A tide of bodies packed the sports field, hearts drumming as every gaze fixed on the center, where a dazzling match would bloom like fireworks.

“And now, will the five contestants step onto the stage!”

At the call, Rafi lifted Ling’s small hand; warmth cupped warmth, and a shy happiness rose in Ling like dawn breaking.

“Come on, Ling.”

The summons brushed her ear; obedient as spring rain, Ling followed Rafi onto the field, like a new bride devoted to her groom.

Across the way, Alicia watched with eyes once wary; now they hardened into raw hostility, thick and smokeless like storm-clouds pressed close.

Rafi caught that gaze and didn’t care; she rolled her eyes, a pebble tossed at a wolf’s stare, brazen and bright.

“Oh my, isn’t that Alicia? Long time no see. Let me introduce—this is little Ling.”

Alicia’s focus never shifted; her stare grew sharper, a blade honed on cold stone. Rafi blinked, then smiled with thorns.

“Oh dear, not even a flicker? Figures—someone who tossed Ling aside wouldn’t still care.”

Ling heard it all, every syllable a drop of acid on soft leaves; it wasn’t sweet, yet she let Rafi speak like wind through bamboo.

Alicia caught Ling’s reddened eyes in the corner of her vision, like petals under rain; her planned silence shattered like thin ice.

“Shut up! Rafi, I don’t know your aim, but if you endanger the Empire, I won’t spare you.”

Rafi shrugged, victory glittering like sun on water across her voice.

“Tch. Say whatever. I only need Ling.”

The words knifed Alicia’s certainty into shape; the target was Ling, and nothing good grew from that soil.

“You—”

The host cut in, voice striking like a gong. “All contestants are here. Arena setting—Inferno of Ice and Fire.”

Boom—the ground flipped like a turning season: one side a white waste of ice, the other an Underworld of magma and flame; heat and cold braided like twin serpents no one would embrace.

“Then, let the match begin!”

The button clicked; “Beeeeep”—and the match unfurled like a banner in wind.

“Ling, just like I said. Block those two. Cripple if you must—just don’t kill.”

If Rafi asked, Ling obeyed; that was her compass under a moonless sky.

No more talk—she turned to the side-line extras, then sprinted full tilt, a deer bounding to cut them off before they could trouble Rafi’s fight.

Seeing Ling peel away, Rafi finally faced Alicia, a dangerous smile curving like a crescent blade.

“So, how did you find out?”

Alicia drew her Demonblade, tip leveled like a star over a horizon; anger flared, and her already red hair burned brighter, a live coal in wind.

“Who cares. I’m here to beat you—or kill you.”

Her threat carried heat: the Demonblade belched flames, a crown of fire roaring around Alicia; hot gusts lifted her hair as she fused with the blaze, terror layered like lacquer.

Rafi watched, amused, her heart flat as still water. “Oh my, how terrifying.”

She pulled a bow from her back; no longer pure blue, its blue shone with pulsing red veins, like lightning threaded with blood.

“By the way, darling Alicia, this arena looks like home. The sun here stings a bit, but hey—home-field buffs love me.”

Alicia, a devout of the Sun Knights, had no patience for chirping sparrows; she dashed, magic surging, and reached Rafi in a heartbeat, Demonblade scything down at Rafi’s skull with a roar.

“Don’t speak my name, Daemon!”

Rafi twisted; the blade skimmed past, grazing her flat chest like wind shaving a lake.

Alicia overstepped on momentum; Rafi seized the beat, raised her right fist, and hammered Alicia’s spine like a meteor.

Whump.

Alicia slammed into the ground, a red string of blood bright on her lips; Rafi leaned in with a smile sharp as frost.

“Oh dear, our princess—what’s wrong? Can’t even beat me?”

Alicia swallowed pain like hot sand; she planted the blade in the earth, levered herself up, and wiped the blood, eyes steadying to a winter calm.

“Shut up…”

Rafi cupped a hand to her ear, wearing a face begging for a slap. “Huh? Can’t hear you—”

Alicia flipped open her grimoire; light poured, and “Sanction of Sacred Light!” answered like dawn breaking on night.

“Ah—ah—ah!” Rafi screamed; her skin bloomed scorched marks, pain folding her to the ground like a crushed willow.

She clutched the burn, glaring like a cornered cat. “You bastard! You actually—”

Alicia sighed out, air cool as shade. “Whew. I had doubts, but now it’s clear. Killing you won’t weigh me down.”

Daemon blood mended fast—Rafi’s wounds closed like ice refreezing; the spell had been shallow, and fear receded like tide.

“You joking? Think Sacred Light hurting me means you can kill me? Your mana’s not light-aligned; that won’t do it.”

Alicia gave a crooked smile, balancing the Demonblade on a finger like a hawk on a glove. “Right. I don’t plan to use sacred light.”

A cold premonition crawled up Rafi’s spine like ants; fear returned, a shadow swallowing the edge of her smile.

“Don’t tell me—”

No more words. Alicia drew the Demonblade across her finger; a single drop of blood fed the blade, which flared red like sunrise. She closed her eyes and laid one hand on the edge.

“Blood Sigil Unleashed—Demonblade: Roar of the Fire Dragon!”

Boom.

Flames rampaged from the blade, coiling up her arm and wrapping her whole body; her clothes burned to ash, replaced by garments of living fire, a flame-spirit dazzling against the split world.

Alicia’s eyes snapped open, pupils dancing with embers like stars in a furnace.

Rafi edged back, a chill drafting through heat; this was real, a life-burning skill blazing, and in her weakened state the wind suddenly felt against her.

Alicia flicked the Demonblade; heavy flame folded the air, sealing the ground into a private battlefield like a ring of volcanoes.

“Then, I’ll take your head.”

Whoosh—the unleashed blade sent Alicia flashing to Rafi’s back, speed a lightning stroke.

Her cut bit deep; Demonblade slid through flesh with no resistance, carving a vicious wound across Rafi’s back, flames nesting there like hungry birds.

Rafi bit down on pain and retreated, steps staggering like a kite in storm; Alicia gave no breath, palm lifted and clenched toward Rafi like a puppeteer pulling a string.

The flames on Rafi’s back obeyed, surging violent as a bonfire kicked by wind.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Burning threaded soul-deep—pain like molten iron, and even Rafi’s grit cracked.

“Racial spell—Self… Absolute… Freeze.”

The words tumbled from a seized tongue; her body flashed to ice, a statue sculpted mid-scream, and the back-fire guttered out like a candle pinched.

Alicia strode in, gaze tracing the twisted mask of agony beneath the ice, a sigh drifting like smoke. “Fool. Think hiding under ice will save you? In your next life, don’t be a Daemon that stirs trouble.”

She raised the blazing Demonblade and brought it down like a falling sun.