Kaen Suro leaned forward, elbows on his knees, a thin frown cutting across his face.
… he was silent.
Watching.
Processing.
"Damn…"
Kaen's fingers tightened against the bench.
"To think she's this strong… Lira is…"
His mind reached back—flashes of school days, of silver-haired Lira shouting at him with a broom in hand, always chasing him out of the herbarium after he'd filled it with smoke powder.
"That girl was always a hindrance to my pranks back then… always shouting, always annoyed…"
The crowd roared below as Lira blocked another of Saya's blighted strikes. Her form—so refined now radiated clarity.
"…But to think she's this strong ."
A sharp breath escaped him.
"I guess I really was left behind by everyone."
And yet, despite the ache in his chest, Kaen's lips curled.
Just a little.
"Show more, Lira…"
..
anwhile Rael Eluron stood like a statue—arms crossed
He wasn't one to cheer or frown.
He just watched.
Quiet.
Unmoving.
But deep inside his mind raced.
"Lira Valenne of the Valenne family…"
His eyes narrowed, scanning every flick of her vine-laced footwork.
"(It's said their bloodline produces pure Bloom Affinity. Their thods, traditional, elegant, even romanticized by so…)"
He tilted his head slightly as Saya struck back with dark corruption.
"Unlike my family…"
Rael's thoughts turned inward to the Eluron legacy.
"(Yes… we are Bloom as well. But Elurons don't just wield vines and petals. We are born with two—sotis three… in my case, four affinities.)"
His gaze flicked to his side, where his Lun Blade rested.
Then up—to the spirit hovering quietly behind him, half-reflection, half-entity.
Seraphis, the Verdant Mirror.
Glass-winged and translucent, Seraphis hovered like a breath on the air, mirroring Rael's posture.
"…Bloom. Lightning. Stone. Wind."
A rare combination.
A prodigy's burden.
"(But even then… our Bloom is different. It doesn't reach others. It's selfish—tailored only for ourselves.)"
His jaw clenched.
"(We heal fast on the battlefield. But we cannot save others.)"
He looked down again, to where Lira stood shielding against her opponent
"(Who do you think will win?)"
Rael whispered it aloud—not to anyone else.
Only to Seraphis.
The Spirit Contract didn't speak. It never did.
Instead, it simply nodded once, a silent echo of faith.
And Rael understood.
This battle wasn't just about winning.
It was about aning.
..
The arena air was thick not just with magic, but with intent.
Two figures stood across the ruined field, surrounded by shattered roots, twisted brambles, and flickers of residual bloom light still fading like fireflies.
Lira Valenne, silver-pink hair billowing gently, extended one hand forward. Her stance was asured, her eyes unwavering.
Across from her, Saya Kurenai crouched low like a coiled spring and she is frustrated. Her long, chaotic braid bounced behind her with every motion, like a tail ready to strike.
"Can you handle this!!"
Saya's voice rang out, louder than the arena itself, as if trying to pierce through Lira's composed silence.
"Co on, flower girl! Let's see if that calm face of yours cracks when I crank the chaos up to eleven!"
A green-violet mist began to emanate from Saya's arms—not gentle pollen, but corruption in full bloom.
Her Bloom Affinity wasn't the soft kind.
It was the Blight Variant.
Poison. Decay. Overgrowth.
Her vines didn't nurture—they devoured.
Lira did not flinch.
Her lavender eyes remained soft, yet resolute.
"…I have no intention of breaking."
She stepped forward, hand blooming with glowing glyphs of soft light and drifting petals.
"Echo Arts: Bloom Barrier."
The incantation pulsed like wind through leaves. In an instant, a halo of translucent vines spiraled upward from the ground forming a protective do around her like an elegant blossom in full defense.
Delicate, yes but this was not weakness.
It was resilience.
Saya charged.
Thorns exploded behind her with every step, propelling her forward like a rocket of wild nature gone feral. Her limbs pulsed with energy twisted vines slithering along her skin like tattoos.
A whip of corrupted bloom lashed forward—
Crack!
Lira raised both hands. Her barrier absorbed the strike rippling like water struck by stone but held.
Another lash. Another pulse. Another.
"Don't just stand there smiling!!"
Saya bellowed, eyes wild with adrenaline.
"Fight , Lira! Or I'll eat that barrier alive!!"
Lira stepped forward, past the crackling barrier.
She didn't yell. She didn't charge.
She simply spoke, and magic listened.
"Echo Arts: Bloom Resonance."
From her feet, vines erupted not to bind or destroy, but to harmonize with the corrupted terrain.
