XING HUA’S POV

I couldn’t deny the fact that Atlas’ fight had been scary, yet awe-inspiring all the same. His defeat of Liam and Elowen utilising one of the five elements he was capable of using sent shivers down my spine, and only gave me more of a drive to win against my sisters, as well. Yet something about his demeanour at the end… scared me. It didn’t seem like him– or rather, the person he allowed me to see.

I wasn’t stupid. I knew there was more to him than met the eye, exuding an aura that even my father, as a king, couldn’t match up to. That wasn’t an aura a child could possess, no matter how mature they were. It was the aura only the strong could have. Yet in some ways, that aura truly invigorated me. It lit a fire in my soul as I raced to catch up with him, trying my hardest to be on his level, to finally stand alongside him. Not behind him, not being protected by him. On my feet, as his equal in battle. And perhaps… other things.

Isabella had left my side to be with him as Round 2 was soon beginning. My sisters sat opposite me, gossiping with each other as they normally did. It was of no concern to me– we had never been close, not since the day I was born. After all… they had always hated me. That was why I’d been forced to run away, after all! But I never let it affect me… never, not ever…

Sometimes I wondered why we couldn’t just be a normal family. Sometimes I wondered whether we’d have been able to get along if I hadn’t been born the way I was, if I wasn’t me. Maybe then, we could’ve been happy. If I just wasn’t like this.

If I was never even–

My thoughts had begun to spiral, so I took a deep breath, just like Xiao had taught me. I couldn’t run away from who I was, he pointed out. I was born the way I was for a reason, and perhaps the reason was so I could win here. Because a kingdom with my sisters ruling… for some reason, the idea made me sick to my stomach. They weren’t kind and compassionate. Whatever had twisted them into the way they were now– especially considering they had been fine when I was very small– I knew not. But that didn’t change the reality of it– with the way they behaved sending… him, they were incredibly immature.

I still couldn’t bring myself to talk about that incident. Atlas seemed fine, though he was surely suffering from the incident. Truthfully, I didn’t remember much about what Jasper had done, considering I was unconscious for most of it. Though, the burn scars, although healed, told all that needed to be said. They were willing to go to any lengths, though it seemed they were calm. For now. The fire that blazed within the depths of my soul roared at the chance to put them in their place.

Atlas was the calm one. I wasn’t. Though I didn’t exactly have a fiery temper, I was quick to anger, reaching desperately at the chance to prove myself. Even though I knew of my flaws, I made no attempt to change them. Why? Because in a world like this, in the situation I was in…I had to be egotistical. To take what I wanted without caring for what happened to others. To be hungry for power without worrying about anything else, just like they were, if not more so.

I hadn’t had the chance to display my powers, always being overshadowed by Atlas. This was no doubt going to be a tougher battle than he had, due to the fact he had grown exponentially through various life threatening situations– but he had also been a boy wonder since the day of his awakening, as though he were the chosen one. But in this world, there were no chosen ones. The only fair reality was that the hands dealt to all were unfair, and I didn’t have the time to sit here and complain that he had been born more gifted than I am. If he had started out stronger than me, I’d work as hard as I had to.

I had tried my hardest to become strong, too. The horn that told us the stage was ready– after all, to the crowd, this was nothing but a grand performance and a bit of fun, not at all the serious matter it truly was– sounded, and I made my way outside, taking the lead. I was here to prove myself. Here to show I was worth something. Here to show I wasn’t the same child who ran away all those years ago.

–

The stage had changed appearance from the way it had been previously. This time, instead of being purely stone, a small lake ran through the middle, though none of us were water elementalists. The ground this time was earth and not stone. I could use that– the place needed a little more green, in my opinion. Hands curling around the staff Xiao had gifted me– it was a simple metal bo staff, which helped me to channel my magic as well as deal more physical damage than I was used to (he had forced me to improve my physical strength, too!).

However, I knew my sisters had no idea of this. They were far too prideful and arrogant for their own good, and in their eyes, I was still the same, weak girl who had run from them out of fear. My eyes glanced up to the stands, catching Atlas’ gaze as he held Isabella so she could see too. He did not give me a smile, instead a thumbs up, and that's all I needed. He seemed to be doing fine after collapsing at the end of his battle– though his opponent had surrendered, due to his incapacitation, he had not been declared the winner. Though that was somewhat disappointing, I didn’t complain.

I would merely need to make up for that with a win here, which would even the score between me and Feng. If we could then win in Round 3… it would be a clear victory to us with two points to one. Feng held a rapier in her left, with Yuxi standing holding a spear. They had no doubt improved, too. My eyes glanced up to my father and mother, who stared down at me expressionlessly. I was unsurprised, after all. We were all their children– and they needed to remain unbiased when it came to important matters such as these.

Yet I couldn’t help but long for their warmth, long to be a real family. Even as I stared my sisters down here and now, I couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt for what I was about to do. I wasn’t Atlas. I couldn’t stare my enemies down with cold and cruel resolve, without showing a shred of emotion for taking their lives. I hadn’t hardened my heart to that fact, not just yet.

The horn seemed to take an age to blow– and, when it did, my face was immediately skimmed by an icicle, drawing blood from my cheek. So it appeared I didn’t know my sisters all that well- Yuxi was a water elementalist, it appeared, with divergent ice! I wasn’t too surprised, since we’d lived apart for most of our lives… was that a trick she’d been preparing? It seemed new, since even Feng appeared surprised, and they did everything together.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

The icicles came hard and fast, and, despite spinning the staff to block and break them, I still felt the vibrations roll through my body from the force in the blows. Stuffing a hand in my pocket, I brought out some… seeds? Both of my sisters seemed confused, which was good. They didn’t need to know what I was doing. Dashing in, I easily bounded over the river, a look of pure hunger crossing my face as I closed in on Feng. She met me with a torrent of wind in the shape of a funnel, trying to blast me off of the platform if I had to guess. The water from the river flowed off of the platform and formed a pool below– though we wouldn’t exactly be out if we fell, it was still quite the drop which would deal large amounts of damage unless the diving form was absolutely perfect.

