The crowd didn’t quite know how to react to Yakura’s treacherous move. Confusion mixed with excitement, but one thing was certain—the battle had just reached a new level of intensity. Both teams were now reduced to less than half their members.

“I DON’T EVEN KNOW HOW TO REACT TO THIS! YAKURA JUST ERASED THE NUMERICAL ADVANTAGE HE HAD!” Keaton shouted.

“Everyone in the Survival of Kings universe knows that Yakura does whatever he wants. If something bothers him… he simply removes it,” Mirtr replied.

It was clear Yakura wasn’t exactly a fan favorite.

Back in the arena, Lumi and Yakura faced each other in silence. Yakura looked thrilled, almost energized by the confrontation. Lumi, on the other hand, was tense. She had no desire to fight him—especially not while both of them held the title of king.

“I can see you’re a bit nervous, Lumi. I didn’t know I had that effect on you!” Yakura said, wearing a disturbingly wide smile.

“I’d rather not even respond…” Lumi thought.

“Since you don’t feel like talking… I guess I’ll have to force an answer out of you!” Yakura said as he rose from the pile of bodies he had been sitting on.

Before he was even fully upright, he unsheathed his katana and lunged forward in the same instant. Lumi only noticed him when he was already right in front of her—and when she looked down, she saw her body separated from her legs.

The arena exploded with screams.

A new champion of Survival of Kings had just emerged—

Or at least, it would have… if Lumi hadn’t anticipated the attack. What Yakura had cut was merely an ice clone. Her real body remained hidden beneath the frozen layer she had created at the start of the match.

Seizing the opening, Lumi summoned multiple ice spikes from beneath Yakura’s feet.

Yakura reacted instantly, leaping as high as he could. While he was airborne, Lumi tracked his position through the ice and launched the spikes upward—but Yakura cut through every single one.

Without hesitation, he activated his ability, Tenebris: Void’s Birth. Darkness began to spill out from behind him, expanding rapidly toward Lumi.

Within that darkness, only the sense of touch remained. Sight and sound were completely nullified.

Still midair, Yakura grabbed the sheath of his katana and placed it beneath his feet, using it as a foothold to propel himself forward in a swift, silent strike.

Unable to perceive anything around her, Lumi chose to predict the attack. She activated Luminice: Frostguard Halo, forming a radiant sphere of ice around her body.

Yakura’s strike collided with the barrier. Since it wasn’t anchored, the impact sent Lumi flying backward toward the metallic spikes below—but the barrier held firm, protecting her from harm.

Recovering quickly, Lumi used Ice Walk to create a path back up to her original ice layer. Midway, she detonated her barrier into dozens of glowing ice fragments, dispersing Yakura’s darkness.

While Yakura was still descending, Lumi reshaped those fragments into a storm of sharp, luminous needles and fired them at him. Recognizing they weren’t lethal, Yakura simply shielded his eyes with his arm, letting the rest strike his body.

With needles embedded across his body and falling toward the metal spikes set earlier, Yakura sliced through part of them with his katana, landing safely.

Now positioned above him, Lumi held the advantage. The two locked eyes once more.

“I could remove these needles… but I feel closer to you like this.”

Lumi grimaced in disgust.

“You’re disgusting!”

Yakura smirked.

“I prefer the word ‘dedicated.’ And right now, I’m dedicated to seeing you bleed.”

The moment he finished speaking, Lumi noticed something strange—half of Yakura’s katana had vanished, its tip shrouded in black mist.

In the next instant, her right shoulder was pierced.

She dropped to one knee, wincing in pain.

Without giving her time to recover, Yakura cast Void’s Birth again. This time, Lumi countered immediately with Luminice: Sun of Ice, creating a radiant sphere of solid ice that illuminated and froze the entire area—at the cost of a massive portion of her mana.

Yakura quickly realized that as long as that sphere existed, darkness-based abilities would be ineffective—unless he could overwhelm or destroy it.

