The Heavens Shall Fall

Floating Arena XIV, the Mirror Platform was one of the cleaner-looking floating arenas Siu had seen so far. It got its name mostly because of the white stone it was made of, polished to the point that portions of it reflected the sky above, with no mosaics or decorations.

“Whoa...” Arya muttered as they arrived, as amongst the three Paragon battles, Seloryn's own drew the most attention.

Disciples occupied not only the nearby bridges and roads, but there was actually no space left on the chains holding it. Unlike in Kal's fight, there was no unified block of association members gathering here, but by sweeping the people present, Siu managed to notice dozens of people with clear signs of belonging to one. They wore either a pin attached to their robes, a piece of colored cloth strapped to their arms, or an emblem directly embroidered into their robes. It seemed like all those who got curious about the Wardens were here to watch their highest-ranking Paragon perform.

Which made sense. Seloryn was Rank Eighty-Eight, even having the nickname of Silver Flute; she was one of those who were taken note of, even amongst Paragons. If they wanted to gauge the power of this newly emerging group, it could be best done through her.

“That's a lot of people...” Marly muttered, sitting on Siu's head.

“Yeah.” He agreed, still trying to take it all in.

“What if Big Sis gets hurt?”

“She will be alright.”

"I hope..." Marly's grip tightened around his hair, while Arya was having the exact opposite reaction.

“Master!” She exclaimed at once, her tail going around like a propeller. "Can I—"

“No.”

“I haven't said anything yet!”

“I know you. My answer is no.”

“But—”

“No.”

“But—” She pointed at the crowd. “Look how many people are here!”

“Exactly why.”

“This needs something special, Master, trust me!”

“It needs us finding somewhere to stand.” He answered, already holding onto her shoulder, stopping her from doing anything.

“No, Master! It needs atmosphere!”

"Sssh." Siu kept walking, dragging her around,

“Master, this gathering needs some spirit!”

“Arya.”

“Seloryn needs our support!”

“Arya.”

“SHE NEEDS LOVE!”

Several people looked over at that while Siu walked faster, now holding Arya's mouth with his hand, who began struggling, still speaking, making it look like an abduction, which probably further excited her. Seloryn, who had been moving just ahead of them, glanced over her shoulder, and weirdly enough, she was smiling.

“Don't stop her on my account.”

“You are making this worse,” Siu muttered, but she just giggled.

“I know! It's fine... It adds to our name, so let her loose.”

"Do remember," Siu answered with a flat tone, "It was your idea."

While saying it, her smile looked perfectly relaxed now, as Arya pointed two thumbs up at her, yelling at Siu through their link.

“You heard her, Master! Unleash me!”

Naturally, Siu still kept hold of her as they moved through the spectators until reaching one of the nearest viewing positions. When people noticed them arriving, just as with the others, they parted ways, letting Seloryn walk over the chains, also allowing Siu to get the best possible spot to view the coming battle. When Seloryn jumped onto the arena, that was when Siu finally let go of Arya, who completely lost whatever remained of her restraint the moment Siu's hand retreated from her mouth.

“SELORYYYYYN!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, but apparently that was not enough. She just cupped both hands around her mouth. “SILVER FLUTE! DESTROY HIM! WIN VERY AGGRESSIVELY! SHOW HIM ALL OF YOU!”

“That's...” Siu shrugged as everyone now watched the small foxgirl saying very weird things.

Of course, emboldened by the gazes, a blinding light flashed around Arya. At the same time, Siu just closed his eyes, pinching the ridge of his nose. By the time he opened them again, there were seven Aryas all around him, as they began spreading around, standing on every single one of the chains. As everyone watched, every single new Arya had their arms raised before the original one jumped, and the others followed. Luckily, they weren't jumping off the chains, but just in place, as they began dancing in sync. Worst of all... it involved far too much hip movement, synchronized tail swishing, clapping, and of course, a cheering song that she just made up on the spot.

“SEL-O-RYN!”

Clap.

Clap.

“SEL-O-RYN!”

Clap.

Clap.

“BLOW OFF THE ICE MAN!”

Siu grabbed his face, deciding to remain silent, but soon people around them began laughing, and to his surprise, some even joined in. Which only encouraged her... It didn't help that even Seloryn laughed, shaking her head, which in turn made Arya's copies scream louder.

“SEE?! SHE LOVES IT!”

As Arya was doing the best of her cheerleading, someone else had arrived on the opposite bridge, coming alone, stepping onto the arena without flinching when all the Aryas began booing him. His eyes went immediately to Seloryn when he stopped opposite her, cupping his hands.

"Silver Flute."

"Iceman." Seloryn returned the greeting before asking, “You came prepared?”

"Mhm." His gaze scanned her once more. “As best as I could.”

“I hope there will be no hard feelings after we are done here.”

"Why would there be?" Heral's brow shifted slightly. "It is the law of the Paragons."

Just then, the announcement rang through the arena, echoed by Arya's continued cheering.

