The crowd's passion rose to meet the heights of the swelling winds, birthing a storm within the Arena and prompting Shynerai to take notice of the battle that had just begun.
Scanning the stands to find his classmates as he stepped out of the corridor before steadily making his way through the excited spectators, as they too felt the rush of the winds embrace them.
"We're so glad you could join us, Astrapordt, and that you found time in your schedule to join us?" Stephen scolded his tardiness as he moved to seat himself beside them.
"I'm sorry. Before I knew how late it was, it was already dawn."
"What could you have possibly been doing all night?" Tersia bumped his shoulder before handing him a bag, lacking most of her usual vigour...even stranger was the sight of an exhausted Vaceris beside her, who couldn't be bothered enough to react to his arrival.
"Sleep is hard to come by so I tend to meditate instead."
"Well, you'll be happy to know that someone else has caught your training fever." Vaceris moaned while rubbing her tired eyes, letting out the delightful little yawn.
"Don't mind her and just eat up. Torren was already up by breakfast time and he had a feeling you'd be having a rough morning." Tersia said with a gentle smile.
"I was a little surprised at first, but he can be quite thoughtful when he's not being an idiot." Said Vaceris.
"Hmm, but…what exactly did you do to him last night?"
"..." Stephen raised an eyebrow while the girls remained silent.
"Nothing special, just putting the situation he would be facing into perspective." Erai leaned over as she spoke, almost with a look that was asking for more but his focus quickly returned to the battle below.
'Guess Vaceris wasn't kidding around. Whatever it is, it's going to be protecting him the entire time.' Torren's flames had risen into a steady geyser, erupting so suddenly that the morning sun was eclipsed by the show of heat and light before the Vauntuss chilling magic reacted in kind.
"Let's see what you're capable of!" he called out to him while Vauntuss remained austere.
Having barely moved under the push of the forceful winds, the pillar of fire vanished in the wake of the fiery bolt that was launched at Vauntuss.
As Torren rushed across the Arena, the wind heated and scorched the path ahead of him while those that watched from behind were rocked by the sudden ferocity of the booming shockwaves of his flight.
The intensity of his assault was met by the instantaneous formation of crystalline forms taking the shape of a glistening pearl around his opponent.
The impact of the clash wrapped vermillion flames around the formation before the icy embrace shattered, raining on the burning scene with a shower of snow.
"Give up, Sujing.This is not a battle you can win." Vauntuss said, looking at Torren who reeled himself from the counter-attack.
"Oh you're worried, and here I thought you only extended such courtesy to maidens." He joked, noticing his flames were put out.
He cautioned his breathing before igniting them once more.
"But here's the thing. We both want to win, so the only way I'll stop is if one of us loses." Giving the knight a smirk before taking a deep breath.
"The other two, slight air and purging fire. Are both with thee, wherever I abide." The air around Torren burned fiercely.
Cloaked in a veil of flames, he took off and moving faster than before, he aimed to strike.
"Do not fret, here he comes." Vauntuss whispered, before summoning a fragment of the icy formation from his palm, shielding himself from Torren's attack.
With the sudden blow letting out a shockwave that carved at the earth between them as the force pushed him back.
Noticing his lowered guard, Torren moved against his exposed side only to be stopped by the icy formation barring his pursuit, forcing him to circle around his defence.
But before he realised the formations had spread all around him.
As they bloomed, they encased him in a prism that closed shut after a column of ice was summoned above it, crashing into place.
Though Torren wouldn't succumb so easily, with a spear of light shooting out of the prism.
Vauntuss was unsurprised by his reaction for the moment Torren leapt out like a star, he was met with an even greater frozen pillar.
The glistening surface refracted the brilliant flames and illuminated the Arena in a display of flickering bright lights.
The embers of Torren's flames rained down with the sputters of snow as he broke out of the shell. Hoping to take him by surprise with the attack by shattering his pillar.
Only for his blazing escape to be met by the appearance of several pillars warping in shape to form colossal gleaming blades, all of which launched right at him.
The immense structures towered over him and fell with a thunderous crash when...a strange arc of violet electric flickered all around the frozen remnants.
Running along the core of the buried blades before bursting apart, a geyser of steam streamed out, revealing a shaken Torren, doing his best to ignore the chill.
"All right, stop throwing those at me already..." His eyes widened as he spoke, only managing to avoid a frozen arrow that ripped past his side before cratering the earth beside him.
"This was unexpected." Vauntuss exclaimed, with the crystalline bow shattering, as his feet returned to the ground.
