CHAPTER 35: THE DEVIL’S DANCE

The arena fell into complete silence as two figures emerged from opposite tunnels. The crowd held its collective breath, eight hundred students leaning forward in anticipation.

Petra Blackthorne stepped into the arena with fluid grace, her long black hair flowing like liquid shadow behind her. Despite her petite frame, there was something predatory in the way she moved, each step calculated and purposeful. Her uniform was immaculate, not a thread out of place, and her pale skin seemed to glow under the arena’s magical lighting.

What drew every eye, however, was the weapon at her side.

The katana’s scabbard was carved from what looked like bone, though no ordinary creature could have provided material that size. Intricate patterns spiraled along its length, pulsing with a faint inner light that seemed to shift between silver and deep crimson. The weapon itself radiated an otherworldly presence that made the air around it shimmer with barely contained energy.

’High-tier beast remains,’ Alex observed, his mind cataloguing the weapon’s obvious power. ’Whatever creature that came from was at least A-rank, possibly higher.’

Petra’s face was the perfect picture of angelic beauty. Soft features, gentle eyes the color of winter sky, and a smile that could melt the hardest heart. She looked like a princess from a fairy tale, all innocence and ethereal grace.

But Alex caught something else in her expression. A flicker of anticipation that didn’t match her serene exterior. The way her fingers traced the katana’s hilt spoke of eager familiarity. Like a predator anticipating its next meal.

’Devilish indeed. The sweet face is just another weapon.’

From the opposite tunnel, Gareth emerged with his characteristic steady pace. He wore no armor, carried no obvious weapons, and his expression remained as unreadable as ever. If he felt any nervousness about facing the Academy’s undisputed champion, it didn’t show.

Professor Leo stepped between the two combatants. "This is a formal challenge duel. Rules are standard: first blood, loss of consciousness, or formal submission ends the match. The barriers will contain all essence effects. Combatants, are you ready?"

Petra’s angelic smile widened slightly. "Ready, Professor."

Gareth simply nodded once.

"Begin!"

---

**CLANG!**

Steel met stone in an explosion of sparks. Petra’s katana, drawn and swung in one fluid motion, crashed against the granite hammer that had materialized in Gareth’s left hand. The impact sent shockwaves rippling through the arena floor.

"Fast," Gareth muttered, already flowing backward as Petra’s blade carved through the space his throat had occupied milliseconds before.

The crowd gasped as Petra spun, her katana becoming a silver blur. The bone scabbard flew from her other hand like a projectile, aimed directly at Gareth’s temple while her blade sought his ribs.

Gareth dropped to one knee, his granite hammer exploding into fragments under the force of Petra’s strike. His right hand slammed into the arena floor, and stone erupted upward in jagged spikes, forcing Petra to twist mid-attack.

She landed cat-like on one of the spikes, her boots finding impossible purchase on the narrow stone point. Her katana flicked out in a casual arc, and the spike she stood on crumbled to dust beneath her feet. She dropped gracefully to the arena floor.

"Stone trap, five feet behind you," she said conversationally, gesturing with her blade.

Gareth spun around to see stone tendrils erupting from the arena floor where he’d been about to retreat, ready to entangle his legs.

"You’re predictable, Thorne."

A new hammer formed in Gareth’s right hand as he struck out defensively. Petra’s katana met the weapon in a shower of sparks, and the hammer shattered instantly, leaving Gareth holding nothing but stone dust.

"Lesson learned yet?" she asked, advancing with measured steps.

Gareth rolled desperately to his right, creating a protective barrier of granite. Petra’s blade carved through the stone like it was paper, missing him by inches.

"First lesson," Petra said, wrenching her katana free in a spray of stone chips. "Studying patterns only works if your opponent doesn’t know you’re watching."

She advanced with measured steps, katana held in a low guard. There was something unsettling about her movement now—too fluid, too perfect, as if she was holding back something fundamental about her capabilities.

Gareth scrambled to his feet, twin hammers forming in his hands. The weapons were perfect replicas of dwarven war hammers, their heads dense with compressed earth and stone. He swung the right hammer in a wide arc, aiming to keep distance between them.

Petra ducked under the swing and stepped inside his guard, her katana moving in a silver flash. The blade sliced clean through both hammer heads, leaving Gareth holding useless stone handles. Her return stroke traced a thin red line across Gareth’s cheek.

First blood.

"I could end this now," she said softly, katana poised at his throat. "But where’s the fun in that?"

She leaped backward, putting space between them again. The cut on Gareth’s cheek was barely more than a scratch, not enough to stop the duel.

"Second lesson," Petra continued, her katana moving in complex patterns that seemed almost hypnotic. "Pure skill beats raw power every time."

Gareth wiped blood from his cheek with the back of his hand. "You talk too much."

The arena floor erupted.

Massive stone pillars burst upward in a grid pattern, each one as thick as a tree trunk. The pillars began sliding across the arena floor, grinding against each other as Gareth manipulated them into a three-dimensional maze of crushing stone.

"Better," Petra admitted, darting between the moving pillars with inhuman grace. "But you’re still thinking too small."

She planted one foot on a passing pillar and pushed off, launching herself twenty feet into the air. At the apex of her jump, she raised her katana above her head with both hands.

The crowd watched in confusion as she seemed to slash at empty air.

Then the stone pillar Gareth was hiding behind simply... split in half.

A perfectly clean cut ran through three feet of solid granite, as if an invisible blade had carved through it from twenty feet away. The upper section crashed to the arena floor where he’d been standing moments before.

