Orion's eyes snapped open as he drew the bowstring of his newly awakened mythril bow, the thousand-ard Buddha avatar towered behind him, mirroring his actions. One of its many arms held a colossal spiritual bow, its golden limbs glowing with divine energy.
"Expand," Orion whispered.
The avatar surged upward, matching Chione's icy titan form in size and presence.
Fiona narrowed her eyes. "You're pushing it early, Orion."
The mont the bowstring reached its limit, a glowing divine lightning arrow ford—crackling, unstable, brimming with high-voltage destruction. The string snapped.
ZZZZZZTTTT—!!
The arrow sliced through the barrier's frozen air with a high-pitched screech and flew straight toward Chione's chest.
Chione raised her hand in the last instant. Thud!
She caught it, stopping it re inches before it could pierce the crystalline surface of her armor.
Fiona smirked, her voice echoing from within the avatar. "You're not the only one who improved. And this Buddha of yours… it's far weaker than your titan form."
Orion didn't reply. He simply smiled. "Give it a second."
The arrow humd.
Crack—BOOM!
Sparks surged across Chione's entire body—electric arcs dancing like snakes along her arms, neck, and shoulders. Inside the avatar, Fiona winced as jolts of electricity stabbed into her nerves. Her smirk faltered.
"You—!"
"Soul Skill—Lightning Serpent Barrage!" Orion shouted.
The second arrow transford mid-draw—splitting into a dozen lightning serpents, each glowing with vibrant electric energy and divine power. The serpents hissed as they zipped forward, trailing blue arcs of lightning in their wake.
Before Fiona could raise her defenses, they struck.
ZAP! ZZZT! CRACKK!
Each serpent slamd into Chione's form—wrapping, biting, exploding—concussive bursts echoed like thunderclaps inside the barrier.
"AHHH!" Fiona scread, her voice echoing in anguish. The icy armor cracked as lightning spread through her veins.
But she bit down the pain. Her eyes turned blue-white. Her lips moved softly: "Soul Skill—Absolute Zero."
The air vanished. Ti itself seed to halt.
A pulse of white-blue frost exploded outward from Chione. In a fraction of a second, everything inside the barrier froze.
The ground.
The air.
The serpents.
Even the towering Buddha avatar—solidified in a blanket of translucent ice.
Orion's expression turned grim. His joints stiffened as ice crept over his body like a death shroud. His breath froze mid-exhale.
But…
Crack.
A soft hiss escaped. Then a roar.
From within the icy cocoon, an eerie black-red light surged. The ice shattered violently, scattering shards like glass.
Standing at the center now was the thousand-ard Buddha—its golden skin now covered in a demonic black armor overlay. Horns protruded from its head, and a flaming sigil glowed on its forehead.
Over it, like a spectral second skin, floated the horned shadow of Baphot—Orion's second form.
"Did you really think that was enough?" Orion asked, his voice deeper, layered with demonic echo. His eyes now glowed with both divine and devilish fire.
Fiona narrowed her gaze, brushing blood off her lips.
"You awakened your dual form inside a suppression barrier?"
Orion took a step forward. The very ground beneath his feet began to crack from pressure.
"I've walked through storms worse than this." He drew the bow again. "Your turn, Fiona."
Fiona gritted her teeth. Inside her avatar, Chione's wings opened wide. The frost lted rapidly from her limbs, and her palms began conjuring thousands of ice needles.
She raised her hand. "I'm still going to win this."
Inside the barrier, the battlefield crackled with tension and power. Fiona hovered in mid-air within her majestic Chione avatar, the icy blue deity towering like a queen over winter. Opposite her, Orion floated with unwavering calm, his hands drawing back the newly conjured arrow of concentrated natural energy — a golden shaft vibrating with divine resonance.
"I'll say it once," Orion's voice echoed through the frost-laced silence. "This is my strongest technique. I'm putting everything into this. If you can stop it, I'll concede."
Fiona narrowed her eyes. "Then I won't hold back either."
Outside the barrier, Leiza's gaze sharpened as she leaned forward, her techno-visor flickering with scans and data. "It's only been three days since I gave him that reforged bow with an artificial Arcana spirit. How is he already syncing this deeply?"
