The purple mist rolled across the arena floor like a living nightmare. It was heavy, clinging to the stone, hissing as it corroded the few spots of moss growing in the cracks.
The crowd in the stands stood up, many covering their mouths instinctively, even though the barriers prevented the poison from leaking out. This wasn't a sparring match anymore. Dugu Yan had unleashed a lethal area-of-effect attack that could dissolve lungs in seconds.
"Arthev!" Huang Yuan shouted, retreating rapidly. He leaped onto a pillar, but the gas was rising.
"There's nowhere to run! It's covering the whole floor!"
Jing Ling and Sun Lian scrambled backward, their faces pale. Even Jiang Zhu stopped spinning her staff, freezing in terror as the purple wall approached.
In the center of the encroaching doom, Arthev stood motionless. The purple reflection of the poison danced in his eyes.
"Gas expands to fill the volume," Arthev murmured, as if reciting a textbook. "Toxic concentration is high. Solution: Dilution."
He turned to face the wave.
"Third Soul Skill," Arthev intoned.
The Black Ring flared with a dark, crushing light. The air pressure in the arena dropped so sharply that peoples' ears popped.
"Elemental Branch: Tide of the Abyss."
Arthev stomped his right foot.
RUMBLE.
The arena shook violently. But this time, it wasn't earth that answered.
From the cracks in the stone floor, blue light erupted. Then, massive, gnarled branches of wet, blue coral burst forth, spiraling upward like a twisted forest. And with the coral came the water.
It wasn't a splash. It was a deluge.
A massive surge of churning, heavy seawater exploded from the roots, crashing into the poison mist with the force of a breaking dam.
WHOOSH.
The purple fog didn't stand a chance. The sheer volume of the water caught the gas, churned it, diluted it, and slammed it against the barriers of the arena walls.
The water receded quickly, draining through the floor grates, taking the poison with it.
"Solvent dilution," Arthev lectured, his voice cutting through the noise. "Poison is a chemical concentration. If I increase the volume of the solvent... the toxicity drops to zero."
The massive wave of water and coral washed the purple mist away, slamming it against the arena walls and draining it through the grates.
Dugu Yan stood wet and shivering, her strongest control skill washed away like dirt.
"Water?" she gasped, wiping her face. "Earth and Water? Dual Element?"
"Multi-element," Arthev corrected politely.
"I DON'T CARE!"
A roar shook the stadium. Yu Tian-Heng rose from the ground. He was wet, bruised, and absolutely furious. The Dragonization had spread to both arms. His eyes were glowing white.
"You play with sand! You play with water! Let's see you play with the Wrath of Heaven!"
Yu Tian-Heng raised both claws to the sky. He was done with tactics. He was going to nuke the entire stage.
"Thunder Dragon's Wrath!"
Massive thunderclouds formed instantly indoors, summoned by the Spirit Resonance of the Blue Lightning Tyrant Dragon. Bolts of lightning began to arc down, striking the ground randomly, turning the stone to slag.
"He's lost it," Osler , who had just woken up near the wall, whispered in horror. "The Captain is using that."
"He's destroying the stage!" Jing Ling yelled, ducking under a coral branch.
"Arthev! We're going to get fried!"
The crowd watched in awe and terror. This was the raw destructive power of the Upper Three Sects. It was a nuke.
Arthev looked up at the gathering storm. He felt the electrons building up charge.
'Matatabi,' Arthev projected. 'Shall we show him the third branch?'
'No,' Arthev decided. 'That would be overkill. Let us stick to physics.'
"Group hug," Arthev ordered his team.
"WHAT?" Huang Yuan yelled, staring at the sky where lightning was already arcing.
"Get behind me!" Arthev's voice snapped with authority. "Touching shoulders. Crouch down. NOW."
The command cut through their panic.
They scrambled, practically tripping over each other to huddle behind Arthev's back, grabbing onto his black robes like frightened children.
Arthev faced the Dragon.
He switched his soul power channel back to his First Ring.
"First Soul Skill: Elemental Branch: Earth - Ironwood Sanctuary."
The sand-roots erupted again. But this time, they didn't attack. They spiraled around Arthev and his team, forming a hollow dome of black, magnetic sand.
Arthev extended a single, thin spike of sand from the top of the dome, reaching high toward the artificial clouds.
"Strike me!" Arthev challenged.
Yu Tian-Heng obliged.
"VANISH!"
A massive column of blue lightning crashed down, aimed squarely at Arthev.
CRACK-BOOM!
A massive column of blue lightning, thick as a tree trunk, crashed down from the artificial clouds. It carried enough voltage to turn a Soul Elder into ash.
The crowd screamed.
The lightning descended. But it didn't hit the dome.
It hit the spike.
ZZZZZT-BOOM!
The blinding blue light connected with the black sand needle.
The sand didn't explode. Arthev had infused it with magnetic energy, turning the iron-sand into a super-conductor. The lightning was captured by the tip, channeled instantly down the sides of the dome in glowing blue rivulets, and grounded harmlessly into the wet earth beneath the stage.
For three seconds, the arena was blinded by the light. The dome glowed like a neon igloo. The sound was deafening.
Then... silence.
The lightning faded. The clouds dissipated.
Yu Tian-Heng fell to his knees, his soul power completely drained. He panted heavily, smoke rising from his dragon claws.
He stared at the black dome. It was scorched, turned to glass in some places, but it was unbroken.
The sand slowly crumbled, falling away like dust.
Arthev stood there. He brushed a speck of soot from his shoulder. Behind him, the Second Team slowly uncurled, checking their bodies.
"We... we're alive?" Jiang Zhu whispered. "I felt the heat... but no shock."
Arthev stepped forward, walking toward the exhausted Dragon.
"Science Lesson Number Two," Arthev announced, his voice carrying through the stunned silence.
"Electricity seeks the path of least resistance. You provided the power. I provided the wire."
Yu Tian-Heng looked up, his eyes filled with despair and confusion. "Earth... Water... Lightning deflection... What are you?"
Arthev stopped five meters away. The Black Ring and the two Purple rings rotated slowly around him, casting long shadows.
He raised his hand one last time, his Second Ring flashing briefly.
A flicker of Blue Fire ignited in his palm, It wasn't normal fire, it was blue plasma hot enough to distort the air, hinting at yet another element he hadn't even used yet.
He closed his hand, extinguishing the flame before anyone could analyze it fully.
"I am Arthev," he said simply. "And your ten minutes are up."
He looked at the referee, who was standing with his mouth open, forgetting to breathe.
"Checkmate."
The referee stared at the exhausted, defeated Royal Team. He stared at the untouched "Roaches."
"W-Winner..." the referee stammered, then shouted.
"WINNER! THE IMPERIAL SECOND TEAM!"
Arthev turned to his team. "Class dismissed."
The arena didn't cheer immediately. They were too busy trying to process the birth of a monster. Then, slowly, the applause started.
It wasn't the raucous cheering of fans, it was the terrified, respectful applause given to something dangerous.
Arthev looked up at the VIP box, locking eyes with the Prince.
"We win."
To be continued.....