While Love was holding her own, her team was falling apart.
They were losing pretty badly.
While one of boy in her team was on the verge of elimination, a pillar of water shot forward protecting him.
Then, suddenly A figure approached Team 12. It was love, specifically the wate avatar
A massive ball of water formed above their heads.
They stood confused for a moment, but before they could act, many highly pressurized bullets shot forward with impossible speed.
Team 12 tried to form a type of shield but failed. The bullets penetrated right through the shield, rendering it useless.
One such bullet hit a boy, and he instantly got eliminated. One fell unconscious on the ground. Another one's bracelet broke, and he got eliminated.
In a few minutes, the entire team 12 got wiped out.
***
Meanwhile, Love was standing in front of the blonde girl. Once again, she had a grin on her face.
Love slowly walked towards her.
"Yeah, I agree. Let's end this," she said, "You can copy any movement and abilities for a moment, right?"
The blonde girl did not waste her breath and immediately started attacking. It was true she could copy anything by watching it once, but it only lasts for a moment. And that's why she heavily relied on swordplay.
She moved forward with precision, but no matter what, it seemed she couldn't hit Love. Love kept evading.
Suddenly, Love came very close and lunged towards her.
"Well, copy this Bitch" she said. Then she hugged the blonde girl tightly, embracing her.
For a heartbeat, the world seemed to hesitate.
The blonde girl's pupils shrank as heat flooded her senses, too close, too sudden. Love's arms were locked around her, not tight like a grapple, not gentle either. Precise. Deliberate. As if she had measured exactly how much pressure was needed to keep someone from escaping without crushing them outright.
"Boom," Love whispered.
The sound that followed was not a roar at first.
It was pressure.
A violent bloom of crimson fire erupted from between their bodies, expanding outward in a perfect sphere. The flames were not wild or chaotic. They were compressed, disciplined, burning with an intensity that bent the air into rippling waves.
The explosion punched the ground beneath them flat.
Stone cracked. Dust and embers shot skyward like a second sun flaring inside the arena.
The crowd screamed.
The blonde girl never even had time to scream.
Her resistance shattered instantly. Sword, armor, everything evaporated under the heat. The fire did not linger long enough to char the stadium walls, but it was more than enough to do its work. When the flames receded, her body collapsed to the ground, unconscious, clothes scorched black, sword clattering uselessly across the stone.
Love stepped back as if nothing unusual had happened.
The fire drained from her hair, the furious red fading back toward its darker hue. Heat shimmered off her skin as she rolled her shoulders once, loose, casual.
"That one doesn't copy hugs very well," she muttered.
For a split second, the arena was silent.
Then the noise returned all at once.
A tidal wave of sound crashed down from the stands. Cheers. Shouts. Shocked laughter. Even a few horrified gasps. People stood from their seats, craning their necks, trying to understand what they had just witnessed.
The host's voice finally broke the stillness, cracking with excitement.
"—And that's it! Team Twelve has been completely eliminated!"
The crowd erupted once more, louder than before.
Love walked back toward her team without hurry, fire still faintly radiating from her skin.
***
Solace remained seated. He didn't know what to say anymore. But that didn't stop the host from announcing the next match.