The instant their wings spread, the battlefield trembled.

Behind Nero, a pair of burning flame-forged wings erupted, each feather blazing like a blade of molten fire, leaving streaks of red-orange light in the air. The heat warped the space around him, making the air shimmer like it was about to ignite. His ominous red eyes narrowed, locking onto Khione.

Across from him, Khione's ice wings unfolded with crystalline majesty. They weren't feathers, but jagged shards of ice sculpted into elegance, glowing faintly with frost-blue radiance. As she flapped once, the entire field dipped in temperature, the forest around them frosting over, leaves crystallizing in midair before shattering like glass.

And the sky erupted.

Nero shot forward, wings igniting with explosive speed. The ground beneath him split and melted, scorched black as he launched upward like a flaming comet. His longsword slashed in a wide arc, flames spiraling outward to consume everything before him.

Khione flapped her wings once, vanishing in a trail of frost. She reappeared above him, wand now shifting, reshaping into a long crystal bow of pure ice. Drawing it back, an arrow of frozen light formed, sharp enough to split reality's edge. She released—

SHRING!

The arrow screamed through the air, leaving a trail of ice that froze the very atmosphere. Nero raised his sword, cleaving it apart with fire, but the explosion of clashing elements rocked the skies.

He snarled, grinning despite himself. "Good—again!"

Khione obliged. Arrow after arrow manifested, each sharper, colder, heavier with prana. She fired in rapid succession, a storm of ice arrows blotting out the sky. Nero's flame wings flared wider, and he weaved between the arrows with deadly agility, his longsword slicing down the ones too close. Each clash scattered sparks and shards, painting the battlefield in fire and frost.

Then Nero closed the distance.

"Too slow!" he roared, swinging his blade downward. The sheer pressure carved through the clouds like a fiery guillotine.

Khione didn't panic. Her bow dissolved, frost swirling around her fingers as her body split into afterimages of ice clones, scattering across the field. His strike cut through one—shattering into frozen mist.

The real Khione reappeared at his flank, bow already drawn again. This time the arrow wasn't simple frost—it pulsed with condensed prana, a miniature glacier forged into a single shot. She loosed it point-blank.

The arrow struck Nero dead center.

BOOOOM!

An explosion of ice engulfed him, spreading like a frozen nova across the forest. Trees were instantly buried in ice, their trunks snapping from the weight. The pocket world itself groaned as its barrier fought to regenerate the devastation.

But through the blizzard, fire erupted.

"—Not enough!"

The flames tore through the ice like a beast breaking chains. Nero burst free, his body partially transformed. Black-red scales crawled across his arms and neck, his claws elongating, horns faintly sprouting from his head. His aura became a violent storm, his partial Dragonification igniting every breath he took into fire.

He laughed, wild and excited.

"Now it's getting fun!"

Khione's smile widened just as dangerously. The ground beneath her shattered as countless ice runes spread outward, glowing bright blue. Her bow vanished, both her hands weaving an intricate spell circle in the air. Her wings expanded to their fullest, and behind her, the image of a colossal frost spirit began forming—an ancient beast sculpted from glaciers and storms.

"Nero," she said coldly, her voice echoing with layered tones. "Try not to die from this."

Nero didn't retreat—he charged. Every step was like a meteor strike, the ground exploding beneath his feet. Fire gathered along his longsword until it became a sun's edge, burning with dragon wrath. His red eyes gleamed, focusing through his dragon sight, cutting away distractions, seeing only Khione and the structure of her spell.

Khione completed her incantation. The frost spirit roared behind her, its mouth glowing as it condensed a glacial beam of destructive force. Her bow reformed, this time enormous, drawing back the spirit's energy into a single ultimate arrow, cold enough to freeze the stars.

The two unleashed at the same time.

Nero's sword strike split the air, a roaring inferno shaped like a dragon head bursting outward.

Khione's ice arrow released, a frozen spear of annihilation tearing reality.

FIRE AND ICE COLLIDED.

Kaboom!

The pocket world shuddered. Flames roared, ice howled, shockwaves blasted through the forest, ripping trees from roots, tearing apart mountains only for the regenerative barrier to desperately stitch them back. The sky itself cracked with red and blue light, shards of space falling like glass rain.