–

My staff clashed loudly against her rapier numerous times, the strength and size difference between us coming into play. Much like Atlas, due to Xiao and Meryll’s training, I was faster and more agile than my sisters, spending my time leaping around them like a little rabbit playing games with predators. Being three years older and in their teens, they were far taller, and I was using that to my advantage.

Trading blows, I swung the staff into Feng’s ankles, spinning it in my hand before finally jabbing her in the stomach, knocking the breath right out of her lungs as she coughed. Wasting no time, the end of the pole was slammed into the ground as I vaulted, delivering a spinning kick to her face, heels slamming into her jaw with considerable force. Had she not been reinforcing her whole body with soul, that would have easily been the finishing blow, enough to knock her out.

My heart pounded within my chest as I watched blood trickle from her lips, a look of fury on her face. Yuxi took advantage of the fact I wasn’t focusing on her to deal a kick to the middle of my back, and I was sent forward, directly into Feng’s waiting fist, which slammed into my diaphragm. I felt my lungs spasm, and I knew for a fact the attack was revenge for my attack on her a few moments before. I gasped, the breaths not properly entering my lungs, eyes bulging as spit trickled from my mouth. Resisting the urge to vomit, I endured another barrage of attacks which continued to force me backwards and closer to the edge due to our weight differences, attempting to refocus and regain my breathing.

Bruises began to form, but I continued to endure the physical attacks, body hunched over. I was no longer finding it hard to breathe, and was instead conserving my soul into small, hexagonal-shaped shields which I manifested upon the point of contact. I was saving it. But every strike of theirs carried a force I couldn’t generate due to our difference in sizes.

I wasn’t able to use this move, not normally. It was a small trick Xiao had taught me, but it used up a lot of my energy– so when I used it, it had to be either as a last resort, or when I was absolutely sure I would win. Because there was no going back afterwards. I could have– I should have used it to save Meryll. If I was faster, stronger, better. But in those moments, fear grasped at my heart, even as I fought. The words ‘What if this fails? What if I get killed?’ repeated in my head, over, and over, and over. And now, all I felt was anger at my own cowardice. I wanted to remove the shackles I had placed on my own self. Always running away for my own sake. I had run from the crown, and I had run away from the one who had killed Meryll.

I could never stand and fight. Why could I never stand and fight?! My hatred for my own fear had continued to grow for the longest time, until the flames of my own passion, the flames of my own anger and hatred threaten to consume me and everything around me. Yet I let them burn– because perhaps burning myself to ashes wouldn’t be such a bad thing, in the end.

Once I had enough of the continuous assault, I struck outwards. Staff still on the floor, I used my fists this time. My body had ducked down, knees bent as I stepped in quite quickly, swinging my fist into Yuxi’s kidney. It was a low blow, I knew that. But then again, so was everything she’d put me through. The attack hit her directly, which caused her body to stumble. The effects of a kidney blow were paralysis, muscle weakness, and heart problems, all of which were severely damaging. But I continued to attack, even after she was unable to fight back.

These strikes contained all the anger, pain, and fear I’d felt, all because of them. Everything I’d lost, all because of them.

My childhood.

My family– the family I should’ve had.

My purpose.

My life, almost.

Everything. Turning to Feng, it was time to end this fight once and for all, proclaiming it as our victory so we could have Yuxi healed fully and the final round began. Taking the seeds in hand, I held them aloft before throwing them at Feng.

“Overgrow.”

[Garden of Eden]

The seeds began to expand and grow at a rapidly fast rate, to the point that it seemed they had formed a lush garden in seconds, However, around Feng began to form a thorny cage as the seeds dug into the ground, erecting bars made of thick, thorny vines which grew upwards and then curved into a point, similar to a birdcage, a trap she was unable to escape. An utterly beautiful sight– she was like a rat. No, she truly was a rat. A rat in a cage, waiting to die. A bird, soon to have its wings clipped.

Picking up the staff, I twirled it around my palm again. Out of frustration, she began attacking the sides of the cage, trying to get it to break open. In response, the vines grew more as well as thicker, resulting in less and less space within the cage as it began to shrink, forcing her to her knees as she desperately avoided being cut by the thorns. Good on her– the vines were filled with a poison she didn’t want to get injected with.

The secret of the cage was to be strong enough to break out in one go. Feng wasn’t– and that was why she cowered on her knees before me. The vines moved aside, just enough for me to stare down at her, kneeling, head pressed against the floor. The fire in my heart burned– the fires of retribution, the fire that roared at me to get my own back.

Placing my foot on top of her head, I pushed her further into the ground, to the point I was sure she was tasting the mud.

“This position looks good on you. Maybe you should kneel a bit more often…. You yield, yes?”

“Hua, you little… Don’t think I won’t end you for thi–”

“Don’t forget what position you’re in, big sister. Let us end this here, so you can salvage whatever dignity of yours still remains.”

She trembled, which I assumed to be out of anger, fists balling. She needed to know what it felt like. To hit rock bottom, to be absolutely crushed. All because of someone else.

“...I yield.”

I allowed my foot to drop-- but the reminder of the way she had knelt and the muddy imprint of my boot on the back of her head sullying her image still remained. The crowd let out a cheer as I raised a fist in victory, chanting my name all around. My eyes darted up to Atlas, and instead of remaining emotionless, he grinned at me, yelling “Yeah, you show ‘em!”. And it sunk in.

We only needed to win the final round in order to win it all.