus mana from Raion, the skill would have failed. What kind of monster is this fucker? What kind of attacks are these?"
I tilted my head, letting the silence poke at him a little.
"You don't look so well. Need a moment to catch your breath?"
Cali straightened as much as his body allowed, lifting his chin with all the confidence of a man whose stamina bar was blinking red.
"I was just warming up. Stretching my legs and shit."
"You were just getting your ass kicked," I said, smiling. "But I like the bravado."
He spat the words through his teeth.
"Eat a dick."
A groan rolled from the dirt behind him.
"Ouch, my head. Shit, that hurt."
Raion regained consciousness with a rough inhale, one hand pressing against the side of his skull as he forced himself upright. His vision cleared enough to find Cali standing between him and me on what looked like his last leg. The burnt marks on Cali's cloak and outfit had gotten worse, edges smoked black and torn open in several places. Meanwhile, I stood untouched with my ōdachi in hand, looking like I had been politely supervising a training exercise.
Cali finally noticed Raion getting back to his feet behind him. His jaw tightened.
"Even with your Sonata boosting me, I still wasn't strong enough to scratch him."
Raion wiped blood from his mouth, then rolled his neck with a wince.
"I don't know how much MP you have left, but we got one last trick to try. The Reverb Boost."
Cali's eyes narrowed as memory dragged irritation across his face.
"I haven't tried that kind of shit since you left. It always left lingering headaches. We'd better make it count. I doubt I could hold it for three minutes."
They looked like they were about to pull out their trump cards, so I figured I might as well flex my real bullshit for a moment. The gankyil dramatically spun into my eyes as I activated [Heaven's Kaleidoscope]. The tri-moonlight parked itself behind me at the perfect angle, casting deep shadows across my face until only my multicolored glowing eyes remained visible through the dark. Crimson, cerulean, and indigo rings rotated through my gaze like small universes grinding against each other.
The atmosphere shifted.
The night seemed to deepen around us, shadows stretching longer than they had any reason to. The violet snow kept falling, but its glow dulled in the corners of their sight. A soft psychic pressure rolled through the battlefield, subtle enough to miss if you didn't know the exact moment the hook sank in.
And they didn't. Nobody blinked at the right time. That was the first sign they were already mine.
"I've been impressed so far," I said, my voice sliding through the darker air. "But it's getting close to the time I go on the offensive."
Cali stared at me, his brow tightening.
"What's up with your eyes?"
Raion blinked and turned slightly toward him.
"His eyes?"
Akai squinted from the rear, fatigue slowing the sharpness of her reaction.
"I thought I saw something, too?"
I smiled faintly. "Let's wrap up. You're reeking of magick fatigue."
Cali's grip tightened on his katana. "You don't run shit here."
"You couldn't be more wrong." I rebutted.
Raion stepped beside him, forcing his breathing under control as baby-blue and pink Angel Mana began to gather around him again.
"We ain't wrong about shit. Activate and expand—[Diabolus Caritatis], Double Fold!"
Cali didn't waste a breath.
He corrected his posture as Raion's Angel Mana buffed him with a soft bluish-pink layer of fire. The glow spread over his body, coating his limbs and weapon in a warm radiance that pushed back some of his exhaustion. Then Cali's Sonata Core pulsed in response, his [Dominus Invidiae] reaching toward the buff like a thief seeing an open vault.
"Replicate it all—[Dominus Invidiae]!"
The Sonata Skill did as instructed. It forced another mirroring buff onto both of them and their Soul Cores, layering imitation over support. The bluish-pink hue shifted into a reddish violet, thickening around their bodies until their mana signatures quadrupled from their original amount. The boost ricocheted and doubled back through Raion's original support link, pushing both fighters into a temporary spike that made the ground under them crack in response.
Dream Flower's eyes widened from her spot near the unconscious rookies.
"That's a crazy spike in their group's signature. Why didn't they do this in the beginning? I wonder if it's enough, though."
While Dream looked at me with a mix of curiosity and expectation, I couldn't help but notice the flaw in their special combination hack. The visual river of converted mana particles told a lot to someone with my eyes. Their power had gone up, sure, but their flow was shallow and messy. It leaked through too many points. The buff looked impressive on the surface, but a trained eye could see wasted energy bleeding off them like steam from a cracked pipe.
"That magick flow is very shallow and uncontained," I said. "It's wasting more energy than it's giving."
