CHAPTER 256: THE SURPRISE!

After Eltreth and Azalea’s match, Nero and Khione took the stage. They exchanged a knowing smile. She raised her small wand, her white hair dancing in the wind as the temperature began to plummet, coating the ground in frost.

Nero unsheathed his sword and took his stance. It was Lux who gave the signal.

"Begin!"

°°°

Golden lightning crackled to life around Nero’s body. With a sharp crack of displaced air, he used Flash Step and vanished.

The reaction from their friends was instantaneous and profound. A collective gasp tore through the onlookers. Their minds, conditioned by a lifetime of understanding that a person could wield only one Primal Law, struggled to process the sight. Fire was his domain. This was something else entirely—something sharp, pure, and terrifyingly fast.

Lux’s jaw went slack, his silver eyes wide with utter disbelief. Adam stared, his usual gruff composure shattered, his brain refusing to accept the evidence before his eyes.

"By the forge... it can’t be..." he whispered, his voice hoarse.

But the two most profound reactions came from the princesses.

Eltreth’s breath hitched.

’’Huff! Huff!"

Her heartbeat accelerated. Her orange eyes, moments ago triumphant from her victory, were now wide with a shock that quickly morphed into something hotter, something hungrier. The value of the asset she desired had just become incalculable. He wasn’t just a promising warrior; he was a historical anomaly, a key to power levels she had never dared dream of. Her desire to have him by her side didn’t just skyrocket; it solidified into an absolute, unshakable obsession.

Beside her, Azalea’s emerald eyes were equally wide, but her shock was cooler, more analytical. An unknown, calculating glint passed through them as she watched the after-image of lightning fade. She was no longer looking at a mere boy; she was looking at a geopolitical event on two legs.

Even Blake was jolted from his perpetual lethargy. His lazy, half-lidded eyes were now wide open, all traces of sleep gone, replaced by pure, unadulterated shock.

"Well," he murmured to himself, "that’s a game-changer."

In the heart of this maelstrom of disbelief, the fight commenced.

Nero reappeared directly in front of Khione, his lightning-wreathed sword already in a mid-swing. She had anticipated this. Her wand was already tracing a pattern in the air.

"Glacial Wall."

A thick barrier of ancient, blue-veined ice erupted from the ground, intercepting his strike. The lightning-charged sword bit deep into the ice with a violent sizzle, but it held.

Khione didn’t pause. "Frostbind Field."

The area around Nero’s feet flash-froze, a layer of permafrost crawling up his boots, seeking to root him in place and numb his limbs.

With another crack, Nero Flash Stepped away, shattering the ice around his feet. He appeared to her left, but she was already turning, her wand directing a volley of Ice Shards, sharp as daggers and fired with the force of a crossbow.

Nero became a storm of motion. He didn’t block the shards; he avoided them, using micro-bursts of Flash Step to weave through the barrage, each teleportation leaving a faint ozone smell in the air. He was testing her defenses, her reaction time.

He switched tactics. He stopped teleporting and charged straight on, his sword now roaring to life with his first Law. Crimson flames engulfed the blade, creating a Stormblade of fire and lightning. He swung, and a crescent of intertwined elements roared toward her.

Khione’s eyes narrowed. "Absolute Zero Dome."

A perfect hemisphere of profound cold enveloped her. Nero’s fiery lightning crescent slammed into it and detonated, but the dome held, the conflicting energies canceling each other out in a massive eruption of steam.

The fight was a spectacular clash of opposites. Nero was relentless speed and overwhelming, combined power. Khione was immovable defense and absolute control. He would Flash Step around her, striking from all angles, only to be met by a rotating series of glacial shields, ice mirrors that reflected his lightning, and fields of frost that sapped his speed.

The spectators could only watch in stunned silence. They were witnessing the impossible: a man commanding two fundamental forces of the universe, pitted against a master of one of them.

Nero wasn’t hoping to win a battle of attrition. He needed one, perfect strike. He gathered his power, the golden star in his inner world pulsing. He Flash Stepped high into the air above her, hovering for a second on wings of crackling lightning.

Khione looked up, preparing her strongest defensive spell.

But Nero didn’t attack from the air. As he began to fall, he used one final, precise Flash Step. He didn’t appear in front of her or behind her. He appeared beside her, inside her guard, the momentum of his fall adding force to his final move. It wasn’t a killing blow, but a disarming one. The flat of his sword, carefully controlled, slapped against her wand wrist with a precise, shocking jolt.

A gasp of pain and surprise escaped her lips. Her fingers went numb, and the wand flew from her grasp, clattering onto the frosty ground.

The sudden silence was deafening. The golden lightning and crimson flames around Nero’s sword winked out. The deep cold emanating from Khione slowly began to recede.

He stood before her, chest heaving, and offered a small, apologetic smile. "I believe that’s my win."

Khione, cradling her tingling wrist, looked from her fallen wand to his face. There was no anger in her crystal-blue eyes, only a deep, proud respect. She gave a single, graceful nod. "It is."

Nero had won. Not just the match, but the utter, complete astonishment of every single person watching. The world of combat, and indeed the world itself, had just been irrevocably changed.

The moment the match ended, Lux, Adam, Eltreth, Blake, and Azalea immediately swarmed him, a torrent of questions already forming on their lips. But they faced a sudden, formidable opposition.

Khione, frowning, stepped forward. With a swift motion of her hand, she erected a thick wall of ice, blocking their advance.

Flames instantly erupted around Eltreth’s fist as she prepared to blast the barrier apart. "What are you trying to do here, Khione?" she demanded, her voice sharp with fury.

"Behave," Khione responded, her tone icy calm. "If you have any questions, wait until the session ends."

If looks could kill, Eltreth’s glare would have struck Khione down on the spot. The princess was utterly infuriated, but after a tense moment, she canceled her flames and forced herself to calm down. The others, seeing her stand down, realized they too could wait a little longer. Their interrogation would happen soon enough.

Nero watched the exchange, deeply amused by his girlfriend’s protective and decisive action. A sweet, grateful warmth spread through him, reinforcing how fortunate he was to have her by his side. The couple then sat down together, quietly waiting for the next match to begin.