25 Red Snow - Sunstone - Breakthrough - Cedric's Greed

Several minutes ago, before Sunstone and Akayuki fell inside the location of the Spirit Mines, the Night of the Waning Gibbous arrived at the center of the Core Academy

At first, they thought there was nothing there but a giant plain circular pillar with nothing around it

"What is this?!" Sunstone asked, directed at Tanzanite

"There is a passageway deep inside the pillar. We are currently directly above the Mana Hotspot." Tanzanite said in a rush. Any second now, they might get intercepted once again and that will hinder their time for several minutes

"Do we break the pillar and enter from there or break the ground beneath us?" Sunstone asked in urgency

"We should enter inside the pillar! We could absorb the flowing Mana inside while we fall." Tanzanite quickly said

"Tempered Cut!"

Sunstone horizontally swiped his red hands against each other against the giant pillar with no time wasted. A molten line appeared on the pillar and crawled around the pillar. Unfortunately, the pillar was not cut through due to the thickness, even though he is already in Semi-Ignition

"Tempered Cut!!"

Sunstone swiped his hands the opposite way and the molten line crawled under the initial molten material. It still did not cut through and the molten material dripped down the sides

"Damn it!!"

Sunstone then stabbed his fingers and hands into the molten line and went deeper

"Burn"

A deafening sound echoed from the molten hole that he stabbed in. Molten material erupted from the hole as lava spurted on his body and the ground. Flames also bursted out from the hole that engulfed Sunstone

As the area around Sunstone's hands glowed bright red as fire bursted from within, three of the Guardians arrived and caught up

"Who are you people?!" Knight immediately drew his sword, Libera, and pointed it at Sunstone as it glowed and lightning surged around its core

"Attack!" Tanzanite immediately commanded the disciples to attack

"You shouldn't have asked them first and just attack them immediately. It's obvious they're doing something bad." Karina said as she touched Knights back with her right hand

"Overload!"

"UUUOOOHHH!" Knight screamed as power surged within himself

He then dashed forward as he pulled his sword behind him. He will clash with dozens of disciples that will storm him

Meanwhile, Akayuki hovered down in front of Tanzanite with her arms crossed and donning two Japanese swords on her right waist, three Japanese swords on her left waist, and a small Japanese short swords each on her legs. The Muramasame sword is hovering behind her back as it emits a dark red aura while on its sheath

"What is your purpose in infiltrating the Core Academy?" Akayuki asked in a cold tone

Tanzanite's posture was in a squat due to Akayuki's intimidating aura. Her danger senses were spiking and she knew that she needs to go all out to buy Sunstone time

"Full Ignition!!"

Power bursted from within Tanzanite. Energy swept through everyone but Akayuki was unfazed as her hair and ribbon fluttered from the gust of wind coming from Tanzanite

Sunstone couldn't help but turn his head and look at the corner of his eyes. He frowned as he struggled to penetrate through the tough pillar

Her dark violet hands extended to his arms and into her shoulders. A dark violet gem appeared on her chest and dark veins crawled out and covered her entire chest and torso. It then extended to her thighs and legs

Her whole body turned into dark violet, except for his face, with gemstone cuts along his legs, arms, fingers, and waist

The extension of the dark violet gem skin stopped around her face. It ended like roots aimed around her face

Her hair solidified into crystallized fibers that glimmer under the light and the dark violet ribbon around her forehead swirled around her body. Her whole eyes glowed in dark violet. There are no pupils seen in her eyes

The diamond-shaped crystal on her forehead glowed intensely like her eyes

She looked like a being that is made of a Tanzanite Gem

Akayuki looked down on Tanzanite and scoffed

Seeing this, Tanzanite became angry and moved

"Nighttime Ascension!!"

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[Nighttime Ascension]

Rating: O

> The ability to turn an enclosed space into night time. Any being, aside from allies, inside the space is significantly slowed and their defenses decreased

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Tanzanite clawed the air upwards towards Akayuki with her dark violet hands. As she did so, glimmering and shining particles bursted around Akayuki and a beam of darkness shot out from the ground beneath her feet

The beam reached to the ceiling of the center of the Core Academy and spread around the walls. The surroundings became dark like the night sky

Knight had a harder time after his vision darkened. He also felt that his opponents seemed to get faster as their hits connected on him. He decided to get serious

"Thunder Wheel!"

