Vance hit the far wall with a guttural thud, the metal behind him caving with a ripple of impact.
For a breath, the field stilled.
Even the wind felt like it paused.
But the silence didn't last.
Dozens of eyes locked on me—cold, assessing, Spectra-lit.
Vance's elites.
Surrounding me in a half-circle like wolves.
Not wounded. Not scattered.
Waiting.
I turned slowly.
Every one of them wore the same expression: restrained violence.
Kaito was still behind me.
Bleeding. Kneeling. Barely upright.
His hand twitched like he wanted to reach for something… then dropped.
The others were still down.
Yui lay unconscious, a faint flicker of Violet still crackling around her arms.
Riku wasn't moving—chest barely rising. Rin clutched her shoulder near the scaffolding, eyes scanning through half-lidded focus—calculating even now, despite the blood pooling beneath her. Emi was curled behind a broken pillar, leg pressed tight, trying to stop the bleeding.
They were alive. But they weren't getting back up.
"Kaito," I said, voice hoarse but steady.
"Call it."
He didn't respond.
"Call for backup. Now."
One of the elites stepped forward—tall, armored, crackling with sharp Green spectra.
"Don't," he said.
His foot shifted, ready to launch.
I raised my hand—Violet flickering across my knuckles.
But before anything exploded—
"Stop."
A voice like command wrapped in a grin.
Vance.
He pulled himself out of the crater like it was nothing. A line of blood rolled from his mouth—but his eyes glinted with thrill.
"Well then," he said, brushing off his coat. "That was new."
Vance's eyes never left me as he took a slow step forward.One hand lifted—two fingers flicking lazily toward his elites.They froze in place, their focus never wavering.
"Stay," he said, almost amused. "Wouldn't want you spoiling my fun."
The way he said fun made my teeth clench.
I didn't wait for him to close the gap.I moved—Violet pulling me forward faster than my body could process.Each stride hit heavier than the last, my footing half a step ahead of my own balance.
Vance didn't meet me with a rush of his own.He eased his coat sleeve back, gave a small smirk… and let his sword fall from his hand.It clattered to the floor between us.
"Let's see what you've really got."
I swung—wild, but fast enough that it should've landed.He caught the strike on his forearm, letting the force push him half a step back.Not surprised. Not struggling.Just… measuring.
I pressed in, throwing another hook.This time, he slid aside and tapped my shoulder as I went by—like I was nothing more than a shadow to walk through.
I spun, sharper, angrier.
The next exchange was closer.My fists cracked against his guard, my body adjusting to this new speed in real time.For a moment—just a moment—I was keeping up.
Then the opening came.I overcommitted on a straight punch, too wide in my stance.
Vance's hand slipped under my guard, palm striking hard into my ribs.The air left my lungs in a single painful rush.My boots skidded across the stone before I caught myself.
He straightened, rolling his wrist like he'd just adjusted a glove."You hit harder now," he said, tone almost complimentary."But harder doesn't mean enough."
My side throbbed with each breath.And he was right.
I could feel the weight behind my strikes, but his pace still pulled ahead of mine—like chasing a shadow that knew the road better than I did.
Vance's smirk sharpened."You've got bite. Let's see if you can keep it."
He moved—and vanished.Not like stepping out of sight.Like the space between us skipped forward and decided he was somewhere else now.
A flicker of presence to my left—then gone.Another behind me—too quick to turn.
The first blow came from my blind side—an upward slash that missed my throat by a breath but tore the collar of my jacket open.I lurched back, heat sparking along my skin——only for him to appear in front of me, twisting in with a rising knee that caught under my ribs and drove the air out of me.
He circled in bursts, his movements snapping in and out of range like I was trapped in the flash of a camera shutter.
Every angle closed in until my back hit cold metal.No space. No exit.
"Cornered already?" His tone was almost disappointed. "And here I thought—"
He stepped in.Too fast.
My body screamed to move, but my mind was already a step behind.Something in me—deep, reflexive—answered instead.I felt it first in my legs, a pulse that wasn't breath or heartbeat.
Violet flickers danced at my feet, snapping against the floor like static begging to be grounded.It wasn't planned. It wasn't thought through.It was just instinct—I slammed my heel down.
The impact wasn't loud at first—just the sharp crack of my boot against concrete.Then the ground answered.
