The light faded, and so did the illusion of safety.
The warmth of the teleportation circle was long gone, replaced by cold, stagnant air. The ground beneath them trembled faintly.
Hajime groaned, clutching his sore backside as he slowly sat up. His vision blurred before clearing. Around him, the other students lay strewn like rag dolls. Some stirred. Others were too stunned to move.
But not Renji Aikawa.
He was already on his feet, sword drawn, scanning their surroundings with sharp, calculating eyes.
A bridge.
A massive one, carved from ancient stone, stretched across a seemingly bottomless chasm. The ceiling arched far above them—twenty meters, maybe more. Below the bridge was no river, no rock—just a yawning void that swallowed the light whole.
The bridge had no rails. Just ten meters of stone, stretching across nothingness. One misstep, one shove—and you were gone.
Renji narrowed his eyes. They were in a labyrinth. A deep one.
He caught a glimpse of Captain Meld already barking orders, helping others up, and forming a defensive formation. Kouki and the other vanguard fighters—Shizuku, Ryutarou, even Hiyama—were up on their feet.
"Everyone, get up and head for the stairs! Now!" Meld's voice thundered.
The students stumbled toward the far end of the bridge, where a staircase spiraled upward. But escape was never going to be that simple.
A pulse—low and ominous—echoed through the air.
Renji turned in time to see them.
Magic circles flared into existence—dark red and pulsing like fresh wounds. One, massive, near the opposite end of the bridge. Dozens more, small and rapid, near the staircase.
And from those circles... they came.
"Traum Soldiers," Renji muttered.
Skeletons clad in rusted armor, eyes burning with crimson hatred. Hundreds of them, clattering forward like a tide of death.
The students screamed.
But the real threat... came from behind.
The ten-meter-wide circle boiled over with power. From it emerged something straight from the nightmares of ancient men.
It moved with a predator's gait, its claws grinding into the stone bridge. Its armored skull bore three horns, and its red eyes blazed with hate.
A Behemoth.
Even Renji froze.
Captain Meld's voice was barely a whisper.
"Oh my god... It's… a Behemoth."
The students panicked. Their pillar of strength—the unwavering knight—was shaking.
"Alan! Take the kids and break through the Traum Soldiers!" Meld roared, snapping into action. "Kyle, Ivan, Bael! Create a barrier! Kouki, get the students out of here!"
"But—!" Kouki started.
"You'll die!" Meld shouted back, fury and desperation in equal measure. "Even the strongest adventurer known couldn't beat that thing! Move!"
But the Behemoth wasn't waiting.
It roared.
A sound so primal it shook bones.
"Graaaaaaaaaah!!!"
And then—it charged.
Straight for the students.
Before the Behemoth's thunderous charge could reach them, time fractured.
Just slightly—just enough.
The very air around the frontlines shimmered with temporal distortion. To most, it was imperceptible—a blink, a breath—but to Renji Aikawa, it was everything.
He moved.
In the span between heartbeats, he vanished from his position and reappeared between the Behemoth and the trailing students—right as Yuuka tripped, her eyes wide with paralyzing fear, her ankle twisted on uneven stone.
"No!" Kaori shouted.
Yuuka was too slow.
The Behemoth was too fast.
But Renji was faster.
Chrono Weave—Haste.
Time surged around him. The air snapped with pressure. His sword gleamed with unnatural velocity.
He grabbed Yuuka by the arm and twisted, spinning her into a roll just as the Behemoth's claws came down like a hammer. The impact tore stone apart behind him, sending fragments flying into the abyss.
He didn't move fast enough to dodge completely—but he didn't need to.
Rewind.
Renji's figure shimmered, like an afterimage catching up to itself—and he reappeared a step away, untouched, heart pounding. He turned, placing himself fully between Yuuka and the beast.
She looked up, breathless. "R-Renji…"
"Get to Kaori. Now," he said, eyes never leaving the monster. "Don't worry I'll be fine"
Yuuka scrambled away as the Behemoth reared up for another strike. But Renji was already in motion.
