With the school trapped in a sprawling invisible maze, panic spread fast—but Iruma was faster.
Swap—swish—shup!
Guided by Alice's sharp memory and Clara's magical paper scouts, Iruma raced through hidden corridors like a shadow through glass. His expression was cold, precise. His movements? Silent lightning.
Then—he stopped.
A wall stood before him, smooth and solid—but Iruma could feel it.
The presence. Kirio's mana.[Helped by ali san]
He placed a hand against the wall.
Click.
With a low rumble, a secret door opened.
Inside, Kirio sat upon a high-backed chair, legs crossed, smiling.
Behind him stretched a panoramic magical screen—an aerial view of the entire school. Students, staff, and battlers—every soul accounted for. Kirio was at the top, the eye of the storm.
Iruma's cold voice broke the silence, low and cutting:
"...What is this?"
Kirio swiveled the chair slowly, his usual cheery madness coloring his voice.
"A rat maze, Iruma-kun. And I've gathered every little rat in one big, beautiful trap."
He spread his arms like a showman.
"This is a gift of despair."
Iruma's eyes narrowed, but he said nothing.
Kirio stepped down and raised a hand. Without warning—a crimson flash.
A concussive blast shot toward Iruma.
BOOM!
The floor cracked, smoke burst, and Iruma's cloak exploded off his shoulder—burnt away by Kirio's level 9 magic.
Kirio grinned—until his expression froze.
Iruma's back… was clean.
No sigils. No family crest.
Not a single mark of demonhood.
Kirio's hand trembled.
"…You're human…"
Far away, a tremor pulsed through the air.
Baal... knew. The irregularity, the "surprise" of Sullivan's grandson—everything suddenly made sense.
Iruma met his gaze with eerie calm. His exposed skin still steaming, he walked forward.
Kirio's wild smile returned, twisted with manic energy as he let go of Iruma's collar and staggered back.
"So you really are… my enemy after all."
Flashback: The First Spark of Madness
Years ago, in a dim, gear-filled lab under Babyls, a much younger Kirio stood among hostile stares.
A room full of older demons glared him down. A blade was even drawn.
And Kirio? He smiled.
"Did that blade kill anyone? How did it feel?"
Even among monsters, Kirio was off. Wrong in a way that was too real.
Baal, calm and unreadable, watched from the back.
"What's your name, boy?"
Kirio explained it all: sneaking into the school during a party, his fascination with cruelty, the day he gave a girl his horn to apologize for a lost earring—only to make her scream in fear.
The room recoiled.
But Baal?
He laughed darkly and poured corrupted wine.
"You're not wrong. You're exactly what a demon should be."
He spoke of the old ways—chaos, violence, despair.
Demons had become soft. Babyls was proof.
So Baal offered a new path:
"Tear down the ranks. Turn the staircase into cliffs."
Kirio drank deeply.
Kirio now stood over Iruma, his voice high with euphoria.
"I've lit the fireworks. The parents will weep over the charred bodies of their brats. Even you—"
He sneered.
"I only let you in to see how far you'd fall into despair."
But Iruma didn't.
He stepped forward. Calm. Silent.
Then, wordlessly, Iruma reached behind Kirio—
—and began dismantling the Gabu shell powering the fireworks.
"W-What are you doing?" Kirio's voice cracked.
Iruma's answer was firm:
"There's no point in despair if it helps no one."
"That's why… I won't give up."
He didn't shout. He didn't cry.
He simply acted.
Kirio staggered, furious.
"Why!? You and I—we're the same! Quiet. Defensive. Ambitious—"
Iruma turned his head slightly, one eye glowing.
"You're a demon filthy drowning the world in sorrow."
"I'm a human who's learned how to swim in it."
"That makes us opposites, Kirio-."
The silence hung between them like a blade.
Iruma is not just an obstacle. He's the one thing Kirio can't corrupt.
Kirio stood still, pupils dilated, a storm of disbelief behind his smile.
"Why… won't you despair?"
"The Gabu device doesn't matter—the fireworks will detonate the moment the bell rings! Whether you remove them or not, Babyls will be gone!"
