"Hey, is it just me, or is something wrong with that monster?"
"Yeah, its behavior is erratic. Did it spot someone and shift into an attack stance?"
Inside the Practice Ground, Yugo and Ryuga bore witness to the Gigantes' sudden anomaly.
Recalling the precautions Lamy had mentioned earlier, the two sharpened their focus as an oppressive atmosphere settled over the arena—one far more menacing than any warning had suggested. Then, the Gigantes tilted its head back and unleashed a deafening roar.
"UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!!"
"Gwah!? What the hell is...!?"
Yugo’s body seized up as the Gigantes' cry rattled the very core of his biological instincts, dredging up a primal, subconscious fear.
Cyan, Egos, and their followers—who had been busy fighting other monsters—were also frozen where they stood. They were paralyzed with terror, unable to even twitch.
Something was horribly wrong. An emergency beyond anything Yugo had imagined was unfolding before his eyes. His mind understood the danger, yet his limbs refused to obey.
Panic began to claw at his throat as he watched the berserk Gigantes prepare its next move. Just as the sensation of suffocating fear was about to swallow him whole—
"...!?"
His darting eyes caught sight of a single figure.
It was the male student he and Ryuga had been watching earlier—the one who had been fighting a lonely battle. He was currently slumped on the ground, trembling so violently he couldn't even stand.
With no way to defend himself, the boy could only watch the Gigantes in despair. As he turned his head, his face was a mask of pure, unadulterated terror directed straight at Yugo.
The Gigantes swung its massive fist. As the earth buckled and debris from shattered buildings rained down in the wake of the impact, Yugo heard it—the boy's voice.
"H-Help—!"
The plea was cut short. It was barely even a murmur, squeezed from a throat constricted by dread.
And yet, Yugo heard him perfectly.
Instinctive fear and the mental paralysis of panic vanished in an instant. His body surged forward with a speed that defied thought, acting purely on reflex.
Kicking off the rooftop, he dove straight into the storm of falling rubble. He clenched his fist and shouted, his voice ringing out without a hint of hesitation.
"Henshin!!"
Crimson light erupted, and from the flash, Yugo emerged clad in his Blaster armor.
Plunging toward the boulders that threatened to crush the student, he slammed a fist reinforced with Magic Power into the nearest one.
"Blasta Punch!!"
With the combined momentum of his leap and a full-body charge, the strike carried devastating force.
The massive chunk of stone pulverized into dust. Without a moment's pause, Yugo was already targetting the next piece of falling wreckage.
"UOOOOOOOOOH!!"
A second strike shattered another boulder.
A third strike—a kick—smashed a third piece of debris as he lunged toward his next target.
As he unleashed a fourth blow, Yugo realized he was running out of time. There were too many pieces.
(The volume is too high! I won't make it!!)
The amount of falling masonry exceeded his expectations. He couldn't clear it all alone.
Yugo focused everything on shielding the boy with his own body, but several large fragments remained on a direct collision course. He gritted his teeth, desperate to find a way to save him—and in that heartbeat, a perfectly straight line sliced through the air.
"Eh...!?"
The falling rock split in two as cleanly as a fruit sliced by a chef's knife.
As the halves tumbled harmlessly aside, the man who had accomplished the feat spoke.
"Are you alright, Yugo?"
"Ryuga! Was that you...!?"
Ryuga stood there, sheathing his katana with a sharp clink. Yugo realized instantly that Ryuga was the one who had bisected the stone and saved the student's life.
Yugo opened his mouth to thank him for saving a life he couldn't have protected on his own, but a second roar from the Gigantes drowned him out.
"Tch! You're loud enough, you big oaf! Shut up already!"
"...Are you not afraid of that monster? Every other student was knocked unconscious by that roar."
"What? Oh, I guess I just got used to it. Besides, we don't exactly have the luxury of being scared right now!"
The fear-inducing Howling, followed by the earth-shaking impact, and then another roar to finish the job—the Gigantes' relentless assault had been too much for the others. Except for Yugo and Ryuga, every student in the arena had been knocked out, rendered completely incapacitated.
Even Melt and those who had finished their exams earlier—along with the faculty watching from the monitor room—were either unconscious or lost in a fog of panic. They were unable to respond to the few voices still trying to command the situation.
Amidst this hellish landscape, the Gigantes prepared its next move. It didn't deliver a finishing blow to the fallen students, however. Instead, it ignored them entirely and began slamming its massive fists into the Barrier surrounding the Practice Ground.
Realizing the monster was trying to break the seal and escape into the academy grounds, Ryuga turned to Yugo.
"Yugo, it seems something has gone fundamentally wrong. I don't know the state of things outside, but given the lack of communication, I suspect it's impossible for anyone to interfere from the exterior."
"Which means the only ones left who can still move are us... We're trapped in here with that thing."
Yugo watched the Gigantes hammer against the Barrier, his expression twisting into a grimace.
Crack! Crack! With every blow, the sound of fracturing magic echoed through the air. The Barrier was failing; its total collapse was only a matter of time. Yugo clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.
If the Gigantes broke free and rampaged through Luminous Academy, the casualties would be unthinkable.
He had to stop it. No matter what.
Having made his decision, Yugo briefly deactivated his Blaster and looked Ryuga in the eye.
"Ryuga... that monster is trying to break out. If it gets loose, people are going to die. Not just the school—lives are on the line. I can't let that happen. But right now, we're the only ones left in this arena who can still fight."
They were the only ones. No reinforcements were coming, and time was running out.
The only way to prevent a massacre was to slay the beast before it broke the Barrier.
It was a reckless, nearly suicidal plan. But Yugo, his eyes burning with the Flames of Resolve, understood that there was no other choice. He looked at his companion and asked.
"There's a good chance we won't make it out alive. This is going to be the fight of our lives. But... I need your help. Will you fight with me?"
Yugo stared straight at him, offering his trust.
Seeing the fire in Yugo's eyes, Ryuga let a fearless smile play across his lips.
"Yugo... don't ask me such pointless questions. Don't say 'Will you fight with me?' Just say 'Fight with me.' That is enough. If we don't stop that thing, it'll get to Yui and Fee-kun. For their sake, I will cut it down."
Ryuga used the same words he had used to dismiss Cyan and his group, but the sentiment behind them was the exact opposite. Back then, it was a cold rejection of an inferior person. Now, it was a statement that Yugo was a man worthy of his trust, for whom such polite inquiries were unnecessary.
"Thanks, Ryuga. I'm glad you're with me."
"Don't mention it. I was just thinking that handling this beast alone would be a bit of a chore."
Yugo redeployed his Blaster. He borrowed a sword from the student he had just rescued and let his Magic Power surge through his entire frame.
Ryuga drew his katana once more, pointing the blade toward the rampaging Gigantes.
"We were sidelined until a moment ago, and I don't know who's even watching right now, but—"
They had been ignored, sabotaged, and pushed off the stage of the exam. They had been treated as outsiders, as though they didn't belong.
But at this moment, they were the stars.
The exam scores didn't matter. Recognition didn't matter. They were going to save everyone. Yugo fixed his gaze on the enemy they had to defeat and shouted to his partner.
"From here on, it's our stage!"