CHAPTER 68 — CLARA'S DESTRUCTION

THE FALLEN LIGHT — SEASON II

CHAPTER 68 — CLARA'S DESTRUCTION

A short break had to be called in the tournament after Percy used [Rise of Fire]. While Leon Ashford was being examined by the healers, the damaged floor of the second arena was repaired, and new Orin stones were set into the cracked protective barriers. Because the scorch marks from Percy's attack had reached deep into the stone, staff members were forced to rip out some sections of the floor entirely. Percy, meanwhile, had returned to the waiting area as if none of it had anything to do with him, scanning the matchup list in William's hand.

"Who's next?"

William looked at him over his glasses.

"You destroyed a third of the arena."

"A little less than a third."

William pointed to the giant slabs of stone being carried away by the staff.

"Does that distinction comfort you?"

"Getting the ratios right comforts me."

Nathaniel held his head between both hands.

"The issue isn't what percentage you destroyed! You went out in a first-year tournament and brought down a fire bird from the sky!"

Percy frowned.

"It didn't come down from the sky. It rose from the ground first."

"Do you think that's better?!"

"The spell is named [Rise of Fire]. If it descended without rising, the name would be wrong."

William stared at Percy for a few seconds before returning to the list in his hand.

"Sometimes I feel that debating with you hurts my academic development."

Clara, meanwhile, was inspecting Percy's uniform sleeve, which had blackened from the lightning. Percy's skin was completely healed, but the fabric was scorched in several places, leaving a small hole below his elbow.

"Can't Heal fix clothes?"

Percy looked at his own arm.

"Clothes aren't alive."

"I know."

"I was only explaining the reason."

"I know that too."

Nathaniel looked back and forth between the two.

"Are you two arguing?"

Percy and Clara answered at the exact same time:

"No."

Nathaniel turned his head to Arthur.

"I think they are."

Arthur continued to watch the arena repairs.

"Stay out of it."

"Right. Living is nice."

Their conversation was cut off when the arena official's voice boomed once more. It was announced that Leon was in good condition and could continue in the tournament after a few hours of rest. The barriers for the second arena had also been renewed. The official raised the next card.

"Arena Two! Clara from Class 1-A!"

Clara's gaze instantly returned to the arena. Percy smiled.

"Your turn."

Clara stood up, straightened the skirt of her uniform, and tossed her hair behind her shoulder. As she walked past Percy, Nathaniel stepped in front of her.

"Can you summon a giant fire bird?"

Clara looked at him.

"No."

Nathaniel breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good. At least the arena won't be destroyed a second time."

Clara replied as she passed by him:

"I'll do something even better than that."

Nathaniel's relief vanished instantly. Clara kept walking. Percy, watching her from behind, raised his eyebrows. He knew what Clara could do with light. She could boost her movement speed, suddenly shift directions over short distances, and reinforce her attacks with light. However, whatever Clara claimed was better than his [Rise of Fire] could not possibly be any of those. Had Clara learned a new spell? If she had, when had she done it? Even though they had been looking after Nathaniel for eleven days, they had done almost all of their training together. He hadn't noticed Clara hiding anything from him at all. Reaching the arena entrance, Clara looked back. Seeing Percy watching her with curiosity, a smile formed on her face. Percy's curiosity grew even further. Nathaniel stepped beside him.

"What do you think she's going to do?"

"I don't know."

Nathaniel's eyes widened.

"You don't know?"

"No."

Nathaniel immediately turned back to the arena.

"Then something really bad is coming."

Clara's opponent was Mira Collins from Class 1-B. Mira was at Core 11. Even though she hadn't reached the Advanced Core, her Orin control was superior to most students in her class. She could refine energy into nearly invisible threads, gradually closing off her opponent's room to maneuver. Stepping into the arena, she looked first at the scorch marks remaining from Percy's attack, then at Clara.

"It must be tough fighting right after Percy."

Clara tilted her head slightly.

"Why?"

"Everyone is still talking about his match. No matter what you do, they'll compare your match to his."

A faint smile formed on Clara's face.

"They can compare all they want."

"Doesn't that bother you?"

"No."

Mira hadn't expected her to answer so casually. She was about to say something more, but the referee stepped between them.

"Are you ready?"

Mira raised her hands. Nearly invisible Orin lines began to form between her fingers.

