CHAPTER 156
CHAPTER 156:
The Forest of Crossroads had been merciless. The battle with the Earth Golem had left the Vanguard drained—physically, mentally, and emotionally. Hakashi who had won, had barely survived, and even now, he lay against a fallen log, his breathing unsteady, his Lifewalker energy still eating away at him.
They needed to rest.
Meiyo, still crying and shaken from both her failure against the Golem and Hakashi nearly dying, kept stealing glances at him, checking his pulse, watching his chest rise and fall. Akari, despite her usual attitude, remained eerily silent, barely speaking since they had left the ruined battlefield if the castle where her Kouki died.
But they had no time to grieve.
The group reached a lake—vast, still, silent beneath the crimson glow of the setting sun. The water stretched endlessly, reflecting the sky like a glass mirror.
Or at least, that's what they thought.
"Alright, let's take a damn break," Kaito muttered, rubbing his temples. "We almost got killed back there, and I don't plan on dying from exhaustion like some idiot. Plus he needs a break to regain his magic and heal."
"Who are you calling an idiot, you bleach-haired bloodsucker?" Hakashi groaned, shifting against the tree with a smirk despite the pain wracking his body. "I just saved all your asses back there."
Kaito scoffed. "Yeah? And now you can barely stand. Real impressive."
"You wanna go, pretty boy?"
"I'd wipe the floor with you."
"You can try."
Meiyo let out an exasperated sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Enough. Both of you."
The two shut up instantly. Even Hakashi who lived for pissing people off knew his beautiful and amazing big tited girlfriend Meiyo wasn't in the mood.
She was still trying to process everything. The Shadow Realm swallowing Kouki. Losing her unknown power up mid fight. The Golem treating her like she was nothing and Hakashi-kun almost dying.
She needed a distraction.
"Akari, come help me wash up," she said suddenly.
Akari blinked, as if she hadn't even been listening. Then, without a word, she nodded and followed.
The others watched them go, but no one said anything.
Kaito wanted to peak at Akari but knew Meiyo would kill him so would Akari and Kouki when returns definitely will.
Meiyo and Akari stepped toward the lake, the cool mist curling around their ankles as they waded in, the water reaching their knees.
It was cold.
Unnaturally cold.
Meiyo felt a shiver run up her spine, but she ignored it, kneeling down to splash water onto her face, washing away the dirt and dried blood from the battle. Akari did the same, dipping her hands into the water, watching the ripples spread outward.
For a moment, it was peaceful.
Then
Something grabbed them.
Akari didn't even have time to scream.
A powerful, unseen force yanked her downward, her body vanishing beneath the surface.
Meiyo only had a split second to react— but before she could move, before she could turn, before she could even breathe—
Something coiled around her leg.
A crushing, vice-like grip.
And then—
She was gone.
Dragged under.
The water closed above them, swallowing their screams.
Bubbles exploded from their mouths as they thrashed violently, panic surging through them. The pressure beneath the water was immense, forcing them downward into an abyss of darkness.
Meiyo's mind raced. Think, think, THINK!
She kicked. Clawed. Tried to reach for her magic.
Nothing.
The thing holding her— whatever it was—was too strong.
She barely caught a glimpse of Akari, struggling beside her, her hair swirling in the water like liquid light.
And then
She saw it.
A shadow.
No—a monster.
A Kraken.
A 5th Dimensional Boss Monster of the deep.
It was massive, an impossible beast of writhing tentacles, gleaming eyes, and a cavernous mouth lined with jagged, spiraling teeth. Its presence alone sent a ripple of raw, crushing dread through Meiyo's entire body.
And its grip tightened.
Akari's fingers clawed at the tentacle wrapped around her waist, her body thrashing violently, her lungs burning.
Meiyo reached for her sword.
But the pressure.
The weight.
The crushing, suffocating abyss.
She couldn't move.
The Kraken's glowing, golden eyes bore into them, filled with cold, mindless hunger.
And then
A sound ripped through the water.
A vibration.
A pulse of pure, resonating power.
