Chapter 178: Infighting

Chapter 178: InfightingThe Crafter’s grin stretched wider, teeth flashing bright under the jagged torchlight. The silver microphone spun faster between his fingers, a blur of quicksilver that caught the flames and threw shards of broken light across the platform.

"Tonight," he declared, voice rising into a theatrical crescendo, "we have a special match — a clash of loyalty... and betrayal!"

The monitors behind him pulsed once, the light deepening into a richer, bloodier red.

Two profiles snapped into view, side by side. Names. Stats. Ikona icons.

Each line sharp enough to cut.

[Elias Kael]

[Kikaru Yirazawa]

The names glowed, stark against the black glass, their letters burning crimson in the heavy air. Below each name, a single small icon rotated slowly — a ladybug-shaped emblem flashing beside Elias’s name, tiny red wings and black dots glinting faintly with each turn.

Beside Kikaru’s, a golden sphere of searing light, shaped like a miniature sun, pulsed with rhythmic bursts, the edges rippling like solar flares.

The system windows rippled once, then stabilized, casting new data in tight, efficient columns:

Elias Kael



Ikona: Dot (Creation)Skill Tree: Adaptive GenesisStrength: 35/100Speed: 30/100Endurance: 79/100Perception: 5/100Soul Energy: 42/100Status: A Block — Deviation Flag Active

Kikaru Yirazawa

Ikona: Light (Radiant Energy)Skill Tree: Radiant AscendanceStrength: 50/100Speed: 85/100Endurance: 90/100Perception: 80/100Soul Energy: 71/100Status: A Block — Officer Candidate Path

Beneath Kikaru’s profile, another system window flickered into life, displaying her Ikona’s active abilities.

Tiny light-based icons appeared next to each skill — bright sigils shaped like miniature suns, prisms, and burning spears:

Luminous Constructs (2/5): Plasma-light spears, shields, and constructs of advanced size, complexity, and reach.Refraction Control (2/5): Active camouflage distortion — bending light to cloak movement and body.Solar Charge (1/5): Plasma constructs gain an energy burst, temporarily increasing force and stability.Radiant Stability (1/5): Strengthens plasma constructs, reducing energy decay during sustained fights.Locked Skill Branches (2/5): Requirements unmet — core skill levels must reach (2/5) across tree.

Elias stood frozen, throat closing around the air he tried to drag in.

Kikaru.

Not a childhood friend.

Not someone who had ever looked at him with warmth or naïve trust.

Kikaru Yirazawa — military prodigy, granddaughter of generals, her path carved by bloodlines and expectations.

She had trained for this world while he had stumbled into it.

She had fought to be perfect, while he had barely survived.

And now the system had chained them together again — not as allies, but as enemies.

His shard pulsed harder under his ribs, the glow struggling to push through the thin barrier of his dry sleepwear. The taste of failure pressed thick against the back of his tongue.

The monitors updated again, showing stills from their past battles — Kikaru unleashing a radiant spear at the Tuyaki Resort, her stance precise, her expression carved from focus.

Elias struggling in training simulations, Dot’s glow flickering weakly behind him.

The contrast was brutal.

Unforgiving.

The Crafter’s voice dropped into a low, purring cadence, threading between the heavy beats of silence.



"Kikaru Yirazawa," he intoned, as if savoring the syllables. "A radiant force of survival, shaped by expectation, sharpened by loss, driven by the hunger to never, ever fail again."


The golden orb icon pulsed brighter beside her name, flaring once before settling back into a slow, predatory rhythm.

"And Elias Kael," the Crafter continued, with a glint of amusement behind the unnatural diamonds of his glasses, "a creator caught between conviction and consequence. A bearer of adaptation — or collapse."

The ladybug icon spun faster now beside Elias’s name, shedding tiny, glinting sparks into the system window — too small for the silent watchers overhead to see, but sharp enough for Elias to feel.

The torches hissed along the perimeter.

The gravel shifted faintly under his boots.

The next match was already decided.

The Crafter’s gaze shifted toward Elias.

The fractured diamonds of his glasses — one red, one blue — caught the torchlight and carved jagged scars of color across Elias’s face. For a heartbeat, the distorted reflection made him look like someone else entirely.

"And Elias," the Crafter purred, the silver microphone spinning lazily between his fingers, "bearer of Dot — creator of constructs, survivor of desperation — forging tools through nothing but willpower and scrap."

His voice dipped into a mock reverence, a bowing tone that never reached his smile.

The monitors behind him shifted again, Elias’s profile expanding. Dot’s faint blue glow flickered inside a tight window, barely cutting through the arena’s heavy red haze — a guttering light in a battlefield soaked in blood.

A new window unfolded beside his stats, clean and deliberate:

Skill Tree: Creationist — Skill Development Path

Description: Enhances Dot’s ability to create, amplify, and refine physical constructs.

???? Conjure Object (1/5): Materializes simple reinforced constructs; higher levels increase complexity, durability, and size.

궍궎궏궐궑궒 Knowledge Recall (1/5): [System Error: Locked Data] — Potential memory restoration or stored knowledge access.

 Energy Amplification (1/5): Boosts construct output; allows temporary external energy channeling for enhanced effects.

???? Construct Stability (1/5): Increases the endurance and resistance of Dot’s creations against energy disruption and physical strain.

꺝꺞꺟 Locked Branches (2/5): Hidden abilities requiring all core skills to reach Level 2/5 for activation.



At the bottom of the window, faint gold letters shimmered briefly, almost invisible against the darker backdrop:

Future Potential: Creationist Awakening — Core Mastery Path Unlocked at Level 5.

The ladybug-shaped emblem beside Elias’s name crawled slowly across the system border — a stubborn, steady march without flair, without pride. Just persistence.

The Crafter’s grin widened at the sight.

"A shard user of ingenuity," he mused, his voice turning almost wistful, "but ingenuity alone seldom stops a blade."

He turned slightly, snapping the microphone up toward the crowd of silent Shard Users overhead.

"Will it save him tonight?"

The question hung there — not for Elias, not for Kikaru, but for the hundreds watching with silent, judgmental stares.

Beneath him, the platform lurched with a grinding groan.

Elias braced himself, boots grinding into the loose gravel as the ground shifted, sliding him forward. Across the vast circle, Kikaru’s platform mirrored his motion, the two slabs of compacted sand and ancient glass groaning into alignment.

A ripple of golden light bled outward from the junction point, racing across the floor in thin, snapping arcs.

The veins carved into the glass seams pulsed with it, transforming the arena into a breathing thing, alive and waiting.