Elira's eyes narrowed as she raised her arm again, blood swirling violently into the air behind her.
"Blood Pierce: Crimson Storm."
Hundreds of massive blood needles formed twice as large and far more volatile than before. With a snap of her fingers, they shot forward at breakneck speed, whistling through the air like death itself.
At the same time, Matthew Glacern raised both hands. Blue mana surged, freezing the air around him as enormous ice boulders, jagged and dense, materialized and launched toward Kael with shattering force.
But the moment they were about to hit.
They crumbled into dust.
Kael's mana alone dense, oppressive, and crackling like black lightning shattered the constructs before they could touch him. He didn't flinch. His expression didn't change. He didn't even raise his blade.
He stood there, shadows writhing around him like loyal wolves.
Matthew and Elira exchanged a glance. Then, without a word, they rushed forward together.
But Kael.
Kael welcomed them.
He moved with eerie calm, eyes glowing pale white, his blade a blur of shadow and light. He deflected Elira's rapier, parried Matthew's frosted blade, spun, twisted, countered, dominated with a smile on his face. He danced between their combined assault like a phantom, each movement precise and mocking.
But even as he kept fighting them with grace and brutality, a quiet alarm rang in his mind.
My mana is draining too fast.
They were forcing him to use his Shadow Lord form to its peak. Even though he was toying with them, their infused attacks were strong enough that each clash burned away chunks of his reserves.
He frowned.
Then let's end this.
Kael lifted his free hand, eyes flashing with power.
With a mere flick of two fingers.
Slash.
A thin streak of pure shadow passed through the battlefield.
Elira and Matthew both froze mid-movement. Then split clean in half.
No blood.
No scream.
Just... silence, before their forms began to break apart into fragments of light. They were forcefully ejected by the academy's emergency teleport system.
But even as she vanished, Elira smirked blood dripping from the corner of her mouth.
"Seems like... I've finally found someone stronger than Jin…"
Then they were gone.
The battlefield was still.
Kael stood there alone.
Then, without warning his body gave in.
He collapsed to one knee, his vision spinning, breathing shallow. Everything turned black around him until.
He was no longer in the forest.
He stood in an empty, dark realm, shadows stretching infinitely in all directions. It was silent. Still. Timeless.
Then.
A throne rose from the darkness, massive and jagged, made from stone, bones, and something far older. Shadows circled around it like a black storm.
And they appeared.
Towering monsters beasts made from nightmares eyes glowing red, mouths too wide, claws that could tear through mountains. They surrounded the throne in complete silence, kneeling.
But what stole Kael's breath.
Was the man seated on the throne.
He wore a cloak darker than night, his face hidden behind a horned mask of obsidian. The aura that poured from him wasn't just powerful it was eternal. Primordial. The weight of it crushed down on Kael's soul like a mountain of death.
Kael's knees buckled.
He couldn't smirk.
He couldn't joke.
He could barely breathe.
Blood dripped from his lips as he lowered his head to the shadow-soaked ground and whispered through clenched teeth:
"...Greetings, Shadow Lord."