A barrier shimmered above them, pulsating with cursed energy—solid, suffocating.
Kirio spread his arms.
"You can't break through this barrier! It was built to survive the explosion itself!"
But Iruma didn't flinch.
He clenched his fists, his cold eyes unwavering.
"I hate seeing people hurt… and I hate even more that it's our battler's work being twisted to cause it."
He took a step forward, sword in hand.
"I'll stop it. I'll save them all—
—and I'll show them the real fireworks we promised."
A blur of steel slashed through the air—Iruma moved like a trained warrior, the weight of Sasuke's soul within him.
His sword Samuk gleamed with heat, and each strike cracked the floor, sending sparks against Kirio's barrier.
Clang! Slash! Spark!
Kirio dodged and countered, laughing between attacks, "You're really going to fight me? You, the soft-spoken fake demon?"
Iruma's blade cut again—deep into Kirio's shoulder.
But then—shhk!
The wound closed.
Kirio's body regenerated, sizzling with infernal magic.
"I'm immortal here, Iruma-kun! Demon are immortal Iruma kun. Only by battle they can die"
Yet Iruma kept pressing forward—silent, focused.
Slash after slash.
Strike after strike.
They exchanged not just attacks, but ideologies. Kirio's madness versus Iruma's unyielding heart.
Then—a flash of white light.
The voice of the Broadcast Battler echoed across Babyls:
"Thirty seconds until the end of the Main Festival!"
Kirio turned in reflex—just a flicker.
But Iruma moved.
"Alice! Clara!" he whispered in memory.
"Everyone's waiting for it!"
He dashed forward—too fast for Kirio to stop—and jumped onto the ledge of the massive viewing window.
The fireworks orb in his hand.
He twisted his ring to Ifrit Mode, red light blazing.
"Libera!"
A flaming spell shot upward—taking the orb with it—manifesting a great dragon of flame, swirling with crackling wings.
It soared—BOOM!—but slammed against the cursed barrier.
Crack!
A fissure.
Kirio stepped back, nervous now, though his voice was mocking.
"Stupid. That barrier could hold Sullivan's magic! You think a kid like you can break it!?"
"Ten seconds left, Iruma-kun. Get ready to watch your dream and friends burn."
Iruma looked down, his ring humming. Ali san i think its the time please.
Wait, Iru-boy please noooooo..
He remembered his grandfather's words—the gentle, warm warning.
"Only use this when you truly want to protect… because it'll unleash all the magic I poured into that ring."
Iruma closed his eyes.
Then opened them—sharpened with resolve.
"…Sorry, Grandpa and sorry, Ali san."
He raised his hand.
"PANDOLURA!!!"
A Level 10 - Yodh-class spell erupted.
His ring turned pitch black.
A demonic eye opened on it.
Wings of shadow burst from Iruma's back, expanding wide like a fallen angel.
Dark flames wrapped around the dragon—twisting it larger, wilder, more demonic.
Time slowed.
3…
The dragon charged, engulfed in crimson and black.
2…
Kirio's barrier shuddered, cracks spiderwebbing fast.
1…
CRAAAAASH!!!
With a roar that split the air like judgment, the dragon broke through—and at the final tick of the bell—
BOOOOOOM!!!
The firework exploded above Babyls—
a thousand flower-shaped lights illuminating the sky.
Red. Blue. Gold.
Hope.
Below, students gasped.
Teachers shielded their eyes.
Even Ameri, still sprinting toward the tower, looked up—eyes wide, heart pounding.
"He did it…" she whispered.
Clara squealed.
Alice clenched his fist in victory.
The sky was alive.
Kirio collapsed to his knees.
Smoke surrounded him. His face was wet—not with blood, but tears of rage and disbelief.
"No… NO! You risked everything! You could've died! This was reckless! Foolish! INSANE!"
He gripped the floor, cracking it beneath his fingers.
"You should've just watched it all fall… like me…"
Iruma stood tall, ring flickering with embers, breath heavy.
He looked down at Kirio.
"That's the difference between us."
"You wanted despair."
"I wanted to protect everyone."
Kirio looked up.
For the first time, his grin cracked.
"...We really aren't the same after all."