Reiyell's POV – The Duel
The frost curled lazily from my fingertips, coiling into the air like ribbons of moonlight. The moment the first shard of ice kissed the ground, I could feel his pulse quicken — even without looking at him.
Wads.
The boy with eyes too stubborn to bow and hands too calloused for his age. Months ago, he would've been frozen in the first heartbeat. Now… he was still standing.
My Abyssal Freeze blossomed across the field, turning soil to glass and air to knives. I expected him to buckle immediately. Instead, I felt the ripple — gravity itself bending, my frost's natural drift suddenly dragging toward the ground.
A smile tugged at my lips. So you've been holding back on me.
He moved like someone who had memorized the weight of his own limits. Every step was deliberate, every dodge too precise to be accidental. I had to admit — his Gravity Lattice made my attacks hesitate, linger, as though the world itself was unsure which way to lean.
But power is more than tricks.
I raised my hand, palm open, and the temperature dropped sharply enough that my own breath crystallized. His balance wavered — a subtle thing most wouldn't notice, but to me, it was the sound of a match nearly going out.
"Still think you can reach me?" I asked, my tone light, almost teasing.
"Not yet," he answered, voice low but steady. "But I'll get there."
That determination… it was dangerous. Not because he could beat me now — he couldn't even graze me if I stood still — but because it reminded me of someone. Someone I used to spar with in the palace courtyards when the world was still simple...simple? what am I even talking about?
He lunged again, pushing gravity to force me into missteps, but I simply let the frost carry me, a dance he couldn't yet lead. His blade missed by inches, his force collapsing into a spiral of heavy air and fractured ice.
Even as I pushed him back, his eyes didn't dim. They sharpened.
The duel ended when I decided it would, my ice blooming outward to lock the ground beneath him. His knees buckled from the sudden chill seeping up his legs, but he didn't look away.
I stepped forward, the sound of cracking frost between us. "You've grown, Wads. Faster than most."
He didn't respond at first — just caught his breath. Then, more formal than I liked, he said, "Princess Reiyell, I—"
"Rei," I interrupted, brushing frost from my sleeves. "When it's just us, call me Rei."
His brow furrowed, as if unsure whether I was serious. But he nodded.
For the first time in a long while, I felt… curious. Not about his strength now, but about how far he'd climb.