Kazuo's vision blurred, the world spinning, but he forced his legs to steady beneath him. His sword trembled in his grip, jacket torn and half-hanging from his shoulders. Breath burned in his chest, yet he raised his head, eyes fixed on the figure across from him.
"Aoi…" His voice was hoarse, but it carried. "You always acted calm… cool… collected. But look at you now—empty eyes, a twisted grin. Tell me… are you truly only here for the thrill of the challenge?"
That made Aoi stop his charge. The smile faltered on his lips, fading into something quieter, colder. Lightning still coursed across his body, the Arcane veil hissing.
"You of all people should know, Kazuo."
"What do you mean?"
Aoi's eyes narrowed, shadows flickering beneath the glow of his arcane charge. "We are the same. Neither of us fits. Neither of us belongs. We were forced into this game against our will." He raised his sparking extensions, electricity dancing like wild veins across steel. "But there's one difference—you fight for those who love you. I fight for only one thing… to finally escape this hell. And for that, I need my wish granted."
Kazuo's chest rose heavy, his breath uneven. Selfish, huh… Rulthan's words echoed in his mind, quiet but sharp. His gaze hardened as he studied Aoi. "But that still doesn't explain it… this feeling I sense from you. This… envy."
Aoi blinked, confusion flashing for the first time.
"I'm still not that good at reading aura," Kazuo admitted, wiping blood from his lip. "But yours isn't pure hostility toward me."
Shut up!" Aoi snapped, sparks flaring violently as the words cut deeper than he expected. His voice shook, raw with anger. "You don't know anything about what I've been through! Tell me, Kazuo—have you ever killed a person?"
Kazuo didn't answer. His hand tightened around his sword, the silence itself a confession. He hadn't. He'd seen pain, loss, and injustice—but never crossed that line.
Aoi stepped forward, lightning crawling over his arms in erratic waves. His grin twisted, but his words came broken and jagged.
"I mastered my magic at ten. Do you know what Lightning means, Kazuo? It's destruction. I didn't get to choose how to use it. They said a prodigy belonged on the battlefield, not in an academy. My father tried to stop them." His voice cracked. "It cost him his life."
The air snapped around him, bitter with ozone.
"By thirteen, I killed for the first time. My mother couldn't bear it—she broke, and she ended her own life. And since then…" He let out a hollow laugh. "…since then, this madness, this thrill, it's all I've had left. Because everything else was taken from me."
He lifted his gaze, eyes sharp as lightning, yet trembling beneath the rage. "You stand there surrounded by people who actually care—people who fight beside you, who'd bleed for you. Even though we're the same, shaped by the same cruel world, you still got to live without killing anyone. You still have people who love you." His voice thinned, the fury giving way to something fragile. "So why do you get all that while I don't?"
Kazuo's expression softened. His chest rose slowly, eyes darkening—not with guilt, but with sorrow. He didn't have an answer. He could feel Aoi's pain, the hollow place where love should have been, and it ached somewhere deep in his chest.
Aoi's voice dropped to a whisper, trembling on the edge between despair and defiance. "I can't accept that. That's why I need my wish. Because this hell is all I've ever known—and I'm done living in it."
Aoi's body crackled again, arcs snapping from his limbs as he thrust his arms forward.
"Lightning Magic: Thunder Fang"
The bolt screamed across the arena. Kazuo swept his blade upward.
"Water Magic: Torrent!"
The wave rose, redirecting the lightning high into the air. Thunder cracked above as steam hissed around them.
But Aoi was already on him. The prodigy lunged, lightning still coursing across his body. Kazuo's only option was to slip aside, dodging each blow by inches. I can't fight him while his Arcane is still active. He is untouchable right now…
He skidded back, hand flashing a seal. "Water Magic: Water Shuriken!"
The familiar blades of water spun into form—but this time he forced them together, merging into a single, massive spinning shuriken. He hurled it forward and the projectile was tearing through the air.
The familiar blades of water spun into form—but this time, Kazuo forced them together, merging them into a single, massive spinning shuriken. He hurled it forward, the projectile tearing through the air with a violent hum.
Aoi's grin widened. He burst straight through the whirling blade, water exploding around him as arcs of lightning flared across his limbs.
Kazuo was already moving. He slammed his sword into the ground, shouting,"Water Magic: Riptide Cutter!"
A needle-thin beam sliced forward in a deadly surge of compressed water. Aoi's eyes narrowed, his body twisting with fluid precision. He avoided most of it—but the razor current caught him just enough. The strike clipped the steel tips of his extensions, slicing them clean off and leaving the weapons blunt.
For an instant, Kazuo saw the opening. Then the lightning, carried by the lingering wave, arced back toward him. The current slammed into his chest, throwing him off balance.
Before he could recover, Aoi rushed through the haze—disarmed but undeterred—and drove his elbow hard into Kazuo's gut. The impact sent him flying across the arena. He crashed against the wall, barely managing to raise his sword in time to catch the worst of the blow before the rest of the force crushed into him.
Aoi's Arcane veil finally sputtered and faded.
Smoke curled from his torn jacket. He wheezed, clutching his side and threw his jacket on the ground.
Kazuo steadied his breathing, his sword tip scraping the soaked floor."Yeah," he said. "But it seems you won't be able to do that again."
Kazuo forced himself to stand, his body screaming with pain. "I never meant to use it against your Terrain Enforcement. But I had no choice."
Aoi unclasped the damaged extensions, letting them fall to the floor with a metallic clang.
He strode forward, steel extensions discarded, sparks faintly trailing his steps. But then he froze. A thin line of red streaked across his right shoulder. Blood dripped down his arm, shallow but stinging enough to drive him to one knee.
His eyes widened. "What—? I'm… bleeding?"
He pressed his hand to his side, feeling the warm slick of blood beneath his fingers. For a moment, he couldn't comprehend it—until memory flashed: the instant he'd burst through that giant shuriken.
Tch… that spell. It's his simplest one… but the bigger it gets, the more dangerous it becomes.
Both men were heaving for breath, their chests rising and falling in jagged rhythm.
It had an effect after all, Kazuo thought.
"Arcane of Water: Vortex!"
Aoi's eyes flared wide. Again?! Impossible. He should be drained already. Just how much magic can he use?
But his own body trembled, his magic burned out. Damn it—I need a few minutes before I can cast aa major spell gain. The roaring spiral rushed toward him, ready to consume him whole.
At the last instant, instead of retreating, he drove his sparking extensions into the ground, releasing a burst of lightning that repelled the rushing water. The discharge hurled his body upward like a cannon shot, vaulting him clean over the vortex's spiraling reach. The arena shook from the backlash as he soared through the air, untouched.
But then—
A presence behind him.
Kazuo.
What—?!
Before Aoi could turn, an elbow slammed in his back, driving him down. He hit the arena floor hard, stone cracking beneath the impact.
Kazuo stood over him, sweat dripping, chest heaving. "It's over." He stepped a few meters back, sword at his side. A moment of silence.
But then the air shifted.
A low hum filled the arena. Lightning flared around Aoi's body, the wind grazing Kazuo's hand before he could even react. The ground vibrated, cracks spreading in jagged veins as electricity burst through the sides of the stage.
Aoi rose slowly, eyes burning, stance airtight—unyielding, perfect. Sparks surged until the very air seemed to scream.
His voice cut through the chaos, sharp as thunder.
"Esoteric Art: …"