His touch birthed icicles that sprouted violently around him, quickly intensifying the chill that filled the Arena.
"You're far more resilient than I had expected but that only means this battle will be needlessly prolonged. Brace yourself."
"No, I think it's you who should brace himself!" Suddenly appearing in front of him, letting out a breath filled with flames, Torren grabbed him by his coat and took off into the Arena wall.
The force of the impact rocked the stands with a cloud of debris showering the scene.
"When your ice magic affects an area your focus drops and you can't create anything, but when you create forms of shapes it peeks and the surrounding temperature returns to normal."
"At first I thought it was weird how you were whispering to yourself but now I know it's not because you're a madman. There's something or someone you are dealing with or maybe even holding back."
"I have to say, realising that you've been holding back because you're entertaining someone else would make me mad but right now, I'm doing everything I can to win!" Said Torren, now pinning him against the wall in a fiery grip.
His flaring flames charred their way through his coat but couldn't reach his flesh, with the rising veil of steam coming off from Vauntuss.
"Man, you've got some absurd magical control, shielding yourself like that." Torren tried to drive him into the wall with another intense blow, forcing the bystanders nearby to escape the touch of the flames.
Yuuki.
Öndurdís.
Khione.
"Nope it's Torren but don't worry–I'll make sure you remember it." Now drawing out even more of his flames, he raised him even higher with the light coming off him being so bright that it cleared the scene, allowing the crowd a glimpse at the spectacular display.
"He managed to back him against the wall." Class 1A couldn't believe their eyes, with the typically reserved Charlotte being just as surprised by the sight.
"Vaceris..." Erai called out to her, but seeing her expression was enough for him to know that she too had seen it.
"He needs to let go!" Erai muttered under his breath.
"I thought you couldn't sense magic, and yet you seem to be quite concerned about your little friend." A familiar voice stated.
Sitting beside Erai and watching along while everyone instantly readied themselves to attack, Ketsu and Erai sat with no reaction to Patrulea's sudden appearance, as they continued to watch the battle.
"It's not his magic that is the problem, it'...there's something surrounding him, it's different. Whatever it is, it's getting closer to Torren."
"It's death or to be more accurate, murderous intent." Patrulea answered without her usual nonchalant tone.
"And how would either of you even know that?" Stephen questioned while holding back Vaceris with Tersia's help.
"Same way the rest of you can feel it. All of our senses were heightened after we survived the Configuration, it stands to reason that our instincts would be similarly improved."
"Sure except that's not what I'm getting, neither of us are. So why is it that the two of you are so sure?" He pressed with a suspicious expression about him.
"Once you've witnessed real death, its scent, touch, and chill becomes unmistakable." She answered, her words visibly angering Shynerai who remained silent.
"Enough! Did all of you forget that this is Torrens's battle? We should all be doing our best to support him. And you, if you going to be here then you might as well stay quiet."
"Unless you have something to say about that?" Vaceris moved Erai out of the way and placed herself between him and Patrulea.
"If you don't like something, then you should speak up, or else you don't have any right to be unhappy with the way things turn out." She whispered to him while everyone settled down.
While his scowl wasn't lifted by her words, he thanked her before focusing on the battle once more.
Where the flames Torren summoned were now engulfing them both, with the backdraft from Vauntuss' magic sending out a shock wave that shook the Arena.
"Fall Dammit!" Torren winced as his vision became more blurred with the flaring heat, burning hotter than even he was prepared for.
The intensity caused him to grow quite weary as the force of the backdraft had him stumbling away from Vauntuss, who was pinned against the crumbling walls.
Where he managed to free himself with another burst of his icy influence while also managing to quench the flames.
"It must be hard to stand with how much oxygen you've burned through. Now, will you heed my words?" Raising frozen bars that quickly encircled him, while Torren tried to get a hold of his wits.
"Screw you!" Torren shot back as he tried to burn down the ice pillars but his fire barely flared with the sputters of flame showing no strength when met against the cold.
With Vauntuss' magic reacting once again as another cold wave poured over him, this time, the frost trapped his legs in ice.
"I have no interest in prolonging this battle. If you will not submit then I will make you."
"Tch! Of course, you aren't. I know, I'm a nobody, certainly not anyone you would take notice of. Stephen and Ketsu would be the only ones you're worried about...no, not just them. You probably have your sights on someone like Erai too." His words became more incoherent with his shivering.
"..."
