The Grand Arena was no longer a place of sport; it had become a tomb for the living. Trapped within the overlapping layers of the Reflection of God, the students and faculty of the Academy stood in paralyzed terror. Above them, the alien deities of the Pantheon loomed, their cold, cosmic gazes fixed on the mortals below.
Claire von Vinci looked up at the towering figures, a nagging sense of déjà vu tugging at her mind. Those alien gods—she knew them. She had seen them in the blur of her unconsciousness during the fight with Ren, yet she couldn't grasp the memory.
In the chaos, her first thought was of her brother. "Leon!" she screamed, her voice lost in the roar of the dragon-fire and shifting storms. "Leon, where are you?"
"Your brother isn't here," a voice interrupted, cold and smooth. Lace Freeman stood on the stage, looking down at her with a chilling smugness. "He is back at your father's estate, likely weeping. I should thank him, actually. He was the perfect stepping stone for me to obtain perfection."
Confused and enraged, Claire didn't wait for an explanation. She launched herself at Lace, her Matter Manipulation flaring to life. But before she could get within ten feet, a massive, multi-armed god flicked its wrist, sending her crashing back into the dirt with a single shockwave.
The others followed. Lloyd tried to warp time to his favor, but the reality of the Pantheon was too dense; his Chronos-field shattered like glass, and the God of Time stared him into submission.
With a negligent wave of his hand, Lace issued a command: "subdue them,killing is unacceptable"
The gods descended. Each deity targeted a student or staff member with a similar skill set, but the battle was a farce. Claire, the only S-Rank student, was pinned down instantly. The ten S-Rank teachers and officials combined couldn't even scratch the armor of the entities they faced. One by one, they fell. The Prince himself was brought to his knees, his royal blood staining the arena floor.
"Why?" Claire wheezed, her body broken and unable to move. "Why are you doing this? How can one man hold this much power?"
"I have a rival to defeat," Lace replied, pacing the stage. "And I need an army. Once you are all broken, you won't be able to resist my influence. Your bodies will become my puppets." He paused, looking up at the golden gods. "And as for this power... it was your brother's gift. Only he could create such monstrosities. He contributed the most to this realm, though I've added a few choice pieces I've stolen over the centuries."
"My brother?" Claire whispered in disbelief. "Leon? He's a B-Rank... he can't... there's no way."
But the logic began to click into place. Lace had said stolen. Only one skill could do that: Theft. If Lace was the true owner of the Primordial Theft skill, then what had Leon been doing all this time?
The suppressed memory finally broke through. She remembered the waterfall. She remembered the poison. And she remembered the towering gods standing over her, protecting her. They weren't Lace's. They were Leon's.
Her heart shattered. It wasn't the fear of the gods that hurt—it was the weight of the lie. Why would he keep this from me? I thought... I thought we were close.
Leon had reappeared in the empty school courtyard, but the arena was gone, replaced by a shimmering distortion in the air. He didn't panic. He didn't hesitate. He stretched his hand forward, his hair beginning to glow with a steady, silver light.
Inside the Soul Palace, Lace was still gloating when a sound like tearing metal echoed through the realm. A jagged rift appeared in the center of the sky—a tear in space itself. Lace went pale. In all his centuries, he had never heard of anyone breaking into a Soul Palace from the outside.
Leon stepped through the rift, walking onto the air as if it were solid ground. He didn't look like the boy Claire knew. His hair glowed with a soft, ethereal brilliance, and his eyes had changed. They no longer burned with the wild, unhinged light of the sun; instead, one eye glowed with a faint, concentrated spark.
The bloodlust was gone. The fear was gone. In its place was a quiet, absolute authority. For the first time, the Anomaly was in control.
"Oh, it's you," Lace said, his voice dripping with a casual, toxic mockery. With a sharp snap of his fingers, the atmospheric pressure of the realm didn't just shift—it collapsed. Gravity increased a hundredfold, a crushing weight that pinned every student and teacher to the arena floor, their bones groaning under the invisible force.
Lace peered down at Leon, his eyes narrowing. "Tell me, kid... do you have anything else to offer? Or was that portal your final trick?" To his growing irritation, Leon remained standing, his posture relaxed, his body seemingly immune to the gravity that was currently liquefying the stones beneath his feet.
Leon didn't answer. Instead, he turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the paralyzed crowd until it landed on Claire. Their eyes met, and in that silent connection, Leon felt the stinging blow of her realization. He saw the shock in her eyes, followed by the deep, jagged edge of betrayal. She knew. She knew he had lied to her every single day, and the weight of that deception hurt her more than the gravity of the palace.
Leon turned back to Lace, his expression unreadable. With a single, fluid wave of his hand, he reached into the logic of the realm. In an instant, every student and staff member vanished, teleported back to the safety of the school grounds outside the palace walls. Only Claire was sent further—straight back to the safety of her bedroom at the Vinci Mansion.
Claire gasped as her back hit her bed, the air in her room still and silent. The realization hit her like a physical strike: even now, even after she had looked at him with hatred and hurt, his first instinct was her safety. He was still holding onto his promise to protect her, even if it meant facing a god-emperor alone.
"I was the one who broke the promise," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I was supposed to protect him."
She didn't hesitate. Claire launched herself through her window, the glass and stone shattering into fine dust as she pushed her Matter Manipulation to its absolute limit. She altered the density of the air and the molecular structure of her own muscles, pushing her body to move faster than the speed of sound. A sonic boom echoed across the estate as she tore through the forest, a silver streak of desperate resolve.
Leon, please wait for me, she thought, her heart hammering against her ribs. I promise... I'll keep you safe.
Inside the swirling chaos of the Reflection of God, Lace continued his relentless taunting. His sarcastic tone echoed off the frozen gods of the Pantheon.
"You literally possessed the power of a true deity, and your own ignorance let it slip through your fingers," Lace laughed, stepping off the stage and hovering in mid-air. "How do you hope to defeat me now? You are no match for me, and you are certainly no match for my army."
Lace paused, his eyes glowing with a predatory cunning. He drifted closer to Leon, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper.
"I can make you a deal, boy. Serve me. Become the crown jewel of my collection, and I will keep your family safe. On my word as a Legend... they will never be touched."