The heavy confession hung in the air like a suffocating shroud, leaving every member of the Z-Elites paralyzed in absolute disbelief.
[The Doubting Heart]
"Cynthia... lost?" Fraxy gasped, her hands trembling around her healing staff.
"That's impossible," Captain Carod gritted out, his mechanical joints groaning as his optics flared wide. "Her fire output is unmatched! How could she lose a fire-element trial?!"
Gaia turned her head toward the ancient Hydro Arcon, her voice tight with concern. "Neweland... is she really weaker than him?"
Neweland narrowed his eyes, staring at the dissipating embers on Cynthia's scorched armor. "I know Crimson. He is powerful, but he isn't strong enough to beat Cynthia flat-out. That means..."
"You are right, Neweland," the Arcon of Life interrupted softly.
Floating down to the kneeling warrior, the Arcon of Life gently placed her translucent green hand on Cynthia's back. "You are still doubting yourself, right?"
Cynthia flinched under the warm touch, her fists digging deeper into the dirt. "No... I am not!"
Techyon stepped right beside his sister, his white-blue aura flaring with fierce conviction. "I believe in my sister! She wouldn't lie about giving her all!"
"Cynthia," the Arcon of Life asked calmly, her ethereal eyes searching the fallen warrior's face. "Did you transform to fight there?"
Cynthia bit her lip, her shoulders trembling as tears burned away against her skin. "I... I tried. But I couldn't transform."
"That is because you are doubting yourself," the Archon of Life declared, her voice firm and resolute. "Go and rematch him. You can defeat him."
"But I lost several times!" Cynthia shouted, her voice breaking under the weight of her frustration. "Every time I reached for the core, my flame flickered out!"
Techyon grabbed her shoulder, pulling her up to look her dead in the eye. "I don't believe it. You can't lose in the fire element battle! Until I see with my own eyes that you lost, I will not believe it. I am going with you to see how you are going to fight, sister!"
[The Vanguard's Charge]
Yoru stepped forward, her dark bangs casting a shadow over her alarmed face. "Wait! We don't have enough time for that! The timer is almost up!"
"What about the dungeon?!" Carod added, gesturing toward the sky. "The First Floor gate is about to breach into the normal world!"
The Arcon of Life turned her gaze toward the remaining Z-Elites, her command echoing with absolute authority. "Until Techyon and Cynthia come back, all of you are going to fight with the monsters who will come out of the dungeon."
Neweland gripped his trident, a fierce smirk breaking across his weathered face. "Leave the breach to us. Go help your sister, Techyon."
"We won't let a single monster past the Tree of Life's perimeter," Gaia vowed, her rocky armor interlocking into a massive fortress stance.
With a sweeping gesture of her glowing arm, the Arcon of Life re-opened the dimensional portal, the swirling vortex burning with a fierce, persistent ember deep within.
Techyon gripped Cynthia's hand tightly, giving her an unyielding look of trust. Together, Techyon and Cynthia stepped inside the portal, vanishing into the trial realm once more as the vanguard turned to face the breaking gate.
[The Pride of the First flame]
The dimensional mist cleared, revealing the ancient arena once more. Crimson stood motionless in the very center of the shattered battlefield, his primordial flame wings flaring with heavy, rhythmic pulses.
Cynthia stepped onto the cracked obsidian floor, her gaze locked onto the fiery warrior.
"Crimson! I challenge you for a rematch!" Cynthia declared, her voice echoing across the stone monoliths.
Crimson didn't even turn his head completely toward her. "I reject."
Techyon stepped forward beside his sister, his brow furrowed. "Why?"
"I don't know who you are," Crimson replied coolly, his red eyes narrowing as he finally looked at Techyon. "But she has already lost. There is no point in fighting an battle whose outcome is already decided."
Techyon took a deliberate step toward the ancient warrior, a subtle, provoking smirk touching his lips. "You are rejecting her challenge because you think you will lose."
Crimson's eyes flared with a sudden spike of intense, white-hot mana. His primordial wings snapped wide, sending a scorching shockwave across the arena.
"What did you say?!" Crimson growled, his red body runes flashing angrily.
"I am saying that you are scared to lose to her," Techyon said, his tone perfectly calm and unbothered. "And that is the exact reason you are rejecting the rematch."
"Scared? Me?!" Crimson barked, his voice booming like thunder across the battlefield. "I am Crimson, the first Arcon of flame! I am not scared of anything in this world or any other!"
