The roar of the Demon Coliseum climbed to a fever pitch as white-blue fire and blackened shadow clashed in a storm of intense annihilation.

Ember used her flames like steps, allowing her to hover above the shattered arena floor, her celestial flames burning so bright the night itself seemed to bow before her radiance. The heat that spilled from her mane turned falling debris into dripping rivers of molten glass.

Below, Nyx erupted from the sea of shadows again and again, each emergence a thunderous quake that sent tremors rattling through the stands. Chitinous plates glistened with abyssal ichor, the Demonic Burrower roaring in frustration as it tried to catch the ever-moving Ember.

Segmented claws gouged through ruined stone, each strike raising curtains of obsidian shards that hissed and cracked in Ember's heat.

Albedo stood patiently as he analyzed the battle, his eyes glowing in a stark fusion of icy blue and the violet glyphs of Source Code.

Through the bond, he felt Ember's fire-heart burning hotter, her will surging with each deflection and counterattack. Every flick of her ears, every coil of muscle was a silent question:

'More?'

"Push it," Albedo said calmly, wanting to end this.

Ember screamed a reply that tore across the heavens. She dived like a comet, her hooves shattering the air with shockwaves of space-warping flame.

Nyx responded with an ear-splitting shriek, twisting its monstrous body in an impossible arc. The Burrower's tail lashed upward, the venomous barb snapping toward Ember's chest with a speed that split sound and caused a boom.

Albedo's Source Code eyes flared violet as he immediately gave another order.

'Vector left, counter-thrust.'

Ember folded space with a single step. One moment she was falling into the Burrower's trap, the next she reappeared at Nyx's flank, her white-blue mane trailing comet sparks.

Her forehooves crashed down in a blazing crescent, the corrosive fire instantly devouring the chitinous armor beneath. Steam exploded outward as Nyx bellowed in rage and pain, its entire left side sizzling beneath the celestial flame.

Celeste grunted in annoyance as she saw this, "Burrower Shift," she immediately ordered, her own tattoos pulsing with violet demonic light as she chanted a incantation.

Darkness surged like a living tide. The cracked arena floor liquefied into a lake of shadow, dozens of obsidian spires rising like the fangs of a gigantic trap. Nyx's entire body dissolved into the dark mire, and for a heartbeat the world fell silent.

~BOOM!~

From every direction Nyx erupted at once, multiplicity. Four enormous shadow forms exploded upward, each a perfect mirror of the original, claws and tails striking in a simultaneous onslaught. The air itself seemed to scream as the clones converged on Ember, their combined mass blotting out the rune-light above.

Albedo's Source Code spiraled, glyphs multiplying across his vision as he read the weave of reality. Illusions layered with true substance. Only one core.

"Ember, Starfall Veil," he commanded.

Ember spun midair, her flames folding into a whirling dome of star-blue fire. The incoming claws hit the barrier with thunderous force, and evaporated.

Three of the four Nyx collapsed into nothingness, the illusions disintegrating into smoke and cinders. But the true Burrower had used the distraction to strike from below.

A titanic claw punched through the ruined floor, tearing for Ember's hindquarters. Albedo snapped a command,

"Collapse Vector!"

Ember twisted in an impossible corkscrew, one hoof striking the claw directly. The white-blue flame detonated on contact, shattering the obsidian tiles beneath in a wave of molten light.

The Burrower's screech shook the arena walls as its claw was driven back, molten ichor spilling from the seared limb.

"Nyx, Midnight Hour!" Celeste ordered, and darkness around them surged once more.

Albedo's expression hardened as he sensed the incoming attack, "Ember. Execution Pattern: Solar Lancer."

The Solaris Equine neighed, a sound like the shattering of glass stars. Her body ignited and her flames elongated into a lance of condensed stellar fire. Space around the weapon bent, distorting light as Ember tucked her wings of flame and dove.

The shield of shadow met the lance.

For a heartbeat, darkness held.

Then the lance pierced through with a sound like tearing universes and smashed towards Nyx, causing the beast to once again shriek, its armor cleaved by the blazing strike.

Celeste staggered, her connection to the beast flickering under the feedback of the blow. "Nyx!" she called. "Burrow, full collapse!"

The wounded Burrower roared and plunged back into the depths for a couple moments before rearing back, its tail, or what was left of it, was glowing with demonic energy.

The runes etched along its carapace pulsed in frantic succession as Celeste poured more mana into the beast. A black storm gathered at the tip of the barb, distorting the air with a gravity that promised extinction.

Albedo sensed the spike of power, but deeper still…something wrong. Beyond the battle, beyond Celeste's command, a faint vibration threaded through the arena's mana.