A violent ripple tore outward from where I stood, a violet shock slamming into the floor and racing across it like lightning trapped under stone.The air bucked. Dust exploded upward in a sudden halo, tiny shards of concrete skipping away from the impact point.Jagged fracture lines spidered out beneath my feet, glowing faintly for an instant before fading.
Vance was still mid-step when it hit him.The pulse caught him low, lifting him half a stride off balance before shoving him back two paces, coat whipping in the sudden gust.A couple of his elites flinched, one bracing an arm against the wall.
My chest rose hard, lungs trying to catch up to what my body had just done.That… wasn't just a stomp.It was like the concrete had thrown the hit for me.
I glanced down at the broken web of cracks.My legs still hummed—tense, alive—like they'd been waiting to do that all along.
Vance looked from the damage to me, his head tilting ever so slightly.Then the grin came back, wider, teeth bared."Oh… you are interesting."
The dust from my stomp hadn't even settled before Vance straightened, brushing a fleck of concrete off his sleeve."That all you've got?" he asked, almost lazily. "I was starting to think you were serious."
Then he blurred.No sound. No rush of air. Just—gone.A flicker snapped into my right peripheral—only for the real hit to crash into my back, driving me forward into another strike to the ribs before I could even turn.He was already gone again, circling in sharp, sharp bursts, each step closing the space between us like a tightening snare.
Every time I adjusted, he was already behind the adjustment.
A knee caught me under the sternum, folding me with a cough that scraped my throat raw.The circle was shrinking.Not from walls—From him.Each attack landed closer than the last, the pauses between them shrinking until they almost overlapped.
I tried to call that stomp back.The flicker, the pulse, the concrete splitting under me—Nothing.The Violet in my legs felt like it was there, but distant. Caged.It had been instinct before.Now that I was reaching for it, it slipped like water through my grip.
From the corner of my eye, Rin still sat slouched near the scaffolding, one arm clamped over her shoulder, gaze locked on us.Half-lidded, but watching. Always watching.
"Your power's nothing," his voice brushed my ear before he stepped away again, "if you can't touch me."
I threw a desperate hook at the blur that passed my left—missed—and got my calf kicked out from under me.I hit the ground on one knee, teeth clenching against the sting that shot up my leg.
Kaito shifted in my peripheral, trying to push himself upright.Too slow.Too broken.
I forced myself up before Vance could decide I was done.The floor under me felt steadier than my lungs.He appeared in front of me again—close enough that I could see the glint in his eye.
"Breathe, kid," he said, grinning as if this was all a warm-up."You're gonna need it."
He wasn't wrong.
My ribs burned, my arms ached, and my head still rang from the last hit—but I refused to go down.
Not while Kaito was bleeding behind me.Not while Yui, Riku, Rin, and Emi lay scattered across the field, breaths shallow, too hurt to move.If I could keep Vance's eyes on me, keep him just entertained enough, then maybe—just maybe—backup would get here before he finished us.
I didn't have to win.I just had to last.
Vance's smirk deepened, like he'd read my thoughts and found them amusing.Then he came again—faster now, cutting across my vision in short, sharp bursts.Each flicker was a test.Each strike, a question.And every time I failed to answer, the price was pain.
Vance closed the gap in a blur.A punch crashed into my side, the hit knocking the wind clean out of me.Before I could recover, his leg hooked low, sweeping at my ankle and throwing my balance off.Then came a sharp strike to my shoulder, jolting my arm with a hot, electric numbness.
He wasn't trying to end it in one blow—he was carving me down piece by piece.
I staggered back, guard tight, lungs burning. My heel scraped over the fractured concrete from my earlier stomp—a cruel reminder that raw power without control wasn't enough.
Then, Another blink.When he reappeared, it was directly in front of me, weight shifting low. His hand twisted, fist chambered, the whole motion snapping into a brutal upward strike aimed at my ribs.
I had no stance, no guard—only reflex.I threw my arm up, not to block, just to keep him off my core.
Violet burst outward from my forearm without warning—angular, geometric, shimmering like glass shot through with lightning.
The strike slammed into it, cracks racing across the surface——but the shield held.
I pushed forward, driving the construct into him with everything I had left.It wasn't a clean hit, but it was enough to make him shift—one foot sliding back across the fractured concrete.The motion was small, but so was his change in expression.For the first time, he wasn't grinning—he was weighing me.
