In the west sector, the battlefield had already crossed the threshold from devastation into something far worse. The ground was fractured into uneven plates, walls collapsed inward, and the air itself felt poisoned—thick with decay, blood, and lingering heat.

  Skadi stood at the center, her breathing ragged, her body trembling.

  Skadi: Nulthira… lend me your strength.

  The response was immediate.

  Darkness poured from her veins like liquid shadow, crawling across her skin. Her flesh darkened as glowing violet veins flared beneath the surface. Her hair lifted unnaturally, blazing with purple light, each strand stiff as if resisting gravity itself. Her eyes emptied completely—no whites, no pupils—only endless void.

  The air refused to move.

  Even sound seemed hesitant to exist.

  Caitlyn staggered backward, clutching her chest as her blood reacted violently inside her body, trembling and pulsing as if it no longer fully obeyed her.

  Skadi: How pathetic… to call on me for someone so weak.

  Caitlyn: …What are you?

  Nulthira: Your end.

  The space between them collapsed.

  Nulthira backhanded Caitlyn before she could even react, the force folding her body midair and sending her crashing into a nearby wall hard enough to crater it. Before Caitlyn could gasp, Nulthira drove a brutal punch into her stomach.

  Caitlyn doubled over violently, blood spraying from her mouth as she was thrown aside and skidded across the broken pavement before slamming into another wall.

  Nulthira: How pathetic. To think someone as worthless as you pushed this host’s body far enough to summon me. You humans truly are beneath contempt.

  Caitlyn: Just… shut up… you are… nothing compared to—

  Nulthira grabbed her and hurled her aside again, Caitlyn’s body bouncing violently before coming to rest against shattered stone. Pain detonated through her nerves as the amplification serum began to wear off, her muscles seizing and her vision blurring.

  Still shaking, she forced her hand into her pocket and pulled out the small transmission device. Her fingers trembled as she activated it.

  Caitlyn: Hello… if anyone can hear this… please stay away from the west sector. There’s been too much damage done… someone is here with me, an enemy. Skadi Ragnar?ksson is a vessel. She has unleashed the primordial inside her. Repeat—stay away from the west sector at all costs.

  Nulthira: Hmph. How pointless. Do you really think warnings will save anyone? Once I kill you, I will hunt down my brother’s vessel and destroy him. Then this place will return to dust.

  Caitlyn (thinking): I need to buy time. Skadi’s body is already damaged… even with Nulthira in control, she’s not at full strength.

  Caitlyn: Heh… do you really hate humans that much?

  Nulthira: Yes. Your kind wastes its fleeting existence on greed, violence, and hypocrisy. You destroy your world while preaching righteousness. Existence was purer when there was only the One. The first split that created me and my siblings was the beginning of decay. Enough talking. You will die now.

  Nulthira raised her hand. A bubble of entropy bloomed outward, reality itself corroding around it—

  —and a massive wall of ice erupted from the ground, intercepting the attack with a thunderous crash.

  Nulthira: What!? Who dares—

  Hiruzen: CAITLYN! ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!

  Hiruzen burst from the shattered hallway, followed closely by Emma, Kai, and Randall. The moment they entered the sector, Nulthira’s presence pressed down on them like an ocean.

  Kai: So that’s a primordial… damn.

  Hiruzen: No. That’s just her using Skadi’s body.

  Caitlyn: Why the hell are you guys here!? I told you to stay away!

  Emma: Sorry, Cait. We can’t just let you die here.

  Caitlyn: You don’t understand—this monster is beyond us. There’s no way we can win!

  Hiruzen stepped forward, eyes locked on Nulthira.

  Hiruzen: I’ve heard that a lot lately. Too dangerous. Too strong. Too risky. I watched my family die once, Caitlyn. I swore I’d get revenge—but I also swore that if I ever made friends like this, I’d never let them die. That includes you. How would Aaron feel if he came here and saw your body?

  Caitlyn’s composure shattered. Tears streamed down her face.

  Caitlyn: Hiruzen… I—

  Hiruzen: Don’t. Just stay back. Are you guys ready?

  Emma: Yeah. Don’t worry, Cait. We’ll protect you.

  Kai: Just sit back. We’ll handle the monster.

  Randall: Rest easy. We’ll take it from here.

  Caitlyn watched them move forward. Four students standing against something ancient. She laughed weakly through tears.

  Caitlyn: You guys are really annoying.

  Nulthira: How pointless. Only that boy has any worth. The rest of you are beneath notice.

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  Kai: Is that so? Then let’s go!

  Kai launched forward, flames igniting beneath his feet as he surged in close and unleashed a massive wave of fire. Nulthira decayed it instantly, the flames collapsing into nothing before they could touch her.

  She raised her hand—

  Hiruzen stomped his foot, ice surging upward and flash-freezing the ground beneath her.

  Nulthira decayed the ice the moment it touched her skin.

  Nulthira: Hmph. Try harder.

  Emma appeared behind her and fired a point-blank beam of crimson light. It struck cleanly—and vanished.

  Emma: None of our attacks are working! She’s decaying them the moment they touch her!

  Kai: Then keep attacking! We just need to keep her busy!

  Hiruzen: C’mon Hiruzen, I think there has to be something I can do. What did I do when I fought Skadi last time? Which one of my attacks hurt her?

  As Hiruzen is running around trying to think he flashes back to their fight during the Midterm

  Hiruzen: My attacks only started doing damage to her when I used Zero core stage two but that isn’t an option right now.

  Randall raised both hands. Shadows erupted across the floor, twisting into wolves, serpents, and swords of darkness. They lunged from every direction, their movements jagged and chaotic. They each lunged at Nulthira but she swatted them away like flies.

  Nulthira: You specifically are boring. Is that all those shadows can do?

