CHAPTER EIGHT #3
A tidal wave swallowed the ring, stabilizing Nerida and grounding the hellhound. As the current destabilized Ezra's footing, Zaria raised her arms and froze the flood instantly.
Ice locked Ezra's boots and anchored the hellhound in place. Nerida reared behind him, towering, as Zaria stepped forward with a razor-sharp blade of compressed water held to his throat.
Silence fell. Ezra stared at her, then grinned and raised his hands.
"Enough," Professor Aldara's voice rang out. "Winner—Zaria Waters."
The crowd exploded as the ice thawed and the flood receded. Ezra took Zaria's hand without hesitation. "Well done, Waters."
She offered a faint, amused dip of her chin. "You weren't terrible yourself."
"She's incredible," I whispered, the arena still buzzing with the electric energy of the fight.
Professor Aldara didn't let the moment settle. "Next up," he called, his voice slicing through the noise, "Asher Maddox and Maddison Gale."
My heart kicked against my ribs. Maddy didn't flinch; she stepped forward with a wicked grin. "You're on, you shadow bastard."
Without a word, Asher rose.
I was acutely aware of how his knees had been bracketing my hips—publicly. As he stood, the sudden absence of his heat was noticeable. Zya prowled past us toward the ring, each step a soundless hunt. Asher leaned down, his breath warming my neck.
"Wish me luck, Princess."
I rolled my eyes. "Try not to get humiliated."
As he entered the ring, the shield shimmered into a steady hum. Beside me, Sera took a slow sip of water, watching me over the rim with a look that said I told you so.
"Don't," I muttered.
Ember, however, lacked all subtlety. "Oh, he so wants to fuck you."
I choked. "Ember!"
Ryven and Ezra both grinned, their eyes gleaming with amusement. I wanted to evaporate. "Focus on the duel!"
In the ring, Maddy strode to the center like it was a runway. Skye launched from her shoulder, air shimmering around her like a heat haze.
"Begin!"
Shadows surged from Asher in writhing tendrils.
Maddy met them with a detonating cyclone, the gale whipping dust skyward as she shredded the first wave of darkness. Zya lunged, but Skye was a streak of white, slamming into the panther with a burst of compressed air that cracked like thunder.
Zya vanished into mist, reappearing behind Skye in a spill of shadow. Maddy spun, dodging tendrils and unleashing a violent blast of wind from her leg as she flipped into a defensive stance. She was a fierce, beautiful menace.
Asher moved like a ghost—no wasted motion.
He flicked his fingers, and walls of darkness slithered across the stone like a ring of vipers. Maddy slammed her palms down, creating a whirlwind vortex that shredded the shadows into smoke.
The crowd roared.
Asher only smirked. He signaled, and Zya phased through the wind, bypassing Skye entirely to strike Maddy like a battering ram wrapped in night. Skye dove in, deflecting the worst of the impact, but the force sent all three tumbling in a gust of grit.
Before Maddy could recover, Asher moved. Shadows erupted from the stone, coiling around Maddy and Skye with surgical precision. It was a cage of absolute darkness—not cruel, but inescapable.
Silence fell as the runes stabilized.
Professor Aldara raised his hand. "Match over—Asher and Zya win. Barely."
The arena exploded.
The crowd exhaled in a fractured sound—half a roar, half stunned silence. Skye hissed, her white wings still flared protectively around Maddy, eyes blazing in blue defiance.
The shadows didn't snap away; they slithered, coiling back into Asher's palms like obedient serpents returning to their master. Zya flicked her tail once and padded off, looking smug as sin.
Asher stepped forward, offering Maddy his hand. She stared up at him, her chest heaving, and for a split second, I thought she might actually punch him. Instead, she gripped his hand and hauled herself upright.
"Barely beat me," she muttered, brushing grit from her leathers.
Asher gave a lazy half-shrug, that infuriating grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "I wouldn't expect anything less from you, Gale."
The benches shook as the students erupted again, the cheers hard enough to make the wards shimmer.
"That. Was. Insane," Ember breathed, eyes wide.
"She nearly had him," I whispered.
It was true. Even Asher looked winded, sweat tracing the line of his spine, his chest rising heavier than before as his shadows settled close and quiet.
Then, Aether's voice slid through the bond, darker than usual. "All for the show. The heir."
My stomach tightened.
Professor Aldara stepped forward, looking entirely too pleased with the morning's violence.
"Last up," he called, his voice slicing through the lingering noise. "Ava Pyreson with Aether... and Zorian Tideris with Styx."
