With no wasted flare this time. Each of them In-Threaded their own Clause Construct.
"a.l.c.e.f." Caelum raised a pillar of the arena, coating the surface layer in water with an incantationless In-Thread of T.H.O.M.C.
"T.I.K.R!" Darius, copying Caelum's initial Fleming's Left Hand rule stance, fired a great, focused beam of flames, slamming directly against the pillar, nearly liquifying the minerals.
The leaves meters away from Darius' back began igniting as his fingertips charred. The surrounding temperature on all's skin began increasing to unprecedented levels that Isaac, from afar, started to back off.
You are not fit for those flames!
The pillar was a combination of Earth and Water Noësis, with a majority of the dual prior being Caelum attempting to adhere to Fire Noësis. Now, Darius smelled the breeze of an incoming storm, the taste of purer oxygen being drawn in.
It solidified his beliefs all the more.
You are an amalgamation, Veldt. An amalgamation of talent and techniques.
I'm scared… That if I burn all of you, I risk burning out the ground your humanity stands on, accidentally leaving all that you have borrowed and copied.
And that is why… I, born with flames innate, will burn for you!
The attempt by Caelum to draw more air into the arena backfired greatly, amplifying the melting force of Darius' T.I.K.R.
Huff… Huff…
I'll burn all of you and myself for it. For I know who I am through friends, my will, my found family, through things that you lack.
Give me all that they have taught you!
Push!
The pillar began melting; two more Clause Constructs were In-Threaded.
"c.l.q.l.c.m."
"P.V.F!"
The floor turned to spikes; Darius braced and detonated the floor first, before aiming for the water droplets in the air, turning them into steam, filling Caelum's own territory.
"You're not going all out! Veldt!" Darius shouted into the steam. "P.K.A!" Propulsive Kinetic Acceleration was In-Threaded to close the distance between the two. In a blink of an eye, just as Caelum did to Darius, a fist was shoveled into Caelum's stomach.
Instead of backing down, Caelum returned a rear hook that was parried and counter-uppercut by Darius. Not only that, a P.V.F Clause Construct was layered on top of it, producing a serrating and cauterizing effect. As Caelum tried to retreat by turning the ground slippery with H.C.L, Darius began increasing the temperature of his flames ignited at his soles to counteract the layer of liquid. He traced Caelum's fleeing movements and followed up with a clinch as Darius maneuvered around, retaliating against Caelum, kneeing and elbowing the latter.
"Let's make a hell where our ideals burn brightest!"
The nerves against my feet… Hah… Hah… Ow… Fuck…
Is this what you felt?
What does it mean to burn yourself?
Wait… If I burn myself… Then who is left to remind him of his humanity?
Shit… But I must!
All of the injuries left on Caelum's face would have turned to 2nd-degree burns if not treated. Considering the previous round's likely decision, both were still at a standstill due to the equal damage inflicted.
Darius tried to land a liver blow, but Caelum responded by breaking off with no effort, "d.s.l.u.w!" Stomping down hard, causing a small wave of the Earth to move forward. It carried Darius away while a sudden H.M.P knocked his jaw backwards. From the angle of the spectators, it looked like Darius' neck snapped. But it was all a cover for splashing the compound mist and slurry of melted rock that quickly mixed and reacted.
With one last movement and one last "t.m.t.i," to ignite that slurry into another great flame.
One that Darius' Shielding could not handle.
It's beautiful… His fighting style… Wow… He still isn't trying…
What can I do to wake you up…
'...I, future representative of La Casa Veledônia, urge you to stop and back off…'
'Back off'... Tsk… They never sat right with me…
If you think words like that are gonna sway him, when you pushed him… You're stupid! Sephalyn!
Therefore, he did not shield, he did not dodge, nor did he try to deflect.
Darius copied, just as Caelum did to him all those years ago.
I know… Shit… Am I gonna survive this?
What would this cost me other than my body?
Maybe he'll come back as someone different who doesn't know why I do all this for him…
Maybe Sephalyn won't look at me and reflect on me no matter how much I try…
So be it…
It doesn't matter… What a beautiful technique it was.
He slapped the slurry aside before turning his lead arms wide, betting everything on his abilities accumulated to accomplish one last 'talented' feat in the face of a Genius: one of the hardest Clause-Constructs any first-year could ever attempt.
This was how you learned it from Sephalyn, right?
Even she couldn't pull this off at the time…
But you could…
I need it…
"Pyrokinesis."
