Ron was being crushed.

Maera came at him like a wild beast, red aura roaring around her like flames made of fury. Blood streaked down her cheek, sweat glistened across her forehead, but her feral momentum never slowed.

She slammed her gauntleted fist toward Ron's face—

CRACK—!!

Ron blocked with the shaft of his black spear, but he was bleeding everywhere. Cuts on his arms, burns across his side, and his stamina was draining fast.

He braced—

—and that's when Col struck.

With a sharp burst of wind, Col flashed behind him, twin short swords coated in moss-green aura.

SHLICK—!

A slash carved across Ron's ankle.

Then—

STING—!!

CUT—!

CUT—!!

Multiple precise attacks struck Ron's joints—wrist, knee, shoulder—breaking his balance completely.

Pain tore through him. His leg buckled.

Ron dropped to one knee, gasping.

Maera didn't give him a second.

She kicked the spear out of his weakened grip.

The weapon clattered across the stone floor, sliding away from him.

Now unarmed, Ron clenched his fists, panting, vision blurring.

Maera stepped forward, claws extended, her voice trembling with adrenaline.

"Ron… you lost."

Ron swung one fist—burning blue flames bursting around it—

—but Maera caught the punch in her palm.

She tightened her grip.

On the arena loudspeaker, Eira's cheerful voice echoed:

"Reminder! If an opponent admits defeat, they will be safely removed to the white space!"

Maera's gaze hardened.

"Ron, say it. Say you lost."

Ron's lips didn't move.

He didn't speak.

He didn't accept.

Before Maera could press him again—

BANG!!!

A blue mana bullet screamed toward Maera's skull.

Col reacted instantly, crossing his blades in an X.

TING!!!

He barely deflected it.

Both turned—

—eyes wide—

To see Jax, covered in wounds, bleeding heavily, firing with one hand while keeping Drevin at bay with the other.

Jax shouted across the arena:

"Ron hasn't lost—NOT YET!!"

Col narrowed his eyes.

"Fight Drevin first, idiot."

Jax grinned, blood trickling from his jaw.

"That wasn't an attack…"

His grin widened.

"…that was a distraction."

Maera's eyes widened in delayed realization—

FWOOOSH—!!!

A white blade wrapped in sharp pink wind ripped through the air.

Energy butterflies spiraled behind it like streaks of light.

Lia appeared in a brilliant flash, wind aura exploding around her.

Her sword swung toward Maera's gauntleted arm—

"Wind Butterfly: Spinning Butterfly!"

Maera jerked her arm back just in time, avoiding losing it entirely.

Lia spun—once, twice—into a fast rotation, her form blurring.

Then she planted her sword into the ground and used it like a lever, kicking outward with a burst of wind.

WHAM—!!

Both Maera and Col were blasted back, sliding across the ground, boots grinding against stone.

Maera skidded on her feet, stumbling.

Col caught himself, breathing sharply.

Lia landed beside Ron, hair whipping in the wind.

She immediately thrust his spear toward him.

"Are you alright, Ron?"

Ron gripped the spear, pulling himself to his feet with a tired grin.

"I was waiting for you."

Lia lifted her blade. "Then let's fight together."

Ron nodded.

"It is a team competition, after all."

Before they could say more—

"OVER HERE—!!"

A desperate voice echoed.

Dozens of bright orange runes flew toward them.

WHOOOM—!

They wrapped around Ron and Lia, forming pulsating glyph-armor around their bodies and weapons.

Selene stood far behind them, trembling, covered in cuts, blood dripping from her nose and lip.

Her wand glowed faintly, her runic shield flickering as she barely held off Iselde's glass barrage.

"I—!" she coughed, "I can only do… this much!"

But her buff spells landed perfectly.

Lia felt her speed spike.

Ron felt his stamina surge.

Their defenses thickened with glowing rune-plates.

Ron and Lia turned toward Maera and Col—

refreshed, empowered, and ready.

The fight was no longer two against one.

It was finally team versus team again.

--

Blood dripped from Iselde's nose and mouth, but she still raised her trembling hand.

"H-h-here…!"

Her voice cracked—yet her magic answered.

Mirror shards burst from her pouch in a glittering storm, swirling around Maera and Col. The shards fused into their weapons—Maera's red gauntlets becoming white, crystalline claws, and Col's dual blades gaining razor-thin glass edges that gleamed dangerously. More shards layered around their bodies, forming translucent crystal armor that shimmered like living mirrors.

Maera flexed her new claws, the sound sharp and cold.

"Good work, Iselde."

And now fully armed and reinforced, Maera and Col turned toward Ron and Lia—who stood enhanced by Selene's runes, their auras pulsing with renewed strength. Both sides surged forward at the same moment, crashing toward the center with renewed ferocity.

Meanwhile—

Jax and Drevin's duel had turned brutal.

Jax was bleeding heavily, panting harder than he should've been, even with Selene's buffs. Every bullet he fired was met with Drevin's arrows. Every arrow Drevin launched came faster, heavier—now crystal-tipped and empowered by Iselde's mirror magic. His glass armor absorbed ricochets that should have pierced him.

Still, Drevin watched Jax carefully.

What is he planning…? Why isn't he attacking properly?

Then he saw it—

Jax's guns weren't pointed at him.

They were heating and freezing.

One barrel blazed molten red.

The other glowed icy blue.

Drevin's eyes widened.

He's preparing that attack… the same dual-element shot from the black goblin boss fight…

His voice tore out sharply:

"Iselde! Hit him—everything you've got!"

Mirror shards shot toward Jax like a hail of crystal needles.

Jax didn't move—he couldn't.

He had to finish charging.

The shards were about to pierce him—

But blazing orange runes flared into existence.

