The arena held its breath.
Following Arwen's victory and the mounting tension on the other battlefields, the spectators' attention focused on a single spot — where Kael and Hisagi stood facing each other, like two opposing poles.
Hisagi raised his two-handed sword. The metal blade trembled, as if it were no longer solid.
"We'll see if you can handle this." — he said calmly.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"A weapon is a weapon. It doesn't matter what it's made of."
Hisagi smiled to himself.
"In that case… watch closely."
He thrust his sword into the ground.
"HAAAAAAA!"
His scream shattered the silence. The blade scattered into hundreds of leaves.
They didn't fall. They swirled.
Green and sharp as steel, they swirled around Hisagi, forming a long, undulating blade made of swirling nature. Every leaf trembled with energy, each one could cut like a blade.
The stands erupted.
The commentator shouted
"WHAT A TECHNIQUE! HISAGI IS TRANSFORMING HIS SWORD INTO A BLADE OF LEAVES! IT'S A LIVING WEAPON!"
Kael took half a step back, but didn't lower his sword. The blue aura around his blade pulsed calmly.
"Nature magic… No. It's something more."
Hisagi charged.
The leafy blade sliced through the air without a sound. Kael blocked — and felt hundreds of tiny impacts run down his sword like a rain of steel.
"It cuts from every angle…" — he whispered
"The forest doesn't attack with a single strike." — he said.
A barrage. Leaves entwined around Kael, trying to cut him from the sides and from behind. Kael retreated, parried, and spun his blade until finally, a single leaf sliced through his arm.
Blood dripped onto the stone.
"Tired?" — Hisagi asked with a smile on his face.
Kael didn't answer. His breathing quickened.
And then he dropped to one knee.
The sword sank into the ground, and the blue aura dimmed.
The stands fell silent.
"The Black Guard. Azrok. Burning walls. Screams… My people looked at me as they died." — Kael thought to himself.
"I told him the truth. He didn't believe me." — he added.
The leaves froze in midair.
"Get up. I don't want a victory like this."
Kael raised his head. His eyes weren't empty.
They were heavy.
He gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands. A blue aura exploded — not like a flame, but like a wave. It concentrated along the blade, dense and steady.
Kael stood up.
"I am the one who survived." — he whispered.
He moved forward.
Not quickly. Not violently.
Confidently.
The leaves struck out. Kael sliced through them with a single, controlled motion. The aura didn't dissipate — it pulled the blade toward its target.
Hisagi stepped back for the first time.
"What…?"
"The commander's aura!"
One cut. Two. Three.
The leafy blade began to lose its rhythm. The vortex weakened.
Kael closed in.
CUT.
A blue light sliced through the vortex of leaves. The nature magic crumbled like wind blown away.
Hisagi fell to one knee. The leaves fell lifelessly.
Hisagi looked up and smiled faintly.
"Now I understand… It wasn't hatred…"
"No. It's responsibility."
Hisagi lowered his head.
The arena erupted with a roar.
Kael stood motionless for a moment, then lowered his sword.
"Azrok… not yet." — he whispered.
Mira and Valdor stood facing each other. Her sword deflected magic in a way that made the air around the blade seem empty.
"That sword… it really is a dragon's sword."
"And yours really does nullify magic." — Valdor replied.
"In that case, there'll be no room for tricks."
Valdor raised his sword. The flame appeared only after a moment, subdued and controlled.
"I never fight with tricks!" — Valdor shouted.
Mira struck first. Her cut was fast and clean.
Valdor parried. And he felt it immediately.
The magic around the blade vanished, as if someone had erased it. The sword's flame dimmed.
Valdor narrowed his eyes.
"Interesting."
"In the forest, magic doesn't belong to warriors. It merely allows them to survive."
They exchanged a flurry of blows. Steel, sparks, no magic between the blades.
Valdor took a step back. He smiled slightly.
"In that case… I'll use what you can't cut through."
The aura of dragon blood stirred beneath his skin.
Mira raised her sword higher.
"Go ahead."
Yla struck the ground with her staff. Roots burst from the stone, writhing like snakes.
Mayuri leaped aside, spinning in midair. Her weapon flashed with a brief burst of light.
"Seriously? Plants?"
"They listen."
The roots moved again, faster. Mayuri cut through two, dodged the third, but the fourth wrapped itself around her ankle.
"Your steps are too light."
Mayuri smiled widely.
"And your thinking is too slow."
She vanished. Literally.
She appeared behind Yla and punched her in the shoulder. Yla hissed, but the staff struck the ground once more.
The ground trembled. A green aura spread across the arena.
"A forest doesn't fall from a single blow."
Mayuri stood up straight, stretching her arms.
"Good. Because neither do I."
They both looked at each other with smiles that held not a shred of humor.