Arima was sitting on the top of the outer wall, ready to watch the next fight. He had a pouch in his hand and was leisurely picking the candies inside to eat them. Night was next to him, also looking below with semi-interested eyes.
In block D, Aria and Rehard, the 'paladin', were facing each other on the arena.
"Are you ready!?" James bellowed "3, 2, 1. Begin!"
Aria kicked the ground first and charged at Rehard, the latter raised his shield and quietly chanted. A magic formation appeared on the shield and the whole armament started emitting a blinding light.
"[Zero Rain]." Aria used an ice magic to oppose her opponent's move. A dozen of icicles condensed in mid-air just above Rehard before falling at high speed toward him. As the icicles entered his range, Rehard waved his shield and used it as a weapon to shatter the ice and alleviate the shock. The light which was coming out of his shield was also dispersed just after.
At that moment, Aria closed in and swung her two meters long spear at him. Rehard had to counter it head-on with his longsword "[Light Acumen]." He chanted when the two blades released sparks. His sword glowed, and a white pillar directly fell from the sky and struck Aria.
"So, this guy uses light magic, huh? He is looking more and more like a paladin." Arima observed the fight while eating, "He has a good defense and a good crowd control. This guy is more suited for warfare." He ate his last candy, "He's no match for her."
Night nodded in agreement.
On the stage, the temperature suddenly dropped. Ice spikes sprout out from the ground and pierced the white pillar as if it was a physical object. The 'light' froze and broke into glimmering fragments. In the crystal spectacle, Aria collided with Rehard with her spear which was enveloped by a mystic blue shine. This time, when she landed the hit, the ice around her changed into cold water and pushed back the paladin as if a tide had emerged on land.
"[Ice pole]." Aria chanted. Her spear turned white as she threw it. It planted on the ground right in front of Rehard. The ice spread and trapped his legs in ice. The armored man felt a numbing sensation rising inside his entire body. Before he could say or do anything, Aria was already in front of him. She placed her palm on his chest "[Ice coffin]." She chanted and Rehard continued to freeze until he became a block of ice in the form of a coffin.
Aria let out a breath which crystallized due to the cold. She swung her spear one last time and broke the coffin with the shaft. Rehard was instantly freed and fell on the ground unconscious.
"It's over." Arima yawned, "I'll go to sleep." He jumped off the wall with Night. A short while after, James announced Aria's victory as well as the next fight between her and Arima.
***************************************************
Finally, the next day, the finals arrived.
On the stage, one more time, Arima was casually standing with his body straight. This time, he was facing Aria. Night was beside him and was excited to finally be able fight.
"Ready!" As always, "3."
Aria clenched her spear. "I'll do my best. Sentio," She called and a huge snake appeared beside her. He was as big as an anaconda back in the old world. But this serpent was certainly unusual. He was light green in color with a few darker scales at some places. He had two little horns on his head, slit pupils and bright green eyes. And the dexterity of this snake allowed him to stand on the tip of his tail.
"2."
"Oh, a snake?" Arima was a bit surprised, "(Well, it's a cold-blooded animal, so it kinda suits her.)" The snake in question gazed at Arima and Night. When he looked at the former, he didn't react much but when his eyes met Night's, his pupils narrowed even more and he unintentionally moved back his whole body.
"1."
Arima smiled and nodded his head to Night. The latter laughed and activated his magic. It was only returning back to his original body, so it wasn't going to be slow or complex. Night turned back into a dragon in front of everyone, cracked his neck and slammed his tail on the ground, "Finally."
The spectators were silent. Aria was shocked, "(I actually petted him!)"
Even James forgot to finish the countdown. But nobody waited for him. Aria decided to attack first and charged, she was pretty fast and wielded her spear to attack Arima. On the other hand, Sentio jumped on Night and wrapped himself around his arm and tried to bite his neck.
"Karma," Arima called his sword and easily blocked Aria's spear.
"[Fire Scales]." Night used his fire magic to ignite his scales. Black flames immediately covered his entire body. Sentio hissed and hurriedly backed off.
