The arena was hushed in anticipation. My breath came out in puffy white clouds. Across from me, the Tidesword captain circled with slow, predatory steps, the haze of his mana emitting a faint glow. He was waiting.
And so was I.
I stood near the center of the field, motionless, focused, tracing the flow of mana from my cores—chasing that same fleeting imbalance I'd felt this morning. My eyes, half-closed, my sword, buried in the earth. To everyone watching, I probably looked disinterested and arrogant.
And they'd half be right.
Victoria wanted us to come up with a strategy, but I refused. I'd insisted that I was going first, no matter who they brought out. Partly to prove myself—but mostly because I needed this.
It wasn't about the fight in front of me, the point I could earn for my team. This was practice. All I wanted from this man was a chance to feel that control again.
"Tch... stupid kid."
The man's voice broke the lull, but my concentration didn't waver. Okay, I can feel it.
The Tidesword made the first move. His swing came fast—the curved blade sliced toward my chest, as if he was testing my guard.
I barely shifted, not even bothering to raise my sword. I took a single step back, and the blade harmlessly slipped past me. But he twisted his wrist, and the sword shot back, heading for my waist.
Shit. I had to react to this one; I brought my sword up to meet his, the impact scattering a cloud of snow around us. He kept up the pressure. Every strike flowed into the next, like waves pounding a rocky cliff.
And I was that cliff—trying to stay still, to stay focused, to bring my cores under my absolute control. But his relentless assault kept tearing me out of my mind. Each deflection making it that much harder. My control slipped, just a little.
"Back off for a second!" I swung out, frustrated, sloppy, and desperate. Both of my Gravity stage cores responded the only way they knew how—full power.
The energy surged, but I couldn't fully control it. Again and again, every attempt to separate them backfired. I probably looked like a broken lamp with how my mana was bursting and fading. My opponent stayed on me with a flurry of chaining attacks, forcing me to react instead of executing my plan. He wasn't strong—just annoying, a pest. He could never hope to beat me.
He caught my slash and spun it back into an attack of his own.
"Agh, dammit!" I blurted out under my breath. If he'd just stop crowding me for five seconds, I could concentrate and then kick his ass.
"Hah, what's wrong, kid?" he taunted between strikes. "Where's that bravado from earlier?"
"Don't get cocky. You're just my stepping stone." I hissed back. I was supposed to stay calm and focused. I failed. But somehow, his taunts combined with the frustration building inside me, and there it was—the imbalance. One core was giving in, just barely, but I could feel it.
There! I tried to slam the door shut, to seal one core and leave the other feeding me mana.
The Tidesword lunged again, sensing that my attention was elsewhere. I didn't just parry this time. I focused entirely on my dominant core and moved. His blade came streaking toward my neck; my sidestep was impossibly fast, and his sword whirred past my face.
I started my counter, and—mana violently exploded from both cores.
The air rippled and a thick cloud of shimmering mana surrounded me. The usual. And the exact opposite of what I was trying to do.
It was too late to stop the swing. The Tidesword captain's eyes widened. He tried to bring his sword up to block, but he was a moment too slow. My counter flew right past his guard. Metal screeched. My blade tore through his armor and sliced deep into his abdomen. He went flying back with a pained cough.
Luckily for him, I just barely managed to pull back enough. Barely. If I had been a second slower in reacting, he'd be lying in two pieces.
He tumbled and hit the snow with a muffled groan. For a second, the whole arena went dead quiet. No cheers, no jeers. Just a ring of white and that awful stillness. A twist hit my gut. Shit. I didn't mean to—that was messed up. Way too far.
Someone yelled, and a team of uniformed healers came running onto the field. They quickly surrounded him, one of them kneeling with glowing hands working on his wound as the others strapped him onto a stretcher. He was carried off swiftly, leaving behind deep red trails of blood in the snow.
The crowd didn't breathe until he was gone. Then—noise. An eruption of it. Cheers, gasps, arguments. The announcer called my win, but I just stood there, shoulders heavy. Not only did I almost kill that man, but I completely flopped on isolating a core. No control. That was just the same damn thing I'd been stuck on—raw, explosive, and unruly power.
I heard Victoria's shout cut through the raucous from the edge of the arena entrance. "Luna!"
I turned. She was motioning for me to come out, concern plastered over her face. I waved her off. This wasn't enough, and there just so happened to be plenty of people I could practice on.
Victoria shouted louder this time. "Luna! Step back now!"
I didn't. I gave her a look. My way of telling her I was serious. She frowned and turned to Kael, saying something. He must have convinced her somehow because she crossed her arms and glared at me, not saying another word.
