The entire arena held its breath.
Ilias stood at the mouth of the tunnel, eyes blazing gold, staff still hovering in the air beside Caspian's face where it had scratched his cheek.
Blood welled from the thin cut.
Caspian stared at those eyes—burning, inhuman, *terrifying*—and felt something cold crawl down his spine.
Fear.
Ilias didn't blink.
Didn't move.
Just stood there in the darkness, waiting.
"Repeat that shit again."
The words hung in the air.
No one spoke.
No one moved.
Then Ilias stepped forward.
Out of the tunnel.
Into the light.
---
His footsteps echoed across the ruined arena floor.
Slow. Deliberate. Unstoppable.
Caspian scrambled backward, still on the ground, healers frozen beside him.
"What... what are you—"
Ilias didn't answer.
Just kept walking.
The staff flew back to his hand, merging with the other half, becoming whole again.
Students whispered.
"What's he doing?"
"The fight's over—"
"Someone stop him—"
But no one moved.
Ilias reached Caspian.
Stood over him.
And in his mind, memories flooded back.
---
*Book 1.*
*The Entity's attack.*
*People screaming. Running. Dying.*
*Faces he knew. Faces he'd grown up with.*
*The kid who used to bully him at the Crescendia church. Dead.*
*The vendor who sold him food when he had no money. Possessed. Gone.*
*The girl who used to smile at him in the Morrows. Crushed beneath rubble.*
*And before that—*
*Before Kojo. Before the Morrows. Before he had a family.*
*An orphan. Alone.*
*A sister. Somewhere out there. He didn't know if she was alive.*
*A brother. Dead. Died in his arms. Too young. Too small.*
*People he couldn't protect.*
*People he'd failed.*
*Even with power—even Blessed—he couldn't save them.*
---
Ilias's head lowered.
His expression went blank.
Empty.
And when he spoke, his voice was quiet.
Calm.
Deadly.
"Put up your shield."
Caspian blinked, trembling. "What?"
Ilias's golden eyes lifted.
"Put. Up. Your. Shield."
Caspian stared at him, not understanding.
Ilias's voice didn't rise. Didn't waver.
"We're not under a duel anymore. I'm fighting to *kill* you."
The crowd gasped.
"I want to give your entire empire a *reason*," Ilias continued, stepping closer. "A reason to actually have that fight you promised."
Caspian's breath hitched.
"So put up your shield."
Caspian opened his mouth to speak—
Ilias's fist cracked across his face.
*BOOM.*
Caspian flew backward, crashing into the far wall, blood spraying from his nose.
The referee appeared, running toward them, voice shrill.
"YOU'VE ALREADY WON! WHAT IS THE *MEANING* OF THIS?!"
Ilias turned his head slowly, looked at her.
And his voice was ice.
"Stop me. If you can."
The referee froze.
She was Symphonic-level Tuned. Strong. Trained. An authority figure in this Academy.
But as she stared into those golden eyes, she felt it.
*He could kill me with a gesture.*
Even the smallest Blessed here could.
And this one?
This one was a *monster*.
She stepped back.
Then turned.
And *ran*.
---
Students erupted.
"He won! What is he *doing*?!"
"He's acting like he owns the place now!"
Tamir—Ilias's roommate—stood, voice cutting through the noise.
"This guy threatened his *entire planet*! How many of you would keep quiet about that?!"
Some students fell silent.
Others muttered, "It was just an empty threat. No reason to go this hard."
Zael stood beside Tamir, jaw tight, but said nothing.
He understood.
Even if it was extreme.
He *understood*.
---
Caspian pushed himself upright, blood dripping from his mouth, eyes wide with terror.
Ilias walked toward him.
"Put up your shield."
Caspian scrambled to his feet, threw up a shield—white light flickering desperately around him.
Ilias punched through it.
Hit Caspian in the face.
"Again."
Caspian stumbled back, threw up another shield.
Ilias punched through.
Hit his wrist.
"*Again*."
Shield.
Punch.
Break.
"*Again.*"
Shield.
Punch.
Break.
Over and over and *over*.
Caspian's hands shook. His Resonance flickered. His mind screamed.
