The air is still—silent, almost suffocating.
Kaito wakes up, eyes blinking against the ceiling lights, his body screaming in pain. Bandaged, bruised, bones shattered—his ribs feel like glass, and each breath cuts like knives. Around him, the medical ward is crowded with beds. Moaning students. The smell of medicine. The silence of defeat.
His allies—Daigo, Ryuu, Sena, Airiya—sit quietly near his bedside. Faces blank. Shoulders heavy. But their silence is louder than screams.
"…Did we lose?" Kaito croaks, voice dry.
Nobody answers. Only the beeping machines echo. Kaito looks around at their defeated faces and forces a bitter smile.
"Sorry, guys… I let you down."
Sena clenches her fists. Without a word, she turns and walks out of the room. Airiya follows, hesitant—but doesn't stop her.
Kaito looks to Ryuu. The dude's barely holding it together—tears pooling in his eyes, hands clenched into shaking fists. Daigo doesn't even try—his tears are already dripping down silently.
Kaito winces as he lifts himself slightly, groaning through the pain. "I didn't know this game meant that much to you guys…"
That's when Ryuu finally cracks.
He bursts into tears. "ITSUKI'S BEEN TAKEN!"
Kaito freezes.
"What… what do you mean taken?" he asks, eyes narrowing.
Daigo looks up slowly. Quiet. Almost a whisper:"…This sadness isn't because of a lost match."
The weight of the truth slams into Kaito harder than any punch.
Something's wrong.Deeply wrong.
And then… the Holy Scroll near Kaito's side—sealed in cloth—begins to glow faintly.
A presence. A pulse. A whisper.
Something inside him shifts.
Chapter: Holy Scroll Arc – Part II: Baptism by Sky
The infirmary was steeped in silence. Monitors beeped steadily. The curtains swayed gently with the draft, barely managing to carry the weight of the tension that hung in the air. Kaito lay unconscious, swathed in layers of bandages, hooked to nutrient IVs and medical nanobots attempting to reconstruct the wreckage of bones within.
All around him, his allies sat in slouched defeat. Bruised. Bloodied. But the worst injuries weren't physical—they were emotional. Ryuu sat beside the bed, biting hard into his knuckles to keep from crying. Daigo, the ever-cheerful musclehead, had tears dripping silently onto the white floor, staining it with a grief no medic could heal. Airiya stood silently, her expression unreadable. Sena turned and walked away, her shoulders shaking with each step, Airiya trailing after her with a soft sigh.
Kaito's eyes fluttered open.
He winced at the light.
Then pain.
Then more pain.
"What... did we lose...?" His voice came out like gravel being scraped.
Ryuu looked away, and Daigo's jaw tightened.
"Sorry, guys... I let you down," Kaito muttered.
There was a pause. Too long.
Then Ryuu snapped, a wet sob breaking through. "ITSUKI'S BEEN TAKEN!"
Kaito blinked. "What? What do you mean? Did you guys... did you place some bet or something?"
Silence.
Kaito pushed himself up despite the agony, bones grinding. "Daigo? What happened?"
Daigo looked away. "It wasn't the match that broke us..."
The door creaked again.
Ren walked in. Eyes sharp, posture perfect, calm as a statue.
"Ryuu. Daigo. Out."
No questions. They obeyed. But at the door, Ryuu stopped. "Ren... can you bring him back? Can you bring back Itsuki?"
Ren didn't blink. "Definitely."
Inside, he pulled a stool next to Kaito and sat down.
"You threw a solid punch against Rokuya. You're making waves."
Kaito narrowed his eyes. "I don't need pity, Ren. I LOST."
Ren didn't move. "You won."
Kaito's stare turned empty. "Then why is everyone mourning?"
Ren's voice dropped. "Because this wasn't just a test. It was a setup. Valegrim infiltrated the academy. Took students. Including Itsuki."
Kaito's body trembled. His fingers clenched into the bedsheet. "Why the fluff are we still here then?! LET'S GO!"
Ren exhaled. "We are. People have already been deployed. But you? You can barely stand. You'll be an obstacle."
Kaito's voice roared despite the weakness. "Then MAKE ME STRONG, REN! What are you doing here if you can't fight!?"
Ren leaned forward. "That's why I stayed. I'm your teacher. But for now... you'll be trained by my former students."
Kaito paused. "Your... what?"
Ren stood. "They'll arrive soon. You'll hate them. You'll suffer. But you'll come out of this stronger than ever. That holy scroll of yours? It's not just some relic. It's your ignition key."
The door slammed shut.
Seconds passed.
Then they entered.
Three figures. One step inside, and the temperature seemed to drop.
First: A boy around Kaito's age. 5'8", sharp white hair, storm-grey eyes that felt like they saw through souls. His smirk was arrogant, practiced, and dangerous.
Second: A hulking African man, at least 6'7", dreadlocks tied back, arms like pillars, back like a mountain. His every footstep echoed authority.
Third: A mature woman. Late twenties. Curves that could break concentration, but the steely aura around her erased any thoughts outside survival. Her gaze was calm. Too calm.
Students outside peeked through windows.
They knew. Everyone knew.
These weren't just former students.
They were legends in the making. The trio closest to becoming True Bloods.
The aura they carried warped the space.
The African man looked down at Kaito, who was still on the bed, half-sitting.
"You the broken brat with the scroll?"
Kaito blinked. "...Yeah."
Kaito coughed and asked, "Do you have my scroll? Can I see it again—"
"No need," the white-haired teen cut him off.
Without warning, the giant grabbed him by his belt and lifted him like luggage.
Pain exploded through Kaito's chest. "AGHHH! WHAT THE ----?!"
"Lesson one," the white-haired teen muttered, floating into the air. "Fly. Or die trying."
The giant launched himself into the sky, still gripping Kaito. They were hundreds of feet up in seconds.
Kaito screamed. "WAIT!! I AM SERIOUSLY IN PAIN!!!!!!!!!"
The woman flew past with elegance, saying nothing. Her silence said more than any insult.
Then they stopped mid-air. Hovering above the clouds.
The giant tossed Kaito up like a ball.
"Figure it out!"
Kaito flailed. "ARE YOU INSANE?!"
No response.
He started to fall.
Wind tore past his ears. Pain screamed from every part of him. But somewhere... something stirred.
The scroll inside his bandages glowed.
Suddenly, instinct kicked in. A rush of energy pooled around his back. His bloodline pulsed.
But nothing stabilized. He continued falling.
Kaito's eyes opened wide in sheer desperation. "SYLUS VEYNE!"
As the name escaped his lips, a thunderous crack split the sky.
From the clouds above, a bolt of pure blue lightning struck him like divine wrath. The energy engulfed him, tearing through his broken form.
Kaito screamed—no, roared—as blue thunder coiled around his body like a serpent.
His veins bulged. His skin glowed with runes he'd never seen. Thunder leaked from his eyes and mouth like divine steam vents.
Power.
Agony.
Ascension.
Kaito's mouth opened in a primal scream. "AGHHHH!"
And then—
He stopped falling.
He hovered, bathed in divine light. Eyes glowing, hair dancing with static, arms trembling with newfound power.
The trio above stared.
The white-haired boy whispered. "...Did he just invoke a lightning soul...?"
The giant smirked. "He's more than I expected."
The woman finally spoke, her voice soft yet firm. "He's ready for initiation."
And below them, Kaito glowed like a living storm.
His training had only just begun.
The sky had accepted him.
But what waited beyond the clouds… would break him again.
And again.
Until only the strongest version of Kaito remained.