Ivory gazed around the ring.
The audience eagerly watched from afar with steady enthusiasm at the match that would begin shortly.
The eyes of each of them enshrouded her, making her tremble slightly.
The young woman felt the chills each individually running a marathon down her spine.
The suit would be able to protect me right?
No, the more she began to think of it. She wasn't really worried about the suit's ability to protect herself.
She had realized this as her thoughts drifted to a different idea.
Would the suit be able to protect Ronan?
At the very least, no one would die again or get seriously injured right?
Ivory felt her mouth begin to get dry.
What was she getting herself into by joining this training camp?
Maybe this was all a mistake…
Ronan gazes across the ring with a pair of empty eyes toward his opponent.
He slowly reached for the collar of his shirt and mumbled something under his breath.
Ivory took a moment to digest the scene.
Did Ronan just speak?
She didn't hear Ronan talk for the entirety of the time she decided to join the training camp.
So why did it seem like he was talking to someone else?
Almost as if he was having a secret conversation with an individual on another line…
That couldn't be the case. She was just overthinking things like usual.
Perhaps he was just breathing heavily out of his own tension for the match that would start soon…
Both of them waited inside the ring for Lyra to announce that the match would start with static anticipation.
Lyra takes a bite out of her generic protein bar held in a solid blue package.
She sipped quickly on a small grey packet full of water attached with a yellow straw.
Lyra says with a mouth full of food, "Let the match begin…"
Ronan stepped forward while preparing to sprint. The cloaked figure left an open guard as if he was much larger.
Someone more imposing such as the Ambassador.
Ivory blinked her eyes as sparks of yellow and blue surrounded the ring.
The young man moved so fast that Ivory couldn't even comprehend where he went.
That was until he appeared right in front of her.
Ivory's eyes open widely, "What the hell? You can manipulate electricity?"
Instinctually she holds out both of her palms to produce a giant ice wall to protect herself with.
Ivory smiles grimly, "Try to get past that, Ronan."
The blue wall of ice shatters as it was brought into existence.
Ronan stares coldly past the remains of the frozen ice wall.
His fist and body were frozen in midair.
Ivory turned her head slightly to take a closer look at him, "What?"
She holds out both of her hands to generate icicles to launch at him.
The icicles release from her fingertips and make contact with Ronan without any difficulty.
He doesn't seem to dodge any of the projectiles sent toward him or make an effort to do so.
Ronan was knocked back several steps in front of her.
His point value recalculates to 2000.
The cloaked figure doesn't waste his breath upon standing back up from the ground.
In a flash, sparks of light blue and a dark yellow intertwined to create a shade of green.
Dust that was illuminated with a green glow surrounded the ring.
Ivory covered her eyes.
Was this Ronan's strategy? Catching her by surprise?
The dust settles as Ivory rapidly looks around herself.
Ronan stands behind her and delivers an electric punch.
Ivory stumbled slightly but surprisingly stood tall unfazed.
Her point value recalculates to 1000.
She was amazed by how weak the punch felt.
Where did his massive amount of brute strength drift off to?
She releases a clump of icicles toward Ronan who cartwheels away from each of cystals with ease.
Ivory grits her teeth.
There has to be some limit to his abilities.
How else could someone go from an unnatural amount of strength to delivering weak punches?
The more she took time to think about it.
His strength and speed didn't coexist.
It was almost as if these traits couldn't exist simultaneously.
This could be information she could use to devise a possible plan to defeat him.
If she could somehow make Ronan overexert himself, he might freeze up like before.
That would be her chance to gain the upperhand.
Ivory's vision suddenly began to blur.
Ivory mutters to herself, "Damn, looks like the only one who's overexerted themselves is me."
This fight has to end soon or the likelihood of me losing this fight will increase exponentially.
Ivory generates multiple ice walls to surround herself with while wincing slightly.
She leaves an open space to her right to be able to run around the corner to catch him by surprise.
Ronan slowly goes up to each of the walls and shatters them with his electric fist.
In this time, Ivory began to propel herself with small bursts of ice through the small opening she created.
She runs around the corner and shoots out two freezing blasts of ice toward his legs to freeze him in place.
Ronan struggled, unable to escape from her trap.
He was acting exactly like how she wanted him to.
Ronan broke through the ice surrounding his legs with sheer speed and strength.
Ivory counted down the seconds.
One.
Ronan appeared in front of her in an instant and raised his fist.
Two.
Ronan tried to strike her but she generated a wall of ice to protect herself.
