Free Web NovelChapter 180: Sera And Elira
As Zenith walked calmly back to her side of the arena, Dante was already grinning ear to ear, hyping her up.
"Damn, Captain! One hit? You didn’t even let the guy breathe! Absolute boss!" Dante laughed, leaning his hammer on his shoulder.
Selene peeked out from behind Viktor, nervously clapping her hands. "Y-You were amazing, Captain... really incredible..."
Viktor didn’t say a word, just offering a firm, deeply respectful nod as she stepped back into their ranks.
Across the dirt boundary, the prodigies from Blood-Oak, Silvercrest, and the remaining Black Mire team just stood there in absolute shock, totally dumbfounded by the monstrous gap in power.
Up in the stands, Lucian’s group watched the whole thing unfold.
Sera crossed her arms and clicked her tongue.
"Tch... What a show-off. I could have finished him in half a punch."
Elira didn’t even look at her, casually taking another bite of her snack.
"No, you couldn’t," she replied deadpan.
"Hey! Shut up, you dumb witch!"
Aria just covered her mouth, letting out a soft, giggle at their usual bickering.
Lucian leaned back in his seat, completely ignoring the girls’ banter as His steely silver eyes were locked dead onto Zenith.
She’s ridiculously fast... he muttered inwardly while smirking at the corner of his lips. Yet I can still read her just fine.
Lumen’s voice suddenly blasted through the stadium sounding stones again, hyping the crowd right back up to the peak.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! If you thought the heat was dying down, think again! For our sixth match, we have a pure clash of blades! Representing the Blood-Oak Institute, the dual-wielding hurricane himself... THERON ASHGAR! And stepping up for Astraviel Academy, the fiery swordmaster with power to burn... SERAPHINA ASHENBLADE!"
The crowd immediately exploded into cheers.
Up in the stands, Sera stood up from her seat, dusting off her skirt. She turned back and flashed a wide, confident, toothy smile at the trio.
Lucian smiled back, a genuine look of encouragement on his face. "Yeah, go sera show them... how strong you are."
Even Elira let a faint, rare smile break through her usual deadpan expression, giving her a single, respectful nod.
Aria waved her hand softly, her eyes full of warmth. "Take care, Sera... do your best."
Sera nodded enthusiastically and jumped down into the arena, landing with a soft thud in the dirt.
On the other side of the ring, Theron was already waiting. He was spinning his twin jagged blades in his hands while eyes locked onto Sera with intense, bloodlust. But as Sera walked toward the center, she just stood there casually. Her hand rested lazily on the hilt of her sword—the very same special sword Lucian had given her—but she didn’t draw it. She kept it completely sheathed in its heavy metal scabbard.
Seeing her totally relaxed posture, a thick vein popped on Theron’s forehead. He felt completely mocked.
"Not even gonna draw your weapon?" Theron spat, gripping his twin blades tighter. "You looking down on me, Astraviel bitch? Fine... Let’s see what you’ve got. I’ll make sure you regret keeping that sword sheathed!"
Lumen’s hand chopped down. "MATCH START!"
Theron exploded forward like a blur. He unleashed his ’Twin Hurricane’ art, turning into a literal tornado of flashing steel aimed right at Sera’s neck and torso.
Swish! Swish! Swish!
But Sera didn’t panic. Her mind instantly flashed back to those hellish hours inside the Time Distortion Zone, desperately trying to land a single hit on Myra. Compared to her monstrous Master, Theron’s movements looked like they were running in slow motion.
Sera simply tilted her head. Ducked. Swayed her waist.
Clang! Clack!
She effortlessly parried his razor-sharp twin blades using nothing but her sheathed sword. Theron was panting, swinging wildly, completely frustrated that his ultimate barrage was hitting nothing but the scabbard or empty air.
"Damn it! Stand still!" Theron roared, lunging for a heavy cross-slash.
Sera just smirked. "You’re way too slow."
She smoothly stepped right inside his guard, completely bypassing his twin blades. Channeling a massive burst of her raw, explosive chaos energy directly into the sheathed scabbard, she swung it horizontally like a heavy baseball bat.
BAM!
The impact sounded like a cannon going off. Theron’s eyes bulged completely out of his sockets as all the air forcefully left his lungs. He didn’t even have a chance to scream before he was launched violently backward, skipping across the dirt like a skipped stone before crashing hard into the arena’s boundary wall.
He slumped face-first into the dirt, completely out cold. His twin blades clattered uselessly onto the ground a few feet away.
The arena went dead silent for a split second before absolute madness erupted from the stands.
Lumen smashed his hand and screamed. "O-ONE STRIKE! SHE DIDN’T EVEN DRAW HER SWORD! The winner of the sixth match is... SERAPHINA ASHENBLADE!"
Up in the VIP box, the stoic composure of the nobility was completely shattered by Grand Duke Ashenblade. "THAT IS MY LITTLE DOLL! YES! CRUSH THEM ALL!" The massive, intimidating man was practically hanging over the railing, waving his arms and cheering like a fanboy, while his two young children cheered excitedly beside him. His personal butler sighed desperately trying to pull the roaring Duke back by his coat. Down in the arena, Sera quickly covered her face with her hand, speed-walking back to the stands as she muttered, "Oh my goddess, Father, please stop... this is so embarrassing."