[PARAGON CHALLENGE INITIATED]

[RANK DEFENDER: HERAL VENN — RANK 80]

[RANK CHALLENGER: SELORYN VEYRA — RANK 88]

[VICTORY BY CONCESSION, INCAPACITATION, OR FORMATION INTERVENTION]

As it happened, Seloryn slowly drew the Silver Flute to her lips while Heral placed both hands behind his back, causing Siu to lean forward, trying to see everything that would happen next.

"Ooooooo!" Arya's copies raised their arms, yelling just at the same time as the announcement:

[BEGIN]

And already, Seloryn played one note, just as Heral's ice appeared, freezing half the arena in a snap.

Ice erupted from the Mirror Platform, but instead of attacking Seloryn, it mostly surrounded Heral. Six thick walls rose simultaneously, each transparent enough that Siu could still see through them. Just as they appeared, Seloryn's opening note struck the first, and to everyone's surprise, it didn't shatter. The ice barely even shook; instead, the sound seemed to vanish. Siu's eyes narrowed at once, while Seloryn's eyes simply narrowed.

At the same time, Heral raised one hand, and the ice wall rotated, dealing with the apparent damage it still suffered. That was when Siu noticed it wasn't one wall but three, placed very close together, making it look so thick. In reality, they were three sheets of ice that had been grown almost against one another, with tiny hollow spaces trapped between them. The outer layer was crystal clear, the middle was cloudy, and the inner layer was clear again, and Heral was flipping it so the other side faced Seloryn now.

He finished just when she played another note, and a visible ripple crossed the arena, which struck the rotating wall. This time Siu watched carefully, seeing how the first layer vibrated, using the air pockets between them to break up the resonance, causing the second wall to vibrate differently, sending it to the last pocket so that the third barely moved by the time Seloryn's attack reached it.

"Shit..." Siu's mouth twisted, realizing what Heral was doing. “He's scattering it completely..."

"Um..." Marly looked confused. “How? Sound can't be grabbed!”

“The walls are breaking it apart.” He answered, explaining it, and by then the disciples around him were realizing it too. "That's why he rotates them, because the first wall taking a hit still takes damage, so this way he can repair them while the least affected side blocks the next...”

By then, Seloryn apparently reached the same conclusion. Instead of attacking again, she tapped her flute against her palm, just as Heral lifted both hands and the six layered barriers separated, only to be multiplied. Over and over again...

First there were twelve, twenty, thirty, as transparent sheets rose across the entire platform in zigzagging rows, transforming the open arena into an enormous maze of glasslike ice. The moment the sunlight hit them, the rainbow fragments scattered everywhere, and while everyone fell silent, Arya kept yelling, cheering for Seloryn, continuing her dance.

Undeterred by the sudden setback, Seloryn raised her flute, and she released three different notes in succession, from high to very low. She watched as the walls trembled, while some cracked, but most remained unaffected. Heral moved one hand in the meantime, and a set of ice spears appeared between the walls, launching themselves towards Seloryn.

Without flinching, she stepped sideways as much as she needed as the first passed by her, followed by the second. However, the third changed direction when it struck one of the angled ice surfaces. Instead of shattering, it bounced off, repeating it multiple times.

Unbothered by its apparently random path, she swept the flute outward as a shrill sound came out of it, and the spear and all nearby ice walls to her shattered into tiny pieces. However, the shockwave couldn't spread far, and those that she destroyed began reforming at once.

Soon, the Mirror Platform had become a frozen puzzle once more, trying to entrap Seloryn. Whenever she sent her resonance through one corridor, Heral closed it off by summoning more walls, angling them, sending more spears bouncing towards Seloryn. Clearly, his solution to his disadvantage was that instead of trying to change his own powers, he would give her hundreds of surfaces for Seloryn's notes to bounce off. Even if it consumed a ton of essence to maintain... it was his best solution to trap her and counter her affinity.

“This is amazing,” Siu muttered slowly, unable to hide his smile.

"Master!" Marly looked at him as if he were insane. “Big Sis is getting attacked!”

“I know.”

“Then why are you happy?!”

“I'm not happy she's getting attacked, but seeing this... I'm learning a lot. This is better than just the books...”

"Ow..." Marly smacked his cheek. "Don't let the Old Man hear it!"

Still, Siu couldn't stop watching, forgetting to even blink when his eyes began watering, trying to ask him to please do so. As Seloryn kept bouncing off her notes, Siu had already figured out why she was keeping doing it, and a minute in, Heral's eyes finally narrowed, too. He, too, realized what she was doing, and immediately shattered a few of his own ice, trying to disrupt her. Seloryn's sound was traveling faster than Heral could react or build walls, and by now she had managed to map the maze, forcing her sound through all possible paths and sending it in a pattern that could not only reach Heral but also be amplified by the constant bounces.

When she already had a mental map of it all, a strong, low note reverberated across the platform, and it didn't really have any focused direction, as it spread towards all possible paths, using the walls to make it echo and grow... just when Heral was trying to modify the quickest route to himself. His sharp mind had fallen into the trap the Seloryn set for him and for all the spectators, including Siu.

