The Extra's Rebellion
Chapter 78: Limitless

Chapter 78: Limitless

Earl swung his gunbai brutally. Zephyr stepped on the massive fan, using the force to launch himself backward. With a grunt and a mid-air twist, he landed on the ground in a low crouch.

But then Earl spoke—and the words made Zephyr stumble.

"I think it’s time I went all out."

Zephyr’s eyes narrowed. ’Bastard, what does that mean?’.

Now that he thought about it, Earl hadn’t truly shown his hand yet. The entire fight, he’d only used his First Art—Destructive Pin: Death Thrust, and his Hollow Art, the one that let him spit fireballs. Beyond that, he’d just used raw strength, relying on Aether to reinforce his body and swing that monstrously heavy gunbai like it weighed nothing.

Zephyr, on the other hand, had been burning through Aether like a spoiled noble tossing gold into a furnace—lavish, excessive, inefficient. Every Limbo Shift, every spatial lock and compression, all done without calculation. Hell, he’d even been experimenting mid-fight, trusting his instincts more than any solid technique.

It showed.

He had power—but Earl had control.

Zephyr rubbed the back of his head, a sheepish expression creeping onto his face as he muttered, "It’s not like I’m that wasteful... Circumstances demanded it."

To be fair, he was a Grade 1 Eplision going toe to toe with two Grade 2s and a 3.

Well—toe to back.

He straightened as Earl rushed forward again, that same joyful grin spread across his face. Zephyr met him head-on, scythe in hand. With a click, the head disengaged from the staff.

Then he heard it—barely a whisper.

"Destructive Pin—Heat Convergence."

The air around Earl warped.

You know that shimmering distortion you see above open flames? That’s exactly what the space around him looked like. But worse. Wrong.

The atmosphere screamed danger.

Zephyr tried to retreat—but too late.

His right arm jerked violently, and numbness rushed in like a tide. He stumbled back further and looked down.

His scythe clattered to the ground with a metallic clang. His right arm—limp, pale, unmoving—hung uselessly at his side.

No heat. None at all. As if it had been sucked out entirely, leaving only freezing emptiness in its place.

Across from him, Earl’s body now shimmered with a soft red glow.

All the heat in the radius around him—air, ground, and even Zephyr—had been siphoned into Earl’s core. For as long as that heat lasted, Earl’s strength, speed, and senses would skyrocket.

This was the Demios Clan’s Second Art.

A technique that drained heat from the environment—or from living beings—turning it into raw physical dominance.

And he did something unexpected, instead of advancing towards Zephyr he instead jumped towards that empty platform that he and Zephyr had crashed into when they were fighting earlier.

"I’ve seen enough. You’re weak," he shouted back. "Let’s end this."

Zephyr’s expression twisted at the blunt dismissal, but inwardly? ’Thank goodness’.

He barely stopped himself from rolling his eyes, holding the grimace long enough for Earl to miss the truth.

Earl began weaving hand signs, whispering again.

"Destructive Pin—Heat Convergence."

Even more heat flooded into him. "Triple Layer." His red aura deepened—amplified thrice over, a feedback loop of power stacking on itself.

Then came the final invocation.

"Destructive Pin—Eclipse Core."

Zephyr’s breath caught.

That was no ordinary Hollow Art. It was one crafted specifically for the Demios Clan.

He could no longer look at Earl directly. The boy was no longer a person, but a sun—a black sun.

The triple-layer convergence had twisted Earl’s glow from red to pitch black. From heat... to abyssal flame.

Zephyr felt the power billowing toward him, its pressure oppressive, its presence terrifying. Earl expected him to stand his ground—to take the hit like a warrior.

But Zephyr was no noble knight. Not after what the clan did. Not after what happened in the Academy

He would not die for honor.

And yet... he was helpless.

His spatial sense—normally a guide, a sixth sense in battle—was screaming, warped by the oppressive heat. Every time he tapped into it, he felt like he was drowning in a vacuum.

Usually, attacks felt like pressure building on the body part about to be hit. But now? The entirety of him felt scorched—and the beam hadn’t even launched yet.

He was low on Aether. He couldn’t lock space for a few seconds without draining the last of it. Even if he tried, he wasn’t sure his scythe wouldn’t melt just from getting close.

There was one option left, one he hated.

