The central part of Nyramith Island was never quiet ever since the revival of the Sacred Arena. It had become the prime location for Divine training, contests, and public displays of Enlightenment. It was in the central part of every island.
But today, it was an all-out storm.
The crowd was massive with nearly three thousand First Enlightenment Divines, most from across the world and some who had arrived weeks ago, who were the teams Sentina Erideae arrived with carriages in Asmaphaeri City.
And in the arena, two figures blazed with untethered fury.
Xander Fedres, the iconic tactician and blade-wielder of Dynasty Fedres, was fighting Farrynelle Skyrover, the warrior star of Dynasty Skyrover. The two were the Divine Power Couple but right now, they were tearing each other apart. No one expected this. Sure, lovers argued. Sure, sometimes it escalated. But these two? Their battle was making the ground quake.
Xander gritted his teeth, his longsword sparking against the ground as he pushed up from a crouch, blood dripping from a fresh wound on his arm.
"You're not listening to me, Nelle!" He shouted but it didn't matter.
Farrynelle blurred again, her massive twin chakrams spinning like thunderous halos. Her Base Tether, Super Speed, was cranked beyond safe limits, letting her blitz across the ring like a storm. She didn't respond with words. From above the crowd, two silhouettes landed with immediate urgency. Adelasta and Elyonari had arrived.
"Is that Xander and Farrynelle?" Elyonari blinked, visibly disturbed. "Wait are they fighting?"
Adelasta narrowed her eyes, her instincts sharpening.
"That's not sparring."
The moment they landed, a group of elven Divines ran to her side. They were the group she came with to Asmaphaeri City before meeting Sentina Erideae.
"High Priestess!" One called out. "They have been like this for half an hour. No Divine Transformation, but... they're really going at it."
"They were arguing about something personal, we think," another added. "Then it became this."
Farrynelle blurred again, appearing behind Xander. Her chakram slammed into his shoulder. A thin gasp escaped him, his body flung like a ragdoll across the ring. He landed with a rough bounce, his sword skittering away.
"She's dominating the fight," Elyonari whispered. "Even without her Divine Transformation…"
"Because she's not herself," Adelasta murmured.
Farrynelle vanished again. Adelasta's eyes widened. Without hesitation, she moved.
The second Farrynelle reappeared in mid-air with her chakrams spinning toward Xander's unconscious body, Adelasta was already there, pulling him out of the way with one arm and summoning her twin daggers with the other. Metal clashed as the blades collided mid-air. A shockwave erupted across the arena. The ground split. The crowd screamed and backed away.
Farrynelle landed, her eyes completely white. Her body was encased in crackling arcs of lightning that coursed through her armor. She looked… hollow. She wasn't possessed but it felt like something had overridden her.
"Farrynelle! Snap out of it!"
No response.
Elyonari appeared, grabbing the bleeding Xander and flashing him out of the ring.
"He's unconscious!"
Adelasta exhaled, stepping forward as Farrynelle twitched again, vanishing in another blink. This time, she reappeared to the side but Adelasta was already there, blocking her again.
"You're not yourself. You almost killed your husband. Do you realize what you've done? We all made a vow to each other and to Spheraphase that we never harm our own. And you—"
Farrynelle vanished again and reappeared right behind her. Adelasta immediately caught her ankle and slammed her into the ground.
The audience went dead silent. No one had expected Adelasta to see her with the speed she was moving at. The shockwaves were starting to fracture the arena stones. The platform was starting to crack.
"I don't want to fight you but I will. We don't have time for this kind of madness."
Farrynelle growled, launching herself again, one chakram whistling as it tried to slice through Adelasta's neck but it was blocked by the curved edge of a summoned dagger, wrapped in crimson flame.
"She's not gonna stop," Elyonari said from the edge, watching with wide eyes. "She's not listening to anyone."
Adelasta narrowed her eyes. "Then I'm gonna knock some sense into her."
