Chapter 16: Finale

  Carris’ voice echoed across the sports field.

  “In the final, we have: Darek on the left side… and on the right…”

  The name hit like a blow.

  For a moment, everything went silent. Then a murmur rippled through the ranks.

  Darek stepped onto the sports field where the final would take place, his shoulders heavy. The ground consisted of compacted, light-brown sand, crisscrossed with countless footprints. Under the afternoon sun, it shimmered like a flickering arena, while the wind pushed fine veils of dust across the surface. A narrow circle of white markings outlined the combat zone, surrounded by makeshift stands of metal and wood.

  This can’t be real… of all people, my opponent gets disqualified…So much for the ticket…

  While barely a hundred spectators had watched the fight against Joran, more than two hundred students now crowded the stands. A mix of voices, footsteps, rustling paper cups and jackets filled the air—curiosity and tension blending into a restless hum.

  Yet no one here truly had a favorite.

  On one side stood Darek—the guy with the “gay pillow,” who had beaten the popular Joran.On the other stood someone whose name even the teachers barely dared to say aloud.

  Even before the Anima Resonance, he had been infamous. To this day, many students didn’t understand why he was still allowed to attend this school instead of sitting behind bars.

  Ah… it’s him.I’ve heard about him before.

  ???

  He had transferred to Kento Academy the previous year.

  Some claimed he had been expelled from his former school and no other institution had wanted him. Others whispered that he had come straight from prison, having served a sentence. No one knew what was true.

  There were countless stories about him—some exaggerated, others perhaps disturbingly accurate. The most famous one concerned his very first day.

  The teacher had called him into the classroom to introduce him.

  “And this, dear class, is your new classmate, De—”

  He never got to finish.

  Slow footsteps echoed across the floor.

  Clack.Clack.‘Clack.

  Black leather boots reaching up to the shins.

  Each step carried a hollow echo.

  Whispering spread through the classroom as students caught sight of him—tense, hushed murmurs from those who instinctively sensed that something was wrong. Tattoos were visible beneath the undershirt he wore, scars lining his arms.

  “He… he must be in a gang,” someone whispered.

  But he didn’t look at anyone.

  No greeting. No words.

  He simply kept walking—toward the back, toward the last row.

  There he stopped, his gaze fixing on the student seated by the window.

  One glance.

  A barely perceptible nod—like a wordless command.

  The message was clear.

  A second later: a precise kick against the desk. No rage. No outburst. Just a quiet threat.

  The boy jumped up, stumbled, and fled.The new student sat down, propped his boots on the desk, and leaned back.The classroom fell silent. Only the hum of the neon lights remained.

  Beneath his thick, striking eyebrows lay a gaze that was cold, unwavering, filled with restrained violence.

  Say the wrong word, and it’s your last.

  Then he lit a cigarette.The teacher needed several seconds to collect himself.“Put that cigarette out immediately. Smoking is not permitted here,” he managed, stepping closer.

  He reached for the cigarette.

  A mistake.

  The new student’s hand shot forward and grabbed the teacher’s arm.A grip so tight that the man dropped to his knees instantly.Then came a sound—wrong.The crack of bone.

  And the teacher’s scream, filled with pain so visceral that none of the students would ever forget it.

  “Don’t touch me,” he said quietly.No anger. No haste.Just absolute certainty.That was how his first day ended.

  When the police arrived and parents were called in afterward, the entire class remained silent. No one spoke about what had happened.

  Only one thing lingered:He had come alone.No parents.No one else.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  From then on, his name was only spoken in whispers.

  The boy who broke a teacher’s wrist—and sat in class again the next day as if nothing had happened.

  He carried the reputation of someone without limits.Yet he wasn’t a simple brute.He didn’t bully anyone. He stayed passive. He never targeted the weak.He possessed a strange sense of justice—twisted, selfish perhaps, but uncompromising.

  A loner.A wolf without a pack.

  ???

  None of his fights in the tournament lasted long.There was smoke—and when it cleared, he was already standing there as the victor.Now he, too, stepped onto the field and walked toward Darek.He was around 1.90 meters tall, muscular, his tattooed torso faintly visible beneath his undershirt. Short black hair. A gaze that made it seem like nothing in this world could touch him.

  Always the same leather boots.Always the cigarette in the corner of his mouth.

  People said it was his Soulbound.The ultimate delinquent.The school’s gangster.His name was Dex Vincent.But no one called him that. To everyone, he was simply Dex—the youngest Yakuza.

  Carris’ voice snapped the audience out of their murmuring.“In the final, we have Darek on the left side, Dex on the right. The winner will receive one of the coveted Soul Objects provided by the city. I expect a fair fight.”

  For a moment, the sports field seemed to shrink.

