Yara slammed her foot down, and the rocks responded instantly. "Rock Echo Art, Third Form: Reverse Earth Vibration!" The arena trembled beneath her feet, a solid aura condensed around her body, and she surged toward Ratsu like an indomitable torrent of concentrated power.
Ratsu, on the other hand, didn't raise his sword. Instead, he offered a mocking smile and took a deep breath.
"Flame Echo Art, First Form: Spark of Explosion!" The ground exploded beneath him. A suffocating heat and immense pressure erupted, as if the air itself had ignited. The two forces collided, and Yara stumbled backward, her feet slipping, but she dug her blade into the earth to steady herself.
Ratsu chuckled, craning his neck lazily. "You're solid... but you trust the earth a little too much." Yara retorted angrily, running her hand over her sword blade to coat it with a thick black layer. "Shut up! Rock Resonance!" It formed a shield capable of absorbing shocks no matter how powerful. Ratsu clenched his fist, and an echo around him flared with a terrifying crimson hue. It wasn't just a wave, but a violent pulse carrying enough pressure to melt iron.
Coach Tera watched silently, analyzing Ratsu's dazzling moves and trying to figure out Yara's path to victory in this fight, which was no longer a simple test. But behind him, Ren's attention was focused on something else entirely. That strange ripple... the dark aura he had sensed moments before hadn't disappeared; it had moved.
Ren calmly tightened his grip on his sword, took a step back, and slipped through the crowd as coldly as a ghost, following the sudden void in the air. His intuition led him directly to the bamboo grove behind the school. There, the silence wasn't just quiet... it was "the death of sound."
Among the dense bamboo stalks, Ren found a masked figure standing with its back to him. "Those features aren't friendly anymore... You're late in catching up with me, Shigami's descendant," the masked figure said in a distorted voice. "And you're not a student," Ren replied coldly, his hand still gripping his sword.
The masked man gave a short, dry laugh. "No... and you're just a survivor." The next moment, something that bore no resemblance to an echo erupted from the mask. A sticky, nauseating black aura swirled around him, as if the place had lost its voice and the life had been sucked from its air. It was "The Noise."
The man tilted his head. "By the way, my name is Karen."
Karen drew a black katana blade, devoid of any luster, as if it absorbed the light around it. He shot forward with unnatural speed; his sword strike wasn't heavy, but it was empty—as if it were erasing the air in its path.
Ren glided smoothly, avoiding the fatal cut. "The Art of Water Echo, Form One: Flowing Spring." Though he dodged the blade's main trajectory, the Noise-laden edge of the katana grazed his abdomen. Ren stumbled backward, blood seeping from the fresh gash Karen's blade had cut into his clothes and skin.
"Not the pleasure of meeting you," Ren said, pressing against the wound and shooting forward like an arrow. "The Art of Water Echo, Form Four: Cleaving the Water's Surface!" Ren's blade began its descent from above, scraping against the side of the masked man's face and shattering the left half of his mask, then continued its smooth motion to plunge deep into the shoulder area.
Ren stepped back and drew his sword, while Karen chuckled, his voice distorted from behind the remnants of his shattered mask. "Impossible... When did your blade reach my face? Never mind."
Ren froze, a terrifying sensation freezing the blood in his veins. The deep cut he'd made in Karen's shoulder... was healing before his very eyes, as if the cells of his body were shaking and rebuilding themselves in seconds.
"What is this?" Ren whispered, shocked. Karen slowly approached, a dark, decaying glow emanating from his chest. "We don't die like you... We are the Hollows. This noise is what keeps us alive."
Karen lunged for a fatal blow, but before his blade could touch Ren's neck... BOOM!!! The ground between them exploded as if a meteorite had fallen from the sky. A deafening crash shook the entire bamboo forest, and fragments of rock flew in every direction.
Ren recoiled, coughing, and shielded his face from the wind. As the thick cloud of dust slowly dissipated, a massive shadow loomed before him, standing like a mountain. It was Coach Terra, his raw metal blade embedded in the cracked earth beneath him.
A few meters away, Karen stood, having taken a slight step back, but something was missing. His right hand, severed completely at the wrist, had fallen away and turned to ash, vanishing in the wind. Ren's pupils widened in shock.
"Enough," Terra said, his voice a chilling calm, his eyes blazing with a murderous intensity no one had ever witnessed.
