“…I am done with rivers of blood. No floods, no storms.” His head tilted, eyes glassy. A twisted grin crept over his lips. “Now we savor pain… one scream at a time.”
The earth split open with black glyphs. Symbols older than any academy scroll spiraled outwards, jagged and cruel, as if written by the claws of forgotten gods.
“虚獄拷問 (Kyogoku Gōmon – Torture of the Hollow Prison).”
The circle throbbed. The arena itself screamed as if it were alive.
Ignis roared, refusing to cower. His body ignited, magma dripping from his arms.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFAscDp6V5b
“熔滅大獄 (Yōmetsu Daigoku – Inferno of Annihilation)!”
A massive wave of fire surged forward, swallowing everything.
Koha smirked. He spun his sword, his voice calm, almost tender:41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfEKzbZyQuE
“呪水反響 (Jusui Hankyō – Cursewater Reverb).”
The fire bent — twisted — then roared back toward Ignis. His eyes widened too late as his own inferno crashed into him, wrapping him in flames like a coffin. His scream was drowned in the roar of his own fire.
Koha walked through the blaze unscathed, dragging his sword. “Ignis…” he whispered, “Your silence is louder than your roar.”
Thorne leapt in before Koha could finish. His twin blades shone green, alive with vines that spread like spears.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfsEVTqaGwJ
“森牙穿心 (Shinga Senshin – Forest Fang Piercer)!”
Roots burst from the ground, stabbing toward Koha’s chest. For once, Koha allowed them to strike. They pierced through his shoulders, his sides — blood sprayed.
But then… the glyphs pulsed.
The vines twitched violently, reversed, and wrapped around Thorne instead. His eyes bulged as the roots coiled his arms and legs, snapping bones one after another with wet cracks.
Koha tilted his head, blood dripping down his lips. “Nature devours its own.”
The vines tore Thorne limb from limb. His torso hit the ground with a dull thud, his lifeless eyes still wide with horror.
Raven screamed in rage, loosing shadow arrows in rapid succession.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKk1m9F4bNY
“黒矢連雨 (Kuroya Renu – Black Arrow Rain)!”
Hundreds of black arrows blotted the sky. Koha blurred through them, his body twisting unnaturally, letting arrows graze his flesh but never strike true. Each miss only deepened Raven’s panic.
Zephyr stepped forward, chaos magic tearing through his veins, his voice cracking as he chanted.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEVCVhcR4pJ
“混沌裂界 (Konton Rekikai – Chaos Rift)!”
The ground split into jagged rifts, raw energy exploding outward. Koha staggered for the first time, a slash across his chest ripping deep. Blood spilled.
Draven followed immediately, lightning spear crackling in his hands.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXUgO3FPsBQ
“雷槍轟破 (Raisō Gōha – Thunder Spear Annihilation)!”
The spear slammed into Koha’s ribs, electricity tearing through him. His body convulsed, smoke rising from his skin. For a moment, Koha fell to one knee.
The survivors saw hope — until they heard it.
A muffled sound. Low at first, broken. Then louder. Sharper. The laugh.
Koha raised his head, his face streaked with tears and blood. His grin was wide, unnatural. He laughed like a man mourning, like a god mocking his own suffering.
“You think… you hurt me?” His body shook violently. “No… you reminded me.”
He slammed his hand into the torture circle. Black glyphs surged upward, forming chains of jagged light that coiled around the battlefield.
Ignis was already a charred corpse. Thorne was a pile of mangled roots.
Raven, Zephyr, and Draven froze, horror etched into their faces. They realized what the others hadn’t — Koha wasn’t just fighting. He was unraveling them, one by one, savoring it.
Koha staggered to his feet, blood dripping from his chin. His voice was hoarse, yet thunderous.
“…Cry for me. Break for me. Struggle for me. Until only despair remains.”
The torture circle pulsed again, hungry for another victim.
And hidden deep beneath the battlefield, the secret sealing ritual continued to grow — fueled by Rio, Huo, Yin, and Sky, who prayed they’d finish before Koha decided to erase everything.
“…Chaos. Yes… you’re next.”
His eyes snapped to Zephyr, the Chaos Mage.
Zephyr’s teeth clenched. Sweat poured down his face, his hands shaking as he raised his staff.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGK54C4d3M1
“No… I won’t fall like the others. Chaos is my essence. Chaos answers me!”
