[The Void Arena — The Final Chance]
Captain Carod stood amidst the black-and-red embers of the arena, his heavy armor vibrating with a sound like a thousand angry hornets. He didn't just activate his system; he rewrote it.
"[TYPE SWITCH: LIGHTNING LEVEL 2 — INFERNO VOLT]!"
The blue and yellow electrical arcs that usually danced around his gauntlets were suddenly snuffed out. In their place, a terrifying, deep crimson lightning erupted from his chest-core. The bolts didn't just flicker—they charred the ground where they touched, smelling of ionized sulfur and raw power.
"The Captain is not holding back," Yoru noted, her green eyes reflecting the red storm. "He is directly using his strongest element. He wants to end this in a single heartbeat."
Nefa let out a low whistle, actually leaning back with a pitying look toward the center of the ring. "I'm feeling very bad for that Gladiator Bahamu. He's about to get completely roasted."
"Captain, control yourself!" Fraxy shouted, her hands glowing with white-green mana as she stabilized the barrier. "Don't do too much! You'll collapse the floor's stability!"
Gaia watched the red lightning with a grim respect. "That level of mana..."
"Yes," Neweland added, his voice heavy with gravity. "I can feel it. In this state, he is almost as strong as I am. The Arcon-level threshold is right there."
Ruta grunted, folding his arms. "Let's see what his electricity can do now. A Dark-type can eat shadows, but it can't eat a localized sun."
In the lower stands, the Z-rankers were speechless. Kokoi gripped the railing so hard the stone cracked. "Woah... I didn't know a Z-Elite could be this much strong. This isn't even the same league as us."
Goto sat trembling, his face pale as he felt the suffocating pressure of the Inferno Volt. He realized then that his arrogance had been a death-wish.
"Master Goto, are you okay?" Siyo asked, reaching out to his leader.
"What do you think?!" Goto snapped, his voice cracking. "What will happen to me if that lightning touches us? Stay there and be silent!"
Lilia leaned over the injured Saina Reidan, placing a comforting hand on her shoulder. "You can take a rest now, Saina. The Captain will finish him."
Cynthia watched the red lightning converge around Carod's fist. A rare, confident smile touched her lips. "It's over," she said simply.
Lapis clenched his jaw, his Honoured Eyes recording every spark. That mean when he was fighting with me, he was holding back that much power... he thought, his pride taking a massive hit. I was never even a threat to him.
But amidst the roaring thunder and the cheers, Techyon was looking at Cynthia. He saw the soft smile on her face—the same smile he remembered from a time before the flames.
After this, Techyon thought, his heart pounding harder than the lightning. After we clear this tension and this dungeon... I will confess to her. I'll tell her the truth. I am her lost brother.
Down in the arena, Bahamu raised his shield, but the red lightning was already melting the obsidian.
Carod's hands moved with mechanical precision. From the red lightning swirling around his palms, two jagged blades began to solidify. They weren't made of steel; they were literal, physical bolts of lightning shaped into Dual Red Sabers.
With a roar of grinding gears, he slammed the hilts of the two sabers together. They fused instantly into a Double-Edged Lightning Spear. Carod began to spin the weapon with such velocity that he disappeared behind a blurred disc of crimson energy.
"[INFERNO VORTEX]!"
The spinning spear created a localized hurricane of red electricity, drawing in the black flames of the arena like a vacuum.
"Useless!" Gladiator Bahamu rasped. The Guardian lunged forward, his obsidian greatsword glowing with a murderous dark light. He swung for Carod's neck, intending to cleave through the lightning itself.
But the moment the dark blade touched the perimeter of the red vortex, a massive discharge of Inferno Volt energy surged up the sword. Bahamu's entire armored frame stiffened as millions of volts of red electricity bypassed his armor and cooked his spectral core.
"What—?!" Bahamu's red visor flickered. He was paralyzed mid-swing.
Before the Guardian could even process the shock, Carod vanished. A crack of thunder shook the entire dungeon as the Captain reappeared directly in front of Bahamu's chest. He held a swirling orb of concentrated red plasma in his right hand.
"[INFERNO SPHERE]!"
Carod slammed the ball of pure red electricity into Bahamu's breastplate. The impact didn't explode outward; it imploded inward, locking Bahamu's joints in a localized magnetic field. The Gladiator dropped his sword, his body trembling as the red lightning stitched him to the spot.
But Carod wasn't finished. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed a second, smaller sphere high into the dark clouds of the Void above the arena.
He looked up, his metallic visor reflecting the darkening sky. "[INFERNO BOLT RAINING STORM]!"
The sphere in the sky detonated, acting as a lightning rod. Thousands of jagged, red bolts began to rain down from the ceiling of the Void, each one aimed with heat-seeking precision at the paralyzed Gladiator.
"Look at the sky!" Siyo shouted, shielding his eyes. "The entire ceiling is turning red!"
Cynthia stood at the railing, her hair whipping in the wind of the storm. She watched the red bolts descend like the fingers of a vengeful god. This wasn't just a duel anymore—it was an execution.
"[INFERNO RUSH: OVERDRIVE]!" Carod's voice didn't come from his throat anymore; it erupted from every speaker in the arena.
In a fraction of a nanosecond, the singular image of the Captain shattered. To the observers in the stands, it looked like a mirror had been smashed across the battlefield. Suddenly, there wasn't just one Carod. There were thousands—then tens of thousands—then a million red-lightning silhouettes, each one clutching a dual-edged spear.
They didn't just move; they existed everywhere at once.
SPARK. FLASH. CRACK.
Each "phantom" delivered a precise, high-voltage strike. A million spears pierced Gladiator Bahamu from every angle—under his armplates, through his visor, into his greaves—shredding the black flames of his body into nothingness..
[The Spectator Stands — The Final Strike]
"What... what am I even looking at?" Kokoi stammered, his eyes unable to track the sheer number of afterimages. "Is he cloning himself?!"
"No," Yoru whispered, her hand trembling as she gripped her own blade. "He's moving so fast that he's occupying a million points in space simultaneously. It's not cloning... it's absolute speed."
Nefa stood up, her usual playful smirk replaced by a look of profound respect. "The Captain just went beyond speed. He's breaking the laws of physics. That Gladiator isn't being fought... he's being erased."
Lapis watched the status windows glitch and tear. "The mana output... it's off the charts. He's burning his entire core for this one second of perfection."
Fraxy held her breath, her healing mana ready. "Captain... please, don't break your own heart to win this."
Gaia and Neweland exchanged a grim look. They knew the cost of such a move. Cynthia stood at the very edge of the platform, the red light reflecting in her eyes. "He's doing it for the team," she said, her voice steady but filled with emotion. "He's making sure the path is clear."
Techyon couldn't look away. Amidst the million strikes, he saw the obsidian armor of Bahamu finally shatter. The "Black Flame Commander" let out one final, distorted roar before his entire form was vaporized into a cloud of red and black cinders.
As the million Carods merged back into one, the Captain stood in the center of the crater, his armor smoking and his red lightning fading to a dull grey. He stand still as the "First Floor Cleared" notification flashed across the sky.