My F-Rank Sagea is Secretly an EX-Rank Calamity

>>>GRAND ARENA — THE FINALS<<<

The arena stands bustled with an explosion of aggressive betting.

"I’m putting fifty credits on Rowan!" a boy near the front railing yelled.

"Good luck with that. Mine’s on Asher," a student from the Terra faction replied, a wide, confident grin spreading across his face.

The surrounding students turned to stare at him in sheer disbelief. "Are you seriously doing that?" a girl asked.

"Yeah, are you insane?" another chimed in, leaning over. "It’s literally two against one! Rowan and Fang are both Auric tiers—it’s obvious who’s going to win."

The Terra student didn’t budge, slapping his credits down on the ledger. "Nah. I bet on Asher."

"Suit yourself, man. Kiss your credits goodbye."

Across the arena, the massive iron gates shrieked as they groaned open. Rowan and Fang emerged side-by-side, step-for-step, as the heavy doors slammed shut behind them with a booming thud.

"Listen to me, Asher!" Rowan called out.

His voice echoed sharply across the stadium, and the deafening noise of the crowd fell into a sudden, curious hush.

Everyone leaned forward, eager to hear what the Academy Captain had to say to his younger brother.

"Um... what is it?" Asher asked awkwardly, shifting his boots. The feeling of having a tense family conversation in front of thousands of screaming students was deeply uncomfortable.

"Neither of us will be holding back on you," Rowan declared coldly. He gestured toward Fang, who immediately froze, staring back at Rowan in absolute shock.

"Wait, Rowan—are you sure about this?" Fang asked, taking a subtle step back as if trying to distance himself from the family drama.

Rowan didn’t say a word. He merely turned his head, leveling a frigid, merciless glare at his partner.

"Alright, alright! Whatever you say, man. Jeez," Fang muttered, quickly turning his eyes away while scratching the back of his neck nervously.

"And why are you telling me this?" Asher asked, genuine surprise tinting his voice.

"Because if you can’t defeat both of us simultaneously," Rowan answered, his tone heavy with absolute authority, "then consider yourself a complete failure. A useless student who won’t be helping during the upcoming raid, but cowering in safety while others fight."

A collective gasp swept through the stands.

The Order of Veil watched with keen interest, nodding in quiet approval.

"He’s deliberately provoking him," Lord Zephyr observed, his sharp eyes locked onto Asher. "He wants Asher to unleash everything."

"A wise play," Lord Ignatius added softly. "He will need every drop of that strength for both the Sovereign Challenge and the Seven-Day Ultimatum."

[NOVA VESTA NOTICE]

[ASHER, DO YOU WISH TO INITIATE PRIMORDIAL FUSION?]

’I’ll use it if it becomes absolute necessary...’ Asher replied telepathically, keeping his gaze dead ahead. ’For now, I can’t depend on you to start.’

[NECESSARY?]

[I AM PART OF YOUR CORE POWER SET, YOU KNOW.]

’Yes, but weren’t you warning me about bodily rejection just the other day?’ Asher argued mentally. ’Besides, I need to test Kaito in fights like this.’

Taking a breath, Asher stepped forward, tossing his head back with a dry, ironic smirk.

"It’s truly an honor to fight my famous big brother—an elite of Ravenhurst Academy and our noble Captain—alongside his esteemed companion, Fang Richter."

Rowan blinked, momentarily taken aback by the sudden shift in Asher’s tone.

"Really," Asher concluded, taking a step back into his stance, "you shouldn’t hold back at all."

"HE JUST ACCEPTED THE CHALLENGE!" a shriek sounded from the front row as a student gripped his neighbor’s shoulders, shaking him violently.

Lady Vespera rose gracefully from her throne, a broad, almost overly ecstatic smile blooming across her face.

"Yes! It is finally here!" she announced, her cheeks flushed with wild excitement as she cupped her hands against her face.

"A clash between an Umbrax-tier student and two Auric-tier powerhouses! And beyond that, a live battle between siblings! Isn’t this just divine?!"

