"Even I'll have a hard time believing you if you said something that crazy." Erika said, as she flicked her sword, causing blood to splatter along the ruined wall.

However, Masayoshi shook his head. He was right He knew it.

"It's because he's done a great job at hiding it thus far." Masayoshi reeled his chains back, re-wrapping them around his fingers." He then pointed to the still smoking crater from where Wrath had leaped up to avoid Yuri's attack.

"There." Nova, Yuri, and Erika turned their heads. "Notice how only the area outside the crater is smoking? The actual hole that was taken out isn't smoking at all. Like someone made an impossible perfect hole in the wall."

"Even then, can we really claim it's something as crazy as literally removing things from existence?" Yuri was still understandably apprehensive about accepting such as crazy idea as truth.

Masayoshi nodded and then gestured to where one of the battlements of the magic academy once stood.

"It would have been hard to see in the chaos, however when the tower began to fall, their wasn't any smoke coming from the bottom, nor were the edges jagged like you'd expect from such a huge explosion. It was a perfect slice. The only things that were "blown up" was the ground around the tower. You probably noticed it too."

Yuri was silent for a moment, considering what Masayoshi had told him.

"But that means-" Nova began.

"He's been holding back more than even we originally thought." Masayoshi finished for her, turning back his gaze to Wrath, who was nowhere to be found.

"Shit! Where'd he go-"

Masayoshi's words were cut off, because just then he was receiving a leg to the face.

Masayoshi's head snapped backwards, and he was launched through the air, smashing into the ground of Theta's lobby.

Rolling backward while getting the dirty taste of marble and concrete from his mouth, he looked around frantically, trying to find his opponent-

Another blow, this time a punch that lifted him off of his feet.

That uppercut was followed up by a vicious punch to his gut, which hit like a hammer.

Masayoshi was blown back once more, rolling along the ground before coming to a stop on his knees.

"ARUGHH!" Masayoshi retched violently, coughing out blood.

He snapped his head upward at the sound of footsteps, and Wrath was directly in front of him.

Leading down Wrath grabbed Masayoshi by his hair, pulling it harshly and forcing the boy to look at him.

Masayoshi glared at Wrath hatefully, who only smiled back.

"The look in your eyes. The anger, the hatred, the killing intent. All of it only serves to prove my point. You stand so much against my ideals, but you yourself prove them true."

"I'm nothing like you. You are despicable tr-"

Wrath punched Masayoshi in the face once more. "Wrong answer. Try again."

Wrath moved to punch him again, however his blow was stopped by Erika.

She had hooker her sword around his arm.

"You seem to forget that he's not the only one on the battlefield."

Wrath turned back and sneered at her. "The rest of you are pretty bor-"

Erika then swung her sheath like a baseball bat, hitting Wrath directly in the head.

Wraths head snapped to the left, and before he could even react, she had slashed him twice with her sword and then flipped it to the blunt edge and used a powerful wind spell to send him flying backwards.

He smashed into the wall of the lobby.

Erika reached out her hand, and Masayoshi accepted it. "Had to get a little payback for you."

Masayoshi chuckled a bit. "Thanks for that. Is Nova...?" He had noticed a massive concentration of mana beginning to form, which he assumed to be Nova.

""She's almost ready. She just needs a bit more time." Erika explained.

Masayoshi looked back up to Wrath, who also seemed to notice that massive concentration of Mana.

"Let's hope it's not that much time."

Wrath bounded from where he had crashed towards the walkway where Nova was in one great leap.

Yuri fired a massive blast at him while he was mid-air, which Wrath dodged.

Erika wasted absolutely no time intercepting Wrath, dragging her sword through the air in flaming arcs that Wrath twisted away from.

Landing on the ground, they entered a quick and fast paced exchange of blows, in which neither one got the advantage over the other.

Around them, smoke billowed into the air, explosions erupted down below, and ran beat down harshly.

The light of fire and explosions was amplified in the darkness that the dark clouds brought down upon the battlefield.

Just overheard, artillery was fired at the battlefield down below. The smell of soot and burning hung in the air.

Along with the presence of death.

Masayoshi rushed to get in a position of high ground, where he could sense that Nova's mana was rising more and more.

He prayed that she finished soon.

Summoning the spirits of his right hand, the one that belonged to the executioner, he sent out a blast of concentrated flame in between Wrath and Erika, giving Erika time to get off of the defensive.

Circling around Wrath with great speed, she sliced twice at his head.

He ducked under it and threw a hook that she dodged.

Placing her hands on the ground, she threw out to quick overhead kicks that Wrath blocked, before springing back up and slashing her blade at him once again.

The blade was covered in flame and left streaks of fire in the air.

With Wrath now on the defensive, Erika put on the pressure, launching slash after slash at him, not letting up.

The flame trail that she was leaving behind became longer and longer.

In the darkness, it resembled someone swinging around a flaming baton, that drew an arc of brilliantly burning circles and ovals into the air.

