The collision was deafening.

Kai and Sylas met in the center of the arena like two storms crossing paths. Stone ruptured beneath their feet, shards and dust spraying outward in a shockwave. For an instant, their silhouettes blurred into a single violent clash, and then Sylas's bulk broke through. He had channeled mana into his horns and claws, his beastly frame glowing faintly with that molten amber light. His right claw, tipped with jagged bone, caught Kai full across the chest.

The strike cracked the air like a cannon.

Kai was hurled backward, his body slamming into the arena wall with such force that runes etched along the stone flared defensively to keep the structure from collapsing. Dust exploded outward in a choking veil, debris raining down in dull clatters. The watching students reeled at the impact, hands shielding their faces from grit carried by the blast.

For a breath, Sylas looked like the embodiment of dominance, chest heaving, steam curling from his nostrils. He stalked forward through the haze, claws dragging trenches into the floor, preparing to finish what he had started. His laughter rolled out of him, deep and guttural, half man and half beast.

But the ground answered Kai before Sylas could.

The cracked stone beneath the minotaur hybrid convulsed. A groan echoed through the arena as a fissure split open, and from its depths a colossal arm of earth surged upward. Its fingers were carved from raw stone, fused with veins of glowing sand, moving with unnatural precision. It slammed into the ground between Sylas and Kai, the impact quaking through the entire arena. Stone fragments flew in all directions.

The arm wasn't just a shield—it bent, scooping downward into the wall where Kai had fallen. Its massive hand closed around him, not to crush, but to protect. In one fluid motion, the arm dragged both itself and Kai beneath the surface of the arena, vanishing into the depths like a titan sinking back into the earth.

Gasps erupted from the students.

"Did… did he just hide underground?" Lira's voice trembled as she leaned forward, eyes scanning the fractured floor.

"Coward's move," Kael muttered, though his words were hollow, almost forced, as if saying it could mask the unease building in his chest.

"Not cowardice," Darius countered, lips twitching into a grin. "He's planning something. He always is."

From the dais above, the faculty didn't move, but their eyes sharpened, following every tremor that ran beneath the arena's scarred surface.

Sylas threw his head back and bellowed with laughter, his deep voice echoing off the cracked stone walls. "Hiding, Kai? That's your great answer to my strength?" He stomped heavily, claws curling as he peered into the trembling ground. "You think if you wait me out, I'll burn through this form? Fool. I can stay in this shape all day."

His claws gleamed with residual mana, his voice turning sharp with scorn. "Do you know how my body works? No—you couldn't, or you wouldn't have wasted that little trick." He slammed a clawed fist against his chest, the bone plates ringing like armor. "I don't just adapt on the outside. My physiology reshapes itself inside too. My mana channels aren't just stronger—they're efficient. I burn in surges, conserve in shifts, re-use what I expend. Micro-surges, Kai. My blood and marrow store more energy than your whole frame could hold."

He swiped his talons across the ground, gouging new trenches as he roared into the cracked arena. "You're playing for time, thinking I'll run dry. But listen well. This transformation doesn't linger forever—but it lasts long enough to analyze and counter your every move. And you? You've shown me nothing but dirt, stone, and sand. Earth magic. Variations or not, you're done."

The words rolled like thunder through the silent stands.

The ground beneath Sylas's hooves shuddered violently. Dust leapt, stones rattled. His grin widened, assuming Kai would burst upward from below. But what came was something else entirely.

With a sudden roar of earth, another arm erupted upward—not where Sylas expected, but directly beneath him. It tore through the cracked stone, jagged and massive, its hand opening to seize him. The hybrid's instincts surged faster than thought. His legs bunched, muscles thickening, and in a flash of agility that betrayed his massive frame, he launched himself skyward.

The arm's fingers snapped closed, catching only empty air where Sylas had stood a heartbeat before.

He landed atop the massive arm itself, boots slamming down on its closed fist. His claws dug in for balance, his horns lowered like a bull taunting its prey. His grin spread wide, sharp and menacing.

