Simultaneously, ferocious and in sudden winds as if born from the beat of a Thunderbird's wings erupted from where the combatants stood. With emerald wisps surrounding the gathering force of Shynerai's Atash, the earth was carved into by the might that Ren seemed to command.
Reaching out as if he was drawing something from the air, Ren pulled apart the space in front of him, and from the wound, in reality, sprouted a length of birch snaked with a vibrant lotus vine.
Firmly held in his grip, the same ghostly force surrounding him, warped the oak into the shape of a bow. Finalizing its form with a swing, dispelled the warping forces that surrounded it.
Giving no opportunity for his foe to register his act, Ren drew back on the drawstring.
His movement heightened the sensations coming from the space around him, as he stood within the gathering of foreboding storm clouds.
"Consume the Light: Suneater."Whispering into the stretched length of the string before letting go. Dry firing the bow caused the ghostly forces to disperse momentarily before reforming around him.
Shynerai stepped out of the path that Ren fired in, moving with similar silence accompanying his intent. His pace quickly put him into the face of Ren, who remained still in his phantasmal stance.
Only for him to be overcome by a crackling sensation riding up from the base of his skull. One he knew meant something he had to fear, something he couldn't ignore.
But this instinct wasn't as forceful while he was using his Atash, so while he noticed the disturbance, his reactions met his reality. Being driven to the ground with a massive crater forming around him.
With little to no change in his expression as he watched Shynerai be driven into the dirt, he merely drew back on his bow before firing. And almost instantly the cratering wave burrowed into the impact site.
He maintained his assault, firing faster and faster, with the hole growing deeper, so much so that the emerald wisps could not be seen anymore. Easing his assault with the lessening of the ethereal sensation surrounding Ren.
A moment was given for the rising pillar of dust to clear before his gaze fixed squared on the gash carved into the ground, before reaching to draw his bow, his eyes caught the green flickers jutting out from his peripherals.
By the time he managed to turn and face its direction, Shynerai was already in flight…raising his arm that was snaked with fiery wisps. He threw a punch into the unsuspecting Ren, creating a brilliant flash upon contact.
The force of the blow was enough to have him leap back, an attempt to force some distance between them, with a confused look on his face. When he looked up, he saw Shynerai who stood behind a mound of dirt that was flung around the power of his fist.
He brushed aside the dirt to which he was able to see something seemingly familiar,
"It's not just the space around me you can alter, it's the same for the space around you." Getting into his stance with the power of his Atash gaining more luminance as the wildly flailing wisps merged into solid bands that coiled around his limb as a crown born of green flames sputtered into existence.
"..." With him ready to fire his next shot, Ren watched carefully for Shynerai's next move.
"You're wondering how I dodged it, that barrage of yours? Even though you didn't fire anything that I could see." Shynerai taunted him, even though Ren maintained his focus.
"Hmm, that's not something he should have caught onto." Reiss chuckled with a mild look of distress. Even to surprise the good doctor, who nudged him before taking a sip of his coffee.
"Your ears are doing that thing, what's on your mind?"
"You see that, down there?" Pointing to where Shynerai stood. Taking a skeptical look from the doctor before he put on his glasses to face the field.
"Oh Shynerai, the dear boy is on the battlefield. Flames and all. I wonder if that is the reason for his scars?"
"I don't need your medical eye right now, just your Guardian one."
"What do you expect of him?" Ms. Yuria hissed while the Headmaster held back her rage against Reiss.
The rest of the educators leaned over the rest of the crowd to try and see what Reiss was describing.
"So that wasn't always there, correct?" Salazar spoke up, his eyes wandering between his colleagues fearing he may have acted out of turn.
"All right so you can see it too. So if we can see it, why can he do it too?" Reiss suddenly shocked the fearful teacher. While everyone else watched with a look of confusion.
Where Shynerai stood, he reached down, grabbing a fistful of dust before picking up a few pieces of rubble.
Getting ready to throw the handful of dust only for the Atash around his right hand to be blown apart, with several cuts dripping some blood but even more surprising with the blood dripping down Ren's arm as well.
