Chapter 66: True Color

Arnold smiled, leaning forward slightly from his seat, while Goro rose and crossed the room to join Harry at the window for a clearer view of the battle unfolding below. His eyes widened just slightly at what he saw.

Thalia let out a light chuckle, leaning in closer toward the School King, one leg crossed neatly over the other.

"Seems like we’ve finally figured out who your favorite actually is, huh?"

Arnold shook his head before rising and walking toward the transparent wall himself, hands clasped behind his back as he studied the battle more closely.

"You know I don’t play favorites. That kind of thing only breeds unnecessary tension among all of you if it’s not handled carefully, don’t you think? But here’s my actual point. It would make perfect rational sense for the two of them to end up in the same league together. They complement each other flawlessly, purely based on the symbolism carried by their respective summons."

"The whole Yin and Yang thing, right? Can’t really argue with that. It fits together almost too well," Harry said, eyes never once leaving the fight below.

Thalia stood and joined the others at the window just as the first real clash of battle rang out below. Her eyes narrowed sharply as the scene unfolded in front of them.

"Still, it’s kind of funny, isn’t it? The two most perfectly matched summons in existence, forced to fight each other like this. Feels almost like some kind of abomination, honestly. They’re supposed to complement one another, not tear each other apart."

Arnold’s expression hardened.

"Hard to say, really, but I’d wager it all traces back to that mundy, Mark, somehow managing to trap her in his orbit. It’s like she physically can’t pull herself away from him. If anything, she just keeps drifting closer. That’s a real problem for us, honestly, given what it could cost us in terms of convincing her to join our league alongside Kai."

"Seriously pisses me off, bro. I feel it just as much as you do," Goro muttered, shaking his head.

Harry’s eyes narrowed before flicking briefly toward both of them.

"I get the frustration, believe me, but there’s clearly a reason she showed up when she did. Have either of you noticed her arrival lined up almost perfectly with that guy’s final awakening trial? If anything, she should have put as much distance between them as possible the moment she witnessed what he unleashed that day. Instead, she just keeps closing that distance further."

"Honestly, she’s not even that important in the grand scheme of things. What’s the actual appeal here? What does she even bring to the table?" Thalia scoffed, turning her gaze away dismissively.

Arnold shot her a hard, incredulous look, clearly struggling to process the sheer audacity behind her words.

"There’s really nothing you care to understand here, is there? You genuinely have no idea who that girl actually is."

"I know plenty. She’s from one of the strongest, most prestigious families in the entire region. She’s got a Great Phoenix as her summon, and she’s clearly talented, sitting on an enormous well of potential," Thalia rattled off, counting each point on her delicate fingers with an entirely unbothered expression.

Arnold’s eyes widened further.

"That’s it? That’s genuinely all you’ve got? You just listed off the most surface level, obvious facts imaginable! You’re missing the real picture entirely. She isn’t special purely because of her family’s name. It’s her spirit, her presence. She could massively strengthen the school council’s influence, make everything we do here considerably more valuable. Her presence alone could shift the entire balance of things. And paired directly with Kai, Yang and Yin working in tandem, that kind of combination could be genuinely tremendous."

Thalia exhaled sharply, folding her arms across her chest.

"So Mia’s suddenly not enough for you anymore? Is that really what you’re saying? Funny enough, now I’m starting to want this Phoenix girl for myself too."

"Fair point, honestly. We need to stay impartial about who actually earns a spot on our squad. There’s no room here for favoritism," Harry said, gaze still fixed firmly on the fight below.

Goro shrugged.

"And let’s not forget, Quinn’s opinion still carries the most weight in any final decision we make."

"Still, nothing says there can’t be room for two queens, not if it actually benefits the school’s overall direction. At least, not in my book," Arnold said through gritted teeth, before visibly catching himself.

He turned back toward his table, picked up his glass, and took a brief, measured sip. A short cough followed before he made his way toward the door.

"Think I’ll step out for a bit. Could use a moment to clear my head."

He reached the door and paused there briefly. Thalia shot Goro an uncertain glance, which he answered with nothing more than another shrug. Harry, meanwhile, remained locked entirely on the battle still raging below.

Down on the platform, both the Phoenix and the wyvern climbed rapidly into the open airspace above the arena, pulling every set of eyes in the crowd upward to track their ascent.

The Phoenix banked through a sharp, curving arc before flaring its enormous wings wide, unleashing a scorching wave of heat that rolled outward through the air toward the wyvern like a tidal wave of raw fire.

The wyvern answered with a powerful roar, the sheer force of it pushing back much of the incoming heat, though not nearly enough, more kept pouring in from the Phoenix’s relentless output. The wyvern simply wasn’t built with the same natural mastery over flame that a true, fire born Phoenix carried, standing as something of a lesser kin compared to the great Western dragons traditionally tied to fire and destruction.

Still, it carried real, formidable potential of its own, a genuine force of fire in its own right. Even so, the Great Phoenix clearly held the sharper edge here.

Seizing an opening, the wyvern snapped its sail like wings together with a sharp crack before diving forward like a loosed arrow, wings pinned flat behind it to cut through the air.

The Phoenix unleashed another wave of heat, except this time it spread outward like a rolling hurricane, devouring the surrounding oxygen and carving a burning, airless void through the sky.

The wyvern got knocked violently off course, tumbling through the scorched air before twisting hard to correct itself, sucking in whatever oxygen remained nearby. Its throat pulsed visibly with gathering energy before it exhaled a thick, misty breath that caught directly against the Phoenix’s wings.

The mist reacted instantly against the surrounding air, its calcium heavy properties spreading fast, hardening feather and bone alike into brittle, gray stone in seconds.

Before the Phoenix could react or pull free, the heavy, spiked flail at the end of the wyvern’s tail slammed directly into its skull, the impact bone jarring enough to send the stunned bird plummeting downward like a shot out of the sky, streaking toward the platform below like a falling meteor trailing smoke.

Kai nodded with open satisfaction at the sight of Hermione’s stricken expression, an expression he’d always found deeply, personally satisfying to provoke.

Just before the Phoenix could slam into the platform and shatter under its own crushing momentum, a golden portal flared open beneath it, swallowing the bird whole and pulling it safely back into its soul space.

Kai smiled, assuming the arena’s own safety system had simply stepped in to save it, already counting the match as his.

That satisfaction didn’t last long.

A massive portal tore open directly beneath his feet, seething with roiling flame and searing, oppressive heat, swallowing him whole in an instant.

Kai plunged straight into what felt like genuine hellfire, flame licking and blistering across his skin, the smell of his own singed hair filling his nose, agony tearing through every nerve before the arena’s safety system finally yanked him clear, hauling him back to the stands in one violent, blinding burst of energy.

His expression twisted the moment he caught sight of the cold, heavy look settling over Hermione’s face from across the platform.

She looked, in that moment, genuinely full of contempt, not just toward him specifically, but seemingly toward anyone who paraded their pride and power over others the way he did.

Had the system pulled him free even a fraction of a second later, he would have been dead where he stood, nothing left behind but ash and the smell of burnt flesh.

Just who exactly was this girl?

How much raw, cold power was actually hiding underneath that soft, sweet, endlessly pleasant exterior she wore so effortlessly for everyone else to see?

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