Lucas finished stretching and rose to his feet, reaching down to pick up his sword. He drew the blade and gave it a few practice swings, rotating his wrist as he tested its weight and balance before sliding it smoothly back into his scabbard.
The announcer raised his voice. "Are... you ready?"
Elias smirked and began moving around lightly, jerking his arms and shoulders in short, loose movements as he stretched his back and forearms. After loosening himself up, he settled into place. "Ready."
Lucas smirked as well. His hand went to the hilt, and with one smooth motion, he drew his sword from its scabbard. The blade caught the light as he brought it into position. "Ready," Lucas said.
The announcer took a breath. "THREE... TWO... ONE!"
Lucas lowered his stance, settling into his fighting posture. Elias did the same across from him.
"BEGIN!" the announcer shouted.
Lucas didn't move. He kept his eyes fixed on Elias, his grip firm around the sword. Come on... What kind of powers do you have? Show me. Elias didn't move either, remaining completely still as the two fighters watched each other.
Lucas expected him to attack immediately, yet the older man simply stood there. Lucas raised his sword slightly, a flicker of surprise crossing his face before his expression settled back into focus. The arena remained still as the two fighters continued staring at each other, neither willing to make the first move.
For a while, nothing happened. Then Elias suddenly smirked, and a burst of fire appeared in front of Lucas, seemingly emerging from thin air. Heat rushed toward his face, forcing him to recoil, and Lucas instinctively jumped backward, his boots scraping against the ground as he put distance between himself and the flames.
His eyes widened as he stared at the fire. "Vanishing fire?"
From her seat in the crowd, Sinan watched Lucas carefully. Hmm... The kid didn't make a move early because he knew he didn't know Elias's powers... Smart move.
Lucas barely finished recovering from his dodge before he heard Elias launch another attack. This time, however, the flames were visible.
"Fireball," Elias said.
A massive sphere of fire shot toward Lucas, far larger than any fireball he had seen before. Despite its size, its movement was noticeably slower, giving Lucas enough time to react. He quickly stepped to the side, letting the enormous fireball sail past him. For a moment, it seemed like he had avoided the attack with ease.
Then he heard it—a faint twitch of the grass behind him. Lucas's eyes widened as the sound registered, and he immediately realized something was wrong. His head snapped toward it, just in time to see the enormous fireball curve through the air. It had changed direction, and its flames were already beginning to shrink.
"Damn... it."
Lucas's expression tightened as the realization hit him. He hadn't simply dodged the attack. There was another fireball coming from a direction he couldn't see, and he was already caught between the two attacks. Fear flashed across his face as both fireballs closed in from opposite directions. He had nowhere to go. The flames struck him.
For an instant, Lucas's body seemed to disappear from the point of impact, only to reappear several steps away as both fireballs struck the ground behind him. The visible fireball slowly shrank as its flames weakened, eventually disappearing into the air, while the other fireball briefly became visible at the moment of impact before beginning to vanish as well.
Elias watched with a smirk, but even he looked confused by what had just happened. He had expected Lucas to be caught between the two attacks. Somehow, the boy had escaped.
Lucas stood still with his eyes closed, trying to understand the interaction that had just taken place. He replayed the sequence in his mind—the visible fireball, his dodge, the sound of the grass, the second attack he couldn't see, and the instant everything went wrong.
Wind Style, Form Two... Zephyr's Step.
Lucas slowly opened his eyes. This technique is pretty useful for dodging attacks, but it's difficult to execute. I barely managed to escape that attack.
Immediately, Lucas closed his eyes and focused on every sound around him. He could hear the wind cutting through the arena, the distant noise of the crowd, and even the faint rustling of grass beneath the movement of the battlefield. With his eyes still shut, he slowly lowered himself to the ground, settling into a low stance with one knee bent beneath him rather than fully kneeling. His body angled forward, sword held ready as he prepared to swing it in an arc.
He paused for a moment, listening carefully as the sounds around him continued to blend together. Then, with a controlled breath, Lucas spoke.
"Zephyr's Breath."
He swung his sword in a wide arc. The moment the blade cut through the air, a powerful burst of Wind erupted from it, expanding outward in a broad, spherical wave rather than remaining confined to the path of the sword. The force spread across the battlefield, pushing outward in every direction like a violent shockwave.
The moment Lucas's Wind made contact with the incoming barrage of invisible Fire, the attacks were suddenly revealed. Multiple small fireballs appeared in the air as the Wind caught them, each one being thrown away in a different direction. They scattered chaotically across the battlefield before their flames weakened and disappeared one after another.
Elias raised both arms in front of his face, bracing himself against the force of the Wind as it swept across the battlefield. "Damn it... He noticed my barrage incoming."
