Evelyn’s pointed gauntlet spelled out trouble for her opponent.

He racked his brain quickly for a new way to take advantage of the situation.

The crowd’s favor had long left him and he didn’t even want to see the look on his friends who were watching him.

He clicked his tongue, slowly finding the pain on his face a tad bit bearable.

His eyes swept the arena and he found the craters and damage done from the projectile. He remembered it very vividly.

Against his strength, she had struggled.

Meanwhile Evelyn waited patiently for her opponent to breathe in and out once before getting the next shot.

His hand raised but she moved first, blasting him with an upward wind attack from her gauntlet that sent him off the ground.

She didn’t wait for the crowds’ reaction before closing the distance.

But an attack came from above, throwing her off balance with a tidal wave heavy enough to knock a small elephant.

Evelyn slipped under the water, but shielded herself from an injury as she fell. The wind shield had restructured itself around her frame.

She bumped her gauntlet together, again, and the shield fell off. The boy landed gently to the ground, being carried by a small human-sized tornado.

His arms were wrapped around smaller forms of crackling storm, and he narrowed his eyes at Evelyn. A silent warning that he would be attacking.

She prepared, knowing fully well that his physical strength would make the attack more effective against her than she expected.

He charged at her, moving fast with the momentum of the tornado around his lower area.

His arm crashed on her, and even if she blocked it with her gauntlet, she still heard it corroding her weapon.

She stepped back, yet he pushed forward, forcing Evelyn into defense. The crowd was growing worried and even Killian was beginning to pay very close attention.

"You might be good in skills," her opponent said through his clenched fists. "But you are still not the one that was paired with me. Just the collateral damage."

A sudden hatred lit up in his eyes as he stared down at Evelyn, who was being forced to the ground from his force.

She ignored his words, concentrating on her arms that were weakening quickly. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

"If our matches were never swapped, you might have won." Her opponent chuckled lowly. "And I would’ve battered your friend as I liked."

Evelyn’s eyes sharpened instantly. Her eyes shifted from her gauntlets she worried for to the hateful face of her opponent.

"Battered... my friend? Killian?"

The pressure from the force made the cut on her face expand towards her eyes but she had no expression of hurt. Her eyes remained on him.

She clicked her tongue. "You dare."

With newfound strength, she pushed him back but not far enough to make him stumble.

She used the small opening to rush backwards, and bumped her gauntlet for the second time.

They whirred to life. The robots on his face.

Her opponent chased her but his feet grew heavy as the robots emitted vibrations that broke his concentration and balance.

He could see her lifting her gauntlets again. His eyes were growing blurry and his tornado quietly dissipated.

She walked up to him on the ground, and stared down at him in the manner he had done to her. "Stand up. Or are you feeling battered?"

The crowd had begun to pick on what’s happening to him and started to cheer.

"Let’s finish this," Evelyn said coldly. "I wanted to drag it out for longer but you are despicable."

BAM!

Three gusts of wind escaped her gauntlets and he got slammed around the arena, until his head crashed on the ground.

He struggled to rise up, but his arms were too weak. The coordinator jumped into the arena.

"No..." he muttered. "Wait, I can..." he slumped to the ground.

The Coordinator waited another second to confirm that he had fainted, before he marked in his book. He nodded at the commentator above them.

"The winner is Olpha Region!" the commentator announced, earning the cheers of the crowd.

Reginald jumped out of his seat, shooting his hand in the air, and chanting cheers for Olpha Region.

Killian exhaled, keeping his back against the seat. He couldn’t relax just yet because Evelyn still stood there.

She glared at her unconscious opponent while blood streamed down her face, staining her uniform.

Killian dug his hands into his pockets and took out the healing strips he was always prepared with.

"I wondered what he had said to her," he muttered, catching Reginald’s attention. "That made her really pissed."

Reginald turned to him, then nodded. "Yeah, I did notice. Maybe he said something insulting. That guy is quite proud."

Killian’s eyes followed the stretcher taking the boy out of the stage, and outside the arena. "Is he?" He hummed, leaving his seat.

Reginald held him back, "Are you going to beat him up or something?"

"No," Killian frowned. "Why would I do that? Evelyn already did him good."

He pulled his arm from Reginald’s hold and walked in the middle of the crowd that cleared the path for him easily. "I’m going to give her healing strips."

"Oh," Reginald answered but didn’t follow immediately, quickly fixing his hair and clothes.

Killian caught up to Evelyn as she marched past the crowd that kept trying to touch her fluttering hair as if it had healing powers.

Her eyes were fixed on the ground as she moved. She reached where Killian stood, and her surroundings became silent.

Her eyes moved behind her. The crowd had stopped following the moment she got close to Killian.

"Do they fear you?" She asked, looking at the suddenly calm crowd of young wardens.

"I don’t know." Killian raised a healing strip to her face but before he could place it on her face, she held his arm mid-air.

"They should." Evelyn took the strip from his hand. "Thanks."

She walked towards the window, away from the confused Killian. "If they do, they’ll stay in their place. Or don’t you think?"

Killian stood behind her, his hand still raised where she had taken the strip from his grip. his fingers curled as he lowered his hand.

"Yeah... I guess," he said slowly.