He then twisted his body with Libera on his hand. The Libera sparked and lightning covered the blade of the sword. He swung Libera around him and made a circle of lightning around

The lightning crackled amd branches of lightning crawled onto the disciples. A few of them escaped while others was stunned, electrocuted, or charred

Meanwhile, Akayuki is still inside the beam of darkness. She felt the force that swept her from below and she tilted her head backwards subconsciously. She almost let out a scream or a moan from the peculiar feeling from the darkness

Nonetheless, this was nothing to her as she stepped out of the beam nonchalantly. She then pulled the Tachi on her right waist and the Wakizashi on her left waist while holding it backwards. She then closed her eyes

She took a step forwards and disappeared into a red blur and appeared behind Tanzanite. Tanzanite's eyes widened as she tried to look behind her

Akayuki then sheathed the Wakizashi and a late slash sliced Tanzanite diagonally downwards to the right. She then sheathed the Tachi and a second late slash sliced Tanzanite diagonally downwards to the left

Akayuki then opened her eyes and an additional four cross slashes occured that sliced Tanzanite

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!" Tanzanite screamed in agony as her body generated fractures and cracks on the surface of her body. She fell forwards on all fours

"Damn it!" Cold sweat appeared in Sunstone's forehead as he could feel that Akayuki is behind him

"Stop what you're doing right now or die!" Akayuki approached Sunstone as she pulled the Nodachi on her left waist

"Night of the Waning Gibbous!! I permit you all to use Ignition!!" Sunstone shouted as he pulled his hands from the pillar. He couldn't penetrate through and decided abandon cutting going through the pillar. He decided to fight off the enemy in front of him

After hearing the permission from their leader, the disciples landed around Knight and surrounded him

"Full Ignition!!!"

All of the disciples shouted in unison as bursts of energy erupted from them. The disciples transformed into their respective gemstone appearance

Rubellite, Carnelian, Garnet, Jasper, Topaz, Red Beryl, Pezzottaite, Coral, Zircon, Rhodochrosite, Fire Opal, Friedelite, Eudialyte, Cinnabar, Rhodonite, Cuprite, Proustite, Crocoite, and Realgar

Aquamarine, Blue Topaz, Blue Aventurine, Blue Quartz, Indicolite, Dumortierite, Turquoise, Spinel, Sodalite, Kyanite, Apatite, Angelita, Labradorite, Blue Agate, Chalcedony, Hemimorphite, Iolita, Fluorite, Chrysocolla, Azurite, Larimar, and Amber Blue

All of the blue and red gemstones and minerals were present within the remaining disciples, except for certain important gemstones due to rankings

They unleashed all of their abilities at the overloaded Knight. The vicinity around Knight and the disciples were chaotic as fire, lightning, water, ice, and bizarre attributed Magic surged around the area

Karina was hiding in a corner because she has no offensive abilities as she is only a support type

Knight's body was beaming as he prepared to receive the storm of attacks. He held Libera tightly on his hands as he raised it firmly to his right

Lightning crackled around the sword and surged past the tip. The sword extended as lightning flowed upwards

"Lightning Wave!"

Knight immediately slashed in front of him and a thick vertical wave of lightning came out of Libera and drove forwards. The lightning wave was too thick that it almost absorbed most of the attacks aimed at him

Nevertheless, a few attacks reached him and injured him while the lightning wave destroyed and shattered less than half of the fully ignited disciples

Knight was blown backwards and his armor that is made out of unknown alloyed metal was broken and shattered. He suffered heavy injuries across his body as he fell on his back

Fortunately, Knight retained his consciousness and immediately stood back up. He dashed and grabbed Karina despite of his injuries. He then retreated and ran away from the fight

Knight only did this because once he was defeated, Karina would be in danger and according to the Guardian Code, Karina needs to be alive and prioritize her safety with all of their lives

He followed the code and flee the battle with Karina as he carried her in a princess carry. He knows that Akayuki was there but he also knows that she will be busy with her opponent and she will be unable to save Karina while fighting off everyone

As Knight was thinking this, he then lost strength and fell forwards while running. He accidentally threw Karina forwards which made her roll a few feet ahead while Knight fell face flat. He then completely lost consciousness