Lux shielded the spectators with a barrier, but even through it, the others felt their bones quake. Elreth's orange eyes widened in fury and awe, Azalea clutched her chest, Adam cursed under his breath, and even Blake raised an eyebrow.

The explosion was endless. Fire tried to consume frost. Frost tried to smother fire. For a long moment, neither yielded.

Then—

KAAABOOOOM!

A deafening shockwave burst outward, throwing both Nero and Khione back across the battlefield.

The silence that followed the clash was deafening. The battlefield, once a lush training ground, was nothing but ash and frost. Pockets of steam hissed where fire and ice had collided, the air thick with the taste of iron and smoke.

Lux lowered the barrier around the spectators, his expression unreadable, but his shoulders carried tension. Adam whistled low, trying to ease the heaviness. Blake yawned but even his laziness couldn't fully hide the interest gleaming in his eyes. Azalea was gripping the hem of her dress tightly, her knuckles pale.

But all eyes were drawn back to the center of the ruined field.

Nero stood first, his flame wings dispersing into cinders, his scales fading as the partial dragonification ebbed away. Steam rose from his body, his breath uneven but steady, a dangerous grin curving his lips. He dragged his longsword across the blackened ground once before stabbing it into the earth, using it to support his weary body. His ominous red eyes narrowed, still gleaming with the unyielding thrill of battle.

Khione, on the other hand, was kneeling amid broken ice and fractured runes. Her ice wings dissolved into shards, scattering like dying snowflakes. She looked calm—composed—even though her hands trembled slightly from the backlash of her ultimate spell. Slowly, she rose, pale strands of hair sticking to her sweat-lined cheeks, her breath frosting the air.

For a moment, silence stretched between them.

Then Nero moved.

He walked forward steadily, his boots crunching over shards of ice, steam rising with every step as fire still clung faintly to his frame. Khione's expression didn't shift. Her ice-blue eyes, calm and unwavering, locked with his ominous red ones. She knew. She had accepted this the moment she agreed to the wager.

The others held their breaths.

When Nero stopped before her, his shadow falling across her frost-kissed skin, he didn't hesitate. His hand brushed her chin lightly, tilting her face upward—and in one bold motion, he stole her lips.

''!"

The kiss was brief, fierce, nothing gentle about it—fire meeting frost in raw, dangerous intimacy. Steam seemed to rise where their lips met, the heat of him and the cold of her colliding in silence.

The world froze.

Lux blinked. Adam's jaw dropped. Azalea's eyes widened, her face heating with disbelief. Even Blake's lazy gaze sharpened just slightly, his mouth curving into the ghost of an amused smirk.

But Elreth—

Her face crumbled.

Her orange eyes widened in shock, then flared with rage, her cheeks burning crimson, not with embarrassment but fury. The princess's chest rose and fell heavily as her nails dug into her palms. She had entered the earlier fight with the intent of winning Nero over—with strength, with dominance. She wanted to draw him to her side, prove herself beyond anyone else. Yet he hadn't even fought her at full strength. He had restrained himself, toyed with her, only to go all out against Khione.

And now—this.

The kiss burned deeper than any flame. It mocked her effort. It mocked her pride.

Elreth's voice never came, her lips trembling with words unsaid. Instead, she spun on her heel, fury radiating from every step. Her spear clattered once against the ground before she snatched it up again and stormed out of the pocket world, leaving a trail of heated flames flickering in her wake.

Azalea flinched, torn between following her or staying.

Adam muttered under his breath, shaking his head with a half-smile. "As expected of our brother… he just doesn't care about consequences."

Blake leaned back, letting out a long yawn before smirking lazily. "Bold. Too bold. He really doesn't give a damn, huh?"

Lux rubbed his temples, muttering, "Pretty bold aren't you, Nero!"

Meanwhile, Nero finally broke the kiss and pulled back. His grin was unapologetic, sharp, almost wolfish. His voice carried through the ruined arena, heavy with amusement and fire.

"A deal is a deal. I won."

Khione's lips curled into the faintest smile, the frost in her gaze shimmering like starlight. She didn't look away.

"I'll keep my word. A kiss… and a date."

The tension in the air didn't fade—it only deepened, charged with something new, something dangerous.

And somewhere beyond the pocket world, a certain princess's flames still burned, brighter and angrier than ever. She wouldn't let that bitch have it her way.

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