The sterile glow of healing wards flickered as Lucy Lightheart strode briskly through the hospital corridor.
Her cloak trailing like moonlight.
She had come to check on Rika Satoshi, who was nearly recovered, but what she saw stopped her cold.
Mizaki Harada and Lewis Bando lay in adjacent beds, pale and drained.
Their ghostly auras flickered weakly, magic barely clinging to their forms.
Lucy's voice cracked with urgency, "What happened to them, doc?"
The medic then looked up, grim, "They were dismantled. Swiftly. No wounds, just... unravelled."
Lewis stirred, eyes fluttering open for a moment, "Time... magic..." he whispered, before slipping back into unconsciousness.
Lucy's heart sank.
The realization hit like a thunderclap: with Mizaki and Lewis defeated.
Her faction.
Her hopes.
All had been eliminated from the Bloodmoon Queen Tournament.
She clenched her fists, her angelic light dimming. "Kane Eguchi…" she murmured.
A name now etched in her mind, not just as a threat, but as a force beyond reckoning.
***
The arena shimmered under the blood-red moon, its jagged obsidian walls pulsing with ancient energy.
Spectators leaned forward, sensing the tension as two factions prepared to clash.
From the east gate emerged Kye Kagawa and Dan Koga, emissaries of Antares, the Monarch of Dragons.
Their dragon blood simmered beneath their skin, Kye's armour gleamed with metallic enchantments, while Dan's aura oozed a toxic haze.
From the west gate, Stun Kikuchi and Eris Maita stepped into the light. Champions of Rayan Andre, the Monarch of Nature, their ghostly forms flickered with decay and bone magic.
Eris's skeletal limbs clacked with purpose, while Stun's eyes glowed with spectral rot.
Announcer's Voice Echoes Across the Arena.
"Ladies and gentlemen of the Bloodmoon Queen Tournament! Prepare yourselves for a clash of titans, metal and poison versus decay and bone! From the Dragon Court: Kye Kagawa and Dan Koga! From the Nature Dominion: Stun Kikuchi and Eris Maita! Let the third participant round… BEGIN!"
Paulo was sitting in the stands again with Riku and Rajin, watching this match begin.
The Battle Ignites.
Kye slammed his fists together—metal shards erupted from his skin, forming jagged spears that launched toward Eris. She spun, her bone magic forming a shield of rib-like protrusions that deflected the attack with a deafening crack.
Dan hissed, his poison mist slithering across the floor like a living serpent. Stun countered with a wave of decay, rotting the arena tiles and neutralizing the venom with spectral corrosion.
The crowd roared as the battlefield became a dance of elements—metal slicing through bone, poison clashing with decay, dragon fury against ghostly resilience.
***
The arena pulsed with elemental fury.
Metal shards clashed against bone constructs; poison mist tangled with spectral decay.
The crowd was on its feet, watching the chaos unfold.
Kye charged Eris, his metal magic forming a gauntlet of jagged steel.
Eris summoned a wall of bone, but Kye's momentum shattered it with brute force.
She retaliated with a bone spear, piercing Kye's shoulder, but he did not flinch.
With a roar, Kye slammed his fist into the ground, sending a shockwave of molten metal toward Eris.
She tried to phase through it, but the heat was too intense.
Her ghostly form flickered, bones cracking under the pressure.
Eris collapsed, her magic spent. "Eris Maita is down!" the announcer cried.
Meanwhile, Dan's poison mist had enveloped half the arena, turning the air toxic.
Stun moved like a shadow, his decay magic rotting the mist into harmless vapor.
He appeared behind Dan, placing a hand on his back.
Dan screamed as his scales began to corrode, his dragon blood resisting, but not enough.
Stun's decay spread like wildfire, and Dan dropped to one knee.
With a final burst of poison, Dan tried to retaliate, but Stun phased through it and delivered a ghost-infused strike to Dan's chest.
Dan collapsed, unconscious. "Dan Koga is out!" the announcer declared.
Two remain: Kye Kagawa and Stun Kikuchi.
Metal vs. Decay.
Dragon vs. Ghost.
The crowd held its breath.
***
The arena was scorched and cracked, the remnants of elemental warfare still smouldering.
With Eris and Dan down, only two remained: Kye Kagawa, the metal-forged warrior of Antares, and Stun Kikuchi, the ghostly reaper of Rayan Andre's court.
Kye's armour gleamed, reshaping into jagged blades along his arms.
He charged, metal magic surging like a tidal wave of steel.
But Stun did not move.
He simply raised a hand.
Decay Magic: Absolute Rot
The moment Kye entered striking distance, the air around him shimmered with spectral green.
His blades rusted mid-swing.
His armour groaned, corroding in real time.
Even his dragon-infused flesh began to wither.
Kye staggered, trying to summon more metal, but it crumbled in his hands.
Stun's voice echoed, calm and cold, "All things return to dust."
With a final pulse of decay, Kye collapsed, his body too drained to continue.
"Kye Kagawa is down! Victory goes to Stun Kikuchi of the Nature Dominion!"
The crowd erupted in disbelief and awe. Another faction had fallen.
Antares, Monarch of Dragons, was officially out of the tournament.
Rayan Andre watched from the royal balcony, a faint smile playing on his lips.
His 14th and 15th had done their job.