The attack Elias had been using was Fire Style, 3rd Form—Blazing Barrage, a technique that allowed the user to fire numerous small fireballs toward their target from multiple directions, making it difficult to predict where the next attack would come from. By concealing them with his Vanishing Fire, Elias had turned the technique into an even greater threat, but Lucas had managed to counter it.
Lucas lowered his sword slightly as the last of the fireballs disappeared. Yet instead of focusing on Elias, his expression shifted as another problem came back to him.
"It's happening again... just like earlier. I can't produce my Fire."
His mind flashed back to the moments before the fight, when he had been swinging his sword during his warm-up. He had tried to gather his Fire energy outside his body, expecting the flames to form around him, but nothing had happened. He had tried again, only to feel the energy remain inside him.
Lucas gritted his teeth as he recalled the sensation. "I tried to generate Fire outside my body, but it wouldn't materialize. The energy keeps flowing through me instead... I can't get it out."
He tightened his grip around his sword, clearly frustrated by the realization. His Fire was still there. He could feel it inside him. But for some reason, he couldn't make it leave his body.
Lucas's thoughts lingered on the past, taking him back to a time when he had asked Vivian to teach him a new technique.
They had been eating lunch together when Vivian suddenly got up, still chewing the food in her mouth. She grabbed her sword and began trying to explain the technique while demonstrating the movement, swinging the blade through the air as she spoke.
Lucas stared at her for a moment before making a funny face. "Maybe you should finish eating first."
Vivian stopped and quickly swallowed her food, a little embarrassed by the way she had been demonstrating. She cleared her throat, and her usual seriousness returned. "Watch closely, Lucas. Pay attention to how I take my posture."
She moved a little farther away from him before settling into position. "This technique will help you evade almost any sort of attack. Even a weak Fire attack, if you need it to."
Vivian leaned forward slightly, then swung her sword in a wide arc. "Zephyr's Breath."
A powerful sphere of Wind burst outward from her blade. The force was far stronger than Lucas had expected, sending ripples across the nearby water and shaking its surface. The food Lucas had been holding was caught in the blast as well, and the bite he had been about to eat flew straight out of his hand along with the rest of his meal.
Lucas instinctively opened his mouth and took an invisible bite of the food that was no longer there. His expression immediately twisted into frustration as he looked at Vivian. "You could've used a weaker wind than this!"
Vivian quickly raised both hands toward him, moving them gently back and forth as she tried to calm him down. "There... there."
The memory slowly faded from Lucas's mind, bringing him back to the Colosseum. The sound of the crowd returned first, followed by the heat still lingering in the air around him. Lucas tightened his grip on his sword and looked toward Elias, who was already watching him from across the battlefield.
Lucas thought to himself, He is strong... If I let my guard down even for a moment, he'll beat me. He paused, his eyes remaining fixed on Elias as he considered his next move. That's why...
Lucas suddenly burst forward, sprinting directly toward Elias.
The crowd reacted immediately, surprised by his decision to charge straight at someone who was clearly preparing an attack. Elias had more than enough time to respond. He spread his legs slightly and lowered his stance, planting himself firmly as he brought both palms forward. A concentrated mass of Fire began forming between his hands, growing larger and denser with every passing moment. Lucas kept running.
The flames between Elias's palms continued to expand as he gathered more energy, the heat becoming increasingly intense. "Fire Style, 22nd Form!"
Just as Lucas reached him, Elias thrust his hands forward, ready to unleash the attack. But Lucas suddenly dropped his center of gravity, bending his knees and lowering himself almost to the ground. He planted one hand against the ground for balance and shifted his body sideways, sliding forward beneath Elias's stance as the attack passed over him.
Lucas shot between Elias's legs, his body skimming across the ground as he narrowly avoided the blast. Dust scattered beneath him as he slid past, and he quickly planted his hand against the ground to push himself back onto his feet.
But Elias reacted almost immediately.
Before Lucas could create any real distance, Elias twisted his body and turned around, tracking Lucas's position without hesitation. Lucas tried to use Zephyr's Step again, attempting to slip behind Elias before the attack could reach him, but he misjudged his movement. Instead of getting behind Elias, Lucas ended up directly in front of him, right in the path of the attack.
And Elias was already ready to attack.
"INFERNAL CANON!"
A tremendous beam of Fire erupted from Elias's hands at point-blank range. Lucas barely had time to raise his sword and arms in an attempt to shield himself before the attack engulfed him. The sheer heat slammed into his body, burning through his defenses as the powerful beam completely swallowed him in flames.
Lucas screamed in pain as the Infernal Canon engulfed him, the force of the attack sending heat surging through his body. The crowd fell into stunned silence, their excitement from moments ago replaced by shock as they watched the beam continue to burn through Lucas's defenses.
Elias remained in his stance, his arms still extended as the flames poured forward. For a moment, all that could be seen was the blinding Fire surrounding Lucas, while the arena stood frozen in disbelief.
And then..