The moment Stage Two fully stabilized—
the world changed.
The radiation pressure radiating from Raze Arcwell was no longer subtle.
It was heavy.
Dense.
Oppressive.
Not something that exploded outward—
but something that pressed down on everything around him.
For Raze, it was manageable.
He had no Nexas.
No awakened core.
No altered DNA for the Abyss radiation to disrupt.
His body endured it.
But for Astra—
It was hell.
The instant she stepped within range again, pain tore through her.
Not physical pain.
Something deeper.
Every ounce of Nexas inside her screamed.
Her muscles tensed uncontrollably.
Her breathing hitched.
Her flight faltered mid-air as if invisible hands were dragging her down.
Astra clenched her teeth.
"…So this is… the real pressure…"
The radiation wasn't weakening her strength alone.
It was suppressing her *existence as a Nexas user*.
Raze saw it.
Saw the way her movements stiffened.
Saw the moment her flight dropped a full meter before she forced herself back up.
His chest tightened.
*I'm hurting her…*
But he didn't turn it off.
Because if he did—
He would lose.
◆ ◆ ◆
Across the stadium, a ripple of unease spread.
Nexas users shifted in their seats.
Some frowned.
Some winced.
Some subconsciously leaned away from the arena.
"…Do you feel that?"
"…Yeah. Something's pressing on my chest."
"It's faint… but uncomfortable."
Even the heroes weren't immune.
Titanheart narrowed his eyes.
"This radiation… it's localized, but it's real."
Aetherion's expression darkened.
"If stage 2 is like this then, If this were Stage Three…"
"…the stadium wouldn't be standing," Titanheart finished quietly.
◆ ◆ ◆
Astra couldn't fly close to Raze anymore.
Every attempt felt like forcing herself through deep water.
So she adapted.
She landed.
The tiles cracked under her boots as she charged forward on foot—raw speed, raw strength, no tricks.
Raze met her head-on.
Fist to forearm.
BOOM—!!
The shockwave blasted outward.
Raze slid back.
Astra staggered.
Both of them breathing harder now.
Pain burned through Astra's muscles.
Pressure gnawed at her core.
But she didn't stop.
She *refused* to stop.
"I've never needed to push this far…"
"But if I give up now… then everything I stand for is a lie."
She swung again.
Raze blocked—
*CRACK.*
A thin fracture ran along the Arcsteel plating of his forearm guard.
Raze's eyes widened.
Another exchange—
*CRACK.*
A second fracture.
Then a third.
The crowd gasped.
"The armor—!"
"Arcsteel is cracking!?"
"That shouldn't be possible!"
Astra's strikes were growing heavier.
Even suppressed.
Even in pain.
She was still Astra Noire.
Raze gritted his teeth.
*She's pushing through it… through everything.*
The Starbreaker's warnings flared.
*ARMOR INTEGRITY FALLING*
*RADIATION OUTPUT STABLE*
*STAGE THREE — LOCKED*
He knew why.
Stage Three wasn't like the others.
It wasn't controlled release.
It was everything.
All stored Abyss radiation unleashed at once.
Enough to cripple Nexas users.
Enough to warp the battlefield.
Enough that even *his* body wouldn't walk away unharmed.
*If I activate it…*
*I might win.*
*Or I might not walk away.*
Astra struck again.
This time, Raze felt the impact in his bones.
Another Arcsteel plate shattered.
Fragments skidded across the arena floor.
Astra stood there—breathing hard, body shaking, eyes burning with stubborn fire.
"…I won't fall," she said hoarsely.
"…Not to pain."
Raze straightened slowly.
Armor cracked.
Body strained.
Mind racing.
*So what do I do now…?*
Fight on with breaking armor?
Risk everything with Stage Three?
Or find another path—
Before one of them breaks completely?
Above them, unseen—
Someone watched with sharp interest.
Because this fight had reached the point where **choices mattered more than power**.
And the next decision Raze Arcwell made—
Would change the outcome of the battle.
