The sight of Kallen crushing Haruto under his boot broke whatever restraint the goddesses had left.
Outside the boundary lines, the invisible system wall flared to life, sealing the spectator stalls off from the active duel track. Bellona didn't care. Her face twisted with pure rage as she slammed her fists against the barrier, her volcanic aura exploding outward as she tried to shatter the translucent wall using pure, unadulterated physical violence. But this time, the endgame firewall was too dense, absorbing her strikes and pulsing with heavy, immovable energy.
"Let him go, you coward!" Lustra screamed, throwing her weight against the barrier, her eyes flashing with desperate panic. "You're a pathetic coward, Kallen!"
Ivory struck the wall with her staff, her voice shaking with disgust. "This isn't a victory! This violates the very concept of a fair duel!"
Bellona bared her teeth, her knuckles bleeding against the unyielding wall. "A true warrior fights with honor. You are nothing but a parasite hiding behind system constraints!"
Kallen slowly turned his head toward the stalls, listening to their screams. A slow, sickening grin spread across his face as he pressed his boot down even harder onto Haruto's head. He looked at the three goddesses, his eyes filled with a disgusting, possessive malice.
"Keep screaming," Kallen mocked, his voice echoing loudly through the silent stadium.
"You think your opinions matter now? Look at the board. Your leader is broken, and his little game is over. And you three? You seem to have forgotten what the grand prize of a Wizard Quest actually is."
He leaned on one of the iron spears, pointing a finger at them through the barrier.
"The winner takes everything. Once I strip the crown from this glitch, the system transfers absolute ownership of your contracts to me. You won't be academy candidates anymore. You're going to be my slaves. Every single one of you will bow down and call me Master. So go ahead, cry all you want—because very soon, you'll be doing exactly what I tell you to do."
Just outside the grid, a bright flash of light cut through the tension. Out of the spectator queue, Toya materialized, fully reconstructed by the system after his deletion frame. He stood up, shaking his head, his face a mix of pure frustration and confusion as he looked at the ruined arena.
Nothing went according to plan, Toya thought, his fists clenching as he analyzed the sheer absurdity of this Wizard Quest. First, the system allowed a hidden pay-to-win credit mechanic out of nowhere. Then, it enforced the strict 16-piece rule so aggressively that we took two massive 50% data penalties. I knew Wizard Quests were legendary, but this is too weird. It feels like someone is actively manipulating the server from the outside, intentionally making the environment as hostile as possible for us.
He looked down at his empty hands. Their native magic had been suppressed, and their weapon spirits were disabled. But as Toya stared at Haruto, who was still pinned under Kallen's boot, a sudden realization hit him.
Wait... Haruto knew, Toya realized, his eyes widening. He knew from the very start that our magic and weapon spirits would be rendered completely useless inside a true combat duel loop. That's exactly why he agreed to ban the weapon spirits last night! It wasn't a concession—it was a calculated move. Haruto saw a hidden structural flaw in how this server processes high-tier entities, something that only a hardcore gamer would notice. If he knew about that restriction beforehand, there is no way he didn't plan a counter-measure for this endgame.
Hearing the three goddesses still shouting and pounding against the invisible firewall, Toya stepped forward and placed a firm hand on Bellona's shoulder, his voice dropping into a steady, commanding tone.
"Stop it! Don't beg him for mercy," Toya called out, his voice cutting through their panic.
"Begging a parasite like Kallen isn't going to stop his script. Right now, we have to put all our trust in Haruto."
The goddesses paused, looking back at Toya in surprise.
Toya pointed directly at the digital golden crown still flashing brightly on Haruto's head.
"Look at the board. Kallen is an arrogant idiot. He's so focused on torturing Haruto that he hasn't actually removed the crown yet. As long as that asset remains locked in Haruto's head, the win condition hasn't been resolved. The match is still live, and if I know Haruto... he's just waiting for the exact sec to drop his real glitch."
Toya's words hit their mark, and the three goddesses slowly lowered their hands from the barrier. They realized he was right—wasting words on someone like Kallen was completely pointless.
Suddenly, a clear, authoritative voice echoed from the highest tier of the grand VIP pavilion, cutting straight through the stadium's tension. It was Princess Lilith.