"Well that was quick." Reiss noted as he witnessed the exchange.
"So the real fight starts now is it?" Ulrich joined the rowdy group before sitting beside Salazar and the Headmaster, greeting him eagerly.
Not leaving a moment to chance, Shynerai charged ahead. While Ren wrestled his senses back to him before taking aim at him. Shynerai ducked down, scooping up more of the discarded rubble before launching it in a barrage toward Ren.
He barely moved as he dispatched them all. Still, his display did not halt Shynerai's assault, with each step gathering more dust and rubble before littering his opponent's gaze in a stony shower.
Met by the unseen arrows of the knight, the clash left a path of chaos that granted the audience a measure of what was actually happening.
Answering with boisterous cheers to finally have a performance they could follow. Amidst the rising passions, Alleiyna watched with a look of anticipation though not with a heart filled with joy, rather doing her best to stay her concern each time they clashed.
"Captain, you needn't have such a look of worry. He will return victorious." Sol noted his pressed expression beneath her auburn bangs.
"Am I always in your prayers Sol? You seem to have a way of catching wind of my troubled thoughts."
"Of course."
"Impressive, but you left yourself wide open!" The sweeping dust clouds parted between them as Shynerai weaved out of the way of three arrows only to be knocked into the dirt as Ren appeared behind him with a kick to his side.
Before his crash would come to a stop, Ren was already there to meet his opponent, flinging him into the walls of the Arena before warping him in time to catch Shynerai mid-flight as a crimson and jet black aura exploded from him with the chorus of gnashing blades accompanying this reaction.
Grabbing him by the collar, Ren planted his foot against the walls before launching himself upwards. Tearing a groove into the Arena's side with Shynerai's limp body.
Just as they breached the boundary of the Ward protecting the onlookers...Shynerai tried to free himself from Ren's grasp only for him to deliver and blow sending him into the air.
With his back facing the ground on his descent. Ren simply focused on the soaring target as he took aim.
While Shynerai twisted, the Dark metal scales shed, raining down in an ashen spray as emerald tendrils embraced his limbs. He turned to face Ren with a braced fist of emerald adornment.
"Whoever strikes first..." Alleiyna whispered with wide eyes clasped hands against her chest.
Elsewhere within the Arena.
"Will win."
Vaceris fell silent, with an intense look about her and a tight grip on his skirt, her gaze was embraced by the spark of emerald green light growing in the sky.
"Spatial Compression Magic: Vanishing Point." With his bow drawn to its fullest, was this motion put in place, disappearing in a lieu of a strange distortion surrounding his fall, the air itself split and torn away as reality fell apart around him, leaving a strange mix of black and red energy.
The crowd let out sudden gasps as they all noted his appearance high above, embraced by the afternoon sun. The crimson-black aura darkened around him as it consumed the light of the sun.
His shadow brought a noticeable sense of danger as Shynerai tried to pivot mid-flight when, just as the sudden stroke of wrathful thunder, Ren's arrow was let loose.
Disappearing from his bond, and re-merging on the Arena floor, with only the fletching fluttering in the wind as a violent vortex ripped all that previously stood in its way, down towards it.
A colossal volume of air brought down the Daumier with the shockwave following soon after the arrow took flight, it was only with the decisive actions of the ever-vigilant teachers, who took a moment from arguing to act with an impressive grasp of what was to come.
As seen when Reiss summoned his flaming sigils and bound them to the Arena walls, leaping into the air as Ulrich leapt after him. Placing a hand on his back and instantly disappeared from above the crowd.
With the mass of the entire stadium quickly followed suit leaving the Arena within the amber holds of the Ward for what seemed like an eternity just as a faint rumble was felt radiating throughout the school.
Before once, again reappearing where it previously stood. Now the stands and awnings above, still giving off a faint smoldering aura that quickly faded into a mirage.
"Everyone!" Several of the educators leapt off the stands following Ulrich's cry.
Descending into the void below, he reached into his coat before pulling out stones with strange markings on them. Flinging them into the walls of the Arena, each of the educators drew a blade before driving it into the stone closest to them.
