Zeke spat blood onto the shattered stone, eyes narrowing at Khael and his group as they stepped into the broken battlefield.

"You bastards… do you really think you can win against Sloth?"

Khael's silver-dragon scales glimmered in the ruin-light, his chest rising and falling with ragged defiance.

"What makes you think you three can?"

Zeke's jaw locked. "What—?"

Khael's voice cut sharper than steel.

"Stop being a stubborn shit and let us help you. You know you three alone can't win."

The words hung heavy.

Raiden let out a low whistle, then broke into laughter, sparks dancing lazily from his fingertips.

"Wow… that's unexpected. A kid his age… shouting at you, Zeke." He doubled over, wheezing. "Pft—ha! Hahaha!"

Zeke snarled. "Shut your mouth, Raiden!"

But before he could lunge, Kurozawa's gravelly tone broke through. His eyes were locked not on Khael's words, but his body.

"Wait. Look at the boy's form."

Raiden's laughter died. He studied Khael again his starlit scales, the storm-fire wings that spread with a primordial weight. His face hardened.

"You are…" His voice dropped. "I think I know this form."

Kurozawa's voice carried both awe and dread.

"…A Dragon Knight."

The battlefield went silent for a breath.

Zeke's eyes widened, disbelief warring with fury.

"Impossible… A Dragon Knight… in this era?"

Sloth tilted their head at the revelation, their lips curving faintly into something between amusement and hunger.

"…Dragon Knight"

The ground cracked beneath Sloth's feet as their aura shifted. Before, their movements had been precise, deliberate a predator dissecting prey. Now, their body loosened, their steps heavier, almost playful. Chains of voidlight writhed around them like serpents, adjusting, reshaping. They weren't striking to kill anymore. They were probing. Testing.

Khael's breath hitched as his draconic senses flared.

(They've changed… They're targeting me.)

Sloth blurred forward. A single chain lashed down, not at his chest, but at his wings.

Khael roared, wings snapping wide. Silver scales hardened as storm-fire surged, splitting the air with light. He swung his clawed arm, catching the chain and ripping it aside. The ground quaked from the impact.

"You won't break me that easily!"

Sloth smiled faintly.

"Good. Resist."

They vanished appearing behind him in a breath. A strike hammered into Khael's ribs like a mountain collapsing. His wings buckled. He spun, tail lashing with dragon instinct, but Sloth caught it in one hand.

(Fast—too fast—!)

Sloth's fist drove into his chest.

The world inverted.

Khael's body hurled across the field, crashing through broken pillars, stone exploding on impact. He tumbled like a ragdoll, blood spraying from his mouth before his scaled body slammed into the ground, leaving a deep crater.

Dust swallowed the battlefield.

Ceyla's scream cut through it.

"KHAEL!"

Juno tensed, fists clenched white, his body trembling with the urge to move. Baek Suwon's face drained of color, his breath sharp and uneven. The younger students froze, their resolve flickering like candles in a storm.

Sloth lowered their fist, chains retracting with a hiss. Their voice was calm.

"Disappointing. Get up, Dragon Knight. Show me your strength… or I will crush it out of you."

Ceyla's still screaming his name

"KHAEL!"

Her storm-light crackled to life, lightning spiraling across her arms as her fury drowned out all reason. Beside her, Juno's teeth ground together, fists trembling as the Taishin Gates pulsed within his veins. He didn't wait. They both lunged storm and flesh moving in perfect, reckless sync straight toward Sloth.

Khael's vision blurred. Dust and blood stung his eyes as he struggled to rise from the crater. His chest felt crushed, ribs screaming with every breath. His clawed hand clawed into the shattered stone, trembling.

His voice was a whisper, but heavy with desperate urgency.

"…No… stop…"

Sloth's gaze flicked from the broken boy to the two charging figures. Their lips curved slightly, not in malice, but in faint curiosity like a scientist watching insects hurl themselves against fire.

Chains slithered into motion, rising like fangs from the ground.

Ceyla roared, thunder erupting in a storm-sphere around her, arcs of lightning tearing at the chains before they could ensnare her.

"You won't touch him again!"

Juno burst past her, feet shattering stone with each step. His fist burning with raw Taishin energy slammed into Sloth's side. The impact rang like a gong. Sloth barely shifted.

Their eyes turned down toward him.

"…Brave. Futile."

Before Juno could withdraw, a chain snapped tight around his arm. The force twisted his shoulder with a sickening crack, and Sloth's casual backhand sent him skidding across the floor, blood flying from his mouth.

"JUNO!" Ceyla screamed. Her storm wrapped tighter, bolts hurling into Sloth, but each one dissolved into ash before touching their skin.

From the crater, Khael's claws dug deeper into the rubble. His breath rasped. His vision tunneled. Rage, guilt, fear all churned together in his chest until it threatened to tear him apart.

(Stop… you can't fight them… they'll die because of me…)

Sloth walked toward Ceyla now, slow, inexorable. Their voice never rose above a whisper.

"Your emotions burn bright… and yet, like all fire, they flicker out. Show me, storm-child. How long will you last?"

Khael's blood boiled. His dragon-heart thundered, and for the first time since his reincarnation, his roar ripped the air without restraint.

"ENOUGH!"

The battlefield quaked. Shattered stone erupted beneath him as he rose, wings tearing open in a storm of silver and fire. His scales blazed like molten starlight, storm-flame wreathing his body until the shadows themselves seemed to recoil.

And then three figures dropped in front of him.

Kurozawa landed first, his blade dripping with Shinrei, robes torn and bloodied but his eyes unyielding. He spat crimson to the ground and barked,

"We can't leave this to the young ones."

Zeke's boots struck stone next, magma heat hissing off his fists as the ground cracked beneath him. His glare locked on Sloth like a burning brand.

"Damn right."

Lightning cracked overhead, and Raiden touched down with casual swagger, sparks crawling lazily across his skin. He shot Khael and the others a crooked grin.

"Let's go, kids. We're not letting you throw yourselves away. Together, we'll take down this son of a bitch."

Ceyla staggered to her feet, lightning still sparking at her fingertips. Juno wiped blood from his mouth, fists tightening again. Darius and Naomi, battered but standing, moved closer. Even Izan and Milo, trembling with grief, squared their stances.

The rookies and the Eclipse Vanguards two generations stood shoulder to shoulder.

For the first time in this nightmare, the battlefield felt less like a slaughter and more like a war.

Sloth tilted their head, shadows writhing around them like a nest of serpents. Their voice came slow, heavy with unreadable tones.

"…Foolishness… or resolve? Very well. Let us test… which it is."

The air bent. The floor cracked. And the true battle began.

To be continue

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