"Kallen!" Lilith called out, her voice filled with cold disdain. "What you are doing right now is utterly disgraceful. A true warrior, a real man, fights on equal terms. You are standing over an opponent who cannot even move. If you have any self-respect left, you will step back and wait for him to stand up!"
The moment Lilith spoke, a massive wave of agreement rippled through the commoner stands. "She's right! Fight fair!" people started shouting, the crowd growing loud and chaotic.
"Everyone shut up!"
A booming, obnoxious voice instantly silenced the entire amphitheater. A heavily built, wealthy nobleman stood up from the front row of the elite sector. He adjusted his luxurious royal robes, glaring at the crowd. This was Gromen—the tycoon who had topped the leaderboard by investing a staggering one million credits into Kallen's wallet.
"This is a death match, not a playground!" Gromen sneered, waving his hand dismissively. "My son has cleared the entire board using the rules provided. What he does with a commoner glitch who can't handle the pressure is entirely his business. The match is already won!"
Lilith turned her sharp gaze directly toward him, her eyes narrowing. "Duke Gromen, how can you openly defend such shameless behavior?"
Gromen let out a smug, heavy laugh. "Princess Lilith, please remember your position. You are soon to be my daughter-in-law. You should be standing by your future husband's side and celebrating his victory, not questioning his methods."
Lilith didn't flinch. A look of absolute disgust crossed her face as she spoke, her voice carrying clearly across the royal sector so everyone, including the King and Fredrick, could hear.
"I would rather renounce my title than accept a husband like him," Lilith stated coldly. "Look at him. There is not a single shred of manhood or honor in a person who tortures someone completely helpless on the ground. He has no mercy, no dignity, and no shame. If he lacks basic human empathy on a public battlefield, what kind of ruler—or husband—would he ever be?"
Gromen's smug smile instantly vanished. His face flushed a deep crimson with embarrassment, and he slowly sat back down, completely unable to find a counter-argument to the princess's harsh words. The royal box fell into a tense, heavy silence, while Kallen's grip on his spear tightened, his face twisting with rage at being humiliated by his own fiancée.
"Fine!" Kallen spat toward the royal box, his eyes bloodshot and crazed. "We'll worry about the future later. Right now, this is my duel, and I'll end it exactly how I want!"
He didn't wait another second. Dropping all pretenses of a clean finish, Kallen gripped the first heavy iron spear and drove it directly into Haruto's back.
STAB!
The sharp metal tore through, pinning Haruto deeper into the floor. Strangely, the massive floating HUD in the sky didn't register a drop in his health pool. The counter remained stubbornly locked at 150,250,000 HP. But the server's sensory feedback was fully operational—real, dark crimson blood began to pool rapidly across the cracked white marble.
Kallen let out a twisted, ecstatic laugh. Seeing that the system was keeping Haruto's avatar alive to sustain the match, his sadism completely broke its limits. One by one, he grabbed the remaining iron spears.
STAB! STAB! STAB!
He systematically drove the heavy weapons straight into Haruto's arms, legs, and shoulders, turning his body into a horrifying pincushion of iron.
The sheer brutality of the scene cast a heavy, suffocating wave of terror over the entire colosseum. In the commoner stands, horrified children buried their faces in their mothers' robes, crying. Parents quickly shielded their kids' eyes, and several spectators turned away entirely, their stomachs turning violently at the sight of the expanding pool of blood on the arena floor.
Up in the VIP pavilion, Aetherna snapped, her body shaking as she stood up right next to Lilith. "hey! We have to stop this! What is happening down there?!"
"Shh... stay calm," Lilith whispered, her hand reaching out to firmly hold Aetherna's arm. Her eyes weren't on Kallen—they were locked dead on the floating sky screen. "Look at the interface. His HP isn't dropping. Not even by a single point. There is a deep calculation error happening in the background logic right now. That's why I'm staying quiet. You need to trust him."
Down on the track, Kallen had completely lost his sanity. He used up all 6 spears and grabbed the 3 remaining steel swords. He began repeatedly, frantically piercing Haruto's body, the metallic screech of the blades echoing horribly through the silent stadium.