Karina slowly got up as she was dizzy and disoriented. After she collected herself, she faintly saw two blurs pass her from her sides. She looked around only to see nothing

She then went close to Knight and sat like an elegant lady as she placed Knight's head on her lap. She stroked his hair and closed her eyes as a faint light illuminates them while the sound of the intense rain and thunder taints the current scene of a girl giving a lap pillow to a boy

~~~

Back to Akayuki vs Sunstone, Akayuki looked to her back after the Knight ran with Karina. She was proud that Knight followed the Guardian Code

As the result of Knight fleeing, the fully ignited disciples stopped and didn't chased them. Now, Akayuki has to fight off several of the infiltrators. Therefore, she decided to become serious

"Sunblade!"

Sunstone shouted to which Akayuki abruptly looked back at. A red crystal formed in front of his right palm and rotated. The rotating red crystal grew crystals from its joints and grew larger

Eventually, the red crystal elongated and formed a long blade that resembles a katana on his right hand. The red sword is semi-transparent

Sunstone held the sword firmly and flames bursted from the Sunblade in a way that the flames almost looked like a blade itself

Akayuki judged that the Sunblade is incredibly hot that it might melt her swords upon touch. She then sheated the Nodachi back and crossed her arms as she looked down at Sunstone

"Bushi Seishin" (Samurai Spirit)

Akayuki said as a dark silhouette grew on her back. The silhouette is that of a samurai that had its full armor. The samurai had a sinister smile and red evil eyes. It also resembles a ghost that has no legs and only a swiggle of ethereal dark silhouette

Even though a silhouette of a samurai grew on Akayuki's back, Sunstone couldn't see it. But it is clear that he could see that all of the swords that is strapped on her waist and ankles were unsheated

The swords then floated around Akayuki and aimed at Sunstone

With the samurai holding all of the Japanese swords, Akayuki's exclusive sword, Muramasame, that floats behind her back emitted its red sinister aura and flowed towards the Japanese swords and coated them in its aura

The Japanese swords looked like they were cursed as red and black smoke surrounded them

Sunstone looked at the sword with wariness. He deemed the swords dangerous as he could feel that they are covered by something

He made the first move and lunged at Akayuki as he pulled the Sunblade to his back to gain momentum and exert impact

Akayuki looked at him with empty eyes as the Japanese swords crossed in front of her

She succesfully defended herself from the Sunblade. The swords did not melt and the Sunblade exerted intense ambient heat just from the wind that she feels from her face. The ground beneath Akayuki cracked just from the impact of the Sunblade

"Damn it!" Sunstone jumped back and collected himself. The crossed swords then flew once again and went to Akayuki's back in a circular formation

"There's no choice then..." Sunstone muttered to himself while looking down

Akayuki faintly heard Sunstone and widened her eyes. She then subconsciously sent the Japanese to strike Sunstone and end this once and for all

As the Japanese swords approached Sunstone and was about to stab his heart with seven swords, he shouted

"Full Ignition!!!"

Red energy violently surged and bursted from him which caused the surroundings to shake and tremor. The incoming swords were swept away and flew back to Akayuki

The red energy condensed around Sunstone and swirled around him to cover him completely. Red light intensely emanated from him to the point that it hurts in the eyes

The disciples stood by and watched the spectacle unfold while a few of them helped and supported the weakened Tanzanite behind Akayuki

Akyuki did not pay attention to the disciples grabbing Tanzanite behind her as she deemed Sunstone as a far more dangerous enemy

The condensed red energy around Sunstone exploded and revealed a humanoid red solid light. The light dimmed and reveal Sunstone as Sunstone

Sunstone's entire body turned to his corresponding gemstone. He looked semi-transparent and looked like a beautifully cut gemstone humanoid

He had no mouth and no hair. His head had red spikes and crystals that grew backwards. His eyes were glowing hot and the ground beneath him is melting

The Sunblade on his hand grew larger and glowed brighter as flames swirled around it

Akayuki immediately acted with no time wasted as Muramasame flew on her right hand. She lifted the sword in front of her face and held it with her left hand. She then twisted the sword

"Akaoni" (Red-Horned Demon)

A large red dark circle appeared that covered Akayuki and Sunstone. Inside the red circle is an emanating red mist and aura thay seemed burning. The black aura surrounded the red circle