Lightning surged again. Farrynelle blurred, her speed increasing. Adelasta slowly stepped forward. Her daggers snapped forward, extended and morphed seamlessly into crescent blades. The hilts spiraled and locked in new configurations.
Farrynelle didn't wait.
She was gone in the blink of an eye and slammed into Adelasta with the weight of a comet but the impact never came.
The sound rang like a bell as Adelasta's crescent blade intercepted the first blow. Farrynelle unleashed a storm of strikes so fast they blurred into a violent rhythm. Farrynelle was moving unpredictably fast. She launched herself in wide angles and sharp turns, spinning in mid-air, ducking low and jumping high and never staying in a single place for longer than half a breath. Still, Adelasta blocked every blow.
Her Mystic Eyes of Perception had activated the moment Farrynelle moved. With every strike and twitch of Farrynelle's muscles, Adelasta saw the lines of possibility. She didn't just follow Farrynelle's speed. She moved before the strike came. Even with that unnatural velocity, Farrynelle couldn't land a hit. Adelasta couldn't land one either.
Her own blows were always just half a second too slow. Farrynelle was fast and evasive. She could flip backwards in mid-air, twist her waist to avoid a horizontal arc, or drop to the floor just as a blade would have cleaved her shoulder. Adelasta's blades whirled through the air. They were beautiful lethal crescents that left red-tinged arcs in the air but they couldn't find her opponent.
Farrynelle was untouchable.
Meanwhile, at the edge of the ring, Elyonari Mintheris knelt beside Xander's unconscious body. She had already conjured a Ninth Star Healing Circle, which was powerful that regenerated not just flesh but soul damage. Being a Magecraft Grandmaster, the Circle was strong enough to rival the Aeterium's Body and Soul Reconstruction.
Xander's ribs were shattered. He had internal bleeding in three places. His shoulder had been dislocated mid-air and twisted unnaturally. One of his legs had been burned along the edge, not by her chakram but by the friction from how fast she'd flung him. Elyonari's jaw clenched.
"She wasn't just trying to win. She was trying to kill him."
Back in the arena, the clash escalated.
Farrynelle suddenly vanished mid-step and reappeared behind Adelasta, spinning into a dropkick that would have crushed another Divine's spine outright but it never connected. Adelasta had ducked. With her crescent blades up and wrists twisted in opposite angles, she blocked both kicks in a perfect X-guard formation. The force still sent her skidding back across the arena floor but she hadn't been hit.
Farrynelle didn't even give her time to regain footing. She twisted on her palms, flung herself into the air and shot downward like a burning arrow.
Adelasta waited.
Her eyes glinted. She could see the pattern in Farrynelle's bursts. She even saw the split-second hesitation in her right heel before she committed to a mid-air spin. She knew where she'd land. The moment Farrynelle descended, Adelasta's body twisted, her blades intercepting the twin chakrams with deafening impact. Sparks exploded. For the first time in the fight, Adelasta moved forward.
Her right leg pivoted back then snapped forward.
A straight, brutal, grounded front kick slammed into Farrynelle's midsection with enough force to warp the space around her. There was a sonic boom through the ring. A shockwave erupted from the point of impact, fissures appearing across the floor beneath them. Farrynelle's body flew backward. She slammed into the arena wall that cracked.
Gasps echoed from the spectators. Even the civilians who came to watch flinched. That wall had been forged and reinforced with three layers of stone built to contain Divine duels.
Adelasta exhaled, finally letting her shoulders drop slightly. She twirled her blades and brought them to her sides. Her gaze was fixed on the rubble where Farrynelle had vanished.
Farrynelle emerged from the dust.
Her arms lit first as lightning erupted across her shoulders and down her forearms. Then her legs emitted lightning as well, spiraling up her thighs and wrapping around her calves. Her chakrams changed color too. They were shimmering with blue energy.
Adelasta's brows furrowed.
"You're really going to force me to take this seriously, aren't you?"
Farrynelle had entered her Divine Transformation.