The crowd was electric.

  Roars of excitement echoed through Prism Arena, a colossal battleground crafted for legendary showdowns, where Nexis itself seemed to awaken with anticipation. The air crackled, heavy with tension, as two warriors took their places at opposite ends of the field.

  On one side stood Akane Vermelha, the princess of the Red House and president of the student council. She radiated the confidence of someone who knew exactly who she was... fierce, regal, feared. Her golden eyes burned with intensity, and every graceful motion hinted at destruction barely held in check.

  Facing her was Yuri Fayitsuki, the Ice Monarch. Her stoic face offered no reaction, a stark contrast to the fever-pitched screams of the crowd. Her hair, white as freshly fallen snow, shimmered under the Nexis lights. Frost crept from her feet with every step, and the temperature in the arena had already dropped to a biting chill.

  The referee raised his hand. The battle began.

  With a sharp motion, Yuri unleashed a surge of glacial energy. Ice exploded around her in a sweeping wave, rushing toward Akane like an unstoppable tide. Razor-sharp stalactites erupted from the ground, aiming to trap her opponent in a cage of crystal and cold.

  Akane didn’t flinch. She raised one hand, and a storm of fire burst to life, swirling around her in a fiery cyclone. The flames met the ice mid-charge, melting it in bursts of steam. Each flick of her wrist turned the clash into a dazzling dance of elements, fire and ice colliding, steam rising, the crowd holding its breath.

  “You think your little ice tricks can hold me?” Akane said with a smirk.

  “No words are needed... " Yuri replied, her voice cutting through the steam like winter wind.

  Their Nexis flared, pulsing with escalating power. Yuri raised her hand—and the air grew colder still. Her signature move, [Crown of Eternity], ignited. The arena was engulfed in crystalline ice. Towers rose from the ground, their gleaming surfaces scattering Nexis light like fractured rainbows. Every step Akane took froze instantly, yet she pressed forward, undeterred.

  Akane’s smile sharpened. She raised both arms high.

  “Then burn with the throne you've created!”

  Flames erupted from her body, coiling into the shape of a massive dragon. It roared as it surged forward, incinerating ice towers and tearing through the frost. The collision of fire and ice created a blinding vortex at the heart of the arena. The crowd fell silent.

  For a moment, time stopped.

  Nexis pulsed around them, almost tangible now, pulsing like a living created.

  Yuri’s eyes closed in concentration. When they opened again, they glowed like polished crystal. She summoned a blade of pure ice, its surface so cold it shimmered blue and white, freezing the air around.

  Not to be overcome, Akane conjured her [Crimson Lance], a weapon wreathed in searing flames. The heat was so intense it began to warp the metal of the benches, despite the arena’s protective barriers.

  They charged.

  When their weapons clashed, the resulting shockwave was blinding. A white-hot flash enveloped the arena, followed by a thunderous boom that shook the stands. Some students were thrown back, but the arena’s barriers held firm.

  As the light faded, both fighters still stood, battered but unyielding. The battlefield had become a wasteland of scorched earth and shattered ice.

  The announcer froze, eyes darting between the two.

  They were already moving again.

  Yuri launched forward, her movements flowing like a deadly ballet. The ice sword shattered into a dozen crystal blades, each floating and orbiting her like cold, silent sentinels. With a flick of her wrist, the blades flew at Akane—silent, swift, and lethal.

  Akane spun her flaming lance in a wide arc, forming a burning shield. The blades met it and disintegrated in bursts of flame.

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  The crowd erupted.

  “Is that all you’ve got, Yuri? Not even enough to make me sweat!”

  Akane taunted, a wild, daring grin lighting up her face.

  Yuri said nothing.

  Instead, she raised her hand toward the sky.

  The temperature plummeted.

  Moisture in the air crystallized instantly, and within seconds, a blizzard engulfed the entire arena. Razor-sharp shards of ice rained from above, forcing Akane to retreat.

  “Now this is interesting!” Akane shouted, gathering her Nexis. With a powerful strike, she slammed her lance into the ground—!

  A wall of fire erupted, shielding her in a dome of heat. Without wasting a second, she leapt high, piercing through the blizzard with her lance engulfed in flame, hurling straight toward Yuri like a blazing meteor.

  Yuri’s lips curled into a rare smile.

  “Much better.”

  With a flick of her fingers, she reactivated [Crown of Eternity]—but this time, the ice towers arched inward, forming a massive dome that locked them both inside. The temperature inside was so severe, even Akane’s flames flickered, as if struggling to stay alive.

