The colossal serpent of shadow and scale hurtled from the churning clouds. Its immense maw, lined with jagged, obsidian teeth, was already agape, a vortex of consuming gloom intent on swallowing the entire arena. Screams echoed across the grounds as trainees scattered, some frozen in place, others sprinting clear of the creature's path. Dust and debris erupted from the impact point, a shockwave of displaced air that sent bodies sprawling. The bedrock buckled under the landing. Bayu didn't move. His gaze was fixed on the Lindu. Its segmented amber eyes, each as large as a man, swiveled toward the crowded stands. Wira held his combat stance, his stare fixed on the beast in grim recognition. “Sky-Serpent…” he muttered under his breath. He had seen this before, in another life, and knew ordinary steel would snap against those scales. The beast landed with the force of a falling mountain, pulverizing the central platform where the final match was to take place. Its head, vast as a merchant vessel, swept across the arena, sending waves of raw, untamed force that flattened stone pillars and sent smaller structures tumbling. Spectators caught in the wake were hurled across the flags. Bayu sprang forward, ignoring the beast to reach a squad of first-years pinned beneath a splintering timber mast. He ripped the heavy fabric and fractured wood aside in one motion, hauling the youths toward the exit stairs. Before he could reset his stance, Wira darted past, shaping a condensed blade of spirit energy along his forearm. He moved with a practiced grace Bayu hadn't expected, a swift, precise lunge that aimed for one of the beast's smaller, peripheral eyes. The attack was meant to distract, not to harm, a move of calculated desperation. It struck true, eliciting a deafening hiss that vibrated through Bayu's bones, but the iridescent scales barely scratched. “Foolish!” Wira snarled, withdrawing quickly, his face pale. “It’s immune to our current level of attack. We need to focus on its weak points, the joints, the throat! Don’t just throw your strength around, Kartika, you’ll drain yourself for nothing!” Bayu ignored the insult. He saw the genuine, desperate intelligence in Wira’s eyes, the cold calculation of a strategist. “You know this thing?” Bayu asked, his voice low, a primal thrum of power already building within him. “Enough,” Wira snapped, dodging a sweeping tail that cleaved a training tower in two. “Focus on distracting it! Keep it from the stands! I’ll try to coordinate the senior Pendekar!” Bayu didn’t wait for orders. Bayu channeled internal reserves into his thighs, skidding across the flags to put his back to the crowd. The serpent swung its snout down, tracking him with four burning pupils. A low growl rumbled in its throat, a sound that promised oblivion. “Hey! You overgrown worm!” a familiar voice yelled, cutting through the panic. It was Jaka, standing on a relatively stable remnant of the spectator stands, waving his arms wildly. He was no Pendekar of great renown, but his voice carried a surprising authority in the chaos. “Don’t just stand there! We’re not Lindu fodder! First-years, move to the south gate! Get clear! Second-years, fall back and prepare your ranged attacks! Aim for the soft spots between the plates!” Jaka, his usual boisterous bravado replaced by a hardened resolve, pointed towards the beast’s underbelly, a region that, even from this distance, appeared less armored. He barked formations with quick, sharp hand signals. “Master Laila, remember those binding wards? Now’s the time! Kian, your tremor-strike could destabilize those ruins, buy us some time!” The scattered fighters rallied around Jaka's shouts. He pointed six senior combatants toward the cracked ceremonial archway, bringing its stone pillars down to form a barricade that turned the beast away from the residential quarter. He directed diversionary flares into the dirt, drawing the predator's gaze while skirmishers flanked its tail. Jaka, the boy who normally stumbled through exams, was suddenly a whirlwind of tactical acumen, weaving a desperate net of defense. Bayu, meanwhile, became a living battering ram. He met the Naga Angkasa's charges head-on, each impact shaking the island, but he refused to yield. The serpent possessed centuries of bulk, but Bayu's devoured reserves answered every blow. He punched a scale the size of a door, cracking it, though the damage was superficial. He ducked under a snapping maw, the wind of its passage tearing at his hair, and retaliated with a rising uppercut that made the beast stagger for a heartbeat. Wira slipped under a thrashing coil, carving thin luminous gashes into the vulnerable joints of the creature's neck. The cuts stung, forcing the brute to twist sideways and exposing its flank. Their movements, though uncoordinated, began to synchronize – Bayu absorbing the brute force, Wira exploiting the momentary distractions. “It has a core!” Wira shouted, pointing toward a faint glow behind the rib plates as the serpent reared back. “A mineralized spiritual heart fuels the flesh!” The serpent hissed in triumph, plunging its claws into the stone to tap the subterranean power conduits feeding the arena. Its wounds, however minor, began to mend at an alarming rate. “It’s healing too fast!” Jaka yelled, his voice strained. “We can’t hold it!” With a sharp lunge, Bayu vaulted onto the beast's neck, digging his boots into the ridged spine as it thrashed to shake him loose. He clung on, his fingers finding purchase in the ridges between scales, until he was directly above the glowing core. Bayu drove his forearm between two jagged scales, ripping through muscle until his fingers clamped onto the pulsing core. The mineral sphere burned with dense, volatile energy. Without hesitating, he pulled it free. He bit into it. [Essence Absorption Activated.] [Naga Angkasa’s Crystalline Heart consumed.] [Strength +99,999.] [Endurance +99,999.] [Agility +99,999.] [Esensi Pool +99,999.] [New Skill Acquired: Lindu Resonance (Passive) – Gain a portion of consumed Lindu’s inherent resistances.] Raw vigor surged through his capillaries, tearing open channels that had been stagnant since childhood. His pulse hammered like an iron bell. [Threshold: 50%.] The crimson text flared. Inside his thoughts, a void opened: a face and a quiet memory dissolved into blank mist. He looked down at the chaos, at the retreating forms of his friends. “Run, you all!” he roared, his voice reverberating with newfound power. “Run, Jaka… Jaka… where is… oh, Jaka! Get clear!” He blinked, a strange tremor passing through him. The name had been on the tip of his tongue, then gone, then returned. It was a terrifying flicker of absence. Wira, witnessing the raw surge of power, the momentary lapse, saw a different kind of horror. His gaze froze in stark dread. This wasn't the Bayu he remembered, the Bayu he had fought in another life. This was something else, something monstrous. The real monster standing on that cracked stage was Bayu. Bayu crushed the remaining mineral shards in his palm and released the full swell of his amplified reserves. A concussive shockwave sheared outward from his knuckles, blasting through scale and sinew. The serpent shrieked once, crumbling into ash and drifting vapor until only the stench of charred ozone remained. The plaza fell silent. Wira kept his distance, watching the boy standing amidst the crater. The reborn swordsman had spent months preparing for Lindu incursions, yet the true extinction event was already breathing before him.

Unlikely Allies