Sunstone looked around the circle with calmness as his eyes were burning with fire

Akayuki's deep blue eyes then turned red as red aura covered her body and the golden inscriptions on her armor glowed, as well as her red ribbons. A red horn then grew on her forehead and extended forwards. She resembles a red oni

She then closed her eyes with Muramasame in front of her. She then placed Muramasame to her left waist in a sword drawing stance with her left hand in the sheath and her right hand on the handle of Muramasame

Sunstone casually walked forward and approached Akayuki with Sunblade in his hand. He had a plan after he considered the power of the red circle he's currently in

As soon as Sunstone approached the very center of the red circle, he lifted the Sunblade and looked at the ground. He planned to stab the ground

At this point, Akayuki opened her eyes and time stopped in her perspective. She then went ahead and lunge forward and slice Sunstone with all of her might using Muramasame

As she reached the other end of the red circle, she quickly lunged back and sliced Sunstone once more. This occured for more than sixteen times

The Japanese swords that the Samurai Spirit is also holding slashed at Sunstone to provide more damage

Time resumed as Akayuki sheathed Muramasame back

In real time, everyone saw that Sunstone was cut multiple times without Akayuki moving

The slashes was powerful that it even cut the ground and chipped parts of Sunstone. With Sunblade's trajectory, he succesfully stabbed the ground and it exploded

Akayuki was surprised and lunged Sunstone once again as a large gaping hole appeared on the ground

They both fell inside as the debris from the ground fell with them

Akayuki and Sunstone clashed as Suntone bursted into hot flames and created another Sunblade to fend off the raging Akayuki that is screaming and striking with Muramasame along with the red aura coated Japanese swords and the Samurai Spirit

A few seconds later, after falling in a dark hole, the ground behind Sunstone broke like glass and they fell once more through a place where there was a large tree with a giant hole in the trunk and a cave full of Spirit Stones and the Genesis Class

Sunstone noticed the bright yellow star in the middle of the hole in the trunk of the giant tree

"I FOUND THE DIVINE STAR!!!" Sunstone shouted with all of his might that a mouth appeared on his face in a form of broken and shattered gemstone

The disciples and Tanzanite heard Sunstone and immediately went inside. Tanzanite rushed even though she was recently injured. She was partially repaired after Labradorite fixed her

Tanzanite and the disciples fell through the hole and entered the world underneath. Tanzanite looked towards the side cliff in the distance and saw a collection of light there and the large light that they are wary of

Before the person with the large light makes a move, they decided to immediately rush and obtain the Divine Star

Tanzanite needs to at least touch the Divine Star as their higher ups gave her the temporary power to transport an object with a touch. The power is only one use and she need to use it wisely

With this, Sunstone distracted Akayuki and Tanzanite will obtain the Divine Star while the disciples will support her

Then, Tanzanite was alarmed after she sensed a large surge of energy coming from the cliff side. Was it the person with the large light?

She looked towards the student and found two additional large light, larger than person that they are wary of. One is a yellow haired girl with yellow lightning surging around her and the other one is a pink haired girl that was glowing with a forbidden being floating and holding onto her back

Tanzanite panicked after two powerful individuals appeared. It was her miscalculation that she did not see these two incredibly powerful individuals

She then shouted at Sunstone and suggested,

"Sunstone!!! We need to join, now!!!"

Sunstone heard Tanzanite in urgency. He furrowed his eyebrows as he was parrying Akayuki's relentless attacks. He figured that the situation was out of control that they need to join

All of them were halfway down to the ground with Sunstone at the very bottom while Akayuki is attacking him and Tanzanite several meters behind Akayuki with tge disciples

Akayuki didn't hear Sunstone and Tanzanite's conversation as she was set on killing the person in front of her. It was also because of the effect of Akaoni transformation

"Let's do it!" Sunstone nodded and shouted at Tanzanite to which she smiled sinisterly

At this point, Sunstone and Akayuki crashed on the ground, following Tanzanite as she dove straight in the dust and smoke while the disciples dispersed and ran towards the giant tree

