Castle Light was in ruins.
Most of the eastern wall was destroyed. A crater the size of a sharko pool had replaced what was once the training hall. And somewhere in the debris, Reinhart's silhouette rose like a phoenix with a hammer made from scrap metal.
"Alen used my body to break my house," Reinhart muttered, still sore. "Now I gotta fix it."
Emilia stood beside him, sketching a reconstruction plan. "We're technically rebuilding Castle Light, not your house."
"My soul lives here. It counts."
Meanwhile, up above—way above—Subaru was sprinting across distant cliffs, wind spiraling beneath his feet. In his arms: steel, wood, cloth, even some rare ores.
"How many resources does a man need to rebuild a broken ego... I mean house?" he muttered.
Behind him, smoke rose.
A system alert dinged in his mind:
You have wiped 22 players today.Alignment: Chaotic DisasterTitle Unlocked: The Reason Castle Light is Empty
Back at Castle Light
The population had dropped drastically. Rooms were empty. Beds were cold. The training field… silent.
"Where are all the freshies?" someone whispered.
Reinhart shrugged, hammering a plank into place. "Subaru's been gathering resources…"
Julius frowned. "By any means necessary."
At that moment, thunder crackled inside the courtyard—Jay D'Arclight again, training with deep jitzu, blowing up stone tiles every few seconds.
"STOP THAT!" a citizen screamed.
"YOU'LL DESTROY THE REST OF THE CASTLE!"
Jay didn't care. "The deep jitzu flows through me. I am the bolt. The storm. The legacy of lightning incarnate!"
Alen, sitting on a floating bench, aura farming as usual, let out a sigh. "He's gonna collapse the castle."
He turned to the squad.
"Handle him. I'm busy."
The Plan: Seduction + Violence
First up: Emilia.
She approached Jay slowly, her eyes half-lidded, voice soft. "Jay... you've been training hard. Maybe you should rest. With… company?"
Jay blinked, stunned. "Wait, really?"
He stopped sparking. "I knew the bolt attracts—"
WHOOSH.
Before Jay could finish, Subaru launched a wind barrage from behind. A tornado shot forth, aimed straight for Jay's back.
But Jay turned, eyes sharp—and parried the tornado.
CLANG.
Air itself cracked.
Subaru landed nearby, stunned. "He parried the wind?!"
Jay scoffed. "Deep Jitzu makes no mistakes. You're not the only freak here."
And so began the parry battle of the century. Blades of air, bursts of lightning, fist to wind, aura to gust. The courtyard descended into a storm of martial insanity.
Meanwhile on Floor 2
Reinhart was taking a break from rebuilding and challenged Julius to an arm wrestle.
"Come on, Julius. You got muscle now. Let's see if it's for real."
Julius, looking mildly leaner after his forced veggie diet, slammed his hand on the table. "Bring it."
They began.
For a few seconds, it was close.
Then… Reinhart's body shifted.
"Graviton Pulse."
His skin turned to steel. Veins glowed with kinetic light. The air trembled.
"Wait, WAIT—" Julius screamed.
CRASH.
Julius was flung off the second floor like a meteor, body spinning.
Back to the Fight Below
Jay was mid-kick when Julius's body slammed into Subaru from above like a falling house.
BOOM.
Both were flattened into the stone like a cartoon crater. Jay turned back toward Emilia.
She stumbled back.
Alen, still watching, just gave his classic smirk. "They'll figure it out."
Jay raised his hand, lightning charging. "Sorry girl, nothing personal—"
But his sentence ended there.
Because Reinhart was already standing between them.
Reinhart vs. Jay Begins
"You really trying to zap her, huh?" Reinhart's voice was low.
Jay growled. "I'll crush you like I did that tornado."
They clashed instantly—lightning and shadow colliding in sonic bursts. Jay's fists moved like water, dancing with elegance and precision. Reinhart met every blow with sheer weight and monstrous force.
Jay ducked, spun, and slammed a palm into Reinhart's shoulder—Deep Jitzu Palm Crusher.
CRACK.
Reinhart's arm spasmed. His sword fell.
Jay grinned. "You're finished."
Reinhart fell to one knee.
And then…
His eye opened.
It glowed shadow.
A pulse rippled across his body—black tendrils swirling around his frame. His broken sword lifted itself, reforging in shadow mist.
Reinhart stood tall. "You're not the only freak anymore."
Round Two
Shadow met lightning in a dance of death. Reinhart's movements became fluid, his strength enhanced by the darkness. Jay launched bolt after bolt—parried, dodged, or crushed by shadow tendrils.
Reinhart vanished into shadow, appearing behind Jay—Shadow Eruption.
The explosion blinded Jay's senses. He staggered, screaming.
"Can't… see…"
SLASH.
Reinhart's blade sliced through Jay's right leg.
Jay dropped to the ground. "I yield—I yield!"
He crawled backward. "I had too much confidence but—you're a beast of another level. Please forgiv—"
Too late.
Reinhart's sword had already come down.
SCHLICK.
Jay D'Arclight's head rolled across the floor, his final words cut short by steel and shadow.
Aftermath
Subaru emerged from the crater, rubbing his back. "Did we win?"
Julius rolled over next to him. "I think my ribs are in Layer 2…"
Emilia walked over and patted Reinhart's shoulder. "You really saved me, huh?"
Reinhart said nothing. His eyes were still glowing, sword still humming.
Alen yawned, then stood. "Not bad, Supreme Clown. Not bad."
Later That Night...
The moon cast a pale glow over Castle Light, illuminating the aftermath of the day's destruction. Cracked pillars, shattered tiles, and debris littered the ground. Somewhere, a lone Sharko growled at a broken lamp post.
Reinhart stood near the edge of the training hall, eyes locked on a crater that shouldn't exist.
It was massive—as wide as a whale and just as absurd. A deep, smoldering impact zone embedded in the stone courtyard, surrounded by fractured earth and confused crabs.
"…This wasn't here this morning," he muttered, voice flat.
Julius waddled over, wiping sweat from his brow and biting into a suspiciously healthy-looking carrot. "Oh yeah. That's from when I fell after you Graviton Pulsed me. Pretty sure I cracked bedrock."
"You fell from the second floor."
"I collapsed through history, Reinhart."
Emilia approached with a hammer and wooden planks in hand, shaking her head. "We really gotta fix this too? We haven't even finished the hole Alen made with your body."
Reinhart sighed, rubbing his temples. "Emilia..."
She raised an eyebrow.
"…We're gonna build a kill count board in Castle Light."
"For monsters?"
"No. For Subaru's wipes."
As if summoned by name, a gust of wind shot past them—followed by a series of terrified freshie screams. A group of new divers near the supply tents were suddenly airborne, launched by a stray wind burst into the deep black abyss below.
From the distance, a voice rang out:
"I SWEAR I WAS JUST PICKING UP WOOD!"
Emilia watched the bodies spiral into the void.
"…So that's number 79 through 83," she whispered, shaking her head.
Reinhart didn't flinch. "We'll need more wood."
Julius, casually sipping a fruit smoothie, added, "We'll also need a wall so Subaru doesn't commit atmospheric homicide again."
And thus, under the moonlit ruins of Castle Light, the gang began repairing again.
The wipe counter kept climbing.The madness never stopped.