Bloodline Evolution: I Can Choose Opposing Paths-Chapter 65: Flag Wars (5)

The entire stadium seemed to hold their breath before Luna made the first move.

With a swipe of her hand across the air, dozens, if not hundreds of smaller ice shards appeared instantly.

"Tch," Aren muttered. "Luna, you’re really not going easy on me.

The shards launched forward all at once, trying to overwhelm him with sheer firepower.

Aren stepped once as lightning coiled beneath his feet. With a swing of his sword, he shattered the first cluster mid-air. But there were simply too many to block at once.

He pivoted sharply, barely managing to dodge the second wave before breaking off into a sprint. The shards managed to graze his cheek, arms, and torso, but nothing really dangerous.

Luna didn’t let up, already preparing to cast her Art.

"Ice Lotus!"

The temperature plummeted in an instant. From the ground beneath Aren’s path, a massive bloom of crystallized petals erupted upward. The ice flower opened up with terrifying speed.

Lightning surged through his legs as he leapt just as the final petals snapped shut beneath him. He twisted midair, blades carving downward into two incoming petals, splitting through them cleanly.

But the third managed to catch his ankle, frost racing up his legs instantly and numbing his senses.

He drove lightning through his leg, shattering the ice before it could fully anchor, but the brief stall was all Luna needed.

With just a blink, Luna was already within his reach. Aren’s eyes widened as he realized what she was trying to do.

Shit! My flags!

He jumped back quickly, creating distance between himself and Luna—

But it was too late. He felt the tug before he saw it.

Aren looked down at his waist instinctively, only to see that one of his flags was no longer there.

[Rankings]

Lightning: 9

Ice: 9

"I really wanted to get some higher valued ones," Luna frowned, holding up the flag she’d snatched from him.

The Water Department’s, worth 1 point.

Her eyes lifted to meet his again.

"If you keep holding back, I might take it all, you know?" she giggled softly.

Aren sighed as he straightened again. She was right, there’s no way he could be Luna while holding back. But the problem was...how much should he reveal?

But Aren couldn’t afford to think any longer, as Luna was already preparing for her next Art.

"Distracted while in battle, are we?" she said as she lifted to the skies once more, cold gathering at the tip of her hands.

Aren rolled his shoulder once.

"Fine," he said calmly. "But don’t complain after you’ve lost."

Instantly, water started gathering on his left sword, swirling and piling as it clung on to his blade. All the while, lightning surged on his right, zapping and crackling almost like a wild storm.

And the audience wouldn’t miss such a detail like this.

"No way—! That freshman—he’s Line 3?!"

"Dual control?! What the hell is going on this year?!"

Aren lifted both swords slowly. Across from him, Luna’s smile faded as she also got serious.

"So that’s it," she murmured.

Frost and lightning clashed violently against each other, the two domains not relenting to one another as Aren and Luna stared each other down.

Silence swept throughout the stadium before...

"Hailstorm!"

The sky darkened as hundreds of condensed ice fragments formed above them, larger and denser than before. They fell onto the floor almost like a firing squad’s shots.

But Aren prepared for her Art with his own.

"Dragon’s Claw."

Instead of releasing three separate arcs as he usually did, he compressed the power into both blades. Water spiraled tightly along his left sword while lightning coiled violently around the right.

He unleashed the power with all his might.

A cross-shaped slash tore through the air, the twin projectiles slicing upward before merging mid-flight. Water and lightning fused into a large explosion.

Ice shards vaporized instantly as steam erupted outward in a violent shockwave. The impact consumed the hailstorm completely, a dense smokescreen swallowing the battlefield in seconds.

The arena vanished into white smoke as gasp echoed from the stands.

Then, went flying upward, right through the smoke, barreling straight at Luna in the air. Her eyes widened as he closed the gap quickly.

With both swords angled low, he aimed straight at her centerline, looking to get her down to the ground.

