Note to self—don’t ever call Gaius a lizard.

  Kai grinned uneasily at the maelstrom of destruction before his eyes. The formerly pristine stage of the Nautilus was now smoldered in wild conflagrations. The blazing temperatures felt hot even from the stands. He could only wonder how Emil was still holding up while stuck in the middle of the hellfire.

  “…I guess the Academy had amazing foresight to schedule this as the last match,” he said, trying to liven the mood. The audience was watching in silence with abated breaths. The tension of Emil’s fate held everyone in a chokehold, suffocating out the joyous excitement that they had just moments prior when they were still chanting his name.

  Charlotte was the same. She was staring at the field with trembling eyes, holding her hands over her mouth as she gazed at the disturbing flames. Every time Gaius unleashed another barrage of napalm, she shuddered with a soft whimper.

  “Judging by everyone’s silence, I guess he isn’t doing so hot?”

  “Was that supposed to be a pun?” Kai asked as he spun around to a vaguely familiar voice.

  “No. Completely unintentional.”

  It was Anna Seibert who exited from the medical bay following the completion of her match. The girl raised an eye upon spotting him beside Charlotte.

  “And what are you doing here exactly?” she asked, immediately suspicious.

  “Cheering on a mutual friend.”

  “Really? I recalled just yesterday that you were pointing a knife at Emil’s throat in the dining hall.”

  “You saw?” Kai smirked. She was supposed to have left us alone. “It’s just how guys bond. Don’t judge.”

  “Uh huh, sure, whatever you say,” Anna gave a dismissive retort as she slotted herself between him and Charlotte, “Sorry, but I don’t trust someone like you near my friend. You can blame the rumors of you circulating the campus. No offense.”

  Kai shrugged. “Like I said. We’re just cheering on a mutual.” He turned back towards the burning ruins of the main stage. “That being said, I’m not sure how longer he can last. Even if he doesn’t get hit, he might just pass out from the heat alone.”

  “He’ll be fine,” Anna replied with a strange conviction. Her eyes were gleaming with an unwavering confidence as if convinced that she was right.

  Really?

  Emil was still scampering around in desperation as Gaius’s relentless bombardment continued to rain down. Kai narrowed his eyes as he leaned against the edge of the stands, trying to think of a way that Emil could turn the situation around.

  Well, it looks pretty damn grim, but try to surprise me, Emil.

  Just like how you thoroughly dismantled me in the preliminaries.

  Gaius dove from the sky. The draconian thinned his body into a missile as he plunged at an inhuman speed.

  There was no time to dodge. The space around Emil was all submerged in molten blaze.

  Gaius shot through the ashen fumes. The air trailed behind him, screeching with a shrill whine as he barreled towards Emil. The sight of the goliath speeding towards him was terrifying. For the first time in ages, Emil felt incredibly small and insignificant.

  I don’t have a choice.

  He dug his foot into the earth. His Azurite pendant glowed, producing mana that encased his body in a layer of stone armor. Simultaneously, he erected another set of stones in the path of Gaius’s descent. In the few seconds he had left, he tried to do everything he could to slow down the draconian’s momentum before the inevitable collision.

  Emil raised his arms and clenched his teeth.

  Boom!

  He saw white. Stars filled his vision as his skull rattled. His joints screamed from the shockwave rippling through his body. Vaguely, he caught the agony burning into his arms. His stone armor began to crack upon the stress of the impact. Gaius’s talons were brandished, threatening to eviscerate him the moment his stone protection crumbled. All the while, Emil was being pushed back, his heels dragging along the earth.

  His resistance lasted for barely a moment.

  Weightlessness engulfed him for a fraction of a second before he was rammed into the earth.

  “Ngh!”

  Pain exploded from his back. Air snapped out of his lungs. His stone armor shattered—shredded into fragmented chunks as he staggered desperately, trying to climb back onto his feet.

  Gaius was relentless. The draconian immediately ascended once more to prepare for another plunge. The force generated by his descent and the physical resistance granted by his transformation created a deadly combination that was impossible to defend.

  Emil dragged himself onto all fours, grimacing at the state of his body. Everything was in pain—either bleeding, broken or both. The heat suffocating the vicinity only exacerbated his agony. His breathing was haggard—each inhale sent scorching hot air down his struggling lungs.

  I can’t take another hit.

