The arena shifted again — carving a wide, solid dueling platform reinforced by deep-rooted magic circle designed to handle essence saturation and terrain damage. The first duel of the second round was a fast one. It ended as soon as it started. This platform would need it. ELDERGLOW: Reiz Varren WYRMERE: Kellen Drein The announcement echoed across the Colosseum as the two contestants stepped out onto the stage. Reiz walked tall, rolling his shoulders once, blades drawn and humming with static essence. His breathing was slow, focused, his expression unreadable. Across from him, Kellen Drein stood still — arms at his side, eyes half-lidded. His robes didn't ripple in the breeze. His aura didn't crackle. But something beneath it… trembled. He didn't feel sharp. Damon leaned forward from the upper stands. "If Reiz is smart, he'll try to end this fast. That guy sure gives me the creeps." Miss Leana narrowed her eyes. "If he isn't fast enough, his opponent is going to win this one." No buildup. No flourish. Just a single step—and he was in. Twin blades came low, then high, one stabbing while the other twisted midair to pin Kellen's shoulders. Kellen raised his left arm to parry. A defensive movement—clumsy. The first blade sliced across his side. He stumbled. Reiz's expression shifted. Kellen's body was already mirroring his stance. In the time it took for Reiz to reposition, Kellen copied his footwork. His pivot. His blade angle. His grip. Reiz backed off. Too late. Kellen dashed forward—using Reiz's dash pattern from the beginning of the fight. The copy was off by a beat, but the intent was clear. He followed with a dual-arc strike that mimicked Reiz's signature spin. "Shit!" Reiz barely ducked in time. The wind from Kellen's copied strike clipped his shoulder. In the stands, Cael was already standing. "He's mimicking him in real time?" "He's compressing Reiz's entire style into chunks," Leana murmured. "Stripped down, yes. But multiplied by raw mana output." Back in the ring, Reiz gritted his teeth and changed strategy. He shifted stances, abandoned rhythm, and began to use off-tempo dashes — breaking into erratic arcs, canceling magic circles mid-cast, moving like chaos incarnate. His footwork stabilized. His strikes grew less like Reiz and more like a fused variant. He wasn't mimicking anymore. Reiz caught him with a blast of raw lightning—point-blank. It tore through the platform, jolting Kellen backward in a smoking heap. Reiz lowered his arms, panting. His hands glowed—with lightning. Reiz barely raised his guard before it hit. The first bolt shattered his barrier. The second caught him in the side. The third — delayed, fused with wind — knocked him off his feet and into the barrier wall. Less than four minutes left. Blood smeared across Reiz's lower lip as he forced himself up. He surged forward again. He landed two hits — one across Kellen's ribcage, another across the thigh. Kellen didn't flinch. He cast the same blade arc Reiz had used in the demon trial. This one came faster. It cracked Reiz's right vambrace. Another magic circle detonated behind Reiz's leg — the exact same trap pulse Reiz had used in the maze hours ago. Reiz collapsed to one knee. The announcer hesitated, raising a hand. "Combatant unconscious. Winner—" He raised his arm and struck again. ElderGlow students rose from their seats, roaring in fury. One of the referees moved to intervene. But before he could... Dean Oryll's voice cut across the arena like steel. But wrapped in authority. Kellen froze mid-swing. Then lowered his arm. His eyes didn't look like someone who'd just won. They looked like someone who was still learning. "Winner: Kellen Drein." The audience reacted instantly. Boos. Shouts. Demands. Healers scrambled to remove Reiz's unconscious body from the stage. One of the Healers cursed under her breath, casting four stabilizing spells at once. The ElderGlow section burned with rage. Elias stood at the front of his team's platform, watching the ring. "You're not even going to say anything?!" "He was placed against the wrong opponent." He turned toward her. "Reiz fights in patterns. Kellen feeds on patterns." Renna's fists clenched. "That doesn't mean he should've been beaten like that!" "It