Gareth threw himself aside, staring at the impossible cut in bewilderment. There had been no projectile, no visible attack—just Petra’s blade cutting through empty air.

"Third lesson," Petra said as she landed gracefully in the center of the arena. "Sometimes the most dangerous attacks are the ones you can’t see coming."

Gareth stared at the carved stone fragments scattered around the arena. Each cut had been perfect, slicing through compressed granite as if it were silk. But there had been no visible projectile, no obvious technique.

’Impossible,’ he thought. ’What kind of ability can cut through stone?’

But Petra was already advancing, her katana drawn and ready. She moved with unhurried steps, closing the distance while Gareth desperately tried to create new barriers from the arena floor.

His earth manipulation formed a protective wall just as she reached striking distance.

What followed was a demonstration in pure blade mastery.

Petra’s katana carved through his stone defenses like they were made of water. She flowed around his desperate attempts to grapple, her movements liquid and precise. Every strike was calculated, designed to disable rather than kill.

A pommel strike to his solar plexus doubled him over. The flat of her blade across his temple sent him stumbling. When he tried to create spikes of stone to impale her, her katana cut through them before they could fully form.

"Fourth lesson," she said softly, her blade stopping just short of his throat. "Before you challenge someone, make sure you understand the gap between you."

Gareth tried one last desperate gambit. He drove both hands deep into the arena floor, his earth manipulation reaching further than ever before. The entire foundation began to crack and shift as he attempted to collapse the ground beneath Petra’s feet.

Petra stood perfectly still as stone and earth buckled around her. Her katana remained steady despite the arena floor trying to swallow her whole.

"Impressive effort," she admitted. "But it’s time to end this properly."

She leaped gracefully away from the cracking stone, landing twenty feet from where Gareth knelt exhausted on the fractured arena floor.

The crowd murmured in confusion. The battle seemed over—Gareth was clearly spent, his earth manipulation pushed beyond its limits. Why was Petra moving so far away?

Petra raised her katana high above her head, the blade catching the arena’s magical lighting.

"Allow me to show you my true ability," she called out, her voice carrying clearly across the stunned arena.

For the first time in the entire duel, the air around her began to move.

It started as a gentle breeze, barely noticeable. But within seconds, visible currents of wind began spiraling around Petra’s position, growing stronger and more focused with each passing moment. Dust and debris lifted into the air, caught in the building vortex.

"Air manipulation," someone in the crowd whispered in awe.

But Alex could see this was something far beyond normal wind control. The air itself was becoming dense, compressed into something approaching liquid form. The very atmosphere around Petra was bending to her will with a precision that spoke of absolute mastery.

Gareth could only watch in horror as he realized what was coming.

Petra brought her katana down in a perfect vertical slash.

The compressed air erupted from her blade in an invisible cutting wave that carved a trench three feet deep and twenty feet long through the solid stone of the arena floor. Gareth threw himself desperately to the side, but the attack was too wide, too fast.

The invisible force clipped his shoulder and carved a deep gash across his cheek, sending him tumbling across the arena floor.

The arena fell into absolute silence.

"And that," Petra said, lowering her katana as blood flowed freely from Gareth’s wounds, "is why they call me an S-ranked monster."

Alex activated his Adept Eyes, his enhanced perception cutting through the dust and debris to analyze both combatants.

**[Petra Blackthorne - Level: Adept]**

**[Primary Ability: Air Manipulation - Rank S]**

**[Threat Assessment: Extreme]**

**[Gareth Thorne - Level: Adept]**

**[Primary Ability: Earth Manipulation - Rank B]**

**[Secondary Ability: Clone Creation - Rank S]**

**[Threat Assessment: High]**

’Adept level. Both of them. And Gareth never used his clone ability—he was completely outmatched before he could even deploy his trump card. But Petra... she spent the entire fight demonstrating pure swordsmanship before revealing her air manipulation at the end. She was making a statement.’

Professor Leo stepped forward, checking Gareth’s wounds. The gash across his cheek was deep enough to require immediate healing, definitely qualifying as more than first blood.

"The winner is Petra Blackthorne!"

Petra sheathed her katana with a soft click, her angelic smile returning. "Good match, Thorne. Your earth manipulation shows real promise."

As Professor Leo announced the official result and the crowd erupted in mixed cheers and shocked murmurs, Alex sat perfectly still in his seat, his mind racing through everything he’d just witnessed.

’She fought the entire duel without using her ability. Every technique, every impossible feat of speed and precision—that was pure skill. The air manipulation was just the finishing move, proof that she had been holding back her true power the entire time.’

’Gareth had studied her patterns, prepared counters for her known techniques, even achieved dual abilities at Adept level. And none of it mattered. When she decided to end the fight, it was over in a single strike.’

The most dangerous realization of all: Petra had been watching the crowd during the battle. Several times, Alex had caught her pale eyes scanning the stands even while she fought, as if she was evaluating potential future opponents.

As if she was looking for someone worth her time.

Petra stood in the center of the arena, her katana sheathed and her angelic smile radiant under the magical lighting. She raised her voice so it carried clearly across the stunned silence.

"Since we’re all challenging ourselves today," she called out sweetly, her winter-blue eyes scanning the crowd before locking directly onto Alex’s position, "I challenge you, Kael Ashford, to a duel."

Her smile widened, transforming from angelic to something far more predatory.

The arena erupted into absolute chaos.