Pride's grin widened, black ichor sizzling down his fangs as he spread his arms. The void itself shuddered, and with a snap of his fingers the floor cracked open. From the fissures poured abominations hulking, twisted voidborn with too many limbs, shrieking in warped tones. Their claws scraped across stone, their eyes glowing faintly with fragments of borrowed sin.

Pride's voice thundered over the chaos:

"What you worms do not know… is that every Sin carries the power to summon voidborn. Armies at our fingertips. And you? You'll drown in them!"

The horde screeched as they rushed forward.

Khael's jaw tightened, his silver-draconic aura flaring. His eyes flicked sideways—meeting Shigeo's calm, calculating stare. No words were needed, but still, Shigeo gave a short nod.

"I have a plan," Shigeo said flatly, scarf fluttering in the void wind.

Khael exhaled, gripping his blade.

"Me too. But first—" His eyes darted to where the teachers lay bloodied and broken. "…We take Teacher Shaia and the others to safety."

Shaia, her face pale, knelt beside Torvak. Her hands pressed desperately at his wound, but the blood wouldn't stop. Her voice shook as she whispered, "Don't die… Torvak…"

Torvak's lips twisted into a weak smile, his hand finding hers despite the blood between them.

"I'm at my limit… Shaia…" His voice cracked. His eyes lingered on hers, tired, but soft. "So… fight. Don't waste it…"

Drevan, barely standing, sparks of storm dancing on his fingertips, growled at Khael and Shigeo.

"Go! Don't waste time on us! If Pride wants despair… give him despair!!!"

Khael's wings of storm-fire spread wide, shadow and light burning as one. His heart pounded, guilt clawing at him, but resolve burned hotter.

(Teacher Torvak… I swear… I won't let your sacrifice be meaningless.)

Pride snapped his claws again, and the voidborn lunged.

"ENOUGH WHISPERS! DROWN IN DESPAIR!"

Shigeo's scarf sparked faint lightning as he raised his hand, golden geometric symbols flashing across his gloves.

"Then let's show him despair doesn't belong to him alone."

Khael's draconic voice roared as his veins blazed.

"Echo art:Wind slash!!!"

As The voidborn shrieked as they poured from the fissures, claws scraping stone, eyes glowing like coals of hate. The battlefield fractured into chaos—teams splitting instinctively to cover one another.

Ceyla's lightning danced across her hands as she struck down the first wave, Juno slammed his fists into the ground to redirect shockwaves, Baek Suwon's water surged into a barrier wall, and Saya's arrows glimmered with bloom energy, piercing voidborn hearts.

And at the center Khael and Shigeo moved in rhythm.

"Wind Slash!" Khael's draconic voice tore through the field as crescent blades of storm-fire wind split the front line. The voidborn crumpled in two neat halves.

Shigeo raised a hand, symbols across his gloves glowing. "Thousand way….. This possibility.. is what I want…" The scarf around his neck shimmered like glass, scattering the Shinrei of incoming blasts and bending them away from the teams.

Together, they carved breathing room.

But behind the clash, Shaia still knelt over Torvak. Her hands were slick with blood that wouldn't stop flowing. Her breath broke in sobs.

"Torvak… damn it, stay with me—please—"

Torvak's lips trembled, his voice barely audible over the carnage.

"Shaia… don't cry… you're stronger than me. Stronger than all of us…" His gaze softened. "So… fight. For the students… For the world…"

Shaia's tears fell on his face as she shook her head violently. But his hand slipped from hers, and his breath stilled.

"TORVAK!!!" Shaia's scream cracked across the battlefield, raw and endless.

The voidborn surged again. Pride's laughter thundered above it all, cruel and triumphant.

"Do you see now? Even your sensei bleed like cattle! What is legend but another tale to burn? Hmm…"

Khael's wings flared, his aura rising like a second dawn against the void. His chest ached at Shaia's cry, but his resolve sharpened. He turned to Shigeo, their eyes locking in silent understanding.

"We end this."