He slammed his staff into the ground, veins bulging as he screamed:
“混沌暴嵐 (Konton Bōran – Tempest of Chaos)!”
The sky ripped open. Black and white storms surged, lightning without color, flame without heat, illusions folding over reality. The battlefield bent and writhed like a fever dream.
Raven and Draven shielded their eyes as the madness consumed all vision.
Within the storm, Zephyr appeared everywhere at once, a thousand illusions striking at Koha. Blades, claws, fire, thunder — an endless barrage.
“DIE, KOHA!”
Koha walked through the storm. His silhouette blurred, his body split apart by illusions, his flesh shredded and reformed over and over.
He didn’t scream. He didn’t stumble. He just… laughed.
“…Beautiful.” His voice came from everywhere and nowhere.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFV04KICel4
“Chaos… unraveling order… and yet, even this storm is finite.”
He raised his hand, and the torture circle responded.
Black glyphs rose beneath Zephyr’s feet. He froze, realizing too late that the chaos storm was fueling Koha’s circle, not weakening it.
Koha’s voice rang out, broken yet thunderous:
“虚獄鎖喰 (Kyogoku Sakushoku – Hollow Chains of Devouring)!”
The storm collapsed inward. Chains of black light snapped around Zephyr’s limbs, piercing his flesh, wrapping his throat. His illusions shattered, his true body dragged screaming into view.
“NO—NO! NOT ME!” Zephyr thrashed, chaos magic exploding, tearing the ground apart — but every burst only made the chains hungrier, tighter.
Koha stepped close, whispering in his ear, voice trembling with sick joy.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNz9mheVqi
“Chaos has no master… but pain always belongs to me.”
The chains pulled. Slowly. Deliberately.
Zephyr’s arms ripped free first, blood spraying in arcs. His legs next, bones snapping like branches. His torso stretched unnaturally, until it split apart.
His head remained last, dangling by a chain through his jaw. His eyes rolled, mouth frothing as he tried to scream.
Koha cupped his cheek gently, tears still streaking his blood-stained face.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtNdKlcRR0h
“Shh… no more words.”
The chain snapped. Zephyr’s skull shattered, fragments scattering like glass across the ground.
Raven staggered back, bile rising in his throat. “Gods above…”41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1W851371QD
Draven’s grip tightened on his lightning bow, rage burning behind his eyes. “We’re all dead if we don’t finish this fight!”
Koha spread his arms wide, blood dripping from every inch of him, his laughter shattering the silence.
“One by one… broken. One by one… erased. Until all that’s left is me.”
Meanwhile, in the Shadows
Deep within the ruins, the four surviving students — Rio, Huo, Yin, Sky — continued their desperate chant. Their hands bled as they traced seals in the dirt, voices hoarse from repetition.
“封鎖永久陣 (Fūsa Eikyūjin – Eternal Locking Array)!”
Silver light spiraled above their heads, weaving together slowly, too slowly. Sweat poured from their brows as the backlash seared their veins.
Sky bit his lip until it bled. “We need more time—just a little more time!”
Rio’s voice cracked but didn’t stop. “Pray the others can hold him…”
The ground shook violently as Koha’s laughter echoed through the ruins, drowning out their prayer.
The battlefield lay in ruins. Blood mixed with ash, corpses littered the broken stone.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3IR1NjQvpn
Only Raven and Draven remained standing. Their eyes were wide, haunted, but their grips were firm — one clutching a bow wreathed in shadow, the other with lightning coiled in trembling hands.
Koha stood drenched in gore, chest heaving. His laughter came in broken gasps, the sound of a man split between grief and madness.
“…Still here?” His head tilted, smile twitching. “Good. Scream for me.”
Raven’s Assault
Raven nocked three arrows at once, shadows writhing around his frame. His voice thundered across the arena:
“無影連牙 (Muei Renga – Fangstorm of Shadows)!”
The arrows split into dozens mid-flight, transforming into black wolves of pure shadow, each with snapping jaws. They darted in from every angle, howling as they lunged at Koha.
Koha didn’t dodge. He let them sink in — teeth shredding into flesh, claws raking at his chest. Blood gushed from open wounds.
For a moment, Raven dared to hope.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWBqFXoIQp
“Yes… fall—”
Koha gripped one of the shadow wolves, his hands sinking into its smoky body. His grin widened, tears streaming down his face.
“…Pretty toys.”
