The world had shrunk to nothing but darkness and pain. Drake floated in an endless void, his consciousness reduced to a flickering ember. The crushing weight of Connor's blows still echoed through his broken body, each remembered impact sending phantom waves of agony through his fading mind.
Then the eyes appeared.
Two massive crimson orbs materialized from the darkness, each larger than Drake's entire body. They burned with ancient, terrible power, their pupils like cracks into some unfathomable abyss. The moment they focused on him, Drake felt his very soul tremble.
"PATHETIC!"
The voice wasn't heard - it was experienced, vibrating through Drake's bones like the aftershocks of a collapsing world. The words carried weight beyond sound, imprinting directly into his crumbling consciousness.
"LOOK AT YOU. BROKEN. WEAK."
A shape formed around the eyes - an enormous hand of swirling crimson energy, fingers longer than Drake's entire body. It reached for him with terrifying slowness, each movement sending ripples through the void.
"YOU BEG FOR POWER YET CANNOT EVEN STAND." The fingers closed around Drake, their touch burning and freezing simultaneously. "YOU ARE NOT DESERVING."
The pressure increased slowly, deliberately. Drake felt his ribs creak, his spine compress. Somewhere in the distance, he heard Connor's laughter.
_____
In the real world, Connor's fist rose and fell like a piston. Blood sprayed with each impact, painting the arena floor in grotesque patterns. The crunch of cartilage and bone had become rhythmic, almost musical.
"Still conscious?" Connor panted between blows, his knuckles split and bleeding. "What are you, some kind of masochist?"
Sir Duron turned away, unable to watch any longer. The rules were clear - no interference until a fighter yielded or lost consciousness. But this had crossed into something else entirely.
Then the temperature dropped.
Every student in the training grounds suddenly gasped as their breath fogged in the suddenly frigid air.
BAM!
A dozen students collapsed simultaneously, their eyes rolling back as they hit the ground. Those still standing clutched their heads, blood trickling from their noses as some invisible force pressed against their minds.
Mr. Leo and Sir Duron moved instinctively back-to-back, their combat-honed senses screaming of imminent danger. The air itself seemed to vibrate with barely contained power.
Connor froze mid-swing, his body locking up with primal terror. The hand holding Drake's collar began to tremble violently.
CRUNCH!!
Drake's eyes snapped open - but they were no longer human. Twin pools of liquid crimson burned where his irises should be, leaking wisps of scarlet energy. His fingers closed around Connor's wrist with unnatural strength, bones shattering like dry twigs.
The scream that tore from Connor's throat was barely human.
Drake rose slowly, his movements jerky and unnatural. Tendons snapped and reknit themselves with audible pops as his body reconfigured. Muscles swelled beneath torn skin, veins pulsing with the same eerie crimson glow as his eyes.
When he spoke, his voice came layered with something ancient and terrible:
"Die."
The punch started slow - so slow Connor could track every millimetre of movement. Drake's fist traveled maybe fifteen centimetres.
The world exploded.
BANG!
The shockwave tore through the training grounds like a bomb detonation. Stone tiles vaporized in a concentric wave, walls disintegrated, and the reinforced steel observation deck twisted like taffy before shearing completely free. A mushroom cloud of dust and debris billowed hundreds of metres into the air, visible across the entire academy.
When the dust settled nearly a minute later, the arena was simply gone - replaced by a crater nine metres wide. At its center lay two figures: Connor, his entire right side a ruined mess of broken bones and torn flesh; and Drake, collapsed atop him, his body steaming as the crimson glow faded from his veins.
Mr. Leo stood at the crater's edge, his right arm hanging limp and mangled. Blood dripped from his fingertips, each drop hissing as it struck the superheated stone.
"I'll get the medics," Sir Duron said, materializing beside him with uncharacteristic urgency before vanishing again.
------
Fifteen minutes later, Winston and the school board were interrupted mid-meeting by a panting medic.
"Sir!" the medic gasped. "Class 1-A... all in medical center... Mr. Leo unconscious... hand destroyed..."
Winston and Vice Principal Vanessa Blaze immediately rushed out.
Vanessa matched Winston's pace through the marble halls, her crimson eyes burning. "What," she hissed, "has been happening here during my absence?"
Winston's jaw tightened. "We've had... complications with the first years."
"Complications?" Vanessa's whisper carried lethal intensity. "An entire class of students are unconscious, Leo's hand destroyed, and you call these complications?"
They reached the medical wing to find beds filled with groaning students. Jackson Storm sat upright in a corner, analyzing the room with detached calm. Nearby, Alexis struggled against medics trying to restrain him.
"Where's Drake?" Alexis demanded hoarsely.
"Sedate him," Winston ordered before turning to Vanessa. "We'll discuss this privately."
In Leo's private ward, Sir Duron materialized from shadows. "All footage destroyed. Training ground cameras show only static for the past two hours."
Vanessa crossed her arms. "You're covering this up?"
Winston remained steady. "Should we let the people see a student manifest that power unsupervised?" To Duron: "The witnesses?"
"Most remember nothing past Connor's initial attack. The bloodlust erased short-term memory. Only Leo retained full recall."
Leo groaned as he sat up, bandaged arm cradled to his chest. The unshakable instructor looked visibly shaken.
"You saw it then," Winston said quietly as Duron disappeared from the room.
Leo swallowed hard. "I barely deflected that punch. A direct hit would have..." He left the horror unspoken.
Vanessa's nails bit into her palms. "What was that?"
The room chilled as Winston voiced the forbidden truth:
"I have no idea."