Cali's expression twisted. "Who cares what you think?"
With a blink, Cali and Raion made their move.
They closed in from opposite sides, both moving faster than they had all night. Raion came low with his spear aimed for my stomach, while Cali dropped from the other angle with his katana in a full overhead swing. Their speed finally kissed lightspeed, sharper and cleaner than before. The pincer attack was nice. Coordinated. Dangerous for almost anyone else standing in that clearing.
The problem was, I wasn't trapped in any form. I shifted backward and left an afterimage in my place.
Akai, still watching and recovering, noticed my reaction. Surprise pulled her fingers loose before her mind fully committed, releasing the concentrated Astral Mana arrow she had nocked. It was a perfectly timed mistake. The arrow screamed toward me, bright and dangerous, forcing me to stop my movement and parry it before it could cause more damage to the area or, worse, my car.
The moment Raion and Cali's weapons passed through my afterimage, I slapped Akai's arrow into the sky. The projectile curved upward in a violent streak of astral light, exploding high above the battlefield with a muffled flare that painted the violet snow in pale silver.
That's when Raion realized the decoy first.
His spear snapped back toward me, changing angles with impressive reaction speed. He saw a flash of my [Kaleidoscope Eyes] before his weapon connected with my torso.
Cali adjusted right behind Raion's movement, following up with a chest slash that slammed into me with enough force to shatter an island. The impact launched me backward across the clearing. My body crashed into a tree, snapping it in half before the trunk exploded from the momentum. Shards of wood sprayed in every direction as I hit the ground hard, sliding through dirt and snow while smoke curled around my body.
They barely gave me time to get back to my feet. Each was looking to land a finishing blow while my body was still recovering from the hit they believed had landed clean.
That was when Akai turned her sight on the falling snowflakes.
Her eyes tracked the way each violet flake touched the ground and left behind frost spots of black ice. The mana within them was potent, dark, and cold enough to scar the soil. Her expression shifted as the plan formed. She had found a way to make my own mana bite me.
"I have an idea."
With a lift of her Spirit Weapon, she nocked one last arrow of Water Mana. Her breathing was ragged now, shoulders trembling from how much she had already spent, but her aim remained precise. She locked her sights on my location as one violet flake fell into view.
She fired.
The arrow split into twelve separate shots, each one streaking through the air with homing precision. One by one, they collided with falling snowflakes, absorbing the black frost mana and transforming into Hellfrost Arrows. The arrowheads darkened instantly, veins of violet-black ice crawling over the Water Mana shafts.
All twelve hit my location.
The impacts built a freezing containment sphere of black ice around me, sealing my body in the center with jagged layers that pulsed with cold and captured mana. The sphere grew dense fast, turning into a prison of midnight frost.
Cali saw the opening and jumped on it without hesitation.
"Now that he can't move, Superior Electric Mana Arts: Zaire's Fury!"
A dark cloud temporarily appeared above my head, gathering with unnatural speed. Charged electrons and magitons crackled through its belly like young thunder learning how to roar. Then the spell dropped.
Four large bolts of yellow lightning struck the frozen black sphere in rapid succession.
Each impact lit the clearing with magnificent force. The first bolt cracked the surface. The second superheated the ice. The third turned trapped frost into electrically charged water. The fourth detonated everything.
The explosion of ice and lightning created a steamy cloud of mist and smoke that flooded the night sky. Black frost shards scattered across the ground like shattered glass. Electrified water hissed as it hit scorched soil, sending vapor rolling across the battlefield.
Akai's tired face lit up with triumph.
"Hell yeah, direct hit!"
Cali smiled, chest heaving as steam wrapped around him.
"Not so tough now, Devil."
His smile only lasted a few seconds.
His body told the truth before his mind did. The magickal boost from Raion vanished suddenly, dropping off Cali's aura like a severed cord. His reddish-violet power coat flickered out. Confusion snapped across his face as he looked into the clearing mist.
There, lying in the destroyed black ice, was Raion Hoshi. Not me.
Raion.
Unconscious. Severely damaged. Burn marks covered parts of his body, and crystals of black ice clung to his arms, chest, and shoulders. He had eaten the full force of their combo attack.
Cali's eyes widened behind his glasses.
"What the fuck?"
He whipped his head to the side, expecting to see Raion beside him.
Instead, he found me standing in Raion's place.
My [Kaleidoscope Eyes] stared back at him, calm, bright, and merciless.
