Firecracker versus the Ice Princess.
Spear against sword. Red against blue.
Heat against stillness and cold. They entered opposite sides of the arena.
Neither bowed.
The opening exchange was pure testing.
Jin Mulan probed with long thrusts, using reach to force movement. The princess answered with precise cuts angled to deflect the spearhead rather than block the shaft.
Metal rang. Feet slid. Each woman learned. Jin Mulan attacked in combinations high thrust, reverse sweep, butt-end jab, recover. The princess yielded inches, never panicking, sword moving like cold water.
Then Jin Mulan ignited. Fire raced along the spearhead in a curling stream. The heat pushed outward in waves, distorting the air. She thrust again. The princess parried. And hissed as warmth bit through glove and steel.
Now she knew. This was not decoration.
The princess still concealed her own element. She used only physical skill for the first phase, hoping to preserve surprise.
But Luo He had already told Jin Mulan.
"Her water becomes ice." So Jin Mulan pressed aggressively, forcing expenditure. Close heat gnawed at stamina. Sweat formed beneath the blue mask.
Tiny crystals gathered unnoticed around the princess's boots as she bled cold into the ground to keep footing stable.
Excellent instinct. Luo He approved again. Midfight, Jin Mulan shifted forms.
She spun the spear once and seven blazing illusion-spears burst outward around the real one, each mirroring angle and motion. Gasps thundered through the pit.
To ordinary eyes, a forest of fire lances attacked at once. The princess's first retreat line vanished. Second too.
Cornered, she finally unveiled herself.
Both palms flashed downward.
A crescent wall of ice erupted from the sand, thick, clear, jagged. The seven illusions shattered against it in sparks and steam. The real spear punched halfway through before being trapped.
The crowd lost its mind.
Then a short break was called before they were allowed to fight again. The announcer leapt onto the center platform, arms spread wide as torchlight danced across his sweat-slick face. His voice boomed through the underground arena, raw and practiced, carrying to every corner of the packed pit.
"Listen well, you animals!" he roared, and the crowd answered with pounding fists and wild cheers. "Tonight is no ordinary night!" He pointed dramatically toward the two opposite gates.
"Tonight, fortune smiles upon every gambler, drunkard, and sinner gathered here because you are about to witness something men speak of for years!"
The arena trembled with anticipation.
"A clash so rare that many die without ever seeing one!"
He stomped the wooden boards beneath him. "A battle between two elemental users!" The crowd erupted. Some shouted in disbelief. Others surged to their feet. Coins were thrown. Cups spilled. Wagers were doubled in frantic screams.
The announcer grinned like a demon feeding on chaos. "And not just any two!"
He pointed towards one gate. "From the fires of war, the undefeated queen of the spear she who leaves only ash and broken pride behind her…" He dragged the moment out.
"FIRECRACKER!"
The red gate burst open. Jin Mulan stepped through again for the next round in her scarlet armor, gold lines gleaming beneath the torchlight. Her spear burned with a low trail of flame, and every footstep she took seemed to carry heat with it.
Her mask gave her an air of merciless nobility, while the flames reflected in her eyes like living anger. The crowd roared her name. "Firecracker! Firecracker! Firecracker!"
The announcer turned sharply toward the other gate. "And from frost and moonlight the silent blade who freezes courage in the chest of grown men…"
He slapped his own chest dramatically.
"She who cuts before fear can even scream…" The gate opened. Princess Ningia entered in pale blue armor lined with white engravings, moving with elegant calm.
Her white mask and silver-white hair gave her the look of a winter spirit walking among mortals. Thin mist curled at her boots with each step, and the air itself seemed colder around her. The crowd gasped before shouting louder than before.
"ICE PRINCESS! ICE PRINCESS!"
The announcer laughed madly and raised both hands for silence. "And as if the gods wished to spoil you fools…"
He lowered his voice into a dangerous growl.
"Tonight these are not only elemental masters…" He pointed back and forth between them. "They are the two finest women ever to enter this pit!" The men below lost all restraint. Howls. Cheers.
Tables overturned.
Wagers screamed across rows. Even hardened killers pounded the rails like excited children. "Beauty and death!"
"Fire and ice!" "Pride and fury!" He jumped backward off the platform and nearly fell in his excitement.
"Remember this night, you miserable creatures… because when your grand children ask where you were." He slammed a fist into the air. "You will say I saw queens go to war!" The gong sounded. Both women raised their weapons. And the pit held its breath.
The next round began. Nobles hidden in upper boxes leaned forward despite themselves. Those who knew royal styles had begun to suspect.
They two separated. Breathing harder now. The princess's motions were still elegant but fractionally slower. Because Luo He had taught Jin Mulan something most fire users never understood flame did not merely burn flesh.
At close range, sustained heat eroded spiritual energy if you want it to. Minute by minute. Exchange by exchange.
Resolve became exhaustion. Power became cost. So while the crowd admired spectacle, Jin Mulan had been draining her opponent all along.
The next clash decided everything. The princess lunged with a perfect thrust meant for the throat. Jin Mulan knocked the blade wide with the shaft, stepped inside sword range, and drove a flaming knee into the blue breastplate. The princess stumbled.
Jin Mulan spun behind her, swept the legs, then planted the spear tip at her face as she hit the sand. Fire gathered hotter. Closer. The metal glowed.
The exposed skin beneath the white mask began to redden instantly..Another second and beauty would blister. The arena fell silent. Even gamblers stopped breathing.
The princess glared upward, pride refusing surrender. Jin Mulan's pulse thundered. Victory. Dominance. Punishment. Then a voice struck her mind like a slap. "Enough." Luo He's voice in her head asking her to stop.
Her consciousness snapped clear.
She halted the spear a finger's width from catastrophe. Heat withdrew.
The princess inhaled sharply, stunned more by mercy than defeat. Jin Mulan stepped back slowly. Then lowered the spear.
The referee screamed the result.
"FIRECRACKER!" The pit exploded.
Coins flew. Men roared. Torches waved.
And from the shadows above, Luo He smiled as he watched two future queens realize the other existed.