The arena hummed with energy, vibrating with the roar of the crowd. Zaro Kindell strutted across the centre platform, swirling his cape dramatically as the lights followed him like he was the gravitational center of Woewyn itself.
"OOOHHH LET'S WARM THIS PLACE UPPP!" he roared, his voice bouncing off the dome.
Cythera leaned toward Damon. "Nervous?"
"Yeah," Damon said, taking a calm breath.
"Good."
Zaro puffed his chest. "Our FIRST contestant—burning brighter than his attitude—KLAVEN VOREN!"
Damon's head tilted. "Voren? Is he your brother?"
Cythera's face sank instantly. "No. My cousin." A pause. "And no, Damon. I don't like him."
Zaro continued, unfazed.
"And next—cutting winds sharper than your social failures—RHYDEN DREY!"
Rhyden entered, spinning a gust around his hands, smirking like the whole match was already decided.
"And NOW—our earthbound genius, the girl with the nerves of a leaf in a hurricane—MIREA THORNE!"
Mirea staggered out, hands trembling, eyes wide as the entire colosseum stared at her. Zaro leaned into the mic.
"Isn't she a brave one? Look at her trying not to faint!"
Mirea nearly did faint.
"And finally… Woewyn, rise to your feet— YOUR PRINCE. THE CHOSEN HEIR. SON OF THE MIGHTY KING THALOR, AND THE BEAUTIFUL YET FIERCE QUEEN THESSA— DAAAMON VALE!!!"
The arena erupted.
Damon walked out with both hands in his pockets, his expression flat, his aura calm like a sleeping star.
He looked up at the royal stands. Nyra waved at him violently. Rika raised a hand shyly.
She looks happier, he thought.
Zaro raised a hand.
"NO KILLING. NO MAIMING. AND IF YOU BREAK THAT RULE, YOU WILL—YES I MEAN YOU—BE EXECUTED."
A beat.
"BEGIN!"
Klaven and Rhyden didn't wait a second.
Klaven made spirals of compressed flame that exploded on impact. Rhyden created a lethal cone of wind-arrows.
Before they hit—
Mirea slammed her palms into the ground. An earthen circle erupted around her and Damon, blocking the barrage entirely.
Zaro screamed, "SHE BUILT A MINI FORTRESS?! THIS GIRL IS A BRICK WALL WITH ANXIETY!"
Damon nodded calmly. "You've got this. I'll handle him."
"Wait—! I can't—I'm only good at defen—!"
Damon was already gone.
Panicking, Mirea wrapped herself inside a solid stone sphere.
Rhyden laughed. "Who says you can't play with your food?"
He wrapped wind around the sphere—
And whipped it through the air like a toy.
Zaro clutched his chest. "OH NO—SHE'S LIKE A BOULDER PINBALL MACHINE!"
Inside, Mirea was bleeding, slamming against the walls of her sphere, her vision shaking.
"I can't… I can't… my family's watching. I can't be useless again—!"
Rhyden hurled the sphere UP— HIGHER than the colosseum's edge. Then—
SMAAACK—
He sent it crashing down. But just before impact—
Mirea inhaled sharply.
"Disperse—!"
The sphere shattered into dust-sized fragments, swirling around her like a shimmering airbag as she crashed safely. She immediately recreated her sphere around the sand airbag.
A single shaky thumbs-up peeked out of the ground.
Zaro gasped dramatically. "She's ALIVE! Someone give that child a hug!"
Klaven wrapped fire around his fists, grinning with feral excitement.
Damon ignited his daggers—light flickering along his arms and chest—then launched.
Klaven struck first.
An explosive punch tore past Damon's cheek. Another burned the air by his ribs. A kick grazed his knee.
Damon dodged each with hair-width precision.
Klaven snarled. "Is this the prince everyone's whispering about? YOU SHOULD'VE JUST STAYED A STORY!"
Mini explosions burst from his fists—rapid-fire grenades.
Damon crossed his arms, Radiant Veil flaring—
BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—BOOM—
Zaro: "SIKEEEEEEHHH—HE'S EATING THOSE HITS LIKE CANDY!"
