⸻
The Federation Academy Arena had transformed once more.
Gone were the shifting terrains and chaos of the earlier battle royal—replaced now by symmetry and dread. A coliseum of solemn silence and thunderous anticipation. Spotlights carved golden halos through dusk, casting light over the freshly restored battleground. The arena pulsed with invisible runes—barriers reinforced and tuned to measure even the smallest spike of energy. Nothing would go unnoticed.
The rules were simple now: 1v1 elimination matches, Division vs. Division. Each round was best-of-three. Advancement was based on match points earned. But once only four competitors remained, the true final battles would begin.
⸻
Division 6:
——
• Fan Yumei – Soul Function / Elemental Caller
• Jin Minhe – Elemental Caller / Supporter
• Liang Chenwu – Elemental Caller / Combatant
——
Division 8:
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• Kai Shi – Combatant / Bloodline
• Zhou Qian – Supporter / Bloodline
• Wu Bao – Combatant
• Min Zhao – Elemental Caller
—-
🔥 Opening Match: Jin Minhe vs. Wu Bao
—-
The air was clean and sharp when Jin Minhe stepped into the arena. He wore standard-issue light nano armor, the plates slim but reinforced with layered qi channels. Silver anklets jingled softly—power limiters. On his back, a sealed glyph array shimmered faintly, containing his signature: fire qi lines and the binding glyph for his weapon.
Across from him stood Wu Bao. Sleeves ripped. Chest bare beneath his nano-compression gear. Veins bulging with raw qi.
——
FS-Drone 4.9 Log: Combatant Wu Bao registering high fluctuation in qi baseline. Close to threshold instability.
——
From the bell, Jin didn't meet brute force with brute force. He moved methodically, drawing elemental sigils across the floor—arcs of heat, spirals of wind. His giant flame-forged sword blinked into existence mid-air with a searing hum, caught mid-summon as if gravity meant nothing to him.
——
Round 1: Tactical edge. Jin Minhe narrowly wins.
—
Round 2: Wu Bao by force.
——
By round three, Wu Bao's qi signature had turned unstable. His hands twitched. His aura blackened.
"That's not regulation output," murmured an instructor from above.
FS-Drone 7.1 Alert: Qi signature breach detected. Manual override recommended.
Jin attempted to reset the tempo. He leapt high, blade spinning, fire surging in arcs. He triggered a triple-layer barrier mid-air. But Wu Bao powered through it all—cracked the spell like a twig. Jin launched one last defensive glyph.
CRACK—!!
Wu's punch shattered the barrier like glass and sent Jin hurtling. Armor dented. Blood sprayed midair.
The emergency rune activated—floor pulses flared.
But Wu Bao didn't stop.
He leapt mid-air. Descending like a meteor.
"STOP!" Fan Yumei's voice rang out.
Too late.
Jin raised a glowing hand. Final shield—half-formed.
BOOM.
The impact cratered the arena floor.
Instructor-level teleportation runes flared above.
Four teachers arrived in an instant.
Two pulled Jin into a stasis barrier. The other two drove Wu Bao to the ground with suppression glyphs—sealing his limbs and shocking his qi flow. His body convulsed.
The referee, pale and shaken, raised his hands. "Match voided. Combatant Wu Bao is disqualified for breach of conduct and excessive force."
———
Wu Bao: Disqualified.
Jin Minhe: Eliminated. Critically Injured.
⸻
🕊️ Aftermath
——
Fan Yumei stood outside the containment glass as Jin was stabilized inside a recovery pod. His breathing was steady. The staff said he'd heal completely.
He slowly opened his eyes and saw her face.
She entered the room.
Fan Yumei sat beside Jin on the recovery platform, her fingers trembling as medics wrapped his ribs with glowing regenerative weave.
"You idiot…" she muttered.
She was angry—eyes glossy, fists tight.
He blinked.
Jin turned, bloody smile faint. "Didn't know you cared so much."
Fan Yumei shook her head. "Nope don't flatter yourself. I'm… Just… pissed."
Jin chuckled, then winced. "You're a bad liar."
She clenched her jaw. He looked up and saw—not her—but someone overlaid. His sister, once kneeling to fix his boots before school, calling him her "cute mess."
She looked away.
He added, "…Don't hold back anymore, okay?"
Fan Yumei's breath caught.
Jin's eyes softened. "My sister… used to fix my shoes. Called me a cute mess. You remind me of her, sometimes."
He paused. "Don't let anything or one stop you. Not even for me either."
"Stop holding back, Yumei," he spoke louder. "I know you've been restraining yourself."
