Ji-hu charged through the ice wall.
It shattered around him as he burst through, straight at Dohyun. Fire in one hand. Water in the other. Steam and ice both ready.
Dohyun met him with lightning.
They crashed together in the center of the arena.
---
The impact sent shockwaves across the sand. Lightning met steam and both exploded outward. Ji-hu took a bolt to the shoulder and felt his arm go numb. He drove his knee into Dohyun's stomach anyway.
Dohyun gasped but didn't fall. Lightning gathered in his palm for a point-blank strike.
Ji-hu grabbed his wrist. Ice formed around both their hands, locking them together. The lightning discharged through the ice, cracking it but also spreading the current across both of them.
They screamed together. Neither let go.
Dohyun: You're INSANE!
Ji-hu: SO ARE YOU!
---
On the other side of the arena, Ara was still dodging.
Jiyoon threw everything at her. Rocks. Pillars. Waves of earth that tried to swallow her whole. Ara moved like water, flowing between attacks, never stopping, never letting herself get cornered.
But she couldn't attack. Couldn't get close. Jiyoon kept distance, kept throwing, kept her pinned.
Jiyoon: Just DIE already!
Ara: Make me.
She spotted a pattern. Jiyoon's attacks came in sets of three. Rock, pillar, wave. Always the same rhythm. Always the same timing.
Ara counted.
One. Two. Three.
She moved during the third, not away from it but toward it. The wave of earth rose beneath her feet and she rode it like a surfboard, using its momentum to launch herself at Jiyoon.
Jiyoon: WHAT—
Ara's blade flashed.
Not a kill strike. Just a cut across Jiyoon's arm. Deep enough to hurt. Deep enough to break concentration.
The earth attacks stopped.
---
Yuna was struggling with Sungmin.
His sensory power made him impossible to surprise. Every telekinetic grab she attempted, he sensed coming and dodged. Every piece of debris she threw, he tracked and avoided.
Sungmin: You can't hit what you can't fool.
Yuna: Then I'll stop trying to fool you.
She changed tactics. Instead of grabbing him directly, she grabbed the ground beneath him. Instead of throwing debris at him, she threw it around him, boxing him in.
Sungmin's senses told him what was coming but they couldn't stop it. Walls of debris rose around him. The ground tilted under his feet. He stumbled, fell, couldn't rise.
Sungmin: This isn't—
Yuna: This is me not playing your game.
She slammed the debris down on top of him. He disappeared under a pile of stone and sand.
---
Ji-hu and Dohyun were still locked together, ice and lightning crackling between them.
Dohyun: You're going to kill us both!
Ji-hu: I KNOW!
He let go of Dohyun's wrist and grabbed his face instead. Ice formed around Dohyun's head, a mask of frost that covered his mouth, his nose, his eyes.
Dohyun thrashed. Lightning fired wildly in every direction. One bolt hit Ji-hu in the chest. Another hit the ground. Another hit the wall.
Ji-hu held on.
The ice mask thickened. Dohyun's struggles weakened. His lightning faded.
He fell to his knees.
Ji-hu stood over him, breathing hard, ice melting from his hands, burn marks covering his chest.
Ji-hu: Stay down.
Dohyun couldn't answer. The ice was still there. But he nodded. Once. Barely.
Ji-hu let the ice melt away.
Dohyun gasped for air, coughing, choking, alive.
---
On the far side, Ara had Jiyoon pinned with a blade at her throat.
Ara: Yield.
Jiyoon: Never.
Ara: I've killed people for looking at me wrong. You really want to test me?
Jiyoon looked into her eyes. Saw something there that made her blood run cold.
Jiyoon: I yield.
Ara stepped back. The blade disappeared.
---
Yuna pulled the debris off Sungmin. He was conscious but broken, his sensory power useless when he couldn't move.
Yuna: You done?
Sungmin: ...done.
---
They stood together in the center of the arena, three against three, but only one team still standing.
Ji-hu. Yuna. Ara.
Dohyun. Jiyoon. Sungmin. All on the ground. All defeated.
The crowd was dead silent.
Then they erupted.
---
Announcer: MATCH OVER! WINNERS: NAMELESS GUILD!
Ji-hu looked at Ara. Ara looked at Yuna. Yuna looked at both of them.
Yuna: We did it.
Ara: We did it together.
Ji-hu: Yeah. Together.
They stood there in the middle of the chaos, surrounded by roaring crowds and flashing lights, and for a moment everything was perfect.
Then Minjun came running.
Minjun: THAT WAS AMAZING! THE ICE MASK! THE SURFING ATTACK! THE DEBRIS TRAP! I'VE NEVER SEEN ANYTHING LIKE IT!
Soojin: Oppa, they're bleeding.
Minjun: THEY'RE BLEEDING AND WINNING! THAT'S EVEN MORE AMAZING!
Soojin: We should get the medics.
Minjun: OH RIGHT! MEDICS! WHERE ARE THE MEDICS?
He ran off yelling.
Soojin: He'll be back.
Ji-hu: We know.
---
In the medical tent, they sat in silence while healers worked on their wounds.
Yuna: The finals are tomorrow.
Ji-hu: I know.
Ara: Their team is better than this one.
Yuna: Thanks for the reminder.
Ara: Not trying to discourage you. Trying to prepare you.
Ji-hu: We have one night.
Ara: Then we better make it count.
She stood, ignoring the healer's protests.
Ara: Rest is for people who are done fighting. We're not done.
Ji-hu looked at her. At Yuna. At the road ahead.
Ji-hu: Let's go.
They walked out together.
The finals were tomorrow.
They had one night to become a real team.
---
END OF CHAPTER 28