Eclipse Edge.
He lunged—sword dragging through the air with a muted hum—then twisted his wrist. The momentum stored in his blade snapped forward with a crack, unleashing a delayed, high-speed slash.
It struck the Behemoth's shoulder with a screech, carving through enchanted armor and making it stumble sideways.
Not much damage.
But enough to buy time.
Behind him, Kaori and Shizuku were cornered. Traum Soldiers had flanked the stairs. Students were trapped—panicked, uncoordinated, breaking ranks.
A scream.
Kaori had conjured a holy barrier, barely fending off a half dozen skeletal warriors.
Shizuku was slashing with precision, but her breathing was heavy. She was too focused on defending Kaori to fully commit to offense.
They wouldn't last another minute.
Renji's eyes burned.
He moved again.
Sonic step—Chrono Weave. Short blink forward, burst release.
Time bent. The world slowed.
He sprinted through the gap between the students and the undead—each heartbeat a calculated beat in his mind.
Three soldiers raised swords toward Kaori.
They never got the chance to swing.
Eclipse Edge—burst mode.
With a flash of silver and afterimages trailing his movements, Renji carved through them in a flurry of impossibly fast strikes. One... two... five afterimages lashed out from each swing. The soldiers fell apart in pieces before their bodies even registered the blow.
Shizuku's blade froze mid-parry as Renji landed beside her.
"Don't stop moving," he muttered, already turning toward the next wave.
"Renji…?" Kaori whispered, stunned. "You—"
"Stay behind me."
Another surge of enemies.
He lifted his hand. A crackling ripple echoed out from him as Chrono Weave activated again, distorting time around Kaori and Shizuku, giving their motions an unnatural lightness, as if the world moved a beat slower for everyone else.
Temporal Sync.
Renji's body moved with preternatural grace, cutting, weaving, ducking—anticipating each motion, each threat a fraction before it happened. Not because he could see the future—but because his instincts were calibrated to the moment.
And then the Behemoth bellowed again.
Charging once more.
Renji gritted his teeth.
He was running out of time—literally. The rewinds, the hasted motions, the stored momentum—all of it was draining him fast. His head pounded. His stomach churned with temporal sickness.
But he didn't stop.
"If I fall, they fall with me," he muttered to himself.
He stood at the forefront—between the Behemoth and the students—blade lowered but steady.
Behind him, Kaori and Shizuku caught their breath. Protected. Alive.
In front of him, the beast roared again.
And Renji Aikawa, Time Reaver, refused to back down.
The air trembled with the clash of steel and the thunderous roars of something primal.
The Behemoth had shattered the formation. The frontlines were in chaos.
Spells flew wild. Screams echoed. Blood stained the stone.
Renji Aikawa staggered, boots scraping against the cracked floor as he barely sidestepped another ground-quaking slam from the monster's forelimb. His vision swam from overusing Temporal Sync. Time slowed around him in jagged pulses—he was pushing too far, too fast.
His blade shook. His knees buckled.
But he stayed upright.
Behind him, the others were breaking. Some ran. Others cried out for help. Kaori was kneeling over a wounded girl, blood on her gloves. Shizuku was trying to defend her, but she was breathing hard, bruised, her blade nicked.
And Kouki Amanogawa, the Hero, stood at the center—frozen. Torn.
He looked toward Renji, toward the collapsing front. Toward the chaos.
"I have to help him—" he started forward.
A hand caught his shoulder.
It was Captain Meld, face bloodied, jaw tight. "No. You help the others."
Kouki's eyes widened. "But Renji—he's—!"
"—making his stand," Meld growled. "Just like you need to make yours. Get the others out of here!"
"I'm the Hero! I should—"
"You'll be a damn corpse if you don't listen!" Meld barked. "Your strength isn't worth shit if you can't protect the ones behind you. Now move, Kouki!"
Kouki's chest heaved.
Then—he looked past Meld, saw Kaori cradling a wounded girl, saw a boy crying for his leg, saw the fire creeping toward them.
And finally—he moved.
