012. Light training 2

The fire user used the concussive force of his own explosion to guide his descent, twisting mid-air as the blast flared behind him.

Shards of superheated rubble rained down in his wake, but he moved through it all with surgical intent—his eyes locked on the water user, who'd been momentarily distracted by the blinding flare.

Kael leaned forward from his perch, his elbows resting on his knees. This was the moment he had been waiting for. The theatrics of elemental attacks were always thrilling, but it was here—in the brutal rhythm of hand-to-hand combat—that a fighter's true skill was revealed. He squinted slightly, lips curling into a faint smile.

'Now let's see how you do in hand to hand combats'

The water user straightened from his crouch, brushing off the dust that clung to his shoulders from the earlier blast. His expression was cool, confident. A smirk tugged at the corner of his lips as he met the fire user's gaze.

Without warning, the fire user launched himself forward, a burst of concentrated heat detonating beneath his heel.

The ground cracked and caved in from the pressure, shattering into fragments as his body shot forward like a missile. A shockwave rippled out behind him, kicking up a cloud of ash and dirt.

Reacting in an instant, the water user inhaled and drew moisture from the air around him. It condensed rapidly, enveloping his frame in a glistening, liquid armor that pulsed and churned like a living tide.

Steam hissed where water met lingering embers, but the barrier held firm. Then, shifting his stance, he directed the water downward—propelling himself forward across the scorched field with fluid grace, gliding as if the ground had turned to ice beneath his feet.

The fire user twisted his hips mid-charge and came in low, his foot rising in a fiery arc, aiming for a brutal upward strike to the jaw. But the water user dipped to the side, narrowly avoiding the blow. His movement was effortlessly slick.

Yet just as he straightened, the fire user's grin deepened then his palm ignited.

A sudden burst of heat erupted from his hand, a point-blank explosion that roared outward like a cannon blast.

The water user crossed his forearms just in time, reinforcing them with a thickened layer of water. The explosion struck hard, throwing him backward. His boots skidded across the ground, carving wet grooves through the dirt as he fought to stay upright, a hiss rising from his arms where the heat met his shield.

"Tsk!" The water user cursed under his breath as he straightened himself.

He raised his hand, fingers spread wide in the universal gesture for a time-out, signaling the official end of the duel.

But the haze from the earlier clash still lingered—thin smoke curling through the air in low spirals, veiling movement and blurring vision. The fire user, eyes locked in combat focus, didn't see the signal.

Instead, he dropped low, palm aglow, gathering heat until it shimmered in the air around him. In a single breath, he compressed the flame down—folding it over itself, feeding it pressure and density—until it shrank to the size of a football, glowing with a dangerous, unstable pulse. The surface swirled like a miniature sun caught in a bottle.

Then, with a sharp pivot and precise aim, he hurled it.

The vortex screamed through the air, a streak of heat and light cutting through the smoke.

The water user's eyes widened—he saw it too late. His arms moved on instinct, dragging up a wall of water in a rushing current from the moisture still lingering on the ground.

It surged up like a tidal wave, but there wasn't enough time to thicken it. The vortex slammed into it with a sharp hiss, carving into the liquid shield and ricocheting violently off-course.

It veered left, skipping like a stone across the charred dirt before blasting toward the edge of the field.

It was all good until kael noticed who was standing by the side of the field, close to where he was.

"Shit! What is she doing here?!"

Without a second thought, he broke into a sprint.

Kael launched himself from the observation platform, boots slamming against the ground with heavy thuds as he closed the distance.

She was close—thank the stars—close enough that he didn't need to waste time channeling energy or calculating trajectories.

The vortex, once a blazing comet of destruction, now spun with diminished fury. The water wall had done its job—it slowed the core, siphoned off its momentum—but not enough. Its glow was still fierce, its path still deadly. And it was heading straight for her.

He reached just in time.

Seraphina stood there unmoving, like a statue carved from the moment itself. Her eyes wide, locked onto the incoming flame, her entire body seized in a paralyzing stillness.

Was it fear? Shock? Something else? He couldn't tell.The system had warned him before—protect her above all else.

He skidded to a halt in front of her, chest heaving heavily.

"Move!" he hissed, but noticed that she was still, rooted in place.

He grabbed her arm and yanked, but she wouldn't budge.

'Dammit.'

He crouched, slipped an arm under her knees and another around her back, and lifted. She was light, lighter than he expected, but the shift in weight still threw off his balance.

Running with her in his arms slowed him—his momentum halved, his footing sloppy—but he pressed forward, each step dragging more than the last.

And then the vortex reached them.

There was no time to dodge, no time to shield, and no time to run.

Acting on pure reflex, Kael spun halfway around and thrust out his right hand—fingers splayed, palm facing the seething orb of heat.

A single thought flashed through his mind—shield them above anything else.

A white-hot detonation burst outward, swallowing everything in a thunderous roar. The ground cracked beneath the force, flames curling outward in chaotic spirals as the air itself trembled.

The blast swallowed them whole, dust and light ripping across the field as if a sun had exploded point-blank and everything disappeared into brightness.