The next match came before anyone could finish whispering about the last one.
"Arcadia of House Hades, son of Pan."
"Gaia of House Gift, daughter of Theodore."
Arc strutted forward like he was born to win, spinning his staff with one hand.
Across from him, Gaia walked in small, hesitant steps, both hands clutching her surprisingly bladed staff tightly to her chest, looking more like someone who came to tend a garden than to fight.
When they reached their marks, Arc rested his staff over his shoulder.
"Try not to cry when you lose, alright?"
Gaia blinked, startled, and then muttered:
"I-I wasn't planning to…"
He scoffed, crossing his arms.
"Tch. Don't act like you're confident now."
That was when John lowered his hand.
"Begin."
Arc went first, of course, and jabbed his staff into the ground with a yell, because apparently, shouting your spell helped:
"FREEZE!"
The floor cracked, and a sudden blast of frost surged outward.
Spikes of ice formed, shooting fast across the arena.
The power on display was real…
But damn, his aim was awful.
Gaia yelped, tripping backward as the first spike narrowly missed her skirt.
She swung her staff in pure panic, and the ground in front of her burst upward, throwing a wave of dirt and stone towards the wolf-boy.
"Wha—how dare you throw dirt at a Great House?!"
He shouted again, slipping on his own ice while trying to dodge.
"Y-You attacked first!"
She squeaked back, hiding behind the wall she'd accidentally made.
The crowd was already laughing, and Xenos was their loudest, enjoying this too much.
"This is gold! Ahaahhahaha!"
Beside him, Aspen shook his head.
"It's a good thing we're naturally resistant to our Elements, he'd have frozen himself before she even tried to attack him... I really need to train him better."
Arc regained his footing, slamming his staff down again, shooting shards of ice in rapid fire.
Gaia peeked from behind her wall and gasped as they hit, frost spreading across the surface.
She hesitated, fingers trembling, and then whispered under her breath:
"Come on… please work…"
The ground beneath Arc suddenly split apart, sending sharp pillars of stone bursting upward at him.
"Ah!"
He jumped aside at the last second, using his ice to boost himself midair.
The movement looked amazing... until he overshot his landing and faceplanted into the frozen ground.
"Ugh—I meant to do that!"
Arc picked himself up quickly, his cheeks flushed.
Meanwhile, Gaia peeked again, worried, and almost… amused.
"S-Sorry!"
"I wasn't talking to you!"
He snapped, pointing his staff at her.
"Now take this!"
His words unleashed a wave of frost towards her.
Gaia squeaked again, stomping her foot as rocky spikes shot from the ground, blocking the attack.
The resultant clash of frost and earth filled the air with something like steam.
For a brief second, neither of them moved before suddenly, Arc charged, attempting to copy his guard's movement, sliding over his own ice with surprising speed.
Gaia panicked again, waving her staff at him and cracking the floor.
Boulders flew up, forcing Arc to dodge mid-slide.
He grinned through it, his pride kicking in.
"Not bad for a meek girl!"
Gaia frowned, puffing her cheeks.
"I'm… I'm not meek!"
She absolutely was.
Or perhaps it'd be more accurate to call her... demure and timid.
She swung her staff again, and stone spears formed in the air, flying straight at him.
Arc answered with ice arrows, meeting her attack head-on, arrow for spear.
Both their aims were wack, meaning most projectiles went far off the arena, not even close to their target, but those that somehow got close were intercepted, and that, again, was not because they were accurate, but because they simply fired way too many.
The entire arena trembled as their spells collided, shards of stone and frost scattering everywhere, creating chaos and nothing but chaos for these quick seconds.
Gaia remained behind her wall, murmuring to herself each time she cast.
Arc yelled and cursed every time he nearly tripped or dodged a pillar.
"Stop hiding!"
"Stop aiming for my head!"
"It's a duel!"
"I-I know!"
Their argument was louder than their spells.
It was an absolute mess, yet the audience couldn't stop watching.
"They're both... disasters."
And Aspen seemed to agree.
"Yeah..."
As did Xenos himself.
"But very talented ones."
Arc, wanting to get out of this stalemate, tried to leap through her defenses with a self-made ice ramp, basically a spike that aimed a little lower, only for it to instantly break under his weight.
He tumbled through the air, crashing directly before Gaia's stone wall.
She peeked over the other side, genuinely concerned.
"A-Are you okay?"
He quickly popped up, his hair a mess, frost now clinging to his clothes.
"I'm fine! It didn't even hurt! And I, uh, totally planned that!"
She blinked, then smiled shyly.
"O-Oh. Okay."
The way she said it made him blush.
"Tch… don't look at me like that; I'm not a kid!"
And with that, their fight dragged on until both were drenched in sweat and gasping for air.
Gaia's hair stuck to her cheeks, her green dress smudged with dirt, while Arc's tunic and pants were half-frozen and cracked, frost clinging to his entire body.
They stood across from each other, both ready to drop.
Gaia raised her staff weakly, trying to summon one last wall.
Arc aimed his, a half-formed shard glowing faintly at its tip.
Neither spell came out.
Their Divinity was all but gone.
"..."
"..."
"..."
A long silence followed.
Gaia lowered her staff first.
"T-Tie?"
Arc clicked his tongue.
"…fine. But I'll win next time."
John stepped forward and surveyed the cracked, frozen, and half-collapsed arena.
"There's a lot of room for improvement."
He adjusted his glasses.
"But the raw potential is… undeniable."
Gaia immediately bowed her head, cheeks pink.
"T-Thank you, sir…"
Arc smirked, flicking ice from his shoulder.
"Of course it is. I'm talented."
John gave him a look that could kill a man.
"Don't get comfortable, Hades. I'm not one to abuse your name with."
Arc's confidence faltered for half a second.
"Y-Yeah, yeah… I wasn't."
From the stands, Xenos let out a short laugh.
'Man... I'm really lucky~.'
He had to make these four his!