A thick, gruesome pool of blood now completely surrounded Haruto's pinned frame, staining the golden crown on his head. Ivory, Bellona, Lustra, and Toya stood frozen behind the barrier, their eyes wide as they stared at the horrific scene.
Kallen pulled the final steel sword from the floor, his face completely splattered with crimson. He didn't even care about the match guidelines anymore. He began repeatedly slicing into Haruto's defenseless body, turning the center coordinate box into a gruesome, unrecognizable mess.
The initial shock of the crowd quickly twisted into pure, unadulterated disgust. Even the hardened nobles in the front rows turned their heads away, unable to stomach the sheer cruelty of the spectacle. The atmosphere in Gelli's amphitheater had gone from a thrilling high-stakes tournament to a sickening, public execution.
"Enough!"
A sharp, incredibly cold voice cut through the wet sounds of Kallen's blade. Up in the highest luxury tier, Gelli stood up, slamming her gold-trimmed fan against the stone railing. Her usual businessman smile was completely gone, replaced by a mask of deep irritation.
"Kallen, that's enough," Gelli commanded, her voice amplified across the arena's sound system. "Take the crown and end this match right now. This is a prestigious sporting arena, not a slaughterhouse. This kind of excessive brutality is strictly prohibited in a public event."
Kallen froze, the bloodied steel sword still dripping in his right hand. He slowly turned his head toward the VIP balcony, his face, hair, and clothes completely drenched in dark red. His eyes were wide and wildly bloodshot, looking completely unhinged.
"Who the hell is trying to ruin my fun now?!" Kallen snarled, wiping a streak of blood across his mouth.
"I am Gelli, the owner of this entire establishment," she replied coldly, her eyes looking down at him with zero fear.
Kallen blinked, the name registering in his twisted mind. "Oh... Gelli. Right. The master merchant. You're the one who dumped an entire billion-credit fortune onto this garbage glitch, aren't you? You made a massive profit off the betting pools today because of him, so don't act all righteous with me. I don't care who you are or how much money you have—I am not listening to a single word you say."
"I am giving you a direct warning, candidate Kallen," Gelli stated, her hand hovering near her personal security terminal. "Wrap it up."
But Kallen completely ignored her. With a crazed, mocking laugh, he turned right back around and resumed his frantic, brutal slicing, determined to keep torturing Haruto until his own twisted satisfaction was completely fulfilled.
CLICK.
The sharp, echoing sound of a heavy system lock mechanism disengaging resonated through the entire stadium.
Right as Kallen raised his blade to drive the final, brutal slice straight into Haruto's neck, the glowing digital golden crown on Haruto's head suddenly detached itself. It didn't wait for Kallen's bloody hands to touch it. Under the server's automated resolution script, the crown slipped downward, bouncing off the shattered marble tiles with a hollow metallic clang, rolling away into the pooling crimson.
Kallen froze, his blood-splattered face widening in complete shock. He hadn't pulled it. The data had forced the extraction on its own.
Instantly, the massive floating HUD in the sky began to flicker violently, its processing parameters reaching the final line of code. The giant display tracking Haruto's massive capital vanished. The damage logs dissolved. The single remaining status bar tracking his metrics violently plummeted, flashing a critical, blinking warning before locking at the absolute baseline:
👑 THE DUEL OF KINGS: OVERRIDE INITIATED
[KING HARUTO DATA POOL]: 1 / 1,000,000,000 HP [STATUS: COMPROMISED / UNCONSCIOUS]
[KING KAELEN DATA POOL]: 62,500 / 1,000,000 HP [STATUS: CLAIMANT_SUCCESS]
BZZZZZZT!
The master firewall keeping the arena sealed exploded into blue static threads, completely dissolving the invisible barriers separating the track from the stalls.
"Yes! Finally!" Kallen shrieked, throwing his bloody sword to the floor and throwing his arms in the air, his laughter bouncing off the stone walls. "It's over! The system has recognized the coronation claim! Accept your absolute deletion, you worthless trash!"
The moment the barrier vanished, Ivory, Bellona, Lustra, and Toya didn't wait for a single verbal frame. They lunged out of the spectator boxes, sprinting across the ruined, cracked marble tiles toward the center of the field. Bellona reached the pool of blood first, her heart dropping into a cold panic as she saw Haruto's completely defenseless, mutilated body, his frame rendered into a horrific mess of deep lacerations from Kallen's torturous blades.