The arena shifted. The energy changed instantly as silence fell in a cold ripple.
"Princess of Fire versus Prince of Water," Aldara added, his eyes gleaming as if this were theatre rather than war.
Fantastic.
My pulse thundered in my ears, making me feel lightheaded. Across the arena, the water in the fountain rippled again—a rhythmic, predatory movement. I couldn't breathe.
Ember was suddenly in front of me, her hands gripping my shoulders hard enough to ground me. "Ava, you don't have to do this," she said, her eyes blazing with protective fury. "That creep can fuck right off."
"Breathe, little one," Aether growled down the bond, the flames at the tips of his ears licking brighter.
Across the ring, his massive black form paced, agitated and ready. "We can do this. Show him the queen you are."
I closed my eyes for half a second. The Core answered—not with a roar, but a steady, resonant pulse. I let the heat settle beneath my ribs, keeping it controlled instead of wild.
"I'm fine," I said, my voice finally steady. "I'm going to show him who the true heir is."
Ember's expression shifted from worried to lethal. "Then fuck him up."
I stepped past her, but a hand caught my elbow. Firm. Warm.
I turned to find Asher standing close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his bare skin. His silver eyes held mine with a sudden, sharp intensity. No teasing. No smirk.
"Burn him," he said quietly.
A slow, dangerous grin curved my mouth, and I let the flames begin to lick at my skin.
The arena buzzed as I crossed the stone.
The shield flared as I stepped through—runes igniting in a bright sweep along its curved surface before settling into a steady, humming glow. Contained. Watching. Ready.
I didn't look back.
Zorian stood at the far end of the ring, red hair slicked back, blue House leathers gleaming in the sun. Water already coiled lazily around his wrists.
"Princess of Fire," he called, voice carrying easily. "Try not to boil under pressure."
A ripple of laughter rolled from the Tideris benches.
I didn't react.
Didn't give him the satisfaction.
The Core pulsed beneath my ribs. Heat shimmered faintly along my skin, thin waves distorting the air around me.
Zorian's grin sharpened.
With a lazy flick of his fingers, the fountain behind him erupted.
Water surged high—something enormous rose from within it.
Styx.
A hulking mass of black muscle and suctioned limbs. Eight massive tentacles unfurled with unnatural speed, slick skin glistening as it pulled itself onto the stone. Eyes blinked open one by one across its central body.
I swallowed.
I hated things with eight legs.
Aether stepped beside me, hackles raised, golden eyes blazing.
"We've got him."
Professor Aldara's voice cracked through the charged air.
"Begin!"
Zorian snapped his fingers.
The air shifted—
And the world detonated into chaos.
Salt and pressure slammed into the arena like the deep ocean rising to the surface.
The fountain exploded outward in a violent surge as Styx lunged through the water like a sea-born nightmare. Tentacles unfurled, slick and glistening. Its eyes glowed faintly—too faintly—like drowned stars lit from beneath.
Aether roared.
Flame tore from his jaws in a blinding arc, carving straight through the tidal wave. Steam detonated outward, hissing around us like a dragon's breath.
The shield flared violently, runes blazing as heat and water collided against its boundary.
I darted left, barely avoiding a crashing tendril of water that struck the stone hard enough to fracture it.
He flicked his wrist and shards of ice spiraled toward me, jagged and spinning. I rolled across the gravel, skin scraping, and hurled a blast of flame back at him.
He didn't block it.
The mist did.
A curtain of vapor rose instantly, swallowing my fire and diffusing it into nothing.
Aether lunged.
Claws tore into soaked earth as he sprinted for Zorian, flames pulsing through his black coat like molten veins.
"Now!" I shouted.
Aether unleashed a column of white-hot fire.
It hit Zorian full force.
The crowd gasped.
Heat slammed into my face and I shielded my eyes, heart pounding—
The shield screamed, magic straining against the impact.
When the steam cleared—
Zorian was still standing.
Dripping.
Smiling.
Unburned in ways he should not have been.
Not even scorched.
The water around him didn't boil.
It absorbed.
"What the actual—" I breathed.
Aether's growl vibrated through my bones. "He should be down. I hit him with everything."
The Core inside me pulsed once.
Sharp.
Warning.
Zorian tilted his head slightly.
And the water at his feet darkened.
He didn't hesitate.
He swept both arms outward and a spiraling cyclone of water tore toward us, thick with salt and something darker. Seaweed whipped through it like lashes. The smell of brine filled my lungs.
I called fire into my palms and blasted it outward in a wide fan, trying to evaporate the surge—
It barely dented it.