As Wrath dodged another attack, Erika suddenly jammed her sword into the ground, activating an explosion spell.

The ground around her completely exploded and smoke rose into the air.

Out of the smoke, Masayoshi spotted Wrath dodging backwards, right into Yuri.

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Once again, he showed off his inhuman reflexes, dodging the blast of magic that were fired at him.

Masayoshi knew they couldn't let up the pressure now, and he also jumped in, swinging his chains.

The carved deep scratch marks into the ground, but they didn't hurt Wrath, as he jumped out of the way.

Now working in tandem, Erika and Yuri began to hunt him down, not giving him a single second to even breath between attacks.

Blasts of wind, lightning, and water, a flaming blade that could carve heat into the very air.

Despite this pressure, Wrath endured.

All the while, he was slowly but surely moving the stage of their battle towards Nova.

Multiple times, the three combatants found themselves fighting along the beanstalk, as just a few meters down below an all-out war was entering its most climatic stage.

It was clear what Wraths plan was. Hold out against the constant pressure from Erika and Yuri, while maneuvering the battle close enough to Nova that he could stop whatever she was attempting to plan.

Masayoshi was easily able to read this though pattern and so he rotated over to stand directly in Wraths path.

As the three made their way back to the top of the bean stalk, with Wrath now retreating, Masayoshi flicked his chains and wrapped them around Wrath.

Wrath snapped his head back, the shock in his eyes clear.

Masayoshi stared back at him, with only malice visible in his own eyes.

Spinning Wrath around and around in the air, he spun faster and faster until the man's body was going so fast that its blur formed a circle in the air.

Then, he mercilessly pulled his chain downwards, sending Wrath crashing down over 200 feet.

The villains body hit the ground with a massive boom, the smoke cloud and debris reaching even higher than the elevated position where the three stood.

Breathing heavily, Masayoshi did not pull his chain back. Instead, he stood there for a brief moment, his body shaking.

"You think that did the trick." Erika said dryly, as she wiped her brow.

Yuri didn't even respond, instead he immediately began to set up the same spell they had used in doors. Placing the shields at different points in the air and giving them the reflective property. Then, he began to charge up the same light spell that was mixed with an explosion spell.

"Be ready, we still have to hold out a bit more." His voice was shaking, and it was most definitely from the fact that he had used so much mana already. "We have to end this, q-quickly."

He put a hand on his head, gritting his teeth together.

Erika eyed the spell, before patting Yuri on the back. "A spell this powerful most cost a lot of mana. And that teleporting thing you're doing. I can sense your mana imbued into a lot of the objects around here, so you are really running yourself dry. You think you got one more big push in you?"

"This is the last push I have. We need to end this here. Whether I fry my brain or not, we have to defeat him here. Masayoshi. Y-you ready?"

However, Masayoshi did not respond. His gaze was trained on down below. His eyes had a scary glint in them.

As Erika reached out to slap Masayoshi on the back of the head, his chain was suddenly pulled taut, and he was dragged down below.

"Shit!" Erika and Yuri shouted at the same time.

Wrath had been the one to pull the chain, and he brought Masayoshi only inches away from his face, before once again smashing him into the ground.

Masayoshi coughed blood once more.

"The longer and longer this battle drags on, the angrier and angrier you get! That expression on your face. You look like a murderer!"

Masayoshi's eyes widened.

A murderer. Just like his father? No way!

"Don't try and act like you know anything about me!" Masayoshi lashed out, but Wrath just punched him in the face once more, causing his head to snap back violently against rock.

"Oh, but I do know you! Even better than you know yourself!" He punched Masayoshi once again.

"Something in your past lead you to become obsessed with Justice!" he punched him again. "You spent the rest of your life searching, chasing, stumbling after the answer to your question, refusing to accept that any other possibility was true!" Another two punches. Behind, canon fire caused the ground to rumble violently, and dirt was shot into the air.

"Unable to find your answer, but to obsessed to let go, you kept searching. You threw everything to the side and justified it by saying once you found your answer it would all be worth it! You've spent your entire life fighting against who you really are! What you really are!"

A final punch. Masayoshi's face was covered with bruises and dirt. He had closed his eyes. He lay on the ground, defeated both physically and mentally. Wrath was right. He had read Masayoshi like a book. Laid out his own hypocrisy bare for all to see. Laid out the truth that he had been hiding from.

He was exactly like his father.

"Do you know how I know? Because that was me. Before the witch blessed me with the power to make a means to an end. I can create the justice I want. Can you say the same?"

Standing up, Wrath kicked Masayoshi's limp body.

"Well then, do you forfeit? Do you admit that you've lost this battle. That your justice was just a fantasy? A means to escape?"

Wrath leaned down and placed his right hand on Masayoshi's face.

"I have to say boy, you've given me an experience like no other. I won't forget you."

