The tension was thick enough to choke on.
Two girls stood in the middle of the training field, the crowd silent even the wind dared not interrupt.
Alys's long black hair whipped in the breeze, her ocean-blue eyes locked onto Camila's crimson gaze like blades drawn.
Camila's expression was calm, almost amused, her faint smirk glinting under the sun.
Yuuki nudged Ragnar quietly.
"The battle's about to start. You should look up."
Ragnar didn't reply. He simply lifted his gaze the faint hum of mana filling the air.
Then it began.
A massive icy fist formed above Alys, descending like judgment from the heavens.
[Heavenly Ice Fist (9th grade)]
It struck the ground with a deafening boom, shaking the arena and kicking up a storm of snow and dust. For a moment, it looked like Camila had been crushed.
But when the smoke cleared, a sphere of swirling crimson surrounded her pulsing like a living heart.
[Blood Sphere(9th grade)]
Alys frowned, lowering her stance. "Tch... figures."
She darted forward, mana flowing into her legs until frost cracked beneath her feet. Her speed tripled as she lunged, fists and kicks slamming against the sphere in a blur. The barrier rippled with each impact but didn't break.
Camila chuckled, voice laced with mockery.
"Is that all you've got, snow princess?"
Alys's eyes narrowed, calm but burning cold.
"Not even close."
Suddenly, her figure shimmered and then multiplied. A dozen Alys clones dashed toward Camila, circling her like wolves.
[Ice Illusion(10th grade)]
Camila's smile didn't falter. She lifted her hand, and the blood sphere rippled outward, forming whip-like tendrils that lashed out with terrifying precision.
[Crimson Reign (9th grade)]
The blood tentacles pierced through the illusions one by one, bursting them into clouds of snowflakes.
Yet... the real Alys was nowhere to be found.
Camila's crimson eyes flicked upward and widened slightly.
Alys hovered above, her body glowing faintly blue as she raised her sword hand. Her voice rang out like a hymn of frost.
"Oh HeavenlySnowGoddess, grantmeyourbladetodefeattheenemybeforeme"
[Blade Of The Ice Goddess (7th grade)]
A blade of divine ice materialized in her grasp, cold mist spiraling around her as she descended like a falling star. She brought it down with full force shattering Camila's blood sphere into shards of frozen crimson.
Camila barely leaped back in time, skidding across the marble floor.
Alys smirked, resting the divine blade on her shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
Camila's expression darkened. "Nothing wrong," she hissed.
She raised her hand, blood spilling from her palm and forming into a crimson blade that pulsed like a heartbeat.
[Bloodfang Saber(8th grade)]
She surged forward their blades collided, the impact sending a shockwave through the field. Ice and blood scattered everywhere, painting the ground with color.
Steel rang against steel, the tempo rising slash, parry, step, counter.
Their movements blurred, eyes locked, lips drawn into fierce grins.
Alys smirked between blows.
"You're strong… for someone who hides behind blood."
Camila scoffed.
"Says the girl who freezes behind her own fear."
Their blades locked again frost crawling up Camila's arm, blood seeping down Alys's cheek.
Alys twisted, kicking Camila's sword arm aside and slicing through her weapon the Bloodfang Saber shattered.
For a moment, victory flashed in Alys's eyes until she noticed the thin cut along Camila's hand, the crimson droplets feeding the next spell. Her breath caught.
"You're not creating blood… you're using your own," she whispered.
Camila smiled wickedly.
"Took you long enough. Are you really that slow"
[Crimson Bloom(8th grade)]
The blood from her wound erupted into a spray of thorn-like spears, stabbing toward Alys. Alys deflected most, but one grazed her cheek, drawing a line of red.
Camila stepped forward, her tone colder now.
"I'm starting to see why you lost to the Five Crowns. You're weak, really weak"
Alys froze mid-swing, eyes flickering with fury.
"What did you just say? You sorry excuse for a vampire"
Camila's smirk deepened.
"Didn't Ragnar and Yuuki do most of the work? You the one who wanted to fight them could barely stand. I guess you reallyare tge weakest Saint"
Alys lunged forward in rage sloppy, emotional. Camila sidestepped and slashed, cutting across Alys's cheek again.
Camila's voice turned cruelly soft.
"You're easy to read… so easy to break."
[Scarlet Vines(9th grade)]
From her feet, bloody tendrils erupted, twisting through the ground and striking Alys before she could react. One of them pierced her shoulder, pinning her down.
Alys gasped, the frost around her flickering.
Camila leaned close, her crimson eyes gleaming.
"You're so easy to mess with, you know?"
Then she twisted her hand and the blood vine tightened.
Alys gritted her teeth, frost forming along the wound, her breath trembling. Her voice came out low but defiant.
"You talk too much..."
She raised her free hand, mana spiraling around her fingers, the air itself freezing solid.