Azzy, arms folded, tilted his head with a faint smile. "That's your Odin's Eye bloodline, rember? The more he channels natural energy, the more in tune he becos with it. Wisdom flows through his veins."
Leiza exhaled sharply. "Sohow that doesn't feel like a good thing…"
Azzy's eyes didn't leave the barrier. "Orion's not a kid anymore. An adult learning from the Eye of Odin is far more stable. Rember how it transford you? You were a snobbish princess who beca a tech empress."
Leiza flushed, cheeks puffing in mock offense. "Who's a snobbish princess? Stop bringing up the past!"
"You used to glare at whenever I walked into a room." Azzy chuckled. "And once—"
"Okay! Alright! No need for a flashback," she blurted, cutting him off with a flustered smile.
Behind them, Izora silently watched the exchange. Her sharp eyes softened for a brief second as she stole a glance at Vesyrn, rembering days when they laughed like that… before everything changed. She said nothing.
Back in the Arena
"Convert."
The mont the word left Orion's lips, the colossal Thousand-Ard Buddha behind him folded in on itself, collapsing like a dying star. The golden arms lted into radiant threads of pure ether and natural energy, flowing into the bow. The pressure in the barrier multiplied. The ground cracked. Even the air seed to distort.
She raised her staff, and Chione mirrored her. Snowflakes began to fall as a massive ice lotus blood beneath the goddess's feet.
Fiona pointed skyward. "Divine Skill: Cryo Needle Shower."
Pillars of glacial ice burst from the ground and detonated into thousands of ice needles, suspended in the air above Chione. With a single wave of her hand, they rained down.
At that exact mont, Orion released his arrow.
BOOM!
The arrow collided with Chione just as the storm of needles struck Orion.
The barrier shook violently.
Fiona's eyes widened. The divine arrow pierced straight through Chione's core—cracking her like fragile crystal before the entire divine avatar shattered into icy mist.
At the sa ti, Orion's Baphot form was torn apart by the sheer number of ice needles. Holes tore through the divine figure, riddling it with frozen wounds. Inside, Orion collapsed, bloodied and gasping.
"Orion!" Leiza cried out—but Azzy caught her hand. "Wait."
Orion lay motionless, his body shaking from exhaustion. Breath fogged in the frozen air. He looked at the snowflakes falling around him and gave a soft smile.
"It's beautiful."
And then, he lost consciousness.
Fiona stumbled forward, panting, staff still glowing. "You idiot," she muttered. Kneeling beside him, she prepared to activate a healing card.
But before she could—
A divine warmth flowed out of Orion's chest, wrapping around him like a cocoon. His wounds healed on their own.
"So he awakened a true divinity, too?" she whispered.
Azzy's voice rang out across the coliseum. "Fiona Garcia is the winner. And from today forward, I formally announce her as the heir candidate of the Garcia family. In a formal ceremony, she shall be recognized as the Princess of the clan."
The crowd roared outside the barrier. Applause, cheers, declarations.
Fiona stared at Orion's unconscious body, her fists clenched. A smile finally ford on her lips.
"If I must abandon my love to uphold the clan's honor—then this throne… is the only thing that can compensate for what I've given up."
Snowflakes fell silently as the battle ca to an end.
***
One week later;
The great hall of the Garcia estate was silent except for Azzy's voice echoing softly.
He sat straight on the throne, resting his chin against one hand.
Before him shimred two projections—one was Fujiwara Shuichi, the old clan head of Minamoto with his traditional robes and stern face, the other was Neryn Searvale, the Elven King, tall and radiant with his long silver hair tied neatly, eyes glowing faintly with otherworldly wisdom.
Azzy tapped the armrest with his finger as he spoke."Since shifting to the new place is inevitable, we must choose a perfect auspicious ti. If we force it, the heavens may oppose us. The elves have the closest ties to the druids and the fairies. Their blessings will matter. What do you say, King Neryn?"
The elven king closed his eyes for a brief mont, as if consulting so unseen force. When he opened them again, his voice was calm but carried weight."The druids have read the stars. They say three months from now, when the twin moons align in the northern skies, the heavens will be at their most favorable. Any sooner, and you risk imbalance. Any later, and the ons turn dark."
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