"Everyone still standing, rally on me!" Kouki shouted, slashing through a reanimated warrior as he stepped into the chaos. His blade shone with golden light as he carved a path through the wreckage. "We're falling back—together! Move!"
The others followed him—finally.
But behind them, Renji fell to one knee.
And Hajime Nagumo saw it.
He didn't hesitate.
He sprinted past the retreating students, ducking low through broken terrain. Fire licked the walls. Rocks crumbled from above. The Behemoth had turned slightly, tail swiping across the cavern as it readied another charge.
Hajime slid across the stone, reaching Renji just as his sword slipped from his fingers.
"You idiot," Hajime muttered, dragging him behind cover. "Should've pulled back."
Renji coughed. "Didn't… want them to die."
"Neither do I."
Hajime dug through his pouch, pulled out a vial glowing with a soft violet hue.
Renji frowned. "What the hell is—?"
"Just drink it."
He pressed it to Renji's lips. The timewalker drank—and life returned to his eyes. His body jerked, fingers curling as mana surged through him.
He gasped. "Shit. That's potent."
"It's a Mana potion," Hajime said, eyes scanning the Behemoth as it turned toward them again. "Think you can stand?"
"Long enough to die with style."
"Not the plan."
The Behemoth shrieked—furious, injured, but far from finished.
Its crimson eyes locked onto the two figures still standing on the cracked bridge: Renji Aikawa, sword dripping with blood and magic, and Hajime Nagumo, one hand pressed to the ground, the other trembling from exhaustion.
"Everyone's clear," Renji panted, keeping one eye on the monster. "We need to move."
"Not yet," Hajime said, gritting his teeth.
The ground around them trembled as he placed both hands flat on the stone. Golden transmutation circles flared to life beneath his palms. With a roar of effort, the stone rose—columns and barricades twisting upward like jagged fangs.
A transmuted wall shot up between them and the charging Behemoth, reinforced with layered stone and steel veins. It wasn't perfect—it wouldn't hold forever—but it would buy time.
"Now!" Hajime shouted, his voice cracking.
They ran—half-dragging each other up as the Behemoth crashed into the wall behind them. The impact cracked the entire bridge. Debris rained down, but the wall held.
"Don't look back!" Renji barked, one hand on his side where blood soaked through his uniform.
"Wasn't planning on it!" Hajime yelled, eyes locked ahead.
Then—
A volley of light and fire burst across the Behemoth's path.
Kouki's holy lances rained down in blinding arcs, slamming into the creature's flanks. Shizuku's wind blades followed, slicing at joints and exposed tendons. From a high ledge overlooking the bridge, Captain Meld roared a battle cry as he hurled a massive compressed earth spike, the magic-enhanced projectile striking true into the Behemoth's shoulder.
The beast flinched, its charge staggered.
Above, the rest of the students—Kaori, Suzu, and others—had formed a semi-circle along the broken platform. They fired spells in rhythm, every element they could muster—fireballs, lightning bolts, even water whips—bombarding the Behemoth from afar.
"Keep up the pressure!" Meld shouted. "Don't give it time to focus!"
Hiyama.
Out of formation, moving with intent. His body trembled, but not from fear. His eyes were fixed on Hajime, a flicker of something dangerous in his expression. And then, his gaze darted toward Renji, and Hajime's blood ran cold.
Suzu was too focused on the barrier spell to notice. Kouki was mid-chant for another support spell. The focused on the Behemoth. No one was watching Hiyama. No one, except for Hajime.
Flames swirled in his palm.
Before anyone could notice, before anyone could react, Hiyama's voice cut through the air. "Fireball!"
The spell shot out in a burst of blinding light, but not at the Behemoth—at them. At Hajime and Renji.
"Shit!" Renji's eyes widened as he spotted the incoming fireball. "Hajime—!"
But it was too late.
The explosion was deafening.
The ground beneath them cracked open, a violent shockwave rippling across the stone bridge. Hajime felt the shock hit him like a freight train. His footing gave way, and the bridge beneath them shattered in an instant.
