The pillar of flames wrapping Northern’s hands swayed hypnotically. Left, then... right.
Then with a sudden fearsome blaze, it exploded backward, spilling azure fragments of flames into the sky. The explosion generated a force that propelled Northern forward. He streaked across the expanse, a trail of crackling flames following in his wake.
His fist connected with Soraya’s death scythe. A massive force erupted on impact. The blue flames in his hands seemed to compress for a moment and suddenly release, causing the entire place to ripple with shockwaves and blue flames that radiated outward in a cerulean light circle, subtle sparks charging the air like electric whispers.
The ground cracked into thousands of webbed fissures, some shattered stones flew upward, shooting away like deadly projectiles, while others disintegrated to ash as the voracious blue flames licked them.
Northern was genuinely surprised that she could withstand the attack. She gritted her teeth as dark purple shining armor climbed her body like living shadow. But still, she had only the scythe to block the vicious flames.
They fiercely swirled around her but were simultaneously repelled as she blocked the initial force of Northern’s strike. She deflected it sideways and swung her scythe in a deadly series of cyclonic patterns, generating powerful winds that somehow sucked the flames surrounding her and hurled them away from her back.
Then she was bringing her scythe down again, forcing Northern—who was already lunging in for a terrifying strike—to diminish his power and sidestep her attack.
Of course, that did very little to stop him either way.
His hands shot out like a whip, crushing against her face just as the armor sealed over her features. Her head jerked backward, blood spraying into the air.
Northern’s hand, the flaming one, had exploded forward again and crashed into her abdomen. For a moment there was silence, then barely a fragment of a second later, a thick layered sound tore through the air from the center of the arena. It was like the rumbling of thunder, a belch from some terrifying creature large enough to sit upon the entirety of Verulania and crush the whole nation beneath its weight.
A blue thin circle of light shot out, with a straight azure flame piercing through it towards the sky before dimming like a dying star.
Then following it, Soraya soared into the air, violently tumbling and rippling through the atmosphere, her armor turning to white sparks as it shattered to pieces like a constellation being born and dying in an instant.
Northern glanced at her.
"Oh shit... I overestimated her."
One couldn’t blame him. With the way Soraya blocked the first attack, he thought she would easily deflect the second. He had no idea he’d channeled more force into it than he should have.
He looked up, shielding his eyes with his palm to gauge where she was going. Then he hovered in the air, slowly at first, only to suddenly accelerate and streak into the air.
At that moment, Ellis and Helena’s jaws dropped. Their mouths had perpetually been hanging open since the fight began. This was nothing like the Northern they knew.
While Ellis vibrated with excitement, Helena sat appalled. Her face had drained of color. She clutched the rim of the coliseum’s front seat, leaning forward as if ready to launch herself into the arena at any moment.
"H-how is that even possible?! How does it make sense that he can fly?!"
The people around her exchanged curious glances as her voice rose. They turned to each other and murmured among themselves.
"I guess she’s a first-timer here..."
"It shows. We were that shocked initially too."
"Indeed, indeed. It was difficult to swallow."
"But is it just me, or does she seem more terrified than excited?"
"Brother, different people process things differently."
Helena belatedly composed herself and smoothed her expression before sinking back into her seat. Some of their whispers reached her ears, others didn’t.
But she didn’t need to hear everything to understand that she was the anomaly here, and everyone else... it was as though they had grown accustomed to Northern displaying such power. They reveled in it. They drew joy from it.
Suddenly, she understood why such crowds flocked here and why the six strongest citadels scrambled against each other for one student—among many others, of course.
But there was a peculiar emphasis on this one.
Northern had taken the world by storm. The effect was subtle, but it had definitely begun.
While she remained lost in her thoughts, Ellis exhaled with exhilaration and thrust his hands skyward, a massive grin splitting his face.
"Wooooh! He’s grown so strong! I think ten times stronger than he used to be!"
Helena turned to him, her expression ashen.
"And what’s so happy about that?"
Ellis regarded her with bewilderment.
"What’s not?"
His gaze drifted toward the sky.
"Being his first companion and the one who understands him best, I know strength was always what he craved most. I’m glad he finally has it..."
Ellis’s smile turned slightly wistful.
"Although it seems he still hasn’t realized what he truly needs."
Helena stared at him for a couple of seconds, her gaze utterly bewildered. She could not find the words to address the moment nor summon the right expression to wear on her face.
At that moment, Northern was already descending upon the coliseum with a young lady cradled in his arms. His feet touched the cratered ground of the arena with angelic grace, and he shifted his piercing gaze toward the examiner.
The man belatedly collected himself and sprinted to the middle of the arena as Northern deposited the young lady on the ground.
Soraya was barely breathing but she was alive, albeit completely unconscious. The devastating blow had knocked her out before she even began her skyward journey.
Northern glanced down at her with a pitiful expression.
’She didn’t even get a proper chance to use her talent... why do I feel like a bully today?’
Northern’s lips downturned slightly. His victories tasted rather bitter today. He shifted his gaze to where the supposed third member of Kejar’s team should have been, but the spot stood empty.
’Oh? How unlucky. I was going to give him a win at least.’
Northern shrugged and strode out of the arena as the announcer bellowed his victory, the crowd’s roar washing over him like waves upon shore.
’The next battle... ah, that’s right. The student council president is going to be fighting with a strange team next.’
A small, anticipatory smile curved Northern’s lips.
’I look forward to it.’