The air in the arena was freezing, sharp enough to sting the skin—but Sabrina could feel the sweat beading at the back of her neck anyway. She glanced sideways.
Noelle was shifting on her feet, hands clenched tight at her sides. Her breathing was steady, too steady. A tell.
"You nervous?" Sabrina asked, nudging her with an elbow.
Noelle didn't answer.
"Oh come on, you're not gonna choke before the first spell, are you?" Sabrina teased with a crooked grin.
Noelle's eyes narrowed. "I'm fine."
"Sure. Is that why you look like you're about to pass out?"
Noelle huffed, then smirked. "Don't make me 'accidentally' hit you with a spell."
Sabrina laughed. The tension eased slightly.
"Alright then, general," she said, more seriously this time. "Are you ready to apply our war plan?"
A slow, sly grin spread across Noelle's face. "Can't wait."
They stepped forward together, into the soft hum of the barrier-dome that formed around their assigned arena. Lights shimmered around them, phones recording their match. They had become somewhat of local celebrities due to their rare spells and the video of Sabrina's duel with Rubert that had circulated in the internet.
Across from them stood a man and a woman, both slightly older—twenties, maybe. Their gear looked practical, simple jogging clothes and thin coats. Not really suited for the cold, but it allowed them better movement during the fight. They bowed their heads in a short gesture of respect.
Sabrina and Noelle mirrored the motion.
The familiar projection of the staff NPC flickered to life between the two teams, dressed in the same official blue-and-white garb from earlier.
"Welcome, Duelists. This match will follow standard double-match rules. Five-minute hard time limit. Arena boundaries enforced. No outside interference. Stepping beyond the perimeter results in HP drain. Begin when the bell rings. Fight well!"
A low chime sounded.
Begin.
Sabrina lifted her hand, a semi-translucent glyph spinning to life as she began casting a defensive barrier.
Beside her, Noelle extended her arm, calling up the Krivaa summoning circle—but her palms barely began glowing with the glyph before a red and flashy quick spell slammed into her side.
She got startled, breaking her cast by reflex, and dived straight into a hasty shield conjure alongside Sabrina
"Already?" Sabrina said through gritted teeth, flicking her barrier as another attack volley came in from both attackers "Couldn't even hold for two seconds?"
"Try casting while getting hit" Noelle snapped, blocking another projectile with both palms.
"Want me to take over?" Sabrina hastily answered
"By all means, genius."
Noelle lunged forward, both hands up, intercepting a pair of arcane shots— holding them back with shimmering glyph shields. Sabrina ducked low behind her, her palms forming the Krivaa glyph pattern.
The summoning circle flared.
With a soft, smoky hiss, Sabrina's Eidolon emerged—grey and writhing, smoke curling from its joints and mouth like ash from a dying fire. It hissed, eye sockets glowing faintly.
Sabrina didn't waste a moment. "Smokescreen."
Dark fog erupted from her spell glyph, pouring around them like oil smoke and flooding the battlefield in seconds. The two opponents—now wary—halted their spellfire. A new glyph pulsed in the woman's hand.
"Elemental Wind—'Gust'!" she called.
A sharp gale tore through the field. The smoke parted violently, spiraling up and away until the arena was once again clear.
The battlefield layout had changed back to normal.
Now, instead of standing together in a clump of smoke, two figures had flanked the enemy team from opposite directions. On the far left of the enemy's view: Sabrina's Eidolon, stalking in silence with thick grey smoke trailing behind. On the far right: Noelle, one hand crackling with blue spell light.
Sabrina herself was nowhere to be seen.
The man spun toward Noelle, already casting quick spells in her direction. The woman turned toward the Eidolon, ready to block its spell. Their coordination was tight, practiced—but they were both reacting, not thinking.
Noelle didn't wait.
"Astral Bind!" she shouted, her hand snapping forward.
A lattice of glowing blue threads shot from her palm, surging toward the male opponent. The lines spun around him like spectral silk, fast as lightning.
At the same time, Sabrina's Eidolon drew its arms back, summoning a cluster of swirling smoke in its hands—the beginning of the Suthramak spell.
Elsewhere, Rubert watched from a crowded area, his AR display floating in front of him, serving as an improvised television.
He leaned forward.
He remembered that moment from their prep session, only a few days earlier—how Noelle had asked him about player bindings.
"The binding spells work differently on people than they do on monsters, right?" she asked, legs dangling from the edge of a fountain.
"Yeah," Rubert had said. "If it hits, a ring appears around them. If they move outside of it, it punishes them—status effects, big HP loss. Depends on the spell. And their hitbox remains on the circle, which means they cannot run."
"I knew it!" Noelle had said triumphantly, turning to Sabrina. "See? I told you the only reason you beat me in that rematch was because you stayed still like a lamp post in the circle!"
"That wasn't the only reason!" Sabrina protested, flustered.
"Sure," Noelle had smirked.
Rubert grinned faintly, remembering. "Try combining the effects like we did with the Eidolon on the mountain."
Back in the present, Rubert's eyes narrowed as the action resumed.
Back in the arena—
The Astral Bind hit.
The male caster flinched as the ring formed around him—deep cerulean threads anchored to the ground. He tried to backpedal—
A wave of energy pulsed from the circle and blasted him, knocking his HP down by a chunk.
Meanwhile, the woman was locked on Sabrina's Eidolon. She conjured a narrow warding shield and held it firm.
The Suthramak struck—and deflected, splattering in a harmless arc to the side.
But that was never the real attack.
From the far side, a puff of smoke shot toward the woman from the edge of the arena.
Not from the Eidolon.
From Sabrina.
She had used an invisibility spell, her body now revealed from within a low mist.
Sabrina grinned. "Suthramak."
The spell surged.