And suddenly—
The Kraken screeched.
Its grip loosened.
Meiyo and Akari felt it instantly the force pulling them downward suddenly weakening.
And then
BOOM.
The water exploded.
A shockwave of raw sound ripped through the abyss, shattering the Kraken's hold and sending it reeling backward.
And then
They were flying.
A massive wave blasted them upward, launching them out of the lake.
Meiyo and Akari broke the surface—gasping, choking, their bodies crashing onto the shore.
The others rushed forward.
"Meiyo! Akari!" Hakashi was already pushing himself up, ignoring his injuries.
Akari coughed violently, clutching her chest as she gasped for air although thanks to Omni Energy a awakened magic knight never needed to breathe it still was weird to have water in lungs. Meiyo was shaking, her body trembling from the shock.
But none of that mattered.
Because the lake was no longer still.
It was boiling.
Bubbling.
Churning.
And then—
A monstrous, impossibly large tentacle erupted from the water, followed by another.
And another.
And another.
The lake split apart, waves crashing against the shore as the Kraken rose.
It was colossal.
Larger than the Earth Golem.
Its massive, spiraling tentacles lashed through the air, each one lined with jagged suction cups filled with razor-sharp teeth.
Its eyes—burning gold—locked onto them, filled with something cruel.
And then—
It screamed.
A shrieking, deafening roar that rattled their very bones, the force alone knocking them backward.
But Duck Yoshida stepped forward.
His eyes burned.
His hands glowed.
"Oh HELL no."
And then—
He raised his arms.
And the air itself vibrated.
A deep, sonic boom erupted from his very core, the waves of sound expanding outward in an earth-shattering ripple. The water shook, the ground quaked, and the Kraken reeled back.
But it wasn't done.
Not yet.
Kaito and Akame stepped forward, standing beside Duck.
"We end this. Now." Kaito growled, his blood magic igniting in the air, forming into jagged crimson blades.
Akame's eyes glowed, a thousand invisible threads of Mindseer magic expanding outward.
"No Kaito, You stay out of this let Akame and Duck handle this we need some at full health to fight in case we run into another monster." Meiyo commanded.
"But..."
"No buts Kaito you heard Meiyo." Akari yelled.
"Fine. You know i can't deny you. Akari." Kaito replied as he walked away from the Kraken who loomed over them, its massive body casting an ominous shadow over the battlefield. The waves crashed violently against the shore, sending shockwaves through the ground as its massive golden eyes burned with hunger. The air smelled of salt, rot, and something deeper—something old, something monstrous.
Duck Yoshida stood at the front, his fists clenched, his magic pulsing through his veins. The sound of the world warped around him, shifting with each inhale, each heartbeat.
Beside him, Akame Takahashi's Mindseer magic flared, her eyes glowing like embers as her power reached outward, stretching into the Kraken's mind—trying to feel its thoughts, trying to break through its monstrous instincts.
Kaito instinctively took a step forward n his body not listening to head wanting to protect Akari, his blood magic already forming, crimson veins of energy snaking up his arms. But before he could move
A hand grabbed his shoulder.
Meiyo.
Her grip was firm, her golden-blue eyes sharp as they met his. Kaito froze.
"What the hell are you doing?" he growled.
"I told you we need at least one Magic Knight at full strength," Meiyo said, her voice low, serious. "If something worse happens, if this isn't the real fight, and we're all drained—who's going to protect us?"
Kaito's teeth clenched. His pride roared against her words. He wanted to fight. He wanted to rip that thing apart with his own hands. His own body wanted to protect Akari to show he can be her hero her knight especially after everything he did for her.
But…
She was right.
Reluctantly, he stepped back. The rage didn't leave his eyes. But he nodded.
Duck cracked his neck. "Guess that means it's our show, huh?"
Akame grinned, sharp, confident, her fingers flexing as her Mindseer magic wrapped around her like an unseen current. "Try not to hold me back, Sound Boy."
Duck snorted. "Me? Please, you better keep up, Mind Freak."
