Crimson Incident Classroom
The classroom stood frozen in ash and silence—scarred by time, sealed by memory.
Kira adjusted his cloak around Raya's shivering form. Her breathing was shallow. Her eyes no longer held the innocence of a student—they glowed faintly crimson. A presence watched through them.
"Leo," Kira whispered.
Raya—no, Leo—tilted her head.
"It's been a while," Leo said, voice layered and controlled. "This body is... cramped."
"You shouldn't push it. You know Raya's soul is still there. Too much power and—"
"She breaks. I know."
Kira hesitated, then asked, "How much can you use?"
Leo's smile was faint. Cold. "Three percent."
Kira's expression darkened. "And you think that'll be enough?"
Leo turned toward the doorway, his tone unreadable.
"If it isn't, then the world has changed more than I thought."
Arena 7 – Central Zone.
Chris.
Still unable to move – collapsed, exhausted, aura dead.
A random student – not strong, not skilled- stood over him with a blade.
Chris couldn't even lift his hand.
The blade touched his hand.
Chris was gone.
Eliminated by the nameless student while he lay paralyzed and broken. His Law flickered out like a dying ember.
The dust was settling again. Jayze stood upright, arms bloodied, breathing hard and staring towards where Chris laid.
"You were strong, Chris. But strength was never yours to begin with." He murmured to himself.
And then-
The battlefield froze. Not time but presence.
A windless pressure.
Every drone camera fizzled out. Every student turned, instinct screaming at them.
A figure walked calmly across the field.
Raya.
No…. Leo.
Every step was silent. Every blink felt like thunder waiting to fall.
Jayze hesitated. "…. Raya"
"No," came the cold reply.
A voice too steady.
"You can call me Leo"
Jayze blinked then laughed.
"The dead one."
Leo's eyes narrowed. "Funny, it seems this generation doesn't know what it meant to alter time."
Jayze didn't wait.
His blood exploded outward – whips, spears, sigils and the forest of red death surging towards the intruder.
Leo lifted a single hand.
Snap.
Every drop of blood fell, lifeless to the ground.
Jayze's jaw clenched. "What-?"
Leo was already in front of him.
CRACK!
A backhand.
Jayze flew like a missile, skidding across stone until he hit the wall collapsed.
Jayze knelt in silence, battered and alone in the crater where Leo had struck him down.
And in the heart of the battlefield, Yuujin stood.
The air shimmered around him.
Dark, unstable.
His teammates backed away—they knew what was coming.
"Eclipse Mode," Yuujin growled. "Null State… Activate."
A third eye opened on his forehead—a black eclipse, swirling with void.
The air dimmed.
Even the shadows pulled away from him.
Leo stepped into the arena then—calm, distant, expression unreadable.
Yuujin didn't speak.
He vanished.
BOOM!
His punch collided with Leo's jaw.
Or it should have.
Leo raised one finger. Caught the punch midair. His feet didn't move.
Yuujin's body strained, muscles swelling, Eclipse Armor coating his limbs like obsidian steel.
"Black Sun Pulse!"
Dark energy erupted in a wave, engulfing Leo's entire body.
Silence.
Smoke.
Then—
Leo stepped out of the darkness.
Untouched.
Yuujin's jaw clenched. "You should've stayed dead!"
He roared, summoning five Eclipse Spears, each radiating pure negation magic.
They launched—
Leo tilted his head.
"Collapse."
The spears disintegrated.
Yuujin blinked—and found Leo standing in front of him.
"Too slow."
A single palm strike to the chest.
CRACK.
Yuujin flew across the arena, slamming into his own teammates.
They recovered and tried to flank Leo.
Leo didn't move.
He just looked at them.
Their magic muzzled out.
Their knees buckled.
One by one – Thump, thump, thump. They fell unconscious from pressure alone.
Yuujin staggered forward.
Leo appeared behind him.
"Too slow."
He placed his hand on Yuujin's shoulder.
Yuujin's HP instantly dropped to zero.
A forced elimination.
