The arena was still in uproar due to the aftershocks of Fade's impressive victory. The smell o scorched stone lingered around as the various students stared at the Void Whale's massive body folding reality with a blink of its cosmic eye as it disappeared back where it came from.

The thunder of applause and shouted speculation gradually ebbed, replaced by an expectant hush. Everyone knew what came next, another battle. The runes that ran along the obsidian walls of the arena pulsed again, casting the Beast Coliseum in a fresh storm of blood-red light.

Professor Xyvarr stood unmoving at the center of the arena, his crimson gaze sweeping across the gathered factions with deliberate weight.

The scarred lines of his face glowed faintly in the residual mana-light, and when he finally spoke, his voice cracked across the obsidian floor like a rending blade.

"As expected of the one who was stated to be a genius in Beast Taming, quite impressive," Xyvarr said, his gaze turning as he continued speaking.

"Now onto the next battle, and this one is even more interesting in my opinion," He said, a smirk forming on his lips as a hushed anticipation began building in the arena from everyone watching eagerly awaiting what he would say.

"Next, we have the Number 1 student from Zephyr Academy, Albedo Neverwinter,"

A murmur swept through the stands, a tide of recognition and speculation. Albedo rose from his seat with calm precision, every motion measured but unhurried. Platinum hair caught the arena's rune-light like forged silver, and when he stepped forward, his blue eyes—calm and cold as a glacier's heart, caught the glow and sharpened to icy steel.

At his side moved Ember. The Solaris Equine's white-blue flames licked the air in silent majesty, each flicker carrying a heat that shimmered the very space around her. Her luminous mane burned with corrosive brilliance, and each step of her powerful hooves rang like a forge-hammer striking anvil.

The crowd leaned back instinctively as her presence washed over them. The raw aura of Ember was intense, and even the hardened Demons and beasts felt their instincts recoil before her quiet but annihilating presence.

Professor Xyvarr allowed the anticipation to coil tight, then pivoted toward the opposite gate. "And opposing him," the professor growled, the faintest curve of something like amusement ghosting his scarred mouth, "We have Celeste Nocturna, the Princess, and her contracted beast."

The arena shuddered as the demon gate groaned open. A wave of oppressive heat and earth-musk rolled out, thick enough to taste. Then Celeste emerged.

Her overbearing aura echoed throughout the arena as her tribal tattoos pulsed and glowned, signifying her power.

She was wearing a black demonsteel armor fitted to her form like a second skin, etched with faint runes that whispered of abyssal blood. When her gaze found Albedo across the arena, the air between them seemed to tighten like a drawn bowstring.

Whilst they wouldn't be directly facing each-other, Celeste saw this as the first opportunity to avenge her defeat when they first met, and she would be giving this her all.

The crowd's whispers sharpened into an electric buzz. Albedo never broke eye contact, his expression unreadable, but through the bond he felt Ember's flame-heart flare in instinctive recognition of a rival apex.

As for the Demon students, they had already roared with excitement, the sound of claws against stone creating a deafening percussive rhythm. Celeste's name alone was enough to ignite the crowd, Princess of the Demon Royal Family, feared and revered in equal measure.

A confident smirk curved Celeste's lips as she locked eyes with Albedo across the expanse. "Well," she said, her voice carrying easily despite the roar of the crowd, "Seems fate enjoys spectacle."

Albedo's answer was a faint, almost amused smile. "Then let's not disappoint."

Celeste tilted her head, golden eyes glinting. "I intend to do far worse than that."

The Demon students screamed their approval at her confidence, cheering her on.

Professor Xyvarr raised his arm, "Princess Celeste, please present your companion."

Celeste nodded and snapped her fingers, causing the entire arena to tremble. A sound like grinding stone echoed from the depths beneath the obsidian floor. The runes flared violently as a fissure split the center of the arena with an earth-rending crack. From the darkness below, something vast and ancient stirred.

A titanic claw of blackened chitin erupted upward, smashing through stone as if it were wet clay. Shards of obsidian rained across the arena as a colossal shape clawed its way to the surface.

~SHRIEEEKKKKK!~

A loud ear-ringing shriek echoed from the ground below, and Celeste's beast emerged in a storm of dust and shadow.

The beast was nightmare given a physical form. It's body was a massive scorpion-like monstrosity the size of a fortress gate. Jagged spikes jutted from its carapace in cruel ridges, each one glistening with a dark sheen that sucked the light around it and released gouts of steam.

Spined ridges along its back shimmered with sickly violet light, each spike ending in a cruel hook slick with venom. Six bladed legs drove deep into the stone, fissuring the arena with every step. Its segmented tail arched high, ending in a barb the length of a longsword, dripping with a shimmering venom that hissed when it struck the floor.

