The Cost of a Point

On the hill, the man fighting Astra was growing frustrated. His hands glowed bright red, lava and fire swirling together as he launched himself toward her.

Astra, for her part, wasn't particularly concerned. She slammed her hands into the ground, beginning to form a massive wall of metal and ice to cut off his advance.

But before the barrier could fully take shape, a yellow streak flashed overhead.

Lightning.

Ding.

The bolt struck him mid-charge, its speed impossibly fast, so fast that it hit before the sound even reached them. A sharp crack of thunder echoed through the arena.

Ethan had been watching. He'd seen the man's frustration mounting and marked him as an easy target. The moment he moved, Ethan lined up his five crystals, using them like a railgun to amplify the shot. The bolt tore across the battlefield in an instant. With his momentum locked in, the man had no chance to dodge.

Luckily, the sudden interference didn't break Astra's concentration. The wall finished forming just as the man reeled from the impact.

Still stunned by the lightning, his movements were sluggish. His body, despite its natural resistance, twitched involuntarily. With no time to adjust course, he crashed straight into the metal wall, the impact sending another wave of disorientation through him.

Meanwhile, the second man, realizing his team was rapidly losing ground, dropped to one knee. He pressed his hands against the earth, sending pulse after pulse of magic into the ground.

Metal spikes erupted in response, jagged, sharp, and rising in rapid succession, transforming the battlefield into a field of deadly obstacles.

But then, something felt off.

The spikes hadn't extended as far as expected before the metal mage abruptly stopped. His stance tensed, and without hesitation, he conjured a metal shield around himself, just in time.

A split second later, a barrage of wind bolts slammed into his barrier, scattering like raindrops in a storm.

Orion had shifted targets.

The woman he had been suppressing had used her dark magic to expand her acid mist, transforming it into a thick, creeping fog designed to smother his vision and movement. Orion, recognizing the danger, adjusted instantly, turning his bombardment onto the metal mage instead.

The misty cover gave the dark mage the opportunity she needed. She inhaled sharply, repositioning within the cloud to an optimal vantage point.

At the same time, the musician realized she had become a prime target. She changed tactics. Her melody shifted to a piercing, high frequency tune designed to interfere with magic control, hoping to throw off Jace's precision.

Jace, positioned closest to the metal spikes, made a snap decision.

Using his water magic, he created a thin barrier over his ears to dampen the sound, preventing the disruption from affecting his control. Then, rather than pressing forward recklessly, he took a more strategic approach, skating back to reposition himself away from the spikes.

Frustration flashed across the musician's face. Desperate to regain control of the fight, she changed tactics once more.

This time, she unleashed a powerful shockwave of sound. The force rippled outward in every direction, threatening to destabilize everyone, even her own teammates.

Jace's eyes widened at the incoming shockwave. Too strong to tank.

Sliding to a stop, he summoned a thick ice wall behind him, bracing against the blast. "Take cover!" he shouted.

Astra reacted instantly. Curling into a ball, she summoned an ice dome around herself, shielding against the impact.

The man she had been fighting got lucky, the wall Astra had previously created ended up blocking the shockwave for him. But he wasted no time. Using the opening, he launched a spiraling fire attack toward Astra's dome, attempting to melt through it.

Orion, however, wasn't as fortunate.

The shockwave slammed into him full force, sending him flying. He crashed across the ground, rolling before barely managing to recover on his feet, but not fast enough.

Ding.

The arena registered the hit.

Their opponents had just scored their first point.

Orion gritted his teeth, coughing as he steadied himself. "Damn it."

Now repositioned, the dark mage sent out a tendril of dark energy, slithering toward Orion in an attempt to restrain him while he recovered

The metal mage had easily defended himself, the shockwave harmlessly deflecting off his protective dome. But rather than stay hidden, he condensed the dome around himself, forging a solid suit of armor in preparation for a counterattack.

Meanwhile, Ethan remained unaffected. Positioned far enough away from the blast, he didn't even have to dodge. Instead, his focus locked onto the music mage.

His crystals shifted, aligning toward her.

"Boom." Ethan muttered.

A thunderous crack echoed through the arena as his lightning railgun fired.

A flash of yellow ripped across the battlefield in an instant, striking the musician clean in the chest.

Ding.

Ethan smirked, watching the scoreboard tick up. "That's four points and two assists," he mused, mentally keeping track. "Not a bad match so far."

Aurora barely reacted when the ding echoed throughout the arena. Their opponents had finally scored, but that wasn't what caught her attention.

Instead, she looked at Orion. His frustration was obvious, the clenched fists, the way he steadied himself after the impact.

She understood that feeling.

She had just lost a match herself.

Even with an overwhelming lead, a single mistake could overshadow everything else. And she knew that single point would stay with Orion far longer than the six they had already gained.

She exhaled slowly.

Even when victory was in sight, giving up a point always felt like failure.

Selene, sitting beside her, nudged her lightly. "You're overthinking again, Captain," she said with a small smile.

Aurora blinked, realizing how tense she had gotten. She forced herself to relax.

"I know," she admitted.

Selene chuckled. "You always know. And yet you still do it anyway."

Aurora didn't argue.

Instead, she turned back to the match, just in time to see Ethan score the return point. Seven to one. They were almost there.

They just had to finish it.