"B–but. If you think I'm just going to lie down and make this easy for you, then I hope you're ready to learn just how wrong you are."
"You honestly think I'll just stand here and wait for you to finish?" Pointing at the pillars, the icy columns sprouted even more columns, jutting out into the trap with impressive force.
The structures struck where Torren stood with a terrifying crash as a shockwave whipped out from the rising plume of snow and dust.
When suddenly, vermillion flames sputtered out before their appearance fell away as the light show of violet arcs of thunder sprang out for the obscuring cloud that was covering the centre of the impact.
The arcs tore at and carved into the surroundings nearby in an indiscriminate fashion.
Revealing Torren who freed himself with the help of the crackling thunder that shattered his icy bonds:
"Arno, I know I promised not to use this, but..." The sparks finally stopped as the violet cloak of thunder that surrounded him started floating in an airy dance displaying the shimmering steel that formed the entire length of the chain.
"I'm bagging this bitch!"
"So you decided to use it, your SoulArm." Vauntuss asked after the dust cloud cleared.
"The World Ties: Warldslispar!"
Vauntuss still stood unshaken by this new change, but he wasn't alone in his strange response as the crowd's hushed comments and murmurs showed that not much was thought about what Torren had done.
"Idiot."
"That's a little harsh don't you think?" Tersia responded to Stephen's remark.
"I'm not talking about Torren." As she pointed at Vauntuss.
The young knight got ready to charge when in less time than he had to blink, his eyes were met by the appearance of the chain headed straight at him.
His gaze shifted from Torren to the attack, but with barely any sign that he had made a move and even less time to react...he had to think quickly.
Showering his opponent with the obnoxiously bright flash of his azure light, his blue gaze blasted Torren and his attack, freezing the chain in place mere moments before striking.
Granting him the chance to move out of the way.
With the electrified chain grazing past his cheek. It was from that touch, that Torren gave a smirk.
With sharp senses that were ever vigilant, Vauntuss' gaze noticed the slight vibrating of the chain, cracking the ice and freeing itself before shooting straight for his head.
Vauntuss tried to raise his guard with an icy formation as his shield, but strangely, as he did the chain almost seemed to pass through the shield and into his arm, forcing him back as he launched away with the help of the forming ice pillars.
"Block all you want, throw as much snow as you have to but none of it will be enough." Torren called the chains back as they snaked around him.
Vauntuss took a look at his wound which was now frozen shut with crimson snowflake patterns.
He tried moving his arm around to see how much use he could still get out of it, but Torren wouldn't give him such a chance as the chains rushed him, the length spawned out of a void to corner him.
Vauntuss decided for a different tactic by surfing the frigid scene on frozen waves as the metallic assault barrelled down on him.
But he was not moving without purpose. With the crests of the tundral waves obscuring more and more of the Arena, the chain's pace rose to keep up.
As the young knight's steps flowed gracefully around the Arena, with the sparking chains ripping through the obstacles in close pursuit.
Before appearing from out of the nearby glacier when the chains chased through it.
This time, ripping through it and showering the scene in icy boulders, only for Vauntuss to use the rain of debris and lunge at Torren, once again constructing his icy pearl using the Ice X spell as the crystalline formations trapped them.
Torren thought nothing of the prison and commanded his chains to bear down against the shell, believing they would simply pass through but Vauntuss didn't look back from his chase.
His sights firmly placed on him and the violet arcs emanating from Torren's body.
From the moment the shell was created, he continued his charge, only ever acting to avoid Torren's gaze, and pushing towards him within the bounds.
The chains got closer with the frost building up and lining the surface of the prison and hiding the happenings from the observers.
"It's over!" Clenching his fist, calling the chains to bind Vauntuss when...
Something unexpected happened–the chains reached the pearl only to be deflected off its surface and driven into the ground, while the sparks ripped into anything nearby, rending the Arena and scarring the scene.
'What?' Torren turned back only to nearly avoid the incoming pillar that smashed right through the pearl from Vauntuss.
"Using a high-frequency current to vibrate your chains has its downsides. Passing a current like that through a metal cooled to absolute zero has a unique effect."
"Bastard!" Torren scoffed as the chains disappeared and reappeared within the icy pearl's confines.
"As long as you try to attack me with your chains, they won't hit me."
"Shut up!"
"It was a noble effort, but you cannot defeat me like this." Stepping to the side to avoid his chains just he summoned a pillar of ice to launch Torren off his feet and right into a kick that had him shattering what remained of the pearl.