Beside her, Lady Kaelen let out a long sigh, shaking her head. "Just start the match already..."

"This marks the commencement of the Grand Finals!" Lady Vespera boomed, her voice carrying across the entire complex.

"There will be one round and one round only! You may... BEGIN!"

"She’s completely lost it..." Asher muttered under his breath.

He raised his right hand, channeling his mana outward. "Kaito!"

Asher prepared himself for his familiar Sol-Aura Beast to manifest from the light.

Instead, the air around him warped violently as a wave of suffocating, furnace-like heat violently expanded outward.

"What the—" Asher stumbled backward, his jaw dropping.

"WHAT IS THAT THING?!" the screaming student shrieked, falling off his seat.

The Order of Veil went dead silent, every single one of them leaning forward in their seats.

Judging by Asher’s terrified reaction, it was painfully clear he hadn’t planned this at all.

Standing in front of Asher was a Sol-Drakon Apex Chimera.

A low, guttural growl vibrated through the stone floor as Kaito took a heavy step forward, radiating a wave of blistering heat that turned the surrounding air into a shimmering mirage.

He was no longer a small, manageable beast. Standing seven feet tall at the shoulder, Kaito had transformed into a massive, heavily built quadruped encased in jagged volcanic basalt scales that gleamed like dark iron.

Glowing golden runes of Sol-Aura pulsed along his spine and chest, cracking through his dark hide like liquid lava.

Two sweeping dragon horns forged of crystalline solar glass curved back from his brow, radiating intense heat that warped the light around his skull.

As Kaito lowered his broad jaw, his slitted golden eyes locked onto his targets—a terrifying apex predator carrying the unmistakable weight of ancient ruin.

Kaito slowly turned his massive head back to look at his master.

Asher stumbled backward again, tripping over his own boots and falling flat on his back. "A-Ah! Stay right there! Good boy!" he yelled, swept up in sudden shock.

’Nova! Did you know about this?!’ Asher screamed mentally, his eyes glued to the giant beast hovering over him.

[NOVA SIMPLY ASSISTED KAITO IN EVOLVING.]

’SIMPLY?! DOES THAT THING LOOK "SIMPLE" TO YOU?!’

"Don’t just lie there, Asher! Show us what that monster can do!" someone screamed from the upper stands.

Within seconds, the entire arena picked up the chant, chanting his name in a deafening, rhythmic roar.

"ASHER! ASHER! ASHER! ASHER!"

Asher scrambled back onto his feet, suddenly feeling profoundly self-conscious as thousands of students cheered for him.

"Erebus!" Rowan commanded.

"Cora!" Fang shouted simultaneously.

A surge of shadow and red mist erupted beside the duo as both Sageas materialized.

"Nice pet you’ve got there," Rowan remarked, his eyes narrowing as he evaluated Kaito’s frame. "Let’s see if you’ve actually tamed it!"

"Now wait a second, big brother—"

"Erebus! Fatal Claw!"

"Cora! Corrosive Neurotoxin!"

Both Auric-tier beasts lunged forward at once, converging on Kaito from left and right.

"I wasn’t ready!" Asher yelled, throwing his hands up.

[NOVA VESTA NOTICE]

[SUGGESTED DEFENSIVE SKILL:]

[SOL MIRAGE: FLARE PRISM]

"Yes! Whatever! Kaito—Sol Mirage: Flare Prism!"

Kaito’s sweeping solar-glass horns ignited with a blinding, localized pulse of pure white light and high-frequency thermal energy.

The radiant burst detonated in a dome of light. Both Erebus and Cora howled and hissed violently as their vision was instantly scorched, forcing Asher to cover his own eyes with his forearm.

When the light faded, Erebus was shaking his head frantically, trying to purge the blinding afterimages from his eyes. Cora retreated to Fang’s side, thrashing her head and hissing in pain.

Asher stood there, completely dumbfounded. "Incredible... I need to see these stats right now!"

