The sky above Limana Central Academy didn't just turn black; it curdled into a sickly shade of violet as the mana-barricade finally dissolved. Ash rained down like gray snow, coating the trembling shoulders of the students of Class 0-E. They stood before the iron gates, a ragged line of defense between the retreating civilians and the nightmare advancing through the smoke.
Kuraido Tenryu stood at the center, his hands trembling—not from fear, but from the raw, unstable pressure of the solar and lunar energies clashing within his veins. He looked at his classmates—Syji, Shioj, Zarred, Rin, Daigo, Mirei, Tobari, and Kizumi. They were all that was left of the Academy's pride.
"He's not here," Mirei whispered, her voice cracking as sparks of blue electricity flickered around her eyes. "Shinji... he was at the Council Tower. Kuraido, why hasn't he sent a signal? Is he... is he still alive?"
Kuraido didn't look back. "Shinji doesn't die that easily. He's the heart of this class. If we fall here, there's no home for him to come back to. We hold this ground until he arrives, or until we can't breathe."
A slow, rhythmic clapping echoed through the haze. Veynar Umbros stepped out of the shadows, flanked by the Pact. Noctis's black flames licked the air, and Draegorn's heavy footsteps cracked the cobblestones.
"Touching," Veynar sneered, his voice like velvet over a grave. "The little lambs are worried about their shepherd. If you're looking for Shinji Saitou, look to the sky. His light was extinguished by the Scourge himself. He is a memory now, just like your kingdom."
"You lie!" Syji roared, his fingers twitching as invisible Mana Threads laced the air. "Shinji would never lose to a relic like you!"
"Believe what you wish," Veynar replied, raising his staff. "But the night is here. Pact of Obsidian... sweep away the debris."
The battle erupted with the violence of a collapsing star.
Tobari was the first to act, slamming his palms into the earth. "Silent Vale!" An invisible dome of heavy, mana-dampening pressure expanded, sucking the sound out of the square. It was a tactical strike, forcing the Pact to fight in an eerie silence where their vocal-based spells faltered. Within the silence, Shioj unleashed his Void Shepherd arcane. The air rippled as he opened the Infinity Menagerie, dozens of glitching, semi-invisible Void Beasts tearing out of spatial cracks. A Rift Wolf lunged at Selvara, its warped speed making it impossible to track as it bit into her green-mist defenses.
"You're in my space now!" Shioj yelled, his arm morphing into coiling void scales through the Leviathan Merge. He swung a fist of pure spatial distortion, clashing against Selvara's scaled arm.
On the right flank, Daigo and Zarred faced the mountain of bone that was Draegorn. Daigo activated Burden Forge, converting the terror in his heart into hyper-dense iron mass. When Draegorn swung his massive kanabo, Daigo didn't move. He took the hit, the sound of iron hitting bone ringing across the battlefield. "Howl Guard!" Daigo roared, his density increasing until he was an immovable anchor.
Beside him, Zarred's Chronoscroll unfurled like a golden whip. "Script: Echo!" Zarred cried. Suddenly, Daigo's punch from three seconds ago replicated itself, striking Draegorn's chest with double the force. "Script: Time Fray!" Zarred pointed his finger, and Draegorn's next swing slowed to a crawl, suspended in space for two vital seconds, allowing Daigo to deliver a devastating Ruin Spiral into the villain's midsection.
In the air, Mirei and Rin were a whirlwind of lightning and glass. Rin used Ghost Bloom, filling the square with shimmering aura shards that created dozens of phantom Mireis. The real Mirei, her grief for Shinji fueling her voltage, entered a Berserk Surge. "Heartburst Arc!" she screamed. A jagged, crimson-blue lightning bolt tore through the mirages, striking at Noctis.
Noctis laughed, his black fire devouring the electricity. "Is that all the passion you have?" He launched a wave of black flames, but Rin stepped in front, her Crystal Veil bending the light and heat away, making Mirei appear five feet to the left of where she actually was. "We aren't just passion," Rin hissed. "We're the refraction of everything you hate!"