Without realizing it, the woman was also stuck in Noelle's Astral Bind as the threads had spread from the man toward her too, and she got caught while blocking the attack from the summon. She tried to leave the area, only to be damaged as well and she was forced to step into the area again. The grey bolt of the Suthramak slammed into her shoulder—and she yelped in reflex. Smoke started pouring from her body, a visual indicator of the debuff taking hold.
Her casting glyph shattered in her hand. Her next spell refused to form.
Sabrina's Suthramak had worked.
The Null-Bind effect shimmered around both enemy players—thin grey bands pulsed at their wrists when they tried to use their spells, a visual cue that they couldn't cast for the next few seconds. They staggered slightly, surprised by the ambush, just as Sabrina stepped out of the lingering illusion. Her cloaking spell faded completely now, revealing the smirk on her face.
In the square of his city, Rubert and Samuel watched the match unfold on a floating AR display. Dozens more had crowded around them to catch the action. Rubert leaned forward, eyes narrowing.
"That would've been our cue," he thought. "If this had been the 3v3 we originally planned, this was when my offensive barrage would've hit—taking full advantage of the Null-Bind."
But it wasn't a 3v3. He wasn't there. Noelle and Sabrina had to finish this themselves.
Then the crowd stirred.
A low murmur built in the square as the people watching the match around Rubert pointed at the screen. Rubert blinked. Wait... what... is that?
A creature shimmered into visibility—previously hidden inside Sabrina's invisibility spell, now stepping forward from the haze. Gleaming dark-blue gemstones pulsed on its sleek frame, and inside each gem danced glowing specks of white, red, and yellow—like stars in miniature galaxies. Chains dragged from its wrists all the way to the ground, its eyes were gleaming blue, and its face was covered in a hoodie. Noelle had summoned it during the smokescreen, and the summon had been cloaked this entire time, preparing a spell.
Stars above the creature began to blink into existence—one by one—signaling a powerful spell charging.
Noelle grinned.
Their enemies panicked. The Astral Bind effect faded, but the Null-Bind effect was still active—four seconds remaining, and both the woman and man dashed toward the boundary of the arena, desperately trying to break line-of-sight and ready their counterspells, but they couldn't cast yet. Noelle began chanting again, trying to reapply her Astral Bind as soon as the Null-Bind ended.
But it didn't go as planned.
The nullbind effect faded early.
Before either girl could react, the man slammed a fist to the ground. A surge of jagged earthen spikes burst forth—Elemental Earth: Ground Spikes—racing toward Noelle's summon. The woman followed with a swift incantation—Elemental Wind: WindSheer—slicing toward the summon in a spiraling gust.
Sabrina tried to interrupt with quickspells, flinging small arcane bolts at the attackers, trying to do something else to stop their cast since she wasn't close enough to shield. Noelle, mid-cast, was similarly exposed.
Think, think! Noelle's mind raced—and suddenly, she remembered Rubert's trick.
Krivaa Commands still work, even if you're Null-Bound...
Her eyes widened.
"Translocate Damage!" she shouted.
A shimmer arced between her and her summon. The moment the earth spikes struck the summon's side, the damage redirected instantly—slamming into Noelle instead.
Her HP plummeted.
But she stayed standing.
She used the reverse effect that the Eidolon of the mountain had used—dealing damage to herself to save her summon instead. Had she not redirected it, her summon would've perished—and their strategy would have crumbled.
Her hand shot forward, just as her casting circle completed.
"Astral Bind!"
The binding spell fired. The man raised a barrier this time, bracing—and successfully blocked it. But the woman, slower to react, took the hit directly. The blue threads surged around her.
Then—to both her and her teammate's surprise—the threads extended outward from her and snagged him too.
A chained effect.
Their eyes widened.
Then they looked up.
Stars.
Dozens now, blazing in midair above Noelle's summon—seconds from descent.
In desperation, they both tried to flee the ring of the binding spell. But the moment they stepped beyond its invisible edge, the punishment triggered—light seared around their legs, and their screens flashed with a Blinded debuff and ticking damage.
The stars fell.
The impact lit the arena in a burst of radiant light. Both enemies stayed still, accepting their fate, their health bars plummeting to zero as the celestial blast overtook them.
Silence.
Then:
"Team Noelle-Sabrina, victory confirmed!"
Cheers erupted across the virtual arena lobby. Spectators clapped, shouted, pointed at the replays forming on side-screens.
Rubert flinched slightly—he'd cheered too loud. Samuel jumped beside him.
"Dude," Samuel said. "That was incredible."
Rubert laughed. "Told you they were good."
He pulled up a chat window.
Rubert: Incredible finish. That was a beautiful setup.
Noelle: I'm still shaking.
Sabrina: Whoooo!! That was the most fun I've had in MONTHS!!
Noelle sent a reaction emoji: a blinking stare.
Noelle: Okay, when did you become the peppy one?!
Rubert: Oh, before I forget—meet Samuel. My partner for this bracket. We just won our first match too.
Sabrina replied with spark emojis.
Sabrina: Nice!! You both better make it to regionals with us.
Noelle followed up quickly.
Noelle: Congrats. Let's win all the way.
Rubert smiled—and opened the bracket.
Then blinked.
His next opponents were listed already.
Two familiar names.
Big names.
They were famous content creators for Mage Wars, known for showing off rare spell combos and breaking spell combinations with flashy but effective plays.
Rubert leaned toward Samuel. "We need to prepare. Fast. We're up against the meta lords themselves."
Samuel looked nervous, then grinned. "Then we just gotta be anti-meta, right?"
Rubert nodded. "Exactly. Let's build something they won't expect. Or we're getting wiped in the first ten seconds."
They both turned back to the AR menus, already working on their strategy.
Across the square, someone watches them intently...