Shigeo's expression didn't change, but his scarf flickered with golden arcs.

"Then listen closely. I'll set the field. You—tear him down."

"Right."

And so the genius and the dragon knight moved as one—brains and fury, calculation and storm. While the teams clashed with the tide of voidborn, while Shaia's cry echoed through the ruins, the stage was set for a battle that would shake history.

Meanwhile on Gluttony side

The battlefield shook. Every breath of Gluttony thundered like an avalanche, his grotesque form swelling with oily veins of corrupted Shinrei. His mouth no, his many mouths stretched and split across his bloated body, each one gnashing with jagged teeth, each one drooling hunger.

From his stomach wound poured abominations of hunger, Voidborn stitched from scraps of bone and writhing flesh, their eyes hollow, their claws endlessly reaching. Every time one fell, its remains slithered back into Gluttony's mass, only to rise again, uglier and hungrier.

At the vanguard, Faron Deymir's arms trembled, but his blades burned crimson. The twin Echo Blades snarled like caged beasts, each swing unleashing snarls of flame shaped into roaring maws. His scarred face was smeared with ash and bruises, yet his glare never wavered.

"Stay on me!" he roared, voice raw. "We hold this line, or we're nothing but meat in his belly!"

Stone erupted beside him as Aryn Velos slammed his fists down, raising jagged barricades of rock. But already, Gluttony's spawn clawed through, cracking the walls with their many teeth. Aryn's jaw quivered as his legs buckled.

(Don't freeze… don't freeze! If I lock up again, they'll die. Move, Aryn, MOVE!)

Lightning flashed, and Kara Yun burst forward with a laugh that echoed like a war cry. Her golden eyes blazed with madness, her ponytail whipping as she hurled herself into the swarm.

"COME ON! I'LL SHOW YOU HOW A REAL APPETITE LOOKS!"

Thunder coiled along her arms, sparking as she struck Voidborn into ash, though claws shredded her side in return. Blood streaked down her ribs, but she only laughed louder.

Behind them, Fina Rourke pressed glowing hands against fallen teammate, her Bloom Shinrei weaving radiant vines that bound wounds and strangled creeping tendrils in the same motion.

"Please—please hold still! I can't keep up—stop bleeding, just stop—!" Tears blurred her sight, but still her voice carried, desperate and firm.

Yuto Shimizu's fists bled as he swung again and again, every strike blazing flame. His skin blistered from overuse, but he bit down on the pain.

"If I stop now… if I let go even once… we're all ash."

Team 11 fared no better yet even in chaos, they fought.

Izan Korrel stumbled, tripping over rubble, but his fall released a panicked wind slash that decapitated three Voidborn at once. He blinked in disbelief.

"I-I meant to do that… I totally meant to…"

Milo Drehn wiped crumbs from his cheek, finally standing. His round hands glowed with Bloom light as he shoved them forward, releasing radiant bursts that knocked the swarm back.

"I'm too tired for this crap…" he muttered yet didn't stop firing.

Kara cackled as she darted past him. "Then eat faster, Milo! You're our battery!"

The tide did not slow. Gluttony loomed above, his voice booming from every twisted maw at once.

"MORE. MORE. FEED ME YOUR FEAR. FEED ME YOUR FLESH."

His breath became a black gale, an abyssal pull that dragged at their very Shinrei. Stones cracked loose, bodies slid forward, weapons trembled in resisting hands. Even their souls seemed to quiver on the edge of being swallowed whole.

Faron dug his blades into the ground, anchoring himself as the pull tore at him. Crimson flames flared, snarling louder than ever, like chained beasts refusing to be dragged. His teeth bared as his eyes locked on the abomination towering above.

(So this is what despair feels like. No wonder he's sin itself. But if we give in now… if even I falter…)

He glanced back. Rookies bleeding, shaking, crying still stood behind him. Still fighting.

His chest swelled with a roar.

"LISTEN TO ME! WE DON'T BOW TO MONSTERS—WE BURN THEM!"