And for a mont, the twisted soil beneath Saya's boots paused.
Even her blight vines shivered, hesitating.
Lira's magic didn't fight against it, it sang to it.
"What the—?"
Saya stumbled.
Roots she'd once controlled quivered conflicted between two masters. Her corrupted bloom magic surged again, twisting to reassert dominance.
But Lira was already moving her hands tracing a new pattern in the air.
"I'm not trying to defeat you, Saya," she said softly.
Her words struck harder than any blow.
"I'm trying to reach you."
The crowd, once roaring, had gone quiet.
Even the wind hushed, listening to the two kinds of bloom in conflict—
One that devours.
One that heals.
From the stands, Kaen clenched his fists.
"Co on, Lira… show her your strength."
And Master Isen watched, arms crossed, murmuring:
"Bloom against bloom… The corruption of nature versus its heart. Which will endure?"
Back on the field, Saya's smirk twisted into a grimace.
"Tch—What kind of flower tries to 'reach' their opponent? You think I'm weak enough for pity!?"
She lunged again, this ti with dual bloom spikes coated in blight and fury.
Lira didn't dodge.
She didn't raise her hands.
She closed her eyes and let her resonance bloom outward like a wave.
A pulse.
A hum.
A promise.
The world stood still.
It was not silence.
It was the kind of hush that ca just before the rain, charged, electric, inevitable.
The petals spiraling around Lira shimred with soft, radiant light unmoving, mid-air as if caught in ti. Even Saya, mid-lunge, her blight-coated spikes inches from impact, was held in a gentle stasis.
Her eyes widened.
"W-What…?"
Her body wouldn't move, not out of paralysis or fear but because sothing was speaking to her magic.
No.
Singing to it.
Beneath the surface, the corruptive bloom within her veins trembled. Her vines recoiled not from weakness, but from confusion. They recognized sothing older, sothing purer.
Sothing they once were.
Lira's Bloom Resonance wasn't rely a technique.
It was an invitation.
Lira's voice carried, soft as a whisper and yet echoing across the arena:
"You've forgotten what the bloom was before the blight."
Her eyes opened slowly, lavender and glowing faintly.
"But it's still there, Saya."
Saya gritted her teeth.
"Shut up!! What do you know about !"
The resonance shattered.
BOOM!!
The corrupted bloom spikes collided into a fresh barrier—petals reinforcing themselves at the last second. The shockwave rippled outward, hurling dust and flower motes into the air like confetti of battle.
Lira was pushed back, skidding across the field, her boots carving twin trails into the earth.
She knelt, one hand down, breathing calmly.
Across from her, Saya panted hard, chest heaving.
Her grin was gone.
Only fire and frustration remained in her glare.
"Don't talk like you know . You think you're better just 'cause your magic sparkles prettier?"
Lira slowly stood again.
She didn't look down on Saya.
She looked into her.
"No, Saya. I think we're the sa."
That broke sothing.
Saya scread—not from pain, but from sothing deeper. Sothing she'd buried.
"I SAID—SHUT! UP!!"
She slamd her palms into the ground—Bloom Spikes: Blight Surge—and vines erupted once more, laced with spores and rage. Mushrooms the size of skulls blood instantly, releasing thick purple fog. The ground blackened where her power touched.
Yet Lira…
She stepped into it.
Not with arrogance.
Not with shields.
But with stillness.
Her voice was barely a whisper, but it echoed like a bell in the minds of all watching:
"Echo Arts… Bloom's Embrace."
The wind shifted.
The corruption slowed.
And the blighted chaos around her… began to fade.
One by one, thorns curled inward like they were embarrassed of their anger. The fungal growth crumbled into dust. The vines twisted in on themselves and dissolved into glowing petals.
Lira walked forward, lavender eyes wide open now—not with judgnt… but with understanding.
..
anwhile on the stands, Gorou Kanzaki murmured a verse:
"Only the still water reflects the moon. Only the calm heart survives the storm."
Kurosawa Zeke growled under his breath, fists clenched.
"She's stalling. That Blight girl—Saya—she's going to snap. You can't ta fury with flowers."
But Raiden Kurogami, stretched across the railing upside down like he might fall off at any mont, chuckled.
"Nah. You're missing it."
"This ain't a fight."
"It's a rescue."
Yui Fushiguro didn't speak. Her eyes, two void-like mirrors, narrowed slightly as she analyzed the decay and healing. A faint hum of shade curled around her sleeves.
Kaito Yagami, flipping a coin between his knuckles, offered the final words:
"If she wins… it'll change how everyone views Affinities."
To be continue
Reviews
All reviews (0)