Jayze groaned from the rubble. His squad had just arrived, staring in disbelief.
Leo turned toward them.
"You want to fight too?" he asked.
Jayze clenched his fists. "Let us fight together."
Leo nodded.
"I want you to understand just how far behind you really are."
Jayze's team assembled into formation: the caster, the striker, the shield bearer, and Jayze himself. Their aura was sharp, coordinated. No hesitation.
Leo said nothing.
They attacked.
Jayze's blood formed a lattice of piercing wires from above while the caster launched area-wide binding hexes. The striker blurred in from the left. The tank roared forward head-on.
Leo didn't move.
"Law Override: Immunity."
Every attack phased through him.
He raised one hand.
"Disarm."
The striker's blade crumbled.
"Silence."
The caster's spell imploded.
"Down."
The tank dropped like a puppet with its strings cut.
Jayze watched, stunned, as his entire squad was dismantled in seconds.
Leo approached slowly.
Jayze swung a desperate blood blade—
"End."
Jayze's body collapsed, HP blinking red.
Eliminated.
All around the battlefield, students froze in awe and dread.
Leo stood alone at the center of the chaos. The ground had cratered. The smoke choked the sky. The drones had long since blacked out.
Leo looked up into the air.
Then spoke to everyone.
"You trained hard."
"You became faster. Smarter. Meaner."
"You adapted to a system built to cage you."
"But if you believe that's enough to defeat me…"
"You're not just weak."
"You're centuries behind."
He turned to face the few remaining students still watching.
"And for those who dare to wear crowns…"
His aura flared one last time, bending the sky itself.
"…All kings fall."
Then he smiled.
"But not me."
Leo dropped to one knee.
His presence faded.
Kira rushed in, catching Raya's limp form.
She was pale. Drained. Her soul safe, but her body worn to its limit.
"Rest," Kira whispered, kneeling beside her. "You did more than enough."
Elsewhere — Arena's Western Ridge
Rhea stood still. Her white uniform tattered, her breath heavy. Her body had healed—but her full power still refused to ignite after the earlier overload.
Her surroundings shook as two teams emerged from the shadows. They moved in sync—blades drawn, spells readied.
"There she is. Final Crimson."
"She's weak. She's alone."
They circled her like wolves.
Rhea didn't move.
Didn't speak.
But her eyes gleamed with quiet fire.
System Notification — FINAL STAGE
ELIMINATED: CHRIS
ELIMINATED: YUUJIN
ELIMINATED: JAYZE'S TEAM
ELIMINATED: SKYWATCH
ELIMINATED: FANG UNIT
CRIMSON CLASS SURVIVORS:
— KIRA
— RHEA
REMAINING TEAMS: 3
The battlefield had changed.
The monsters weren't the ones they had trained for.
They walked among them.
One named Leo.
And he had returned.
CHAPTER 16 — PHANTOM'S WRATH
The sky was grey.
Not cloudy. Not storming.
Just… grey.
Like a breath held too long.
Raya's fingers trembled as she gripped Kira's sleeve, her voice barely a whisper above the wind.
"You need to eliminate me."
Kira's jaw clenched.
She smiled through her pain. "If I'm out... I can stay with Chris. I can look after him."
"You're dying."
"Then at least let me choose where I die."
Kira looked down at her—not the vessel of Leo anymore, not the fighter—but his friend.
His comrade.
He didn't speak.
He just reached forward.
She didn't flinch.
The moment his palm pressed to her chest, a soft light bloomed from within her like a star breaking at dawn.
"Goodbye, Raya."
Her body dissolved into light.
And for the first time since the incident, Kira felt something twist inside him.
Something ugly.
Scan: ACTIVE
One signal.
West quadrant.
HP: 6%
Rhea.
He vanished.
*Western Battlefield*
Snow drifted silently through the air.
Rhea stood at the edge of collapse, eyes unfocused, arms limp at her sides. Her breathing was shallow, her HP flickering like a dying ember.
Two squads circled her.
Six enemies.
None of them moved yet.