A wave of pure, unadulterated killing intent consumed her processing core.
"You absolute piece of garbage!" Bellona roared, her fist cocking back as her volcanic aura flared to life for a split second, launching a high-velocity punch straight toward Kallen's jaw to obliterate his skull.
But the moment her knuckles came within inches of Kallen's face, her entire arm violently locked in mid-air.
SHHH-TNG!
A heavy, translucent purple data ring manifested around her wrist, pulsing with an unbreakable systemic restraint. Her fist froze solid, vibrating against the invisible barrier as if hitting an iron wall.
"Aw, look at that," Kallen mocked, tilting his head with a sickening, condescending pout as he looked at her frozen fist. "What's wrong? Did your body freeze? Let me remind you of the global server rules: The match has officially resolved. You are no longer independent entities. From this frame forward, you are my absolute property. Slaves cannot strike their Master."
"This... this is impossible!" Bellona spat, her muscles straining, veins popping along her arm as she tried to force her fist forward, but her physical input was completely rejected by the system.
Kallen let out a smug, echoing laugh. "The crown has dropped. Everything is possible when the world rewrites the ownership permissions."
A heavy, suffocating silence blanketed the entire colosseum. The tens of thousands of spectators stood entirely still, completely drained by the raw, lethal horror of a Wizard Quest that had gone far beyond any standard tournament layout. From the opposite side of the track, the remaining members of Kallen's noble faction began pouring onto the field, cheering and celebrating their hollow victory.
BZZZZT. The temporary Level 28 power boost above Kallen's head began to rapidly degrade now that the mana-link was closing, rolling right back down to his standard baseline: LEVEL 8. But his level didn't matter anymore. He had won the legal claim.
Slowly, the four members of the Player faction felt a chilling, invasive warmth creeping up their arms. They raised their hands, their eyes widening in horror as thin, glowing purple systemic branding lines began to weave across their skin, systematically locking into their core data files, transferring their entity contracts straight into Kallen's inventory ledger under the [SLAVE] classification.
"Dammit! No!" Bellona snarled, her jaw clenching as her body began to move entirely against her will.
"Hey, slave," Kallen commanded, his voice dripping with arrogance as he stepped back, crossing his arms. "Move your useless frame over to the side of the track and line up. Immediately."
"I am not your slave!" Bellona hissed, trying to anchor her boots into the cracked marble.
But her protests meant nothing to the master code. Her legs automatically locked into a perfect, uniform marching stance, turning her body completely away from Kallen. She took a slow, automated step forward, her face twisted in pure frustration as her autonomy was stripped frame by frame.
Right behind her, Toya, Ivory, and Lustra felt the exact same systemic hijack execute within their neural networks. Without a single shred of input control, their bodies moved in flawless synchronization, walking over to the perimeter line and forming a neat, rigid row right beside Bellona, completely locked beneath the absolute authority of the winning King.
Aetherna slowly turned her head away from the rigid, automated line of the enslaved goddesses and looked back down at Haruto's motionless body.
The gruesome pool of crimson marble was perfectly still. Haruto lay completely broken, his HP indicator frozen at that final, devastating 1 HP. He wasn't breathing, and his avatar's data stream was barely pulsing.
Aetherna's breath hitched in her throat. She looked up at Princess Lilith, desperate for some kind of reasson, some hidden signal that this was still part of a grand gamer strategy.
"Princess..." Aetherna whispered, her voice cracking under the weight of the silence. "Look at his eyes. Look at his face. please tell me there is still chance. Tell me he's going to trigger a counter-measure."
Aetherna looked directly into Lilith's eyes—and her heart completely dropped.
The sharp, calculating light that usually defined the royal princess was gone. Lilith's eyes were entirely blank, staring down at the bloodied golden crown on the floor with a hollow, dead expression. The quiet confidence she held just moments ago had completely drained out of her, leaving her look completely empty.
Lilith didn't look at Aetherna. She didn't look at Kallen or the cheering nobles. She simply closed her eyes, her hands slowly loosening their tight grip on the stone balcony railing.
"It's over," Lilith whispered, her voice so quiet it was barely a breath against the cold wind of the pavilion.