His Echo Blades ignited, crimson fire erupting into the shape of two colossal beasts—lion and wolf, forged of pure Shinrei. Their roars joined his, the battlefield quaking with defiance.

Gluttony's mouths widened, skin tearing as he inhaled harder, pulling even the flames toward his abyss.

But Faron screamed back.

"IF PRIDE THINKS HE OWNS DESPAIR—THEN LET GLUTTONY CHOKE ON OUR FIRE FIRST!!!"

The crimson beasts lunged, crashing into the horde with explosions of roaring flame.

For a moment, just a moment, the maw of Gluttony faltered.

And the students, their teachers, every battered fighter—screamed together and surged forward.

As The battlefield was a storm of fire and screaming Shinrei. Faron's crimson beasts tore through the Voidborn ranks, their roars like molten thunder, their claws leaving trails of scorched ruin.

The rookies, their teachers, every battered fighter surged forward with him, voices hoarse, eyes wide with reckless hope. Their feet pounded broken earth. Their Shinrei burned like flickering candles but still they burned.

For the first time since his arrival, Gluttony faltered. His cavernous maw paused mid-breath, the endless black pull weakening. His dozen eyes rolled and shifted across the battlefield, scanning the endless waves of Voidborn he'd birthed.

And in that instant, he understood.

"Tch… this… this won't be enough." His words slithered from every mouth at once, layered and guttural. Drool dripped like acid from his fangs. "Even my hunger has limits if you gnats keep feeding your fire into each other…"

One of his void-maws closed with a wet snap. Another opened wider, shrieking in frustration.

"Do you fools think you can OUTLAST ME?!"

The black gale swelled again, stronger than before. Voidborn stitched themselves back together even as flames devoured them. The earth buckled.

Faron staggered, knees bending under the weight of the pull. His blades rattled in his grip, their crimson edges quivering. Blood dripped from his arms, not from wounds but from veins bursting under strain. His body couldn't contain the fire.

(Not enough… even after everything… it's not enough.)

Behind him, Aryn's walls shattered one by one. Kara's lightning was dimming, her laugh thinning into gasps. Fina's healing vines wilted, her hands trembling. Milo's radiant bursts flickered like dying stars.

They couldn't hold. Not like this.

Faron clenched his teeth so hard blood spilled down his lip. His veins burned. His heartbeat thundered like war drums.

(If this is where we stop… then it's where I open the next Gate.)

His Shinrei coiled violently, crimson flames surging like a tidal wave inside his chest. The Echo Blades howled like beasts starving for release.

And then—

"VEIN GATE: TRANSCENDENCE!!!"

The 4th Gate snapped open.

His body convulsed as blood sprayed from his arms, his flesh straining against veins glowing molten red. His blades burst into titanic forms—not just lion and wolf, but entire legions of beasts roaring out of fire, tearing into the swarm.

Faron's eyes glowed crimson, pupils slitted, his voice almost draconic as it ripped from his throat.

"BURN UNTIL NOTHING'S LEFT!!!"

The ground quaked. The beasts devoured the Voidborn like wildfire across dry grass. The pull of Gluttony's maw warped, shattering under the sheer outpour of raw will.

Students fell back, shielding their faces from the heat, but their hearts surged.

"H-he's doing it—!" Yuto's voice cracked. "He's pushing Gluttony back!"

But Shimizu's words were drowned in a terrible sound Gluttony's laughter.

The Sin's bloated form swelled, veins splitting with black ooze.

"So… you'll tear yourself apart for one spark of resistance? Hah… HAHAHAHA! DO IT, LITTLE FIRE. SHOW ME YOUR DESPAIR AS YOUR BODY BREAKS!"

Faron's body was breaking, his arms tearing at the seams, his ribs screaming with fractures, his Shinrei spiraling out of control. Yet his voice bellowed above it all.

"EVEN IF I BREAK—YOU'RE NOT DEVOURING THEM!"

The crimson beasts lunged again, tearing straight for Gluttony himself.

And for the first time Gluttony raised an arm to shield his core.

The clash shook the battlefield.

To be continue