"That's all you've got?!" he shouted, voice booming across the arena. "Big fists of stone? You'll have to do better than—"

The arm trembled.

From within its stony core, a voice resonated, deeper than the groan of stone, amplified by mana. Kai's voice.

"No," it boomed. "I'm just getting started."

The students froze. Even Sylas's grin faltered, his amber eyes narrowing as the truth sank in. Kai wasn't simply hiding beneath the ground. He was inside it, his mana fused with every grain of stone, every seam of sand, his voice carried through the very earth itself.

Sylas crouched low atop the arm, claws ready. For the first time, he looked wary.

The voice came again, rumbling through the trembling stone. "Since you've adapted to my earth magic… it seems I'll need to reveal what else I've learned."

The arm beneath Sylas convulsed once, violently shaking as if ready to crush the arena whole. Then it stilled. Slowly, it began to sink, pulling itself back into the earth. Its massive bulk slipped downward like a drowning giant, vanishing until only jagged cracks remained where it had stood.

Sylas hopped down lightly, landing on the scarred arena floor. His grin returned, though thinner than before, his voice mocking but edged with caution. "Stop wasting time, Kai. Your earth tricks won't work on me."

The arena grew still. Dust hung in the air, silent, heavy. Students leaned forward in their seats, breaths caught. The faculty exchanged glances but said nothing.

Somewhere deep beneath the ruined floor, Kai prepared to rise again.

The air shifted first. Mana thickened in waves, pressing against skin and lungs, but this wasn't the dense, suffocating weight of earth magic. It was different—lighter, yet sharper, carrying a vibrant sting that made every hair stand on end. Even the sunlight seemed to sharpen, gilding the haze of dust with an emerald glow.

Aiden muttered under his breath, "What is this?" His words trailed into silence as the ground cracked again.

From the splintered floor, green shot upward. Thin blades of grass, impossibly alive in the ruined arena, pushed through the cracks. Vines followed, curling in frantic spirals, snaking across the stone in writhing webs. Roots tore upward with violent force, splitting the floor, breaking through the slabs Sylas had scarred. They moved with unnatural speed, too alive to be mere plants.

Gasps echoed through the tiers.

"Nature magic," Lira whispered, clutching her sleeve. "But that's—"

"—forbidden in duels," Kael cut in, though his voice wavered. His eyes, wide and glinting, didn't leave the sight of it. "Rare. Dangerous. Unstable."

Darius only smiled, teeth flashing. "Beautiful."

The roots spread wider, curling in tangles until they converged around a single point in the cracked floor. From that nexus, Kai rose. He emerged as though carried by the earth itself, lifted on a coiling pillar of vines that spread like a throne beneath him. His aura had changed—gone was the heavy, grounding stillness of stone. Now it rippled outward in wild, pulsing waves. His eyes glowed faintly green, and when he inhaled, leaves sprouted and withered on the roots around him in the space of a breath.

Sylas growled, baring his teeth, claws flexing.

Kai's voice carried, low but resonant, each word cutting clear through the stunned silence. "First Form—Nature Pulse."

The arena came alive.

Roots, vines, and blossoms spiraled upward, weaving with shards of stone and clouds of grit. They didn't move randomly; they moved in rhythm, a living storm guided by Kai's hands. Blossoms erupted midair in bursts of green and crimson mana, each detonation shaking the ground with compressed force.

Vines lashed outward like whips, dragging slabs of rock with them, turning stone into chained flails. Roots cracked upward through the floor in waves, tearing like spears, while grass spread beneath Sylas's hooves, slick and shifting like quicksand.

It was beautiful and terrifying, a dance of living growth entwined with destruction.

Sylas snarled and charged into it. His roar boomed across the stands as he slammed his claws into the ground. Mana surged down his arms, and the floor erupted outward in seismic bursts, shockwaves tearing through roots and grass, scattering debris. He swung his horns, cleaving through vines that tried to bind him. Blossoms exploded against his bone armor, splintering it in shards, but his Adaptive Shell thickened, scales rippling into new plates. He tore his way forward, every step shaking the ground.

