The air crackled with energy, thick and suffocating. Kazuki and Kairyuuha stood side by side, their eyes locked on Deyrith, the twisted sage. His twisted grin grew wider, bloodlust swirling in his every movement as he conjured a lightning lance, crackling with potent energy.

  “You’ve come this far, but you’re still just children,” Deyrith mocked, twirling the lance in his hands, eyes flicking from Kazuki to Kairyuuha. “I’ll enjoy dissecting you.”

  Kazuki’s grip on his weapon tightened. Kairyuuha’s form was already brimming with dark energy, his blue and red eyes glowing, reflecting the intense power surging within him.

  “We don’t care about your experiments,” Kairyuuha’s voice boomed, shaking the air. “We’re here to stop you.”

  With that, they dashed forward together.

  Kairyuuha teleported mid-air, his figure flickering in a blur. He appeared above the sage in a split second, slashing down at the lightning lance. The sage reacted, dodging just in time, the crackling energy from the lance sending sparks in every direction.

  Kazuki followed swiftly, using the opening to slide under the sage's defense, slashing at his leg. A deep gash appeared. Deyrith hissed, his body recoiling, but in a heartbeat, he leaped back into the air.

  “Foolish children!” he snarled, launching a flurry of light rays at them. The beams crackled, lighting up the gloomy area with blinding intensity.

  Kairyuuha and Kazuki dodged in perfect unison, their movements like a coordinated dance. But then—one of the rays curved too close, grazing Kairyuuha’s shoulder. He kicked the incoming ray away mid-air, his speed almost incomprehensible.

  In an instant, Kairyuuha teleported again, appearing in front of Deyrith with a flurry of strikes, aiming for his head. But the sage regenerated instantly, the wound closing as if it were never there.

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  Kazuki and Kairyuuha exchanged a glance, silently understanding. They knew they had to push harder. They were fighting an enemy whose regeneration seemed limitless, but they couldn’t stop. Not now.

  Kazuki lunged, but was kicked away, his body crashing into the ground. Blood splattered from his side as the sage's lightning lance sliced across him.

  “Brother!” Kairyuuha shouted, his voice crackling with fury. He immediately teleported to Kazuki’s side, scooping him up before the sage could land another blow. Kairyuuha’s hands glowed as he laid them on Kazuki’s wounds, his regenerative abilities knitting the torn flesh together.

  Kazuki’s breath was shallow, his eyes wide with surprise as the intense pain began to ebb.

  “Rest, Brother” Kairyuuha said, his voice softer now, almost a protective whisper. He gently lowered Kazuki to the side, leaving him in the care of the others.

  Turning his attention back to Deyrith, Kairyuuha's eyes were now gone, his face an unfeeling mask. He stood tall, unrelenting, staring at the sage with an aura of crushing weight.

  The sage sneered, stepping forward. “You’re naive, thinking you can stop me. I’ll dissect you both, and I will enjoy it. No one has ever escaped my hands.”

  Kairyuuha's voice thundered across the arena, overpowering the sage’s words. “Why do you torment people for your leisure, Deyrith? What gives you the right?”

  Deyrith’s grin twisted further, a sickening satisfaction dancing in his eyes. “Because I’ve always enjoyed it,” he crooned. “Tearing apart the fragile minds and bodies of humans—experimenting on them. It’s… the only thing that keeps me entertained.”

  Kairyuuha’s expression grew even colder, his aura pulsating like a storm. “Then your leisure ends here.”

  In a single motion, he raised his hands, the air around him rippling violently.

  “Blade Technique: Dance of Darkness,” Kairyuuha whispered, his voice carrying a deadly weight.

  A massive burst of energy erupted from him, warping the air as shadows swarmed around him, tearing at the fabric of reality. The darkness was suffocating, powerful, an unstoppable force. Deyrith was engulfed in the storm of slashes, his body twisting and contorting as the blows landed one after the other.

  “Blade Technique: 8th Petal Blade Dance,” Kairyuuha shouted, his voice unwavering.

  A torrent of slashes exploded from his form in every direction. The sage’s body was bombarded, cut into pieces in the blink of an eye. He had no time to react, no ability to regenerate fast enough. His screams were drowned out by the continuous onslaught of Kairyuuha’s brutal precision.

  With a final, deafening slash, the sage’s disfigured body collapsed into a heap, completely dismembered and unrecognizable.

  The dungeon fell silent.

  Kazuki, Mei, Yuno, Thora, and Reiya watched in stunned awe as Kairyuuha lowered his blade. The team, though still shaken, could only marvel at the immense power he displayed.

  Kairyuuha didn’t relax. His eyes flickered toward the ground, where a faint, glowing stone lay untouched in the chaos.

  He approached it, his fingers brushing the stone’s surface. A pulse of dark energy radiated outward, and the ground beneath them shook. From the stone, a massive monstrous form began to materialize.

  It was no longer just Deyrith that posed a threat.

  The true danger had just been unleashed.