Klaven appeared at Damon's flank—
THUD.
Fire-punch to the gut.
Damon slid backward, boots scraping the metal floor as he struggled to use his daggers to halt the motion. The heat on his ribs was intense—pain blooming under his skin.
He exhaled.
"Okay. I understand."
Light flashed at his feet. He vanished.
Light-slices tore through the air. Klaven dodged—
One shot for his face.
He raised a flaming fist, blocking just in time—
Damon appeared IN FRONT OF HIM.
A blade tore across Klaven's cheek— Blood sprayed.
Klaven staggered. One inch more… and he would've sliced my neck…
He grinned through the blood.
"Not bad. If you had REAL fire, that might've hurt."
Damon didn't reply. Just launched again.
Klaven grew desperate—thin, invisible threads of fire lashed out like tripwires.
One clipped Damon's neck—A burning sting.
Damon halted mid-strike.
There. He saw them. The arena was webbed with faint heat-lines only visible through distortions in light.
He filed it away silently.
Klaven smiled, thinking he'd gained the upper hand.
He hadn't.
Rhyden got bored of Mirea.
"Enough. Let's finish him."
Wind spiraled violently around Damon— forming a dome.
"CYCLONE CAGE!" Zaro roared.
Arrows of wind fired inside randomly—fast—unpredictable—cutting his veil, slashing his back, tearing at his legs.
Mirea peeked out from her dust-cloud.
Her heart dropped.
"No… he's getting shredded… I have to… I have to help him—but—my body—!"
Then she clenched her fists.
"Stop embarrassing them, Mirea." she said to herself.
Two earthen spikes shot upward—ripping into the cyclone at opposite angles.
The airflow destabilized—shuddered and collapsed.
Light flickered inside.
Damon FLASHED straight out.
Zaro nearly threw his mic. "SHE BROKE A WIND PRISON AT BLAZE-TIER—?! MIREA THORNE, MARRY ME—!"
Damon landed beside her. "Thanks." Then he dashed back.
She almost cried at that one word.
A shadow moved at the edge of her vision. Klaven. A tornado of fire spun around his arm.
"No—!" Mirea gasped.
BOOOOM—
The fire struck her full-force.
She slammed into the wall. Dust exploded, and when it cleared—
She was bleeding everywhere, skin burned, breath shallow, still bouncing on the ground.
Zaro's voice cracked. "OH—By the Eternal One—someone get the healers!"
Damon whispered, "…No."
He dashed and caught her before she fell again—Radiant Veil wrapped around BOTH of them.
"You did well," he said quietly. "Don't talk. You've lost too much blood."
She managed a tiny smile.
"I… just wanted them… proud of me…"
A larger blast slammed into Damon's back. He grunted—shielding her with his body.
On the royal platform, Queen Thessa placed a hand over her heart.
"Don't give up, Damon…"
Damon carried Mirea to the corner and set her down gently.
He turned back—but the combined ultimate was already coming.
A spiraling spear of white-gold fire wrapped in razor wind. A drill of light and heat.
It smashed into him.
"SCCCRRREEEEEEE—" Zaro screamed.
Damon was hurled into the wall. Drilled into it. Blood flew from his mouth. His bones screamed.
The arena shook.
When it ended, he fell forward—his head hitting the ground.
Daichi shifted to wolf form, snarling— but Queen Thessa held him back. "You can't."
Damon lay still.
Klaven walked over. Pressed his boot onto Damon's skull. Grinding his face into the metal floor.
Rika yelled, "Is that even allowed?!"
Zaro sighed. "Technically… yes?"
Klaven smirked.
"I don't care if you're a prince. I'll surpass you and I'll kill Gamishi myself. Not you."
Damon tried to raise his head—Klaven stomped harder.
Klaven's eyes drifted to Damon's wrist.
"Oh? Jewelry?" He crouched. "A gift from a girl? Cute. But what kinda idiot brings something so valuable to battle?"
Damon's eyes widened.
"Shame it won't last the round."
Snap.
Fragile beads scattered across the ground.
Something in Damon's chest... broke.
His breath shook.
