CHAPTER 69 — I AM THE LIGHT, AND THE LIGHT IS ME

THE FALLEN LIGHT — SEASON II

CHAPTER 69 — I AM THE LIGHT, AND THE LIGHT IS ME

The arena official turned the first card.

"Match for entry into the top nine! Nathaniel from Class 1-A!"

The smile on Nathaniel's face widened. He was in twelfth place. If he won this match, he would enter the top nine students of the tournament. He stood up, adjusted his uniform, and waited for the second name. The official turned the card.

"His opponent, also from Class 1-A, Arthur Green!"

The smile on Nathaniel's face slowly faded. He turned his head to look at Arthur, who had already stood up.

"There were forty-six other people," Nathaniel said. "Did they have to pick you specifically?"

Arthur looked over his shoulder as he walked toward the arena entrance. "You wanted to enter the top fifteen."

"Yes."

"Then not making it into the top nine shouldn't be an issue."

Nathaniel's mouth hung open. While Percy burst into laughter, Clara watched Arthur's back. She still couldn't understand the cause of the uneasiness rising within her. She wasn't afraid of Nathaniel losing; she wanted him to see where he stood after eleven days of training. Yet, for some reason, the fact that his opponent was Arthur bothered her. When the match began, Nathaniel expanded his full attention across the arena. Before Arthur even attacked, he tried to read the pressure in the air, the points where Orin concentrated, and the force applied to the ground. Before the first punch was thrown, he stepped aside. Arthur's arm passed right in front of his face. Astonished whispers rose from the stands. Arthur altered his direction on his second strike. Nathaniel noticed that too; ducking to avoid it, he launched a Magic Slash at Arthur's exposed side. Arthur parried the attack with a thin layer of Orin formed on his forearm. Nathaniel didn't retreat. He launched a Magic Sphere not directly in front of Arthur, but into the area where he might dodge. When Arthur parried the first sphere, a second attack materialized behind him. He was forced to duck his head at the last second. Percy's laughter echoed from the waiting area.

"He's definitely changed."

A proud smile also formed on Clara's face. "Told you."

Nathaniel had not reached the level where he could defeat Arthur. However, he was no longer the helpless boy standing before him either. With every attack, he found a new possibility, forging another way out from between closing paths. When Arthur realized this, he changed his stance. He stopped using wide attacks. Drawing his arms close to his body, he shortened his steps and kept his Orin contained around his core without letting any leak outward. Nathaniel's expression shifted. Arthur was leaving him no unnecessary movements to read. The atmospheric changes shrank, and the probability field narrowed. Nathaniel sensed a punch coming from the right, but Arthur cut the attack short mid-swing. The moment Nathaniel tried to shift to defense, Arthur placed his shoulder against his chest, broke his balance, and caught his wrist as he fell. Nathaniel didn't hit the ground. Arthur lowered him onto his knees in a controlled manner, locked his arm without causing harm, and pressed two fingers against his neck.

"Finished."

Nathaniel didn't move for a few seconds. He had neither taken a heavy hit nor sustained an injury. Even so, not a single probability remained for him to escape. Clara's hand involuntarily clenched into a fist. Arthur hadn't harmed Nathaniel. He hadn't prolonged the match, humiliated him, or used unnecessary force. Clara saw all of this. Yet, the moment she watched Arthur bring someone down, an old anger stirred in her chest. Before looking at the arena, Percy glanced at Clara's clenched fist, then at her face. He said nothing. Clara hadn't yet understood why she was angry either.

The referee raised his hand. "Winner, Arthur Green!" Arthur released the hold and offered his hand to Nathaniel. Nathaniel grit his teeth as he stared at that hand, but ultimately took it.

"Is the gap really this big?" he asked.

Arthur pulled him to his feet. "For now." The disappointment on Nathaniel's face softened. Arthur continued:

"Eleven days ago, you would have fallen to my first attack. Today, you forced me to change my stance."

When the two returned to the waiting area, Percy tapped Nathaniel on the head. "You didn't make top nine." Nathaniel straightened up in alarm. "But I'm in the top fifteen!" Percy tried to look serious for a few seconds, then laughed again. "That's enough for now."

Percy's next match lasted less than two minutes. Thinking he wouldn't use [Rise of Fire] again, his opponent had prepared his defense against an attack from above. Percy used the exact same technique a second time; however, instead of raising the fire bird into the sky, he formed it horizontally behind his opponent. While the boy was looking up, the Phoenix swept horizontally across the arena and shattered his barrier in a single blow.