He glared at Night and chanted, "[Water Rain, Frozen Rain]."
Water condensed above the dragon and clashed against the flames. The fire was weakened slightly before the water froze and assaulted Night with ice shards. Within a few seconds, the whole place became filled with steam. The vein-like red lines on Night's body glowed. He deployed his wings, blowing away the steam, and flew toward the snake. He chose to rely on close combat for now. Maybe because he was Arima's soul beast, but he seemed to be skilled in martial arts and appeared to already have a slight experience.
Though it was indeed awkward to watch a dragon giving kicks and punches.
Sentio was forced to stay on defense. He wasn't a soul beast supposed to fight in close combat in the first place.
"[Scintillam ferram] (Wild spark)." Arima sped up and slashed with Karma from a tricky angle, but Aria was reactive enough to parry it with the shaft of her spear. "Your spear is pretty tough. But that's not enough. [Sunt robore]." He used more strength and cut the spear in two. Karma wasn't just for show.
But Arima surprisingly frowned, he wanted to keep the momentum and attack but he noticed that his hand and arm had been confined by ice. Aria took the opportunity and placed her hand on his chest, "[Ice coffin]." Then what happened next was the same as the day before. Arima froze until he became a large block of ice, a lot bigger than with Rehard.
Sentio smirked while fighting with Night, "Looks like your friend lost." He scoffed. Night nonchalantly glanced at the ice coffin for a second. The red lines on his body shined even more and some flames escaped the gaps between his fangs. He opened his mouth and roared.
A massive flame erupted from his throat and burned everything in a straight line until the wall of the coliseum. Sentio was struck directly but managed to avoid life-threatening injuries thanks to a magic shield.
When Aria was about to rush to help him, she heard a powerful voice, "[Fulgur] (Lightning)." Thunder rumbled, the ice coffin cracked and black lightning exploded from inside. Arima walked out totally unharmed. Aria was astounded. He didn't look agitated or tired and he didn't suffer any injuries, not even a scratch.
In fact, the enchantments of Arima's clothes activated automatically and he actually didn't even need to use his magic directly to resist or heal himself.
"[Spaera] (Sphere)." Arima waved his hand and conjured a dozen of small spheres above his palm. Like previously, a complex circle formed. But compared to the others, this one was red and orange. He flung the marbles through the circle. When they touched the ground, they were already filled with fire and electricity. Aria's took a glimpse of the sphere at her feet and urgently back away. She waved her spear with great strength and produced a strong and cold wind, which froze and blew away the small marbles.
The spheres exploded in the air and released an explosion of black flames and lightning. Aria looked at that and gulped, those attacks were a lot more destructive and powerful than the ones she had seen before.
Arima smiled, "You got it pretty easily. Of course, if you blow away those marbles, escape their range, or just obstruct the discharge, they won't harm you in any way. But… don't lose your concentration."
"What?" Aria suddenly heard the sound of wings being wagged. A falcon suddenly landed on her shoulder and her eyes narrowed. The bird was holding a marble with compressed flames inside his beak. Aria tried to destroy that bird but Arima was a step ahead.
"[Lacero](Break)." The sphere broke in the bird's beak. The explosion engulfed Aria's figure. She covered herself in ice and barely resisted most of the damage.
With some of her skin still covered in ice, she retreated to Sentio's side and gave him a healing potion to help him. Arima calmly walked and stopped beside Night.
Aria stared at him, "Be honest, either of you could defeat us alone, right?" She uttered. Sentio groaned and lifted his head.
Arima shrugged, "I don't know about Night. His fire magic is definitely mighty, but I summoned him not too long ago, so his body is only around the low-mid class of level 7. As for me… yes. I can win against you two easily." He naturally answered. He knew that there was no point in lying.
"I see," Aria stood up. "Let's go, Sentio." The snake nodded. These two released their aura and mana at the same time and a mysterious circle formed on the ground below them. Both of their spiritual forces began to align with each other like matching frequencies.