was a mistake," Elias said simply. "But not Kellen's." Before she could yell, the bracket lit again. Round Two | Duel Three ELDERGLOW: Renna Velmira THORNEVALE: Sariel Drey The crowd murmured again. Thornevale's tactical core. And a barrier dancer. But known for wearing down opponents with layered wards and forced delays. Renna exhaled sharply. And walked to the stage. Cael touched Elias's arm as they watched her go. "She's going to be emotional." "She's going to be precise," Elias replied. "Because she's angry?" "Because she's afraid to be like him." Then turned back to the ring. High above, Dean Godsthorn watched Renna step into position, eyes narrowed. He cast one glance toward Oryll. The man hadn't stopped smiling. Renna's boots hit the platform with a hard clack that echoed too loudly across the arena. Not because of the sound. But because of the weight in it. It was something simpler. Fury looking for permission. Across the ring, Sariel Drey — Thornevale's famed core caster — adjusted her silver-trimmed sleeves. Her expression was unreadable. Calm. Professional. She was the kind of opponent that never raised her voice. She didn't win fights with flair or aggression. Wards. Delays. Deflections. She made opponents burn themselves out like matches in a storm. "Combatants ready," the announcer called. "Begin." Sariel didn't move first. A shimmer of six-layered barriers snapped around her instantly — stacked air, mirrored hex, kinetic echo, mana trace, recoil ward, and a subtle veil seal. Her entire form blurred into radiant distortion. Renna's first blast — a compressed essence disc — slammed into the outer barrier and dispersed harmlessly. Another magic arc followed. Blocked. Then two more, from different angles. The crowd was quiet, almost reverent. Damon sat back with a low whistle. "If you don't get in fast, she'll stall you into nausea." Leana nodded. "Renna knows. She couldn't care less though." Renna shifted tactics. She blinked sideways — her movement skipping, not teleporting, but folded with minor spatial compression. It let her close the gap without full commitment. Sariel stepped back, rotating her shields in synchronized arcs. Another barrage came — this time mixed with kinetic bursts meant to rattle the layered barriers. Sariel didn't flinch. Reiz would've crashed through. Cael would've blasted. And the moment she saw the tiny delay between barrier pulses — a misaligned reset between layers three and five — she made her move. Head low. Palms flared. One boot striking down harder than the other. Her palm struck the reset zone between the layers. But with intention and fury. Sariel recoiled, wide-eyed. Renna planted a compression glyph underfoot, vaulted upward, twisted, and brought both fists down in a twin-burst collapse— Straight through the mirrored veil. Right into Sariel's collarbone. Sariel tumbled backward, trying to reset, mouth already forming the chant for a fallback shield— Renna silenced her with a binding glyph circle that locked her in place mid-syllable. A final magic circle formed behind her. It snapped inward like a lung collapsing. And Sariel's knees buckled. "Combatant unable to continue—Victory: Renna Velmira." Renna dropped to one knee, exhaling hard. She hadn't hit Sariel like she wanted to hit Kellen. But she had hit her own limit—and stopped before crossing it. Cael let out a loud cheer from the ElderGlow platform, throwing both fists into the air. Elias only offered the faintest nod as Renna exited the ring, walking like someone who had just wrestled herself, not her opponent. Dean of Thornevale closed her eyes and exhaled. "Clever girl." Dean Oryll smiled faintly. "More clever than I gave her credit for." Godsthorn said nothing. But he looked toward the bracket screen just as it pulsed with new light. Round Two | Duel Four ELDERGLOW: Elias Verdan THORNEVALE: Lurien Vale Lurien — a hybrid-type spellblade. Balanced. Fast. Trained in tempo disruption. Known for forcing opponents into their worst rhythm and punishing them for it. One of Thornevale's top two. And across the chamber, Lurien smirked. He cracked his neck, spun his staff once, and leapt from the waiting platform toward the arena without hesitation. He just looked up at the board.