The groups shifted. For the first time, they weren't just six teams—they were one.
"Good," Tendou muttered, spinning his sword.
"Then let's end this monster."
The battle shifted.
Claire's wind carried Felix's arrows farther, faster, striking between the monster's scales. Angela froze whole dunes, forcing the lesser worms to the surface where Levy's spirit tigers shredded them apart. Uriel's greatsword cleaved through pincers while Howard and Louis staggered their defenses, keeping the King's stingers from piercing their line.
Tendou darted between the gaps, his Flow Style carving through weak points, water mana surging like a river at flood.
Every strike he landed drew the monster's fury toward him. Venom sprayed, claws snapped—but his body moved like water, flowing past death itself.
"Come on!" he shouted, leaping onto its armored carapace. "If you're the King of the Desert, then try to kill me!"
The Sasori's stingers whipped toward him, all three at once.
"Too slow." Tendou's blade glowed, his mana compressed tighter than ever before. He slashed upward, redirecting the force, water exploding into a torrent that shattered the venom into harmless mist.
"Now! Hit it with everything you've got!"
The desert erupted.
Shadow fire, lightning, ice, spirit beasts, and steel all struck the Sasori's weakened carapace. Cracks spread across its armor like glass breaking.
Tendou's chest heaved, his body screaming in pain from mana strain. But his eyes stayed locked on the fissure splitting across the monster's body.
"One more strike…" he whispered, raising his blade.
"This is the final."
His water mana flared, brighter than ever before, shaping into a blade of liquid moonlight.
"Flow Style—Final Sever!"
He plunged down, cutting through the King's armored chest. The fissure split wide open as the monster let out a final, ear-splitting scream that shook the dunes.
The Gate of Karzakh itself pulsed, the runes glowing blood-red.
And then—
From the depths of the crack, a second roar erupted.
Another form… something darker, older, crawling up through the gate.
Tendou's blade trembled in his hands as he realized—
"…This wasn't the end. The gate's still hungry."
The desert shook as the King of the Desert collapsed, its body splitting apart with a deafening roar. The students' cheers died quickly, though, when the sand beneath their feet began to collapse inward.
From the broken carapace, a surge of black-gold mana poured out like a storm. The monster's flesh twitched, its scales falling away, revealing a second body hidden within—a leaner, deadlier form, glowing with molten cracks of venomous energy.
Its three tails fused into one massive scorpion stinger, pulsing with poison so concentrated the air itself burned green. Its claws elongated into jagged spears, and six glowing eyes opened, locking onto the exhausted hunters.
The Gate of Karzakh trembled, the sky above the desert darkening.
"Second phase…" Damian muttered, clutching his sword. "Of course it wouldn't die that easily."
Trueso spat in the sand. "So this is the real boss."
The evolved monster—Karzakh, the Venom Sovereign—shrieked, and its stinger slammed into the dunes, releasing a poisonous shockwave. Several students barely raised their shields in time as the venom ate through the sand, leaving glass behind.
"Everyone, spread out!" Tendou's voice cut through the panic.
"Don't breathe in the green mist—Selina, throw up barriers! Felix, suppress its movements. Angela, freeze the mist before it spreads!"
The teams moved, battered but determined. Claire summoned a storm overhead, lightning striking the Sovereign's carapace, while Levy's spirit beasts tore into its legs. Howard and Louis rotated in front of the stinger, shields cracking under the venom's weight, but never breaking.
Still, the Sovereign moved faster than before. It leapt from dune to dune, forcing the hunters to scramble in all directions.
Yuvel cursed as her shadow spears magic spell bounced off its glowing armor. "We're not even scratching it!"
"We don't have to," Tendou shouted back, his sword glowing with condensed water mana.
"We just need to open it up. The core's inside—glowing red. Aim for that!"
The Sovereign hissed, as if it understood, and lunged straight for him. Its stinger lashed forward like lightning.
"Iron Fortress!" Howard slammed his shields together, deflecting the strike. The venom burned through one shield instantly, but Howard didn't falter. "Mori, move!"
"I'm not running." Tendou surged forward, his Flow Style carrying him through the Sovereign's claws. His blade slashed across its chest, forcing a tiny crack where the glowing core pulsed.
"Now! Everyone, focus fire here!"
The battlefield erupted. Lightning, fire, ice, shadow, and arrows all converged on the fissure. The Sovereign shrieked, staggering as its carapace cracked wider.
But it wasn't finished.
The monster raised its body high, its stinger glowing so brightly the dunes turned green. The air sizzled.
The monster raised its body high, its stinger glowing so brightly the dunes turned green. The air sizzled.
"It's going to release everything!" Claire screamed.
Tendou's heart pounded. If the Sovereign unleashed that venom, the entire desert would be flooded with poison—no one would escape alive.
He gritted his teeth. "Then I'll end this here."
Mana roared through his veins, sharper and hotter than ever before. His blade shimmered with water and light, every drop of his strength pouring into a single strike.
"Everyone,cover me!"
The others didn't question him. Shields rose, barriers flared, storms howled, and spirit beasts leapt. They gave him everything ,every second, every opening.
Tendou leapt high, the Sovereign's stinger lunging up to meet him. For a heartbeat, he saw his reflection in its venom-glowing eyes.
"Flow Style—Moonlit River Sever!"
He brought his blade down.
The strike carved through the Sovereign's stinger, splitting the venom sac apart. A blinding surge of light and water exploded outward, flooding the battlefield with a cleansing tide. The poison dissolved into harmless mist, the monster shrieking as its carapace shattered, revealing the pulsing red core.
"Now!" Tendou roared.
Every hunter unleashed their strongest attack at once.
Arrows, fire, shadows, lightning, ice, and steel struck the exposed core.
The Venom Sovereign let out one final scream—then its body crumbled into black dust, collapsing into the sand.
Silence fell.
The Gate's glow dimmed. The desert stopped trembling.
"…It's over," Felix whispered, dropping to his knees.
Tendou stood in the center, his blade still glowing faintly, his chest heaving with exhaustion. He looked around at the groups—bloodied, battered, but alive.
"No," he corrected softly. "We ended it. Together."
The Gate of Karzakh shattered into shards of light, and the hunters were pulled back into the real world.
But even as they emerged into the underground chamber, Tendou couldn't shake the feeling of being watched.
*********
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