"I apologise to the audience," Kiana said softly, her voice carrying a chilling echo. "But I have no desire to waste unnecessary time in this match. I am going all out from the very get-go."

Ryan’s eyes sharpened behind his specs. Sensing a massive, unnatural spike in atmospheric pressure, he quickly leapt away from her range.

However, the other representatives – Nishiki and Joseph – were eager to make a name for themselves by taking down the princess. They lunged directly toward her from both flanks, weapons drawn, intending to interrupt her before she could set off whatever she was about to.

But they were already too late.

Kiana gently closed her eyes, took a deep, freezing breath and whispered two words to herself:

"Absolute Zero."

Instantly, her deep blue hair underwent an unnatural transformation, lightening into a glowing icy sapphire. High above her head, the ambient moisture in the air condensed rapidly, beginning to form the ethereal, jagged outline of a majestic ice crown – though it remained fractured and incomplete.

WHOOSH!

A cataclysmic wave of below-freezing mana exploded from her body in an omnidirectional shockwave.

In seconds, a blinding blizzard of icy death engulfed the entire arena floor.

A black cloud of icy fog violently slammed into the reinforced magical barrier nearest to her, and even though the barrier held, preventing the fog from breaking through into the crowd, the supernatural temperature drop did manage to bleed through.

Thousands of spectators shivered as misty breaths began to form from their mouths. Hope buried her face into Kurt’s blazer, whimpering from the sudden chill, while Sadie hugged herself and chattered her teeth loudly.

Once the fog froze over the whole arena and finally cleared a few seconds later, the floor was revealed. And it was a landscape of pure, unmitigated horror.

The entire stone pit had been transformed into a frozen wasteland of solid, jagged glaciers. Nishiki and Joseph didn’t even have the chance to scream; they stood completely frozen solid inside two thick blocks of unbreakable ice with their expressions locked in a state of terror.

["IN-INCREDIBLE!"] Commentator Ken chattered into the mic. ["In a single attack, Princess Kiana has beaten the competition–!"]

["Wait!"] Faye cut in. ["Look at the center stage! The match isn’t over!"]

CRACK!

Right at the edge of the northern glacier, a series of bright red, glowing thermal lines cut through the thick ice.

SHATTER!

With an explosive blast, a sleek, terrifyingly advanced piece of machinery broke free from the frozen prison.

A pitch-black magically engineered armored suit landed heavily on the icy floor. The armor plates shifted in place, and behind the glowing crimson visor of the helmet, the smooth voice of Ryan Sindelle echoed out.

"Man... that was a close one. I really wanted to save this prototype suit for the big dogs later in the tournament. But it looks like I’d better use it right now, or I’m going to get turned into a popsicle."

["LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! JUST AS PRINCESS FAYE SAID! THE FIGHT IS NOT OVER! Tricea’s captain has unveiled a new, next-generation magi-tech exoskeleton suit! What on earth is this mechanical monstrosity?!"]

"This is the apex of Tricean innovation," Ryan proclaimed as the thrusters beneath his feet roared, shooting him forward like a literal railgun.

"Not so fast!"

Kiana unleashed a relentless barrage of towering ice spears, freezing vortexes, and literal glaciers. But the black mechanical suit was a masterpiece of battlefield engineering.

Hiss!

The suit’s gauntlets projected high-density plasma blades that sliced through Kiana’s unbreakable ice spears as if they were warm butter.

Utilising the suit’s advanced multi-element integration – his thrusters burned with fire mana to neutralise her frost, while his armor plates crackled with lightning to accelerate his speed beyond the human eye’s ability to track.

Kiana movements, albeit graceful, became increasingly desperate. All while she pushed her mana reserves to its absolute limits, the jagged ice crown hovering above her head was getting fuller and fuller, taking a proper, completed shape.

"No... no, no, no! Stop it, Kiana!" Junior began to panic. "That crown... If that crown is completed, she’ll lose all control and her mana veins will completely rupture from the inside out!"

BOOM!

"Just give up, Princess!" Ryan’s voice boomed through his crimson visor as he effortlessly deflected another wave of ice, delivering a devastating punch straight through Kiana’s defensive wall.

CRACK–SHATTER!

