The forest had begun to change.
After the intense battles, the energy lingering in the trees was different—charged. The mist had lifted partially, revealing crystalline stones embedded in the bark and strange red glyphs slowly pulsating across the ground.
Chris and Raya regrouped with Kira and Lina near the center of a shattered grove. Dice and his squad appeared moments later, stepping through a golden ring of light.
"Seems like we all survived," Kira muttered, leaning against a tree.
"We earned enough points to enter the final zone," Lina added, checking her band.
Suddenly, a high-pitched whine pierced the air. Everyone flinched. A message flickered across their wristbands:
> FINAL ZONE UNLOCKED. MISSION: DEFEAT THE PHANTOM SIGNAL.
Dice raised an eyebrow. "What the hell is a Phantom Signal?"
Chris stepped forward. "We'll find out soon enough."
*The Descent into Zone Zero*
The ground opened beneath them. All eight dropped into a black void, falling for what felt like minutes. When they landed, it was on a flat, glowing platform suspended in space. Nothing but stars and floating stone debris surrounded them.
In the distance, something moved—a figure flickering like static.
The Phantom Signal.
It resembled a humanoid, but constantly shifted form—sometimes machine, sometimes shadow, sometimes a mirror of the students themselves.
A robotic voice echoed:
> BEGIN.
The platform exploded into several floating arenas.
"Pairs," Chris shouted. "Same teams as before!"
Instantly, the Phantom Signal split into fragments—eight mirrored versions of themselves.
*Chris and Raya vs. Phantom Clone*
Their version of the Signal looked like Chris—only twisted. Black aura bled from his eyes, and a dark replica of his weapon crackled with cursed energy.
Chris wasted no time. He dashed forward, blade meeting blade.
Clang!
They exchanged strikes rapidly, matching each other's movements perfectly. Blow for blow, slash for slash—it was like fighting his own shadow.
Raya flanked, launching a stream of fire. The clone vanished and reappeared behind her. Chris turned mid-air, kicking the clone away.
"He copies fighting patterns!" Chris shouted.
"Then we'll break the pattern!" Raya replied.
The clone's attacks became erratic, now incorporating fragments of Raya's magic. It summoned flame-imbued copies of Chris's sword and hurled them like projectiles.
Chris deflected one, spun to avoid another, and dashed into close range again.
Raya created a dome of flame around the clone, limiting its movement. Chris took the opportunity to dash in low, delivering a spinning upward slash that cracked the clone's sword.
The clone retaliated with a pulse of cursed energy. Shadows twisted into chains and latched onto Chris.
Chris's aura flared violently. "I don't lose to myself!"
He broke free, then blinked forward. His blade cleaved downward in a final burst of power.
The clone cracked, shimmered, and shattered into shards of light.
Chris knelt, panting. Raya supported him.
*Kira and Lina vs. Phantom Clone*
Their version was uncanny. It took Lina's appearance but moved like Kira—a deceptive fusion of beauty and unpredictability.
It struck first, launching into a flurry of rapid slashes. Kira barely blocked, each clash ringing like a bell.
"Lovely. It's copying our worst habits," Kira muttered.
The clone shifted pace constantly—graceful one moment, brutal the next. Lina's eyes tracked its movements like a hawk.
"We'll need to bait it," she said.
Kira charged forward recklessly, intentionally creating an opening. The clone went in for a kill strike.
Lina intercepted mid-motion, her blade laced with a pulse spell that sent a shockwave through the clone's torso.
It recovered faster than expected, lunging for Kira again.
"Switch!"
They flipped midair. Lina vaulted off Kira's back, delivering a high slash while Kira slid underneath the clone with a low sweep.
The clone blocked high but missed the low.
Kira's dagger carved through its leg. Lina followed with a precision strike to the core.
The clone screamed in static and burst into mist.
"Still think I'm getting better?" Lina asked.
Kira grinned. "You're already deadly."
*Dice and Sennya vs. Phantom Clone*
Dice faced a clone of himself, grinning like he saw an old friend.
"Well, aren't you meaty."
He rolled his dice in midair. The symbols glowed gold.
"Triple odds—chaos mode."
The clone lunged with a joker card turned blade. Sennya blocked it with a blood wall, then dropped to one knee to draw glyphs on the ground.
The clone moved at impossible speed, mimicking Dice's randomness. It summoned a ring of exploding cards.
Sennya clapped. "Blood Bind: Echo Frame!"
A red seal erupted, freezing the clone in place for three seconds.
"Just enough," Dice muttered. He flicked a coin upward.
It spun—and multiplied into fifty.
All fifty coins detonated in a chaotic spiral of energy, swallowing the clone in a vortex.
