Academy War God: Unrivalled Magic

"If this battle allows you to hear the song in my heart, then please answer me."

-Sayo Ootori [Opening - Declaration of the Sound Phantom Duel] The fifth challenger from Canglan Academy, the girl Misheil Cangyin, stood in the center of the Dragon Fang Arena.

She wore a high-collared white and gold sound uniform and held a long, violin-like Phantom Sound Bow in her hands. A silent headset rested on her silver hair, and her expression was calm, yet radiated immense pressure.

"I don't need a declaration of war," she said, her voice dreamlike and echoing through the arena. "I just need you to hear... my voice."

She was the youngest of Canglan's top fighters, a master of audio magic, the manipulation of perception, mind, and neural rhythm. A complex hybrid of mental and illusionary magic - and the one she challenged was the vice captain of the Tokigumo Academy's Magic Club - Sayo Ootori.

[Act One - Audio Interruption × Shaking the Heartstrings] As the match began, the room went deathly silent.

In the next second, the audience heard distorted whispers, overlapping echoes, compressed emotions - Phantom Field: "Sleep No More" activated!

Sayo's consciousness was pulled by an invisible melody - her memories and emotions thrown into chaos, dragged back to that snowy night - the moment Yorumi Sou shielded her with his own body.

"Don't look at me anymore..."

"If you do, I'll never be able to leave."

Sayo's eyes snapped open. She raised her hand and unleashed magic - "Phoenix Flame Wall: Mirrorfire Barrier!"

She forcefully summoned her mind and used the flame as a shield to block the first wave of sonic interference.

[Act Two - Mental Resistance × Rising Heartfire] "You fight for Yorumi Sou," Misheil said calmly. "But I do not."

"I don't fight for anyone. I came to take everything - without feeling."

-Phantom Sound Bow: Second Sonata - "Lucid Cutter" activated!

Invisible strings pierced through Sayo's flame shield and whispered next to her ear:

"Do you really understand him? Do you understand his pain?"

"When you approach him... have you also become a chain?"

Sayo shivered violently. Her body temperature dropped and her flame magic became unstable.

But she gritted her teeth - "Yorumi Sou doesn't belong to me."

"But I... belong to the one who believes in him."

"Phoenix Flame - Shadow Chase Wheel!"

She ignited her heartbeat into a chanting rhythm, colliding head-on with the sound resonance!

[As Misheil prepared to unleash her third wave of attacks, Sayo spread her hands wide - completely defenseless, standing firm.

"Come - let me hear your true voice."

She removed all defenses and invited the strongest interference into the rhythm of her heart!

-At that moment, flame wings spread behind her - flaming, weightless, like a real phoenix taking flight.

"...Heart Flame," Misheil whispered. "So that's it."

The phantom sound burned away, the illusions shattered, and the blue-tinted dreamscape collapsed!

Sayo Ootori had successfully achieved the "Phoenix Flame Style: Heartfire Awakening".

Misheil slowly lowered her bow and smiled slightly. "You win."

Sayo wiped the blood from the corner of her mouth. "I didn't beat you. I just beat... the me that kept running away."

From the bleachers, Yorumi Sou whispered:

"So you've already reached that point..."

[Hospital Room - Kagurain Kureha Visits Tendou] "You are the captain of the Sword Arts Club. Stop pushing yourself."

Kureha put a glass of warm water on the bedside table. "I'm just watching them in your place."

Tendou Kyoichi smiled weakly. "Don't get too confident. Yorumi Sou's path... has already gone off track."

"The queen's whispers... aren't something normal people can understand."Phoenix Awakens × Melody of Battle