The hue of orange blended with and gave away the intricate lines of the huddled clouds; the same one that made the arena all the more darker.
Or at least, that was supposed to be the case.
In reality, the same white shards emitting the commenters' voice brought light to brighten the arena enough.
Down there, the blonde light mage; Princess Noelle Trysta took no effort in avoiding attacks. In fact, she was way faster.
Every time she dodged, she engulfed herself in a silhouette of yellow light that moved faster before they could react. To add salt in the wound, her eyes gave away her boredom, she even yawned and dodged with her eyes closed.. It's a no-brainer to say her opponent was upset.
She stomped the ground and glared at Noelle. "NOELLE! Can't you just actually fight me!?" the anger in her voice was palpable.
No can do, I might just give your long, beautiful hair a big haircut. Noelle kept her snicker to herself.
The commenter too, held in a snicker. "Well, well, well! It seems like Princess Trysta shattered the composed facade of Bellatrix Annora! Ms. Phoebe, what are your thoughts?"
"Please stop asking me.. I'm getting tired of doing this with you." she pleaded, the urgency being as though she was suffering through hell.
Bellatrix punched the air straight with her green-glowing fist, followed by sharp, instantaneous winds that sliced through the air.
Noelle absorbed herself in a yellow silhouette as earlier with the slices of wind passing through her–yet she was completely fine.
.
"We're going home, no buts." Sévir declared, his aura giving off a no-compromise vibe.
"But Brother! Are you really going to leave Ms. Minerva alone in Magiaville??" Zephyr shot back, worried.
His eyes narrowed by reflex. "Are you forgetting it's our family's death anniversary tomorrow? We can't skip it!" he emphasized on the death anniversary, sighing disappointedly after. "If only I knew you'd act like this, I wouldn't have told you Minerva's staying there."
"But–"
"She's fine alone," he folded his arms by reflex, "she was completely fine with me ditching the idea. While I didn't tell her about the death anniversary, I doubt she would have inquired about it."
She frowned and turned the other way to show her displeasure.
Sévir was having none of it though. "Is that mentor of yours more important than our family?" the edge in his voice was loud and clear.
"..She's not just my mentor, she's more than that." she replied faintly.
Sévir rubbed his chin, deep in thought.
Zephyr turned back and noticed. "What are you thinking about?"
"I suppose I can pull some strings with the witch if I wanted to," he relaxed his arms, "I'll think about it.. But one thing's for sure.. I'm not allowing you to stay behind with her."
Zephyr shrugged. "Fine by me, at least she doesn't get lonely.." a coy smile curved up. "And you two can have some nice alone time–" he flicked her forehead, which was met with a shriek.
"I should ban you from reading romance novels–it's rotting your brain."
While she covered her forehead, her gaze turned to the magic mirror.
It displayed the fight going on between Noelle and Bellatrix–she was awestruck with their sheer speed, especially Noelle's.
"Princess Trysta is amazing, isn't she..?" she said in admiration.. This did not sit well with Sévir.
"Don't go idolizing a Trysta–they're all snakes." Zephyr shivered for a split second from the coldness of his tone.
His frown was evident, yet it scared Zephyr since it was much deeper than he often expressed. She nodded, not wanting to escalate things.
.
The princess' movement was as graceful as her aura, moving away from Bellatrix's attacks assisted by the wind like it was the easiest thing to do. Yet, she refused to attack.
Fed up with her antics, Bellatrix jumped and spun around as fast as a tornado–forming with her as the epicenter. To the onlookers, it was nothing short of a spectacle.
The tornado was massive and violent, threatening to blow Noelle off to the wall if she dared to step forward.
The light sources were fogged by the clouds, which seemed to link with the tornado. The temperature dropped, the sky growled as light blue bolts jolted left and right.
While her long blonde hair danced along with the turbulent wind, her feet remained planted to the ground; she stared the tornado down, fearless of what may come.
Lesser tornadoes pushed out of the former and waltzed its way towards her. The said bolts of lightning rained and struck her down.. At least that's what was supposed to happen.
She raised her hands at that very moment, glowing bright yellow. The lightning rained down, yet she was unaffected–it was all targeting her glowing hands, as though she was attracting and absorbing them.
While it continued, slices of wind joined the fray with the same intent, only for her body to glow yellow the moment they came too close.
At last, the smaller tornadoes reached her.. She clenched her fist, cutting the barrage of lightning short and aimed down; the said lightning met the ground and expanded throughout the arena–tenfold.