His right eye— upon activation it’s radiance will spill into the left, granting him another ability. Pp

That cursed eye could stop this. It had a kind of ability—an understanding ray. If Earl was caught in it, his invocation would unravel, collapsing into nothing.

The eye didn’t give an overpowered ability— well it did give him one overpowered ability. It gave him a triple layered ability for his right eye and one single one for his left. And the one he needed right now is from the left.

His left eye.

Not the right—that was for another kind of fight. His right eye gave him triple layered ability— Perceive. Adapt. Elevate. If he could perceive the battles and the attacks he could adapt and when he adapted he could elevate his fighting capabilities to better surpass his opponent.

But the left — Clairvoyance. But not foresight. Not prophecy.

No, this eye forced understanding.

A weaponized awareness. It could inject a realization into someone’s mind—stop them cold with the weight of a concept.

But the consequences?

Unpredictable.

And he knew one thing for sure—if he didn’t use it, he would die violently

Magnus Domain could stop death.

Not pain and so if that attack touched him he would feel the entirely if the pain and he was sure it would unravel his mind.

’Just once. The moment it feels off, I reseal it.’

His eye throbbed violently beneath the blindfold. ’Behave’. He warned it, the throbbing dimmed.

Earl’s power reached its boiling point.

" It’s now or never".

Zephyr cut the Aether feed to the seals as the blindfold unfurled, dropping to his collar.

The right eye paused, as if stunned that it had been released. Then— Boom.

Amethyst light burst from Zephyr’s eye, flooding his face and casting long, sharp shadows behind him.

And then Earl released his black flame.

Kaboom.

The entire arena shook.

Spectator stands expanded and relocated automatically to avoid the heat.

Radiation. Smoke. Shockwaves.

The blast lasted nearly two minutes.

No one said a word.

"There’s no way he survived that". That was the unspoken consensus.

Earl stood panting, leaning heavily on his gunbai. His expression? Grim. Two minutes had passed, and Elden still hadn’t declared the winner.

Something was wrong.

Then the students noticed. Elden was silent. The instructors expression were unreadable.

"Was he... alive?"

"Impossible".

That attack could dry a lake. No human body could endure it.

And then— The smoke parted.

Students and instructors alike held their breath.

A figure emerged.

A boy.

White-haired... no—glowing. Pale lavender color shimmered across each strand. His head bowed, one arm outstretched.

Patches of his uniform had burned away, but he was standing.

Still.

Then—he looked up.

Hair—white, glowing.

Pale lavender danced across the tips of every strand, like the edge of dawn brushing moonlight.

He was still standing. One arm forward.

Burns marked his uniform. But he was alive.

Then—he looked up.

His lashes were tinged white-lavender, just like his hair.

His pupils, once red, now gleamed pale lavender—and then... they beat.

A soft pulse. Like a heartbeat.

Each beat released a ripple of lavender light—concentric rings rippling outward from the pupils.

One after another. Pulse. Pulse.

Each ring faded, only to be followed by the next—until the pupils sat at the center of a cascade of glowing, overlapping circles.

He stared.

Earl grinned without realizing.

Zephyr grinned too. Wider. Unhinged. Free.

For the first time in a while he felt free. He felt no pain. Just lightness.

Like a dream. Like he was on drugs. Like he was high on Aether. Like he was flying.

"I feel like a bird". He whispered to no one but himself. His voice was ecstatic. Mad with exhilaration.

If Zephyr was asked to describe his current state, that state would be— Liberated. Limitless.

He felt like his entire being had been elevated to a upper realm, a realm of Peace.

Zephyr stumbled forward his right hand twitching, whether by coincidence or not, Amplifier art was embedded in his eyes, giving him double amplification, enhancing his strength, speed, art and healing two fold.

His Aether that was normally amethyst had turned to a pale lavender color, rippling all over his body.

"Well! It’s seems the fight just got started". Earl said while edging closer to Zephyr.

Zephyr raised his head and looked at him, the grin on his face widened. As he began to mumble under his breath.

"Right! Right!! Right!!! gods you are so right". His voice begun to become louder till he was literally shouting with a crazed expression on his face.

Earl grin widened as he whispered under his breath and from the gunbai Aether flowed into his body, not only healing him but elevating his strength.

"ZEPHYR! SON OF DEMIOS! HERE I COME". Earl charged towards Zephyr with joy plastered throughout his face.

Zephyr swayed and then he moved, like a phantom.

And then impact.