  He had to try something else. Defending against Gaius was a futile effort given the resistances provided by his draconian skin.

  I have to attack.

  Gaius’s ascension took time. Time that Emil could use to prepare his next attack. He crawled onto a prone position, feigning weakness as he pressed his hands against the ground. Mana poured into the molten earth as he imagined his next move.

  Gaius abruptly stopped his ascent. Immediately, he narrowed his body and began his plunge again. Emil squinted through the thick smoke, tracking Gaius’s trajectory as he sped into free-fall.

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  The ground beneath Emil’s hands began to vibrate with a subtle cadence. The shaking was vague, nearly indistinguishable from stirring hot air, unless one was close enough and watching with careful attention.

  Not yet.

  Emil grinded his teeth as Gaius barreled towards him again. He only had one shot to land this attack. If he mistimed it and missed, it would be the end of his run at the Clash of Dawn. His inability to reach the finals meant he would not be able to retrieve access to the Consortium. His mission for Steiger was on the line.

  Failure was not acceptable.

  Not yet!

  His heart raged. His instincts screamed. Mana cackled at the edge of his palms, begging to be unleashed.

  Gaius dove into his interference range.

  Now!

  Emil pushed his hands into the earth. Mana diffused outwards in a surging ripple as the surface of the stage began to tremble.

  “Pulverize!” he yelled as a massive stone structure erupted from the field. In the vague shape of a fist, it sprung up in a blink of an eye. Gaius was blind-sided as the colossal stone fist bulldozed into the side of his body. The draconian flew sideways as he crashed landed into the field.

  Emil pursued without hesitation. This was only chance to end the fight. Stone gauntlets manifested around his hands.

  He was twenty meters away when Gaius suddenly stirred. Without warning, his jaws shot open.

  A deluge of flames engulfed Emil’s body. The temperatures were scorching hot, the blaze ravaging his skin, gleefully feasting on the flesh beneath. He screamed, howling in duress.

  ItHurtsItHurtsItHurts!

  Torment filled his limbs. Wretched memories flashed in his head, torturing him with the devastating remembrance of that sickening day when everything changed.

  The day when his home was razed to the ground. The day when his friends were all burnt to unrecognizable ash. The day when he couldn’t do anything but watch as tragedy unfolded before his eyes.

  The flames back then felt even hotter. More painful. More dangerous.

  In comparison, these ones were nothing.

  “Ahhhhh!” Emil cried as he stormed through the inferno. The pain vanished. His vision glowed red, driven by the swell of emotions that accompanied his horrific memories. Mana suffused his fist as he swung at Gaius’s head. The draconian was slow to react.

  Squelch!

  His punch landed. Emil immediately raised his left arm, still encased in stone. “Shatter!” The rock armament spontaneously exploded, detonating into a cloud of sand. The shrapnel flung into Gaius’s eyes. Momentarily blinded, he instinctively tossed his head back.

  Emil seized the opening and jumped. He wrapped his left arm around Gaius’s neck as he slithered onto his back. Infusing mana into his right, he raised his fist skyward and brought it down against Gaius’s skull.

  Squelch!

  Like a hammer, he continued bashing with savage force—each mana enhanced strike drawing blood and knocking off the hardened scales protecting Gaius’s head. He had no idea if Gaius’s Gift changed the anatomy of his skull, but Emil aimed for specific areas to maximize the concussive effects of his punches.

  The draconian let out a vicious squeal, thrashing about, frantically trying to shake him loose.

  Emil would not relent. He held on with an ironclad grip, forcefully infusing his tired arms with mana. With all his force, he squeezed, trying to choke the air out of the draconian’s throat. Gaius tried to swipe at him blind—his desperate attempts easily blocked by stone.

  Desperate, Gaius jumped. His wings opened up as he tried to ascend to the air.

  He’s going to try to pummel me to the ground. Reading his intentions, Emil went for the wings.

  “This is nothing personal!” he hissed into his opponent’s ears.

  A stone sabaton emerged around his right foot, morphing the end into a sharp edge. Without a second thought, he swiped down at the base of Gaius’s wing. A disturbing squish echoed in his ears as blood spurted from the open wound. Gaius’s left wing was severed without much resistance, detaching from his back as it fell uselessly to the ground.