With their movements synced, Ulrich landed on the few remaining surfaces when a blue flash of light was suddenly born from the center of the pit before instantly shrinking as the metal from the blades was pulled into it along with the sharded stones.
Breaking down as they approached the center in an ever-increasing orbit that seemed to grow in size. Only for Ulrich to throw another such stone in the anomaly before watching it vanish.
"It is done. Reiss." He called. And just as he did, the elf snapped his fingers as if striking flint with steel, and from the sparks, they all reappeared back on the stands.
"So where did you send it?" He probed.
"East to the Glass Sea." He said with an occupied look, as he tidied himself.
"Hmm, as if the Holy Church doesn't have enough reasons to be breathing down our neck. Now we'll have to hear from the Sword Isles." He mocked, as he turned to the Headmistress.
"It is quite all right. He prioritized the safety of the school and the students. Mr. Ulrich acted splendidly." looking at him as he honored him, Ulrich thanked her with a bow.
"That distortion was unstable. Had it been allowed to grow, it might have swallowed Deep City."
"I can't say we've ever been a fan of you and your frivolous use of Spatial Magic, especially in the hands of the youth. I've always wondered why Necromancy was regulated in Ignoria when stuff like this wasn't." Reiss mused as he returned his gaze to the dark hole.
From within a faint, glint could be seen.
Guttural cries married with feverish wincing at some depth into the pit. Something that brought a smirk to Reiss as his keen senses made known the odd
A struggling figure hung from a bloodied hilt as their sword was driven into the wall of the chasm, stopping his descent into death.
One hand held from dear life while the other gripped tightly at his waist. Looking up at the opening, he sees a shadow loom overhead.
"All of that and you're still holding on. Dammit, Erai." Ren let out with an exhausted expression, raising an eyebrow as he watched him flailing above the pit.
"Huff huff huff..."A strange sight for the generally jovial knight, with his furrowed brow followed by a huff as he kneeled, surprising Erai.
"I know you didn't want to but you have to concede."
"I…"
"I know you can't but you must. I shot you once and almost tore you in half. An ordinary man would have been turned into a pink mist."
"And I could have cut you down several times over. I don't want to kill you as much as you don't want to kill me...but it looks like we're running out of options." Getting an unexpected chuckle out of him as he slowly began walking down the chasm. Staring him down in his approach as though gravity was simply a suggestion to him.
"By FAE's hand, the moment I learned to tolerate my duty's need to cooperate with you Northerners, he sent someone like this. You, for as much as you are my opponent, it pains me each time I draw my bow."
"..."
"Because when I do, I don't see a foe, I see my friend."
"You honor me by calling me your friend. From when we first met to now with an arrow to my head. You name me as one who is precious to you."
"Why would he say that, Lady Alleiyna? I don't understand why he seems so fond of the snow-haired Daumier. Do they know each other, in a–"
"In a what, Sol?"
"A more intimate way, my lady?"
"Haha. He sees a kindred spirit in him. From what we learned, Shynerai is an orphan who was taken in by his father's companion, raising him as his own child. He sees someone who went through the same hell and came out just the same." She said with a more strained expression.
"But Astrapordt isn't the only orphan in the Aria, or even on the continent, I wouldn't be surprised if most Guardians shared in that despair."
"That may be true. But it wasn't them he met first, he met Shynerai."
"And when he did, he saw the kindness he once had. An innocence that persisted in spite of all he had lost. And a will just as fierce as the one he pledged to me."
A vibrant shudder shook Shynerai's body with vigor as he activated his Atash. While holding on, the Will Force coursed throughout his being with a sudden flare of emerald flames, as Ren drew his next arrow.
Only for him to pause as he nocked his ephemeral arrow, his eyes watched the green hues flicker from Erai before burning away as the snowy touch of his mane returned. Looking through the bangs with flameless eyes.
He saw an emerald edge gleaming through him as Shynerai's shadow drove it through Ren's side. The distortion around Ren shifted his attack that was aimed at his back.
Just as his blade vanished into evanescent wisps, the shadow used the last of its fading strength to launch Shynerai out of the crater before landing with a dust-bound crash.