*************************
And then, while they were fighting
Astra moved.
Not backward in fear—
but sideways, sharp and deliberate.
Raze sensed it immediately.
She wasn't disengaging.
She was *changing the battlefield*.
Before he could react, Astra drove her fist into the arena floor with everything she had left.
*BOOOOOOM—!!*
The ground shattered.
Cracks spiderwebbed outward, splitting reinforced tiles as if they were glass. Entire slabs of the arena collapsed inward, dropping several meters as dust and debris erupted skyward.
Gasps tore through the stadium.
"She destroyed the floor!?"
"That wasn't an accident—she meant to do that!"
Astra landed in the newly formed crater, knees bent, one hand braced against the ground.
Pain ripped through her body.
Her Nexas screamed.
Every second within the radiation felt like knives digging into her bones, tearing at her strength, crushing her instincts.
Her breath came out ragged.
"This is it," she thought.
"One chance."
She forced herself upright.
Her vision swam.
Her muscles trembled.
But her eyes burned with resolve.
Astra reached down into the fractured earth.
Her fingers dug into stone.
And she *lifted*.
The arena groaned.
A massive chunk of rock—jagged, uneven, easily twice Raze's size—ripped free from the ground. Dust poured off its surface as Astra dragged it upward with sheer force.
The crowd erupted.
"No way…"
"That thing is HUGE!"
"She's going to throw that!?"
Astra rose into the air, slowly at first, then higher—wings of force holding her aloft despite the agony tearing through her body.
Her arms shook violently as she held the colossal stone above her.
Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.
Her Nexas was fighting the radiation.
Her body was fighting itself.
But she didn't let go.
*One strike,* she repeated.
*Everything I have… in one strike.*
Across the crater, Raze stared upward.
His heart dropped.
"That's… bad."
His instincts screamed danger louder than ever before.
He slammed his hand against the Starbreaker's chest core.
"Stage Three—unlock!"
The system responded instantly—
*ERROR.*
*SYNC DELAY.*
*CORE PRESSURE EXCEEDS SAFE LIMITS.*
"Damn it—!"
He tried again.
"Override—!"
*LOCKED.*
*STAGE THREE UNSAFE.*
Raze's eyes widened.
Too slow.
Astra screamed—not in pain, but defiance—
and hurled the massive stone downward.
The shadow swallowed him whole.
Time seemed to freeze.
Students stood.
Heroes surged forward.
Barriers flared at maximum output.
Then—
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!*
The impact detonated the arena.
Stone exploded.
Dust blasted outward in a violent shockwave.
The force slammed into the protective barrier, rattling the entire stadium.
Some students were knocked back in their seats.
Several heroes instinctively shielded civilians.
When the dust finally settled—
There was silence.
The arena was gone.
A massive crater dominated the field, rubble piled high at its center.
Nothing moved.
"…Raze?" someone whispered.
Astra hovered above the crater, chest heaving.
Her arms fell limp at her sides.
Her body screamed for rest.
Her vision blurred.
She stared downward in horror.
"…No… I didn't—"
Then—
*Crack.*
A faint sound echoed from within the rubble.
Another crack followed.
And another.
The broken stone shifted.
From inside the collapsed mass—
*BOOM—!!*
The rock burst apart.
Chunks of shattered stone flew outward as a flickering nanotech helmet emerged from within the debris, barely holding together.
The helmet cracked—
then dissolved.
Raze Arcwell forced himself up from inside the rubble.
On one knee.
One hand pressed into the broken ground.
The other trembling violently at his side.
His armor was ruined.
Arcsteel plates lay shattered across the arena.
The Starbreaker's cobalt lights flickered weakly, systems screaming warnings.
But he was alive.
The stadium froze.
No cheers.
No screams.
Only stunned disbelief.
"He… broke it…?"
"He survived that…?"
Astra stared, breath caught in her throat.
"…You're… still standing…?"
Raze didn't answer.
He didn't even look up.