Nathaniel leaped to his feet. "THAT IS NOT HOW YOU USE THE SAME SKILL!" Percy shrugged as he returned from the arena. "It worked."

Olsen wasn't trying to hide the pride on her face. Percy hadn't locked the spell he created into a single rigid form. He understood the essence of the rising fire, which allowed him to alter the direction of its rise as well. However, the true silence of the venue arrived with the next matchup.

"Match for entry into the top nine! Clara Leyvar!"

Clara stood up.

"Her opponent... Arthur Green!"

The calm on Arthur's face broke for the very first time. Clara stared at him without moving an inch. A match left unfinished years ago had finally resumed. Only then did Clara understand why she had clenched her fist when Nathaniel lost. Her anger wasn't about Nathaniel losing. It belonged to that moment from years ago she still carried, back when facing Arthur.

At the referee's signal, Arthur formed his shield. He had no element and was still at the twelfth level of the Core; even so, the Orin he compressed transformed into a three-layered, translucent wall before him. Clara didn't attack. She didn't manifest light from her body to launch at Arthur. She didn't try to turn it into a spear, a sphere, or chains. She simply closed her eyes and waited within the whiteness expanding around her. Whispers began in the stands. Arthur watched her from behind his shield, holding back his first move. The moment Clara stopped trying to control the light, she noticed something. There was movement within the light. It wasn't a foreign will that didn't belong to her. Nor was it an external command or a hidden entity. Every shimmer expanded with her breath, vibrated in sync with her heart, and moved ahead of her thoughts. The corners of Clara's lips curled upward. She didn't need to guide it. Because the light had never been separate from her. She opened her eyes, her voice echoing across the entire arena:

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"I am the light."

White energy rose from her shoulders.

"And the light is me!"

The light formed two giant wings behind her. The slender torso manifesting between the wings transformed into the silhouette of an angel enveloping Clara. Holar and Eleanor stood up simultaneously.

"[Daughter of Light]."

Clara placed her hand on her chest. "My element is light. My defense is impenetrable." A neutral voice echoing from everywhere resonated across the arena:

"DAUGHTER OF LIGHT DEEPENED. DEFENSE: INCREASED BY SIXTY PERCENT."

Clara's eyes shifted to Percy.

"My attack is your attack."

"ATTACK: INCREASED BY FIFTY PERCENT."

Then she turned to Arthur.

"I am light. My speed is not limited by c."

"LIGHT FORM UNLOCKED. CURRENT CARRIAGE RATIO: TWO PERCENT."

One of the physics instructors in the hall leaped to his feet. "Impossible!"

Clara wasn't accelerating her physical body to the speed of light. She was temporarily transitioning into light form, traversing distance within the light without carrying mass or inertia. Even so, two percent of that current ratio was far beyond the limits first-year students could perceive. The instant Arthur raised his shield, Clara vanished. Light flashed on the right side of the shield. Arthur turned his defense there. This time, Clara was on his left. Arthur opened a second layer; Clara had already passed behind him. Arthur realized she wasn't striking him. Clara was testing her power. Arthur suddenly dispersed his shield and assumed a normal combat stance. When Clara reappeared, he drove his fist toward the point where the light originated. For the first time, Clara was forced to pull back. Percy smiled. Arthur couldn't see Clara, but he was reading the flash the light created before it materialized. Arthur attacked repeatedly. Clara slipped past him every time. As punches passed a few centimeters away from her hair, shoulder, and cheek, a long white spear formed in Clara's hand.

"Light Spear."

Arthur erected a five-layer shield. The spear pierced the first four, stopping at the fifth. Clara's eyes turned to Percy. She felt another warmth within the light. A familiar energy was flowing through the bond [Perfect Match] had kept open for years.

"Justice of Light."

"COMPATIBLE LINK DETECTED. PERFECT MATCH. ACCESS TO LINKED ELEMENT GRANTED."

Percy's eyes widened. Flames appeared around Clara's white spear. He remained stunned for a second. Then he burst into laughter.

"She took my fire!"

The instructors had stood up. Arthur's fifth shield shattered beneath the light spear wrapped in flames. Clara could have ended the match right then if she wanted to; the tip of the spear had reached Arthur's chest. But she stopped. She dispersed the spear and backed away.

"Now I'm going to do something that has never been seen before."