But the instant his blades connected, frost surged beneath her skin.

[Crystallization]

A thin layer of translucent ice hardened across her forearm and shoulder just as she brought it up to block.

Steel collided with crystal as the shockwave trough through the remaining smoke. Cracks spiderwebbed across her arm, racing across the hardened surface before they shattered.

"Wha—?!"

In her surprise, Luna lost control over her flight Art, causing them both to start plummeting to the ground. Wind howled past them as they fell to the floor.

Aren twisted midair first, shifting his body underneath hers, one arm wrapping briefly around her waist as water appeared underneath him to soften the impact.

They hit the ground hard as Aren took the brunt of the blow. Thankfully, the force dispersed through stone instead of his bones.

The force dispersed through cracked stone instead of bone.

For a split second, they lay tangled together.

Luna blinked, slightly dazed, before realizing what had just happened.

"You—" she started, flustered. "You could’ve just let me fall."

Aren winced slightly, pushing himself up onto one elbow.

"And get blamed for injuring the Ice department’s rising star?" he muttered. "Hard pass."

She stared at him for half a second...then smiled softly.

"Thank you."

The sincerity in her eyes lasted exactly one second before the spark lit again. She stood up confidently before pointing at him with one hand.

"Aha!"

With the other hand, she dug into her pockets and lifted the banner up triumphantly between them.

"Got your Lightning flag while we were falling!"

The flag fluttered in the wind lightly in her grip. The stadium burst out in anticipation.

"She stole it!"

"That’s the Lightning’s flag!"

"Ice wins!"

Even Aren’s brows lifted slightly.

Both of them looked up at the scoreboard. The numbers recalculated once more as the graphic shifted. All eyes were glued to the screen, eagerly waiting for the result until—

The scoreboard settled, and the leaderboard finally updated.

[Rankings]

Lighting: 11

Ice: 7

The cheering in the crowds faltered before stopping entirely. Luna blinked once as she tilted her head.

"...What?"

Slowly, she turned her head. Aren was still on the ground, still lightly winded, but very clearly holding something—

"Think you forgot something?" he grinned.

Her Ice Department Flag...worth three points.

The realization hit her all at once. While she had reached for his Lightning flag—

He reached for hers.

Her shoulders slumped slowly as the math finally finished kicking in.

"...No way..."

Above them, the arena lights flared brightly as the system locked in the final calculation.

A beam of light shot down from the hovering drones, illuminating Aren as he stood up slowly with Ice’s Flag.

The referee’s amplified voice echoed across the stadium.

"Flag Wars... concluded."

With a breathless pause as well as the stand’s anticipation. The referee finally yelled out—

"Winner: Aren Cross and the Lightning Department!"

The stadium absolutely exploded. A wall of sound crashed over the battlefield as students practically leapt from their seats. Cheers, screams, disbelief—all of it blending into a roar that completely took over.

"Lightning did it!"

"They broke the streak!"

"No way—Ice actually lost!"

Up in the faculty section, even some of the professors exchanged looks. Lightning had been on a losing streak for years.

Ice had dominated the Orientation Exchange without exception.

Until now, that is.

The scoreboard shifted one final time.

[Overall Orientation Exchange Results]

Winner: Lightning Department

The declaration echoed throughout the arena as confetti cannons erupted from the upper stands, streaks of blue and gold confetti rained down from above as the crowd chanted his name.

"Aren—Cross! Aren—Cross! Aren—Cross!"

Aren finally stood, brushing dust from his uniform. Across from him, Luna let out a slow breath before shaking her head.

"You’re ridiculous," she said quietly.

Aren offered his hand.

"You almost had me."

For a moment, they simply stared at each other, nothing but a slight grin on their face. The cheers of the stadium blurred into background noise.

This would be remembered as the day Lightning broke Ice’s reign at Imperial Mystic College.

But more importantly—

It was the moment their rivalry, and maybe something deeper, truly began.