Dust drifted slowly around him as he remained kneeling, unmoving.
His body shook—not from fear, but exhaustion.
Inside, everything burned.
*That was close…*
*Too close.*
The radiation around him faded to a faint hum as the Starbreaker stabilized what little energy it had left.
The referee stood frozen.
The heroes didn't move.
No one knew what to do.
Had Raze won?
Had Astra won?
Or had both of them crossed a line where victory no longer mattered?
Somewhere, near beyond the arena—
a blindfolded man smiled faintly.
Because the fight had finally reached the moment he had been waiting for.
The match wasn't over.
But something had already broken.
And whatever came next—
nothing would ever be the same.
***********************
The dust slowly began to settle.
Stone fragments clattered to the ground.
Cracks spread silently across what remained of the arena.
At the center of it all—
Raze Arcwell knelt on one knee.
His head was lowered.
One hand pressed weakly against the shattered floor.
The other hung limply at his side.
The Starbreaker suit was barely holding together.
Arcsteel plates were fractured.
Nanotech seams flickered and failed.
The once-steady hum of Abyss Alloy radiation faded… and then stopped entirely.
Silence swallowed the stadium.
No cheers.
No gasps.
No movement.
Thousands of eyes were locked on the boy in the ruined armor.
"…What's happening?"
"Is the match… still going?"
"He's not moving…"
Even Astra hovered in place, frozen.
Her chest rose and fell rapidly.
Pain still tore through her body.
But all of it faded beneath the sight in front of her.
"…Raze…?"
His body trembled once.
Then—
He collapsed.
Raze Arcwell fell forward, hitting the broken stone without resistance.
The sound was dull.
Final.
A collective breath was sucked out of the stadium.
"He—!"
"He's down!"
"Raze collapsed!"
The Starbreaker's lights went dark.
No radiation.
No hum.
No response.
Just cracked armor and a motionless body.
In the VIP section—
Lily screamed.
"BIG BROTHER!!"
She struggled wildly, trying to break free from Luna's grip.
Luna's face went pale.
"No—no no no—!"
She tried to leap over the barrier, but Rose caught her arm, holding her back with trembling hands.
"Medical team—NOW!" Rose shouted, her calm finally cracking.
Raze's classmates stood frozen.
Roger's fists clenched until his knuckles turned white.
Rain covered her mouth, eyes shimmering.
Gray stared in shock, unable to move.
"…He pushed himself that far…"
"…For this fight…"
The referee hesitated only a second longer—
then raised his hand.
"RAZE ARCWELL IS UNABLE TO CONTINUE."
The words echoed painfully through the arena.
"WINNER OF THE MATCH—ASTRA NOIRE!"
No one cheered.
Not a single clap.
The announcement felt hollow.
Astra descended instantly.
She didn't care about the result.
Didn't care about rankings.
Didn't care about the tournament.
She rushed toward Raze—
"Astra—wait—!"
Too late.
She reached him—
And then—
**SWOOSH.**
A sudden pressure slammed down on the arena.
The air twisted.
Lights flickered violently.
Barriers screamed under an unknown interference.
A figure stood at the center of the stadium.
Calm.
Still.
Unbothered.
A man wearing a blindfold.
The entire stadium froze.
"…No way…"
"…That's—"
"…He's really here…"
Astra stopped dead.
Her blood ran cold.
Raze lay unconscious only meters away—
and between them stood the man the nation feared most.
Nightveil.
Hands in his pockets.
Head slightly tilted.
As if he were simply taking a casual stroll.
"Ah," he said lightly, his voice carrying effortlessly through the stunned silence.
"So this is where you all gathered."
Heroes shot to their feet.
Security alarms blared.
Weapons activated instantly.
But Nightveil didn't move.
He turned his head slowly—
toward Raze's fallen body.
"…Interesting," he murmured.
The stadium felt like it was holding its breath.
The tournament had stopped.
The fight had ended.
But something far worse—
had just begun.