The ice wall shattered, and Kiana was sent skidding backward across the ice, a trail of fresh blood leaking from the corner of her lips.

"You’re not looking so good, Princess! Your vitals are dropping into the red zone! Just give up!"

"N-Never..."

"Then whatever happens next is all on you."

.......

THWACK!

"G-Gah!"

The beatdown that followed was nothing short of brutal. The advanced suit was simply too fast, too versatile, and completely immune to her environmental freezing.

Ryan systematically dismantled her defenses, delivering heavy strikes that broke through her ice armor and sending her crashing into the frozen ground time and time again.

Yet, every single time, Kiana forced herself back up, whipping her lightened sapphire hair around her bruised face. She refused to utter the words of surrender.

Up in the stands, the Eldorian crowd fell into a painful silence. Many couldn’t even bear to watch their beloved youngest princess being beaten this gruesomely on their own home turf.

High above in the broadcasting booth, Princess Faye was quiet as well. Her eyes bled with a mixture of intense restraint and agonising sisterly heartbreak.

The ice crown above Kiana’s head was now ninety percent complete, pulsing with a volatile light that threatened to destroy her entire being. She began to shiver and her eyes slowly rolled back as her consciousness flickered.

Ryan shot forward one final time. "It’s over, Princess!"

"GET THE HELL AWAY FROM MY SISTER!"

BOOM!

The protective barrier shattered from the inside-out.

Junior, completely losing his mind from rage, broke through the arena. In a flash, he appeared at Kiana’s side and drove his shoulder directly into the side of Ryan’s advanced suit.

"What the–!"

BANG!

The force of Junior’s bash sent the armor flying backward, skidding fifty feet across the shattered glaciers before Ryan could stabilize his thrusters.

Without wasting a single microsecond to look at his opponent, Junior dropped to his knees and scooped up his sister’s shivering body into his arms.

The young prince’s face was a mask of frantic worry as he sprinted at top speed toward the stadium’s emergency medical tunnel.

"""....."""

All present in the crowd was at a loss for words.

Commentator Ken cleared his throat, his voice carrying a deeply somber, thoroughly professional tone as he delivered the only possible verdict.

["Since external interference from a teammate occurred before the match could naturally conclude... according to tournament rules... the victory of Match Eight is officially awarded to the Tricea’s Ryan Sindelle."]

The afro-haired captain slowly deactivated his plasma blades, his mechanical suit hissing as he turned and silently walked off the shattered, frozen stage.

The heavy silence stretched over the stadium.

In the southern stands, thousands of Eldorians sat in stunned, grief-stricken stillness. Their pride had been dealt a crushing blow – not just because their beloved princess had been brutally defeated, but because the match had ended in a forced disqualification.

Down in the VIP section, Sadie finally let her hands drop from her face. Her usual fiery, loudmouthed demeanor was completely gone, replaced by an expression of anxiety.

She looked toward the dark medical tunnel where Junior had vanished, her voice barely a whisper. "She... she’s going to be okay, right Bossman?"

"..."

Kurt didn’t answer immediately.

He stayed seated, gaze fixed on the empty ice-shattered pit while holding a terrified Hope close to him. He reached down and gently patted Hope’s trembling shoulders to soothe her.

"... Yeah. She’ll be alright. Her crown hadn’t fully materialised yet. Besides, as you just witnessed, she’s one tough cookie to crack. She’ll live. But that Tricean... That suit is going to be a massive pain in the ass for anyone who steps up to it."

Up in the private royal VIP box, King Maxwell finally closed his golden eyes, letting out a controlled breath.

He didn’t utter a word of disappointment, nor did he curse the Tricean delegation. He simply leaned back into his throne as his expression returned to that of an unyielding sovereign. Though his tightly clenched fist against the armrest betrayed the silent fury of a father.

Beside him, the Pope lowered his head, silently reciting a soft, whispered prayer for the young princess’s swift recovery, his holy staff glowing with a faint, comforting light.

High above the arena, Commentator Ken wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, desperately trying to salvage his showman persona as the projection began to flicker back to life.

["A... a tragic turn of events for team Eldoria, folks! But the rules of this International Grand Tournament are absolute and unyielding! We must press onward! Clear the ice, reset the stage, and prepare yourselves... because the shuffle for Match Nine is rolling right now!"]