He paused as if hesitating then called out, "Don't. Go all out big- little s-sister Yumei." Jin Minhe turned red in shyness and closed his eyes pretending to be asleep, acting like what he said never happened.
Fan Yumei exhaled—half a laugh, half something else. She ruffled his hair once, then turned.
She will go all out.
———
As everyone waited for matches to resume, Federation Academy screens broadcast the top finalist highlights.
⸻
⚔️ Matches of the Day Highlights
—————————————————————
•[ Liang Chenwu vs. Ruo Jian:]
Liang displayed explosive synergy, mixing elemental surges with brutal close-range strikes. His energy fused wind and fire in spiraling arcs. A knockout in round two.
—-
•[ Fan Yumei vs. Yan Yixuan:]
A precision-based dance. Yumei moved with near-translucent grace—her control of summoned soul fields and elemental glyphs caught Yan's blade mid-arc. Round three saw her win with a dual-path fusion strike.
—-
•[ Kai Shi vs. Ren Ji:]
Kai Shi fought with absolute clarity. He dodged, analyzed, countered with bloodline-infused martial patterns that destabilized Ren's form. A flawless three-round performance.
—-
• [Min Zhao vs. Zhou Wei:]
Zhao unleashed terrain-based rune warfare—golems, shifting terrain, timed spells. Zhou cracked under the weight of too many layered assaults.
—-
• [Zhou Qian vs. Liu Fang:]
Qian summoned strange defensive auras and suppression fields. A mix of bloodline talent and rare supporter tech. Liu Fang was paralyzed mid-battle and surrendered.
———
For the upcoming matches, the rules changed up a bit. Only five competitors remained—three from Division 8, two from Division 6—so the rules shifted.
No more one-on-one eliminations. No more random pairings.
The format became Division vs. Division.
Above the shimmering arena floor, Federation Academy FS-drone scanners descended like silent judges, their spherical shells pulsing with scanlight and data streams. They would evaluate each match in real-time, analyzing combat efficiency, technique variation, energy control, adaptability, and creative fusion usage. These were no simple battles of strength; this was about mastery.
⸻
🧪 Match Format:
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• Each Division 6 student would fight all three remaining Division 8 students.
• Each match was scored individually by FS-drones.
• The top scorer from each Division would move on to the Final Duel.
⸻
🎖️ Combatants Remaining
—
🛡 Division 8
• Kai Shi — Combatant / Bloodline
• Zhou Qian — Supporter / Bloodline
• Min Zhao — Elemental Caller
—
🏴☠️ Division 6
• Fan Yumei — Soul Function / Elemental Caller
• Liang Chenwu — Elemental Caller / Combatant
⸻
⚔ Division vs. Division – Match Highlights
—
🌀 Match 1: Liang Chenwu vs. Min Zhao
—
Min Zhao opened aggressively—terrain manipulation, glyph traps disguised as debris, and reactive qi threads meant to anchor movement.
But Liang didn't stop moving. Wind-catalyzed dashes blurred him into momentum arcs. His feet pulsed with fire anchors, and his twin blades spun like orbiting satellites. A heavy strike cut through her final mine field.
He closed the gap.
———
FS-Drone 2.7 Log: Mid-air offensive calibration: 97% efficiency.
———
Min Zhao dropped before she could reinforce her shield, shoulder slashed and grounded.
———
Winner: Liang Chenwu
—
🌀 Match 2: Fan Yumei vs. Zhou Qian
—
Zhou came armed with suppressive formations—soul-null fields that swallowed projections and stalled constructs.
Yumei's answer was sharper than expected: she baited Zhou into casting wide. Then she timed multiple elemental detonations, syncing air and flame into a whip-pulse that broke through the suppression window.
Her rune fields wrapped through Zhou's incomplete outer ward. Zhou was disarmed and neutralized before she could reposition.
—-
Winner: Fan Yumei
—
🌀 Match 3: Liang Chenwu vs. Zhou Qian
—
Zhou adjusted. This time, she never stayed in one zone, constantly manipulating the field's nodes and using bloodline ripple defense techniques.
Liang was forced airborne, chaining momentum bursts with precision. A sudden shock kick mid-descent cracked her boundary long enough for a pulseblade strike.
Winner: Liang Chenwu
—
🌀 Match 4: Fan Yumei vs. Min Zhao
—
A brutal display.
Min Zhao built a five-layer prism trap, warping terrain elevation and lining the edges with dust sigils. Each collapse threatened to seal the battlefield.