A runic shield slammed down in front of him.

Selene's voice rang out, hoarse but unwavering:

"You're not… touching him!"

She drew more runes at high speed despite shaking hands.

Rune glyphs spun into a condensed storm.

Rune Magic — 3rd Circle: Runic Explosion!

The cluster of runes slammed toward Iselde's mirror wall.

Iselde braced, activating her shield to copy the spell—

But the runes detonated just before touching the surface.

BOOM—!

The shockwave obliterated the mirror shield instantly.

Iselde staggered, stunned.

Drevin's expression tensed.

And then—

Jax smirked.

He broke into a sprint.

Both his pistols flared—one blazing red, one freezing blue—swallowing the air around him in heat and frost.

Drevin fired desperately.

Shadow arrows rained down, each one fast enough to kill.

Jax dodged where he could, taking several hits—one pierced his side, another drove into his chest, a third tore across his ribs—but he didn't stop. Gritting his teeth, he forced his legs to keep moving until he was nearly in Drevin's range.

"Here—!" Jax roared, raising both guns to fire the finished shot.

But—

A single mirror shard slammed into his left wrist.

His fingers spasmed. His grip faltered.

The blazing red-hot barrel dipped.

Iselde's shard was locking his hand open.

He could no longer fire the dual shot.

Still, he didn't stop.

He forced his right hand up and pulled the trigger.

A sphere of deep, freezing blue mana—big as a fist—exploded from the pistol and tore across the arena toward Drevin.

Drevin, bleeding but calm through Iron Pulse, fired one more shadowy arrow.

Nightstalk Arrow: Shadow Assist!

The arrow touched the freezing mana sphere—

—and the entire attack passed right through Drevin's body like a ghost.

It didn't explode.

Didn't freeze him.

Didn't harm him at all.

Drevin exhaled softly, lips curving in relief.

A perfect counter.

Jax's teeth clenched in frustration as the cold sphere passed behind Drevin without a trace.

Jax didn't stop.

Even after his freezing shot phased harmlessly through Drevin, he ran straight at him, guns in hand, eyes blazing with stubborn fury. The left barrel still glowed molten red, but instead of firing—

he kicked.

White mana flared around his boot, and the sudden strike caught Drevin completely off guard.

The archer grunted, thrown off his feet, but even while flying back he twisted his torso and released a shadow-tipped arrow.

Jax's eyes widened.

The projectile slammed into his shoulder with brutal force, spinning him halfway before he crashed to his knees. He winced, clutching the wound, breath sharp and ragged—but he raised his gun again anyway.

While limping forward, he fired.

A blazing orange-red orb of mana burst from his left pistol, the same size as the earlier freezing orb.

Drevin reacted instantly.

Another arrow appeared in his fingers, shadows curling around it as he prepared Shadow Assist again—

But then—

A small explosion erupted behind him.

Not strong enough to injure, but enough to jolt his senses and break his aim.

"What—!?" Drevin's eyes darted back. "I didn't see any spell—"

Then realization struck him like ice.

"The ricocheting bullet… from earlier…"

Those bullets Selene empowered.

Those bullets Jax had hit him with.

One of them… had explosive runes.

He turned and saw Selene—

bloody, pale, but smiling with exhausted pride.

And then he saw it.

The flaming orange orb was still coming straight toward him and Iselde.

Drevin didn't hesitate.

He grabbed Iselde's wrist, dragged her down, and threw up his mirror shield.

The shield vaporized on impact, melted in a heartbeat—

But the two managed to duck under the blast.

Still, Drevin's entire back burned and sizzled, the smell of scorched cloth filling the air.

"Haa… haa…" he panted, teeth gritted. "We dodged it… He shouldn't have mana left after something like that. And Selene looks exhausted too… We can still win this."

Iselde nodded shakily beside him.

Jax smirked through bloody lips.

"You think I missed?"

Drevin froze.

"What…?"

Jax tilted his head. "Did I?"

Suddenly Drevin felt it—

a strange mana movement behind him.

He spun around, eyes widening.

The orange orb had a thin layer of runes on it.

And so did the blue orb that had phased through him earlier.

The blue orb that should've vanished moving toward orange red orb

Both orbs were curving—

moving toward each other.

Iselde's breath hitched.

"S-s-she… she was controlling them… the whole time…!"

Selene, still sitting on the ground holding her wand, smirked back at them.

The two orbs collided.

Fwoooom—!

A blinding, pure white sphere formed for an instant.

To Drevin and Iselde, it felt like time slowed.

The white sphere compressed—tight as a star—

and then erupted outward.

Spellshooter's Arsenal Combined technique: Runic Remote Duality Crash

Jax shouted: "Phase out of THIS!"

The white blast engulfed both Drevin and Iselde.

Their silhouettes dissolved instantly into shimmering particles, vanishing from the arena.

Silence fell.

Then—

A blood-soaked Jax, nose dripping red, shoulder pierced, chest bruised, legs shaking—

raised a trembling fist.

"We… win…"

He stumbled forward, somehow forcing his body to move, and reached Selene—who sat slumped on the ground with blood at her lips from mana exhaustion.

"SELENE—!"

He ran the last few steps, leapt—

and hugged her thighs, face buried against her lap.

"You're the BEST, Selene!!! That was INSANE! That magic—your plan—GENIUS!!!"

Selene's eye twitched. Hard.

"You… pervert… bastard…!"

She tried to kick him—

but her leg didn't move an inch.

She let out a breath. "I don't have the strength to hit you…"

Jax smirked weakly, leaning against her like a tired puppy.

"Good… 'cause I don't have the strength to move either… Let me rest…"

Selene sighed as his arms went limp.

The arena around them glowed as the dust settled..

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