~~~

Meanwhile, inside the Spirit Mines, Philip returned to the cave where he converted the True Spirit Stones to the Mystical Crystal after he said that he forgot it towards Chihaya, Yuze, and Lyre

Philip walked in the middle of the cave and placed the Mystical Crystal inside his pocket. He looked at the tunnel from where he entered and then at the tunnel on the other side, where a person is patiently waiting inside

"So... What do you want, Cedric?" Phikip asked towards the person inside the tunnel

The person, who is apparently Cedric came out of the tunnel with a maniac smile plastered on his face. Philip shivered just from looking at his ugly face

'This should be the turning point, huh? The confrontation should also be starting outside...' Philip said in his mind

Just then, Philip received a gut punch as Cedric instantly appeared in front of him without him expecting it. He coughed up saliva and it splattered on the ground

"That is for grabbing the attention of Yuze." Cedric said with anger

A blur appeared on Philip's right face and he was thrown to the left as his head twisted to the left due to the force of the strike. Philip fell on the ground as he coughed up blood this time. One of his tooth might have been skewed

"That is for making her smile instead of me!"

A blur appeared in front of Philip's stomach and he was thrown backwards due to the strike. He coughed up more blood and curled up while he held his stomach with his arms

"That is for talking to her!"

Cedric then grabbed Philip's hair and lifted it to the point he was hanging off of the ground. Cedric looked at Philip's face full of pain and blood coming out of his mouth. He then smiled sinisterly

"Yes... That's it! This is what you get for associating yourself with my wife! Now, you must suffer and die!"

A blur once again appeared in front of Philip's face as it was pounded. His nose became crooked and a black eye formed on his right eye. Bruises appeared on his cheeks and forehead. His lips also bled. He is half awake from the intense pain that he's experiencing

"Let me destroy your face because I hate it when Yuze stares at it!!"

Cedric then looked at Philip's dangling left hand. He released his grip from his hair and let him fall to the ground. He grabbed his left hand and looked at it

"This hand... This hand that held Yuze's hand... It's unfortunate that I can't peel the skin off and take it for myself. Therefore, I will instead break your hand off!"

Cedric then broke his pinky finger first as he pushed it backwards towards his back palm. He also one by one broke the joints of his pinky finger so he could feel three consecutive pain on one finger

He then moved on to his ring finger, then middle finger, index finger, and ended on his thumb. Every one of Philip's finger was broken along with its joints. But Cedric did not stop there

He twisted his wrist and broke it. Philip's left wrist is now backwards. Cedric then moved on to his left elbow and broke it completely, along with his left shoulder and dislocated it. He then stomped on his left arm and it snapped into two

"KUKUKUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!" Cedric laughed maniacally after the entirety of Philip left arm and hand were broken and bleeding profusely

"That's not enough to pay for crimes!! You even slept with Yuze!!!!!" Cedric screamed sadistically as his face distorted from just remembering that he slept with Yuze

'This is fine... This is nothing compared to the time when I was suffering as a child and the time when I was stabbed in the heart at the Mystical Test...' Philip thought to himself as his consciousness started to fade away and unconscious tears dripped from his eyes

"What's this? Are you crying? You're not regretting what you did, right?" Cedric put his face closer to Philip's to see the tears

"KUHAHAHAAH!! You won't be forgiven even if you die!!!" Cedric stepped on Philip's head

Constant intense pain were flowing from Philip's arm and it was flooding his head. In any moment, he will be filled with anger. He then decided to use Fate Control, only to stop due to shock

Philip couldn't use Fate Control now because his left fingers were broken. It was a miscalculation. He shouldn't have let Cedric break his left hand. He doesn't know what to do

At this point, Philip's body started to shake and tremble uncontrollably due to the pain surging throughout his body. He couldn't stop the shaking because this is his body acting up and trying to cope up with the pain and environment to survive

The Bipolar Body ability activated and his entire body became hot as his entire left arm became cold

Cedric once again grabbed Philip's hair and dragged him across the ground as his body was still convulsing from pain

"It's unfortunate that you have to die now... I wish I could have tortured you more! But I need to be with Yuze now..." Cedric said as tears came out of his eyes like waterfall. They went deeper in the tunnel where Cedric came out of earlier

The Mystical Crystal came out of Philip's pocket and fell to the ground

As they left the cave, a black silhouette appeared in the middle of the cave and black aura enveloped the cave. It then unleashed a wave of concentrated energy to the opposite direction from where Cedric went to

The black silhouette then dissipated and flowed towards the tunnel where Ceric went to and seeped inside the convulsing body of Philip