*He's not stopping. He's not stopping. He's a MONSTER—*
---
Caspian saw an opening.
Threw shields around Ilias—surrounding him, trapping him.
Then ignited them.
Fire exploded inward, a roaring inferno designed to *incinerate*.
The crowd shielded their eyes from the heat.
When the flames died—
Ilias walked out.
Unharmed.
But his uniform's top was *gone*. Burned away. His torso exposed.
And across his chest—
Scars.
Massive. Jagged. Old.
A hole where he'd been *stabbed* in Book 1. The staff that had pierced him, driven through flesh and bone.
Season markings. Burns. Cuts from battles before he was Blessed.
Scars that hadn't healed.
*Permanent reminders.*
Ilias stared down at Caspian, golden eyes blazing.
"This fight doesn't end until one of us is *down*."
---
Caspian screamed.
"SOMEBODY *STOP HIM*!"
Ilias dashed forward.
Grabbed Caspian's head.
And *slammed* it into the arena floor.
*BOOM.*
The impact cracked the ground, dust exploding outward.
The Academy had built barriers around the arena—shields designed to protect watching students from Blessed-level fights.
Ilias grabbed Caspian's face.
And *jammed* it into the barrier.
Dragged it across.
The shield sparked and crackled, Caspian's skin scraping against pure Resonance, blood streaking behind him.
Ilias pulled him back.
Slammed him into the barrier again.
And again.
And *again*.
Vyra's fanclub watched in horror.
Some students turned away.
Others couldn't look away.
---
In the stands, the group with the bad reputation—the ones other students avoided—sat forward.
Their leader stood, grinning wide.
"After this match," he said to his crew, "find him. Bring him to me."
His members grinned back, excited.
---
Ilias pulled Caspian away from the barrier.
Walked toward the section where nobles sat.
He didn't even *know* they were nobles.
Just happened to be walking in that direction.
But as he *stepped on Caspian's head*—grinding it into the ground as he moved—
The nobles saw it as a *threat*.
"He's threatening *everyone*," one whispered.
---
Caspian threw up a shield between himself and Ilias.
"SOMEBODY *STOP* THIS GUY! HE'S GOING *MAD*!"
Ilias stepped on the arena floor.
It *tilted*.
Like an unbalanced table, the ground beneath them shifting, cracking, flipping.
Caspian lost his footing.
Ilias caught him.
Used him to *beat the floor*.
Slammed him into the ground once, twice, three times, each impact shattering stone.
Caspian wasn't apologizing.
Wasn't giving up.
Ilias caught him again.
And *threw* him.
Out of the arena.
Past the barrier.
Into open air.
---
Teachers at the edge of the arena stopped, staring.
"He just threw him *outside*—"
"The fight was supposed to stay *inside*—"
One teacher groaned. "They fought in the arena. And now Part 3 is going to be *worse*."
---
Outside the arena, Ilias landed beside Caspian.
Punched him.
Caspian flew ahead.
Ilias caught him mid-air.
Threw him into the ground.
A crater formed.
Ilias stared down at him, golden eyes cold.
*I'm going to use this guy to wreck the whole Academy.*
No games.
No mercy.
One goal.
*Kill him.*
---
Caspian was smart.
Desperate.
He put shields *close* to his body—skin-tight layers of hard light that absorbed just enough damage to keep him from dying instantly.
Ilias punched through them.
But Caspian *survived*.
Barely.
---
Inside Ilias's mind, in a space only he could access, Adi watched.
The small divine figure sat cross-legged in the void, observing through Ilias's eyes.
*His power,* Adi thought. *It's not just limitless elemental manipulation like other Blessed.*
*It's something else.*
*He removes LIMITS. All of them.*
*Limits on strength. Speed. Spirit. Gravity itself.*
*Anything that BINDS him—his power BREAKS it.*
*He doesn't understand it yet. Doesn't know what he's doing.*
*But his instincts do.*
*That's why he's moving like this. Why he can do things other Blessed can't.*
*He's demolishing someone trained from BIRTH.*
*Because he has no limits.*
*Only intent.*
Adi tilted his head, watching Ilias drag Caspian across the ground.