"And you underestimate me, if I wanted to I couldhave killedyou already"
The temperature plummeted. The blood vines cracked under the frost as Alys's eyes glowed a deeper blue her aura erupting once again.
The crowd held its breath.
The real fight had just begun.
The crimson vine ripped free from Alys's shoulder, blood dripping onto the icy floor. Her breath came out in sharp gasps, the cold mist around her pulsing with her heartbeat.
Across from her, Camila stood tall, smirking, her crimson blade pulsing with life. "Still standing? You've got spirit, I'll give you that at least"
Alys clenched her hand around her wound. "Do you ever shut up, your so annoying!"
Up in the stands, Yuuki tilted his head, eyes following the shimmering droplets of blood swirling around Camila's body.
"You know, Ragnar… it's kind of beautiful," he whispered softly. "Her blood it's not just red. It's alive, flowing like a spell on its own."
Ragnar didn't blink. His steel-gray eyes remained fixed on Alys.
"Blood is blood, even if it's beautiful" he said flatly. "And she's wasting hers... and doesn't she bleed out?"
Yuuki exhaled quietly. "You never were one for poetry, huh?"
Ragnar's gaze hardened.
"Not when someone I know is bleeding."
Down below, Alys pressed her palm against the cold tiles, frost spreading beneath her fingers. Her vision flickered between the present and the faint image of her brother and his smile.
"You can't change what's gone, Alys," his voice echoed in her mind.
"But you can move forward. That's how you win... not against others, but against yourself."
She closed her eyes, inhaling slowly, letting the fury in her chest dissolve into stillness.
Then she stood straight, calm, unshaken.
Camila's smirk faded slightly. "Still think you can beat me in that condition?"
Alys's ocean-blue eyes lifted, no longer trembling.
"I don't know, Camila."
"Let's find out"
Her aura surged the frost beneath her feet exploded outward. Her presence shifted from desperate to divine.
The temperature dropped instantly, and her voice rang clear:
"By the frozen skies that veil the heavens mirror my form, deceive my foe."
[Ice Illusion(10th grade)]
Camila's eyes widened as multiple Alys figures emerged once more but this time, their mana signatures were identical. Even Camila's blood sense faltered.
Camila slashed wildly, shouting,
"You think this trick again will—?!"
She didn't finish. The real Alys appeared beside her, blade already descending. Camila barely managed to block, sparks of blood and ice colliding midair.
"You're fast—" Camila hissed, stepping back, only to find another Alys behind her.
[Snow Shield(8th grade)]
A swirling dome of snow erupted around Alys as Camila's blood tentacles lashed out in desperation. The tentacles struck the barrier but instead of shattering, the snow hardened into pure ice, absorbing each blow.
Camila snarled, blood streaming from her hand as she raised her final spell.
[Crimson Blood(8th grade)]
Countless blood spears erupted around her, firing toward Alys like a storm.
The snow shield cracked but Alys moved the instant it did. Her calm voice broke through the chaos, carrying weight and serenity.
"Oh, HeavenlySnowGoddess—"
"Grantmeyourdivineblade,toseverhatred and restorethequietwinter."
[Sword Of The Ice Goddes(7th grade)]
Light enveloped her as a blade of pure white formed in her hand, radiant and cold enough to freeze the air itself. She dashed forward faster than sight every illusion following, creating an army of movement.
Camila's blood sword met Alys's divine blade
CLANG!
The sound cracked through the arena, echoing like thunder.
Camila tried to reinforce her weapon.
[Crimson Reign!]
[Scarlet Vines!]
[Bloodfang Saber!]
Every spell she knew poured out in a desperate storm of crimson but Alys advanced through it all. Each swing of her divine sword shattered Camila's blood constructs one by one, scattering them into steam and frost.
Camila screamed in frustration, voice breaking.
"Why won't you just fall already!?"
Alys's voice was calm — almost sorrowful.
"Because the strong never fall"
She stepped through Camila's final defense and slashed downward the impact shattered the blood blade, forcing Camila to her knees. The tip of Alys's icy sword stopped just before her throat.
Silence fell.
Camila panted heavily, blood dripping down her arms, her expression flickering between rage and disbelief.
"Now what?" she hissed. "Do you wanna try to kill me like Ragnar?"
Alys's eyes softened. Her sword trembled slightly but she lowered it.
"No."
"You're not my enemy. My rage doesn't need blood... not in this situation anyway"
The frost melted slowly around them as her spell faded. Camila's sword dissolved into red mist, leaving her breathing hard but alive.
Ragnar watched her a faint shadow passing over his face.
Yuuki smiled faintly.
"She held back… I really thought she was going to break her or something"
Ragnar's reply was quiet, almost unreadable.
"I guess she's growing up"
The wind passed through the battlefield again, carrying away the last remnants of frost and blood leaving only silence, strength, and growth behind.