"Ready."

There was no energy around Clara yet.

"Me too."

The referee's arm dropped.

"Begin!"

Mira pulled back instantly. Instead of approaching Clara, she opened both hands and sent ten separate Orin threads from her fingers to various points around the arena. Some threads attached to the floor, some to the protective barrier, while the remainder began spreading around Clara. Clara didn't move. With every movement of Mira's fingers, the web formed by the threads tightened a bit more. The technique's purpose wasn't to harm the opponent directly, but to restrict their movement step by step. William leaned forward.

"Octagonal trap."

Nathaniel counted the threads.

"There are ten of them."

"A shape being eight-sided doesn't require the number of threads used to be eight."

Nathaniel looked back at the arena.

"I don't know why I even ask you questions."

Arthur noticed that Clara still hadn't moved from her spot.

"What is she waiting for?"

Percy wondered the same thing. He had watched Mira's technique before. Attacking before the web was complete was the simplest strategy against it. It was impossible for Clara not to realize that.

"I don't know," Percy said. "But she's waiting on purpose."

The Orin threads surrounded Clara completely. Some passed at ankle height, some around her waist, and the rest above her head. The gaps had narrowed so much that Clara could not step through them without taking damage. Mira closed her hands a bit further.

"Surrender. If you move, the threads will slice you."

Clara looked at the web around her.

"Nice technique."

"Thank you."

"However, you forgot one thing."

Mira's fingers froze.

"What?"

Clara raised her head.

"I don't need to move."

A white light materialized around her body. At first, it was merely a fine radiance shimmering on her skin. It flowed down from her shoulders, wrapped around her arms, and converged beneath her feet. Percy watched intently. The light radiated outward from Clara's body. Passing through every single gap between Mira's Orin threads, it reached the ground and slowly began to blanket the arena. Mira clenched her fingers to maintain control of her threads. The light continued to expand. One second later, it enveloped the space around Clara. In the second second, it reached half the arena. By the third second, it had spread all the way beneath Mira's feet. The white radiance surged upward. Every single thread of the web Mira had constructed began to vibrate at once. Losing their cohesion, the lines shattered, but the Orin within them didn't disperse. Swept up inside the white light, it began to swirl around Clara. Mira backed away.

"What did you do?"

Clara took a step forward. All the light moved with her. Mira's body was engulfed in the white glow. The curiosity on Percy's face vanished instantly. He stood up. He recognized that light. On the day the seven-year-olds had their Orin Affinity measured, before Percy had even touched the stone, the exact same light had appeared. It hadn't descended from the sky, nor had it risen from the ground. It had materialized around Percy in an instant, passing over his shoulder and touching the side of his face. Soft. Warm. Protective. On that day, Percy had felt something within the light—an entity he couldn't explain, yet recognized without hesitation. Clara. He had even looked at her and said aloud: This feels so much like Clara. Someone within that light had smiled at his words. As Percy recalled that moment from years ago, the light in the arena completely enveloped Mira's body. At first glance, it appeared gentle. It swirled softly over her skin, passed through her clothing, and wrapped around her like a warm cloak. Just as it had wrapped around Percy. Clara closed her fingers. Mira's scream echoed across the entire arena. The temperature of the light spiked instantly. Smoke began to rise from the points where the white radiance touched, and the air surrounding Mira trembled. The light blanketing her skin had simultaneously tightened, binding her arms and legs like invisible chains. Mira unleashed all her Orin outward to break free. The light receded from her body for a split-second. Then it returned with even greater force. Mira tried to pull back, but no matter where she went, the white glow refused to release her. The light wasn't chasing her; the entire arena was already filled with Clara's light. Mira was merely moving inside it. Nathaniel noticed Percy standing up too.

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"What happened?"

Percy didn't answer. His eyes were on the arena, but his mind had traveled back years ago. On that day, Clara didn't possess the light element. She had barely reached the first level of her Core. Yet now, the feeling of the light enveloping Mira was identical to the light that had touched Percy. Only its behavior was different. The light that wrapped around Percy was protective. The light wrapping around Mira was ruthless. Nathaniel turned to Percy as if he too had just made the connection.

"Isn't that the light that wrapped around you during the Orin Affinity test?"

The corners of Percy's lips curled upward.

"The very same."

William immediately looked at him.

"Are you sure?"

