Chapter 186: Queen vs Queen
Chapter 186: Queen vs Queen
Later that same afternoon, Lynx stepped onto the stage for his next match of the multi day stretch. His uniform was still clean.
MATCH TWENTY SIX: LYNX AZARION - AETHER BLESSED ACADEMY VS. BARKER KUP- VOID BLESSED ACADEMY
Barker was a Year 4 Void fighter wearing an obsidian ring, tall and mean, scar over eyebrow.
As he stepped onto the stone platform, he sneered arrogantly, touching his four fold multiplier ring to make it glow brighter. "You think you’re special, Year 2? I’m going to break you just like we broke your little women. That bitch with big ass, We broke her ribs. Felt soft. I might even seize her soon, have a taste of that gigantic ass."
Lynx didn’t speak. He didn’t smile. His eyes turned pitch black.
When Kira, Layla, Nadia, and Rhea, had been brought back bleeding and broken, Lynx had kept his murderous bloodlust strictly sealed deep inside his soul, knowing a single leak of his aura would instantly kill every regular spectator in the stadium.
But now, standing face to face with a Void fighter in the ring, Lynx didn’t hold back his physical wrath.
He did not end the match in seconds. He dragged it out on purpose to trash Barker into bloody meat, to make Void bench watch.
The moment the match began, Lynx vanished. He appeared directly in front of Barker, grabbing the Void student by his throat before Barker’s four fold boosted reaction speed could even register the movement, fingers crushing windpipe.
"W-What..." Barker choked out, his eyes bulging in sudden, absolute terror, hands grabbing Lynx wrist but unable to move it.
Lynx drove a devastating, heavy knee straight into Barker’s stomach, gravity making knee heavier.
BANG!
Barker’s dark uniform exploded into shreds. Blood and bile spewed from his mouth as his internal organs compressed under the raw, unboosted physical impact. His feet left ground.
Before Barker could fall or surrender, Lynx grabbed him by his hair, lifting his bleeding head up, and slammed his bare fist straight into Barker’s jaw.
CRACK!
Teeth and blood sprayed across the stone stage, five teeth flying. Barker screamed in agony, his four fold ring flaring wildly as he tried to channel his lightning affinity to blast Lynx off him, dark lightning crackling around fists.
Lynx simply caught the dark lightning in his palm, completely nullifying the element with his mastery of his own affinity, lightning dying in his hand, and twisted Barker’s arm around until the shoulder joint snapped with a sickening POP that echoed.
"AGHHGHGH! I SURREND—" Barker shrieked, tears and blood covering his face, snot and blood mixing.
Lynx reached out with his left hand, crushing Barker’s mouth shut with his fingers so the surrender could not be spoken, palm covering mouth and nose.
For ten long, agonizing minutes, Lynx systematically dismantled Barker’s body in front of the thousands of silent people. He broke Barker’s ribs one by one with slow palm strikes, each crack loud.
He smashed his knees into shattered powder with stomps, legs bending wrong. He dragged his bleeding, broken frame across the stone floor by hair, painting the stage dark red in a long line.
It was a terrifying, gruesome beatdown that left the Void bench sitting in horrified, dead silence, no one cheering.
Finally, Lynx tossed Barker’s mangled, unconscious body off the stage like a heap of trash, body flipping in air and landing directly in front of the horrified Void Academy enclosure with thud, blood pooling fast.
The entire crowd sat frozen in absolute, terrified silence. Not a single person dared to cheer or clap.
The referee’s hands shook uncontrollably as he pointed toward the stage, voice cracking.
"MATCH TWENTY SIX VICTOR: LYNX AZARION FROM AETHER BLESSED ACADEMY!"
Lynx wiped a small fleck of Barker’s blood off his cheek with his thumb, his heterochromatic eyes glaring coldly at the Void enclosure before turning to walk off the stage, hands back in pockets.
———
The ninth and tenth days of the grand tournament arrived under dark, heavy rain clouds that hung low over the stadium and made the stone seats wet and cold.
The air inside the arena was thick with the copper stench of dried blood and pulverized stone that rain could not wash away. Medics walked around with mops but blood stayed in cracks.
High up in the regular spectator stands, Isabel, Amira, Eira, and Emily sat huddled under the dripping stone overhang, their hair damp. Emily’s hands were trembling so badly she had to clasp them together in her lap to stop shaking, her knuckles white.
"The tournament committee rigged the brackets completely," Emily whispered, her voice shaking as she looked down at the glowing scrying board overhead that was flickering red. "That Kimberly, she is very strong and according to Lynx, that ring boost them four times, how is that fair."
Isabel stared down at the stage, her calm posture hiding a deep, tight tension in her chest.
Rain dripped down her face. "The Void Academy controls half the tournament officials. That’s what happens, they saw Aether Blessed Academy as a threat, and this is what they think they could use to catch up, and it’s clearly working."
Down in the Aether enclosure, Eleanor Haleborn stood near the front rail. Her breathtaking royal beauty seemed to shine even under the gloomy sky and rain.
Her long, liquid gold hair fell past her waist, heavy with rain but still glowing, and her striking purple eyes were fixed on the stage with cold pride.
Her dark blue uniform top strained tight against her full, heavy bust, her narrow waist and wide hips giving her a regal, terrifyingly perfect grace. Even tired, she looked like a queen.
Behind her, her enforcer squad, Layla, Iris, Rhea, and Nadia, stood with bandaged arms and bruised skin, their faces grave and swollen.
Nadia’s had bandages on her thick thigh and her gigantic ass was bruised but she stood straight. Layla had a bandage over her eyebrow.
"Eleanor," Layla said softly, her crimson hair damp from the rain mist, her massive chest heaving.