  Randall: No. But I didn’t want to do this so soon.

  He clapped his hands together. The atmosphere collapsed inward.

  Randall: Umbra Abyss!

  Every shadow within fifty meters exploded outward, then folded back in like liquid smoke, swallowing the battlefield.

  Nulthira: Now this is interesting.

  Randall: Kai, help me out!

  Kai: I got you!

  Randall formed a mass of shadow.

  Randall: Touch it. Let it embrace you.

  Kai: What? I thought we were doing a combo attack.

  Randall: Trust me okay.

  Kai stepped forward. The shadows wrapped around him, forming a liquid armor that ignited with his flames.

  Kai: Now we’re talking!

  Kai charged. Every time Nulthira tried to decay the shadows, Hiruzen and Emma interrupted her, allowing Kai to land blows.

  Kai: I think I’m starting to hurt her!

  Hiruzen: Her attacks are getting faster!

  Emma: She’s adapting!

  Nulthira: You humans are actually not as mediocre as I thought but it’s time this game comes to an end.

  Nulthira raises both of her hands and lets out a massive wave of entropy destroying Umbra Abyss completely and Kai’s shadow armor along with it

  Emma recovered first wasting no time closing the distance

  Emma: Radiant Apex!

  Kai recovers second and starts tapping into his demonic blood. The two begin applying pressure as Nulthira is forced to fight both of them while Hiruzen checks on Randall

  Hiruzen: Randall, can you do Umbra abyss again?

  Randall: No but I can try to create something similar to what I did at the end of my match against Aaron. I was desperate and without even thinking I created something similar to a black hole

  Hiruzen: No we don’t have Aaron here to stop it if things spiral out of control

  Randall: What choice do we have left Kai and Emma can’t hold her off forever. Besides I came here to risk my life to save Caitlyn just like you. I may not know her personally but After my fight with Aaron I gained a lot of respect for him so this is the least I could do. Besides, it's not like my family would care if I died or not anyway.

  Hiruzen: Randall…

  Randall: Just sit back and let me do this

  Randall spread his arms. His power spiked, warping the entire arena. Shadows began to converge– not outward, but inward,folding reality around them. The shadows formed a black hole like a vortex,dragging everything towards its center.

  Nulthira grabs Kai and Emma and slams them together before throwing them to the side. She turns and instantly notices what Randall is doing and wastes no time trying to stop him

  Nulthira: Damn human who the hell do you think you are!

  Randall: My name Is Randall Crowe and I’m the one who’s going to stop you.

  The black hole reaches critical mass as it sucks in Randall and Nulthira who is struggling to get away

  Hiruzen: RANDALL! YOU NEED TO STOP NOW IT”S GOING TO RIP YOU APART

  Randall looks down at Hiruzen and just smiles as he and Nulthira are sucked in and the black hole implodes on itself and a massive explosion floods the west sector. When the dust clears there is nothing but a massive crater where the black hole was

  Kai, carrying Emma, limped toward Hiruzen, who had collapsed to his knees in tears.

  Kai: Is he really—

  Emma: Randall…

  Hiruzen screamed.

  Hiruzen(crying uncontrollably): DAMN IT! I…I COULDN’T SAVE HIM!

  He slams his fists into the ground as ice explodes outward violently.

  Caitlyn limps over to Hiruzen and places her hand on his shoulder

  Caitlyn: Hiruzen I–

  Before she could say any more a purple light explodes upward from the crater and Nulthira is there floating unharmed from the black hole

  Kai: No way…She’s still alive

  Emma: How? There’s no way she really survived unscathed

  Nulthira: Hmph, I’ll admit that almost got me but at the last second I flooded my body with entropy removing the gradient the black hole exploits nullifying its effects. Don’t be sad if he wasn’t so stupid challenging me he wouldn’t have died such a stupid death

  Hiruzen(dead look in his eyes): You…really are…the worst kind of being

  Hiruzen gets up wiping the tears from his face as the temperature drops dramatically as he stares at Nulthira

  Nulthira: Hey how about you give up control of your body so I can speak to my brother

  Time freezes once again as Hiruzen looks up at Iskarth in tears

  Hiruzen: Iskarth I don’t care what you said before i’m taking your power whether you allow me to or not

  Iskarth: You are even more of a fool than I thought if you think you can just–

  Hiruzen: SHUT UP! You want to stop Skyzen right just like me. Well, if you don’t give me the power I'll take my life here and now, you already said our souls are starting to become one so if my soul fades away so does yours. So what do you say

  Iskarth: You little brat…Fine but this time I will have control and whatever damage your body takes will be your problem because I won’t heal them for you.

  Hiruzen: Deal just promise me you’ll beat her

  Iskarth: Just shut up and watch as I show you the gap between you and me

  Hiruzen’s body suddenly goes limp as a massive blizzard erupts from his body and his hair turns snow white and claws of ice cover his hands. His skin turns a dark navy blue and his eyes turn white and as he looks up at Nulthira a grin spreads across his face.

  Iskarth(speaking through Hiruzen): Well hello sister it’s been a while hasn’t it

  Nulthira:Yes it has, now that you have control of that human’s body let’s kill these sacks of flesh and lay waste to this place.

  Iskarth: Sorry but I made a deal with this kid to stop you and besides these humans you look down on are much stronger than you give them credit for

  Nulthira: How disappointing brother i was hoping you out of all of our siblings would understand

  Iskarth: It’s not that I don’t understand I just don’t think working with that man is the way to go about achieving our dream

  Nulthira: Agree to disagree, Skyzen has made me an offer I can’t refuse but that’s none of your business at the moment so let’s hurry up and settle this

  The two siblings rise into the air and a massive explosion of Purple and Blue energy engulfs the entire west sector where Reito is currently on his way to

  End Chapter