Percy didn't take his eyes off Clara.

"I'm sure."

Arthur frowned.

"But back then, Clara didn't have the light element."

Percy already knew that. He didn't know the answer either. He couldn't explain how the light had manifested years ago, why it felt like Clara, or how it had granted Percy Perfect Affinity. However, he now knew who that light belonged to. He had felt it even when he was seven years old. Percy chuckled quietly. Nathaniel looked at him.

"Why are you laughing?"

Percy sat back down.

"Nothing."

"You figured something out."

"No."

William looked at him over his glasses.

"You're lying."

Percy's smile widened a bit more.

"Prove it."

As William prepared to speak, Mira's hand touched the ground.

"I surrender... I surrender!"

Clara opened her fingers. The light extinguished simultaneously. When the white dome vanished, Mira was breathing heavily on her knees. There were no permanent burns on her body, but her muscles were still trembling from the pressure exerted by the light. The referee raised his hand after a few seconds.

"Winner, Clara!"

Applause erupted from the stands. Clara left the arena after the healers reached Mira's side. A calm smile was on her face as she returned to the waiting area. Percy was waiting for her at the entrance. When Clara stood before him, Percy didn't say anything for a few seconds. Clara raised an eyebrow.

"What is it?"

Percy tried to look utterly serious.

"You're a bad person."

Clara's eyes widened.

"Why?"

"That was the light that wrapped around me."

The expression on Clara's face changed. Only for a split-second. She had remembered that exact same day as well. The light that appeared before Percy touched the Orin Stone. The way it enveloped Percy. And Percy saying that the light felt like Clara. Clara recognized the feeling of the light she used today. However, she didn't know how it was possible. She didn't possess the light element back then. She shouldn't have been able to use such power. Still, she didn't show her bewilderment in front of Percy. The corners of her lips slowly curled into a smirk.

"I'm only harmless to you."

Then, laughing, she walked past Percy. Percy stayed where he was. A second later, he chuckled again.

"I know."

Clara's steps slowed. She didn't turn her head. However, her smile was gone. She didn't know why Percy accepted it so easily. Yet she didn't turn around to ask. Because the moment she looked at Percy's face, she realized he didn't know the answer either—he had simply made the exact same impossible connection as her. Nathaniel remained standing between the two, his gaze darting back and forth.

"What do you know?!"

Percy walked toward his seat beside Clara.

"Nothing."

"You just said 'I know'!"

"You misheard."

"I WAS STANDING RIGHT NEXT TO YOU!"

Percy sat down without answering. Clara had picked up her water bottle, but she wasn't drinking. For a few seconds, she looked down at her fingers, which had been clad in light. Then she turned her eyes to Percy. Percy looked back at her at the exact same moment. Their eyes met. They remembered the same thing. They had drawn the same connection. And neither of them knew how it was possible. Clara smiled again. Percy's smile widened too. Nathaniel threw his hands into the air.

"YOU TWO ARE HIDING SOMETHING!"

William adjusted his glasses.

"Definitely."

Nathaniel turned to him.

"What are they hiding?"

"I don't know."

"WHY DOES NOBODY KNOW ANYTHING IN THIS CLASS?!"

In the teachers' stands, Holar Jun and Eleanor weren't speaking either. Eleanor's eyes were fixed on Clara. Holar, meanwhile, was staring at the last faint traces of the white light that had vanished from the arena a few seconds ago. Both of them had recognized that light. Both had been present on the day Percy's Orin Affinity was measured. Eleanor broke the silence.

"It was the same."

Holar nodded.

"Yes."

"Clara was at the first level of her Core back then."

"I know."

"She didn't have the light element."

"I know that too."

Eleanor turned to Holar.

"Then how?"

Holar didn't answer for a while. He studied the way Percy and Clara looked at each other. Both children had realized something, but neither possessed an answer they could explain.

"I don't know."

Eleanor looked back at the arena.

"It didn't harm Percy."

"No."

"Now it forced Mira to surrender in a matter of seconds."

Holar stroked his beard.

"The same light."

"Different behavior."

Both fell silent. They didn't know why the light hadn't harmed Percy. Nor how it had appeared years ago. They only remembered that Percy had felt Clara within that light. And now, that very light was truly in Clara's hands.