They had been under my hypnosis since the moment I activated [Heaven's Kaleidoscope]. My [Absolute Hypnosis] and [Spatial Swap] replaced Raion with me, then forced them to keep seeing my image whenever they looked at him. Their senses betrayed them. Their teamwork betrayed them. The biggest support power in their group got dropped by the team's DPS before they realized the play had already ended.
I looked down at Raion, then back at Cali.
"Damn, friendly fire."
Before Cali could make sense of what happened, I stepped in and clocked him with a heavy right hand of Wind Mana. My mana-coated fist slammed into his face with a clean, brutal impact that knocked him unconscious on contact. His body hit the dirt and rolled once, glasses sliding across the ground until they stopped near a patch of black frost.
Like that, two out of three were out.
All that remained was their rearguard sniper.
Akai's eyes widened as she processed the fall of both fighters. She tried to lift her bow again, but I teleported in front of her before the motion finished. The Blue Queen appeared in my hand, the cerulean barrel pointed directly at her solar plexus.
The forest went quiet around us except for the soft fall of violet snow.
Akai released her weapon and raised both hands slowly.
I kept the pistol steady. "Don't worry, this will only sting for a moment."
Or so I thought.
When I tried to pull the trigger, the gun resisted as if its safety lock had activated. The mechanism locked against my finger, refusing the shot. I stared at the Blue Queen, instantly confused. That had never happened before.
Akai finally looked down at the weapon.
The cerulean barrel sparked a reaction in her so powerful that her eyes lit up with sudden excitement. Recognition slammed into her face, followed by waves of memory that seemed to crash through her all at once. Whatever fog had been hiding the truth finally cleared, and she remembered where she had heard of the Devil of Velonica.
Her voice came out stunned. "Thing One? Is that really you, Big Sis Chomei?"
"Still calling me that?" The Blue Queen sighed out loud. "After all these years, I thought you'd forget our nicknames."
I looked from her to the gun in my hand. "Chomei Sol? You know her?"
The Blue Queen's voice emerged soft and familiar from within the weapon.
"I do, Master. I'm glad you are still doing well, Akai. It has been a while, hasn't it?"
The Red Dragonkin stared me dead in the eyes, her hands still raised, all fight leaving her body in one smooth breath.
"I surrender. You win."
And like that, my little boss battle with them ended with a party wipe.
Even though I won, I couldn't explain how confused I was about the ending. My Blue Queen had some explaining to do.
The violet snowflakes finally stopped falling out of the night sky, leaving the ruined Sycamore grounds under a calmer kind of silence. Gaia's sky rings stretched overhead in broken arcs, twinkling where they still held together and reflecting the triune moonlight from the planet's three celestial satellites. Silver, blue, and pale violet spilled across the stump's jagged remains, giving the dead World Wonder the look of a fallen titan lit for a funeral. With the fighting done, the scent of freshly disturbed soil mixed with the fading smell of ozone and nickel. Burned bark smoked in slow curls. Wet dirt clung to boots. The last few sparks from Cali and Raion's attacks popped in the cracks of the ground like the battlefield was still trying to remember how loud it had been.
I couldn't help but look at my gun like a disappointed spouse.
The Blue Queen rested in my hand, still cool from the interrupted shot. The cerulean metal glowed faintly beneath the moons, but the barrel refused to feel guilty. That was the worst part. She knew what she did. My finger had pulled the trigger, and she had locked up on me like I had missed a payment. I raised my brow at her, and if a pistol could sweat, I'm pretty sure she would've.
The gun dissolved before I could start fussing out loud. Spiritons unraveled from the weapon in soft blue streams, peeling away from my palm and swirling in front of me. The particles folded together with gentle precision, shaping legs, hips, waist, breasts, arms, and finally a face. Fey wings sprouted into reality behind her with a soft flutter, releasing blue sparkles into the night like glowing dust from a dream. Chomei completed her polymorph with cyan and lavender hair dancing over her shoulders, glasses settling perfectly on her face as if even transformation magic respected her sense of presentation.
She gave me the apologetic look somebody gives when they know they're wrong.
"Don't be mad, Master. I'll explain."
Akai didn't give her a chance to explain a damn thing.
