The air within the coliseum trembled, heavy with tension and the weight of gathered magic.
Ares took the first step—and without hesitation, he charged at Emma. He knew her healing and mastery of control could turn the tide if left unchecked. Emma tried to raise a barrier, but Ares' fist, reinforced with enhancement magic, shattered it like fragile glass.
"I'm sorry, Emma," Ares whispered as his precise strike rendered her unconscious in a single blow. "I need to end this quickly."
Tony did not wait. The moment Emma fell, the ground beneath Ares erupted. Roots, stone pillars, and sharpened lances surged upward with devastating precision. But Ares was already moving like a storm. Every strike, every dodge, carried the mark of his relentless training. His body was faster, his mind sharper… yet still, it wasn't enough.
Tony was reaching his true potential. Each assault bore the crushing weight of a mountain.
Ares panted heavily, his arms bloodied, his body cloaked in dust and dried blood.
"You're stronger… than I imagined," Tony admitted with respect.
Ares closed his eyes for a brief moment. Then—
A spark of blue flared across his back. Then another. And another still.
The audience fell silent.
The tips of his hair ignited in a brilliant, otherworldly blue flame. His eyes glowed, and fire danced along his hands and feet, alive and unquenchable. An overwhelming energy wrapped around him.
"What… is this?" Tony muttered, instinctively stepping back.
"This… is the power I've trained in secret… with Blue," Ares said, his voice vibrating with raw force. "I can only maintain it for ten minutes. But that's enough."
BOOM!
In an instant, Ares vanished from Tony's sight—then a fist crashed into his stomach, sending him hurtling across the arena.
The battle became brutal, a ferocious exchange where the ground split and shattered under the clash of blazing blue fire against hardened stone. Ares was speed, precision, and fury incarnate. Tony stood as defense, strategy, and sheer might. Yet the blue flame… was simply superior.
With a final blazing kick, Ares lifted Tony from the ground, engulfed him in a whirlwind of blue fire, and slammed him down with an earth-shaking roar.
BOOOOM!
When the smoke cleared, Ares stood tall, the flames fading slowly from his body. Tony lay unconscious on the ground.
The crowd erupted in a thunderous roar.
Ares had won.
And for the first time… his blue fire had not destroyed. It had fulfilled a promise.