  Conversations died instantly. Some students lowered their eyes automatically just from hearing his name. Even the teachers looked more tense than usual, as if they were sitting in the front row of an accident they couldn’t stop.

  Darek took a deep breath.

  Dex, huh.Everyone’s heard of him at some point.His stories are even more famous than Joran’s.Whether they’re true is another matter.Guess we’ll find out.And since the sleep-in ticket is off the table anyway… I might as well win.I wanted to train properly sooner or later.

  This actually works out.

  He sighed quietly.“Still a shame…”“Begin!” Carris shouted.

  The fight started.

  For the first time, Darek gave his opponent his full attention. Carris’ words echoed in his mind: Locate. Analyze. Evaluate.His Soulbound is probably the cigarette.That’s how he creates those smoke walls…

  Dex looked at him with boredom, took a deep drag from his cigarette—and drowned the entire field in thick smoke.

  The students in the stands began to murmur.“I wonder who’s going to win… Darek’s no joke either.”“Yeah, but why is he wearing his Soulbound passively? He should summon it already…”

  Darek was completely engulfed by smoke. He could barely see his own hand in front of his face.

  A short, confident laugh escaped him as he thought:Iris, did you know that humans willingly inhale disgusting stuff that does nothing but bring disease and death?

  “Really? Wow… you humans are genuinely suicidal,” Iris replied dryly.

  Darek grinned inwardly.

  Yeah… some of them even step into the ring with me.

  Then a gust rose from the depths of the fog.Not a random breeze. Not an accident.A massive violent gust of air—as if the sky itself had swung.The wind tore across the field, swept the smoke away, and ripped it off the arena in one brutal pull, as if it had never existed at all. Silence.

  And then everyone saw what was left behind.No one understood what they were seeing.The students’ eyes flew open—shock, disbelief, panic. Some screamed. Others stumbled backward. A few just ran.

  “What… what is that?!”“Are those… wings?!” “Wasn’t his Soulbound a pillow?!”

  Ben swayed, bracing a hand against the wall like he had to check whether reality was still real. Carris, meanwhile, stood as if turned to stone. His gaze was dark, his voice barely more than a murmur:

  “Impossible… is that his Soulbound? No… what else could it be? A Soul Object? Negative. I would recognize one. A pact, maybe? But that doesn’t fit either. A being with wings like those… is completely unknown to me.”

  Darek stood in the midst of the scattered dust, upright and calm—no longer the same student from seconds ago. Now he radiated confidence. Two enormous, pitch-black wings jutted from his shoulder blades. The sight of them alone forced respect.

  Completely unfazed, Darek aimed his words at Dex, almost mocking:

  “Put the cigarette out. It’s unhealthy anyway.”

  He stretched out his hand, letting red sand spill from his palm. Then he beat his wings again. The dust surged forward.

  Darek only whispered one word:

  “Fear.”

  Like a storm, the red cloud hit Dex head-on. The students held their breath—and then cheering erupted.

  “How badass is he?!”

  “Since when can Darek do that?!”

  “Where the hell is his gay pillow, and why can he still do the dust thing?!”

  Carris shook his head as if he couldn’t process it.

  “He’s already awakened his Soulbound… it reached the second stage… and he did that alone, in such a short time. How is that possible? I need to keep an eye on him. And reevaluate him—completely.”

  The red dust flew straight into Dex’s face.

  Dex didn’t even try to dodge.

  The cloud hit him dead-on. When the dust finally thinned, Dex looked exactly the same as before—equally indifferent, equally serious.

  Was the dose too weak? Why isn’t he showing fear?“I’m not afraid,” Dex said quietly. “I lost it a long time ago.”

  What an emo.No fear, huh… He says it like it’s nothing.What happened to him that he can just claim something like that?

  For a moment, Darek didn’t feel superior anymore. Only a dull unease in his chest.

  This guy wasn’t just strong.

  He was broken.

  And then Dex suddenly charged.

  The force of his jump kicked up dust from the ground. It felt like he’d crossed some invisible boundary.

  His speed was inhuman.

  With a motion so fast the eye could barely follow, his fist shot forward.

  Not crude and uncontrolled like a thug.Short. Clean. Brutal.Darek instinctively raised his arms—but the punch hit like a sledgehammer and slipped through his guard like water through a net. The air itself trembled from the impact.

  Darek was hurled backward.

  He flew—then stabilized himself midair with a controlled flap of his wings and slid several steps across the sand.

  He gasped, and his Soulbound flared briefly in his chest, absorbing the damage.

  What… how could he get that fast?That punch… it wasn’t just strong—it was perfectly placed.If my Soulbound hadn’t swallowed that, I’d be done. Just dead.

  His arms trembled slightly. His lungs burned.

