"Evelyn?!"

Killian’s movement drew several glances from nearby spectators, but his eyes remained locked on the cloud of dust swallowing the arena.

For a second, nobody could see anything but the dust and moisture in the air.

Then the dust settled. And a translucent sphere of wind could be seen laid at the center of the impact.

Evelyn was shielded inside the sphere, her back to the ground and both hands raised.

The giant mass of stone rested on the surface of the shield, unable to push through. She forced herself off the ground, bending on one knee.

Her opponent exerted mana into his projectile, increasing the amount of water holding the mass of stone. The shield trembled under the weight.

Evelyn’s boots dug into the floor but she slowly forced the weight upwards, and stood on her own feet. Yet it seemed that was the most she could do.

Killian exhaled and leaned his back to the chair but he wasn’t relaxed. He looked even more focused.

The tall boy smirked, forcing the projectile down. "Wouldn’t you use your robotic insects?"

Evelyn strained slightly before scoffing. "Are you that curious about how they work?" 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

The boy narrowed his eyes at her and the pressure increased creaking the wind shield. "Yes," he answered. "Very curious."

After all, it was currently the only uncertainty in the match.

"Fine." Evelyn sighed, and suddenly the shield disappeared. Those watching gasped.

She crossed her gauntlets in front of her body, as the mass of stone crashed on her.

BANG.

Water splashed downwards and the wind exploded outward. The heavy stone rebounded into the air once again after the landing and when it rose again, Evelyn was on one knee again.

A few scratches marked the metal surface of her gauntlets, nothing more. Except for the thin cut running along her cheek, blood trickling down her face but she paid it no mind.

The arena went silent.

Then, someone yelled from the crowd.

"Hey, guy! Watch her face!" A boy from the audience shot to his feet, pointing at Evelyn’s opponent.

"Yeah!" Reginald added immediately.

Killian looked at him. "Behave. Injuries happen in matches." He said, while his hands were crossed around himself like he was holding back.

Reginald looked at his countenance, and shook his head. "Behave? Who was yelling her name just seconds ago?"

"She didn’t hear me," Killian frowned. "So shush."

"Yeah, you are luckily that she didn’t hear you." Reginald cleared his throat. "That would have been embarrassing, and kinda insulting to her."

Killian shot him a glare.

Reginald raised his hand in surrender. "Right. Right."

They both returned their attention to the match.

Evelyn pushed herself upright before another attack could arrive. She has also created distance between herself and her opponent.

She released a slow breath, and brushed her hair aside making her bruise and the cut fully visible. Instead of hiding it, she wore it proudly.

The crowd instantly exploded.

Boos rained down on Evelyn’s opponent, and several girls glared at him, judging him for going for her face. A few boys were ready to jump into the arena.

The coordinator stomped his feet hard on the ground, creating another barricade around the stage with his Earth Element.

"Let us stay calm. The match is still in progress." The coordinator warned.

Killian smiled faintly, watching those seated around him grumble loudly at the coordinator.

’The crowd here is so easy to sway. One cut and everyone forgot she had been winning earlier.’

Evelyn slammed her gauntlets together.

Clang!

The sound echoed through the arena, silencing the crowd. She forced a smile. "We should play around with our elements, instead of playing tag, no?"

The tall boy casually flicked his wrist and the projectile stone hurled itself towards the audience.

Several people screamed as it fell, especially the boy who had cursed him, as the stone was coming towards him. He had nearly fallen from his seat.

But the projectile curved at the last moment and crashed harmlessly outside the arena.

"Yeah," the tall boy answered Evelyn as the stone’s crash rumbled within the arena.

The crowd stared blankly, and the boy who had screamed at him touched his chest and quietly sat down. Nobody else said a word of judgement again.

The coordinator pointed at the arena. "Stop throwing things at the audience! You can be disqualified!"

The brave ones in the crowd booed in low voices after the coordinator’s words but the tall boy ignored every single one of them.

His eyes remained only on Evelyn as water around him began gathering again.

And opposite him, wind slowly curled around Evelyn’s body. Seeing his rapt attention on her, the smile on her face widened.

For the first time since the match started, the two opponents looked like they were done testing each other.

Now they wanted to win.

Evelyn whispered some words and the tall boy instantly countered by using water to create a line curved around his frame, for protection.

Yet his eyes and face were the ones attacked. He moved back quickly in shock when his breathing was robbed.

His eyes dragged to the robotic insect on his nose. The orb-like metallic insects had grown edges that now sunk into his skin, despite the miniature vortices encircling them.

The feeling of the orbs digging through, into his skin was excruciating and the tall boy tried to focus on his opponent, while ignoring it.

His eyes widened as he realized why she could push the orbs deeper into his skin even with the presence of his vortices that shouldn’t have been easily dismantled.

She had never used her wind element to attack but to maneuver. It had always been using her wind to manipulate his water out of the way.

Never to face him head on, wind against water. She had only tested how skilled he was compared to her ability to manipulate other elements.

"So that’s how you use it," he groaned in pain, referring to her wind element.

Evelyn only shrugged, pointing her right gauntlet at him. "Just one of the ways the devices work."

She assumed he had meant the metallic orbs. "They are a glorified torture device," she said with a faint smile. "Well, I think I would be using my skill now."

And that spelled out trouble for her opponent.

.....

[A/N: is it obvious that Evelyn is my favorite character? no? okay, okay, we’re good.]