Down at the arena’s boundary, Eryx and the rest of the Blood-Oak prodigies were grinding their teeth. Seeing Theron humiliated in a single strike—without his opponent even bothering to draw her blade—didn’t just annoy them. It made them absolutely, furiously pissed off.
Meanwhile, Sera casually flipped her ponytail and walked back to the stands, a ridiculously smug, victorious grin plastered across her face. She crossed her arms, standing tall and waiting for the shower of praise.
Elira didn’t even look up. "You used way too much unnecessary force on a weakling. So inefficient."
Pffshhh.
Sera’s inflated smugness instantly popped. She just stood there, grinding her teeth and glaring daggers at the silver-haired girl.
Seeing Sera’s eye twitch in pure frustration, Aria covered her mouth, letting out a chuckle. Sitting beside her, Lucian just smiled in complete amusement.
Before Sera could bark back, Lumen’s voice boomed through the sounding stones, hyping the stadium once again.
"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! The heat is rising, but it’s about to drop way below freezing! For our seventh match, representing the Sovereign Monolith, the heavy-hammer swinger... DANTE SOLARI!"
"And stepping up for Astraviel Academy..."
The crowd went absolutely feral, the roaring vibrating through the stone pillars of the Colosseum.
"...She was once known as the Ice Princess, but after what we’ve seen recently, she is now feared as the Strongest Fist Young Prodigy! Give it up for ELIRA FROSTVEIL!"
Hearing her name, Elira calmly stood up.
"I’ll be right back in shortly," she muttered flatly, stepping toward the arena.
Sera crossed her arms, throwing a competitive hmph her way. "Yeah, yeah. Let’s see how much time you actually take to finish him off."
Elira didn’t even bother replying as she jumped down into the dirt ring.
As Elira stepped down into the dirt, she felt a heavy gaze from the highest VIP box. The King and Queen of the Frostfall Kingdom—her parents—were leaning forward, their eyes filled with intense, hopeful expectation, waiting for their daughter to bring glory to their name. Elira didn’t smile or wave. She simply cast a single, freezing, deadpan glance toward their box before coldly turning her back to them, keeping her focus entirely on her opponent.
Dante was already standing in the center, lazily spinning his massive hammer with a cocky grin. Clearly, the guy hadn’t learned a single lesson from getting his ass kicked on the second floor.
"Well, look who it is," Dante smirked, resting the heavy hammer on his shoulder. "I heard they call you a fist prodigy now. But let’s see how you handle pure, crushing weight. Don’t worry, Princess, I’ll go easy on—"
Lumen threw his hand down. "MATCH START!"
Dante didn’t even get to finish his sentence. He leaped high into the air, bringing his massive hammer down with what he thought was an intimidating, heroic battle cry.
Elira just sighed.
She didn’t dodge. She didn’t even shift into a combat stance. She simply raised her one hand toward the descending Dante.
FWOOSH!
A blinding, absolute zero blizzard erupted directly from her palm. It didn’t just push Dante back; it swallowed him completely mid-air.
CRACKLE! SNAP!
Before gravity could even pull him down to the dirt, Dante froze completely solid. He landed on the ground with a heavy, hollow thud—not as a fighter, but as a perfect, crystalline ice statue. His cocky expression and raised hammer were literally frozen in time inside a thick, unbreakable block of ice.
Elira calmly lowered her hand, her face completely deadpan. She didn’t even bother to look at the frozen block as she immediately turned around and started walking back to her seat.
The entire stadium, the VIP boxes, the remaining prodigies—absolutely everyone—just stared at the arena with their mouths hanging wide open.
Not a single sound echoed in the Colosseum. frёewebnoѵel.ƈo๓
Up in the stands, Lucian let out a low chuckle, resting his chin on his knuckles. She really didn’t even give him a fraction of a second... he thought, thoroughly amused by how effortlessly she handled it.
Beside him, Sera puffed her cheeks into a massive pout, crossing her arms tightly. "Tch... What a total show-off! She just froze him before he could even swing! That doesn’t even count as a real fight!"
Aria, on the other hand, was happily clapping her small hands together with a bright, gentle smile. "Wow... Elira is just so amazing!"
Elira calmly stepped back into the seating area, completely ignoring Sera’s jealous glaring, and sat back down next to Lucian as if she had merely taken a casual stroll in the park.
Down in the announcer’s booth, it took Lumen a full five seconds to process what his eyes had just witnessed. He frantically smashed his hand onto the amplification stone.
"W-W-WHAT WAS THAT?! LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHAT TO SAY! It’s over! It ended in literally one second! He is a human popsicle! The winner of the seventh match is ELIRA FROSTVEIL!"
The dead silence of the arena instantly shattered. The crowd went absolutely berserk, screaming and roaring at the top of their lungs at the terrifying display of absolute zero magic.