The Red Dragonkin rushed over so fast her boots kicked ash off the ground, throwing both arms around Chomei and hugging her tight enough to make her wings flare out. Chomei froze for half a breath, then softened instantly and returned the embrace. Their wings fluttered against one another, red and blue sparkles of mana clusters bursting into the air with every excited motion. The emotion between them wasn't awkward or uncertain. It was real. Heavy. Earnest. The reunion made the surrounding destruction look disrespectful for still being there.
It looked like two long-lost siblings finally finding one another.
Dream Flower made her way over to where we stood, leaving the unconscious rookies still sprawled out on the ground behind her. She glanced back once to make sure they were breathing, then made her way over. She had that same confused look I felt sitting behind my own eyes, brows pinched, and lips slightly parted like she was trying to put together a puzzle somebody had spilled wine on. I gestured toward my face with a shrug, because that was the only answer I had at the moment.
"So you knew that woman, Xi?"
I pointed loosely at Chomei, who was still wrapped up in Akai's hug.
"Not me. But my Blue Queen does."
Chomei eased back just enough to look between all of us, one hand still holding Akai's arm like she was afraid the Dragonkin might disappear if she let go.
"During my time as the first Fairy Queen, I met an injured Dragonspawn child that fell into the Anima Realm."
Akai's expression dimmed slightly, memory sliding behind her glowing violet eyes. The fight had drained out of her completely now, replaced with something younger and rawer.
Chomei's voice softened as she continued.
"She had barely survived a human raid on the nest she hatched in, and somehow was transported to the world of the spirits with shredded wings and an arrow stuck in her back."
Akai nodded, jaw tightening as her tail curled behind her.
"That weird wizard tossed me into that portal. I still have random nightmares about him."
Chomei's fingers tightened around Akai's arm.
"When I found her at the Well of Souls, I healed her by sharing some of my life force and mana."
I looked at Akai's wings again. Those Fey-like designs had stood out earlier, beautiful and strange against the rest of her Dragonkin features. Delicate enough to belong to some moonlit spirit, but attached to somebody who had been out here firing Astral Mana arrows at my chest with no hesitation.
"I think I understand the wings now."
Dream Flower tilted her head, studying Akai from another angle.
"She does have Fey-like wings, now that you mention it."
Akai glanced back at them, flexing the wings slightly. Red sparkles shimmered from the motion, but beneath the crimson glow, there was a faint blue undertone—Chomei's mana. A piece of her life force was written into Akai's body like a second signature.
"When she fully recovered, we got along famously. I ended up adopting her as my little sister. Bonded by mana and love."
That made Akai smile for the first time since the battle ended. Small. Warm.
I looked at Chomei.
"How long ago was this?"
She adjusted her glasses, lips pressing together as she searched her memories and clearly found a lot of fog and maybe some glitter.
"My memory is terrible, Master Xi. I don't remember. It happened in the Anima Realm, so it was before you made it here."
Right on time, the calm voice of [Moon Sage: Tsukuyomi] chimed in through my thoughts like the world's most useful footnote.
"If it was during the time of the Twilight Goddess's separation, it would have to have taken place during the years of 1517 to 1863 g.c."
I stared at Akai for a second longer, connecting the timeline to all the old wounds in my family history.
"After Synga died, huh?"
Tsukuyomi continued without missing a beat.
"Going by the age of Akai Ryuu from the [Appraisal] scan, the estimated pinpointed year would be 1862 g.c."
The number settled in my head. 1862 g.c. Long before I was born. Long before my loud-ass soul woke up on Gaia and started turning everybody's life into a remix. Chomei had been out here making little sisters in spirit realms while I was still cosmic paperwork waiting to become a problem.
Dream Flower's voice pulled me out of my thoughts.
"If the fighting is over with, should we wake the others back up now?"
I turned around to glance back at the Orishas. Raion was still breathing, though a bit of static lingered across his body from the friendly-fire combo that had lit him up like a festival accident. A few scratches were visible under the burn marks, but nothing life-ending. Cali was starting to groan, one hand twitching near the dirt where his glasses had slid off. He looked like a man waking up from a bad investment.
"I'll go heal these fools. Go wake up their minions for me."
Only a few minutes and a couple of Recovery Spheres were needed to get everyone back on their feet. My healing bubbles formed in the air as pinkish-gold spheres, glowing with Yang Mana and Angel Mana braided through them like warm sunlight caught in soap film. Each one wrapped around its target, lifting them gently from the dirt before bathing their bodies in restorative light. The damage was repaired fast. Bruises faded. Burns sealed. The torn muscle knitted back together. Even their stamina seemed to recover beyond where it had been before the fight.