An alien pattern, a whisper of code not belonging to either combatant. His eyes, imbued by Source Code, narrowed, glyphs, formations, and data dancing across his eyes as he analyzed what was going on.

The answer? External interference.

Someone, or something, was weaving power into Nyx's next strike, amplifying it beyond Celeste's control.

The realization struck like a blade of ice, but he did not hesitate. He bent low over Ember's neck, his words a sharp, mental whisper across their bond. Someone's tampering. Override and burn through it. Win before they finish the weave.

Ember's flame-heart roared in answer, an emotionless surge of trust and fury. The flames along her mane ignited with a sound like a star collapsing, white-blue brilliance deepening to a piercing ultraviolet that carved light-scars across the air.

Celeste's eyes widened at the sudden spike. "Nyx, brace!" she shouted, but even her voice was lost beneath the deafening roar of Ember's ascension.

The Solaris Equine kicked off the very air, space bending beneath her hooves as she launched into a full Stellar Charge. The sky itself seemed to fold backward, leaving a streak of afterimages like shattered constellations.

Nyx struck upward at the same instant, its tail descending with abyssal fury, the arena trembling as shadow and starlight raced toward their inevitable collision.

Albedo's Source Code vision locked onto the foreign pattern even as the beasts closed the final gap. He felt it unraveling, resisting, trying to twist Nyx's strike into something catastrophic.

Not today.

"Ember, finish it!"

Her answering scream split the night like the birth of a new star. White-blue flame and abyssal shadow met in a single, blinding detonation.

***

The blinding detonation swallowed the arena in a single, unending roar. For a heartbeat there was no sound but the crackling of melting stone and the ringing echo of a star collapsing.

The runes carved into the Coliseum walls flickered violently, some shattering outright as the shockwave rolled through the stands. students flinched and shielded their eyes as heat washed over them like the breath of an open sun.

Then, silence.

A veil of smoke and powdered obsidian hung heavy over the battlefield, thick enough to smother sight and sound. Only the distant hiss of molten glass cooling could be heard. From within that choking darkness came a single, rhythmic sound—hoofbeats. Slow. Certain.

A glow emerged through the haze: a soft, unwavering blue-white light. Ember stepped forward first, her celestial mane cascading like a river of stars, her hooves leaving molten impressions with each stride. Her flames were dimmer now, but no less pure, steady and victorious.

The smoke began to part in drifting curtains, revealing the ruin left in their wake. Nyx lay crumpled at the far end of the arena, its once-impenetrable chitin cracked and steaming. Segments of its massive body twitched faintly, but the demonic Burrower was beaten. Dark ichor pooled beneath it, hissing as it touched the molten floor.

"Nyx!" Celeste's voice sliced through the stunned silence. She was already moving, her armor scorched and her tattoos still faintly aglow with spent power.

The Demon Princess sprinted across the ruined arena, dropping to her knees beside the wounded beast without a second thought. Her gauntleted hands pressed against Nyx's cracked carapace, demonic mana flaring from her palms in urgent waves.

The Burrower gave a low, pained rumble but did not resist her touch. Celeste's amber eyes burned with focused fury as she worked to stabilize her companion, channeling healing energy and sealing the worst of the ruptures.

Her lips moved in a rapid, guttural chant, old demonic syllables meant for a beast's ears alone.

Professor Xyvarr stepped forward, his crimson gaze sweeping across the devastation. He stood at the center of the arena like a scarred statue, his expression unreadable until at last he raised one clawed hand. The gesture alone carried enough power to silence the remaining echoes of the crowd.

"Victory," Xyvarr declared, his deep voice resonating like a struck anvil, "to Albedo Neverwinter and his beast, Ember."

The stands erupted. Demon students screamed their approval, claws clashing against obsidian railings in a frenzy of sound. As a race that was built on a meritocracy that the strongest shall be rewarded, Albedo's victory proved to everyone once again he was worthy.

Albedo gave only a slight nod of acknowledgment. He did not raise a hand to the crowd, nor spare a look of triumph for Celeste. His Source Code eyes still glimmered faintly as he scanned the ruined arena, the violet glyphs within them parsing fragments of residual mana.

That foreign vibration he'd sensed during the fight still lingered like a faint afterimage, faint, but real. Someone had tried to twist the match, to turn Nyx's strike into something catastrophic.

With one last glance at Celeste, who remained kneeling beside Nyx, golden eyes burning with quiet gratitude for her beast, Albedo turned Ember toward the exit gate, already having a plan in his mind.

'Find the hand that moved the code.'

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