[REQUEST RECEIVED.]

A glowing orange interface materialized in his vision.

[SYSTEM UPDATE ON SAGEA]

[NAME: KAITO]

[FORM: S̶q̶u̶i̶rr̶e̶l̶ ➔ S̶o̶l̶-A̶u̶r̶a̶ B̶e̶a̶s̶t̶ ➔ SOL-DRAKON APEX CHIMERA]

[KEY OFFENSIVE & DEFENSIVE SKILLS:]

• Solar Prominence: Core Eruption

• Solar Quake: Magma Shock

• Sol Flash: Ruin Blitz

• Cinder Fang: Armor Cracker

• Basalt Tail: Solar Guillotine

• Sol Mirage: Flare Prism

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Asher blurted out out loud.

[ASHER, FOCUS ON THE MATCH.]

’Right... the match!’

Asher cleared his throat and pointed his finger straight ahead. "Let’s try this! Kaito—Solar Prominence: Core Eruption!"

Kaito opened his jaw wide as the golden runes along his basalt spine flashed white-hot.

A second later, a dense, roaring beam of pure solar plasma erupted from his throat, cutting through the air straight toward both enemy beasts.

"Dodge!" Rowan and Fang yelled at the exact same moment.

Erebus and Cora leapt in opposite directions to escape the searing column of fire. The plasma beam blasted into the stone arena floor, melting the solid rock into a bubbling lake of white-hot slag.

Although Cora managed to leap clear, the stray heat grazed the scales along her tail, dropping the giant serpent onto her side with a heavy thud.

The audience screamed in sheer awe.

"HA! Who’s losing their credits now?!" the Terra-tier student roared, pumping his fists into the air.

Asher grinned, starting to thoroughly enjoy himself. "Now that is just absurd! Great work, Kaito!"

Kaito let out a low, satisfied rumble, his heavy, scale-bound tail swaying back and forth like an iron club.

"Fang, repeat the attack! Right now!" Rowan ordered sternly.

"Corrosive Neurotoxin!"

Cora dragged herself back up, her hood flaring wide as she expelled another massive wave of purple toxic gas across the floor.

"Cursed Chain!" Rowan barked, slamming his hands together.

Black, heavy iron links erupted from the stone floor, wrapping tightly around Kaito’s thick neck and legs, pinning him in place. Kaito let out a furious roar, thrashing against the binding.

"Erebus! Shadow Pelt Bind!"

Cora’s neurotoxin enveloped Kaito in a cloud of suffocating poison, while Erebus’s shadow-infused fur expanded like a net, sealing the giant Chimera inside a pitch-black dome.

"He’s inhaling the gas! No, no, no!" Asher yelled, taking a step forward.

[REMAIN CALM. KAITO IS IMMUNE TO CHEMICAL AND POISONOUS DEBUFFS.]

[SUGGESTED SKILL TO BREAK FREE:]

[SOLAR MOLT: THERMAL PURGE]

’Got it!’

"Kaito! Solar Molt: Thermal Purge!"

From deep within the shadow cocoon, Kaito detonated a thin, concentrated layer of solar energy off his body.

BOOM!

The sudden explosive heat shattered Erebus’s Shadow Pelt Bind into nothingness.

The intense thermal wave traveled straight down the Cursed Chains like a fuse, turning the metal white-hot in less than a second.

"Gah!" Rowan gasped, instantly releasing his spell as the heat burned his palms. The glowing chains shattered and vanished into thin air.

"ASHER! ASHER! ASHER!"

The crowd erupted once again, the chanting reaching a deafening peak.

In the stands, Remi’s eyes widened in disbelief as she watched from the railings. "Has he always been this ridiculously strong?" she muttered to herself, before instinctively joining in on the cheers.

As the smoke cleared, Kaito stood proudly on the scorched floor, his volcanic basalt scales gleaming under the sun.

"Not a single scratch?!" Fang yelled, taking a step back in sheer terror. "What in the hell is that thing?!"