Akai watched the Recovery Sphere around Raion like she wanted to thank me. Judging by the way Cali stared at his hands afterward, he had never experienced healing like that before. Raion flexed his shoulder, then rolled his neck with a grunt, looking more annoyed than grateful.
Cali picked up his glasses, wiped dirt from one lens, and slipped them back onto his face. His pride looked more damaged than his body, which was saying something.
"I figured we could lose. But I didn't think it would be that bad."
Raion pointed at Akai and Cali with pure betrayal written across his face.
"Damn that, why the hell did y'all attack me?"
I lifted a hand.
"To be fair, they were under a mind control illusion. They didn't know I switched positions with you."
Cali turned toward me, eyes narrowed behind his glasses.
"Just who the hell are you, really?"
I smiled because I could feel the moment opening up. This wasn't just an introduction anymore. The fight had given them proof. The healing had given them confusion. Now came the part where the universe got weirder.
"Demon Lord Xiro, the Sonata Syn of Pride."
Raion's brows pulled together immediately.
"Sonata? So you have one of those skills like Cali and me?"
"Actually, I have a lot of them. But what I'm trying to say is, yes, we are linked together by a cosmic thread, my Sonata Siblings. We each have specially made spirits and Soul Cores."
Cali blinked like the words had physically slapped him.
"What the hell? Are you serious?"
Raion looked from Cali to me, then back to Cali again.
"So how many of us are there?"
"14 left to my knowledge. But we can talk about all of that later."
Cali stared at me like he was deciding whether to ask a question or call me a lie.
That answer didn't satisfy them, but it did shut them up long enough for Akai and Chomei to catch everyone up on their familial connection. The tension that had been hanging around the battlefield finally lost its grip. Cali sighed like tonight had officially crossed into too damn much territory. Raion's mouth dropped as he looked over at Akai, clearly realizing his woman had an entire fairy queen sister chapter he hadn't been briefed on. The rookies of the Brazen Society were too busy marveling over me to care what was going on. They looked at me like I had just stepped out of a myth and handed them a pamphlet.
As the conversation shifted into something more casual, I looked between the three fighters and gave them credit where it was due.
"That last combination you all did was dope. If I hadn't placed you under hypnosis, I might have gotten caught in it."
Raion rubbed the side of his head with a grimace.
"That shit did not feel good to be on the wrong end of."
Akai's face pinched with guilt as she reached out and touched his arm.
"I'm so sorry, Bae. I swear I thought I was looking at the Demon Lord."
Cali turned his attention to me, his expression reluctantly respectful.
"At least you live up to the hype of the stories. You're pretty incredible in a freestyle fight."
Dream Flower folded her arms with a knowing look.
"Trust me, that was nothing compared to what I've seen him do."
I just grinned, unsure of what to say behind their praise. I mean, what do you even say to that? "Thanks, I practice emotional instability and violence daily." The branding department would have concerns.
Chomei took over the topic, her eyes moving back to Akai with the seriousness of someone finally asking the question resting on both our minds.
"Thing Two, why are you here in the Mortal Realm?"
Akai didn't answer right away. Her tail curled tighter behind her, and for a second, the grown archer looked like the child Chomei had found. The warmth of reunion dimmed, and something colder took its place.
"Because Paradiso besieged the Kingdom of the Fey."
Chomei's wings slowed down.
"They did what?"
Curiosity grabbed me by the neck and dragged me right back into the conversation. The word Paradiso had a way of doing that now. Every time those heavenly bastards showed up in a sentence, it usually meant somebody's realm, soul, or timeline was about to have a bad day.
"These niggas again."
Akai's wings folded tighter behind her.
"A powerful kind of Angel, called a Muon, attacked the Court of the Seelie and the Court of the Unseelie. With many of their deaths at his hand, he took over the Well of Souls."
Chomei's wings went still. Completely still. When I heard the word Muon, I knew she was telling the truth.
That wasn't some random soldier or divine errand boy. Muons protected the Elohim of Paradiso. If one of them had moved on the Well of Souls, then Paradiso wasn't just making plays in one Lower Realm. They were spreading across dimensions, taking control of key spiritual infrastructure like they had a cosmic conquest checklist pinned to Heaven's fridge.
Cali looked completely lost, which was fair. Man had just learned about Sonatas, mind illusions, fairy politics, and heavenly military campaigns in the span of about fifteen minutes. His brain deserved a lunch break.
