'None of us can even enter that shit.'
That was the word.
The word that sparked something deep inside Leo's mind—an idea.
No, a realization. A harsh, burning truth… that he wasn't one of them.
He was different.
Leo wasn't like the others. He didn't belong in the ranks of mages or those blessed with magical veins. He was just a being—a lone soul without mana circuits. No flows of energy coursed through his body.
He was below mundane.
And yet…
Nergal, who had been locked in a vicious battle with Envy, suddenly took a step back. His eyes widened in disbelief, lips parting slightly as his expression shifted into something that could only be described as sheer horror.
A human had just entered his domain that no mana being could enter... Yet, He walked in.
"W-What's going on...?" Nergal stammered under his breath. "Impossible… That mundane... Who is he?"
Pride stood tall nearby, the corner of her mouth tugging upward into a cocky, sharp smirk.
"That's my Master,"
She said coldly, her voice vibrating with pride.
Her fingers flared to life, wrapped in a ghostly green hue that hissed as it crackled across her skin. Without warning, she lunged forward, her hands slicing through the air before slamming into Nergal with full force.
Nergal grunted, stumbling slightly. But he recovered quickly. He gritted his teeth, tightened his grip on his spiked ball weapon, and snarled. With a vicious roar, he swung at her.
But Pride wasn't the same girl he'd faced before.
The last time they clashed, she hadn't known who she was fighting. She was unsure.
The area was cramped, and she was caught off guard. But now?
Now she knew exactly who her enemy was—and she was done holding back.
All she needed was one move.
A single, perfect feint.
Just enough to trick him.
Just enough to make him commit.
Pride faked a step forward, making Nergal yank his weapon toward her chest. But in that fraction of a second, she ducked, her body moving with snake-like precision. Her wooden sword danced through the air, wrapping itself around the chain of his weapon mid-swing.
The momentum stopped.
Nergal blinked in confusion, too late to react.
Before he could wrench it back, Pride grinned—a vicious, beautiful grin that promised pain.
She yanked the chain with all her strength and—
BOOOM!!
Her fist collided with his face with explosive impact. Blood burst from his mouth, splattering across the air. His body flew backwards from the sheer force of the blow.
But it wasn't over.
He was still holding the chain.
So was she.
Pride stepped forward again, eyes blazing with fury and excitement. She yanked it once more, dragging his stunned body closer before launching another brutal punch directly into his jaw.
Then another.
And another.
She was playing string ping pong!
Yanking and punching, again and again, not giving him a single moment to breathe. Each strike twisted his face further, bone-crunching beneath skin, blood painting the ground in wild splashes of red.
Nergal's mouth hung open in a silent scream.
Finally, his fingers slipped. He let go of the weapon.
And with that—
Thud!
He crashed onto the ground, his body rolling several feet before settling face-first into the dirt.
He tried to move.
Tried to rise.
But before he could even lift his head, an arrow—already loosed by Envy during the earlier exchange—pierced clean through his forehead.
Chuckkk!
His body twitched once, then fell still.
Nergal dropped like a sack of meat.
Gone.
Kai blinked, jaw trembling. "W-What the hell… just happened?"
Meanwhile…
Back at the burning building, Leo was already on the move.
His eyes locked on the entrance.
Flames roared, engulfing the doorway in a curtain of hell.
People were screaming. Some were on the floor, coughing violently, their lungs scorched from the lack of oxygen. Others were clawing at the walls, trying to find a way out as the heat suffocated the space.
"Hey! It's Leo!"
"HELP US!!"
"LEO, CALL THE POLICE!"
Their voices cracked, filled with desperation and blind hope... And for a moment, that was enough to give them the strength to scream again.
Sakura and Raphael heard the shouts and pushed through the thick black smoke to the front.
Their eyes widened.
"Leo!"
Raphael cried, her voice trembling.
"Senior!!"
Sakura screamed, horror in her eyes as she saw him slowly backing off. The flames were rising—hungry and out of control. Cracks rippled through the building's foundation. The roof groaned like it might collapse at any second.
PUFF!!
A wave of fire surged out. Leo flinched, instinctively shielding his face as the heat lashed at him.
"Fuck!"
He wanted to run in. But he knew—running straight through the flames was suicide.
Then something clicked.
His eyes darted upward—toward the rooftop.
There it was.
A large water tank.
Leo's heart pounded. He didn't hesitate.
"Wait here!"
Without giving them a second glance, he dashed toward the side of the building. The fire was already licking the edges of the walls, and the ground beneath his feet was hot enough to blister.
He didn't care.
Leo shrugged off his outer coat, wrapped it tightly around his hands, and grabbed onto a thick metal pipe that led to the roof. It was blistering hot to the touch. The pain burned through the coat, biting at his palms.
Still—he climbed.
Higher.
Faster.
PUFF!
The flames swiped at his back and arms.
"LEO! STOP IT!!"
Raphael screamed behind him, her face twisted in terror. Her legs nearly gave out from under her.
"S-Senior..."
Sakura whispered weakly, barely standing as Luna held her up from collapsing.
