Match 9: Lance Finaly (Tricea) vs. Yumi Yumi (Myria) vs. Jason Campbell (Riverton) vs. Maxwell Dorothy Jr. (Eldoria).

The moment Junior’s profile lit up the screen, a collective, visceral roar erupted from the southern stands.

Eldorians, inside the colosseum and out, were all fueled with vengeful vigor over the brutal beatdown their young Princess had suffered just moments prior.

"AVENGE THE PRINCESS!"

"CRUSH THEM, MY PRINCE! SHOW THE TRICEANS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU MESS ROYAL BLOOD!"

Down on the northern sidelines, Lance Finaly – the eldest of the Tricean triplets – let out a miserable groan as he looked over at Ryan, who was calmly stepping out of his suit.

"Are you fucking kidding me right now, Ryan? I feel like I am at a psychological disadvantage out there. You just sent his little sister to the hospital, and now I bet the Crown Prince is going to step onto the arena looking to tear my spine out! I mean, just listen to this crowd! I’m fucking dead!"

"Meh. Sucks to be you, man." Ryan shrugged as he ran a hand through his curly afro.

"You dick!"

Meanwhile, over at the western Riverton benches, the atmosphere was completely different. It was vibrant, chaotic, and fiercely enthusiastic.

Nichole lunged forward and slammed her hand violently against the shoulder of her right-hand man.

"Alright, Jason! This is it! Go out there and show these pretentious bastards and tech-snobs what Riverton’s finest can really do! Don’t you dare lose!"

The rest of the Crossroad Academy representatives cheered boisterously, slamming their weapons together in a display of solidarity.

Jason Campbell – the man with his hair perfectly split down the middle, half pitch black and half snow white – remained completely calm amidst the rowdiness.

"Thank you all for the support," Jason nodded once.

He then reached down and gripped the hilt of his beautifully crafted, double-sided sword that gleamed with an ominous, split enchantment.

"I will ensure Riverton’s name is thoroughly engraved into the stone of this pit."

With practiced ease, Jason walked onto the arena floor alongside Lance and Myria’s Yumi. Three of the four combatants had taken their places, but the southern side remained vacant.

BOOM!

An explosion of golden aura erupted from the depths of the southern tunnel. Out of the darkness, Junior shot into the sky like a golden rocket, leaping high through the air before slamming heavily onto his designated spot.

The impact sent a shockwave of wind that swept across the arena floor, his violet eyes flashing with a terrifying fury.

["THAT’S MY LITTLE BROTHER! GO GET ’EM, MJ! DESTROY EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM! SHOW THE WORLD THE UNBREAKABLE WILL OF ELDORIA!"]

["Uh, Princess Faye, please remember to maintain neutral commentary,"] Commentator Ken whispered into the mic before switching back to his professional self. ["The countdown is on, folks! Let’s get ready to rumbleeee! IN FIVE!"]

"""FOUR... THREE... TWO... ONE!"""

["FIGHT!"]

BOOM!

Junior didn’t wait for his opponents to make a move. Driven by determination and a fierce protective rage for his sister, he lunged forward to his nearest opponent.

He slammed his palms together and with a crystallization crackle, the moisture in the air condensed, forming two beautifully jagged dual-wielding scimitars composed of glacial ice, similar to that of his sister.

The first to meet him was Jason Campbell.

The Rivertonian raised his weapon and executed a flawless, lightning-fast defensive parry.

CLANG!

CLINK!

CLANK!

"You’re fast, Prince. But your anger makes your stance predictable. You really oughta calm down."

"Predictable is all I need to crush you!" Junior barked, swinging his newly formed ice saber in a vicious upward arc that forced Jason to rapidly leap backward.

Seeing an opening, Lance quickly backed away toward the edge of the arena, his fingers flying across the string of his magi-tech bow. Without using active elemental magic yet, he utilized the bow’s internal mechanical tension and fired a rapid-fire volley of steel-tipped armor-piercing arrows directly at Junior’s blind spot.

Thwip! Thwip! Thwip!

Junior, without looking, relied solely on his instincts. He morphed his left ice saber into a shield of dense frost fragments and deflected the incoming arrows with ease.

In the same motion, he lunged forward and thrusted his remaining right saber directly toward the Myrian, Yumi, who was trying to circle around him.

The speed of Junior blitzing across the arena was completely overwhelming to all who came across him. Within a matter of thirty seconds, his relentless, aggressive assault had pushed all three of his opponents into a defensive bottleneck, thoroughly dominating the flow of battle.

["Incredible!"] Commentator Ken shouted. ["The young prince is fighting like a man possessed! The three contestants are seriously struggling to keep up with his raw physical output!"]

*Tsk* "That’s enough warming up from me."

Finding space to breathe, Jason took a deep breath. Suddenly, his double-sided sword erupted into a contrasting display of elemental sorcery.

The top blade of his weapon glowed with a blinding, searing white light mana, while the bottom blade was instantly cloaked in a swirling, abyssal vortex of pitch-black dark mana.

"Let’s see how your ice handles the duality of Light and Darkness, Prince."