Techyon crossed his arms, his white-blue eyes locked onto Crimson's burning glare. "Then accept the challenge."
Crimson gritted his teeth, his pride flaring brighter than the surrounding torches. "I accept the rematch!"
[The Flame of Time]
Crimson marched directly up to Techyon, stopping just inches away. The sheer thermal pressure radiating off the ancient warrior made the air distort around them.
"Raise your hand," Crimson demanded sharply.
Techyon didn't hesitate. He raised his right hand, extending an open palm between them.
Crimson reached out and tapped the center of Techyon's palm with a single finger. Instantly, a tiny, brilliant spark of primordial golden-red fire ignited, hovering silently just above Techyon's skin.
"This duel will end the moment this fire is extinguished," Crimson declared, his voice heavy with ancient authority.
He stepped back into the center of the arena, his body dropping into a low, aggressive combat stance as white-hot flames wrapped tightly around his fists and forearms.
Cynthia drew her twin blades, her boots setting the ash beneath her ablaze. Her solar crown ignited into a sharp, blinding radiance as she lowered her posture, matching Crimson's stance frame for frame.
The arena fell deathly quiet, save for the crackle of the flame burning in Techyon's hand.
[The Clash of Primordial Heat]
BOOM!
The ground shattered beneath Cynthia's boots as she vanished into a golden streak, driving a high-speed, solar-infused axe kick directly toward Crimson's head.
Crimson leaned back in a microsecond, the heel of her boot grazing his jawline before he leaped straight into the sky. Mid-air, his primordial wings flared, raining down a barrage of massive, meteor-like fireballs.
Crack! Splash! Boom!
Cynthia wove through the falling inferno, dodging each blast frame-by-frame before launching herself into the air after him. Crimson landed cleanly back on the obsidian ground, but Cynthia used gravity and the momentum of her descent to drive a heavy downward kick aimed to split his guard.
"Fire Blast!" Crimson barked.
He thrust both palms upward, unleashing a colossal, roaring beam of dense primordial fire. Cynthia's leg slammed into the pillar of heat—for a brief second, her solar fire fought against it, but the sheer conceptual pressure overpowered her, blasting her through the air until she crashed heavily across the stone floor.
"Sis!" Techyon shouted, his eyes locked on the flickering flame in his palm.
Before the dust could clear, Crimson vanished from sight.
Cynthia snapped her head around, but Crimson materialized directly behind her, his red body runes flashing with lethal speed. "You wanted to kick me? Take this!"
CLANG!
Crimson delivered a brutal, sweeping spin-kick straight into Cynthia's ribs, sending her tumbling across the volcanic earth. Wiping a trail of blood from her lip, Cynthia pushed off the ground with a sharp roar, spinning her twin blades to channel her ultimate technique.
"Fusion Flare!"
A swirling, highly compressed sphere composed of radiant blue and red starfire erupted from her hands, tearing through the air toward Crimson.
Crimson didn't even move to dodge. He raised both bare hands, catching the dense sphere of dual-element fire right in his palms. With a harsh grunt, he squeezed his hands together and violently shattered the sphere into useless sparks.
Cynthia's breath hitched as she scrambled backward, her heart pounding against her ribs.
'It's happening again...' she thought, her vision blurring with a wave of desperate realization. 'Just like that day on the Third Floor... my flames can't break through! No matter how hard I strike, I can't leave a single scratch on him... just like I was completely helpless against the Void Drachoon!'
"Sister!" Techyon's voice echoed across the arena, cutting through the roar of the flames with absolute conviction. "Don't look back! Look forward!"
Crimson stepped through the fading embers, his right fist wound back, covered in a blinding, white-hot aura that threatened to end the trial in a single strike.
"You are NOT worthy of becoming the Arcon of Flames!" Crimson roared, driving his fist down toward her face.
BOOM!
A shockwave of pure thermal force ripped through the arena, but the fist never hit.
Cynthia's hand snapped up, her bare palm catching Crimson's blazing punch mid-air. The shockwave blew back her red hair, but her eyes beneath her cracked sunglasses burned with an unyielding, solar-grade intensity.
"You're right... I'm not here to take his place," Cynthia growled, her grip tightening until Crimson's primordial flames began to warp. "I am not the Arcon of Flames... I AM THE PYRO ARCON!"