The walk to the arena felt different this time. The cheers of the eighty thousand fans sounded like static noise.
"Focus, Aryan," Vikram snapped, walking beside me. He wasn't looking at the crowd; he was scanning the stadium security personnel, his hand hovering near his sidearm. "If you lose focus for one second against Isha, you'll be a popsicle before you hit the ground."
"I know, I know," I muttered, my eyes darting around.
Is that security guard staring at me too long? Is that cameraman real? Riya was walking behind us, but was it really Riya?
Stop it, I told myself. The Shapeshifter wants you to be paranoid. Don't do their job for them.
We stepped onto the central platform. The arena had changed. For the Semi-Finals, the holographic projectors had created a new environment: The Tundra.
The grassy field was gone, replaced by uneven sheets of ice and jagged snowdrifts. The air temperature was already below freezing. My breath plumed in thick white clouds in front of my face.
Standing on the other side of the ice field was Team Lionheart.
Isha stood in front. She wasn't wearing the oversized hoodie anymore. She was in her white-and-gold combat uniform, looking like a Valkyrie sculpted from marble. Her breath didn't fog. It was like the cold was scared to touch her.
"Captains, center stage!" the referee bellowed, shivering slightly despite his heavy coat.
Vikram and Isha walked to the center.
"Standard tournament rules," the ref said. "Knockout, ring-out, or surrender. No lethal force." He looked pointedly at Isha. "No permanent frostbite, Captain Isha."
Isha didn't blink. "If they are weak enough to get frostbite, they shouldn't be here."
She turned her gaze to me. "Ready to prove you're not just a tourist, Torch-Head?"
I clenched my fist. The anger burned away the paranoia for a second. "I'm going to melt that attitude right off your face."
"MATCH START!"
I didn't wait for Vikram's orders. I slammed the dial.
< AVATAR: AGNI >
WHOOSH. I exploded into flame. The ice beneath my boots instantly turned to steam, sizzling loudly. The heat felt good against the biting cold.
"AGNI MAX OUTPUT!" I roared.
I thrust both palms forward. A massive wave of fire—a Fire Tsunami designed to match the Slime Brothers' attack—rolled across the frozen battlefield toward Isha.
The crowd cheered at the spectacle. It looked impressive. It felt powerful.
Isha didn't move. She didn't even raise her hands. She just stomped her foot on the ice.
CRACK.
A wall of sheer, blue glacial ice erupted from the ground in front of her, towering thirty feet high.
HISSSSSSS.
My fire wave slammed into the ice wall. A massive cloud of blinding white steam exploded, filling the entire arena. Visibility dropped to zero.
"Can't see!" I yelled, coughing on the hot steam.
"Hold your position!" Vikram's voice came over the comms. "Riya, sensors!"
"Thermal interference is off the charts," Riya replied, her voice tense. "I can't lock onto her signature through the steam!"
I stood there, surrounded by white fog, my flames flickering. It was eerily silent.
Where is she? Is she flanking? Is she above me?
Then, through a gap in the swirling steam, I saw something in the stands.
Third row up. VIP section near the exit tunnel. A boy with messy black hair and a yellow backpack. He was standing still while everyone else around him was cheering.
He was looking right at me. And he was slowly, deliberately, waving goodbye.
My heart stopped. It's him. The imposter. He's here.
"Vikram!" I shouted, pointing at the stands, forgetting the battle. "He's there! In the stands! The Shapeshifter!"
"Aryan, eyes on the enemy!" Vikram roared. "Focus!"
But I couldn't. The paranoia crashed back down on me. Was it really him? Or was it just a random kid? If I attack him, I'm disqualified. If I ignore him...
I hesitated.
That one second of hesitation was all the time an Ace like Isha needed.
The steam around me suddenly swirled violently. The temperature plummeted from hot to absolute zero in a heartbeat.
"Too slow," a cold voice whispered right behind my ear.
I spun around, my flaming fist raised. Isha was there. She hadn't flanked me. She had walked right through the steam. Her uniform was covered in frost, her eyes glowing blue.
She placed one palm gently on my burning chest.
"Glacial Coffin."
It didn't feel like cold. It felt like the absence of existence.
CRACK-FREEZE.
Instantly, thick blue ice encased my body. It smothered Agni's flames before they could even fight back. My arms were frozen to my sides. My legs were frozen to the ground. The ice crept up my neck, covering my mouth, sealing me in a block of diamond-hard ice.
Only my eyes were left uncovered, staring out terrified from inside the ice block.
My Chakra flashed red. < CRITICAL ERROR: CORE TEMP TOO LOW. >< SYSTEM FORCED SHUTDOWN. >
The flames died completely. I was just Aryan, shivering uncontrollably inside an ice cube.
Isha stepped back, admiring her work. She tapped the ice near my face.
"Like I said," she whispered, her voice muffled through the ice. "Borrowed power. When you lose focus, you lose everything."
She turned to the referee. "He is immobilized. Call it."
The referee stared, stunned. "WINNER OF ROUND ONE... ST. LIONHEART!"
The crowd roared, but I couldn't hear them over the sound of my own teeth chattering. I looked up at the stands.
The boy with the yellow backpack was gone.