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 temperature plummeted. Air folded inward, dragged by something deeper than gravity. The floor beneath them cracked like a spider's web, tiles curling upward as if reality itself was being swallowed.

From Sloth's body, the shadows did not simply spill this time. They bloomed—vast, skeletal arms of darkness clawing out of the floor, the walls, even the ceiling. Each limb was boneless, sagging and rubbery, but when they struck, the stone shrieked like glass under a hammer.

Naomi gasped, fire flaring at her fists.

"…It's everywhere—!"

One of the colossal arms lashed forward. Kurozawa met it with a bellow, blade sweeping upward.

"Eclipse Art: Iron-Cleaving Slash!"

The arm split, dissolving into ash but three more surged behind it, snapping shut like a vice.

"Tch—kids, move!" Zeke roared, magma blazing across his arms. He slammed his fists into the ground, molten rivers tearing upward into a wall of flame that bought the rookies a heartbeat.

But Sloth's shadows absorbed the magma. The black limbs drank the fire as if it were nothing but rainwater.

Raiden's grin faltered. Sparks flared across his shoulders.

"…Oh, that's bad."

He clapped his hands together. Thunder rolled, and a dome of lightning exploded outward, forcing the shadows to recoil with a hiss. For a moment, the air smelled of ozone and scorched stone.

Khael's wings snapped wide. His voice thundered:

"We can't just defend! Everyone attack together!"

Ceyla's storm surged in answer, lightning and wind wrapping around Khael's dragon-fire. Juno slammed his fists into the ground, activating his Taishin Gates, raw speed cracking the stone beneath his bare feet. Naomi's flames arced toward Enji's lightning, combining into bolts of searing plasma. Tessa, pale but determined, twisted shards of steel from the broken walls into jagged blades that spun like a storm around their formation.

Baek Suwon stepped forward, his wave affinity spiraling into a liquid barrier that flowed between them all, carrying their Shinrei and amplifying it.

"…Flow together. Don't resist—let it merge."

For the first time, the rookies' power didn't scatter. It wove.

Sloth's voice rumbled, almost amused.

"…A tapestry of souls. Curious. Show me… if your harmony outweighs my silence."

The skeletal arms of shadow surged all at once, a tidal wave of void that threatened to engulf the entire place.

And in that instant rookie and veteran alike moved as one.

Kurozawa's blade cleaved through the leading arm.

Zeke's magma ignited the cracks.

Raiden's lightning laced the rookies' storm.

Khael roared, wings unleashing a cyclone of dragon-fire.

The place exploded in light and thunder.

For the first time, Sloth staggered back a single step. Dust rained from the ceiling. The earth itself groaned as though unwilling to bear the clash.

But then Sloth's rags fluttered, and their head tilted. Their voice was not singular. It fractured, layered, a chorus of whispers crawling into every ear.

"…You think you've struck me."

"…But I am many."

"…I am hunger, desire, greed… and now pride."

From Sloth's body, the shadows convulsed. Each of the monstrous arms shifted—molding, reshaping into grotesque mockeries of the Sins themselves.

One arm gleamed with golden chains, snapping forward like Greed's whips.

Another swelled grotesquely, its maw opening wide like Gluttony, devouring the rookies' combined Shinrei.

A third pulsed with violet fire, Lust's temptation twisting into blades that melted courage.

A fourth burned faintly with pride's aura, radiating crushing dominance, breaking stone by presence alone.

And dozens more writhed, each dripping with fragments of different wills—discordant yet harmonized by the sleeping god they called Sloth.

Naomi screamed as the Gluttony-arm swallowed her flames whole, spitting them back twice as large. Juno tried to intercept, but the Greed-chains lashed him, wrapping around his fists and flinging him into the wall.

Khael spread his wings to shield them, but the Pride-arm slammed into his chest with a shockwave that cracked bone and hurled him across the place.

Raiden's barrier shattered under Lust's violet edge, sparks exploding across his body.

"—Ghh, shit—!"

Zeke roared, magma bursting in all directions, but the Greed chains coiled around him, drinking his fire like oil.

"Let… me… go!!"

Even Kurozawa, blade braced with every ounce of will, was forced to his knees under the weight of the Pride-arm's aura. His breath came ragged.

"This… this isn't just one monster… it's all of them…"

Then, Sloth raised a single hand. All the arms struck at once.

The place imploded. Shadows and shockwaves tore through stone, flame, and steel alike.

Everyone rookie, veteran, and Dragon Knight was blasted back, flung like ragdolls across the ruins of the hall.

When the dust cleared, Sloth still stood in the center. Unmoving. Breathing slow. Their ragged sleeves dripping with crimson that wasn't theirs.

"…Resolve. Emotion. Hope. Beautiful lies… but lies all the same."

The place smoldered. Dust hung in the air like ash after the end of the world. For a long moment, no one moved.

Then amid the ruin, a low growl rumbled.

Khael pushed himself up from the rubble, scales cracked but still burning with storm-fire. His wings, torn and bleeding, twitched once before snapping wide. His dragon-heart thundered, sending ripples of heat and wind across the hall.

"…I'm not done yet."

The veterans stirred next.

Kurozawa rose with his blade braced against the ground, blood staining his robes but his silver eye still sharp.

Zeke ripped free from the shattered chains, magma flaring like a volcano forced open.

Raiden staggered upright, sparks dancing across his frame, a half-grin despite the blood running down his jaw.

One by one, the rookies followed.

Juno dragged himself from a crater, fists raw, body trembling but his eyes blazing.

Ceyla pushed herself up, storm gathering at her fingertips, her breath ragged but unyielding. Her gaze found Khael's back.

"…Khael…"

He turned slightly at her voice, eyes glowing like molten gold through the haze. His scales shimmered with light torn between human and dragon, boy and legend.

Kurozawa's voice cut through the smoke, both weary and commanding.

"…You've got a lot of things to tell, Khael… about why a Dragon Knight something that shouldn't exist anymore stands here today."

The weight of the words pressed on every ear. Even Sloth's head tilted, listening.

But then Kurozawa lifted his blade, his silver eye blazing.

"…That explanation can wait. For now, we have a monster to fight."

The three veterans stepped forward, shoulders squaring, their Shinrei flaring once more.

The rookies closed ranks behind them, battered but refusing to break.

And at the center of them all Khael, Dragon Knight, his roar burning in his chest, wings spread in defiance.

Sloth's many-voiced whisper coiled through the place like smoke.

"…Beautiful. Foolish. Together, you will still fall. But let us see how long you last."

The air shuddered. The battle was far from over.

To be continue

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