"Lynx said she had three S Rank baseline in three elements, and she’s wearing the four fold obsidian ring. Her stats are going to be insane. It’s an absolute dangerous battle, you can just forfeit. You don’t have to—"
Eleanor did not look back. Her voice was smooth, quiet, and cold as pure gold, cutting through rain sound. "I know. But I am the Queen of Aether Blessed Academy. I do not step down. If I step down, Aether looks weak."
Lynx stepped up beside Eleanor, his six foot two frame standing right next to her, rain beading on his dark coat. His heterochromatic eyes looked at her profile, at blood dried on her lip from yesterday night training.
"She’s going to use the ring’s output to overwhelm your affinity from the first second," Lynx said softly, his tone completely serious, no joke. "Her base stats are high enough that multiplying them by four makes her physical and elemental output absurd. Be careful, Eleanor. Don’t trade directly."
Eleanor turned her head slightly, her purple eyes meeting Lynx’s gaze. Rain dropped from her eyelashes. A faint, rare smile touched her lips before vanishing. "Watch carefully, Lynx. I will show you why I rule this academy. And if I fall, you finish it."
Lynx nodded once.
The main arena horn blasted, echoing off the stone walls like a war horn, louder because of rain clouds. The big screen flickered overhead.
MATCH THIRTY ONE: ELEANOR HALEBORN - AETHER BLESSED ACADEMY VS. KIMBERLY VANE - VOID BLESSED ACADEMY
The entire crowd rose to their feet in a deafening, wild roar that shook rain off the roof. This was the match people had waited for, the clash of the two supreme female fighters, the absolute peak of the tournament, queen vs queen.
Kimberly Vane stepped out from the Void enclosure. Her long, midnight black hair swayed against her lower back, wet from rain but still shiny, her polished steel grey eyes shining with cold, arrogant dominance.
Her dark Void uniform strained heavily against her massive, voluptuous bust, her wide, perfectly curved hips swaying with predatory grace as her polished boots clicked against the wet stone.
Her ass was big and round and tight in uniform, her thighs thick. On her right index finger, the obsidian ring pulsed with a terrifying crimson light that hissed in the rain.
Eleanor walked up the opposite steps, her deep purple hair falling past her waist like liquid night, her striking purple eyes glowing with dense electrical voltage even in the rain, sparks of Lightning pushing water away from her body.
"Eleanor Haleborn," Kimberly said, her voice carrying smoothly across the stage despite the roaring wind and rain and crowd, her lips smirking. "You should have forfeited. Your team already fell at my team’s feet, bleeding like pigs. You are just standing in line for the slaughter. Your lightning won’t save you from me."
"Save your breath, Kimberly," Eleanor replied, her Lightning igniting around her body in a blinding, purple radiance that made the rain evaporate instantly around her skin. "A cheat ring cannot hide a hollow soul. Take it off and fight me like a queen."
Kimberly laughed loud. "Hollow? I am the real queen."
"Begin!" the referee screamed, scrambling off the stage as fast as his legs could carry him, knowing what was coming.
BOOM!
The stage exploded in a violent, multi elemental shockwave that sent rain flying sideways.
Kimberly didn’t hesitate for a single millisecond. The obsidian ring on her finger flared with a sickening, dark crimson light that lit up the whole arena.
Her three S-Rank affinitiesC Lightning, Fire, and Ice, ignited simultaneously as her baseline stats were multiplied four times.
A tri elemental storm of dark purple lightning, scorching red flames, and absolute zero ice surged across the entire arena stage, cracking the protective energy barrier around the ring and making it ripple violently.
Eleanor’s purple eyes flared bright. Her S Rank Lightning surged through her legs, unleashing her blessing, Sovereign Thunderclap.
A blinding discharge of purple static erupted around Kimberly, marking her with an invisible lightning seal.
Instantly, Eleanor activated her high speed lightning movement, her body splitting into four crackling purple lightning afterimages that scattered across the platform in a fraction of a second, each clone hummed with voltage.
CRACK-BOOM!
Kimberly’s dark purple lightning struck two of the lightning afterimages, vaporizing them instantly into ozone dust.
But the real Eleanor appeared directly above Kimberly’s head, upside down in the air, her right palm condensed into a soaring spear of pure, high voltage purple electricity.
Because of Sovereign Thunderclap, the attack auto tracked straight toward Kimberly’s head with unavoidable speed.
"Sovereign Thunder Strike!" Eleanor shouted, thrusting her hand downward with terrifying speed, the purple lightning lance locked onto Kimberly’s skull.
Kimberly grinned arrogantly and did not dodge. She raised her left palm, summoning an absolute zero Ice shield that froze the rain mid air, while her S Rank Fire ignited on her right side to meet Eleanor’s lightning.
BANG!
The high voltage purple lightning slammed into Kimberly’s ice shield. The thermal explosion between Lightning, absolute zero, and scorching fire blew massive chunks of stone out of the arena floor, sending a concussive air wave that the barrier thankfully absorbed.
For fifteen grueling, terrifying minutes, the two queens waged a total war that made earlier fights look like child’s play.
Eleanor moved like a purple streak of thunder, her long purple hair trailing crackling arcs of electricity.
She used her lightning speed to slip past Kimberly’s wide area blasts, every single strike auto tracking and driving deep purple electrical burns across Kimberly’s arms and shoulders.
Kimberly bled heavily, dark red blood staining her Void uniform, her massive bust heaving as she breathed hard, but she smiled through the blood.
When a blast of Kimberly’s absolute zero ice was about to freeze her chest solid, Eleanor turned into a streak blur of lighting and effortlessly stepped past the frozen spear and threw a dense ball of purple lightning point blank into Kimberly’s ribs.
Blood sprayed as the lightning tore through Kimberly’s side.