The skies trembled as Kurojin's corrupted beast began to take form—a titanic specter of clawed limbs, burning red eyes, and a roaring maw of darkness. The ground beneath Kael and Kaito cracked from the force of its summoning alone.
Wielders across the battlefield paused for only a second, gazing upward in terror.
"Don't stop!" Kaede shouted from the flank, cutting down another beast with a slash of pure light. "That thing is just a distraction! The real fight is down here!"
But the corrupted beast, born of Kurojin's Will, roared into existence, slamming one enormous claw into the battlefield. Dozens of low-ranked Wielders were knocked off their feet, some hurled into the air like ragdolls.
Kael blinked through the chaos, avoiding a falling pillar of rock, only to see the corrupted beast's eyes shift—locking directly onto him.
"Kael!" Kaito yelled. "We split—draw its attention!"
Kael nodded and vanished in a flicker of void. The beast roared again, swinging its arm at where Kael had been, missing by mere inches. Kaito appeared on its opposite side, hurling crimson Will spears at its joints.
"Come on, you ugly thing," Kaito shouted. "Pick on someone your size!"
The corrupted beast turned and released a thunderous roar that split the clouds. Then it started to charge.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the field—
Tetsu's knuckles bled as he struck Lilith's time veil head-on, shattering it for the third time. Hana flanked from behind, her Will-blades slicing through Lilith's flowing hair and leaving deep cuts in her back.
Lilith's breathing grew heavier, her time-bending growing unstable.
"You've pushed me far enough," she hissed. "You want to see real distortion?"
Her body blurred—appearing in three places at once.
Tetsu stepped forward with a grin. "Then we'll just hit all three."
Kaede and Ryuu, on the other side, had cornered Veyron against the remains of a shattered wall.
"You're finished," Ryuu said coldly, his arm charged with storm-light energy. "You killed too many good people."
Veyron's smirk faltered, but he didn't step down. "Even if I fall... Kurojin still wins."
He hurled a final burst of darkness toward them—but Kaede sliced through it, and Ryuu blasted Veyron straight through the wall with a spiraling pulse of Will.
Back in the center—
Kael appeared above the beast's head. He summoned everything. His Void flared with black lightning, surrounding his body like a shroud. The corrupted beast raised its claws to crush him, but Kaito flew in, spearing one arm through with his Will-blade.
"NOW, KAEL!"
Kael dove downward. "VOIDFALL—PIERCING DESCENT!"
He struck the beast's skull with all his power. A deafening explosion of light and shadow burst outward, swallowing the field in white.
When the dust settled…
The corrupted beast collapsed into itself—dissolving like smoke.
Kurojin, now standing alone, stared up… still unfazed.
Kael and Kaito landed side by side, breathing heavily.
"You think that was enough?" Kurojin said, stepping forward, the ground decaying beneath his feet. "That was just an echo of what's coming."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "Then let's end it before it arrives."