Everyone watched, frozen, as Leo climbed the building—his body pressed to the hot metal, his arms trembling, smoke biting at his lungs.
He was risking his life.
For them.
BOOM!!
A thunderous explosion shook the ground. One of the lower floors erupted, the walls bursting outward in a storm of debris.
"NOOO!!"
Raphael shrieked, stumbling backwards... That he'd been swallowed in the blast.
Dust filled the air.
Smoke choked their vision.
And then…
As the ash began to settle—
A silhouette emerged on the rooftop.
Leo was there.
Leo let out a sharp breath, his chest rising and falling rapidly, a deadened expression painted across his soot-covered face. If he had jumped even a second later, he would've been blown to pieces in that explosion.
He clenched his teeth, shook away the rising dizziness, and turned his focus forward.
The massive metallic water tank stood in front of him, groaning under its own weight. Its base—attached to the rooftop by four thick metal rods—was already compromised. Flames licked up from below, and the weakened structure beneath them was crumbling. The steel foundation trembled, cracks forming like spiderwebs on the rooftop's surface.
The tank was heavy—too heavy. And now it was slowly pushing downward, bending the floor with every passing second.
If it dropped straight down… it would crush through the levels and be useless. Worse, it could cause the entire building to collapse on the people trapped inside.
Leo's eyes darted across the roof and locked onto a coil of thick rope—likely left behind by painters or maintenance workers. It lay near the tank, partially burnt at one end. Without wasting a second, he sprinted over, grabbed it, and then glanced back up at the water tank's top.
He had an idea.
A risky one.
But there was no time for doubt.
Meanwhile, inside the inferno, panic had already overtaken the students and teachers trapped below.
"Where is he?!"
"Did he abandon us?!"
"Mommy!!"
Children cried out in agony, their faces drenched in tears and smoke. Teachers huddled them close, trying to block the heat and keep them calm, but even the adults were trembling. The fire roared louder, devouring everything it touched.
Death wasn't far now—it was already reaching through the smoke, ready to pull them into its grip.
Then—
A silhouette appeared on the rooftop.
Leo stood atop the massive water tank, rope tied tightly to its top, the other end wrapped around his arms. His chest was heaving, his face drenched in sweat and ash. His gaze swept down toward the people inside the burning building.
"What... What is he doing...?" someone muttered in disbelief.
Their eyes widened as they watched.
Leo took a deep breath, gripping the rope tighter.
Then—he jumped.
He leapt from the tank, sliding down the rope with incredible speed. The friction burned through the air. The rope groaned from the strain.
Thud!
Leo landed hard, the impact shaking his knees. He stumbled but didn't fall. Above him, the water tank groaned under the sudden shift in force. It tilted forward slightly—water sloshing out from the top as the tank began to lean.
Leo didn't stop. He gritted his teeth, blood pumping wildly in his ears, and pulled hard on the rope.
Crack… Crack…
The metal rods holding the tank in place began to give. The ground beneath it, already fractured, started breaking apart in chunks. The rooftop bent and groaned under the shifting weight.
Everyone below watched with stunned, breathless silence.
Eyes wide.
Hearts pounding.
"What is he doing?!"
"Is he trying to... drop it down?!"
Leo grunted, sweat pouring from his face. His fingers were bleeding, rope cutting into his palms as he yanked with everything he had. The tank shook. Water spilled out in violent splashes.
"Come on... Come on...!"
He growled through clenched teeth.
The structure was resisting.
One of the rods—the rear left—suddenly snapped with a sharp metallic twang.
Tunnnnkk!
The tank began to lean, and Leo adjusted his grip quickly, knowing he needed to control the fall. He had to make sure it tipped outward, not inward—or it'd crash into the centre of the building.
But then—
The two remaining rods on the right side bent slightly... and then caught. The edge of the broken rooftop shifted just enough to wedge them tightly.
Trccc!!
Leo's eyes widened in horror.
"No! No, no, no!!"
The rope jerked hard in his hands, almost pulling him backwards. He stumbled, his boots scraping against the surface, trying to regain balance. His muscles screamed. Thick veins bulged across his arms. Blood now fully streamed from his hands as the rope flayed open the skin on his palms.
His breath quickened.
He tried to shift his weight, to pull harder, to force the tank free again—
But the tank was being pulled inward.
It was falling the wrong way.
Ssshhkkk...
Leo's face twisted into desperation. He looked around frantically, trying to think of something—anything—to fix the angle.
Kai was watching everything unfold from afar.
"Huh,"
He muttered, raising an eyebrow,
"Well… I didn't expect that fool to actually step into the barrier... Gutsy."
He scoffed with a smirk and shrugged, still as relaxed and confident as ever.
"Useless Nergal. Couldn't even stop one mundane brat. Tsk."
Kai casually rolled his neck as if none of this troubled him in the slightest.
"Whatever," he muttered with a shrug, lifting one hand lazily. "Nergal."
The body that had been lying motionless behind him suddenly twitched.
Nergal's back arched. His eyes snapped open. His body, cracked and bloodied, began to glow with an eerie golden light that pulsed from beneath his skin.
"Now," Kai said with a crooked grin, "Taste the power of a true god, bitches."