The first ranking phase of the tournament continued throughout the day. Each student faced three or four opponents with different attributes so that their rankings could be accurately determined. A single lucky victory wouldn't be enough; how well students adapted to different fighting styles would be evaluated as well. In his second match, Arthur was paired with a defense-focused student. He didn't attempt to break his opponent's barrier directly. Pushing him back a few centimeters with every attack, he drove him all the way to the arena's boundary. By the time his opponent realized what was happening, there was only a single step of space left behind him. The boy surrendered before Arthur could land the final blow. In his third match, Arthur faced a student with the wind element. Parrying most of the wind blades with his Orin-reinforced arms, he deflected the rest away from his vital areas, and the moment he reached his opponent, he finished the match with a single punch. William won all three of his matches using different methods. He calculated the interval between his first opponent's attacks. Noticing an inconsistency in his second opponent's Core circulation, he waited for the technique being used to collapse on its own. He gradually drove his third opponent out of bounds by utilizing his distance relative to the arena's edges. Nathaniel approached William after his third victory.

"You're not fighting."

William opened his water bottle.

"What am I doing?"

"You're solving math problems."

"The result doesn't change."

"Do you actually see numbers when you fight?"

"Sometimes."

Nathaniel slowly backed away from him.

"You're scarier than Percy."

Marcus won three out of his four matches. In his single defeat, he had misjudged his opponent's element. Returning from the arena, he made no excuses; he noted his mistake in his small notebook and began watching the next match. Ethan scored two wins and one loss. After losing her first match, Sophia won her next two. Amelia, Daniel, Lucas, Theodore, Elias, Noah, and Adrian also began racking up enough wins to stay in the rankings. When Charlotte stepped out for her second match, she didn't repeat the mistake she had made against Nathaniel. Instead of rushing to attack because she saw her opponent as weak, she observed his movements, tried to understand the spells he used, and finished the match once she found an opening. Nathaniel was waiting for her when she returned from the arena.

"You learned something from me."

Charlotte smiled.

"Yes."

Nathaniel nodded proudly.

"You can call me Teacher."

"Don't exaggerate."

"Master Nathaniel works too."

Charlotte walked past him.

"Neither is going to happen."

Nathaniel's second and third matches weren't as easy as his first. Everyone had now seen what he did against Charlotte. His opponents tried to hide their attacks, confuse the atmospheric pressure changes with unnecessary movements, and mislead Nathaniel's [Probability Field]. He took several heavy blows in his second match, but he never closed his eyes. The moment he separated his opponent's feints from his actual attacks, he passed through the opening and won. His third opponent scattered small Orin particles across the entire arena, constantly shifting the surrounding density. Nathaniel fell in the first minute and was hit again in the second, but by the third minute, he noticed the pattern within the chaos. The fake Orin particles moved randomly. The real attacks accelerated in sync with his opponent's breathing. Taking his eyes off his opponent, Nathaniel listened to his breathing. Moving before the next spell even formed, he slipped past the sphere and brought his opponent down with a single punch. Winning his fourth match as well, he rose to twelfth place in the temporary rankings. Seeing his name on the board, he couldn't speak for a long time. Then he turned to Percy and Clara.

"Twelve!"

Clara smiled.

"The tournament isn't over yet."

"I know, but twelve!"

Percy raised his hand. Nathaniel ran over and high-fived his palm.

"Top fifteen," Percy said.

Nathaniel looked at the ranking board.

"Top fifteen."

He hadn't yet noticed the name directly above his. Arthur Green.

Percy won his next three matches as well. He defeated his second opponent in hand-to-hand combat without using fire. In his third match, he shattered the stone wall erected in front of him with a single punch. In his fourth match, he sliced his opponent's spell in half with a small flame, stopping his own attack just centimeters from his chest. In none of the matches did he use [Absolute Cancel]. He didn't draw Blaze. He had no need for Heal. After his match with Leon, students no longer spoke of defeating Percy. They debated how long they could last if paired with him. However, as the day progressed, attention gradually split in two. Because Clara's destruction was only just beginning.