Karen didn't cry out in pain, nor did he bleed normally. Instead, he stared coldly at his severed wrist. A sticky, sickening sound emanated from it, and the cut wound twitched wildly, black threads sprouting and intertwining. In less than two seconds... a new hand sprouted in its place, perfectly intact, as if it had never been severed. Ren gasped, his foot involuntarily taking a step back.
Tera surveyed the scene, his voice harsh. "Instant, complete regeneration... and the quick thinking that made you sacrifice your hand to save your head from my sudden attack." He narrowed his eyes, his tone colder than ice. "You're not just some dumb ghost, or a raging monster of deformed beings. This complete consciousness... you're the Catastrophe of Nothingness."
Ren swallowed hard. Hollows were familiar monsters, but Catastrophes of Nothingness were their leaders, living nightmares taught in school legends.
Tera continued, his eyes fixed on the enemy. "It's been a very long time since I faced someone of your caliber... Does this mean your king, Kaishin Otsu, has stirred?"
Ren's heart pounded. He froze at the sound of the name. A cold bead of sweat trickled down his temple; the aura of the word alone carried the chill of death. "Kaishin Otsu...?" Karen smiled from behind the cracked remnants of his mask, his voice colder. "So you still tremble at the mention of His Majesty's name, then, Terra... or should I say: Rock Peg?" Karen tilted his head sarcastically. "I hear you've finally risen, taken your place among the elite Resonance users... congratulations on that pathetic title." Karen laughed, his voice muffled, as if its registers were overlapping. "But, Great Rock Peg... did you tell the boy how his father trembled while Aclus and I slaughtered his family?"
Ren's heart raced! It felt as if it would burst from his chest. His blood ran cold, and his grip on his sword trembled. Aclus... another name etched into his nightmares for years.
Karin continued, his venomous gaze fixed on Ren. "You don't belong among the weak, Shigami's offspring. His Majesty sees in you what he didn't see in your brothers' corpses. Join us... Let us fill the emptiness in your heart with endless noise, and then... you'll never feel pain again."
"Enough barking!" Tera cut him off with a fury that shook the forest. Whoosh! A massive ringing wave erupted from his body, splitting the air and causing the bamboo stalks to bend and groan violently. Tera looked down at Karin, his eyes as cold as an ant's, and said in a commanding tone that crushed what little remained of Karin's pride, "Did I give you permission to open your mouth?... Your chatter is an affront to my ears, and the only place for noise is beneath my feet."
"Commander Tera..." A familiar voice panted from behind. The fog parted to reveal two shadows. It was Ratsu and Yara, who had managed to sneak up and come. They stopped beside Ren, shock etched on their faces.
"Ren... oh my god, you're bleeding!" Yara gasped in fear, her hands trembling violently. Ignoring his surprise, Ratsu stepped forward and stood at the side of Master Tera, alert, though beads of sweat began to gather on his forehead. "For heaven's sake, tell me what this is? You look like you need help here, Captain."
Karin emitted a black aura that sent shivers down Ratsu's spine, as if the noise seeped into his bones. Yara stood to protect the lying Ren, her chest heaving as she gripped her sword. "This pressure... it's suffocating me. I can barely breathe."
Tera placed his large, warm hand on Ratsu's head and said calmly, "Don't be afraid. I'm with you, and I'll protect you." The look of shock vanished from Ratsu's face, replaced by a sudden calm. Tera turned to his three students, and just as suddenly, the harsh anger in his expression disappeared, replaced by a calm, confident smile. He straightened his posture and coolly brushed the dust from his shoulder.
"Looks like my students are watching me now," he said in a booming voice, brimming with pride. "Sorry, folks... I'll have to show off a little today."
He took a step forward and closed his eyes. Suddenly... the wind died down. The birds fell silent. Even the forest itself seemed to hold its breath in reverence.
The students felt something they had never experienced before. It wasn't noise... it was the sensation that the earth, the trees, and the air began to sing a single, harmonious melody. The black noise surrounding Karen began to shrink and fade, as if recoiling from its absolute opposite. The ground beneath Terra's feet turned to a solid substance that glowed with a faint light, and his massive sword began to vibrate at a frequency so high it was invisible to the naked eye.
Tera opened his golden eyes and uttered the forbidden words: "Resonance: The Eternal Mountain's Heart!" He fixed his eyes on Karen and said in a loud and clear voice:
"This is the resonance your masters fear, Karen. Let's see if your immortality will withstand the weight of the mountains."