  “You think trapping me here will change anything?” Akane asked, her tone still sharp, wondering if that was some kind of joke.

  Yuri didn’t answer.

  Instead, she extended both hands—and behind her, a towering figure began to form.

  A giant of pure ice rose, intricately sculpted, radiating a menacing aura as it caught the Nexis light and fractured it across the battlefield.

  Gasps swept through the audience.

  “W-What is that!?” a student shouted.

  But Akane didn’t back down. The flames around her surged violently, forcing the heat to spike. Her lance expanded with that power, its flames twisting into the form of a colossal serpent, which roared as it lunged toward the frozen titan.

  The two summoned beasts clashed with earth-shattering force, shaking the very foundation of the arena. Students held onto the rails, struggling to stay seated as the shockwaves hit.

  Even within the sealed dome, the audience could feel the overwhelming pressure of the clash. Flames and frost waged war in a chaotic ballet of dominance.

  Akane, always on the offensive, vaulted upward, planting a foot on the giant’s shoulder and launching her lance straight at Yuri. In response, Yuri pulled all of the Nexis from her summon, dissolving the giant in a flash of energy—

  —just in time to conjure a crystal barrier that deflected the attack.

  The explosion that followed was devastating. But when the smoke cleared… both of them were still standing.

  The crowd roared.

  The announcer could barely contain himself:

  "This is... unreal! They still have energy to fight?!"

  But the fighters already knew—this was just the beginning.

  Half the field had become an eternal glacier, transformed by Yuri’s will. The ground shimmered with crystalline reflections, and soft spirals of snow danced on invisible currents.

  On the other side, Akane reigned over a dominion of flame. The heat distorted the air, and embers floated like tiny suns around her, pulsing in rhythm with her breath.

  Yuri moved first.

  Both hands outstretched, her voice silent but her intent thunderous. The ice crystals began to shift—reorganizing into intricate structures. Towering pillars of frost rose like ancient cathedrals, their beauty both haunting and majestic.

  Then, with a snap of her fingers, she shattered the stillness:

  “Fragile as glass... that’s how I see your flames.”

  From every icy spire, serpentine constructs of crystal shot forward—serpents of shimmering death, fangs bared and gleaming, all converging on Akane.

  Akane didn’t flinch.

  She spun on her heel, a vortex of flame exploding outward, incinerating everything it touched. The serpents shattered—but reformed mid-air, coming back even faster.

  “You can freeze me a thousand times-!"

  Akane growled, smiling,

  “but I’ll keep burning! Until your ice is nothing but steam...!"

  With that, she summoned [Crimson Lance] once more—!

  ...But this time, it wasn’t just a weapon.

  It became the core of an eruption.

  Fire erupted like a volcano, expanding and shifting into the form of a massive phoenix, its wings blazing so brightly they lit up the entire arena.

  Gasps filled the stands.

  The phoenix screamed through the air, a divine embodiment of wrath and renewal, racing toward Yuri.

  But the Ice Monarch didn’t blink.

  With calm precision, she raised her hand and summoned her Guardian again, but this time, its form was amplified. Bigger. Colder. Concentrated

  The ice titan raised a translucent shield, absorbing the phoenix’s attack. Flames wrapped around it, and from the core of the clash, frozen fangs formed, dropping like falling stars, deadly icicles forged from fire itself.

  The resulting explosion split the ground. Shards of ice and scorched stone flew in all directions. The battlefield became an otherworldly chaos... but neither warrior yielded.

  Then, with both phoenix and titan still locked in battle, Yuri made her move.

  She leapt into the air, her new weapon in hand:

  [Winterheart], a blade crafted from the coldest point of her Nexis, so cold it distorted space around it.

  Akane met her mid-air.

  Gathering the last surge of her power into the [Crimson Lance], now glowing so fiercely that the very air seemed to peel away from its surface.

  Then struck—!

  And every impact between blade and lance unleashed a wave of pure elemental energy, fire and frost colliding like supernovas. The crowd reeled, shielding themselves from the aftershocks that reached even the highest rows.

  “Unbelievable...” a student whispered, eyes wide.

  “They’re still fighting like it's just the beginning...”

  At the heart of the clash, Akane and Yuri were a vision of contrast—heat and cold, sweat and frost, flame and snow. And despite the storm raging between them...

  They were both smiling.