The dark, ash-covered forest of the Deep Zone instantly turned into a chaotic battlefield.
The Stalker Shadows didn't just attack; they swarmed like a pack of starving wolves. Their bone-white claws slashed through the freezing air, aiming to tear the first-year students to pieces.
But right now, the biggest enemy wasn't the beasts. It was the Deep Zone itself.
The Pran pressure in the atmosphere was absolutely suffocating. It felt like fighting at the bottom of the ocean. Every time Karma tried to lift his wooden sword, his arms felt like they were made of solid lead. Sambhab's usually lightning-fast kicks were sluggish, his blue aura flickering weakly against the heavy darkness.
Out of the four of them, only one person was actually holding his ground.
"Get away from them, you ugly freaks!" Kanha roared.
Kanha swung his heavy iron rod with terrifying force, smashing a Stalker Shadow directly in the jaw. The beast shrieked, skidding backward across the black obsidian stone.
Because Kanha was a 3rd Chakra Awakener, his internal core was vastly denser than the others. His body was naturally more resistant to the crushing environmental pressure. While Karma and Sambhab struggled just to breathe, Kanha was moving, dodging, and striking, his chaotic orange aura burning brightly to keep the darkness at bay.
But Kanha was only one person, and there were dozens of beasts.
A few feet away, Karma was in absolute agony. He was gripping his dark wooden bokken with both hands, standing protectively in front of Daizy. His chest heaved as he desperately tried to pull oxygen into his burning lungs.
"Karma..." Daizy whispered weakly behind him.
Karma glanced over his shoulder. Daizy's face was completely pale. The crushing gravity of the Deep Zone was taking a massive toll on her fragile body. She was forcing her 2nd Chakra to maintain a faint, glowing green barrier around them, but her nose was bleeding slightly from the sheer effort.
Karma gritted his teeth, his heart pounding against his ribs like a trapped bird.
He was stuck. He needed to protect Daizy, but he also needed to help Kanha, who was slowly being surrounded by three massive Stalker Shadows. If Kanha fell, the whole team would die.
I can't just stand here on defense, Karma realized, his teal eyes narrowing. I have to move. Even if it breaks me.
Karma tightened his grip on his sword. He pushed his stabilized 1st Chakra to its absolute limit, overriding his body's natural warning signals.
"Karma, don't!" Sambhab yelled from the side, seeing the boy's muscles tense up. "The pressure! If you sprint now, your internal organs will tear!"
Karma didn't listen. The boy who used to accept defeat simply refused to give up.
With an explosive roar, Karma lunged forward.
The moment he activated the Storm Hand Style high-speed dash, the environmental pressure hit him like a freight train. Karma felt a sickening pop in his chest. His veins bulged against his skin, and the capillaries in his eyes burst, turning the whites of his eyes slightly red. It felt as if his lungs were literally tearing apart from the inside.
He tasted copper in his mouth, but he didn't stop. He pushed through the agonizing pain, his teal aura flaring violently as he closed the distance to Kanha in a fraction of a second.
One of the Stalker Shadows had leaped into the air, its jaw unhinging to bite Kanha's head off from his blind spot.
Karma arrived just in time. He swung his wooden sword with every ounce of strength he had left.
CLANG!
The wooden blade slammed into the beast's thick, bone-plated stomach. The impact echoed loudly, but Karma's eyes widened in shock. The attack barely left a scratch. The beast's armor was far too thick for his current power level.
However, the sheer kinetic force of Karma's high-speed slash was enough to knock the massive monster off balance. The Stalker Shadow shrieked, tumbling backward out of the air and crashing heavily into the other two beasts.
Karma's momentum broke. He collapsed onto one knee, coughing violently. Drops of dark red blood splattered onto the black stones. His vision blurred, his internal organs screaming in pain from the reckless sprint.
"Karma!"
Before he could hit the ground completely, a pair of soft, trembling hands pressed against his back. A brilliant, warm green light flooded his vision.
It was Daizy. She had dropped her protective barrier and run directly into the danger zone to reach him. She poured her healing energy directly into his torn muscles and bleeding lungs, repairing the internal damage.
Karma let out a shaky breath, the agonizing pain fading slightly. He looked up at her. She was panting, looking completely exhausted, but her eyes were filled with fierce determination. She was saving his life.
"I've got you," Daizy whispered, though her own hands were shaking.
A few feet away, Kanha looked at Karma and Daizy. He saw the massive opening Karma had just created by knocking the three beasts together.
Kanha's goofy expression was entirely gone. His face was dead serious.
"Good job, brother," Kanha muttered. "My turn."
Kanha reached deep into the pocket of his tactical vest. He didn't pull out a toothpick this time. He pulled out a beautifully carved, miniature stone pillar—a replica of the very pillar he had used during his first fight in the Mirror Dimension.
Kanha gripped the miniature pillar and poured every last drop of his 3rd Chakra into it. His orange aura flared like a wildfire, pushing back the dark ash of the Deep Zone.
"Matter Manipulation!" Kanha roared, his voice echoing through the dead forest. "Maximum Expansion!"
He threw the tiny stone high into the air above the tangled group of Stalker Shadows.
In a terrifying display of raw power, the stone didn't just grow; it exploded in size. Within a single second, it expanded into a colossal, fifty-ton pillar of solid rock, blotting out the purple sky.
The Stalker Shadows looked up, their glowing red eyes widening in fear.
KABOOM!
The massive pillar slammed into the obsidian ground with the force of an earthquake. The ground cracked open, sending shockwaves of dust and debris flying in all directions. The three Stalker Shadows were completely crushed beneath the overwhelming weight of the stone.
The battlefield fell silent, save for the heavy breathing of the Core Four.
Kanha let out a long, exhausted groan. His legs gave out, and he collapsed onto his back, completely drained of Pran energy. He gave a weak thumbs-up to Karma.
"Nailed it..." Kanha panted, smiling at the dark sky. "I need a nap... and a burger."
Sambhab slowly walked over, clutching his bruised ribs. "You actually did it, Kanha. You crushed them."
Karma leaned on his wooden sword, using it to slowly stand up. Daizy kept her hand on his shoulder, supporting his weight. They all looked at the massive, fifty-ton stone pillar resting in the center of the clearing. It was over. They had survived their first real fight in the Deep Zone.
Or so they thought.
CRACK.
The sound was small at first. Like a pebble breaking.
Karma froze. His newly awakened Kinetic Vision caught a tiny detail. A deep fissure was forming on the side of Kanha's massive stone pillar.
CRACK. SNAP.
"Kanha... get up," Karma said, his voice dropping to a terrified whisper.
"I can't, bro," Kanha mumbled from the ground, his eyes closed. "I'm empty."
Suddenly, the massive fifty-ton pillar violently shook.
BOOOOOOM!
The solid stone pillar exploded into a thousand pieces of flying shrapnel. A shockwave of pure, corrupted black energy blasted out from the rubble, throwing Sambhab backward.
From the dust and smoke, a figure slowly stood up.
It wasn't crushed. It wasn't dead.
The Stalker Shadow that emerged was different from the rest. It was larger, its bone-armor now glowing with a sickly, dark gold hue. It had completely shattered the fifty-ton pillar with its bare hands.
The beast slowly turned its faceless, terrifying head toward the exhausted, broken team. It let out a low, demonic laugh that echoed in their minds.
Kanha opened his eyes, staring at the monster in absolute disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me..."
They had used everything they had. And the real boss hadn't even taken a scratch.