The Princess' eyes flicked immediately.
Yes… That's right…
The ignition of the mist instantly condensed into a slag-like liquid, forming rings around Darius. Drawn from where he slapped the slurry, towards the back of his rear arm as the point of funnalage, before being siphoned into a Stirling-engine Clause-Construct cycle, condensing at the tip of his lead fingers, pointing a diagonal gun, with the Fleming's Left Hand Rule modified for the stance, ring finger for current rather than middle.
He continued to compress and compress the slag.
The particles swirling around rotated swifter while those within began vibrating faster and faster; it was nearing the point at which plasma may have been formed. The veins around his forearms began popping, with the joints at his fingers creaking so tensely.
Caelum spared one glance to the audience, and the rest on his friend.
As if deliberate, he struck the same pose as Darius, in Southpaw stance.
And cast his own Pyrokinesis.
"PK."
"Hah… Of course…" Darius panted.
His flames were far more ferocious, even though he relied on his own ignition rather than chemical compounding. It was unbelievable that there wasn't the scent of charring flesh to those nearing Caelum's side.
There was greater heat distortion, with the feeling being so unbearable that everyone moved towards Darius.
It could have been seen that now everyone was hoping the latter would win. By all means, the audience, it was the final clash of what would be one of the greatest First Duels in EINA history.
But the pair of eyes that met, as their Clause Constructs were waiting for their signature.
Sounded the cremation of one's current ideals.
Fuck you, Caelum… Fuck you too, Sephalyn… You two hoggers… Why is such talent given like this? You gave talent everything he needed to become this. When it worked too well, all you had was a lecture?!
What idiocracy!
I'M the one bleeding to undo it. I can burn it better for you… Should've been taught to me first—
…
What am I saying?
The swirling slurry around Darius, added with the leaking flames from Caelum's side, briefly flashed a reflection of his own face. It was a monotone, disgusting face with eyes that showed a hollow shell of a man.
Perhaps it was the fact that Caelum also agreed to use the same stance, this time being the one with the glowing eyes.
Darius began realizing, his guard dropping, that this twisted messiah complex of his was slowly amalgamating into jealousy. The same amalgamation that the one he is trying to save had always gone through.Worse than the apparent victim, for he was sickening himself with greed.
Why am I trying to copy him…
I've always learned from him; measuring myself against what he has borrowed.
Was this a duel an excuse for me to justify my hatred and jealousy of them?
Urgh… Fuck… Are you kidding me?
Think… Darius… Don't let this be your answer…
What does it mean to duel? To burn?
.
.
.
He understood.
Lowering his guard completely, Darius simply condensed the remainder of the slag into a spark in his palm, outstretched towards Caelum once more.
It is to understand without words!
It is to willingly surrender part of yourself for something greater!
To duel is a way of life to become someone worth remembering!
Caelum!
The lost-now-found friend smiled early.
He raised his guard higher.
But instead of matching the handshake, he simply lowered his index finger back into the palm.
To Fleming flip off Darius.
'Fuck you'.
It was enough for the Brute of Flames.
Alast, the fire that should have ended him, acted as his final weapon.
The two stopped condensing.
And Darius fired the Clause Construct—his nose bled.
They dropped the pen and failed to sign.
Huh?
W̴h̴y̷ ȧ̷̟r̸̯̕e̵͍͊ y̶̭̑͠ȯ̷̲̺u̷̖͚̓ f̵̯̖͕͆͝ă̶͍̪̑l̷̤̫̃l̷̟̟̽̐i̴͙̇̆n̸͓̩̄̽͒g̴̖̖̈̐̄ w̸͙̣͛́̚i̸͕̞͚͓͐̅ṱ̴̄h̵̻̼̽ ṁ̴̩̙̅̊—
It felt as if their brains liquidized.
Darius dropped his face straight on the molten slag; fourth-degree burns were going to be an understatement if no Noësis was received.
Isaac and most knew the outcome of the duel was never favourable to Darius.
Hah… Ideological bastard…
Entropy debt and overexcursion of his neurons.
If it had not been for the medics that were rushing towards the dying Darius.
One could already say his brain was on its way to higher dimensional space.
He had violated his limit of Thaumitons ever so slightly, by the trillionth of a percentage over what he was allowed, thereby causing T-BEC density in neural tissue to exceed the coherence-carrying capacity of the Tau-9 receptor network, collapsing his brain.
