Dust still hung heavy in the air, swirling in slow, ghostly eddies. My ears rang like the world itself had cracked apart.

Did I—?

My thoughts stumbled over themselves. Did it hit her? I squinted through the haze, searching for any sign of movement. For a heartbeat, there was nothing—just the distant hum of dying energy. Then—

A flash of silver.

My instincts screamed. A blade shot through the smoke, gleaming with killing intent. I barely had time to react. My palm shot forward, purple fire igniting around my hand, roaring like a starving beast. The edge of Nora's rapier met my flame mid-thrust, sparks and embers scattered like shattered stars.

I twisted, forcing her blade aside, the air vibrating from the impact.

She was already moving again, fluid and deadly. But I was faster this time. My other hand slammed into her face with enough force to send her flying, a shockwave rippling through the ground as she skidded across the Colosseum floor, crimson streaking the dust she left behind.

For a moment, she lay still, chest rising and falling in ragged breaths. Then she looked up.

Our eyes met.

And she smiled.

Her lips moved soundlessly, forming a single word.

"Boom."

My eyes widened. The realization hit too late.

The sigils flared beneath my boots intricate, glowing lines of silver snaking through the ground.

"—Shit."

The explosion tore through the earth, light and force erupting upward like a miniature sun. My body lifted off the ground before I could brace, hurled like a ragdoll across the arena. The impact with the far wall came with a sickening crack. Pain flared white-hot through my leg, blood spilling from my mouth as the world spun.

I hit the ground in a heap, the copper taste of blood thick on my tongue. My vision blurred, a dark haze creeping in from the edges.

I forced myself to lift my head.

Through the settling dust, I could see Nora standing, her rapier lowered, her expression unreadable beneath the faint shimmer of silver light dancing across her skin.

...Right. I managed a weak, crooked grin, blood dripping from my lip.

She'd just outplayed me.

Again.

A faint hum filled the air, low and steady like the world itself was catching its breath after the explosion.

And then came the glow.

It started faintly, a soft white shimmer spreading across my torn skin, crawling like liquid light over the cracks and cuts. The warmth that followed wasn't gentle it was searing, alive, burning through the ache in my bones and forcing my body to knit itself back together.

I winced, a sharp hiss slipping through my teeth as the wounds closed at a speed visible even to the naked eye. Bone snapped back into place with a crunch, muscle reformed, and the blood soaking my uniform sizzled away as the healing light enveloped me completely.

"Still… hurts like hell," I muttered, forcing my trembling legs beneath me. My body protested, every muscle shaking, but I pushed upright anyway. My boots ground against the cracked stone, my eyes never leaving Nora.

She was still standing there, her rapier angled low, her expression calm but intent. Her lips moved slightly, her brows twitching in that familiar way that said she was cursing under her breath. I couldn't hear her from this distance, but I didn't need to.

"She's probably swearing about my regeneration again," I thought, a tired smirk tugging at my lips.

The thought made something in my chest tighten not unpleasantly, just… familiar. Like an echo of countless sparring sessions we'd never actually had.

Then, she glowed.

Silver moonlight began to bleed from her skin, cascading like threads of liquid starlight. The light gathered around her wounds, her split lip, the dark bruises on her arms, and they vanished in seconds, leaving her as pristine and composed as ever.

For a brief moment, the two of us just stood there, the Colosseum around us cracked and burning, the air thick with smoke and magic. The crowd of students that had gathered around the edge of the arena had fallen utterly silent.

Our eyes met again.

And this time, we smiled.

Not mockingly. Not out of arrogance.It was the kind of smile shared between two people who understood each other far too well a wordless admission that this fight wasn't about victory anymore. It was about seeing how far the other could go.

The air shimmered between us, faint ripples distorting the light.

I tightened my grip around Sacha's hilt, the glass-like blade humming in resonance with my mana. Across from me, Nora spun her rapier once, silver and gold mana coiling around the weapon like twin serpents.

The energy in the Colosseum spiked, pressing down on the watching students thick, electric, almost suffocating.

I took a single breath, grounding myself.

So did she.

And then, as if some invisible signal had been given, we both moved.

Two blurs, black and silver, collided in the center of the arena, the impact detonating with a thunderclap that split the air. Light and shadow twisted together, and the world seemed to shatter apart all over again.

The moment our blades met, the world erupted.

Steel screamed against steel, a flash of black and silver streaking through the dust-choked air. Sparks burst from every clash, but this time, it wasn't just steel. It was power.

Frost bloomed from my strikes, shards of glacial air spreading across the shattered stone like veins of crystal. Every swing left a trail of rime in its wake, cold enough to sting the lungs of anyone too close.

But I didn't stop there, purple fire burst from my free hand, twisting and writhing like a living thing. It coiled along Sacha's glass edge, the contrast of frost and flame warping the air into a shimmering mirage.

Nora met it all head-on.

Gravity folded around her, distorting space itself as if the world couldn't decide which way was up. My next step hit the ground like a lead weight, every movement dragged, every motion strained.

Her rapier slashed once, and the pressure exploded outward, the very air cracking under the force.

But she wasn't done. Silver moonlight flared from her body, pure and serene, an unearthly glow that swallowed the world in brilliance. Ice followed, spiraling from her feet in a storm of glittering shards, and then came the flames bright, golden fire that burned like a miniature sun.

She moved through all of it like a dance. Fire and frost wove around her blade, moonlight and gravity bending to her will. Each step left a ripple in reality itself, each thrust carrying the weight of a collapsing star.

I raised my sword, parrying a strike that felt like a meteor colliding with the earth. The force blew me back several meters, my boots digging trenches in the cracked floor.

Purple fire surged around me in response, licking at my arms, fusing with the frost that coated Sacha's blade. The two opposing energies shouldn't have worked together, yet under my control, they sang in harmony, deadly and beautiful.

Our next collision tore through the Colosseum like a storm.

Frost clashed with fire, gravity with raw mana, and moonlight with the black shimmer of death energy that leaked unconsciously from me. Every impact shattered the air with a deafening roar, chunks of stone erupting skyward.

I could barely see her through the haze just flashes of silver hair, the gleam of her rapier, the flare of light as she struck again and again. And still, I matched her, step for step, strike for strike, flame for flame.

The world had narrowed to the rhythm of combat heat, light, motion, breath.Everything else the crowd, the noise, the dust disappeared.

For that moment, it was just us.

Two forces colliding in perfect chaos.

Frost and fire. Flames and death.

And when our next clash finally detonated, the Colosseum trembled as if the heavens themselves had flinched.

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