  The difference between us is bigger than I thought.This isn’t a small test fight anymore.I need to focus.

  “Fear!” Darek shouted again, sending a second cloud straight at him.

  Dex looked unimpressed.

  Again he rushed in—his second strike aimed for Darek’s liver. The blow was knife-sharp, purposeful, mercilessly precise.

  In the split second before impact, Darek saw the tattoos pulse—as if they were keeping Dex alive.

  What was that?

  Then—fist.

  Wing.

  Wind and dust slammed into each other.

  The shockwave almost knocked spectators out of their seats. Carris grabbed onto something.

  “This isn’t student-level anymore…”

  Darek barely managed to block with one of his wings. Even then, he was shoved backward—less than before, but still forced to beat his wings again to keep from losing balance.

  “Ahh—shit—come on!” he yelled, retreating as his chest lit up again.

  I need distance.If I fly into the sky, I can see better.

  But the moment Darek made the first wingbeat and lifted just a step off the ground, Dex was already in front of him—swinging again, this time with his left arm.

  With iron force, Dex grabbed Darek’s leg.

  His fingers clamped like a vise, like he meant to grind the bone to powder.

  Then he jumped—and spun around his own axis.

  The movement was horrifying. Cruel.

  It reminded Darek of a crocodile’s death roll, dragging prey into ruin.

  Darek was whipped around and slammed into the ground with full force.

  The impact stole the air from his lungs.

  This time, Darek watched closely—really watched—and saw one of Dex’s tattoos flare in the instant of impact.

  Analyze… analyze…

  He forced himself to stay clear-headed despite the pain.

  Then his eyes snapped to Dex’s body.

  The tattoos were clear now: a snake, a crocodile, a turtle, a cat—and several others.

  They all glowed faintly, each one lighting up at the exact moment Dex attacked.

  And Darek understood immediately.

  The first blow—unyielding, crushing—like the raw power of a snapping turtle.

  The second—deadly, precise—like a snake’s strike.

  The third—merciless, brutal—like the death roll of a crocodile.

  And the way he advanced without hesitation, ignoring the red dust—the fearless calm of a cat.

  In that moment, it became obvious:

  Dex’s Soulbound wasn’t just the cigarette.

  His tattoos were Soulbounds too—subtle, but powerful.

  And together, they made him unpredictable.

  That’s it.It’s the fearlessness of a cat… or the confidence.I need to try something other than fear.

  “Iris… guide me. I need time,” Darek whispered, pulling himself together inside.

  Iris’ voice echoed calmly in his head:

  “Then you owe me a fact.”

  “Understood,” Darek muttered.

  In that second, he could literally feel it—his soul being drained to keep all those borrowed powers running at once.

  Darek’s gaze sharpened with concentration. He straightened.

  And Iris instantly fed him the direction of the next strike:

  “Upper right—diagonal inward. Watch the rotation. He’s trying to tilt you left.”

  Darek reacted immediately, stepping back with precision—just in time.

  Dex started to speak. He looked a little less bored and condescending now than before.

  “Mmh… a new trick?” he said. “You’re reacting much faster… huh.”

  For a brief moment, Darek caught his eyes—and there it was.

  A shimmer so thin you could miss it.

  But it was alive.

  A spark dancing somewhere between frenzy and joy.

  Then Dex called out:

  “I’ve never been able to cut loose like this for so long!”

  His voice vibrated with something that wasn’t just excitement.

  It made Darek’s skin crawl.

  That wasn’t normal “I like fighting” joy.

  That was liberation.

  Shit… he feels like a bear that’s been holding back its whole life so it doesn’t rip humans apart…and now, finally, he gets to fight another bear.

  Every muscle in Dex’s body screamed unrestrained power—pure, honest violence.

  And Darek realized this wasn’t a duel anymore.

  It was an outbreak.

  In that same moment, Dex sprinted forward again—fast as a predator on the hunt.

  Darek blinked, disbelief and desperation mixing in him:

  What the hell is someone like that even doing with the Supporters?Someone like him belongs in offense—right at the front, not in a support group.If he’s already like this, what will he become if they actually train him properly… if they give him freedom, purpose, more power…

  Carris nodded grimly and muttered to himself:

  “So that’s it. Two Soulbounds… that explains a lot. We only listed the cigarette until now. With this discovery, he’s being transferred straight to offensive-class Soulbound carriers.”

  Darek felt his heart pound harder.

  He knew it now—he was fighting on a completely new level.

  Against an opponent whose abilities dwarfed everything he’d seen so far.

  Good, Darek thought, inhaling slowly.

  The sand under his feet suddenly felt heavier—like the entire arena was waiting on his decision.

  If I lose here, it won’t be because I treated it lightly.