At the center, Syji was a blur of motion, his Threadblade Cascade glowing with arcane light. He danced around Kaelthorn's rattling chains, his threads slicing through the soul-bound metal. "You call yourself a butcher?" Syji mocked, his threads latching onto Kaelthorn's limbs. "Threadweave Grip!" With a violent yank, he sent the villain sprawling into the air, tethering him to the Academy's spires. "You're just another puppet in a world you don't understand!"
But the momentum shifted when Dartivus Vaderius entered the fray. His presence alone shattered Tobari's Silent Vale. The air became heavy with the scent of volcanic ash. He raised his staff, and the Ashen Phalanx—the ghostly knights of the 150th—materialized, overwhelming the Void Beasts and the mana threads.
Kuraido saw his friends beginning to break. Tobari was on his knees, blood trickling from his nose. Mirei was pale, her system overloaded.
"KIZUMI!" Kuraido screamed, his eyes glowing with the Event Horizon Singularity. "Look at me! We have to go! If we die here, no one tells Shinji we waited! No one tells the world we fought!"
"I'm not leaving them!" Kizumi yelled, his Jet Drive armor venting blue plasma as he kicked a Maiju aside with an Overblast Kick.
"This isn't a retreat, it's a message!" Kuraido grabbed Kizumi by the shoulder, his touch burning with both frost and flame. "Syji! Shioj! Zarred! Please!"
Syji looked back, his eyes soft despite the carnage. "Go, Tenryu. You're the fastest and the strongest. Take him. Tell Shinji... tell him to finish what we started."
"Script: Accelerate!" Zarred yelled, his last scroll burning out as he cast the spell on Kizumi. "RUN, YOU IDIOTS! RUN!"
Vaderius raised his hand to unleash the Crownbreaker's Wrath, but Kuraido stepped forward. He didn't use a skill; he used his life force. He forced the "Sunside" and "Moonside" to collide within his own chest.
"Corona of the Dying Star!"
A blinding, impossible light erupted from Kuraido. The temperature dropped to absolute zero and rose to five thousand degrees in a single, localized pulse. The Thermal Shock was so intense it forced even Vaderius to plant his staff and shield himself.
"KIZUMI, NOW!" Kuraido collapsed, his body going limp as the energy drained.
Kizumi didn't hesitate. He grabbed Kuraido, throwing the unconscious boy over his back. He slammed his feet into the ground, the Nova Drive activating with a roar that shattered every window in the Academy.
"FULL THROTTLE!"
Kizumi became a meteor of blue and gold. He didn't run; he blipped through existence. As he tore through the Academy gates, he looked back for one final, agonizing second. He saw Syji being wrapped in Kaelthorn's chains. He saw Shioj's void beasts dissolving. He saw Mirei, Rin, and the others standing back-to-back, surrounded by hundreds of Maiju and the Pact, their faces resolute even as the shadows closed in.
"Where is Shinji?" Mirei's last question echoed in Kizumi's mind. "Is he okay?"
Kizumi let out a sob that was lost in the sonic boom of his flight. He tore through the streets of Limana, his plasma trails incinerating any Maiju that crossed his path. He didn't stop for the fire. He didn't stop for the screams. He ran until the sky of Limana was a distant, burning dot on the horizon.
On his back, Kuraido's heart beat in a slow, dying rhythm.
"I'll tell him, Mirei," Kizumi whispered through his visor, his tears evaporating in the heat of his armor. "I'll tell him you fought like gods."
Kizumi pushed his suit to the absolute limit, his armor plates glowing red-hot as he crossed into the RUINED VILLAGE. He was a spark of white light fleeing into a world that was rapidly turning to ash, carrying the only two survivors of Class 0-E toward a destiny they never asked for.
The Academy fell silent behind them.
[TO BE CONTINUED]