Chapter 41: Student Council War 7

Chapter 41: Student Council War 7 The Crimson Labyrinth breathed with stillness. A deceptive calm. It had been days since the Hollow Echoes were scorched into ash, but the true war had only just begun. Above ground, battle lines twisted and coiled like vipers. Rayne’s forces regrouped after their staggering loss, while Layla struggled to hold what ground remained in the Gloomroot Narrows. We knew Rayne wouldn’t stop. And neither would I. Because this time, the battlefield wouldn’t be just terrain. It would be a crucible. And the Phoenix would answer. Layla’s squad was battered. Her soldiers, depleted. Their advance through the Gloomroot ridge had slowed, each step dogged by illusions cast by Rin and mana disrupters placed by Nyx. But she kept moving. "We hold until dusk," she said, wiping blood from her brow. "We can’t afford to fall back now." Behind her, Liora Nowa finished drawing the runes. "This field’s prepped. If they cross it, they burn." "Good," Layla said. "Let them come." They did. Rayne’s vanguard arrived like a dagger—silent, sudden, and cruel. Cecilia led the strike, cutting down two guards before they could cry out. Behind her, Rin split their ranks with illusion clones, each one mimicking Garrick’s build, turning the field into a hall of mirrors. Layla roared to rally them, stepping into the fray. Her blade danced—cold, disciplined, and brutal. She clashed with Cecilia under a shower of sparks. Fire and frost exploded between them, and mana surged wildly around the glade. But Layla was outnumbered. Liora Nowa fired warning flares back toward the labyrinth, but none arrived in time. The trap field ignited—searing two dozen Galat soldiers—but Rayne’s core squad pushed through. They surrounded Layla’s center column. Flanks crumbled. Retreat was no longer an option. It was annihilation. Meanwhile, I waited within the Crimson Labyrinth, watching the war unfold through the scrying glyphs. Lucielle read my silence. "You’re letting them suffer." "I’m letting the truth play out," I said. "If Layla falls, Rayne believes it’s over. If she survives, he’s distracted." Seraphina paced. "And if they both die?" I turned to her. "That’s when the phoenix burns them all." Rayne, emboldened by Layla’s retreat, redirected his strike force. "Push the labyrinth," he ordered. "We end this tonight." He underestimated the terrain. The corridors were lined with memory traps, time-slip glyphs, and collapsing bridges. His soldiers were separated, fragmented. Lucielle struck first—flashing out of a mirrored hallway and slicing down three Galat scouts. Seraphina took the high ridge, her arrows splitting illusions and pinning mages in silence runes. Then Rayne arrived. We met blade to blade—no words, only fury. "You fed this fire," he growled. "I am the fire," I hissed. Our clash shook the tunnel. My phoenix-forged blade met his wind-imbued glaive with every ounce of power we could channel. But neither of us expected what came next. Phase Four – Calamity Unbound The sky cracked. Not with thunder. But with fire. The Phoenix had awoken. Not summoned. Not commanded. Not bonded. It simply came. Because the war had grown loud enough to catch its interest. And it was hungry. Its cry ruptured the atmosphere. The labyrinth shook. The Gloomroot canopy was set ablaze by its mere presence. Everyone paused. Layla, bloody and leaning against a broken tree, stared up at the streak of flame descending like the judgment of gods. Rayne, caught mid-strike, turned pale. "This wasn’t your plan," he whispered. "No," I admitted. "But it’s still mine to shape." The Phoenix landed in the dead center of the battlefield. And screamed. The Calamity’s Judgment Fire rained. Not in lines. In spirals. It hit friend and foe. Screams filled the forest as flames ignored armor, enchantments, and logic. The Phoenix wasn’t attacking—it was cleansing. Whole squads vanished in a blink. Liora Nowa’s protective barriers saved part of Layla’s column, but they collapsed from strain. Cecilia was forced to retreat, dragging a half-burned Rin behind her. Rayne launched a desperate windquake to scatter the inferno. It barely moved the flames. Seraphina grabbed my shoulder. "We need to stop it." "We can’t," I said. "Then everyone dies." The Phoenix lifted into the air, dragging fire behind it like chains of the sun. It circled once—then descended again, crashing into Rayne’s central camp. The explosion turned the forest floor into a crater. Flesh turned to cinder. Mana overloaded and burst. Even Layla—despite retreating—was caught in the edge of the blast. She slammed into a cliff wall, unconscious. Only those near me survived—protected by the shadow seals I had embedded beneath the Labyrinth. The Phoenix rose once more. Then vanished into the smoke. Not gone. Just waiting. Rayne’s army lay in ruin. So did Layla’s. And I—Ashen Crimson—stood amid the ashes. Victorious? No. Not yet. Because now the Phoenix knew the world was awake. The battlefield still smoked from the Phoenix’s cataclysm. Where once stood ancient trees and fortified ridges, now only blackened stone and molten scars remained. The air was dense with soot, mana static, and something older—an emotion that predated fear. Awe. But awe didn’t stop calamity. It only delayed