And then
The battle began.
The Kraken moved first.
A tentacle larger than any of them, faster than something that big should be lashed forward, crashing toward them like a falling tower.
Duck twisted his fingers in the air, and a ripple of sound exploded outward. The tentacle froze mid-air, shaking, vibrating, struggling against the unseen force holding it back.
For a moment, it seemed like he had stopped it.
But then
The Kraken SCREAMED.
The sound tore through the battlefield, a wave of raw, primal power shattering the air around them.
The force ripped through Duck's sonic energy, breaking through his hold. The tentacle kept coming.
Akame moved.
Her Mindseer magic lashed out, wrapping around the Kraken's thoughts. It wasn't human, it wasn't rational but it had a mind, and that meant it could be broken.
She pushed.
A crushing force of mental energy slammed into the Kraken's consciousness, forcing it to stagger, its massive body recoiling, convulsing.
Duck took his chance.
"You wanna play with sound? Let's see how you like this, bitch."
His hands twisted through the air, forming intricate patterns of movement. The sound around him shifted, warped—compressed.
Then
A pulse.
BOOM.
A shockwave of pure sound ripped through the battlefield, invisible but undeniable, tearing through the Kraken's body like a blade.
The beast shook violently, its golden eyes flashing with pain as the force hit its core, causing its entire body to ripple unnaturally.
For a moment, they had the upper hand.
But then
The Kraken adapted.
It stopped struggling.
Instead, it moved faster.
A tentacle lashed out—this time, aimed directly at Akame.
She barely had time to react.
It smashed into her, sending her flying across the battlefield, crashing into a tree with bone-shattering force.
Akame let out a sharp gasp, pain exploding through her entire body.
Duck felt something snap inside him.
Not just anger.
Something deeper.
A memory flashed through his mind the Hydra. The Earth Golem. Watching his friends get torn apart. Watching Kouki die in front of them.
ENOUGH.
The air vibrated.
The sound of the world stopped.
Duck's breath slowed.
He wasn't using magic.
He wasn't using sound.
This—this was something else.
His Omni Energy the thing they had all been trained to convert into a lesser, weaker branch of power magic was burning inside him.
But he wasn't converting it.
He was using it raw.
The world warped.
His fingers flexed.
And then
He snapped.
The sound wave erupted instantly.
It didn't just travel.
It wasn't fast.
It was instantaneous.
The shockwave crossed infinite distances in zero time, bypassing even the very concept of movement.
The Kraken never had a chance.
One moment, it was roaring in triumph.
The next
It exploded.
Not just shattered. Not just destroyed.
It was erased.
The sound ripped through its massive body, tearing apart every fiber of its existence. The Kraken's form twisted unnaturally, cracks of pure energy forming across its flesh
Then, in an instant
It was gone.
Except for the chunks.
The massive, disgusting chunks of Kraken flesh that rained down from the sky.
Silence.
Then
SPLAT.
A giant, wet, slimy chunk of exploded Kraken slapped directly onto Meiyo's head.
She froze.
Another chunk hit Akari.
Then another.
And another.
SPLAT. SPLAT. SPLAT.
Akame, still recovering from getting slammed into a tree, opened her mouth to say something
And a massive tentacle chunk landed directly on her face.
The battlefield was dead silent.
Then
"EEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWW!"
Akari screeched first, throwing the disgusting mess off of her with a horrified look, shaking her hands like she had just been touched by literal death.
Meiyo ripped the Kraken guts off her face, her body trembling, her expression a mix of absolute disgust and rage.
Akame gagged, aggressively trying to wipe her face, her usual calm demeanor utterly shattered.
Duck watched them all.
Then
He grinned.
"Hah! You should see your faces!"
Meiyo threw the Kraken guts at him.
He dodged.
"OH HELL NO!"
Akari lunged at him, ready to murder.
Hakashi, barely able to stand, still managed to laugh.
Kaito just shook his head, rubbing his temples.
"We are never going near a lake again."
And for the first time, since Kouki was lost
They laughed.