"Pretentious as all hell. Guess you're also quick to forget!" The unmistakable sight of the flaming pillar jutting out from where Torren was thrown, quickly steaming away from the columns and boulders of ice.
"Huh..." The static crackling in the air lifted the hair off the back of his neck, leading him to leap over the sparking chains that flew past Vauntuss.
When more of the chains followed him, snaking up into the air, the creation of two icy formations helped guard him against the assault, they succeeded in driving him into the ground.
While Torren slowly approached.
'It's so hard to move like this but if it's for a little bit then maybe.' Taking a step forward, had him tearing through the earth as a blast rocked the spectators with the passing shockwave.
His movements brought his fist to meet Vauntuss who tried to summon his shell only for the ice to fail against the oncoming wave of heat.
Cornered by the pursuing chains and Torren who was blocking his approach.
Vauntuss' eyes took on the azure glow but his Flash Freeze spell barely held Torren back, with the crust of ice shattering immediately as a fiery strike ran through him. Knocking him back into the sparking chains.
But his assault didn't stop.
Like a fluttering flame, he blew across the scene, meeting his flight with another attack that sent Vauntuss into the air,
'I...just need to catch my...' He thought before noticing Torren's chase.
Vauntuss tried to stop him with ice formations stacked between them but the avatar of flame tore through them, when the last of the barriers revealed Vauntuss now holding a crystalline bow and a notched arrow gleaming from the light of Torren's flames.
"That little arrow won't stop me." Bringing his chains to guard him, the sparking lengths of steel began to glow from his heat and were now burning.
"Good...that works just as well for me." The arrow took on its own, humming with an ocean-blue glow as what would be the fletching of such a marvel caught fire.
Somehow flames spewed out of the glass-like arrow, in marriage of red, blue and violet flames but anyone who would notice the torch-like flames jetting out would not have enough time to react as it was let loose.
"Fall, Sujing. Ice VII!"
The arrowhead cracked and burst as the creeping ice molded itself into a more fearsome shape, raining rime in a sparkling display that shimmered with the light of the arrow's flames.
When the last of the rime fell, the arrow was let loose, shattering the bow as it launched in a frost bound flight, with its path tearing through the burning irons of Torren's guard before crashing below in a massive ice spray that left a terrifying mass of icicles jutting outwards.
Landing upon the layer of freshly laid snow, he quickly realized how much the air had lessened with Vauntuss remarking that he should have taken things a lot more seriously lest the flames of his opponent suffocate him.
"No one expects anything from someone like me and that's why I'll win." Torren expressed that he didn't train just to be looked down upon.
His words were met with murmurs from the crowd and even Class 1A was silent, choosing to hold their tongue after witnessing the unfolding battle, but Class 1F had a different reaction.
Stephen and Erai shared the same look of concern.
"Then allow me to correct my mistake. I won't be looking down on you anymore, Sujing. You've earned that much."
"So from now on, you had better fight for your life, because I may not be able to guarantee it." With hands outstretched, a formation of ice burst forth, jagged and harsh edges lined its cold assault with the wave of ice moving with no real shape to it, merely flowing over anything in its way.
The tundra waves would surge and rise high into the slowly lifting the mass of ice, while all the matter he commanded rushed in circular formulation, creating a halo of blue light above him with a mass of diamond-like refraction quickly taking shape at its center.
The mass grew both upwards and down to the young knight in the form of a crackling stroke of lightning frozen in time, with the moment the edge of this structure reached him, it stopped its growth.
Vauntuss gripped the structure with his left hand before shattering it in a single motion, creating a sparkling rain that fell all around him as he draw forth something from the remnants of the structure,
"Prey: The Daughters of Blue Snow!" The ring-like formation shattered and let out a chilling wail as the air quickly turned bitter.
The chill even bypassed the Ward and embraced the bystanders who quickly rushed as far as they could from it while the Student Generals moved to calm the crowd as Torren stood against the blast, the lone flame amongst the blizzard.
Even he struggled to discern what was causing his shaking...