Three.
Ronan remains frozen in place, unable to move
Zero..
Ivory weakly shot out multiple large snowflake patterned ice crystals that struck Ronan's body.
His point total was recalculated to 6000.
That was odd.
Why did her abilities shape slightly change?
Ronan weakly stepped toward Ivory as he tried to deliver a weak punch.
This needed to end now but how?
In that instance, an idea flashed in her mind of how Faye dealt with some of the hostile street vendors in the underground city.
She moved her hands and positioned them to point toward the floor.
Ronan watches helplessly as a large icicle pierces him from the ground and launches him airborne.
The cloaked figure remained motionless in the air.
The air was most likely knocked out of his body.
His point total recalculates to 9000.
Ivory raises her hands for one last attack to finish the job.
Smaller snow-flake crystals released from her hands toward Ronan.
The cloaked figure however quickly moved his hands to destroy each and every one of the projectiles launched toward him.
Ivory kneeled, feeling each breath she took begin to get heavier.
How could he still go on? How was he able to move his hands so fast?
Did he really want to win this badly?
Blasts of electricity were quickly shot in her direction.
However for some reason, her body chose not to dodge this attack.
Her eyelids began to close.
Upon opening her eyelids she was no longer in the arena.
She was somewhere else completely.
Somewhere unfortunately familiar.
Chains that were camouflaged in the pitch black environment she was in, strung around her wrists.
The culmination of the fundamental aspects of a nightmare came to life.
She felt herself beginning to get nauseous.
Her mind was out of sync with her body again.
The young woman needed to regain control but she just couldn't.
She tried to close her eyes, wishing that this would all be over soon.
A chilling scream filled the air.
Who's scream was that?
The scream was so familiar.
That's why she remembered that day.
The scream was of her father who burned in the endless daylight.
So many died. So many.
But why was she here?
What happened to the match?
The nausea rose in her body through her stomach and up into her mouth.
She so desperately wanted to throw up.
A luxury that Ivory never knew she had.
The young woman wanted to fall to her knees like before but she couldn't for some reason.
Red eyes filled the nightmare in the blink of an eye. Each of them observing her like members in the audience of the ring.
One of the red eyes slowly approaches her.
She couldn't resist the monstrosity.
The eye screams, "WAKE UP, IVORY."
Ivory felt herself staring toward the ground where another red eye laid flat.
She blinked and in that millisecond she was finally brought back to reality.
Two arms wrapped her, replacing the chains that restrained her.
The eyes of the crowd replaced each of those disturbing red eyes.
Ronan replaced the other red eye that laid on the floor as he huddled in the fetal position.
His point total was 10,000.
Ivory felt tears running down her face following a gasp that released from her mouth.
She didn't know why but she was crying.
The crowd was silent watching her with each of their judging eyes.
Their fleshy red eyes were all judging her but why?
Lyra with one of her hands, stuffs a protein bar inside of Ivory's mouth.
Lyra says with a trembling voice, "Here, just eat this. No questions asked."
Ivory took a bite and swallowed a chunk of the protein bar. She felt the negative effects of exhaustion on her body simmer down to an echo of what it once was.
Lyra says softly, "Feel better?"
Ivory nods her head.
In the press of a button on Lyra's glass display, a familiar face entered the ring.
The middle aged woman was the proctor who recorded their table's caloric maximum scores.
She wore the same jarring red swan pin on her white dress shirt, paired with blue jeans, and accompanied with a leather belt.
Lyra lets go and looks Ivory in the eyes, "I'll send you to a subsequent room 101 to rest and have a little chat with Eliza."
Could she refuse?
She was fine now...
Well, was she really fine?
Ivory nods her head absentmindedly.
What was going to happen to her?
This was all just an accident.
Ask Iris.
She wouldn't hurt anyone.
She didn't mean to go this far.
Her mind had become out of sync with her body.
How was she supposed to control that?
Ronan stumbles while getting up from the ground. He looks toward Ivory with a hint of fear gleaming in his eyes.
This was the same kind of fear Ivory felt of seeing a faceless for the first time in her life.
She felt like a monster. A creature that was worse or just as bad as a faceless.
Ivory reluctantly stands next to Eliza.
This was her fate, wasn't it?
She turns toward Ronan without any words coming out her mouth.
Her lips trembled as the masked individual read them.
I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for any of this to happen. I never wanted these powers, Ronan.
Lyra moved on from the matter at hand to announce what the next match would be as the two of them were transported to a different room 101.