Clara's second opponent was a student from Class 1-C with the stone element. The boy clad his body in thick stone armor the moment the match began. Having seen the light in her first match, he believed he could block it from reaching his skin entirely. Clara didn't attack him. She waited for him to complete his armor. Then she raised her hand. The white light surrounded the boy. But instead of attacking the surface of the stones, it entered through the tiny gaps between them. Within seconds, the inside of the armor was fully illuminated. Before the boy understood what was happening, the temperature began to rise. The light couldn't escape, accumulating inside the stone armor. In less than thirty seconds, her opponent shattered his own defense to get out and surrendered. Nathaniel leaped to his feet.

"THAT IS PURE EVIL!"

Percy nodded.

"Told you."

Clara heard the two of them as she returned from the arena.

"I utilized my opponent's defense."

Nathaniel threw his hands out.

"The guy turned himself into an oven!"

"I didn't tell him to make stone armor."

Nathaniel looked at Percy.

"See?"

Nathaniel nodded with utmost seriousness.

"She really is only harmless to you."

Clara's third opponent possessed the water element. To lower the light's temperature and obscure her vision, he filled the arena with dense fog. Clara's body vanished from view within seconds. As her opponent prepared to strike from within the mist, a single white beam emerged. The light struck the first water droplet in the air. From there it passed to the second. Then to the third. Each droplet refracted the light in a different direction. Within seconds, the entire fog filled with hundreds of white lines. Her opponent couldn't tell which was an attack and which was a reflection. Clara closed her hand. All the beams of light converged on the exact same point. Her opponent's barrier shattered instantly. When the referee stopped the match, one of the light element teachers in the stands stood up.

"How did she calculate all those refraction angles at her age?"

Olsen was watching the match closely.

"She didn't calculate each one."

"Then how did she guide the light?"

Eleanor's eyes were on Clara.

"She set the initial path of the light. Refraction did the rest."

The teacher was still stunned.

"With that many reflections, it's impossible to predict where the light will land."

Olsen smiled faintly.

"It's impossible if you try to control each beam individually."

"What did Clara do?"

"She held all the light as a single domain."

Clara's fourth opponent was extremely fast. To avoid letting the light envelope him, he moved continuously around the arena, launching attacks without drawing close to Clara. After parrying a few attacks, Clara closed her eyes. White light spread across the entire arena from beneath her feet. But unlike previous matches, it didn't rise; it remained as a thin layer over the floor. When her opponent took his first step, the light beneath his foot flashed. On his second step, a white mark formed at another spot. On his third step, Clara raised her hand. The light on the floor surged upward all at once. Before her opponent could even change direction, he was completely enveloped. The more he tried to escape, the more the pressure of the light increased. A few seconds later, he was rendered unable to move and surrendered. When the referee declared Clara's fourth victory, the applause was far stronger than in previous matches. The main ranking board was updated. Percy Grant: four wins. Clara: four wins. William Hart: four wins. Arthur Green: four wins. Nathaniel: four wins. Five students from Class 1-A remained undefeated. Yet the two names the entire arena talked about most were clear. Percy Grant and Clara. One crushed his opponents with fire before they even had a chance to approach. The other blanketed the entire arena in light, leaving her opponents not a single patch of darkness to escape to.

When Clara returned to the waiting area, Percy handed her a bottle of water. Taking the bottle, Clara sat beside him.

"Four."

Percy nodded.

"Four."

"Nobody has managed to touch me yet."

"Me neither."

Taking a sip from the bottle, Clara looked at him.

"If we keep going like this, we'll face each other."

Percy's eyes were on the arena.

"I hope so."

Clara raised her eyebrows.

"You hope so?"

Percy turned to her this time. The wild smile that had appeared while fighting Leon wasn't on his face. He looked calmer, more genuine.

"I want to fight you."

Clara looked into his eyes for a few seconds. Then she looked straight ahead.

"You'll regret it."

"Maybe."

"No. You definitely will."

Percy chuckled softly. Clara shifted a bit closer to her spot beside him. Nathaniel poked his head out from behind them.

"I won four matches too! Doesn't anyone want to fight me?"

Arthur continued looking at the ranking board.

"Soon."

Nathaniel turned to him slowly.

"Why did you say that like a threat?"

Arthur didn't answer. Clara's eyes involuntarily drifted to him. Then she looked at the ranking board. The matches that would determine the students entering the top nine were about to begin. Nathaniel was in twelfth place. And Arthur was directly above him. An uneasy feeling Clara couldn't quite understand formed inside her. The arena official picked up the new matchup cards. He turned the first card. Nathaniel's smile slowly faded.