The clone roared, broke free halfway—but Sennya snapped her fingers.
"Collapse."
A final pulse from the seal ruptured the clone completely.
---
*Marin and Korran vs. Phantom Clone*
Their clone was grotesque—a hybrid mass of armor and shadow, with Korran's strength and Marin's dark magic.
Korran charged first, slamming into the clone with a roar. The arena cracked beneath them.
Marin spun into the air, hurling shadow blades in an arc. The clone blocked with armored arms and retaliated with a barrage of magical spikes.
Korran took the hit for Marin, blood streaking down his side.
"You good?" Marin asked.
"I'm always good."
Korran lifted the clone in a bear hug and held it still.
"NOW!"
Marin summoned twin scythes from her shadows and leapt, spinning downward like a black storm.
Her blades pierced the clone's chest. She twisted them as Korran crushed its body.
The clone disintegrated into dark particles.
*Final Phase*
The Phantom Signal's distorted body rose higher, its limbs spiraling into abstract forms of glitching code, rusted steel, and data shards. With each second, it grew stronger—its voice now layered in thousands of tones, like every soul it had copied was screaming at once.
"Analyzing. Adapting. Overriding..."
Kira landed beside Chris, blades glowing. "It's learning too fast. We're running out of time."
Raya winced, holding her side. "We're not going to last much longer."
Dice flipped his card. "I hate using this one." The card crackled with chaotic energy. "Fortune Breaker: All outcomes—randomized."
Reality twisted. The Phantom Signal reeled—but adapted instantly.
Even chaos was becoming predictable.
Chris clenched his fist. Not yet. Not here.
Lina screamed as she poured all her energy into a crystalline dome to block a wide-ranged distortion blast. "The barriers won't last another hit!"
Suddenly, one of the Phantom Signal's limbs shifted—morphing into a warped version of *Chris himself*, cloaked in blue energy and wielding a false version of his sword.
It raised its blade.
Chris stood, wind spiraling around him. "...Enough."
He closed his eyes.
In a single breath, he spoke:
"Let the flames remember who I am."
A silence spread.
Then—
*BOOOOOOOM.*
White-hot fire exploded from his chest. It wasn't ordinary flame—this was ancient, primordial. Fire that bent space. Fire that burned sound. Fire that *rejected imitation. *
His hair surged upward like a comet's tail. His eyes, once calm, now blazed like dying stars.
*IGNIS MODE: TRUE FORM — SOL ARCANUM*
The very world paused.
Crimson sigils circled his body like orbiting stars. The false Chris began to melt away from sheer pressure. The Phantom Signal writhed and shrieked.
Raya stumbled backward, shielding her eyes. "I can't... even breathe."
Kira, stunned, let out a low whistle. "Now that's something even I wouldn't fight."
Chris rose into the air.
"Your mistake," he said to the Phantom Signal, voice layered with Ignis echoes, "was thinking power alone defines us."
He raised his blade—now a burning arc of unfiltered flame, etched with living runes.
The Phantom Signal responded by tearing itself open, releasing *all* stolen forms at once—monsters, students, guardians, weapons—all attacking from every angle.
Chris blinked forward.
The battlefield erupted.
For every form the Signal took, Chris had an answer.
It sent corrupted Leo? Chris shattered it with a single blow.
A mirrored version of Yuujin appeared? Chris burned it from existence before it could react.
Sennya's clone attempted a blood curse? Chris reversed the spell, forcing it back into the Signal.
Then he dove directly toward its shifting core.
"IGNIS ART: NOVA LAMENT."
He slashed once.
The sky split.
Light fractured.
And time stood still.
Everything froze—except Chris and the core.
"You tried to become everyone… but forgot to become *yourself. *"
He stabbed into the heart of the Phantom Signal.
Time restarted.
A silent scream.
The entity twisted, twitched, and began crumbling. Flames—ethereal, blue-white and slow-moving—devoured its form piece by piece.
It reached toward Chris.
He stared back, unmoved.
The final fragments scattered into glass-like code and burned away.
The students landed softly in the arena, grass beneath their feet.
But Chris crashed to his knees, smoke rising from his shoulders. His Ignis form had vanished, leaving burns along his arms.
Raya rushed forward and caught him.
"You're burning up…"
Chris smiled faintly. "I always do when I go full Ignis."
Kira approached, offering a hand. "That form… not bad."
Chris grunted. "Just… don't make me use it again."
A voice echoed in the sky.
"ENTRANCE EXAM COMPLETE. WELCOME TO REALITY HIGH."
The glyphs overhead flickered, then vanished.
Their bands dissolved into light.