But Fan Yumei answered with terrifying innovation—using amplified cloud qi and lightning qi with her twin swords to apply pressure. She twisted it into a light vector. The result? A blade of refracted force that shattered Min Zhao's spell formation.
Min collapsed from qi overload.
——
Winner by KO: Fan Yumei
—
🌀 Match 5: Liang Chenwu vs. Kai Shi
—
It started strong. Liang opened with ranged chains and multi-hit pressure.
Kai Shi absorbed everything.
His bloodline body pulsed with kinetic storage—redirecting strikes, twisting impact vectors, countering with sheer force. At one point, he caught Liang mid-dash, rotating him into the ground with a shoulder slam that cratered the tiles.
Liang got back up. Once.
The second time, he stayed down.
—
Winner by KO: Kai Shi
—
🌀 Match 6: Fan Yumei vs. Kai Shi
—
The match every FS-drone locked onto. Every student watched without breathing.
Kai Shi was relentless—using martial counters, suppressive footwork, and precision bloodline manipulation to reset tempo and drain Fan Yumei's rhythm.
But Yumei didn't fold. She unleashed an elemental burst that forced Kai to block with full-body defense. Then came her real play: rune-element fusion chains, attacking from above using cloud steps, forcing the environment itself into flux, generating wild shockwaves that reversed initiative.
They traded hits. They both bled. The ground cracked.
By the third round, both were spent.
—————
FS-Drone 11.4 Log: Technique clash unresolved. Suspended scoring pending integrity recheck.
—————
Result: Draw
—————
Intermission – Observation Decks & Cooldown Lounges
⸻
After the last match, the arena dimmed.
A signal flare pulsed across the sky-blue dome overhead—
holographic text appearing in golden script:
————-
⚠️ Intermission Activated – Recovery Phase: 25 Minutes
🔋 FS-Drones Syncing Combat Data
🍽️ Nutrient Packs & Hydration Stations Active
————-
The five remaining finalists were escorted into separate cooldown lounges within the arena structure. Qi-locking barriers adjusted around their bodies, gently stabilizing flow imbalances without suppressing their edge. Everything was clinical but precise.
Liang Chenwu collapsed on the bench, arms trembling, staring at the nanoweave cloth around his forearms—torn and scorched.
Min Zhao didn't speak. She simply leaned back in her seat, eyes blank, cooling salves humming across her legs.
Zhou Qian tapped her wrist console repeatedly, pulling up combat metrics. Her fingers trembled more than she admitted.
Across from her, Kai Shi sat quietly, towel draped across his shoulders. His breathing was steady—but his eyes kept scanning the cooldown display, as if trying to predict how every drone would score each engagement.
Fan Yumei stood alone near the reinforced glass, sipping from a metallic energy drink pouch. Her gloves were still half-charred from the last match. She didn't bother changing them.
Her gaze wasn't on the arena. It was on the upper rows where Jin Minhe's stasis pod remained in medical observation.
She whispered, "Hope you saw that, dummy."
A moment later, her wristband buzzed. A drone projection flickered in mid-air—countdown ticking toward zero.
[Federation Academy Score Sync: Completed.]
[Match Tally Finalizing. Announcement in 3 Minutes.]
—
Students returned to their seats, many chewing nutrient bars or slurping fast-hydration packs. Excitement hadn't faded; if anything, it had deepened. Every match had pushed boundaries. Now the numbers would reveal who had done just enough… and who hadn't.
All eyes turned toward the center platform, where the drones had gathered in a synchronized orbit, glowing like a constellation.
It was time for results.
⸻
🔎 Federation Academy Scoring
SCORING SYSTEM
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• Round Win = +2 pts
• KO Bonus = +3
• Forfeit = +2
• Draw = 0
• Technique Score = 0–6 pts per match
⸻
📊 FINAL STAGE – ACTION POINTS SUMMARY
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RANK | NAME | DIV | TOTAL
🥇 1 | Kai Shi | D8 | 32.5 pts
🥈 2 | Fan Yumei | D6 | 30.5 pts
🥉 3 | Zhou Qian | D8 | 28.5 pts
🏅 4 | Min Zhao | D8 | 25.0 pts
🏅 5 | Liang Chenwu | D6 | 23.5 pts
⸻
🧠 FS-NOTE:
——
"Power differential between the top two finalists: negligible. Style contrast: extreme.
—
The Final Duel will not be decided by force—but by innovation under pressure."
—
– Federation Academy FS-Drone Command Core, Match Log 7.3
⸻
✅ Advancing to Final Duel
• Kai Shi (Division 8)
• Fan Yumei (Division 6)
——-