For a second, neither of us moved.Then I dropped my arm. The construct shattered soundlessly, scattering into fading motes before vanishing entirely.
Vance's grin shifted, no longer mocking—more curious."Well now," he murmured, eyes lingering where the shield had been. "That's new."
My arm still tingled from the force, but for the first time since this started, I felt something close to control.
And I wasn't letting go of it.
Vance stepped back, loosening his shoulders like he'd just rolled out of bed."That all you've got, kid?"
He flickered—and my eyes followed out of habit. Too late. A sharp shot to the gut doubled me over. Another blur and my cheek snapped sideways under a palm strike.
I needed more than sight.Every time I chased where he appeared, he was already gone.
My breaths came hard, sharp in my ears. I forced myself still—just for a heartbeat.Let the noise fade.Let my eyes unfocus.
And there—beneath it all—something small.Not the light. Not the sound.A shift in the air, like a curtain pulling a fraction before he stepped through.The faintest quiver of dust.
He broke through the air again.I moved before he appeared.
My fist was already rising when he came into being, close enough that I could see the faint twist of surprise in his eyes.The hit landed clean, snapping his head to the side.
Vance staggered half a step, hand brushing his mouth.When it came away, a thin red smear marked his thumb.
The smirk didn't vanish completely, but it faltered—tightened."You're learning," he said, voice lower now, just a shade colder."Shame you won't get further."
He straightened, shoulders rolling, the space between us suddenly feeling too small.And just like that—The game was over.
Vance's form blurred—then split.
One became two.Two became five.They fanned out in a loose ring, each moving with the same measured gait, the same easy posture.My chest tightened.I'd seen illusions before, but this… every one of them felt real.
The first rushed me head-on.I swung, my fist passing straight through—only for a blow to crash into my spine from behind.The ring collapsed tighter, closing like jaws.
The copies materialized—overlapping—until I couldn't even tell which hit would be real until it already hurt.
I braced for one in front—only to take a brutal hook from the side that sent my vision ringing white.
Another Vance stood over me—too close.Not a copy.The real one.
"You've got fire," he said, voice dropping to something more final."Let's see if it burns out."
Vance's hand snapped out, clamping my collar like an iron shackle.He yanked me forward until my toes scraped uselessly against the fractured concrete—then drove his knee into my gut.
The first hit stole my breath in a sharp, panicked gasp.The second crushed it completely, my ribs screaming under the impact.By the third, pain wasn't even pain anymore—it was just heat flooding through my core, spilling up into my skull until the edges of the world blurred.
I couldn't lift my arms. My body felt weightless and heavy all at once, like he was holding me over the edge of something final.
My arms hung loose.Legs trembling.Every muscle wanted to fold, but his grip kept me upright like a trophy he wasn't done breaking.
I couldn't breathe. Couldn't think.Only feel the cold press of his presence, the certainty that the next move wouldn't be another knee—it would be the end.
My head lolled forward, vision swimming. The Violet inside me guttered, faint and uneven, like it was deciding whether I was worth keeping alive.
With his free hand, Vance reached down and scooped his fallen blade from the cracked concrete. He twirled it once—not for show, but to feel its weight again—before letting the tip hover beside my ribs.
"That was fun," he said, voice low but cutting through the ringing in my ears. "But this is where you end."
He shoved me back a step and raised the sword—not hurried, not sloppy. Just certain.
I tried to stand firm, but my knees wavered. The blade's gleam filled my vision as he drew it back for the final strike.
The blade started its descent——and froze.
Not because Vance hesitated.Because another hand was already there, fingers casually wrapped around his wrist like it belonged to him.
Vance's head turned, slow.What he saw made the corner of his mouth tighten—not in fear, but in the faintest recognition.
The man beside him looked like he'd just strolled in from somewhere far more interesting. Long black-violet coat swaying with the faint stir of dust, hair the color of moonlit silver streaked with violet glow. His grip on Vance wasn't tense—it was effortless, a man holding a drink he didn't plan to spill.
"You've been busy," he said, voice smooth, mid-low, carrying a grin you could hear. "Messy, though. Not really your best look."
He let go just as easily as he'd grabbed him, stepping past like Vance was nothing more than furniture in the wrong place.
That's when his eyes landed on me.A smirk ghosted over his face, sharp enough to cut through the chaos.
"Kid," he said, tilting his head, "you look terrible."