The battlefield was wrecked beyond recognition.
Cracked marble. Collapsed pillars. Smoke drifting like fog over a graveyard. Shichiro, Katsu, Rokuro, Ketsuki, Aegis, and Ryosen stood together in a loose defensive arc, bloody, exhausted, but unbroken.
And across from them waited the Elite Grades.
Hovering above them all, lounging on a floating marble throne, Bellerophon observed with a bored smile.
"You've exceeded my expectations," he said lightly. "Surviving this long against my elites? Impressive, really."
Ketsuki flicked blood from her blade and spit onto the ground. "Keep talking. We'll cut that smile off soon."
Bellerophon chuckled. "Oh, I doubt that. Because I haven't even shown you my most delightful masterpiece."
He raised one elegant hand.
Reality shivered.
Magic circles burst into existence, spiraling with golden glyphs. Lightning cracked through the air, swirling into a vertical storm. The light was so blinding that Ketsuki shielded her eyes.
A silhouette began to form inside.
Someone small. Nimble. Familiar.
Shichiro's breath stopped.
"No…" Rokuro whispered."It can't be…" Ryosen murmured.
The pillar shattered into glittering fragments.
And he stepped out.
The boy they all loved and lost.
Kentarō.
But not the Kentarō they remembered.
His skin glowed pale and ethereal. One eye was golden and bright, the other swirling with dark sigils. Float-shifting comedy-mask blades hovered around him like orbiting punchlines. His aura hummed with chaotic possibility.
Kentarō blinked slowly.
He smiled.
A smile too happy.A smile too empty.
Bellerophon floated down and placed a hand atop the boy's head.
"Here you are… alive, once again."He smirked."Welcome back, Kentarō…Or." he lifted the boy's chin."The God.The God of Entertainment."
Katsu staggered. "He turned him into a Heart Weapon…"
"No," Bellerophon corrected softly. "I elevated him. When he died, he died laughing, desperate to amuse himself one last time. So I shaped divinity around that desire."
Behind them, the elites stepped aside as if making room for royalty.
Kentarō drifted forward, feet barely touching the ground.
Ketsuki took a single step toward him, trembling."K… Kentarō? Can you hear me…?"
He stared directly at her.
For a moment, something human flickered.
Then he burst into hysterical laughter.
Unhinged. Chaotic. Echoing across the battlefield.
Shichiro snapped, stepping forward, voice cracking with anger and heartbreak.
"Kentarō… what did he do to you?!WHAT DO YOU DO THIS FOR?!"
Kentarō stopped laughing.
Then clapped.
"ENTERTAINMENT!!" he declared, eyes glowing with manic joy. "If it's funny, it happens! That's the whole point now!"
A rubber duck materialized in his hand.
Sitting on popcorn.
Ketsuki's hands shook around her weapon. "That's… that's not him."
Kentarō didn't seem to notice her pain.
He twirled his shifting blades and bowed dramatically, like an actor taking center stage.
"Well then!" he said brightly. "The elites are getting boring.Let's make this fun."
Behind him, Scylla screamed, Minotaur roared, Medusa hissed, and Echidna flexed her claws.
Kentarō, once their friend, floated forward, laughter echoing across the ruins.
The elites prepared.