Dust still lingered in the air from the last matches, caught in the shafts of late sunlight streaming through the high windows. The crowd of cadets leaned forward, half-excited, half-exhausted, their uniforms rumpled and bandaged from earlier fights.
"Alright," Solarius' voice cut through the noise, cold and commanding, "next match."
His gaze swept over the cadets like a spotlight, pausing on four figures who stepped reluctantly forward.
"Team E: Renji and Kaede."
The boy with the spiky hair—Renji—stretched his neck with a cocky grin, though his hands trembled faintly at his sides. He had been practicing Sonic Pulse since morning, and his ears still rang with feedback.
Kaede, tall, sharp-eyed, and almost skeletal in build, walked beside him with stiff shoulders. Black tendrils of shadow twitched faintly at her heels, like disobedient pets straining against a leash.
"Versus Team F: Emi and Satoshi."
The girl with rainbow-streaked hair stepped forward, twirling her pen-like prism device. Emi's smile was easy but unreadable, her colorful Idol a sharp contrast to the gloom she walked into. Beside her, Satoshi cracked his knuckles, his forearms thick and gleaming faintly with the sheen of his Iron Grasp Idol.
The crowd muttered. Nobody expected this fight to be worth watching. Kaede and Renji were infamous for being unstable. Emi had some talent, but never made waves. And Satoshi? He was muscle, nothing more.
Still, Solarius' sharp eyes glinted. "Scenario: Police and Robbers. Team E defends the building. Team F attempts to escape within fifteen minutes. Begin."
---
The whistle blew.
Instantly, Renji screamed, "Let's shake things up!" His hands clapped together, a ripple of sound exploding outward. Windows shattered. The air reverberated, waves of pressure bouncing erratically off the steel walls. The cadets watching covered their ears, groaning.
"Too much output!" someone hissed.
Kaede snarled at him, her shadows leaping from the ground in jagged whips. They lashed wildly, tangling with one another, even catching Renji's ankle before she yanked them back.
"You're sabotaging me!" Renji barked.
"Control your noise, idiot!" she spat back.
Meanwhile, Satoshi charged through the building's hallways, his Iron Grasp coating his arms in metallic sheen. Each swing of his fists caved the walls, chunks of plaster raining down as he barreled forward like a bulldozer.
"Watch it, dumbass!" Emi's voice rang from behind as a wall nearly collapsed onto her. She raised her prism, refracting light into sharp beams that ricocheted off mirrors planted in the arena. But her timing was off. A sudden flare blinded both teams.
"Fuck!" Renji shouted, clutching his face.
The cadets watching roared with laughter. The match was descending into a circus.
---
Then, something changed.
Kaede's shadows twitched, jerking violently as if they had a mind of their own. One tendril brushed against the vibrating floor, resonating with Renji's uncontrolled sound waves. Her eyes widened.
"…Wait. Do that again."
Renji blinked. "What?"
"Hit the floor—now!"
He stomped. A pulse rippled outward, sound waves humming through the building. This time, Kaede flung her shadows directly into the vibration. The threads sang, trembling with sonic resonance, lashing out faster, sharper. They cut across the hallways like vibrating wires, rattling the walls.
Satoshi skidded to a halt, raising his iron-coated arms just in time to block a slashing shadow that screeched like a blade.
"The hell—?!"
Emi's eyes widened. Her light scattered across the vibrating shadows, catching edges, bouncing unpredictably. The building lit up in fractured rainbows—shards of prism light weaving with Kaede's black threads.
The cadets gasped. For a single moment, the chaos transformed into terrifying harmony.
Light, shadow, and sound spiraled together, unpredictable and overwhelming.
---
Satoshi roared, punching through a shadow-thread, sparks flying. "You think flimsy strings can stop this?!" He swung again, collapsing half a wall, forcing the shadows back.
Renji winced at the feedback of his own sonic pulses, his ears bleeding faintly. "Can't hold it—!"
Kaede gritted her teeth. "Then don't hold—push it harder!"
Across the room, Emi steadied her prism. For once, her playful smile faltered into concentration. She bent the rainbows, aligning the fractured beams into blinding bursts. "Satoshi—cover me!"
He charged forward, taking shadows head-on, buying her precious seconds. Emi's light bent, refracted, shredded through the vibrating air.
For an instant, it looked like a kaleidoscope had exploded in the room.
---
"NOW!" Renji shouted. His sonic pulse boomed, Kaede's shadows slashed outward in perfect sync. The waves and threads amplified each other, creating a cage of vibrating black lines glowing with rainbow light.
Satoshi struggled inside, roaring as cracks spread over his iron-clad arms. Emi's prism flashed brilliantly, breaking the cage just as it closed. The explosion of light and sound sent everyone sprawling.
The cadets screamed, shielding their eyes. Dust rained down, the mock building shaking on its foundations.
When it cleared, Satoshi was on his knees, coughing blood, but still conscious. Emi was pale, her prism cracked in her hand, but she raised it defiantly.
"Robbers… escape," Solarius' calm voice announced, though his tone was thoughtful. "Match to Team F."
---
The arena was silent for a long moment.
Then whispers rippled through the cadets.
"Did you see that combo?"
"Kaede's shadows… they were singing with the sound."
"And Emi—she turned chaos into—into art."
Even Akihiro, sitting with perfect posture, had leaned forward slightly during the match. Now he reclined again, lips pressed thin, golden aura flickering faintly.
Emi smiled faintly, brushing dust off her uniform. "Well… that was fun."
Kaede's shadows twitched erratically, straining against the floor. She clenched her fists, sweat dripping down her face. Renji wiped blood from his ears, his grin feral despite the pain.
"Guess we're not complete trash after all," he muttered.
Solarius stepped forward, his golden presence filling the arena. His eyes lingered on the four cadets—not with scorn, but with calculation.
"Remember this match," he said, his voice low but carrying. "Not for its chaos. Not for its mistakes. But for what it revealed. Potential."
His gaze locked briefly on Kaede and Emi, then shifted toward Renji and Satoshi.
"One day, if you survive your own recklessness… you might stand among the greats."
The cadets murmured, shuffling uneasily. For the first time, the class realized the spotlight wasn't fixed only on Akihiro.
---
As the cadets filed out, Emi smirked quietly, walking beside a limping Satoshi. Kaede lingered behind, shadows still twitching as if eager to replay the chaos. Renji clutched his ears, grinning like a lunatic.
The match had ended in victory for Team F, but the echoes of what they had unleashed lingered in every watching mind.
And somewhere, deep inside the silence after the storm, an unspoken question stirred:
What happens when chaos finds control?