"Whoa. What are these Courts of Seelie and Unseelie?"
Chomei answered without taking her eyes off Akai.
"They make up the Royal Rulers of the Anima Realm. Noble Houses for the Fey."
Akai nodded.
"They are normally led by the Fairy Queen, but after Queen Elysia went missing, they never found a replacement. At least to my knowledge."
I couldn't help the small smirk that pulled at my mouth.
"Funny thing about her, I know just where to find her."
Akai's eyes widened. "Wait, you do?"
Raion let out a breathy laugh, shaking his head.
"I'm just glad to see there are other people who know about this crazy stuff. You should see my face when I'm trying to explain some of this to people."
Chomei stepped closer to Akai, concern written clean across her face now.
"How did you get to this realm, though?"
Akai's answer came quieter.
"Your mother. If it wasn't for her help, I would have been killed with the other Lust Faeries at the well."
There it was. Destini. Again.
That woman's name moved through my life like a damn roach in an apartment complex. No matter where you looked, somehow she had already been there first, wearing heels, smiling, and ruining somebody's fate.
"I just knew that bitch had to be a part of it. I swear that hoe is everywhere."
Chomei sighed and placed her palm to her face. She glanced toward me over the rim of her glasses, and the look said enough. We were thinking the same thing. Destini had touched this somehow. Maybe directly. Maybe through one of her endless domino lines. Either way, the Archon of Fate was moving pieces around the Anima Realm, and that wasn't the kind of board anyone could ignore.
"So Destini finally made her move on the Well of Souls. I've always thought she had an eye on it, but I could never figure out why. What does the Choir of Heaven need control of the well for?"
Dream Flower, Cali, and Raion looked between us with matching confusion. We had drifted so far into cosmic politics that half the group had left the conversation spiritually.
Cali leaned slightly toward Raion.
"Aye, Raion, what are they even talking about now?"
Raion shrugged with both hands, clearly done pretending.
"Hell if I know. I just know that some scary-strong Angels tried to kill Akai."
Cali looked down at his katana, then back toward me, his jaw tightening with fresh determination.
"I hate this feeling," Cali muttered. His fingers tightened around his sword artifact. "Being this far behind."
I let him sit with that for a second before casually steering the conversation back toward the entire reason I came here in the first place.
"Well, since y'all lost the Freestyle Battle, I'll be taking my car with no further disagreements, right?"
Cali and Raion both looked away. That reluctant silence was delicious.
Raion rubbed the back of his neck, visibly pained.
"Damn, that would have been some good money for that metal, too."
"You mean the obsidium remix? I can create some of that for you. But, if you're really looking to change ya life and ya magick strength, then you should come with me."
Raion blinked.
"Come with you?"
"Yeah. You, her, him. I need strong, capable people for the rebuilding of my kingdom in Velonica. If you hold no serious ties here, then you are more than welcome to join me. Housing and pay will be taken care of."
Cali's expression sharpened, his mind moving back into strategy even after everything he had just experienced.
"A new Demon Lord rebuilding a kingdom? The Humans are going to try to squash you before you can truly gain military or economic power."
I laughed.
Couldn't help it.
The sound rolled across the ruined clearing, dark and amused, carrying through the bones of the Sycamore stump and out into the broken forest. The sky rings glittered above me. Three moons shone behind me. My car sat at my side. My sword rested on my back. And the world had somehow still not learned that threats only made me curious.
"Hahaha. They can't stop me. No one can."
Akai looked toward Chomei with a cautious side-eye.
"Is he always this evil-looking and sounding?"
Chomei didn't hesitate. "Girl, often."
Dream Flower gave a tiny shrug, smiling despite herself.
"He's actually kind of a sweet dude when you get to know him. Just a bit crazy, though."
Chomei lifted one finger. "Girl, a lot crazy."
I turned my head slightly.
"Y'all know I can hear y'all, right?"
The three of them giggled at the moment, and I let them have it. For a breath, the battlefield didn't feel like a battlefield anymore. It felt like the opening scene of something new. The fight was over. The lesson was taught. The cosmic bullshit had been placed back on the shelf for later emotional damage.
I returned my wicked glare to Cali and Raion with the offer of a lifetime. I knew they said to never make a deal with the Devil. But this time, there wasn't any fine print for them to fear.
Just a king looking for his men.
[End of Chapter]
[1] May on Earth.