Renji barely had time to react, but it didn't matter. The ground crumbled beneath their feet, and they were falling—falling into the abyss below.
Hajime's heart pounded as he struggled to hold on to something, anything. But the rocks crumbled like sand under his fingertips. He heard Renji shout his name, but the sound was drowned by the roar of the collapsing stone.
The air was cold, and the wind rushed past them as they plummeted down into the deep darkness.
In that instant, Hajime saw Hiyama's smirk before he turned and pretended to yell for help. "Someone—! They fell! The ground collapsed!" His voice was a thin veil of concern, but Hajime could see it—could feel it—the satisfaction on his face.
Bastard.
But there was no time to think.
Hajime reached out for Renji, grabbing his arm just as they tumbled. Renji, using the last of his strength, tried to grab hold of a jutting rock. But it was no use.
"Renji!" Hajime shouted as he squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for impact.
But then—
Water.
A deafening crash. A violent splash.
The two of them slammed into something hard and cold, the impact sending shockwaves of pain through their bodies. The water had broken their fall, but not without consequences. They were deep beneath the surface, the force of the fall throwing them further into the blackness of the cavernous underworld.
Hajime's body ached. His vision blurred as he surfaced, coughing water from his lungs. He gasped for air, the coldness of the underground waterfall enveloping him, its roaring sound drowning out all other noises.
Renji surfaced beside him, struggling to keep himself afloat. His breathing was ragged, and he seemed to be barely holding on to consciousness.
"Renji...!" Hajime forced out through labored breaths. "You okay?"
Renji barely nodded, his face pale, exhaustion clouding his features. "I... I tried to save you... I'm sorry."
Hajime gritted his teeth. "We're not done yet."
But in the back of his mind, a bitter truth gnawed at him. Hiyama had betrayed them. The last person he would have expected, and yet it made all too much sense now. Hiyama had targeted them both, choosing to leave them to die in the abyss for some twisted gain.
But they wouldn't die here.
They couldn't.
Hajime's vision swam, his head growing heavier as he fought to stay conscious. The force of the fall, the cold water, and the exhaustion finally caught up to him. His muscles refused to cooperate, and his body went limp in the frigid current.
Renji's movements slowed as well. His eyes fluttered, and he collapsed against the rocks.
A moment later, both of them lost the battle against their bodies.
The world went black.
As the chaos unfolded above them, Kaori's heart pounded in her chest. The battle against the Behemoth had been intense, but now something far worse had happened. Something that felt wrong, a sinking pit in her stomach that only grew as she watched her classmates fall apart.
The stone bridge was gone.
Dust still floated in the air. It clung to their clothes, their skin, their lungs. No one spoke.
Kaori stood there, unmoving. Her hands hung limp at her sides. Her lips parted like she was about to say something, but nothing came out. Not a word. Not even a breath.
Yuuka stared at the edge of the cliff, eyes wide. She blinked once. Twice. Like if she just kept blinking, they'd still be there. Like maybe she'd imagined it. That last second. That collapse. That sound.
The others were quiet, too. Kouki's hand dropped from the spell he hadn't finished. Suzu had stopped chanting altogether, her mouth slightly open. Shizuku stood still, her grip on her sword white-knuckled, eyes darting across the jagged cliff's edge as if she could still spot them clinging to some impossible ledge.
Then Kaori took a step forward.
"Wait," she said, barely audible. "No… wait, they—they're just—maybe they landed. Maybe there's a ledge. Hajime—he can transmute something, right?"
Yuuka's voice was quiet too. Shaky. "Renji… he… he's strong. He was right there." Her hands trembled. "He always watches his footing. He's careful. He wouldn't fall. He wouldn't."
Kaori dropped to her knees beside the edge, searching. "There's got to be something—he can't be gone. Not like that."
Suzu's mouth moved, but no sound came out at first. Finally, she muttered, "It was a misfire… right? Someone must've misfired. It—it just cracked the bridge too early…"
Taeko shook her head, slowly. "It wasn't supposed to happen."
