The fractured form of the Heloxian Knight staggered forward, steam leaking from the gaps in Kai's cracked armor. His arms shook. His legs felt like stone. But he still charged.
Just one more step. One more shot. Come on... come on...!
Alric's eyes narrowed. He took one deep breath. Then he roared and slammed his fist down—but Kai twisted, ducked, barely dodged. The punch cracked the stage beside him and sent debris flying.
"Sekh—give me everything! I don't care if it kills me!"
"You already have everything, Kai!"
Kai rose again, his body barely moving, his core flickering like a dying engine. He threw his fist—slow, shaky, wide.
Alric leaned to the side. The punch missed by a mile.
Then—Alric's elbow crashed into Kai's jaw. Kai's body flung sideways like a ragdoll, and he rolled across the ring, blood smearing behind him.
Still, Kai got up.
His face was swollen, his left eye was shut, and his ribs cracked with every breath. But he got up.
And charged again.
He didn't even have most of his parasites anymore. They were gone. George 2 exploded, the illusions faded, and the swarm was burnt out.
He only had Sekh.
And Sekh was burning too.
No more tricks... no more second chances... I just have to keep swinging...
Alric sighed and stomped forward.
Kai threw another punch—Alric blocked and countered with a palm to the chest that sent Kai flying again.
He hit the ground and bounced.
The crowd didn't cheer anymore.
Freya looked tense, Reno bit his lip, and Emric covered his mouth.
Alric walked forward.
Kai was crawling now.
He tried to get up again—but his leg didn't respond. Move, damn it... MOVE...
He grabbed the cracked floor and pulled himself up on one knee.
Alric raised his fist.
Kai stood.
Then—Alric punched.
A clean hit to the ribs. Kai flew back, slammed into the far pillar, and didn't move.
Silence.
Then—
Footsteps.
A voice broke the still air.
"Stop! Please—just stop!"
It was Seren.
She ran across the platform, through the dust, through the broken ground, and threw herself in front of Kai's fallen body with her arms spread wide.
"Enough, alright!? Just take me, okay? Just take me and stop this already!!"
Her voice cracked and her eyes shimmered.
Alric froze.
The entire arena stared.
Kai couldn't move. But he was still conscious. And he heard every word.
He heard her choose to give herself up.
Because he lost. I lost... All of that, for me to lose...
---
The ceiling was white, too white, and the lights above flickered like they were unsure if they should stay on.
Kai blinked slowly.
His chest burned. His arms felt like wires twisted too tight. He could hear a faint beeping next to him, the gentle hum of hospital machines, and the low murmur of voices.
Then a sharp gasp.
"You're awake! Ottokai, you're really awake!"
Emric almost tripped over his own shoes as he ran to the bedside, his pigeon-feathered jacket half-hanging off one shoulder, his voice already tumbling into the next sentence. "We thought you were gonna be asleep for a week or something, or worse, I mean, you looked—really bad, like crushed-lung bad."
Then Reno leaned closer, arms crossed and eyes still sharp even under hospital lights. "You didn't even tell us, Ottokai. I saw the duel announcement, and I thought it was just some random campus idiot trying to play hero, but it was you."
And beside him, Freya rolled her eyes so hard it was a miracle they didn't fall out. "You were humiliated, by the way. Like, full-body slam, public execution, poetic justice-style humiliation, Kai. I was gonna stop watching, but you made it interesting by not dying."
Kai didn't say anything.
He just stared ahead. Not at them. Not even at the cracked IV bag or the weird floral pattern on the blanket.
He stared past the walls.
"Otto," Reno called again, a little softer now, "you alright? Say something, will you?"
But Kai still didn't answer.
Because in his mind, it wasn't Reno or Emric or even Freya that filled the silence.
It was her.
Seren, on the stage, with her arms out, her voice trembling, her words still echoing like a scar—
Just take me, alright?
And that was all he could think about.
Not the pain, not the bruises, not the cheers, and not the defeat.
Only that one moment. And how it felt worse than losing.
"Where's Seren?"
Emric blinked. "Huh? You mean the—?"
"WHERE IS SHE!?"
Kai's voice cracked like a whip, louder than the heart monitor. The room went silent.
Before anyone could answer, he tore the blanket off, ripped the IV out, and sprinted through the hallway like something inside him had already broken. Freya shouted something behind him, Reno cursed, but their voices blurred.
He just kept running.
Through the white corridors, down the flights of stairs, past confused nurses and startled teachers. Out into the wide campus where students walked in groups or hovered in laughter. He dashed past them all, and they stared—some stepped aside, some pointed, some whispered.
"Isn't that the guy who fought Alric?"
"Didn't he lose?"
"He looks insane."
But he didn't care.
His feet thundered on the stone pavement. His ribs ached with every breath. His vision swam from leftover meds and bruised nerves. But he didn't stop.
Because something told him to look—just look—and he did.
And there she was.
Seren.
Up in the terrace hallway outside the upperclass lounge, leaning against a pillar, her arms close to her body. Alric stood beside her, laughing, smiling like nothing ever happened. A couple of his friends surrounded them, all stronger, older, louder.
Seren's smile didn't reach her eyes.
She shifted her weight, looked down once, said something short.
And that was enough.
Kai froze near the edge of the courtyard, chest rising like a broken engine.
Seren...
His fists clenched so tight his knuckles cracked. Blood throbbed in his temples.
Everything he had—he threw it into that fight. He got torn apart, humiliated, broken in front of everyone. But he didn't care. He wanted to protect her.
And now she was up there, with him.
Kai's jaw tightened. His shadow stretched long beneath him as the sun dipped behind the campus roof.
This wasn't over.
"Hey."
Kai's head snapped to the side.
It was her.
The black-haired girl with quiet bangs and a white serpent curled like a necklace around her throat. She stood casually, barely a few feet away, like she'd been waiting for the right crack in his storm to slip through. The serpent blinked once, slow and intelligent.
Akari.
The girl he saved during the Rift.
"You reminded me of someone," she said, eyes unreadable. "Someone who sacrificed himself… for me."
He didn't respond. He didn't know what to say. So he just hardened his voice.
"What do you want?"
"I want you to join my band," she said simply. "Go to the auditorium tonight."
Then she stepped closer, and without warning, held something out between her fingers.
A strawberry-flavored candy.
"Join," she said, tilting her head slightly. "Alright?"
And then she walked away, just like that. The serpent slithered back into her collarbone, disappearing like smoke under cloth.
Kai stared after her.
I'm joining the midnight band again…? This feeling… it's repeating.
He held the candy between his fingers.
Then a voice broke his focus.
"Hey, are you alright?"
It was Emric again—shy, pigeon-eyed, fidgeting with his sleeves like always.
Kai looked at him. Then, he smiled.
"I am."
His voice wasn't full, but it was real.
Because in that moment, in that small pause in a bruised afternoon, he realized something.
I don't want to be the same as back then. I don't want to be the same loner, the same depressed person I used to be. That's why… I chose to live a new life.
He closed his fingers over the candy.
A new life.
Even if it started in blood, loss, and parasites—
He was going to live it.