"[Resonance]!" They shouted in sync. Sentio became a blue ray of light covering Aria. The latter's figure changed during that period of time. After the light disappeared, Aria ended up with light green hair, sharp reptilian eyes, faint scales on her arms and face, and she grew two fangs that could make someone mistake her for a vampire.
She wryly smiled, "Please fight me seriously."
"Well, I'll go to the maximum level at which I won't kill you… what about that?"
Aria helplessly sustained her smile, "I shall be satisfied with that."
"Night," Arima looked at his partner. "Let's go," Like their opponents, they both released their aura then a magic circle encompassed them. The general layout was similar but some runes were clearly different.
"[Resonance]." Night changed into a black light and flew toward Arima. When Arima was still glowing in a dark light, he chanted something else, "[Draconicis est anima mea] (Draconic soul)" A red hue mixed with the black one.
At that moment, a suffocating aura spread around the whole coliseum and even outside of it. The spectators immediately turned silent. They couldn't say anything as they couldn't even open their mouth. They felt like a single move would result in themselves killed. Even Aria could barely breathe.
After the resonance, the aura was restrained and Arima's appearance was revealed. His arms were covered with strong black scales which even destroyed his coat's sleeves. His hands also became as strong as the claws of a dragon. His pupils became red like a dragon, his sclera turned slightly silver, and his hair became a bit longer. And the most marking change was the pair of wings on his back.
"What did you do?" Aria spoke a bit fearfully, "Your resonance was odd. The circle was different and your actual strength now is at least two times stronger, this should not be that powerful…"
"I just changed the process of the resonance. I realized it was quite flawed so I altered it. With my version, the boost of strength changes from 1.5 times to 2 times and it lasts until it's willingly released." Arima explained as if it was normal.
"{No, it's not normal, you know? Do you realize that you just perfected an ancient technique of this world that even renowned scholars can't modify?}" Night retorted while he was fused with Arima.
Aria was dumbfounded, she couldn't believe it.
"Well, are you ready?" He asked and Aria trembled. She clenched her fists. Her surroundings turned terribly cold and she released her aura. She took out a new spear from her spatial storage and applied an enchantment on it, changing it into a pure white weapon.
Arima smiled, his body began to heat up as he burned the ground with flames. Lightning gathered around him as well. "In this form, my fire magic reaches the same affinity level as my lightning. And my mana and magic output greatly increases. So..." The heat and the lightning died down and were replaced by cold air, "I'll use this only. I won't use Karma; I wouldn't want to kill you."
Aria didn't respond and charged at Arima, she circulated her mana to the max and was even faster than Arima with his usual 'Wild spark'. Aria gripped her spear with both of her hands and swung it vertically from above.
Arima moved naturally and caught the blade with his now claw-like hand. The aftershock crushed the arena behind and covered it with ice in the next instant.
"Well, let's end this." Arima condensed his aura in one direction and pushed back Aria without even making contact with her. He broke the spear in his hand and pointed his palm at her, "[Glacians Aestus] (Freezing Tide)" It only started as small crystal and then it became bigger and bigger and washed over the whole arena until the wall of the coliseum. Leaving then, a colossal purple ice block.
Aria was caught inside and fainted, her resonance was ended forcefully and broke apart the block of ice. She and Sentio were both unconscious once out.
"The champion is Arimane Blade!" James loudly said. All the spectators cheered.
Arima canceled his resonance and Night reappeared at his side. The former was gaping "…Why is it purple? This doesn't make any sense. Even though it's freaking gorgeous." He paused, "...If I can make an everlasting ice magic, I could sell it at this point." He admired.
A moment later, he healed Aria and her soul beast before waking them, "Get up." He helped her stand up.
"Thanks for healing us." She said with a soft smile but she had a great resolution in her eyes after she saw her opponent's true strength.
"Don't mind it."
"Mr. Blade, to receive your reward, come to the hall." James suddenly said.
Arima heard him and moved to the exit and waved his hand at Aria, "See you."
"Ah, right," He then realized his sleeves were torn because of the resonance. "[Restitutio] (Restore)." He chanted and his sleeves were restored. The fabric literally grew back. He headed to the hall of the coliseum afterward.