The mass composing the stakes was no longer simply water but true elental ice, manifestation of elent transcending ordinary manipulation.
It destroyed the rock do's remains with ease demonstrating its fundantal elental superiority, earth fragnts dispersing harmlessly while ice continued advancing without notable montum reduction.
And they imprisoned the Bashe completely, a crystalline cage forming around the now more deflated serpent faster than Liora could order another evasive movent.
It wasn't simply an external barrier but a structure penetrating through the Bashe's body, ice needles growing from multiple points simultaneously until the serpent was completely immobilized within a perfect geotric matrix.
The Bashe couldn't move, couldn't breathe properly nor could it generate enough miasma to lt the ice made out of holy water.
Trapped… Completely trapped.
It was beautiful in a strange way, a prismatic way.
Ice that ford patterns reflecting light at multiple angles, geotry that wasn't accidental but specifically optimized for the next technique Ren planned to execute.
A "weak" one.
Finally he ordered the wolverine to use its most powerful flash, concentrated light release that would normally be blinding but damage-limited.
But in this context, surrounded by ice reflecting and refracting light, the effect amplified exponentially.
The flash reflected in the beautiful geotric ice to generate thousands of secondary flashes, each directed toward a different point in the Bashe's body.
It was an omnidirectional bombardnt of purifying light penetrating miasma and burning the serpent's spiritual essence with an efficiency a single attack would never achieve.
The light didn't just illuminate, it purified, it annihilated the spiritual miasma.
The Bashe was struck down in the end by an assault eclipsing anything Ren had previously used.
The serpent's permanent smile finally faded. The spiritual glow in its eyes dimd to nothing. The miasma dissipated like smoke in the wind.
The bond with Liora severed abruptly.
Liora collapsed onto one knee, hand pressing against her chest where the void of the broken bond resonated with pain.
It wasn't physical pain, though her body interpreted it that way. She gasped, vision swimming, tasted iron and realized she'd bitten through her lip without noticing.
The insane battle ended with the wolverine in its final monts, body covered in bleeding wounds communicating exactly how much this victory had cost.
Ren's beast had 0 external mana just a mont ago. It had to spin its core to extract a bit from its last charge that was no longer complete, the final 15% remaining. It just extracted so of the remaining mana to heal itself and avoid bleeding to death, sufficient energy to not lose the bond but insufficient to continue fighting effectively if another battle began imdiately.
Ren breathed deeply, exhaustion hitting him as battle adrenaline began dissipating.
His hands were shaking. Subtle tremor he couldn't quite suppress. The ntal strain of that compound shadow jump sequence, hundreds of calculations in microseconds, had pushed his perception abilities to absolute limits.
Headache building behind his eyes. Price of using abilities beyond safe operational paraters.
He'd won but at a cost exceeding any other victory during this exam.
He'd revealed his ice elental control and pushed the wolverine to survival's edge.
And all because Liora had refused to surrender even when defeat seed inevitable, pushing him beyond his comfort zone.
Worth it, though… Sohow, despite everything, worth it.
The crowd erupted.
Not applause... Just noise. Incoherent sound from thousands of throats simultaneously trying to process what they'd witnessed.
Professor Zhao landed and raised his hand, voice amplified across the utterly destroyed arena: "Victory…"
He paused and cleared his troat.
"Victory: Ren Patinder!"
Now the acclaim ca. Thunderous and deafening, the stands shaking with it.
Applause… Screams... Excited conversations about what they'd just witnessed.
It was a response communicating the audience recognized having seen sothing exceptional, a battle that would be rembered and discussed for years not only in the academy.
"Did we really just see…"
"The ice! It made ice at Silver 3!"
"And those towers! The size!"
"That serpent ate itself. It actually ate itself!"
"I've never seen anything like…"
The volu was overwhelming, thousands of voices.
Ren's parents finally allowed themselves to breathe appropriately, tension releasing in collective sighs of relief mixed with overwhelming pride.
His mother was crying. Not sobbing but tears streaming freely down her face, ignored. His father's arm around her shoulders.
Their son... Their impossible, brilliant, terrifying son. Still standing. Still winning...
Taro watched Ren help Liora stand, an exchange of words he couldn't hear from the distance but that evidently communicated mutual respect for a well-fought battle.
Even through his own pain, healers had numbed it but hadn't fixed the underlying damage, Taro felt pride and regret.
Larissa was openly cheering, hands failing at covering her mouth like a "controlled" noble. Mayo was screaming herself hoarse, jumping up and down.
And Luna, seated in the reserved section for finalists, watched with expression impossible to read completely.
Anticipation mixed with sothing more complex. Excitent? Anxiety? Determination? All of those and more, emotions layering until her face beca a mask hiding depths beneath.
Ren had proven once again why he was considered invincible among his generation.
Though "invincible" felt like a less appropriate term after a battle that had pushed him so close to his absolute limit.
Invincible was a myth. What Ren had just demonstrated was sothing else, indomitable will backed by impossible skill, but still mortal, still vulnerable, still beatable if you could just find the right angle.
Luna smiled slightly.
She'd find that angle. She had to.
♢♢♢♢
Just after professor Zhao announced Ren's victory with a voice barely cutting through the audience's roar, the teacher received a ssage of his own.
It was delivered by a bird similar to the one that had brought Selphira's second communication… urgency evident in its flight speed and size. Military bird… Bad news bird.
The audience was applauding with fervor making the stands physically vibrate, thunderous jubilation providing constant background noise.
In the destroyed arena below, where collapsed towers and massive craters communicated exactly how intense the confrontation between Ren and Liora had been, battle remains stood as silent testimony to the power both had deployed.
Soone would need to repair all this before the finals. Hours of work. Zhao read the ssage he'd just received with expression darkening progressively as he scanned the content.
It was sothing urgent. Obvious from the change in posture and the way his wings tensed involuntarily, feathers rustling with agitation he couldn't quite suppress.
And then without prior warning he gave powerful wing beat with the wings he already had manifested and extended, large feathers deploying completely to generate impulse lifting him from the ground.
He'd needed to maintain those wings active during the entire battle to react appropriately. Without them he wouldn't have survived the massive confrontation running between falling towers and a giant serpent wrapped in miasma.
Zhao landed directly beside Selphira.
She'd finished reading her own letter by that mont, and her expression reflected a mix of irritation and resignation suggesting both ssages contained related information.
"They had to co up with this now," Selphira complained with a tone carrying genuine frustration beyond simple inconvenience. "They won't let enjoy the finals in peace."
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