My attention shifted back to myself, to my cores. I still had a moment before the next challenger stepped up. The feeling was there; I knew what to do. Now I just had to strangle my cores until they obeyed me. The next few minutes were spent standing in the middle of the arena, meditating.
"Hey!" A woman's voice pulled me out of my mind. She was standing across from me, scowling. "What's your problem?"
"Huh? I don't know?"
Her face turned to pure anger. "You tried to kill my captain, you bitch. I won't fall for your little act."
"But that was an accident? He messed up." I replied, confused.
Her grip tightened around the two blades at her hips. "You think you'll just walk away from that?"
I blinked. "Walk away from what?"
She snarled. "From trying to murder someone in an exhibition match."
Murder? Seriously?
"I told you... I didn't try to kill him, he—"
"Shut up." She cut me off, drawing her swords as mana sparked around her.
Great. A hothead. Fine. Maybe I can actually get something done this time.
She shot toward me. My body moved instinctively, bringing my sword up to intercept hers. Our blades met with a sharp clang, stinging my palms. She attacked with a flurry of strikes that flowed into more, similar to that last guy, but her anger made them clumsy. She was aiming to hurt me... or kill me.
I kept my cool this time. Her aggression made her easy to read. Every wild slash was just another opportunity. I blocked, parried, and deflected, letting her exhaust herself while I tried to build dams around my cores.
The feeling was there again—the tiniest separation. One pulsed as the other dimmed. I was so close to holding it. Almost. But doing it on command was difficult; they had minds of their own. That was how I almost killed that guy.
Her blades came down again, cutting toward my chest. I exhaled and countered. This is it. One clean horizontal arc, drawn from a single core's flow—light and controlled. She swore and crossed her swords to block, the impact sending her reeling back, barely managing to stay on her feet. I'd done it. An attack with just a single core. Magic. I can learn magic.
Then, she bounced back, darting toward me with an ugly, desperate swing, more reflex than thought. But the sudden motion startled me; I thought she'd be a little more stunned than that. I reacted without thinking, letting go of my sword with one hand and driving my fist straight into her face.
Oops. I knew it the moment it landed. The sound was awful—a grating crunch, definitely a shattered nose. Her knees buckled, and she dropped like a corpse, face-first into the snow.
I froze, staring down at my hand. "That wasn't part of the plan."
The announcer hesitated before finally calling it. "V-Victory... Luna of Aegis Academy!"
The audience erupted again, with cheers, gasps, and even some laughter mixed in.
I glanced down at her lying there, limp, as the medics rushed in again. She'll be fine... probably.
The final Tidesword challenger stepped forward not long after, clearly nervous after seeing what happened to his two teammates. Couldn't blame the guy—two teammates out cold. Still, he raised his sword and took a stance. Brave.
He charged, and I met him halfway. Not as fast as the other two, but more careful, calculating. He was probing and keeping his distance, waiting for a mistake or opening. So I gave him one.
I faked it, throwing a huge, wild swing and leaving myself exposed. He took the bait and lunged. One core flared, exactly as I wanted, and I spun. His sword managed to graze my pauldron, leaving a deep scratch, but I kept going. My sword stopped just before cutting into his neck.
He stiffened, then dropped his weapon, raising his arms. "I surrender."
"Match!" the announcer shouted before I could blink.
Three for three. The first two weren't great optics. But what did they expect? We're dueling, of course people are gonna get hurt, right? Right... It's not my fault they keep rushing in and taking my attacks with their guard down.
I turned to look back at my team, intending to showboat. But the smile never made it onto my face. Instead, I flinched.
Victoria was already storming into the arena, staring daggers at me.
"Luna!"
I froze, remembering what I'd done a few minutes before. She didn't stop until she was inches from me— close enough that I could feel her body heat.
She leaned in and whispered in my ear. "Get. Off. The. Field. Now."
"What? No way!" I protested, stepping back to make some space between us.
She stepped with me, not letting me escape. Our eyes were locked. Her jaw clenched. "You've proven your point. Go back. Disobey me again, and there will be consequences."
"It wasn't about proving anythin—" I tried to argue, but her hand shot out, pulling at my breastplate.
"Don't make me, Luna."
"Vi, what's your deal? It's not that seri—ow!" She grabbed me by the ear and began dragging me to the tunnel.
"Fine. Have it your way."
"Victoria, stop it! This is embarrassing!" She ignored my pleas, escorting me off the field as the crowd's laughter followed us, chasing me all the way down the tunnel.