Just as Wrath was going to finish the battle, a hole opened up in the sky.

※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※ ※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　※　

Both Nova and Erika's abilities relied on the sun.

For Erika, it was the sun. Like a plant would, she used the suns light to generate constant mana, that not only boosted her physical stats, but the power of her magic attacks. Her blade would be able to burn as hot as the sun and cut though anything. She was immune to fire attacks, and it even opened up an opportunity for her to have her own super powerful fire attacks.

It was called, [King of the Solar System]

Nova's ability relied on stars. Specifically, constellations. Stars boosted her power, however under a constellation, Nova could recreate the constellation's abilities and power based on the mythos of said constellation. For example, under Orion the hunter, she would be able to provide buffs to her archery ability, and she could create a bow made out of mana from her ring. The closer the star/constellation, the more power she could draw. And the more she knew of its mythos, the more she could reimagine it into something even greater.

This ability, is called: [Nebula Queen]

Unfortunately for both of these fighters, their abilities were greatly restricted as a result of the conditions of the battle. IN fact, they were unusable.

The dark clouds that hung overhead, and the rain made it impossible for them to see the sun or stars therefore making it impossible for their abilities to activate.

However, Nova's plan was created in order to counteract this.

Raising a finger into the air, she fired a concentrated blast of wind the size of a pen.

Nova had noticed this a while ago, however whatever magic they used to break through the barrier, they had left a tiny hole the size of a ball-point pen when resealing it.

That was what she centered her strategy around.

The wind spell made it through the tiny hole, and it flew into the stratosphere. Once it was high enough, it expanded, blowing away all of the cloud coverage until a hole the size of a three-story mansion had been opened up in the sky, allowing the sun to shine through in all of its glory.

Many people were caught off guard by the shining light, and they looked up, at the massive hole in the dark sky that allowed light to shine through.

"All stars provide me with buffs, so what better star to use, than the one closest and brightest of them all?" Nova asked to no one in particular.

Then she moved to the next stage of her strategy. Channeling every last bit of her mana, she called down a massive spell of light.

Making it seem as if she had weaponized the light of the very sun, a massive beam of light came crashing down towards the barrier.

Everyone looked up in pure horror and shock, waiting for it to come down. Including Wrath.

However, this was all just a feint. The light crashed against eh barrier and a massive explosion occurred outside which felt like it rocked the world.

However now one inside the barrier was harmed.

The distraction had worked, as it literally put the fear of God into everyone down there. They were still frozen.

Except for Erika. Empowered by the sun, even her red hair looked like it was on fire.

She dashed forwards in a massive blast of flame.

As she unsheathed her blade, it literally had become a stick of burning hot fire.

In a second, she had appeared Directly in front of Wrath, who was still standing above Masayoshi's body.

Wrath who had finally snapped out of it, tried to escape.

However, Masayoshi's chains held him down.

Wrath's eyes widened in shock as he realized what was happening.

Mercilessly, drawing her blade in beautiful bright red-orange arcs, Erika slashed.

Like a painter on a canvas that basked in the sunlight.

4 slashes.

She cut off both of his arms and carved a deep flaming X into Wrath's chest.

Coughing out blood, Wraths body fell backward unto the ground. Immediately, blood began to pool around his body.

As the hole in the sky closed, and the sunlight vanished, the battle with Wrath reached its end.

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Masayoshi stood over Wrath's body; his expression shattered. Around them, the battle between the students and tattooed men was beginning to pick up once again, and so they needed to wrap this up quickly and bring their manpower back there.

Still, even though he knew that, even though he knew he had to hurry, Masayoshi could not take his eyes off of Wrath's dying figure.

The man was spewing blood. It ran down his mouth. It seeped from the x shaped gash in his chest. came from his arms.

Summoning a blade made out of pure light, Masayoshi held it above his head.

At the sight of the weapon, Wrath smiled. His eye, the one that was just a mass of flesh and the source of his insane power, began to convulse slower and slower. Like it was his heartbeat.

Masayoshi hesitated.

Not because he had waned on his assessment of Wrath. No. Without a doubt, this man was evil. He was cruel. A monster.

No, the reason for Masayoshi's hesitation was the fact that he didn't believe he was the one who could hand out justice.

Wrath had broken him down systematically. Showed him to be the poser he was.

A hypocrite, who became so obsessed with justice and proving his father wrong, that he tossed everything else to the side.

He couldn't claim to be any better than the man below him.

Seeing the conflict in his eyes, Wrath's smile only widened.

And without a single word being spoken, he had successfully gotten into Masayoshi's head.

Masayoshi swung the blade down, killing Wrath.

It was not a kill in the name of justice. It was not a noble or necessary kill. It wasn't a kill in the name of the justice that Masayoshi claimed to stand for.

It was a kill done out of anger. A kill spurred by emotions. A refusal to accept and let go.

It was murder.

There was no denying it now.

Masayoshi was just like his father.