Twin mandibles clicked, releasing a guttural roar that vibrated through bone and blood alike. Darkness bled from its form like living smoke, swallowing light into an oppressive twilight.

Its eyes, clustered in a ring of burning crimson, focused on Ember with predatory intelligence.

The arena floor trembled as the creature's claws gouged deep furrows into the obsidian tiles. Segments of its segmented body undulated in restless hunger, every movement promising ruin.

The Demons in the stands howled their approval.

"The Demonic Burrower," a student gasped, voice trembling with both fear and delight. "One of the Abyssal Scourge breeds, capable of manipulating both earth and shadow. It's been so long since one of them got tamed,"

Celeste rested a casual hand on the creature's armored flank, her smirk widening, "Meet Nyx," she said, "She gets shy if she doesn't get to eat something big."

Nyx answered with a thunderous screech, claws gouging the stone as cracks spiderwebbed outward.

Albedo's expression remained perfectly calm. Only the faintest flicker of blue fire along Ember's mane betrayed her readiness.

Albedo offered no reply, only a subtle nod. Ember's flames brightened in silent answer, white-blue fire spilling in languid ripples across her mane and tail.

Professor Xyvarr raised a single clawed hand, crimson eyes flicking between the two pairs of combatants.

"Begin!"

***

Nyx reacted instantly. The arena floor split beneath it as it launched forward with terrifying speed, its massive body rippling like a living avalanche. Segments of obsidian tiles exploded upward as the beast's claws struck, sending shards flying in every direction.

Ember surged forward before Albedo even gave the command, white-blue flames detonating beneath her hooves. The blast of ignition left afterimages seared into the air, a shockwave of corrosive heat that vaporized the debris before it could reach her rider.

Seeing that, Nyx immediately dove, the echo of tearing stone thundered across the arena as the beast plunged beneath the arena floor in a blur of spiked limbs, leaving only a collapsing chasm in its wake that bled darkness.

The ground quaked violently, fissures spidering outward as the beast tunneled at impossible speed.

Through the soul-bond, Albedo felt Ember's senses stretch outward and she could feel his senses. Her flames sharpened, licking across the cracks in the stone as she traced the subterranean predator's movement. The air itself tasted of sulfur and iron.

"Beneath!" Albedo shouted.

The earth split open in a dozen places as jagged spires of blackened rock exploded upward, slicing toward Ember like a storm of obsidian blades. From below, the Nyx's tail struck upward in a lightning-fast arc aimed directly at Ember's heart.

Albedo's eyes narrowed, "Flash Step."

Ember vanished as blue-white light bloomed where she had stood as she reappeared ten meters to the left, hooves already descending. Her landing detonated in a burst of stellar fire, molten cracks spiderwebbing outward and incinerating the jagged spires mid-rise.

Nyx screeched from below, the sound reverberating through the arena floor as Celeste laughed, her voice a whipcrack of excitement, "Good reflexes. But can you burn what you can't see?"

Darkness surged as Celeste finished speaking, the arena floor suddenly liquefied into a churning ocean of shadowed earth.

Columns of black stone erupted like spears, twisting midair to form a forest of lethal spikes. From every angle, barbed tails and armored claws burst forth in a relentless assault.

Albedo's Source Code eyes flared violet as he immediately sensed the movements in mana to predict what the Burrower was attempting to do.

"Ember, Starstep Array," he intoned.

Ember answered with a deafening cry. The air shimmered as countless motes of blue-white flame manifested around her, forming a constellation of floating runes. Each rune pulsed once. then detonated outward in a sweeping wave of corrosive fire.

The forest of spikes melted to molten slag in an instant. Burrowing limbs recoiled, sizzling under the corrosive heat.

But Nyx was far from finished.

The ground beneath Albedo and Ember erupted as the beast itself launched upward, a mountain of chitin and shadow. Its claws came down like twin meteors, each capable of crushing fortress walls.

"Ember, Ascend," Albedo commanded, and Ember leapt upwards.

Blue flames spiraled beneath her hooves as gravity bent to her will, propelling both rider and beast skyward in a vertical sprint of impossible grace. Nyx's claws slammed shut on empty air, the shockwave cracking the arena floor like an eggshell.

High above the arena, Ember twisted midair, leaving a trail of starlight as Albedo extended a single hand.

"Corrosion Nova."

Ember's mane ignited like a collapsing star.

A sphere of white-blue fire expanded outward, a perfect corona of annihilation. The Burrower screeched as the flames consumed the air, eating through its shadowy armor with sizzling precision. Segments of black chitin glowed red-hot, smoke pouring from the cracks.

Celeste's eyes blazed with delight rather than fear, "Yes!" she shouted, "Fight me, Neverwinter!"

Her roar was paired with the crowd's, as everyone could tell this battle was only just getting good.

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