He forced himself up, fighting the pressure of Klaven's foot. He reached desperately for the pieces, trying to fix them—but his fingers trembled— blood from his face dripping onto his wrists.
Zaro whispered, his voice hollow, "…oh no."
Ninety percent of the arena gasped.
Rhyden laughed and shot a gust of wind.
Scattering the beads across the floor.
"…oops."
He didn't finish the laugh.
Because the world blinked—
And Damon was gone.
Only distant spectators saw it clearly: Two Damons. One standing and one afterimage.
Klaven didn't realize he'd missed. He fired, but at the afterimage. The ground exploded. Fire blasted everywhere.
Damon had appeared behind Rhyden. Hand around his throat.
Holding him in place—making Rhyden take his teammate's fire attack full-body.
When the flames cleared—Damon threw him like trash into the far wall.
BOOOOOOM.
Rhyden didn't get up. Klaven stumbled back.
Damon appeared in front of him. Grabbing his face—squeezing.
"How dare you."
He slammed Klaven into the door of the contestant hall, cracking the stone. He didn't stop. He dragged him inside—punched his face into the floor again. And again.
Each word a blow:
"Why." "Why." "Why."
Cythera didn't flinch.
Damon dragged Klaven back out— Threw him upward— Jumped after him— Kicked him DOWN—then blasted him with a column of hot light, accelerating his fall.
Klaven crashed. Almost looked dead.
Damon descended like judgment.
Tutors whispered:
Bravira: "He's brushing light's movements."
Queen Thessa: "He's awakening."
Varnex: "He might surpass Aegis soon."
Klaven struggled up. Damon stood over him, light bending around his body and glowing in his eyes.
"You shouldn't have touched it."
He blurred— dragged Klaven around the arena— scraping his face along the wall so fast the stone sparked. All while injecting small pulses of light-Eterna, healing him just enough—so the pain could continue.
Thorpax: "Do you see that?"
Varnex: "He's gone devil-mode."
Draven: "He wants Klaven to feel this."
Rika whispered, confused, "But… getting angry doesn't make you stronger…"
The Queen and Bravira answered in unison, "That's exactly how it works."
Nyra's voice, more admiration than shock, "He's not even gone into The Zone state, like before."
Queen Thessa in agreement, "He's controlling it for now... hopefully."
Rhyden revived—barely—and fired dozens of wind arrows.
They all missed. Or rather— Damon dodged— then held one arrow in his hand.
"I don't miss."
He threw it back before the other arrows hit the floor. It pierced Rhyden's body— dropping him again.
He tried to stand—
Damon turned slightly, eyes illuminating blue.
"Sit down."
Rhyden's knees buckled instantly.
Klaven roared one last time. "I'll destroy you and that whore of an Earthling!"
He gathered all his fire into one arm— shot upward, descending like a meteor.
Before impact—
Time slowed— for Damon's eyes at least. Damon grabbed his forearm. Slammed him on both sides. Skin tearing— Klaven screaming.
"Threaten me or Natsuki again... and I'll kill you."
Then Damon launched one final kick— straight into his gut, drilling him through the metal floor, into the earth beneath.
Dust rose.
Silence.
Klaven barely conscious.
Damon jumped out and walked away. Empty. Hollow. Wrist bare.
He snapped his fingers.
The circle of light he created earlier reformed—collapsing inward—
BOOM.
The final implosion crushed Klaven into the ground whilst tearing him all over. The arena fell silent.
Damon crouched beside Mirea's collapsed form. Blood still dripped from his chin, but his hands were steady when he slid one arm under her knees, the other behind her burned back.
Mirea's eyes fluttered. "I… can walk…"
"You can't," he said, his voice raw. "And I'm not leaving you on the floor."
He stood. The entire colosseum went quieter than it had been all match.
Zaro's voice cracked over the speakers, almost reverent. "Folks… your prince is carrying his teammate out. That's how you end a war."
Damon reached the doorway— and saw Cythera standing there.
He remembered she was Klaven's cousin. He didn't apologize.
His eyes simply said—with blood around them: I didn't want to hurt him that badly.
Cythera shrugged softly.
"I told you," she said. "I don't like him."