[Day 3 of the Tournament – Semi-Finals]

[Location: The Arena Floor]

Elena hit the ground and rolled, her white uniform now stained brown with dirt and red with blood.

She gasped for air, her ribs screaming from the impact of Alaric's punch. If he hadn't pulled it at the last second, her sternum would be dust.

She scrambled to her feet, swaying slightly.

Across the arena, Alaric was already charging again.

He looked like a nightmare. His armor was scorched black from her plasma beam. His skin was blistering.

His eyes were still red and watering from the flashbang, but he was locking onto her silhouette with terrifying focus.

"Stay down, Elena!" Alaric roared, swinging The Anvil in a low arc.

"You can't take a hit! I'm the tank! Let me fight him!"

Elena jumped, using a burst of wind to propel herself into the air, dodging the massive blade by inches. The wind from the swing whipped her braided hair across her face.

"No!" Elena shouted back, hovering for a split second.

"You saw what he did to Lukas! Nero is not something you can fight! He'll crush you, Alaric! You're too slow!"

She raised her hand.

[Light Magic: Photon Rain.]

She fired fifty small, concentrated lasers.

PEW-PEW-PEW-PEW.

The beams rained down on Alaric burning holes in the stone floor, They scored lines across his arms and legs.

However, Alaric didn't stop. He crossed his massive arms over his face and tanked it.

HISSS.

Smoke rose from his skin as the lasers burned him. The smell of searing meat filled the air.

The crowd watched in horrified silence. This wasn't a normal tournament match anymore. It was much more than that.

It was the pride of two friends on the line!

"Why won't you fall?" Elena sobbed, firing again. "Please, Alaric. Just fall down!"

"Because if I fall," Alaric grunted, smashing through the barrage,

"you have to fight that monster alone!"

He reached her.

He swung his fist. Elena tried to dodge, but the Titan's Capacitor released a pulse of strength, slowing her down just enough.

THUD.

The backhand caught her in the stomach.

Elena folded flying backward, crashing into the arena wall.

The stone cracked behind her head making her slump to the ground as she began coughing up blood.

"Finish it!" Nero's voice rang out from the VIP box, cruel and bored.

"Stop dancing and break her!"

Alaric ignored the Prince. He walked toward Elena, dragging his sword. He looked at his shaking hands. He looked at his classmate, broken against the wall.

In fact out of all the ones, she was the one person he felt closest to.

Although he didn't know why, but Alaric always found himself thing about her on certain days.

Yet now he had to personally defeat her, his heart ached as he stepped forward.

"I'm sorry," Alaric whispered, raising the sword. "I'll make it quick, Princess. Then I'll go kill him."

Elena looked up. Her monocle was cracked. Her left eye was swollen shut.

But her right eye, at this moment, it seemed to be burning.

"You really are... a stubborn idiot," she wheezed.

She didn't try to stand. Instead, she pointed her finger at the ground.

[Wind Magic: Vacuum Trap.]

She wasn't aiming at Alaric. She was aiming at the air around him.

WHOOSH.

Instantly, the air was sucked out of a ten-meter radius around Alaric.

Alaric gasped, choking. His lungs tried to pull in oxygen, but there was nothing. The vacuum pressure pulled at his eardrums, threatening to burst them.

He stumbled, dropping to one knee.

"I can't... let you... die," Elena choked out, forcing herself to stand up using the wall for support.

She raised her hand. The air rushed back in, but she was already channeling something else.

Something Mozart had told her never to use unless her life depended on it.

A sphere of light formed between her hands. It wasn't gold like her previous attacks, instead it was white-blue.

It crackled with unstable energy, distorting the air around it like a heat haze.

[Forbidden Art: Supernova Compact.]

It was a miniature star. A ball of pure, unadulterated fusion.

"Elena, don't!" Alaric wheezed, realizing what she was holding.

"That will blow your arm off!"

"It's the only thing hot enough to hurt Nero," Elena said, tears mixing with the blood on her face.

"I have to test it. I have to know if I can burn him."

She looked at Alaric with infinite sadness.

"Forgive me, Muscle head."

She threw the star.

The sphere floated toward Alaric. It wasn't fast, but it pulled everything toward it. The ground stripped away. The dust rose up.

Alaric looked at the ball of destruction coming for him. He knew he couldn't dodge it. The gravity well was already locking him in place.

If that hit him, he wouldn't just be knocked out. He would be vaporized.

'She's really trying to win,' Alaric realized. 'She's risking everything.'

He gritted his teeth. The Titan's Capacitor in his chest thumped. Once. Twice.

THUMP-THUMP.

"Fine," Alaric roared. "If we're both going to hell, let's see who gets there first!"

He grabbed The Anvil with both hands.

He swung in a circle.

One rotation. Two rotations. Three.

He became a blur of kinetic energy. The momentum built up until the sword was humming.

Then he released it!

[Titan Art: Meteor Throw.]

The massive slab of Mythril flew from his hands. It broke the sound barrier instantly.

BOOM.

The sword flew straight at the Supernova.

Seeing this, the crowd stood up. Damien leaned forward, his mask reflecting the blinding light.

*Boom!*

They collided in the exact center of the arena.

For a single millisecond, there was silence. The world held its breath.

Then, as if the laws of physics snapped.

KRA-KOOOOM.

A blinding explosion of white light and shockwaves engulfed the entire stadium.

The barrier protecting the audience shattered. Winds of hurricane force ripped through the stands, knocking spectators out of their seats.

Dust, stone, and mana swirled in a chaotic mushroom cloud that rose all the way to the top of the Star-Reach Spire.

"ALARIC! ELENA!" Damien shouted, his voice lost in the roar.

The explosion lasted for ten seconds.

Slowly, agonizingly, the dust began to settle.

The center of the arena was gone. There was just a crater, glowing red with residual heat.

In the middle of the crater, two figures were visible.

Alaric was on his knees. His armor was gone. His chest was a ruin of burns. He was unconscious, his head bowing forward.

Standing over him was Elena.

She was swaying. Her right arm, the one that had thrown the star hung limp at her side, blackened and smoking. Her uniform was in tatters.

She looked down at Alaric. She reached out with her good hand and gently touched his forehead.

"Sleep..." she whispered.

Then, her eyes rolled back.

She collapsed forward, landing on Alaric's shoulder.

They stayed there, propped up against each other in the center of the devastation. Neither moved.

The Referee floated down, coughing in the smoke. He looked at Alaric. He looked at Elena. He checked for a pulse on both.

He raised a trembling hand.

"Double..." the Referee started, then hesitated.

He looked closer.

Elena's hand was twitching. Her finger was digging into Alaric's shoulder, holding herself up just enough so that her knees didn't touch the ground.

Alaric was out cold. Elena was... barely, impossibly... conscious.

"Winner..." the Referee shouted, his voice cracking.

"ELENA OF CLASS F!"

The crowd didn't cheer. They couldn't. They just stared at the wreckage.

In the Class S suite, Nero stood up. He looked at the girl who was half-dead, clinging to the unconscious giant.

He smiled. A genuine, terrifying smile.

"Perfect," Nero whispered.

He walked to the door.

"Those ants really know how to put on a show"

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