In just a snap, the entire Mirror Platform trembled while Heral's eyes widened as cracks ran across the arena. Seloryn wasn't even done, because she then changed pitch next, and the labyrinth before her began exploding, no matter how much Heral had prepared.

The moment it happened, Arya had elevated her cheerleading squad, quite literally, because now most of her copies were standing on the shoulders of other copies, suddenly doubling their numbers with another golden split.

“BIG SIS! BIG SIS! BIG SIS!”

Her copies began a new dance, throwing each other into the air, spinning in a circle around each other, almost hypnotically, swinging their hips and tails... and Siu had no idea how she coordinated them. He suspected she didn't either, and that she was just doing this because it felt right. Letting her be, Siu's eyes remained on the battlefield because Heral did not seem to panic, despite the massive setback.

Instead, he slammed both palms together, and all the remaining ice exploded by itself as the thousands of fragments flew upward, becoming a sea of narrow vertical rods of ice. Just seeing it made Siu's skin prickle, especially when the first rod began humming. He expected Heral to try to rain death down, but... apparently not. Was he making his own resonance? How?! Soon, hundreds of different tones began ringing from the vibrating rods, layered over one another until the entire arena seemed to be filled with a droning buzz. For the first time, Seloryn looked cautious and unsure.

"I have studied your methods," Heral said quietly, his voice washed out by the droning, “You always favored certain ranges... But now you will be cut off from them.”

"I am amazed by your mind." She lifted the flute, gazing directly at him. "I feel honored to take your place."

Just then, she played a note that nobody could hear. Still, the first to react was Arya, as all her copies stopped dancing, holding onto their ears, while Siu's teeth began hurting.

“What was that?!” Arya and her copies yelled painfully, the mirror images even beginning to flicker. The weird resonance Seloryn produced had collided with the humming ice overhead by then as the two sounds overlapped.

The result was like an invisible blade, cutting across the world as a line appeared on the platform, sending chunks of it into the air, as if it were being cut in half. Worse than that, all the hum from the ice rods changed, going up and up in tune until becoming inaudible to human ears. Yet... they kept sending more and more invisible blades down, bombarding the platform, narrowing their aim towards Heral. They were slicing and dicing the entire arena, formation or not, leaving the mirror-like sheen looking like a century-old cutting board.

"Haaah..." Heral sighed, with no idea coming to mind of how to gain back control over the ice without destroying them. A thousand ideas ran through his mind, but he also knew that it would only spend all his remaining energy, which was already low... There was just no reason to try and hurt himself in the process. "I concede."

"..." Seloryn lowered the flute immediately as the entire frozen battlefield stopped vibrating, and one second later, the arena announced:

[CONCESSION RECOGNIZED]

[WINNER: SELORYN VEYRA]

It took a few moments for everyone to realize what was happening before Floating Arena XIV exploded.

“AAAAAAAAAH!” Of course, Arya was louder than everyone. “BIG SIS WON! EIGHTY! EIGHTY! EIGHTY! AND IT'S NOT HER AGE!”

"Yey!" Marly launched herself off Siu's shoulder, circling around his head. "SHE WON!”

Soon, the protective dome disappeared, and before everyone's eyes, the arena began repairing itself, returning to its pristine form in only a minute or so. Seloryn visibly flinched when Arya's cheering hit her at full volume, especially what she was singing about. Still, she tried to ignore it for now while Heral's ice began melting around him.

Before he could leave, Seloryn walked closer to him.

“You were better,” Heral said, raising a hand before she could say anything.

"Still," Seloryn gave him a small smile. “You nearly had me.”

“No, you still had things up your sleeve.” He answered, glancing at her calmly, "I can tell."

“You still made me reveal some.”

"Mhm." That made his lips curve into a very tiny, barely noticeable smile. "Congratulations on your new rank, Silver Flute." He said in the end, cupping his hands, that Seloryn returned with her own, bowing.

As Heral began to leave, the official update was announced, too.

[80 — SELORYN VEYRA]

[88 — HERAL VENN]

And then she noticed that all twelve copies of Arya suddenly lined up along the chain, and both her and Siu's stomachs dropped as they raised their arms, forming letters, apparently, while shouting as loudly as possible.

“GIVE ME AN S!” Said the real Arya, and her copies answered even louder.

“S!”

“GIVE ME AN E!”

“E!”

Seloryn froze in the middle of the arena while Arya continued, and even Marly joined in.

“L!”

“L!”

“ARYA, THERE ARE SEVEN LETTERS!” Siu tried to interfere through their connection, but she was way too excited.

“I KNOW!”

“You are going to spell the whole thing?!”

“Yes!”

Seloryn turned around as fast as she could and started walking toward the opposite side of the arena, right after Heral, making Arya flinch.

“OI! COME BACK! WE AREN'T DONE!” But Seloryn began walking even faster, escaping, prompting the crowd to burst into laughter and applause. “SELORYN! STOP AND WITNESS ME!”