"It ranked up!" Ayaka shouted over the roar of flames. "It's A-rank now!"

"Then we hit it harder!" Akira formed his ice weapons, but even with tenfold enhancement, the ice was struggling to maintain form in this heat. "Aim for the heads! If we can sever them…"

The Salamander didn't wait for them to finish strategising. All nine heads struck at once, moving with precision, which was surprising for his chaotic appearance.

Akira and Ayaka split apart, each taking different angles. Even in Flow State, Akira could feel the creature adapting, its movements becoming faster and more precise.

He slashed at the nearest head with his ice blade and actually managed to sever it. The head hit the ground and dissolved into flame—but two new heads sprouted from the stump immediately.

"It regenerates!" Akira called out. "Classic hydra rules!"

"Then we take them all at once!" Ayaka had somehow gotten on top of the creature's body, running along its spine toward the central mass where all the heads connected. "Akira, hit the core! I'll hold them off!"

She was insane… brave and insane.

Akira ran forward, using his enhanced speed to weave between snapping jaws. He formed a massive spear of ice, the largest construct he'd ever made, enhanced by Flow State to the size of a telephone pole.

"Seven minutes!" Ai warned.

The hydra's heads converged on Ayaka, trying to shake her off. She held on, purple energy flaring around her body as she punched and kicked, keeping the creature's attention.

Akira jumped, using a pillar of ice as a launching platform. He flew through the burning air, the massive spear held in both hands.

The hydra saw him coming. Five of its heads turned toward him, mouths opening to unleash concentrated fire.

But Akira was faster.

The spear struck the creature's central core: a pulsing organ visible beneath translucent flesh where all nine necks met. The ice went in deep, and Akira pushed every bit of his remaining power into the weapon.

Ice. Dark energy. The absorbed essence from the Flame Knight. All of it flooded into the spear.

The Salamander's scream shook the entire realm. Its body convulsed, heads thrashing wildly. Ayaka was thrown off, landing hard on the scorched ground.

"Ayaka!"

"I'm fine! Finish it!"

Akira twisted the spear, and the core shattered.

The Hydra Salamander's body began to dissolve, flames guttering out one by one. Its nine heads fell silent, then crumbled to ash, flowing into Akira's body as he absorbed its essence.

[HYDRA SALAMANDER DEFEATED]

[+800 PP]

[GUARDIAN CORE ACQUIRED]

[WARNING: GATE DESTABILIZING]

[TIME TO COLLAPSE: 90 SECONDS]

"Time to go!" Ai shouted. "The gate knows both guardians are dead! It's collapsing!"

They ran back toward the portal, but the fire realm wasn't done with them yet. The ground began cracking, lava geysers erupting randomly. The sky was literally falling, chunks of burning rock raining down.

"Flow State time?" Akira asked.

"Three minutes! But the gate collapse is faster!"

Without wasting time, Akira grabbed Ayaka and carried her bridal style as he ran towards the exit. They reached the portal just as it began to shrink and he leapt out.

They tumbled out onto the school athletics field, rolling across scorched grass. Behind them, the gate pulsed violently, its edges fraying.

"The anchors!" Ai yelled. "Now!"

Even exhausted, even with Flow State ending, Akira forced himself to move. He reached the first anchor and drove his ice blade through it. The crystal shattered.

[ANCHOR DESTROYED: 1/3]

[GATE COLLAPSE ACCELERATING]

The second anchor was closer. He formed an ice hammer and brought it down with devastating force.

[ANCHOR DESTROYED: 2/3]

[GATE STABILITY: CRITICAL]

The third anchor was the primary stabilizer… larger, more complex, and covered in those binding runes.

"Thirty seconds!" Ai warned.

Akira placed both hands on the anchor. He could feel the stolen essence inside it, the power that had been used to force the gate open against natural law.

Someone had done this deliberately and created a dual-guardian gate in the middle of a school.

The question was why.

He drove his fist into the center of the anchor, and it exploded.

[ANCHOR DESTROYED: 3/3]

[GATE STABILITY: 0%]

[GATE COLLAPSE IMMINENT]

The tear in reality snapped shut with a sound like thunder played in reverse. The vacuum effect pulled in the remaining Ashlings, dragging them back through before the portal sealed completely.

And then... silence.

[FLOW STATE DEACTIVATED]

[MISSION COMPLETE: DUAL-GUARDIAN GATE CLOSED]

[BONUS: NO CIVILIAN CASUALTIES]

[SPECIAL BONUS: UNPRECEDENTED ACHIEVEMENT]

[REWARD: +1200 PP]

[TOTAL PP: 1130 + 800 + 1200 → 3130]

Akira collapsed to his knees, the Flow State's enhancement leaving him all at once. His body felt like lead, every muscle screaming in protest. Burns he hadn't noticed during the fight suddenly announced themselves with lancing pain.

"You did it, darling," Ai said softly. "Against all odds, you closed an artificially enhanced dual-guardian gate. That's... that's actually unprecedented. I don't think anyone has ever survived something like that solo."

"Not solo," Akira managed, looking at Ayaka. "Team effort."

Ayaka limped over to him with obvious injuries. Blood seeped through her burned clothes, and one of her arms hung at an odd angle. But she was smiling.

"You're insane," she said. "Completely, utterly insane. And I'm glad you ignored my advice to stay away."

"We make a good team," Akira said.

"Yeah. We do."

They sat there for a moment, two exhausted supernatural fighters surrounded by ash and scorched earth. The night was quiet again, almost peaceful.

Then Ayaka's expression changed. "Akira. The SPIU."

"What about them?"

"That gate was open for almost twenty minutes. They absolutely detected it. It's a surprise they aren't here yet."

As if on cue, sirens began wailing in the distance. Multiple vehicles, approaching fast.

"Can you run?" Akira asked.

"Can you?"

They looked at each other and then laughed. It was an exhausted, painful laugh that hurt their burned lungs.

"Come on," Ayaka said, pulling him to his feet with her good arm. "Let's get out of here before they show up and ruin what's left of our night."

They limped off the field together, disappearing into the darkness just as the first SPIU vans turned onto the school grounds.

Behind them, the athletics field was a disaster zone of melted ice, scorched grass, and three perfectly circular dead zones where the anchors had been… anchors carved with binding runes that someone had deliberately placed.

Someone who wanted chaos.

Someone who wanted deaths.

Someone who knew exactly what they were doing.

Tomorrow's drug test was going to be very interesting. But more pressingly, Akira now had a new mystery to solve.

Who had forced that gate open? And more importantly… why target his school?

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.