Kaori leaned forward, dangerously close to the edge now, voice rising. "Hajime! Renji! You can hear me, right?! Say something! Please—say something!"
Shizuku stepped toward her quickly, grabbing her shoulders. "Kaori—stop—"
"No! He's down there! I know he is!" Kaori tried to push past her. "He always makes it! He's smart, he—he plans ahead, he—he promised—"
Yuuka stumbled to the edge, trying to lean over, her eyes frantic. "Renji! Renji!"
Nana moved fast, catching her arm. "Yuuka, don't—!"
Yuuka yanked her arm free, voice cracking. "He wouldn't leave me! I—I need to get down there—he could be—he could be hurt—I need to find him!"
"Yuuka, please—" Taeko said softly, trying to pull her back.
"They're not gone," Kaori muttered. "They're not gone. They're just… they're just below. They just need help."
She started to cry—not loud sobs, just quiet, breathless gasps. Like her body forgot how to process the feeling.
Yuuka dropped to her knees, clutching her shirt. "He told me he'd be fine. He told me…"
Shizuku didn't say anything. She just looked at the broken cliff, her brows tight, chest rising and falling like she was trying not to throw up.
Captain Meld stood behind them, silent for a long time. His face was unreadable.
Then he moved.
Kaori didn't react until she felt the blow—sudden, clean, and fast. She collapsed forward, unconscious. Shizuku caught her before she could hit the ground.
Yuuka's shoulders stiffened—then she too was struck. Her body slumped in Nana's arms.
Meld looked at the rest of the class. "We need to move. Now."
No one argued.
But no one really moved either.
Just… silence again.
Silence, and the empty space where two of their own had been.
Captain Meld watched the edge of the cliff for a long time.
Even after the others had backed away. Even after he'd carried Kaori's unconscious form to safety and Yuuka had been gently laid beside her. The dust had long settled. But something in him refused to turn his back on that broken stone.
He didn't cry. Not because he didn't care—but because he couldn't afford to.
Command didn't allow for grief. Not now. Not when they still had the rest of the class to get out alive.
But that didn't mean it didn't hurt.
He remembered Hajime—quiet, always off to the side, asking questions no one else thought to ask. Smart. Creative. Too soft for this place. He'd tried to warn him not to get too involved, not to stand out too much. And still, that boy had thrown up a wall to save his class.
And Renji…
Meld's chest tightened.
He liked that kid. Something about him reminded Meld of himself at that age—steady, careful, older than he should've been. He didn't say much, but when he did, it carried weight.
And they were both gone.
Just like that.
Crushed. Fallen. Or worse.
He clenched his jaw and finally turned away.
He couldn't give in to it.
Not here. Not now.
Later, maybe. When they were safe. When he was alone.
But not while these kids still looked at him like he had the answers.
He walked back to the group, nodding to Kouki and glancing briefly at the unconscious girls.
"We move in five. Stay sharp," he said, his voice steady.
Even if the ache inside him wasn't.
Shizuku sat near Kaori, wiping dust from her friend's cheek with the edge of her cloak.
Her hands were shaking, though she kept them still by force of habit. Training helped. Focus. Discipline.
But none of that stopped the ringing in her ears or the hollowness sitting in her stomach like a stone.
She'd seen it happen.
The collapse. The expressions on their faces. The silence right after.
She couldn't stop replaying the moment.
She should've noticed something. Should've moved faster. Should've gotten Kaori away from the edge before Meld had to knock her out.
Should've done more.
But she hadn't. She just stood there, frozen like the rest.
She looked at Kaori, then at Yuuka—both out cold now, their faces pale.
The guilt hit her in waves.
She hadn't even really known Hajime that well, but… he didn't deserve this.
And Renji—
She clenched her fists.
He was strong. Stubborn. Protective. Maybe too protective.
And now he was gone.
She didn't let herself cry. Not yet. Not here.
But the cracks were forming.
And she knew, the moment they stopped running—the moment they had silence again—she'd feel all of it.
And it would be unbearable.