One of the teachers turned to Olsen in bewilderment. "She could already win. Why did she stop?" Percy's voice echoed from the waiting area:

"BECAUSE SHE'S TIRED OF BEING HELD BACK!"

Everyone looked at him. Percy cupped both hands around his mouth.

"THAT'S MY GIRL!"

Clara turned to him from between the angel wings. Her cheeks flushed slightly pink.

"Dummy."

Then she joined both hands.

"Light and Fire..."

Arthur began building new shields in front of him.

"Combine."

White light and crimson fire swirled around each other. The light didn't extinguish the fire, and the fire didn't taint the light. The two powers merged, forming a miniature sun above Clara.

"JOINT SKILL OF LIGHT AND FIRE CREATED."

Clara turned her hands toward Arthur.

"[Sunfall]."

Arthur deployed his twenty-layer shield simultaneously. The moment the tiny sun touched the first layer, the arena turned solid white. Shields shattered one after another. The fifth, eighth, twelfth, and sixteenth layers collapsed. Arthur dug his feet into the ground, stacked his last four shields on top of one another, and funneled all his Orin into defense. The twentieth shield broke too. Arthur was launched off the stage by the remaining force of the attack.

Percy moved before anyone else. The instant the barrier opened, he reached Arthur's side, placed his hand on his chest, and called out, "[Absolute Heal]." While the white energy closed the damage in Arthur's body, the entire arena was silent.

The referee's voice finally rose:

"Winner, Clara Leyvar!"

Clara dropped onto her knees in the middle of the arena. A single tear rolled down her cheek. The arena from years ago came alive before her eyes. Arthur's attacks, her fall to the floor, him allowing her to lose without defending herself... Followed by Percy stepping into the arena in rage and defeating Arthur. On that day, Clara had made a promise. One day, I will truly defeat you.Not like this.For real. Clara looked at the shattered pieces of the shield.

"I showed you," she whispered, her voice trembling. "I really showed you."

Leaving the healed Arthur behind, Percy walked up to Clara. Standing before her, he extended his hand.

"Hey. A champion should never kneel."

Clara raised her head. Taking Percy's hand, she pulled herself up. Arthur walked over to them as well. No wounds remained on his body. As he looked at Clara, there was neither shame nor anger on his face.

"I fought with all my strength," he said. "Congratulations, Clara."

He extended his hand.

"Next time, I'll win."

Clara shook his hand.

"Of course."

The Class 1-A students were watching them. Charlotte's eyes were filled with tears, and Nathaniel hadn't said a single word for the first time. They now understood that the invisible weight between Arthur and Clara had rested on both of them for years. When Clara smiled, the entire class breathed a sigh of relief.

After the match, the teachers called Clara to their side. Olsen, the light element instructors, and Wycliffe were all asking the same question:

"How did you think of combining light and fire?"

Clara answered honestly. "I don't know." The instructors looked at one another. Clara pointed her finger at Percy.

"He told me, Teacher. He said you can do it. He said trying without knowing if you can is the best way to learn."

Percy's face changed.

"What?!"

Every single instructor turned to him at once. Percy took a step back.

"Treason!"

He turned around and tried to run, but Galahad grabbed him by the collar. Percy's feet kept running in midair.

"Brother! Let go!"

Galahad burst out laughing as he carried him over to the teachers.

"BROTHER! DOUBLE STANDARDS! TREASON!"

Clara couldn't hold back her laughter. As the students in the stands began laughing too, the heavy mood from a few minutes ago completely dissolved.

The remaining matches concluded. William, Marcus, Charlotte, and the other students fought for the final spots in the rankings. When the top nine names were determined, the large screen shut off, and the final matchups began calculating. Everyone inside the hall waited. The screen turned back on.

The first name appeared:

PERCY GRANT

Nathaniel stood up. William took off his glasses and wiped the lenses. Even though Arthur was healed, he sat up straight. Olsen's gaze sharpened. The smile on Galahad's face vanished. Eleanor held her breath. Holar Jun burst out laughing.

The second name appeared:

CLARA LEYVAR

The hall erupted. Students leaped to their feet. Teachers stared at one another while the stands shouted all at once. [Rise of Fire] would face the [Daughter of Light]. The two children who had remained undefeated since the start of the tournament were finally stepping into the same arena. Percy and Clara were sitting side by side. First they looked at the screen. Then they turned to each other. A smile slowly formed on Percy's face.

"Finally."

Clara stood up.

"I told you you'd regret it."