They were waiting—for the perfect moment to strike.
But it never came.
Because Kira arrived first.
He appeared behind her without a sound, just as her knees began to give way.
His arms wrapped around her.
She gasped. And then—
She broke.
Tears burst from her eyes as she pressed her face into his chest, fists clinging to his uniform like it was the only thing keeping her alive.
"I'm sorry…" she whispered. "I tried. I really did. But I—I'm weak, Kira…"
He didn't respond.
Not with words.
But she could feel it—his body shaking. Not from exhaustion.
From rage.
"I couldn't protect Chris... or anyone. I couldn't even hold the Blade…"
Her hand fumbled to her belt.
The Blade of the Shadow King slipped from its sheath.
She offered it to him with both hands.
"I'm not worthy. But you are."
Kira took it.
He closed his eyes and the phantom appeared in front of him.
"How long do you think you can keep going without me. Or should I say your other half"
"I thought I wouldn't need your help but it seems I couldn't"
"So are we becoming one again or you will keep running"
"Let's do it then, since I can't run forever"
An unknown entity then appeared in front of them.
"Do you mind if I join you"
Kira and phantom direct their gaze towards her.
"What is the water goddess doing here" Phantom asks without hesitation.
"It doesn't matter since we will need all the help we can get" Kira speaks before the goddess could speak.
"Fine then. I'm aqua."
"Kira… I think that is all you need to know"
And then everything around him shattered.
Transformation: Phantom Aqua Mode – Full Sync
"Seal release—*Phantom Merge: Aqua Synchro."
The air froze.
Literally.
The moisture in the atmosphere solidified into fractal snowflakes, mid-fall, suspended in time.
A surge of blue-black energy erupted from Kira's back like wings, crashing down into the ground and sending a tidal shockwave in all directions.
His eyes glowed with dual halos—one icy, one deep ocean-blue.
"You dared corner her?"
His voice echoed—not just through the air, but into the bones of everyone present.
"Then drown."
The snow answered his fury.
It rose like a tidal surge, swallowing the battlefield in a white vortex.
"Attack him! Don't let him—!"
Too late.
❄ KIRA'S RAGE – UNLEASHED ❄
One enemy charged—sword blazing with lightning.
Kira raised a finger.
"Flash Freeze."
The attacker froze mid-stride.
Literally.
From feet to throat, ice enveloped him—and then shattered.
Eliminated.
Another tried to escape.
"Hydro Clutch."
A serpent of water burst from the ground, wrapping around the fleeing student and slamming them into the frozen earth so hard the ground cracked.
Eliminated.
The remaining four tried to regroup.
But the snowstorm moved at Kira's will, veiling the field, blocking vision, silencing footsteps.
A ghost in a blizzard.
"Phantom Pulse."
He moved—blinking through the snow like a mirage.
One step—strike.
Two steps—shatter.
Three steps—silence.
They never saw him.
Only the cold.
Only the fear.
Only—
Him.
The remaining enemy captain dropped to their knees, gasping, trembling. "W-We surrender…"
Kira raised his arm.
The snow lifted with it—forming a massive crescent behind him, shaped like a full moon forged of ice, water, and phantom energy.
"I'm done holding back."
> "Saigo no Tsuki — Final Moonfall."
The crescent dropped.
Like the moon crashing into the world.
BOOM!
The explosion swallowed everything in blinding white.
Time stopped.
HP: 0
HP: 0
HP: 0
All enemies eliminated.
Rhea stood in the middle of it all, untouched.
Kira walked toward her—ice cracking beneath his boots, vapor curling off his shoulders.
She looked up at him, tears still on her face.
"You…"
"I what?"
She smiled faintly, breathing shaky.
"You're incredible."
Kira looked down.
His hand slipped into hers.
"You're the reason I am."
System Notification:
*Remaining Crimson Survivors: 2*
*Remaining Teams: 1*
Kira's eyes narrowed.
Something was coming.
But for now, he stood in the ruins of his own storm, holding the only person he had left.
And he wasn't going to lose her.
Not again.