Chapter 10: Valegrim

🕒 TIME LEFT: 17 MINUTESThe forest is dead quiet. The only sound—Itsuki's labored breathing, blood dripping from his mouth onto the forest floor.

Kaito kneels beside him, drenched in mud and panic.

KAITO: (whispering)"Distract him… I'll tag the girl. Once I do, I run. That's our win condition."

ITSUKI: (smirks through pain)"You're insane…"(coughs blood)"…but I like it."

Kaito nods, then looks up.

The guard stands like a boulder made of wrath. Muscles twitching. Eyes glowing like smoldering coals.And beside him… the final girl, calm, poised—almost floating on her toes. No fear. Only anticipation.

Itsuki explodes forward, broken ribs screaming. His aura flares unstable—burning blue, wild like fire on alcohol. The guard reacts instantly. Trees snap as he barrels toward Itsuki with a terrifying BOOM.

The girl flickers—cartwheeling, flipping, diving.Kaito sees his opening.

🎯 THE TAG – HUNTER VS GYMNAST

She dashes through the forest like wind through reeds.Kaito sprints after her, body low, eyes locked.She flips off a tree, bounces off a rock, and rebounds off a branch—

Kaito mimics her path with less grace but perfect calculation. His body cuts through the air. Dirt kicks up from every step.

Branches slash at his face. His shoulder grazes bark. His calves ache.But she's slowing…

"Just… a few more meters…"

"TEN SECONDS!" screams a voice from the shadows.

Kaito dives—hand outstretched—touches her shoulder.Her band buzzes red.

TAG.

Kaito turns—just in time to see Itsuki tossed like a doll. He slams against a tree, ribs shattered, unconscious.

Ryuu collapses moments later, crawling, blood dripping from his nose and mouth.The guard stands over them, untouched, breathing slow.

Kaito stares in shock. Hands shaking.

He grabs the girl's hand—"Move!"—sprints.

The trees become a blur. His footwork insane—zigzag, pivot, leap, duck.

But the guard chases.

And this is not a human chase.

THUMP. THUMP. THUMP.

Each step of the guard breaks roots, splinters trunks, turns bushes into flying debris.

Kaito's breath shortens. But the terrain works for him—branches block the guard, trunks slow his momentum.

FIST slams into the tree beside him.It explodes—sending Kaito flying, hitting ground hard. He rolls—scraped, bruised, bleeding—but alive.

"I'm not dying here."

Sprint resumes.

He bounces off a tree, kicks from another, turns sharp around a trunk.

The guard howls, chasing like a force of nature.

5 MINUTES REMAIN.

Kaito sees the flag tower—the spawn point—with a two minute deadline

The guard? Two meters behind.

Kaito ducks—guard's punch breaks a boulder instead.

One last push.

He slides under roots, trying to hide and make up for the time

The Gaurd punches him from the roots kaito takes the hit

but is still conscious

the time is over, and kaito has lost his consciousness just after the bell rang, they won

Kaito collapses, coughing blood, exhausted beyond words.He looks behind.

Ryuu and Itsuki…Unconscious.Beaten.

But alive.

[Round Over – 3 Hours Complete]Team Status: Kaito & Airya – Survived.Team strawhelmets have won.

The screen fades to black.

Heartbeat slows.

Silence returns to the jungle…

Medics flood the forest. Healing lights glow blue as they rush to the collapsed fighters. Kaito lies unconscious—bloodied, chest rising slow.

Judges descend from the sky, cloaks fluttering. The weather calms. Sun pierces through the clouds.

But then—

💥BOOOOM!

The sky rips open—turned bright green like acid light.

A figure stands mid-air, cloaked in smoke and malice.

Valegrim is what he likes to be called

Eyes like void. Voice like echoes from the grave.

"Children of glass… your little games end now."

Suddenly—20 shadows fall from the sky, slamming into the field like meteors. The ground trembles. Trees are uprooted.

Each one cloaked, masked, and dead silent.

The elite Judges ignite their bloodlines—flames, ice, shadows, and steel spiral around them.

Students still conscious join—powers flaring like fireworks.

But… Ren and his allies? They don't move.

They watch. Calculating.

Silent.

Valegrim raises his hand—

"We take what we came for."

The cloaked invaders begin snatching collapsed students.

Itsuki is grabbed.

Other familiar students—names the academy values—vanish into the misty green teleport fields.

Kaito, battered, still lies unconscious—unnoticed.

Valegrim smirks.

"Balance must break… for power to rise."

And in one flick—

They're gone.

Teleportation pulses.

Silence again.

AT HQ

Alarms scream.

Screens flicker.

Teachers shout. Students panic.

Bloodlines glow in every hall. Defensive protocols slam into place.

Council members argue.

Data floods in.

Location unknown.

All that remains… is fear and confusion.

But Kaito?

Still unconscious.

Still alive.

And when he wakes up…

The storm begins.

A grand, circular room with runic lights tracing across the stone walls.30–40 high-ranking members sit at the obsidian council table—True Bloods, Elders, Ren, Senryuu, Teachers, and the Council Core.

The tension? Thick as stone.

Whispers ripple through the room.

An elder slams the table.

"Even The Severed Bonds didn't dare pull a move like this!"

Another elder snarls, spitting the name:

"That damn punk... Valegrim. Or should I say, Kaguro Eiris."

The room stills.

One of the oldest council members exhales deeply,

"So it's true... he's alive."

Ren leans forward, arms folded.

"He didn't just come for a fight. He had a plan."

Senryuu rises slowly. Calm. Cold.

"Transfusion."

Murmurs. Shifting eyes.

Ren continues,

"Every student they took—they weren't random. They're all from early branches of bloodline clans… variations with pure, untapped potential."

Senryuu:

"If Kaguro is behind a Bloodline Transfusion Protocol... if he's fusing unique bloodlines—"

He pauses.

"—we're on the brink of something far worse than war."

A True Blood elder clenches her fist.

"If he's creating hybrids…"

Ren cuts in,

"...then the Hollow Sovereign doesn't want chaos. He wants a new dominant species."

Eyes widen.

The room falls silent again.

Outside the chamber, lightning cracks.

Inside? The war council begins to prepare—for a nightmare they thought buried.