The arena cracked with energy as Nova stepped forward, his boots echoing softly on the scorched tiles.
Across from him, Champion Stelle dropped gracefully from her viewing platform, landing with feline elegance.
The crowd erupted in wild cheers, the sound pulsing with a mixture of awe and bloodlust.
Stelle grinned, eyes gleaming as she spun her twin spears in a blur of motion.
"I've been waiting for this, masked stranger."
Nova didn't reply. The air around him shimmered faintly, his body already pulsing with low hums of aether as he rolled his neck and loosened his shoulders.
"BEGIN!"
The announcer roared, and the arena shook.
Stelle moved like a whip, covering the distance in a blink, spears crashing down like twin bolts of lightning.
Nova raised a hand, blocking the first strike with an aether shield, then twisted and stepped aside from the second with inhuman grace.
Sparks danced across the air as the shield met enchanted steel, the impact rippling like a gong through the air.
Nova countered instantly, palm striking out like a piston. Stelle caught the blow on her braced forearm but was still thrown back a meter, boots dragging a line through the dirt.
"Fast. But I'm faster."
She admitted, smiling wide.
She vanished in a blink, reappearing above him mid-spin.
Her spears came down in a spiraling arc, and Nova leaned back just in time to dodge them—one spear slicing a line through his sleeve.
Without missing a beat, he slammed his hand down into the ground.
The floor cracked.
Aether surged through the earth, erupting in jagged stone spikes that shot toward Stelle.
She vaulted backward, twirling her weapons like windmill blades to knock them aside, landing on a platform of her own conjured fire.
Nova dashed after her, appearing beside her with his own weapon—a curved blade formed entirely from compressed aether, humming low with energy.
Their weapons clashed, bright sparks cascading as they moved in a blur. Every strike from Nova was clean, calculated—he wasn't wasting energy.
But Stelle was unrelenting, each blow full of practiced fury, her movements shaped by years of battle.
"You're holding back."
She hissed mid-clash.
Nova ducked a sweep and jabbed his elbow into her ribs, sending her stumbling.
"You'd be dead if I wasn't."
She laughed, blood in her teeth. "Then stop."
Her body ignited in a halo of flame—aether crackling violently as her full strength exploded outward.
The crowd leaned forward, gasping as the champion revealed her true form. Flame-etched armor slid over her body, and her spears morphed into whips of molten energy.
Nova exhaled once and drew power from the atmosphere.
Then he moved.
Blindingly fast.
He slid beneath her first strike, deflecting the molten whip with a burst of wind.
His foot connected with her leg and swept her to the side, but before she hit the ground, she twisted midair, using the momentum to lash out.
The blow struck his shoulder, fire searing through his jacket and across his skin.
Nova didn't flinch. He caught the second whip mid-air, and the aether in his arm surged, turning the fire into smoke.
With a flick, he yanked her forward and landed a solid punch to her midsection, sending her skidding back in the dirt.
The crowd went wild.
Stelle coughed, landing on her knees, her expression briefly stunned—then thrilled.
"Now that was good."
She said, rising to her feet.
Nova stood straight, eyes narrowed.
"Still want more?"
Stelle answered by clapping her hands together. A massive aether seal formed beneath her feet. Nova's eyes flicked down, recognizing the formation in a flash.
He had less than two seconds.
He raised his hand and, with one breath, unleashed a spherical blast of compressed aether, tearing a hole through the forming seal and propelling himself into the air.
Stelle's seal detonated harmlessly beneath him.
He landed lightly a few feet away, unharmed.
"You've been studying. Fine. One more round."
She muttered, admiration laced in her tone.
They lunged again.
Metal clashed. Aether flared. Fire and earth collided.
Each strike sent shockwaves through the arena, tilting stone, breaking tiles, ripping shallow trenches through the floor.
Their battle blurred to the naked eye. Spectators could barely follow—only feeling the force of each blow as wind or tremor or a pulse of heat.
Nova began to take control, his movements too fluid, his instincts too precise.
He read her motions before they happened, parried with uncanny precision, turned her attacks into weaknesses.
But still—he didn't end it. Every time he could land a decisive blow, he stopped short, holding back.
Stelle noticed.
"You're playing with me."
She growled, breathing heavy. Her armor cracked, her energy waning.
"No. I'm respecting the fight."
Nova said calmly.
Their final exchange sent them both sliding to opposite ends of the ring.
And then—
A deep, violent tremor shook the arena. Red lights flashed.
[WARNING. AETHER EXPLOSION DETECTED. SECTOR 9. SHIELDING INITIATED.]
Everyone froze.
Nova turned toward the direction of the cells. Aether flared violently in the sky, dark and unstable.
Stelle stared, jaw tightening.
"What the…"
Alarms blared louder now. High-pitched emergency sirens filled the stadium. Golden shielding walls rose around the arena in massive arcs, designed to contain the blast.
The ground beneath the arena lurched violently, sending cracks splintering through the tiles as panicked screams erupted from the stands.
Alarms wailed overhead, and the once-roaring crowd devolved into chaos, scrambling for exits as red lights flashed along the stadium's walls.
Nova stood still in the eye of the storm, feeling the pulse of something ancient and malevolent rise beneath his feet.
The aether in the air had changed—no longer wild or unstable, but deliberate. Old. Hungry.
His eyes narrowed.
"This isn't normal aether."
Stelle, still standing at the opposite end of the arena, wiped blood from her cheek and looked up.
"What do you mean?"
Nova clenched his fists.
"I've felt this before. It's faint… but it feels like something belonging to the god of destruction."
Stelle froze, her eyes widening.
For a moment, she looked younger—less a warrior, more a daughter of a world that never thought it would matter.
"That's not possible. We've got no quarrel with the gods. We're nothing to them."
"I'm telling you what I feel. It's him. Not in full, but… a fragment. A shadow. Just enough to level this city."
Nova's voice was flat, sharp with certainty.
Stelle grit her teeth and spun toward the direction of the cells, where the aether still flared like a bleeding wound.
"Then something bigger is at play. That god doesn't meddle without a reason."
Nova gave a single nod.
"Whoever—or whatever—brought that humanoid here… didn't come just to win a tournament."
Stelle's eyes swept over the panicking crowd, the crumbling arena, and the flickering containment shields trying to hold the explosion back.
"If we don't stop this now…"
"Verizon will be wiped off the map."
For a beat, neither spoke. Then, with a shared glance of grim understanding, they turned toward the heart of the disturbance.
"No more games. We stop it here."
Stelle muttered, already gathering aether into her palms.
Nova followed, his aura rising in response, like steel answering a call to war.
"Let's end this before that god decides to pay attention."
And together, they ran into the storm.