Tetsu stumbled, blood gushing from a deep gash in his side. Raven's shrieking laughter pierced the battlefield as he zipped around him, faster than sound—striking and vanishing, again and again, like a phantom with no soul.
"You're slower than I remember!" Raven cackled, sending another sonic boom that launched Tetsu through a wall of rubble. He landed with a sickening crunch, coughing blood.
"Stay down, brat," Raven sneered, raising his hands.
In them formed two resonance spears—high-frequency constructs that vibrated so fast they shimmered like mirages. He pointed them at Tetsu's barely-moving form, ready to end it.
Kael saw it.
Time slowed.
His heart stopped.
Tetsu—his brother in all but blood. The one who stood by him when he had no Will. The one who laughed when Kael thought he'd break. The one who never gave up on him.
Kael didn't think.
He moved.
Voidstep.
He tore across the battlefield in an instant, tearing the air open with the speed of his Will. He reappeared between Raven and Tetsu just as the spears launched.
And with a flick of his hand, he shattered them.
Raven's eyes widened.
"You—"
Kael didn't let him finish.
With a snarl of pure fury, Kael lunged. His fist collided with Raven's gut, bending the sonic user in half midair. The air around them cracked like thunder.
Raven coughed up blood, but Kael didn't stop.
"You tried to kill him."
One punch.
"You laughed while doing it."
Another blow—this time to the chest, sending Raven flying.
"You don't get mercy."
Kael appeared behind him mid-flight and grabbed his head, slamming him into the ground with such force the earth cratered beneath them.
Raven wheezed, blood pooling from his mouth. "S-still playing the hero, huh…?"
Kael looked down at him, eyes glowing with the full pressure of the Last Will.
"No."
Kael raised his hand—an orb of black flame and light forged from void and memory forming in his palm.
"I'm not playing anything."
The orb ignited.
And Kael drove it through Raven's chest.
A soundless explosion.
Raven's body went limp—disintegrating into shards of corrupted energy that flickered out like dying stars.
Silence.
The battlefield stilled. Even Lilith flinched. Veyron looked up from his duel with Ryuu. Kaito paused mid-recovery. Hana's lips parted in shock.
Tetsu looked up, trembling. "Kael… you—"
Kael didn't turn.
He just stood over the spot Raven once occupied, breathing slowly, fists clenched.
"I warned them."
His voice was cold. Unshaking.
"I won't lose anyone else."
The silence was broken by the slow crunch of approaching steps.
Kaede.
He didn't look angry.
Just… solemn.
"Kael," he said. "You did what had to be done."
Kael didn't answer. He only looked at his own hands—still burning with fading Will.
For the first time since awakening the Last Will…
He had taken a life.
And it felt final.