Aze stood at the arena 3 entrance, taking deep breaths. His usual cocky confidence was notably absent, replaced by what Krad could only describe as controlled terror.
Krad had convinced Mist and Hania to let him hover down to the waiting area for moral support.
"You okay?" Krad asked, maneuvering his floating wheelchair next to Aze.
"Okay? Oh, I'm fantastic!" Aze's laugh was slightly hysterical. "I've only been training an entire year for this match, and now I get to fight it with zero preparation, zero warm-up, and zero chance of---"
"Hey," Krad grabbed his shoulder. "You wanted this, right? You said you had a score to settle."
Aze's wild red hair fell over his eyes as he looked down. "Last year, she froze my legs mid-fight. Then she took five minutes, five whole minutes, just toying with me. Cutting small wounds, freezing and unfreezing different body parts, making sure the crowd got a good show."
His fists clenched. "When she finally ended it, she leaned down and whispered, 'Thank you for the entertainment, little boy. Come back when you're actually worth my time.'"
Krad felt anger flash through him. "What a---"
"Yeah," Aze cut him off. "So I've spent the last year training specifically to counter ice magic."
He looked at Krad with desperate eyes. "But I was supposed to have time to mentally prepare! To get in the zone! Now I'm just... I'm just going in cold!"
"Pun intended?" Krad asked.
Despite everything, Aze snorted. "Not helping!"
"Listen," Krad leaned forward despite his ribs protesting. "You know what I learned fighting Brick? All the preparation in the world doesn't matter if you freeze up---"
"Another pun!"
"---when the moment comes," Krad continued, grinning. "Your body knows what to do. Trust it."
Aze was quiet for a moment. Then, "You beat someone eighty levels higher than you."
"Barely."
"You walked through Crushing Embrace on willpower alone."
"Stupidity, mostly."
"You're sitting in a wheelchair because your body is held together with healing magic and spite," Aze pointed at him, "and you're telling me to trust my training?"
"Yeah," Krad said simply. "Because it worked. And if it can work for an idiot like me, it'll definitely work for someone actually talented like you."
Aze stared at him, then burst out laughing, genuine this time. "You're insane, you know that?"
"I've been told."
"Aze Crimsonwind, report to arena floor!" the announcement boomed.
Aze took one final deep breath, then his cocky grin returned, smaller than usual, but real.
"Alright. Let's do this." He started toward the tunnel, then paused and looked back. "Hey, Krad? When you make it to the finals and face Liyab?"
"Yeah?"
"Don't die. I want to see how that turns out."
"Deal. Don't die either, I want to celebrate with you after you beat ice-lady."
Aze's grin widened. "Ice-lady. I like it."
He jogged into the tunnel.
Observation Deck
Krad returned to find the deck absolutely packed now. Word had spread about the substitution, and apparently, everyone wanted to see what would happen.
Titan Forgeborn stood near the railing, his massive frame making everyone else look small. When he saw Krad, he gave that same small nod from before.
Krad nodded back, then immediately wondered if that was weird.
[ System Buddy: You just bro-nodded with one of the Six Pillars of Sorsogon! That's so cool! ]
"The Crimsonwind kid has spirit," Titan's voice rumbled like distant thunder. "He lasted longer against me than many Level 400 fighters."
"He's good," Krad agreed, settling his floating wheelchair next to Mist and Hania.
"He's outmatched," Mist countered. "Morana is brutal, efficient, and has eighty-seven more levels' worth of power. This won't be like your fight, Aze doesn't have a gimmick or trick that can bridge that gap."
"But he has motivation," Hania said softly. "Sometimes that's enough."
Down in the arena, both fighters approached the combat marker.
Morana looked exactly as she had before, cold, composed, deadly.
Aze looked... different. His usual wild energy had focused into something sharper. His twin short swords were drawn, and Krad could see faint red light flickering along the blades.
The referee raised his hand. "Fighters, acknowledge!"
"Acknowledged," Morana said.
"Hell yeah, acknowledged!" Aze shouted, and despite the situation, some of the crowd laughed.
"Then... begin!"
Both fighters touched the marker. The barrier erupted.
For exactly one second, they stared at each other across the sand.
Then Morana smiled, sharp and cruel.
"Hello again, little boy. Have you grown up yet?"
Aze's response was to charge straight at her.
The crowd gasped, that was suicide against an ice mage. You never closed distance with a control-type fighter, it played right into their strengths.
Morana's hands moved in complex patterns, and the air around Aze flash-froze. Not gradually, instantly. One moment he was running, the next he was encased in a block of ice.
"Too easy," Morana sighed. "I expected at least---"
The ice exploded.
Shards flew everywhere, melting mid-air as Aze burst free wreathed in red-hot flames. His twin swords blazed with heat.
"Lesson one from my year of training," Aze grinned, his blades leaving trails of steam in the air. "Heat-infusion technique! Your ice? Just water to me now!"
He closed the distance before Morana could react, his swords moving in rapid patterns.
She dodged the first strike, blocked the second with an ice shield, which immediately started melting, and had to leap backward to avoid the third.
For the first time, Morana's composed expression showed something else... surprise.
"You've improved," she acknowledged.
"You have no idea!" Aze pressed the attack.
Observation Deck
"He's doing it!" someone shouted. "He's actually pushing her back!"
Krad leaned forward, his hands gripping the wheelchair's armrests. Aze was fast, way faster than Krad remembered from their brief interaction. His swords were everywhere, and every strike forced Morana to defend or retreat.
"Heat-infusion at that level requires massive mana control," Mist observed. "He's burning through his reserves to maintain it."
"How long can he keep it up?" Hania asked.
"Against a Level 445 opponent?" Mist calculated. "Maybe three minutes. After that, he'll run dry and she'll freeze him solid."
Arena Floor - 1 Minute Elapsed
Aze's swords danced through the air, each strike generating enough heat to turn Morana's ice techniques into steam.
"Crimson Slash!" His blades crossed, and a wave of superheated air rushed forward.
Morana raised an ice wall, it held for exactly two seconds before shattering. She had to dodge sideways, and for the first time in the match, she actually looked concerned.
"You've clearly trained," she said, creating distance. "But training and experience are different things."
Her hands moved in new patterns, more complex.
"Frozen Domain."