Full Chapter – Duel of the Wild
Location: Ashenwell Academy – Central Duel Pit. Morning of Sparring Week.
The sky above the academy was crisp and electric with tension. Every student in the Second Year division knew something explosive was coming.
Word had spread fast.
Lys Veyren, daughter of the Werebeast King, and Calista Veyre, Avaran elite and the pride of precision flamecrafting — had been scheduled to spar.
And neither planned to hold back.
Pre-Fight
Grim stood near the edge of the pit, arms folded. Sparks hovered just above his shoulder like a second thought made flame, whispering into his head.
"They're going to destroy something. And by 'something,' I mean everything."
"Should I stop them?"
"Do you want her claws turned on you? Let the wild girls settle it."
Tristan leaned against the arena railing, grinning.
"Ten crowns on Lys."
"Make it twenty," Max muttered. "This is going to be a disaster."
"A beautiful one," Hadi added, conjuring a flame umbrella for no reason at all.
The Duel Begins
Professor Juleen stood between the two girls, who were already staring each other down.
Lys's eyes had gone gold and slitted. Her hands were bare — claws already half-formed, posture low and dangerous.
Calista stood tall and composed, her flame staff floating behind her like a serpent waiting to strike. Her Avaran runes pulsed along her arms.
"Try not to embarrass yourself, feral," Calista said.
"Try not to scream," Lys replied.
The professor didn't even finish counting down before both moved.
Fury Unleashed
Lys lunged like a beast unchained, her claws flashing silver as her speed blurred. Calista snapped her fingers and unleashed a spiraling helix of controlled flame, forming barriers and spears all at once.
They collided mid-air — and the sound shook the rafters.
Lys tore through the first defense, but Calista rotated, her flame forming a rotating whip of fire that cracked across the pit. Lys ducked, slid, vanished — then appeared behind her with a snarl.
The duel pit's energy containment runes began flickering.
"That's not normal," Ayesha murmured.
"They're overriding the barrier capacity," Max confirmed.
The crowd backed up as shockwaves slammed outward. Dust and heat rolled across the seating area.
Calista summoned a series of flame pillars in a crescent. Lys destroyed them with brute force, her aura crackling with frost and fury, a strange hybrid of beast instinct and elemental control.
Then they both roared.
Lys's beast form surged — not full transformation, but close enough. Her limbs thickened, her hair wild, her claws glowing.
Calista responded by overloading her flame staff — unleashing a compressed sunburst that should never have been used outside a battlefield.
The collision split the ground.
Runes shattered.
A wall collapsed.
And the dueling platform — a reinforced slab meant to withstand Tier 5 assaults — cracked in half.
The Aftermath
Silence.
Smoke drifted through the air. Half the arena was in ruins.
Lys crouched on one side of the destroyed pit, panting, hair wild, a bleeding scratch across her cheek.
Calista stood on the other, shoulders shaking, her uniform scorched and one arm limp at her side.
Professor Juleen stared at the wreckage, blinking slowly.
"…class dismissed."
"You mean canceled," someone whispered.
"I mean evacuated."
Students began filing out in stunned silence.
Tristan clapped softly. "Now that's how you start a rivalry."
"I'm proud of her," Sparks said with exaggerated cheer. "She made the elite girl cry."
"She didn't cry."
"Her soul cried."
Grim walked down into the ruined pit toward Lys, offering a hand.
She took it without speaking.
Calista didn't look back as she was carried out by medics.
And from that moment forward, everyone in the academy knew:
Don't provoke the beast.