The match was minutes from starting, but one thing was off — two people were missing.
Cyrhelle sat forward in her seat, glancing once toward the stairs. "Where's Kael?"
Charlotte frowned, arms crossed. "More importantly… has anyone seen Levi?"
David flipped through the match roster on his tablet. "Not since lunch. And he's up next."
Cyrhelle tapped her fingers on the rail. "Did they oversleep?"
Kael's voice cut in calmly from behind. "I didn't."
They turned as he approached — cool as always, sleeves rolled up, eyes already scanning the arena.
Charlotte raised a brow.
Kael look at her. "Went looking for Levi."
David stood. "You found him?"
Kael gave a small nod. "He's better now."
Cyrhelle blinked. "Better?"
Kael's gaze flicked toward the entry tunnel. "You'll see."
Almost on cue, Levi emerged from the tunnel — no showboating, no big grin this time. Just focus. His jacket was off, gauntlets tightened, steps solid.
Charlotte blinked. "That's… not his usual energy."
David smiled faintly. "Maybe he needed this one to matter."
Announcer Voice:
"Next match: Levi Giarden versus Ramos Kel'Vaar!"
The crowd murmured. The sand user was already infamous for smothering opponents with terrain and traps.
Ramos walked into the ring barefoot — Desyre sand already curling along his arms and drifting at his heels like smoke.
Levi stepped into the opposite side — drawing in a deep breath, setting both feet wide, lowering his stance.
"Same rules apply," Instructor Kaedin called out. "Victory by surrender, knockout, or ring-out."
A pause. Then the buzzer rang.
"Match: Begin".
Levi struck first.
A heavy gravity pulse exploded from his core, flattening the sand across the floor and forcing Ramos back a step.
But Ramos didn't resist — he flowed.
His sand split like a tide, slipping around Levi's attack and curling behind him, forming a circle.
He's setting the ring… boxing me in, Levi realized.
He leapt — reducing gravity on his own legs to move faster — then tried to flank.
But a wall of sand exploded upward, catching his trajectory mid-air and slamming him sideways into the barrier wall.
"Tch—!"
He rebounded, landed in a crouch, and immediately pulled gravity inward, forming a crushing well around Ramos's position.
The sand swirled violently — but Ramos was already out of it.
He shifted position before I cast—he read it.
From the stands, David leaned forward. "That's what Ramos does. He doesn't just use sand — he thinks like it. Surround, grind, flow."
Charlotte narrowed her eyes. "Levi's too direct. If he doesn't adapt…"
Ramos's traps sprung.
A ripple beneath Levi's feet — then his ankles locked in mid-motion.
Sand shackles, Desyre-reinforced.
He reacted fast — launched a shockwave downward to break free — but another blast of sand caught his shoulder, driving him back to his knees.
Ramos charged.
His gauntlets, coated in crackling Desyre energy, lit up. He punched—
—Levi threw a pulse forward. The impact collided mid-air.
A shockwave rocked the ring.
Sand versus gravity.
Momentum versus mass.
Ramos came again.
"I already crushed you once," he snarled, swinging wide.
"Yeah?" Levi coughed. "You talk too much."
He twisted the field — reducing gravity on himself — ducked under the next swing and slammed a point-blank pulse to Ramos's ribs.
Boom.
It sent Ramos flying—
—but the sand softened his fall again.
He's turning the entire floor into armor. Into traps. I'm losing ground.
Levi staggered back. His legs were heavy now — not from fatigue, but because Ramos had coated the area in weighted Desyre grains.
Everything Levi touched was working against him.
He dropped to one knee.
"Damn it…"
In the stands, Kael stood up — not shouting yet, just watching.
His eyes locked onto Ramos's stance. His breath slowed.
Then—
Kael eyes are widened
Kael saw it.
Ramos was about to fake left, twist the sand around Levi's legs, and slam him from above and ending it.
The vision snapped back.
Kael cupped his hands, sharp and loud:
"Levi! don't dodge left! Anchor down and blast the ground! NOW!"
Levi didn't question it.
His feet locked down, and he sent a full-force gravity quake downward—
—just as Ramos leapt overhead, mid-spin.
The pulse exploded upward.
Sand detonated outward in a ripple — Ramos caught full in the gut.
The momentum flipped him —he slammed into the arena floor.
Hard.
His sand shattered.
The crowd went silent.
Ramos didn't rise.
The buzzer rang.
"Match over! Levi Giarden. WINNER!"
Cheers burst through the stands like a wave breaking.
Levi stayed where he was with one knee down, chest heaving, eyes wide with disbelief.
He won.
David shot up, grinning ear to ear. "Let's go! That's what I'm talking about!"
Cyrhelle let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. "He actually turned it around."
Charlotte gave a rare smile. "Not bad."
But then she glanced sideways.
Kael had already sat back down, arms folded, face unreadable.
Something about the silence made her frown.
"How did you know what Ramos was about to do?" she asked quietly.
Kael didn't answer
But for a second — his fingers clenched faintly at his side