  The draconian croaked in dried, gargled rasps—a pathetic attempt to scream in pain. His body suddenly jerked to the left, no longer possessing the balance and support to remain airborne. Emil maintained his chokehold as Gaius barreled out of control towards the ground.

  Boom!

  Emil felt the impact of the earth against his chest. Ignoring the pain, he immediately raised his fists and delivered another blow to Gaius’s head.

  The draconian didn’t react this time. Frozen still, Gaius laid there, unmoving. The scales on his body slowly fell off to the ground. The remaining wing vanished. His reptilian appearance slowly reverted to his normal human features as the effects of his Gift dissipated.

  Still wary, Emil slowly loosened his grip around his neck and pressed a finger to the base of Gaius’s throat. When he felt a steady, raging heartbeat, he relaxed, prying himself off of the goliath student’s unconscious body.

  He noticed the tense silence permeating the Nautilus. Even Melody, who was supposed to be on commentary, didn’t utter a single word. As the dust around them settled, Emil raised a fist to proclaim his victory.

  The crowd finally erupted.

  The jubilant audience howled in his ears. Rory stared at the smoldering ruins of the Nautilus from a personal booth—his eyes fixated like a hawk at the conclusion of the match.

  …Gaius was defeated?

  He couldn’t believe what he saw.

  Gaius’s prowess was well-known amongst the nobles of the Rosales province. House Ragnar had always produced formidable Exalted, and Gaius was amongst one of the best in the family’s history. His Gift, Dragonborn, was the pride of their house. It bestowed him the ability to transform into a mythical creature from legends and folktales—a feat that turned imagined fantasy into unmistakable reality. It was the pinnacle of the potential of Gifts.

  Those from the Rosales nobility were undoubtedly shocked by the outcome of this match.

  Did we underestimate him?

  Rory narrowed his eyes as Emil exited the Nautilus stage to fervent cheers. He recalled the conversations he had last night prior to his talk with Liesel. Those who reached the knockout rounds from noble backgrounds unanimously agreed that Emil qualifying as the first seed was a fluke. That position should have belonged to Liesel—if she hadn’t taken a lackadaisical approach to the preliminaries.

  Based on what they observed and heard during the preliminaries, Emil’s Gift wasn’t particularly impressive. His control over the earth element was weak, the complexity of the phenomena he created was simple and uninspiring, and his interference range was average. His knowledge of Mana Arts was a surprise, but they judged that it wouldn’t be enough to turn the tides against a competent opponent. His main upside seemed to be his experience in close-quartered combat.

  Since Gaius’s Dragonborn imbued him with improved physical resistances and strength, it seemed like a no brainer that his victory would have been inevitable.

  Emil, however, somehow found a way to overcome those odds.

  He knocked Gaius out of the air with that massive stone construct. And then he caught him off guard by enduring the flames from Dragonborn. Afterwards, he attacked him repeatedly with strikes strengthen by Mana Arts in Gaius’s only weak area and then sliced off one of his wings to prevent him from flying.

  Rory winced as he recalled Gaius’s brutal injury. The dismembered wing wasn’t permanent—appendages that were gained from a shapeshifter’s transformation eventually grew back with time, but Gaius would be left with only a single wing for at least a month. Even so, Emil’s action was frighteningly brutal. Rory bit his thumbs as he thought about their looming matchup. He would have to face Emil next in the semi-finals.

  He’s tenacious and surprisingly durable. Beneath the veneer of that mild temperament is a savage barbarian. He’s quick to find openings and is merciless at exploiting them.

  Rory realized his arms were shaking. The back of his neck was damp with sweat. His legs clattered incessantly from his seated position. It was the same reaction that he always felt whenever he had a private meeting with his brother, Aidan.

  …Am I scared of him?

  The question thundered in his head. Rory immediately clenched his teeth. Anger surged to his throat as he shot up from his seat, furious. He lashed out blindly, kicking the chair in his booth. The seat slammed into the perimeter with a loud thud.

  The thought was so repulsive that he didn’t even want to consider the possibility.

  Impossible!

  His vision flared red as he reminded himself of the shame that Liesel subjected him through. He was the Second Prince of Ardair. He was going to win her back. He was going to prove himself worthy of her love. He was not going to earn the ire of his brother.

  He directed all of his ugly feelings towards the last opponent standing in his way to Liesel.

  I’m going to thoroughly crush you, Emil.