### Chapter 7: Blood Demon Death Arc – Courtyard Clash

  The courtyard reeked—blood, smoke, sulfur, all mixing into something thick and choking under the gray dawn light. Het’s body lay in two pieces on the cracked concrete, blood still pooling slow and dark, his eyes wide open like he couldn’t believe it ended that fast. Hiro was on her knees beside him, hands glowing faint green as she tried to Heal Shift, tears cutting clean lines through the soot on her face. It wasn’t working. Nothing was bringing him back.

  The villains didn’t move. Just watched. Waited. Like this was the opening act.

  Reiji stepped forward first, crimson energy flickering around his knuckles like embers. He moved fast—too fast—closing the gap to Mr. Joe in a blur. The old clan master had been shielding the Room 105 kids, thermos dropped and forgotten, hands up in a defensive stance. But Reiji was already there, one hand snapping out, fingers clamping around Mr. Joe’s neck like iron.

  The grip lifted him clean off the ground. Mr. Joe choked, veins bulging, feet kicking uselessly. His face went red, then purple.

  Sky didn’t think.

  He just ran.

  The hum in his chest exploded into a roar, will energy surging blue-white around his fists. He crossed the courtyard in long strides, taller frame eating distance, and drove a punch straight into Reiji’s face. Echo Fist—full force, delayed impact stacking like a second hammer right after the first.

  Reiji’s head snapped sideways, blood spraying from his nose and lip. The grip on Mr. Joe loosened for a split second—just enough. The old man dropped, gasping, collapsing to his hands and knees.

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  Reiji staggered back two steps, touching his split lip, eyes narrowing. For the first time, that theatrical smirk faltered. “You again.”

  Sky didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Rage and fear mixed hot in his throat. He raised both hands—blue energy swirling first. “Azure Pull!”

  The air warped, a vacuum yanking Reiji forward off-balance, dragging him straight into Sky’s range. The other villains shifted—Lana growling, Jason grinning wider—but Sky was already switching. Red flare now. “Azure Push!”

  Repulsive force blasted out like a cannon, slamming into Reiji chest-first. The villain flew backward, coat ripping, smashing through a half-collapsed wall twenty feet away in a cloud of dust and brick shards. Direct hit.

  But the push rippled outward too—too wide, too uncontrolled. It clipped a couple nearby villains but missed the main cluster. Jaylee’s threads flickered in the air, Jaylee herself smirking from the shadows. Lana’s giant foot stomped, cracking the ground. Too many.

  And then Sky couldn’t move.

  His legs locked mid-step, like they’d sunk into tar. No—worse. Rubber. Stretchy, sticky resistance pulling him down, gluing his feet to the concrete. He looked down—thin, almost invisible threads wrapped tight around his ankles and calves, elastic and unbreakable, yanking harder the more he struggled.

  Up ahead, Jaylee stepped into view, twirling one finger lazily. Threads danced from her fingertips like spider silk catching the dawn light. “Gotcha.”

  Sky strained—muscles burning, will energy flaring—but the threads only stretched and snapped back stronger, rooting him in place. Ten feet from Mr. Joe. Twenty from his friends. Close enough to see Max’s shadows lunging to help, Frosty’s frost nails flying, but too far to reach Reiji dusting himself off in the rubble.

  Reiji stood slowly, wiping blood from his mouth, eyes locked on Sky with real anger now. Crimson energy built brighter.

  Sky’s heart hammered. Stuck. Exposed.

  But the hum inside him wasn’t done.

  It built, deeper this time, space itself trembling around him. He brought his hands together, fingers interlacing. The air cracked—hairline fractures spiderwebbing out from his body like glass under pressure.

  “Realm: Endless Fracture.”

  The courtyard warped.

  Reality shattered in a fifty-foot sphere centered on Sky. Endless mirrored fractures exploded outward—black jagged lines looping infinitely, reflecting a thousand versions of the battlefield. The rubber threads snapped and rebounded in confusing angles, losing tension as space folded. Jaylee’s eyes widened as her control slipped—threads tangling in fractured loops.

  Reiji’s crimson blast fired—but hit a mirror barrier, echoing back distorted. Lana’s stomp landed on ground that tilted wrong, sending her stumbling. Jason charged, regen already knitting his bruises, but every step showed him infinite copies roaring back.

  Inside the realm, everything slowed—disoriented, trapped in looping shards that slashed and confused.

  Sky stood at the center, chest heaving, fracture bleed already nipping at his skin with tiny cuts. But for the first time since Het fell, he wasn’t helpless.

  The villains were on his turf now.

  And he wasn’t letting another friend die.