He swung his double blade, unleashing a synchronised wave of light and dark crescent slashes that ripped through the air. The light magic burned with intense, searing heat, while the dark magic possessed a gravity-compressing force that warped the air it sliced.

Simultaneously, Lance’s mechanical bow began to hum with its own elemental power. The magi-tech conduits along the limbs of the weapon lit up in four distinct colors. "Activating advanced combat mode: Four-Element Symphony!"

Lance drew back the string, and a massive, synthesised arrow composed of fire, swirling wind, dense earth, and crushing water materialised on the rest. He let the string go, and the elemental arrow split into four devastating spells that converged on Junior from high above.

Junior found himself completely trapped dead center.

He frantically summoned a massive, multi-layered dome of solid ice to shield himself, but the combined, overwhelming force of Jason’s light-and-dark duality and Lance’s four-element barrage was simply too much to handle.

BOOM!

Junior was sent skidding violently across the stone floor as the ice dome instantly pulverized into a cloud of snow and vapor.

Kneeling on the shattered stone, his breathing came in heavy as his left arm hung slightly limp from the impact. He looked up at his three closing opponents, then toward the medical tunnel. The image of his unconscious battered sister still burned brightly in his mind.

"No... I am not losing here. I trained too hard just to lose again. I will... I WILL beat you!"

Junior slowly stood up and gritted his teeth with his arms dropped to his sides.

Suddenly a terrifying and utterly suffocating pressure descended upon the entire coliseum. His blue hair shifting into a glowing golden-white and his once violet eyes transforming into gold

Up in the front row of the VIP section, Saintess Christy abruptly stood up from her seat as her eyes wide with an expression of pure astonishment.

"D-Divine... Divine mana?! I can feel it! This is Divine Mana! How can an Eldorian royal possess such a sacred power?! Is this– Has Goddess Bula blessed him?!"

"WHAT?!" Sadie shrieked and dropped her snacks. "The prince has Divine mana?!"

Up in the private royal box, the Pope’s wrinkled hands tightened so hard around his golden staff that the metal began to creak as his wise eyes widened with absolute disbelief.

Beside him, King Maxwell remained entirely motionless on his throne. Though the subtle, intense tightening of his jaw betrayed the deep shock running through his veins.

["WHAT A PARADIGM SHIFT!"] Commentator Ken screamed with a cracking voice. [" Is what the Saintess is saying true!? Have we just all witnessed the Goddess blessing someone in real time?!"]

Before anyone could even process the revelation, Junior shot forward. His speed was no longer human; he moved like a literal flash of divine lightning and appeared directly in front of Yumi Yumi in the blink of an eye.

With a casual, light flick of his forearm, he struck Yumi’s defenses. The moment the holy light touched the Myrian defensive spell, it completely dissolved it into particles of nothingness and sent her flying across the arena before crashing onto the protective barrier.

"""YEAAAHHHH!!!"""

["He’s completely dominating!"] Princess Faye cheered, her voice crackling with a mixture of shock and pride. ["The divine light of Eldoria has awakened!"]

Lance Finaly frantically pulled his bow, firing a desperate, maximum-output fire-and-wind combination arrow. Without caring, Junior walked straight toward the incoming projectile and the moment the raging inferno made contact with the golden aura surrounding his body, the fire instantly snuffed out.

Junior reached out, grabbed the top of Lance’s compound bow, and with a casual twist of his wrist, snapped the reinforced weapon in half like a dry twig before delivering a soft palm strike to Lance’s chest that sent him skidding fifty feet across the floor.

Jason lunged from the blindspot, aiming a lethal strike at Junior’s neck. Junior, however, simply raised two fingers and caught the razor-sharp edge of the blade perfectly.

The divine light bled from his fingers, instantly cracking and began to purify the darkness of Jason’s sword.

Despite the terrifying showcase of power, Kurt noticed something a little off as he watched Junior’s movements.

Beside him, Christy let out a soft, worried sigh. "He’s winning... but no one has been eliminated yet because they’re all fighting desperately for survival... And, as I’m sure you’ve noticed, look at his posture."

Kurt looked even closer. Underneath the beautiful white-and-gold light, Junior’s shoulders were beginning to subtly sag. Drops of barely visible sweat were beginning to show, and his breathing, though masked by the roaring divine energy, was becoming incredibly shallow.

"He’s not used to it," Christy pointed out. "Divine mana isn’t something a human body can naturally harbor without years of specialised, holy training. It’s taking a monstrous toll on his stamina and his mana veins with every single second it remains active."

’I see. So he’s kinda like his sister in that regard.’

Back in the arena, Junior delivered a heavy, light-infused kick that sent Jason sliding back. But as Junior took his next step to pursue, his knee subtly buckled, a sharp wince of pain crossing his features as the golden aura around his skin flickered for a brief microsecond.

Jason, while wiping a trail of blood from his lip, noticed the stumble and subtly smiled.

Christy squeezed the stone railing, her voice tight with tension. "He figured it out. If Junior is stalled out for just a few more minutes until his divinity naturally wears off... the prince is completely done for."