It was like water contaminated by electricity–but grander. The streaks of lightning grew in unpredictable lengths, reaching even Bellatrix; high up but hidden within.
.
To the onlookers, it was like a fight between the gods of light and air; hints of brilliance glowing through the clouds that expanded downwards, blocking their view yet again.
"Ooh man! I'm getting shivers!" a student hugged herself, commenting excitedly.
"The sound of turbulent winds, exactly like the gods of air.. And the brilliance of light like the gods of light.." the student beside her nodded. "It's amazing."
.
As quick as it formed, the thick clouds that engulfed the arena disappeared, baring the sight of Bellatrix, unconscious. Her body twitched ever so slightly as small bolts of electricity zapped her here and there.
.
"A STRAIGHT VICTORY FOR STEPAN ACADEMY! THAT'S IT FOR PRAEFATOR ACADEMY; THEY ARE OFFICIALLY OUT OF THE DUNKRON SHOWDOWN!!" the commenter exclaimed as loud as he could, responded by cheers and applause from the crowd–of course the only exception being the Praefator students.
"Princess Trysta didn't even look like she was trying–she was just playing with Praefator's final representative! Ms. Phoebe, what can you say about this!?" he turned the attention to her, much to her displeasure.
"..You quite literally took all the words off my mouth, so stop asking me."
"Well then, let's see.." he rustled through paper then exlciamed an aha! "Our final match for today.. Stepan Academy of the Stepan Empire against the Zenith Institution of the Abresian Hegemony."
"Just like the Stepans, the Abresians stood their ground, dominating each and every duel.. Now, it's the best against the best.." he held in his ever growing excitement. "We begin in 30 minutes. Princess Trysta, you may leave the arena. Escorts, assist Bellatrix out."
.
The Undefeated Octet grouped up in the middle of a big room, lit up with torches on each side. The floor was made of oak wood, and its walls were made of sandstone.
Minerva and the rest were facing Noelle with looks of determination.
"Is this really necessary?" Noelle asked, worried.
Damon nodded. "Consider fighting all of us as your training for the next one."
Minerva rested her cutlass by her shoulder. "This much should be more than enough, shouldn't it?" she glanced at Meredith. "She'll toss a coin up, we begin when it lands."
Noelle tugged her sleeves. "Okay then.."
Meredith tossed the coin up high, exploding with purple sparks upon landing.
They scattered around in an instant, attacking the princess with a variety of spells–all of which she avoided.
Gertrude spearheaded the attack with hasty barrages of punches; all of which went through her as the parts he hit glowed yellow.
A ray of light speeded from behind, hitting not Noelle, but Gertrude as she transformed into a ball of light and flew around the room.
The accurate thrower, Meredith, missed all her throws.. Noelle was just faster.
Transforming back to her body, she extended her hand and aimed at Keahi the moment she caught him about to snap his fingers. He was slower, allowing the ray of light to catch his hand.
Ignoring his loud groan, she turned around as water propelled towards her, transforming into a yellow silhouette yet again, evaporating the water when it reached her.
For the first time, she actually moved away even in her silhouette form as she saw a coin flying towards her–it exploded with purple sparks when it landed.
What's going on!? It's seven against one! Why can't we take her down!? Damon frowned in frustration. He braced himself with his staff and rushed her down, swinging his staff at her the moment she transformed back to her body.
Noelle caught the staff with her elbow and used her free hand to move it across, closing the distance and slightly hopping to elbow him right at his nose.
He was forced to the ground when Meredith's coin landed and zapped him–which Noelle avoided by becoming a yellow silhouette again.
You all have a long way to go, she transformed mid-air and snapped her fingers, flashing everyone with a very bright light that forced them to shut their eyes, to me, you're all still elementary level. she clasped her hands then pulled them away–conjuring a glowing leash.
She swung it at Minerva and wrapped her without much resistance. Ready for a swing? she giggled and mustered all her strength, carelessly swinging Minerva to everybody else like she was some ragdoll.
Minerva flew by everyone, hitting them to the point they fell to the ground. When the leash disappeared, she flew and landed on top of Meredith.
Noelle laughed in glee from the sight. "Oh, I got you guys well!"
When they opened their eyes, they could only muster a frown and meek groans.. Just like that, the princess showed them who the First Undefeated was, and it wasn't even close.