The black glyphs appeared again, writhing beneath his feet. The shadow wolves convulsed as their forms distorted. Their jaws opened wide — but now they were screaming in Raven’s voice.
“No… no—stop—!” Raven’s hands trembled as his own magic betrayed him.
Koha roared, his voice cracked and jagged:
“影喰絶命 (Eikoku Zetsumei – Shadow-Devouring Extinction)!”
The wolves exploded inward, collapsing back into Raven’s body. His flesh bulged and tore as his own shadows clawed him from the inside. Blood streamed from his eyes, nose, and mouth as he screamed in agony.
Koha walked forward slowly, dragging his blade across the ground. His laughter cracked between sobs.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzXKmTdu0Mp
“Do you feel it? Your own darkness chewing you alive? That’s the truth of magic… all gifts are curses.”
Raven staggered, vomiting blood, his bow crumbling in his hands. His legs gave out as Koha stood above him, shadow tendrils still writhing inside his skin.
Even as his body broke, Raven snarled through bloodied teeth.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjYplg4K11I
“You… won’t… win. Not everything belongs to you.”
Koha crouched, cradling his head mockingly like a brother’s. His tears dripped onto Raven’s face.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZ5bPcW4vq
“…But it does. You’re mine now.”
With a twist of his hand, the shadows inside Raven detonated.
Raven’s body burst apart from the inside, shredded into ribbons of flesh and dark mist. His scream ended in silence, nothing left but a pool of blood and the broken fragments of his bow.
Koha rose slowly, his chest heaving, his face soaked in tears and blood. Then, he laughed — louder than before, his voice cracking like broken glass.
Beneath the ruins, Rio, Huo, Yin, Sky felt the surge of power. Their circle pulsed brighter as Raven’s death fed their seal with chaotic energy.
Rio’s hands trembled. “He’s killing them one by one… we’re running out of time!”41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡISK4kxEAPt
Sky clenched his jaw. “Keep chanting! If he finds us before it’s complete—we’re finished!”
Above, Draven raised his bow of crackling lightning. His voice thundered across the field.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY0b8ovFOsX
“RAVEN!”
His body glowed, veins burning with raw power. Sparks danced across his skin as he pulled the bowstring to its fullest.
“Koha! If it costs my life, I’ll put you down!”
Koha turned slowly, blood dripping from his smile. His voice was a broken whisper.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡseUYBOZQdj
“Good… another toy.”
Draven stood alone now. His bow was shaking in his hands, but not from fear — from the sheer current of power surging through his veins. His eyes burned with grief, hatred, and the burden of being the last.
“You took everything from me… my brothers… my family…” His voice cracked, but his aim did not. “If I fall, I’ll make sure you remember my name, Koha.”
Draven raised his bow to the storming sky. Sparks erupted across his body as arcs of electricity wrapped around his limbs. His chant thundered:
“雷霆絶光 (Raitei Zekkō – Absolute Lightning Annihilation)!”
Bolts slammed into him from above, feeding into his bow until it burned white-hot, the string a searing thread of raw lightning. His body blistered and cracked under the strain, but his eyes never wavered.
Koha tilted his head, smiling through blood-soaked lips. His own tears streaked his face, yet his laughter poured out unending.
“You shine so bright, Draven… but light always dies first.”
He slammed his bloody hand into the ground. The seal beneath him flared, crimson glyphs spiraling outward like veins.
“冥血拷鎖 (Meiketsu Gōsa – Blood Shackles of the Underworld)!”
Chains of black and red surged upward, serpents of coagulated blood, snapping toward Draven with hissing hunger.
Draven roared, loosing his arrow.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1RKdQDeOaI
The bolt split the sky, a spear of pure lightning, screaming as it tore through the battlefield.
It clashed with Koha’s rising chains. The ground shattered, the arena split open, light and blood colliding in a storm that blinded all eyes.
When the light cleared, Draven was already upon him. His bow vanished, lightning coating his fists instead. He swung wildly, each punch exploding like thunder.
“DIE, KOHA!”
Koha laughed and met him strike for strike — fists, elbows, knees, and blade. Sparks and blood flew with every impact.
Draven’s fist shattered Koha’s jaw.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUdvp1OtOF8
Koha’s knee crushed into Draven’s ribs.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7oK83s2hXX
They tore into each other, neither yielding.
At last, Koha caught his wrist mid-swing, twisting until the bone snapped like dry wood. With his free hand, he stabbed his blade through Draven’s stomach.