action. The Phoenix was not done. From the haze above, a low, drumming wingbeat shattered the silence. With a blast of air that flattened the nearby cliffs, the Crimson Phoenix returned—its massive wings spanning over the valley, its feathers dripping fire, its talons curling around ruins that no longer resembled battlefields. This was no longer war. It was survival. I stood at the center of the Labyrinth’s northern ridge, the scorched remnants of our last defense smoldering around me. "It’s back," Liora said from behind a shattered mana wall, blood leaking from her lip. "And this time... it’s not just passing." I looked up. Its eyes—vast, cold, intelligent—locked onto me. Not as prey. As a challenger. Phase One – The Break Line "Everyone to formation!" I shouted. "This is not an enemy—it’s a force. Treat it as one." Lucielle landed beside me, clutching her side where a burn still sizzled. "Tell me you’ve got a plan." "We bring it down." "Suicidal." "I’ll take suicidal over extinction." Layla emerged, limping, her sword glowing pale blue from embedded frost runes. "We contain it. We don’t kill it—not yet. We drive it into the Binding Circle." Sasha floated above, her bloodfire robes flickering with unstable energy. "I’ll draw it. But you better catch it before it catches me." Kail—our silent shadow mage—stepped out from behind Seraphina, who had retrieved her bow from the ruins. Rin joined shortly after, pale and sweating but alive. "We get one chance," Rin said. "After this, it doesn’t burn forests. It burns nations." "Then let’s not fail," I said. The Phoenix screeched. And the battle began. Phase Two – The Assault Sasha opened. She released her veins. With a scream of fury, her Bloodfire erupted in spiraling spheres of red-gold flame. Each burst lanced toward the Phoenix, not to harm, but to taunt. The beast turned to follow her like a dragon fixated on lightning. Lucielle vanished into a flurry of movement, her twin blades striking from midair, tracing sigils of disorientation in the creature’s blind spots. Each hit glanced off divine feathers—but she wasn’t aiming for damage. She was marking. Kail emerged from the shadows beneath its wings, casting runes made of absolute dark. He tossed twin glyphs that severed space—the Phoenix’s right wing dipped, caught off-balance. Layla and Liora stood at the cliff’s edge. Liora activated her prism net—a trap made of illusion-fused mana nodes. It sparked, pulsed, and flared. Layla followed it with a cry of ancient frost, casting a glacial arc that splintered into the Phoenix’s path. The creature flinched, its underside catching the edge of the spell. Seraphina fired twin arrows—one tipped in holy mana, the other with void crystal. The arrows merged midair and struck the creature’s chest. It shrieked. And retaliated. Phase Three – The Flame’s Fury The Phoenix dove. Its body, larger than any fortress, blazed toward us like a falling sun. Sasha dove out of the way but was clipped. Her right shoulder turned to blistering ash before Liora teleported her. Layla’s shield snapped. Lucielle leapt over a crumbling pillar and slashed downward, carving a trail across the creature’s nape. It howled, wheeled, and unleashed a radial pulse of heat that melted steel within seconds. Rin raised his hand. A mirror of wind emerged—a barrier of reflective current. The fire struck. And bent. The redirected flames hit the Phoenix itself, forcing it to rear back. Kail dashed forward, threw an anchor glyph to bind its talon. I followed. My blade, now charged with both shadow and residual phoenix fire, ignited as I leapt. With a roar, I plunged it into the beast’s chest. It exploded. Not in death—but rage. I was thrown back. The Phoenix screamed again. Then dropped. Phase Four – The Binding Circle "NOW!" I roared. Liora and Layla activated the Binding Circle. Dozens of golden runes embedded across the canyon lit up in sequence, forming a colossal arcane cage. The Phoenix thrashed. But its power had waned. Too much blood lost. Too much energy burned. Kail, Lucielle, and Rin stood at the circle’s points. Their mana fused with the glyphs, stabilizing the construct. Seraphina stood opposite me, arrow notched, heart racing. "You sure this will hold?" she asked. "No," I said. I stepped forward. Toward the Phoenix. Toward the center. It roared. But didn’t strike. "Shadow is not your enemy," I whispered. "It remembers you. I remember you. We were never meant to clash—we were meant to merge." The Phoenix looked down. Its gaze pierced time. [System: Bond point unlocked. Proceed?] "Yes." I raised my blade—then dropped it. Kneeling, I placed my hand on the ground. And offered it shadow. The Phoenix tilted its head. Then lowered. And touched my palm with its beak. A thunderclap split the sky. The runes cracked. But instead of exploding— They merged. The Phoenix’s form dissolved into flames. And entered my shadow. My heart stopped. Then burned. Aftermath I woke hours later. The crater was silent. Everyone stood around me—bruised, bloody, but alive. Seraphina helped me sit. "Did it work?" I opened my palm. A flicker of crimson fire danced within. The Phoenix’s soul. Bound. To me. Layla dropped beside me, coughing. "What do we call you now?" I looked at the sky. And smiled. "Shadowflame Sovereign sounds nice."