From the spectator stands, thunderous cheers rose like prayers to sleeping gods.
Above, the shattered night sky blinked with fractured stars — remnants of the World Tree's collapse.
In order to have the largest audience possible, their matches had been postponed till the evening.
This was the final leg of the Class Leviathan midterm tournament.
The third day of combat midterms opened with a match as strange as it was savage.
---
Match One: Elaine Hytheras vs. K'thala of the Iron Brood
Elaine stepped lightly onto the battlefield, bow in hand.
Her green hair shimmered, caught in some invisible breeze.
Her expression, however, bore none of her usual elegance. Today, she looked… ancient.
Across from her stood K'thala — clad in biomechanical armor shaped like a spider's carapace, eight armored limbs clicking and twitching at unnatural angles.
The girl beneath the shell wore no expression at all. Her voice was static.
"Titanic Aspect [Arachnarch]. Don't be surprised when you lose."
Elaine bowed slightly, raising her hands.
The ambient energy rippled around her like a living forest. Flowers bloomed at her feet. Wings of leaf and light shimmered behind her.
"Titanic Aspect [Deva]," she whispered.
K'thala struck first — four legs driving her through the air in an angular leap. Her clawed gauntlets whistled with toxin-tipped talons.
Elaine dodged with unnatural grace. The earth responded to her call — vines erupting from cracks, thorned roses twisting like spears.
They clashed midair. Steel legs clattered against ethereal wings. Petals flew like blood.
K'thala's fighting style was relentless.
Each limb acted independently — two defending, two attacking, two feinting, two anchoring. It was a web of death.
Blocking one of her arms left Seraphina open to the others.
A scratch appeared on her shoulder and then her thigh.
Elaine staggered. The wound festered immediately. Poison.
She smiled bitterly. "Foul play."
"All is fair in battle," K'thala responded.
Pressing her intiative, K'thala dashed forward, her eight legs propelling her to unnatural speeds.
Elaine fell back rapidly, trying to create distance, but it wasn't enough.
She felt her body becoming weaker.
Her bow, Midsummer, was rendered useless. One of K'thala's legs swung forward with blinding speed.
Elaine tilted her head back instinctively, but K'thala accelerated even more.
A large gash appeared on her face.
Then more scratches appeared.
K'thala bore a sardonic smile, she was playing with her.
A blaze of unfamiliar anger tore through Seraphina.
Raising both hands, she chanted in an ancient tongue.
The arena dimmed. Behind her, a golden aura bloomed — not flame, not light, but some sacred middle thing.
"Grand Descent."
Elaine vanished in a flash of blinding green, reappearing behind K'thala.
Thee blows were struck in rapid succession.
One strike — a glowing knee to the base of the spine.
Another-- a fist to the back of her head.
And finally an devastating elbow to her neck.
K'thala convulsed, all eight limbs seizing.
"System—error—system—"
Elaine didn't let her finish.
With a sorrowful bow, she summoned a wall of thorns to trap her opponent, then unleashed a geyser of floral magic that erupted beneath her.
When the smoke cleared, K'thala's armor lay scattered — her unconscious form nestled in a bed of lilies.
---
Match Two: Albion Northwood vs. Zachary Thespal
The next fight was quiet at first.
Albion stood with his hands clasped behind his back, dressed in sleek black robes with silver trim.
He looked like a scholar attending a funeral.
Across from him stood Zachary Thespal — tall, with a skeletal grin and a black brand etched across his throat.
His purple hair was slicked back as if he was some crimelord in a drama.
His Aspect, [Malevolence], was infamous for its psychological warfare.
"I hear your aspect has something to do with time," Zachary said. "Let's see how long you last."
Albion tilted his head. "Cute. You rehearse that in front of a mirror?"
Growling, Zachary launched a flurry of burning shadowy chains.
They snaked across the ground and walls like living tendrils.
Albion didn't move. He whispered a word: "Khwarr."
His halberd appeared, invisible, except for the slight shimmer in the air.
Chains rapidly enclosed from all directions, but Albion remained poised.
Gripping his halberd with practiced ease, Albion preformed a horizontal slash.
The chains disintegrated.
Countless black sparks fell like demonic snow.
Somehow, in that one instant, his halberd had struck every single chain multiple times.
Zachary frowned, his tone slightly wary. "That wasn't nice."
But then a mischievous grin made its way up his face.
The smile only grew wider as his teeth sharpened, and his cheeks began to tear.
[Malevolence] bloomed — a massive projection of screaming visages and black wings burst from his back.
His eyes reddened and his hands sharpened into claws, silver flames radiated from his body in waves.
The arena darkened. Students clutched their heads.
