Arena, Elias vs Push
The last remaining opponents were the Shield-user and the silver-haired leader of Black Emirates.
But all attention was on Elias, who stood across from him, both covered in dust and bruises.
The Push-user cracked his neck, then raised one palm lazily.
"Push!"
BOOM!
A wave of compressed force slammed forward, hitting Elias against a wall.
He stood up, walked a little forward. Coughing.
"You're not using Push like a shove..." he muttered, "..more like a cannon."
The Push-user looked straight at him with cold eyes.
"Aura Power: Double Push."
CRACK-BOOM.
Elias barely crossed his arms as the twin pulses hit. His Aura flared red as it took the brunt, but even then, he flew twenty feet into a wall of conjured stone.
Dust and silence.
The crowd went still.
Then...movement.
Elias stepped out of the cratered wall, bleeding from his forehead, aura shimmering.
"My Power Attribute is useless... I can't use it on humans. Only weapons."
Elias wiped blood from his eyes. His Aura shimmered red.
"And he's not holding a weapon."
His jaw tightened.
"Then I'll make myself the weapon."
He raised his hand.
"Crush Zone!"
A red sigil spun into existence on the arena floor, circular, jagged-lined, humming with pressure.
The king stood up.
"Impossible," he whispered.
The push-user didn't wait.
"Aura Power: Repel!"
BOOM.
The Crush Zone shattered. Elias slammed into the wall like a cannonball.
Then silence.
And from the dust...
Cid.
He caught Elias mid-air, took the impact with him, both smashing into stone.
Cid stood, dagger in hand, blood dripping from his nose.
He didn't speak. He just faced the Push-user.
The crowd roared.
"You alright?" Cid asked.
"Yeah… no. He's too damn strong." Elias spat blood. "He's not just using Push for offense, he's coating himself in it."
"I can only use one Remote Compression, and it's useless."
Myra dropped in from above.
"Then let's tag in."
The three faced the silver-haired boy, who looked mildly annoyed now.
"A three-on-one?"
"Not forever," Myra said. "Just until you, The Almighty Kavon of the Black Emirates, get fucked."
Kavon looked at one of his hands. It was crushed.
"Tch.."
"Fine. Let's see what tricks you've got."
Elias struck first. Aiming for the ground beneath him.
"Crush!"
The area beneath Kavon compressed and exploded violently, leaving dust and stone pieces in the air.
Cid inverted the direction of the dust to Kavon's eyes, but he pushed it away.
But then, Myra unleashed a wind blast.
"Aura Power: Directional Wind Spasm!"
The blast aimed at him straight.
"Push." He barked again, clearing the wind instantly.
Cid slipped through the chaos.
While Kavon braced against wind and terrain, Cid got behind him.
He activated Absolute Hands. Small brass and bullet fragments began to spin behind Kavon unnoticed.
BOOM!
A punch from Elias collided with a Push burst midair, cancelling both.
Kavon was gasping, tired.
"NOW!" Myra shouted.
Cid clenched his fists, Elias's Remote Compression detonated the fragments mid-air, slicing a flash of shrapnel behind Kavon's back.
He spun instinctively...
And Elias dived low, sliding under the next Push.
"Myra!"
"Already on it!"
She launched a spiraling gust that shot Elias upward.
He soared like a spear, fist glowing with Crush Power.
"Hammer Crush!"
Kavon raised a hand.
The moment he was about to use Push...
"Invert!"
Cid changed the direction of the cloth on his hand, moving it left.
The Push blast went off course.
Elias dropped from the sky like a meteor.
BOOM!
The arena cracked.
Dust flew. The air shimmered with residual Aura.
All were gasping.
Kavon instinctively blocked the Hammer Crush with his other Arm. It got crushed.
Then a voice:
"...I yield."
The arena erupted in cheers.
"Red Spire Academy wins Round One!"
Above the Arena.
King Edoras leaned back.
"That Elias kid used Power Zone..."
"…They beat a Push-specialist. As a team."
Soei adjusted his monocle.
"Three Power Attributes synchronized. A support class, a control specialist, and a pure brute-force striker. Red Spire's Elite Class One has cohesion even our Royal Guard lacks."
Duke Kaelbrand looked down at the blind boy.
"…That one didn't just fight. He controlled the field. Tactics, timing, manipulation."
The King narrowed his eyes.
Arena,
Cid, Elias, and Myra were shocked to hear they won. They turned to see what happened between the Shield-user Maxime and Ryn. But they saw Maxime tied up. And...
"My father, the greatest swordsman, fought three colossals at once and killed one before dying. He..."
They all sighed.
Moments After Red Spire's Victory. Royal Balcony.
King Edoras stood, his face carved from stone.
"They won. Not by power… but strategy," he said flatly.
Around him, the four senators and dukes exchanged glances. Murmurs followed.
Duke Kaelbrand broke the silence.
"Red Spire is no longer just an academy. It's a military incubator."
His voice was sharp, cold.
"They trained a blind boy to be this strong. A girl who weaponizes wind with surgical precision. And Elias… The bastard child of House Valtros just outclassed a genetically tuned soldier from Black Emirates."
"Imagine what they could do on the battlefield," whispered Marchioness Vera, sipping her wine.
King Edoras's knuckles tightened on the railing.
"Get me the names of Red Spire's instructors. Every sponsor, every donor. I want to know who funded this kind of brilliant and tactical breeding."
Soei, the Senate of Whispers, stepped forward, already holding a scroll.
"Already compiling, Your Majesty. There's more. Cid was brought to the school by the Mad Mentor, Yami."
Silence.
Duke Kaelbrand spoke again, quieter now.
"If this is what their students are like now… then in two years, they'll be a sovereign army."
The King said nothing.
Then he turned to General Hadros, commander of the King's Spear.
"Begin drills. Triple the training in all Power schools and the Royal Army. If war breaks out, I have monsters of my own."
Red Spire Quaters, Night.
The team sat in their dimly lit quarters, bruised and sore but quiet.
"...We won," Elias finally said.
"Barely," Myra replied.
Ryn was already passed out on a bench, still clutching his katana like a pillow.
Cid spoke without opening his eyes.
"The next tournament will be harder. That Push-user wasn't the strongest in this tournament. Don't forget Yamcha"
Elias raised a brow.
"That's true, but I awakened a new Aura Power: Hammer Crush. It allows me to enclose my fists with my Crush Power. And I can use it to do damage to living beings."
Cid kept silent.
He was hurting inside because Elias surpassed him. And thinking of ways.
"What if i also enclose my fists with my Invert Aura? What will happen?" he thought.
After a while thinking.
"Fuck it, i'll think about it tomorrow."
He started dozing off.
"I hope you're looking at me, Old Marla."