Ethan's grin widened as his spell struck true, and hearing the second ding only made it grow. "Nice! Only…" He faltered. "Wait… do we… even know how many points we need to win?"
When they had entered the arena, they had all been super focused already. "Oh well, I'll just keep going until we win, or I run outta mana." His four crystals floated up, each one aimed towards one of their opponents, his last crystal floated just in front of him.
Static electricity crackled around him as he lifted slightly off the ground, his body and crystals sparking with energy. Then, with a snap of his fingers, the first bolt fired, striking the crystal in front of him. It pulsed, absorbing the charge for a second before splitting into four separate arcs, each one hitting the other crystals in turn. The energy surged once more before launching toward his opponents.
On the other side of the battlefield, the man who had made the metal walls spotted the incoming attack. His eyes widened. "INCOMING!" he bellowed, diving behind one of his barriers just in time.
On the hill the man tried to recover after dodging Astra's ice disk, catching himself with one arm to prevent himself from falling.
Astra skipped forward, completely at ease, humming softly to herself. She was having fun, too much fun to want the fight to end just yet. But as she moved, she felt Ethan's energy spike behind her, sending a thrill of excitement through her. Her grin stretched even wider.
She summoned another ice disk, this time pairing it with a metal one. She hurled them to either side of her opponent, cutting off his escape routes.
Seeing the disks hurtling toward him, her opponent hesitated, a flicker of confusion crossing his face. For a moment, he simply stood there, allowing the projectiles to pass.
Then he heard it. "INCOMING!" His head snapped toward the shout just in time to see his partner diving for cover. His breath caught, too late. Ethan's lightning struck him squarely.
Ding.
At the same moment, Jace saw Orion's wind bolt connect with the musician. Seizing the opening, he formed a larger ice spear and sent it hurtling toward her legs, aiming low for an unexpected strike.
The woman barely had time to recover before she heard it—"INCOMING!" On instinct, she dropped low, narrowly avoiding the lightning. But in her haste, she never saw Jace's ice spear. Letting out a small cry as it struck her right leg cleanly.
Ding.
Meanwhile, Orion kept up his relentless bombardment, seamlessly switching between wind bolts, arrows, and spears. His attacks pounded into the battlefield, giving his opponent no room to breathe.
The woman continued doing everything she could to avoid and dodge the bombardment, using her light and dark magics to block and distort the spells she couldn't dodge.
She was losing ground, and she knew it. While she had managed to avoid getting hit, she was burning through mana at an unsustainable rate, and Orion's assault wasn't slowing down.
Then…"INCOMING!"
Her eyes widened. The surge of energy was nearly on top of her. She hurled herself backward, barely avoiding the lightning strike. A breath of relief slipped from her lips.
She had dodged it.
Until one of Orion's spears slammed into the ground beside her. The sudden impact threw her off balance, just in time for the final bolt to strike true.
Ding.
The three dings rang out almost simultaneously, the scoreboard rapidly shifting to 5-0.
Aurora continued watching intently. With only Elias sitting beside her in the stands, there wasn't much discussion to be had.
The match was progressing exactly as she had predicted. Their opponents had no one capable of pressuring Ethan, allowing him to take his time and use his wide range abilities to influence the entire battlefield.
On top of that, they clearly weren't prepared for just how aggressive the rest of the team was. Jace and Astra advanced relentlessly, keeping their enemies on the defensive, while Orion took full advantage of his ability to unleash a barrage of weaker spells on mass. They had gained an early lead, and were continuing to push their advantage with every passing second.
She was still deep in thought when Selene returned from dropping Lyra off.
"She'll be okay," Selene said as she sat beside Aurora. "She just wants to sit in a dark room and rest her head for a while."
Aurora gave a small nod, absorbing the information.
Selene glanced over and gave Elias a brief wave of acknowledgment, which he returned with a smile.
"How's the match going?" she asked, glancing up at the scoreboard. Her eyebrows lifted. "Oh wow. It's going really well."
Aurora gave another small nod. "It is. As long as they continue their aggressive stance, they should crush them." Her voice remained even, almost emotionless.
But something about it felt off.
Selene frowned. "Then why do you seem… sad about it?"
Aurora blinked, turning to her with a look of genuine confusion. "Sad? Why would I be sad?"
Selene chuckled, shaking her head. "I should've known better," she thought. Aurora's so inexperienced with her emotions that she probably doesn't even realize what she's feeling, let alone why.
"Never mind," Selene said, deciding to let it go. "We just have to keep cheering for them, right?"
Maybe another day, she'd help Aurora start to unravel it.