Voice of agony and suffering filled their minds as they recalled their greatest fears and trauma's.
Albion stumbled. The hallucinations were potent. Screams clawed through his skull.
"You think time protects you?" Zachary growled, stepping forward. "Time is slow. Time gives you arrogance."
The closer he got, the greater the mental
burden on Albion grew.
He began to sweat, veins budging on his forehead, and his legs trembled, almost buckling.
Zachary's presence seemed to be everywhere, like a sadistic diety laughing maniacally.
He continued to launch his demonic chains--Asphodel, at Albion.
Each one streaked through the air with enough destructive force to end the match in one blow.
But not one landed.
Almost, yet somehow, still slightly off by the narrowest margin.
Albion bit down on his tongue deep enough to cut a piece off.
Clarity briefly returned and he whispered: "[Ouroboros]."
His pupils became white hourglasses.
The air warped. The next chain Zachary launched slowed mid-flight, then reversed, striking him instead.
Zachary howled. "You bastard!"
Time slowed for everyone but Albion.
Staggering weakly behind Zachary, he slashed.
But to the audience, Albion vanished, reappearing behind Zachary.
Khwarr slashed an invisible strike— a silent cut across the spine.
Time unraveled in a spiral. Zachary dropped to his knees.
Any more force and his spine would have been severed.
"For someone obsessed with fear," Albion said coldly, "you sure did crumble very easily."
---
Match Three: Cassiel Brightspire vs. Atticus Cortez
The air trembled with a physical pressure.
Cassiel floated above the arena, golden runes orbiting her arms like moons.
Her eyes shone with blacklight. Her Exalted Aspect– [Event Horizon] turned every movement into a celestial alignment.
She spun her glaive, Radahn, loosely in her hand. Enigmatic black flame danced around the tip. Forming fluid concentric circles.
Below her, Atticus flexed his wings — massive and storm-grey, formed of wind currents and divine pressure.
His tawny skin brought out the brightness of his clear grey eyes.
He held a sky-blue spear with patterns of the wind engraved on its surface, Favonius.
"The world smiles on me today," he declared.
Cassiel arched a brow. "Didn't know they thought you were a joke too."
Atticus, sent her an annoyed glare, but winked after.
Still, Atticus struck like a hurricane.
Each flap of his wings sent him flying at insane speeds.
The force from each movement cracked the ground. Air blades left shallow cuts in walls.
They clashed furiously.
Flashing from place to place, glaive against spear.
Every blow was struck with the sound of thunder.
One gust slammed her into a pillar, cracking it, but she recovered, breathing heavily but still moving.
She ran forward and thrust her glaive at him from an impossible angle.
Its black-silver blade passed through the void and appeared from the other side.
The blow should have been unavoidable, but it didn't even grave Atticus.
His Apsect, {Garuda} gave him three-dimenstional freedom in the air.
By simply willing the air to move him away, he had escaped his defeat.
"You're a shifty little guy, you know right?" She said after Atticus avoided her strike once again.
Raising a hand.
"Let's see if you can avoid this."
"Vector" — a spell that compressed space into a tiny void, allowing for specific matter to be attracted to it.
Atticus was hit square in the chest by an overwhelming force of attraction.
His face contorted with effort as he willed with all his might for the wind to negate this force.
But it wasn't enough.
His feet drew jagged streaks through the ground as he was dragged forward tittle by little.
Atticus roared and dragged more power out from [Garuda].
"Round two?" Cassiel asked, condescending.
Winds surged. A predatory sky bird formed from pure air roared above him.
Cassiel fully utilized [Event Horizon].
The wind vanished — sucked into a pinprick singularity. Space shuddered.
Atticus's breath exploded from his lungs as he was hurled forward towards Cassiel.
His wings cracked and deformed.
As he was pulled in her direction, Cassiel lowered her center of gravity, pivoted her body, and struck out with a catastrophic punch.
It connected perfectly with Atticus's gut, sinking in almost elbow deep.
Atticus collapsed, gasping and dry heaving. His body shaking weakly.
Cassiel looked down at him with mock pity. "Much easier than I thought."
---
In the viewing balcony, Siege watched, fists clenched.
The others — Leo, Seraphina, Albion, Cassiel — were shining.
Meanwhile, he still wrestled with the void left by Fafnir's shadow.
Beside him, Leo grinned. "Those fights were killer, eh? Cassiel was really trying to end that man's whole career."
Siege exhaled through his nose, remembering the gut-wrenching blow.
"He's going to be feeling that for the next ten years."
Leo cackled. "At least a hundred!"
Albion leaned against a column, arms crossed. "Your turn's coming up again soon, dragon boy."
Siege nodded. He was ready.