Chapter 65: Yin And Yang

The next moment, Victor found himself yanked clear of the platform, deposited safely into the stands beside Mia. His eyes went wide the instant he registered that the exact spot where he’d been standing only seconds earlier now sat caved inward, cratered like the impact site of a falling meteor, the entire mess carved out by a single, devastating stomp from the barbarian Amazon.

Dust still drifted lazily up from the crater’s edge, settling slowly over the scorched, fractured stone. Had the arena’s automatic safety system not pulled him clear even a fraction of a second sooner, his head would have been smeared flat across the platform by that vicious creature without a shred of hesitation.

Rather than anger, what settled over him instead was a genuine, creeping wariness for his own life, one tied directly to that particular summon, a cold, prickling sensation that refused to fade even as he sat safely among the crowd. No, that wasn’t quite right either. It wasn’t really about the summon alone.

It was about Mark himself, the summoner behind these two thoroughly foreboding Amazons. And apparently, they could speak too.

It wasn’t merely the fact that she’d spoken at all that rattled him so badly. It was how she’d said it, the tone carrying something far deeper underneath. Her words had come loaded with real feeling, real emotion, unmistakable proof of an actual, developed personality sitting behind every action she took.

Under normal circumstances, summons behaved closer to obedient puppets. Sure, plenty displayed real intelligence mid battle, but genuine personal interest, emotion, or desire directed toward their own summoner, beyond simple duty and command, remained exceedingly rare.

What Victor had just witnessed firsthand broke that mold entirely, and it left his mind thoroughly reeling, replaying the moment over and over as though rewatching it might somehow make more sense of it.

"They can... actually talk," Victor stammered, still visibly shaken, glancing toward Mia, who stood frozen beside him, eyes wide. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

She rounded on him sharply, expression twisting with contempt. Both fists clenched tight against her thighs, jaw locked with barely restrained fury.

"That’s genuinely what you have to say right now, after losing a match you were supposed to win outright?!"

Her palm cracked across his face in one sharp, stinging slap, the sound ringing out loudly enough to draw several curious glances from those standing nearby.

Victor’s head snapped sideways from the impact, though strangely enough, some small part of him felt oddly intrigued at having been struck by the very girl he’d been quietly crushing on for a while now.

Hermione’s eyes trembled slightly as she watched the barbarian Amazon advance toward Mark, moving with the towering, dutiful presence of a warrior built for exactly one purpose, serving her chosen master without question.

Penthesilea came to a stop beside him, scanning the surrounding arena carefully, steady eyes sweeping for any sign of lingering danger.

"Relax, this isn’t a dungeon. The match already wrapped up. Nothing left to worry about here," Mark said, voice low and even, one hand resting briefly against her forearm.

Penthesilea regarded him in silence for a moment.

"There’s never anything that truly worries me, dear Prince. I simply hope you came through this without so much as a scratch," she replied gently, her gaze still sweeping the surrounding stands out of habit.

Mark recalled her back into his soul space a moment later before turning to face the roaring crowd stretched out across the stands. He offered a brief wave before finally stepping off the platform, the noise still ringing in his ears.

Along the way, he paused at the sight of Hermione approaching, a smile already fixed on her face. Still, something about that smile read as forced the closer she drew toward him.

"Everything okay?" he asked. She shook her head.

"No, I’m fine."

Mark understood well enough that those exact words rarely meant what they claimed to, though he chose not to push the issue further as he continued down the stairs beside her, filing the moment away for later instead.

By the time Hermione reached the northern edge of the battle platform, she found Kai already waiting there, watching her with a look of bored disinterest. He tilted his neck back slightly, chin lifted in a deliberately condescending display of assumed superiority, the picture of a boy fully convinced the outcome had already been decided in his favor.

She simply shook her head at his transparent attempt to assert dominance before drawing in a slow breath and stepping several paces clear of the platform’s edge.

Their eyes locked briefly, and Kai’s jaw tightened almost imperceptibly.

Kai’s fists clenched hard at his sides, frustration twisting tight through his chest, jaw working silently as he fought to keep his composure intact. He genuinely couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that someone as remarkable as her had chosen Mark, someone who read to him like nothing short of an abomination.

She belonged with someone like him instead, the two of them practically built as a matched set, even judging purely by how naturally their respective summons complemented one another, dragon and phoenix, fire and flight, a pairing so obvious it should have written itself. Yet she’d chosen an entirely different path, and that fact alone gnawed at him more than almost anything else.

Right now, unlike every other time before this, he’d stopped caring about restraint entirely. He intended to make the real difference between himself and Mark unmistakably clear, right here, right now.

"I’ve watched your Phoenix scorch enemies down to ash, drop them cold with a single cry, heal itself back from serious damage, and none of that comes anywhere close to matching what my dragon blooded wyvern brings to the table. Not even slightly. We dragon blooded are the true conquerors among summoners, all of us. We own the spotlight, and we keep climbing further, carried entirely by talent nobody else can match. Talent people like your little friend down there will never understand, no matter how many lucky matches he strings together."

He thrust one fist high into the air, chest puffed out with unmistakable pride.

"We’re destined to rise higher and higher, past the clouds themselves, above every layer of this earth!"

With that, he lowered his hand.

Hermione stayed silent as a golden portal flared to life directly above her. A radiant bird emerged from within it, a bright, flowing melody spilling from its beak like some gentle, living song, feathers catching the arena’s light in shifting waves of gold and crimson as it settled gracefully into the air beside her.

It carried an aura of pure serenity on the surface, though something far more dangerous lurked just beneath that beauty, lending its presence a weight far heavier than mere appearance alone would suggest.

It currently sat at 6.2 High Tier, though it clearly carried immense untapped potential and a formidable arsenal of its own hidden abilities.

Kai shook his head, smiling faintly, clearly savoring the moment.

"Ah, eager to wrap this up quickly, I see. Fine by me, pretty princess. Though I wouldn’t want to strip your family name of its prestige too badly, so I’ll go easy on you," he taunted, clearly enjoying himself.

Another portal opened beside him as his wyvern emerged, wide, bat like wings unfurling fully, its jaws already parting for a thunderous roar that boomed outward across the entire arena, instantly drowning out the delicate beauty of the Phoenix’s own song, the sheer volume alone enough to make several students in the front rows clap hands over their ears.

In Chinese culture, the dragon and phoenix have traditionally shared a deeply harmonious relationship, standing as ultimate cosmic counterparts representing the balance struck between Yin and Yang. They were never meant to oppose one another.

Instead, their union has long symbolized perfect, complementary balance between two great forces, each incomplete without the other.

That particular pairing also carries strong ties to marital happiness, harmony, and lasting love. The dragon traditionally represents the husband, the phoenix the wife, each one supporting the other through hardship. Together, the two symbolize good fortune, family unity, and lasting prosperity.

Yet here, the scene playing out looked nothing at all like that peaceful tradition.

Dragon and phoenix weren’t standing side by side in harmony this time. They stood ready to clash head on instead, despite sharing a similar elemental nature and each representing one powerful half of that same ancient, storied balance, the old symbolism of union twisted here into something closer to rivalry.

Through the glass window of a nearby building, Harry’s gaze remained perfectly still as he studied the unfolding scene below. He turned toward Arnold, the School King, hands clasped neatly behind his back.

"I think we’re about to find out which side actually holds more weight, the old king’s legacy or the girl everyone’s already calling the next queen." He said it lightly enough, though his eyes never once left the platform below.

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