"I'm not going to let a little snow stop me..." His flames bloomed once more, sprouting from within the storm that Vauntuss has created with the rising winds exciting the birth of thunder from his SoulArm.
"Enough!"
"Flash Freeze: Level 2. Blue World!" The same azure light flooded the Arena for a moment so brief that it fell beneath most notice.
After he spoke, the Arena fell silent, with the audience struggling to make sense of the events blanketed by the storm.
Until the ghostly shadow of a figure was spotted leaping into the Arena.
"Sheath your blade, Vauntuss Strum or you'll face disqualification." A voice sounded across the field.
With the teachers who had been strengthening the barrier working to dispel the storm.
When their efforts finally shone through.
Standing between the winter-veiled knight was none other than the President of the Disciplinary Committee, Arno Zirkus.
"He is beaten and you have won." Arno spoke holding the edge of his blade, as its chill crept up his hand.
"You shouldn't have interfered. I am merely honoring his desires. He will not yield, so I must fight honestly. Even if he dies." As Vauntuss spoke, Ms. Yuria leapt into the field, joined by a disgruntled Reiss.
"Student General Zirkus. Do you understand the consequences of your intervention?" She asked.
"I do ma'am. He is beaten. He cannot win."
"That's just it, it's not your choice to make. Stand down." Reiss' crimson eyes glinted and gave off a menacing aura that caught Ms. Yuria off-guard.
"He held back because of me. I trained him, so his inability to perform is a reflection on me. If I am his teacher then that also makes him my responsibility. And I refuse to let any of my students die if I can help it." Turning around and kneeling.
Before pulling off his coat and placing it on the charred and steaming figure that hardly resembled Torren.
"Even now, you're still fighting." Noting how half of his body wasn't completely frozen and was instead engulfed in still burning flames, fighting back against the advancing chill.
While the rest of him had tiny jets of flames sputtering through the cracks in his charred flesh, his will still burned brightly long after he was beaten.
Arno lifted him before walking past Vauntuss and Ms. Yuria. Approaching Reiss, the elf spoke,
"If that's the case, expect to be hearing from us soon." Letting out his cruel smile before walking away, leaving the field on his way to the stands.
"Sigh…"
"For the first semi-finals battle of the Cross Gardens Tournament. The victor is Vauntuss Strum of Class 1A." Ms. Yuria announced.
Her words were met by the unyielding cheers of his classmates, which were quickly joined by the chorus of the excited spectators.
"Please make your way to the Medical Ward so they may treat those injuries." She told Vauntuss who gave her a nod before sheathing his blade and finally belaying the intensity of the cold.
"Oh, who knew the Storm Knights of House Strum would be that strong?" Patrulea let out in surprise, only for Vaceris to turn to her with a disapproving gaze,
"It's expected of him, I think the most shocking thing about the whole battle was that he actually used it."
"Heh! I was talking to Erai...where...where did he go?" Noticing Vaceris pointing down to the field.
"The moment those two saw the Student General on the field, they were already heading down." Said Tersia as she made her way to the Medical Ward.
"If he hadn't stepped in, Stephen and Erai would have." Ketsu added as he left to join them with Vaceris and Sergei following after.
Walking through the corridors, Erai and Stephen encountered Vauntuss who had just been bandaged up.
"Your comrade fought valiantly, but I hope for all your sake that you begin to understand when you are out of your depth."
"If we do meet then you should expect the same from me as what you got today. None of them gave in, and I don't plan on being the first so you can keep your courtesy." Shynerai's emerald eyes lit up with his vibrant flames of Atash only for the energy to clash with that of Vauntuss' azure gaze.
"Don't confuse my courtesy for weakness. You only find yourself so fortunate because, by some fluke of nature your health is a matter of concern to someone dear to me. Do not forget that." Stifling his magic after Charlotte, Heimrill and Raon called him.
"You done barking at him?" Stephen scolded Erai.
"Stephen...I won't lose to him. Not today, not to him!" He said.
"You haven't let us down, I don't imagine you'll start today."