But was that the same case as with Caelum?
Both of them were fully exhausted and collapsed.
Caelum's skin was blistering as his face dug into the mud, with Darius neurologically iced and entropy-scarred, on top of the liquefaction of his face, being restructured by the medics and their Nature Concordees.
It was silent for a few more moments.
I always hated the end of this fight… Hah… Now more so with understanding of what it meant to them now…
How fucking boring.
Professor Aldricks shouted.
"A spectacle! One uses all the Modules! The other focusing solely on his birthright one! And yet, both forgot to obey equilibrium and entropy! Are you kidding me?! Still, what a duel to start the First-Years!"
Magister Silas Ren chirped in, nodding in agreement as well.
"Indeed, to think we had such talents in this Cohort!"
Sephalyn smirked at this. Of the three Princesses stared to the blue corner, she began drifting her eyes to the one in red. She walked closer to the dissipating, yet still burning heat, and she gave a chuckle that made it seem like she would have done infinitely better in their positions.
Or that was what Isaac thought it was.
The truth in the scorched air. She was tearing at the edge of her eyes. For the person she once equally cared for. They had pushed too far, breaking themselves in pursuit of her.
| Media Literacy |:
Character: Darius Azareyl
Philosophy/Ideology:
- Humanism (ew)
- Virtue Ethics
- Eudaimonia (Aristotelian in New EAA?)
- Exobiotic Humanistic Existentialism (Exobiotic?)
- The Golden Mean
- Personalism
- TBA
Main Themes:
- Exobiotic Humanity vs Perfection
- Cost of Greatness
- Ideal vs Individual
- Love as Proof of Humanity
Dynamics:
- The Talented Talentless in the face of a Genius
- The Tough Softie
- Yearner (For Caelum, and maybe Sephalyn) No.1
Eww… This guy is my direct opposite… I could never be friends with him… He's so cringe as well, jeez… What a gay bastard…
A minute passes as the now awake Caelum and Darius were conscious enough to stand and walk towards the center.
This skill is really impressive… I grasped all of these based on what he said to Caelum? I mean, I thank Topological Anchor V2 for showing me what they were whispering… But I would have never thought to interpret it in this way…
Perhaps transmigration is a factor… Hah…
A resonant voice cuts through the charged silence of the arena; another assistant in place of the referee begins announcing the results.
"Ladies and Gentlemen! Your attention, please! After 1 and a half rounds, this duel ends in a technical draw depending on the circumstances of the fighter." The crowd, expectedly, was let down by the results. "If the fight were to be decided on a 15-point system, our judges have given their hypothetical scores of the duel: Magister Silas Ren scores: 14-13 Veldt! Professor Aldick scores: 14-13 Azareyl! Last but not least, student representative of the First-Years, Zadial Ysarim scores: 13-13! Still ending the duel in a split-draw!"
Well…
Admittedly, it isn't a perfect match for the original narrative—but the result is the same.
In EAA, the player was locked into a forced draw with Darius not because they literally couldn't overpower each other in raw Spell strength, but because their magic reached an impasse, neutralizing one another.
It's much more logical this way, and the decision makes sense based on their perspectives and preferences.
Although the professors may not have seen eye to eye in the others' scoring, they could not argue, as they understood the others' views. Both their gaze swept over the wreckage, over Caelum and Darius, both trembling from entropy's backlash.
"You two are very fortunate that this was a faculty-sanctioned duel. Had the medical team been any more understaffed, you two would have been goners! Don't push yourself in Noësis past your limits; take it to the close ranges if you're out of capacity. Understood?!"
Both the students bowed their heads and apologized, one less enthusiastically than the other, but with an arm wrapped around him, pulling his shoulders closer. With that, the upperclassmen students dispersed, leaving the First-Years for the following lecture to come.
First duel of the Game ends in a draw… Just like it did in Old EAA… How convenient.
Not before the betting funds were rewarded to the real victors, of course.
"Isaac! Ay! Congrats man! Of a pool of 1000 Æ, there were only 5.7% of other students who bet on a draw as well. Since you're one of the first. You win like… 74.1 Æ, bro."
"Seriosuly?!"
"Yeah, my peer! Pass me your Quixion Card real quick, would ya?"
Isaac hands his card over in an instant. One tap and the money was uploaded back into his account. With one swipe of the thin screen, eyes that glowed brighter than both fighters plastered themselves on his face.
S-seventy-four point one Æ???
Jackpot!