Draven spat blood, his eyes still burning. With his last strength, he grabbed Koha’s collar and dragged his face close.
“…Raven’s voice… still echoes… you’ll never… erase us.”
Koha’s tears dripped onto his cheek. His laughter broke into sobs — then back into laughter.
“…Erase? No… I’ll devour you.”
He whispered the final words:
“血哭断滅 (Chikoku Danmetsu – Blood’s Wailing Erasure).”
Draven’s body convulsed as every drop of his blood ignited from the inside. His scream tore the air before he finally exploded into crimson mist, scattering across the battlefield like ash in the wind.
Beneath the rubble, Rio’s hands shook violently as Draven’s scream reached them. His voice cracked as he continued the chant.
“Not much longer… please… just hold a little longer.”
Sky grit his teeth, sweat dripping down his brow. “If Draven can buy us this time… we owe him everything.”
Koha stood alone in the ruins, body trembling, blood dripping from every pore, yet his laughter still rose like thunder.
The battlefield was empty now.41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKXXmp56sdN
Only Koha… and the hidden four remained.
Koha was on his knees.
Blood streamed down his chin, dripping into the cracked ground. His broken body trembled, but his arms spread wide like a priest in prayer, his fingers clawing the air as if grasping invisible threads of the world itself.
Then… the earth shook.
Lines of crimson light tore across the ground, snaking outward from Koha’s kneeling form. They connected, curved, and spiraled until an enormous magic circle glowed beneath him, layered with sigils older than any mortal tongue. The air itself screamed as the symbols burned with a cursed brilliance.
Koha’s lips parted.
At first, it was a whisper. But then, his voice rose, echoing like ten thousand voices speaking as one.
“血を以て誓う… (With blood, I swear…)”
The circle pulsed. The ground cracked deeper.
“骨を以て刻む… (With bone, I carve…)”
Crimson lightning arced upward, striking the storm clouds above.
“魂を以て繋ぐ… (With soul, I bind…)”
The audience — students, professors, and enemies alike — clutched their ears as the words burned into their skulls.
“我は門を叩く者、禁じられし名を呼ぶ者… (I am the one who knocks upon the gate, who calls the forbidden names…)”
The symbols expanded, overlaying one another, building a cathedral of living magic. The sheer weight of it drove weaker mages to their knees.
Far from sight, Rio, Huo, Yin, and Sky sat in their hidden circle. Their seal blazed, ready.
Rio’s voice cracked as he watched Koha through the broken stone:41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8l8zctVQLu
“He’s summoning something… if we don’t do it now—”
Yin cut him off, calm but pale:41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5djTMsag9u
“We seal him. No hesitation.”
The four pressed their palms harder into the glowing runes of their own seal.
Koha’s voice broke mid-chant, his shoulders shaking. For a moment, it seemed he would stop.
But instead, he laughed.
Tears streamed down his face. His laughter was wild, broken — grief and joy intertwined. He tilted his head back, sobbing through the chant, yet never stopping.
“You… you four…” his voice cracked, eyes darting toward where he knew they hid, “…my friends? No… not just friends…”
His tone fell into a whisper, both anguished and adoring:41Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ28y9CRXWWg
“My lovers. You betrayed me… yet still… I cannot hate you.”
The words shattered even the hearts of those who hated him.
“拘束封印陣—!” (Kōsoku Fūin-jin — Binding Seal Formation!)
The Four unleashed their circle.
Pillars of blinding white light erupted around Koha, shooting high into the sky. Chains of radiance wrapped his arms, chest, and throat, yanking him against the ground.
For any other being, it would have ended there.
But Koha continued chanting.
Even bound, even gagged in chains, his voice cut through the seal like a curse refusing silence. The circle beneath him flared, intertwining with the Four’s seal in a clash of wills.
The storm stopped.
The ground stopped shaking.
The arena itself… reset.
Crumbled walls stitched back together. Burnt earth regrew green. Fallen pillars lifted from rubble, whole again. It was as if time itself bent to Koha’s song.
And then, the corpses.
All across the battlefield, the dead twitched. Koha raised his chained hands, and thin threads of crimson light slithered out, piercing into every lifeless body.
One by one… they breathed again.
Enemies. Allies. Professors. Students. All resurrected, bound by Koha’s weeping magic.
The Four screamed in unison, pouring more energy into the seal.
But Koha only smiled — crying, bleeding, chanting.
And the arena drowned in his forbidden hymn.
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