"You think flowers and vines will stop me?!" he bellowed, ripping a root in half with his claws. "I am not prey for your garden!"

Kai didn't flinch. His hands swept outward, commanding the storm. A wave of roots snapped forward, dragging stone like anchors at their ends, striking Sylas in a furious combo. He staggered under the weight but roared back, his horns glowing faintly with amber mana. He spun, sweeping his horns wide, shattering vines in a burst of light.

The clash shook the arena, Sylas's brute destruction colliding against Kai's elegant devastation. Roots lashed, blossoms burst, shards flew in deadly arcs, while Sylas smashed, shredded, and tore. The arena floor, once whole, became a wasteland of splintered stone and writhing growth.

Students shouted and shielded their faces as debris flew into the tiers. Faculty raised their hands, barriers shimmering faintly, though none moved to stop the duel.

Kai pressed harder. His eyes blazed, his aura wild, his voice rising. "Let's end this."

He lifted both arms. The ground convulsed. Roots and stone surged together, weaving into colossal spears that jutted upward in a circle around Sylas. They shook with contained force, mana coursing through them like veins of fire. With a single downward sweep of Kai's arms, they launched inward.

The spears converged in a massive pulse. The impact cracked the arena floor wide, shockwaves splitting the walls. Runes flared desperately, straining to hold the arena together, their light flickering in sputtering bursts.

The explosion was deafening.

Students ducked as debris and dust tore upward in a storm. Several cried out as chunks of stone crashed against the shimmering wards. Faculty muttered incantations, reinforcing the runes that threatened to give way.

Within the chaos, Sylas fought back. His roar split the storm as he smashed through spears, his horns cleaving stone, his claws shredding roots. But even he faltered under the sheer weight of it, bone armor cracking, his frame staggering.

The arena floor collapsed in sections, leaving yawning gaps where roots and rubble fell into darkness. Dust engulfed everything, swallowing both fighters in a choking shroud.

And then—silence.

The dust settled slowly, curling in the sunlight that pierced the broken wards above. The arena was half-destroyed, its once-smooth floor now a battlefield of splintered stone and tangled roots.

Kai stood near the center, breathing hard, his body trembling, aura flickering but present. The glow in his eyes dimmed slightly, exhaustion creeping through his limbs.

Sylas was on one knee. His bone armor was cracked, jagged pieces broken off, steam rising from his back where mana burned too hot. He planted one clawed hand on the floor to steady himself, his chest heaving with ragged breaths.

Before either could move again, the headmaster's voice cut through the chaos.

"Enough."

The word carried power, booming through the ruins like a command written into the air itself.

Every gaze snapped to the dais. The headmaster stood, crimson robes brushing the stone, flames licking at his hands. He sighed, shoulders sagging slightly as he looked at the devastation.

"Always trying to destroy my arena," he muttered, weary, almost amused.

The students fell silent, cowed by the weight of his presence. Even the faculty straightened in their seats.

The headmaster lifted a hand, flames flickering higher. "Winner—Kai."

The arena erupted in murmurs. Some students cheered, others whispered doubt, a few simply sat stunned at what they had witnessed.

The headmaster's gaze flicked toward Sylas. "Take care of that one." He gestured toward the arena floor. "He'll need it."

A medic mage moved swiftly, robes trailing as they descended into the ruined ring. Sylas slumped sideways, the last of his monstrous form fading, bone plates retracting into steaming flesh. His eyes dimmed but still burned with defiance, even as the medic began their work.

Kai remained standing, swaying slightly, but steady enough. His aura faded completely now, the glow in his eyes vanishing, leaving only the exhaustion of what he had unleashed. He looked down at his hands, dirt and blood streaking his knuckles, roots still curling faintly around his boots before withering away.

The headmaster's gaze lingered on him, narrowed—not with anger, but with something more calculating. A measuring of weight. A silent acknowledgment of what had just been revealed.

Above, the students whispered and murmured, but all faded into background noise. The image that lingered was not the arena, nor the destruction, but Kai—standing amid ruin, victorious yet tired, his growth undeniable, his path only just unfolding.

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