*What are you, Ilias Venn?*
*What did Orun-Fela see in you?*
---
Suddenly—
Shields of *earth* appeared.
Blocking Ilias from Caspian.
Caspian blinked, shocked. "Who—?!"
Ilias punched through the earth shield.
Shattered it.
But then—
*Hands*.
Massive hands made of stone and soil erupted from the ground, grabbing Ilias from all sides, wrapping around his arms, legs, torso.
Holding him in place.
Ilias snarled, struggling, Resonance flaring.
"LET ME *GO*!"
---
A voice cut through the chaos.
"Even Aeon himself felt your fight."
Ilias's head snapped up.
A woman stood at the edge of the destruction.
Young—maybe his age. Silver-white hair shimmering. Pale skin marked with faint glowing patterns. Slightly pointed ears.
And eyes with no pupils.
Just solid, molten *gold*.
She looked nineteen.
But the weight of her presence felt *ancient*.
"Vice Dean Saros," she said calmly. "And you need to stop."
Ilias pulled against the earth hands.
They cracked.
Saros's eyes narrowed.
"Impossible—"
Ilias *roared*.
The hands *shattered*.
He tore free, golden light blazing, and started walking toward Caspian again.
---
The ground beneath him *shifted*.
Gravity slammed into him like a falling mountain.
Drove him *down*.
Into the earth.
A crater formed—ten feet deep, the ground fractured and smoking.
And in the crater—
Ilias *stood*.
Slowly.
Struggling against the crushing weight.
But he *stood*.
The crowd went silent.
Someone whispered, "He's a monster."
Ilias lifted his head.
Golden eyes swept across the gathered teachers.
"Are you all going to gang up on me?"
No one answered.
"I'm *used* to this type of fight." His lips curved. "
---
In the observation room, a teacher muttered, "He's like the other *two* we have here."
The red-aura man grinned. "This one's worse."
---
The gravity released.
Ilias walked forward.
Toward Caspian.
Saros stepped into his path.
Her Resonance flared—a wall of power pressing against him.
Ilias stopped.
He could feel it.
*I can't win. Not against her.*
But he didn't step back.
Didn't lower his gaze.
Saros studied him.
Then spoke.
"Caspian made an empty threat."
Ilias's jaw tightened.
"Even if his father tried something, the Academy would defend Elyria. It was just words."
Ilias's fists clenched.
"When he was making that threat," he said, voice low, "why didn't you do *anything*?"
Silence.
"You only intervened because I'm actually going to *kill* him."
Saros was quiet for a moment.
Then nodded.
"Yes."
Ilias blinked.
"The boy needed to be taught a lesson," Saros said. "But we didn't think you meant it in a *literal* sense."
---
Teachers came.
Grabbed Caspian.
Carried him away.
Off campus.
Somewhere else.
Ilias watched them go.
Then looked around.
The arena was *destroyed*. Walls cracked. Floor shattered. Craters everywhere.
Saros followed his gaze.
"You shouldn't worry. The Academy is made from the crust of Aeon."
Ilias watched as the walls began to *heal*. Stone regenerating. Floors repairing. Like living wood growing back in real time.
"This won't affect you," Saros said. "We actually needed you to teach him a lesson."
She smiled faintly.
"Go enjoy Academy life. You've made a statement. Your life's about to get *really* interesting."
Ilias walked away.
Exhausted. Shirtless. Scars on display.
Zael and Tamir met him at the edge of the arena.
"Let's just go home," Zael said quietly.
Tamir was grinning, holding up his device.
"Dude! The *coolest* scenes from the fight are blowing up on aeon's internet!
He showed Ilias clips.
The Superman move. The transformation. The broken chains.
Ilias didn't respond.
Just kept walking.
---
In his mind, one thought echoed.
*I've made my statement.*
*There are predators here. Hiding in the shadows.*
*But they know now.*
*I can feel them.*
*I know they're there.*
*And I'm ready.*
---
In the observation room, the red-aura teacher watched Ilias disappear into the distance.
He grinned.
"Yeah. He's definitely mine."
---
In the stands, the rival gang leader watched too.
Still grinning.
"Find him," he said to his crew. "Bring him to me."