He charged again, but something had changed. The extreme cold within the sphere made it nearly impossible to endure without resistance.

Each time he attacked, Lumi evaded using Ice Walk, conserving energy while waiting for the cold to slow him down.

Yakura understood the situation. There was only one option left—destroy the sphere.

Channeling nearly eighty percent of his mana, he unleashed Void’s Birth once more. This time, the sheer volume of darkness overwhelmed the arena, suppressing Lumi’s light.

He charged directly at the sphere, enduring the freezing temperature.

Just as he was about to cut it in half—

Edan appeared.

“I won’t let you do that!”

Lumi had known he was coming. All she needed to do was buy time.

Edan coated himself in heat to counter the freezing aura and, with a single arm, launched a powerful strike at Yakura. Yakura managed to avoid a fatal blow, but his face—and one eye—were badly injured.

Edan had put everything into that attack.

And now, he had nothing left to defend himself.

Yakura retaliated instantly with a horizontal slash, severing Edan’s remaining arm and tearing through part of his ribs. The katana lodged itself in Edan’s body.

The wound was fatal—but not immediate.

Edan knew he had, at most, one minute left.

No arms. No weapons.

No way to attack.

—

Inside the darkness, Lumi couldn’t see or hear anything. She had no idea Edan had arrived—or what had happened.

So she gambled everything.

Using the blood flowing from her wound, she infused it into fragments of ice and scattered them across the battlefield. Her ability allowed her to perceive anything touched by her DNA.

Through those fragments, she saw everything.

Edan.

Yakura.

Both marked by her blood.

Lumi crosses her arms and, with her hands wide open, focusing what remained of her mana, unleashes what would be her final ability in that battle.

In place of Edan’s arms, two glowing blades of ice grew.

The final weapon.

“Your darkness will no longer reign in this arena. Until now, we have always lost to you. But today… Today is the day of the turnaround! The day you are no longer our nightmare. And why? Because you were finally defeated! I hope the next strike brings a bit of light to your soul… though I doubt there’s not much of it left to save,” Lumi said.

“EDAAAAAAAN! Finish this.”

—

Edan couldn’t hear anything, but he felt an inexplicable force building within him.

And as Edan gathered all his strength for the next attack…

Yakura realized it.

Nothing could stop Edan now.

So he made one last bet.

He allowed Edan’s attack to land—just to retrieve his katana—and launched a final strike toward Lumi.

Edan cut Yakura in half.

But the katana was no longer with either of them.

It appeared in front of Lumi.

She didn’t have the strength to dodge.

It pierced her heart.

—

The commentators fell silent.

The arena erupted in confusion.

Who had won?

Both kings were seconds away from death.

Understanding what Yakura had done, Edan used his final strength to decapitate him—ensuring he would fall first.

Lumi and Yakura collapsed almost simultaneously.

But Lumi endured… just a little longer.

And that was enough.

Edan’s team had won.

“UNBELIEVABLE! EDAN’S TEAM ARE THE WINNERS OF THE SURVIVAL OF KINGS WORLD TOURNAMENT!” Keaton screamed.

“I… I don’t even know what to say. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a fight decided by mere fractions of a second,” Mirtr admitted.

Back in the arena, Edan used his remaining time to melt the ice that had formed his temporary arms. He walked toward Yakura’s severed head, bit into his hair, and lifted it high for the entire arena to see.

That was what it took to become champions.

—

Outside the arena, the trophy was handed to Edan’s team. He stepped forward to the microphone, ready to deliver his victory speech.

“I never doubted this moment would come. Since the beginning of our journey, I believed in it. There is no success without will. No success without dedication. No success without hunger to win. And right now… we stand at the peak of success.”

He paused, scanning the crowd.

“This only proves that humanity’s sickness can drive us to achieve what we desire—no matter who or what stands in the way. And to those who think they’re more twisted than me… or the people standing behind me…”

A faint smile formed.

“Then come take this trophy.”

“I want to see you try.”

Welcome… to the world of Survival of Kings.