With every step she takes, the earth quakes. With every breath she draws, the wind hastens. Her eyes were covered in darkness, her body bathed in the dark red aura, and her power overflowing from within.

Fatera marched forward, the overwhelming strength burning into the Structure Cast of John King's as he tried to hold it all together. But it's all too much. It was as if Fatera's coated within a cloud of blood, and she moved with such intensity and tension that everyone watching from all over the world instinctively held their breathe.

"Yuna...Yunaaaa..." Fatera said, the words barely escaping from her mouths as she tilted her head slightly and smiled, "Ya...strong...ah...ha..."

Her words sounded slurred, and Yuna slowly pressed herself up despite the pain. However, as her eyelids came crashing down for a blink and lifted up, Fatera's body had already crossed the distance and appeared right over her. A thundering clasp of the air then rushed towards Yuna, sending a wave of dusts rushing into her eyes as Fatera slammed a fist down on the ground.

Yuna cursed and kicked herself back and away, the ground she was sitting on turning into powder before a wave propagated outwards along the floor's surface. Cracks formed the impact spread all over the surface of the Colosseum like a plague, and streams of dust rained down the side of the Structure Cast. Seeing Yuna's rapid movements, Fatera tilted her head forward and cracked an ugly smile before her body vanished from Yuna's sights once again.

"She's so fast!" Principal Khan gasped, as Fatera's body reappeared in midair behind Yuna. Then, transitioning from a quiet ghost to an obnoxious demon, Fatera screeched and kicked Yuna down onto the ground like a ball.

"FIGHT...BACK..." Fatera growled, landing hard on the ground on all fours as saliva drooled from her mouth, "or be...killed dead..."

"Tsk!" Yuna rolled around, preparing herself for another attack and drawing her attention inwards once more as to ignore the visceral pain all over her body. She let her guard down multiple times, and in that short span of time, Fatera had already landed a hard hit on her body, enough to send her over the edge under normal circumstances. The entirety of her backside stung as if a fire was set over her flesh, and she knew she couldn't take much more of a punishment from her.

When that dark aura came out from Fatera's body, everything about her being changed. It was as if her opponent has pulled back every ounce of reason and tactics, giving in instead to her primal instincts, relying on who she is inherently, rather than utilizing all that she's learned along her journey.

And that simply made Fatera a far more unpredictable and terrifying figure to fight against, despite the seeming reduced efficiency in her combat. Yuna felt her heart pounding, and her steps slightly wavering as Fatera crawled towards her one gallop at a time, her fingers clawing into the ground and her body nimbly shifting its weight from side to side.

Then, all of her muscles expanded like balloons, pumped full with the Wave as she launched herself forward. Her image becoming blurry to Yuna even as she held her intense focus, her eyes fixated forward, breathes held and allowing droplets of sweat to sting directly into her eyes. Through reading Fatera's previous attack patterns, Yuna knew that she's going to attack from behind once more, using her speed that far dwarfs what Yuna could achieve.

"GOT YOU!" Yuna said, jumping and spinning in the air before delivering a kick right as Fatera's monstrous figure reappeared behind her. Yuna's foot landed cleanly onto Fatera's shoulder, though the latter took the hit solidly and reached over to grab onto Yuna's ankle.

"Got...ya...back!" Fatera growled with an ugly smile as her darkened eyes formed a pair of happy red curves.

Then, she proceeded to punch right across, aiming to shatter Yuna's shin bone with a single punch. However, before her punch could land, Yuna violently twisted her foot around, turning her leg outwards and rapidly flexing at the knee.

That movement yanked Yuna much closer to Fatera, and she stomped down with her free leg, deflecting Fatera's punch and sending it straight into her own face.

The impact sounded as if a falling stone had struck Fatera's face, the shockwave folding Fatera backward as Yuna set her legs free and landed in a soft roll on her hands.

"Ah...Pain..." Fatera muttered, her body still bent over in a back bridge before she rocked forward on her tippy toes, "You are good...Yuna..."

Then, the light around Fatera's body started to darken, the lines of background bent to her will as she dashed across the battlefield, tackling Yuna to the ground in an instant before she could even react.

"Are you fucking kidding-" Yuna cursed, her tiger claws crisscrossing and slashing into Fatera's arms, however, the crimson girl ignored the injury, holding onto Yuna's shoulders and gave her a headbutt that was felt around the world.

Then, as Fatera stood imposingly over Yuna's unconscious body, she let out an earth-shaking roar before the dark aura around her body slowly retracted back into her body. The hint of light returning to her eyes and she blinked a few times, smiled, and fell straight back.

There was complete and utter silence from Principal Khan, and it was only until he pinched himself that the stuttering words came out, "Fa...Fatera wins! FATERA WINS!"

"Huh. So she still has ways to go..." Yuna's Father said, a smile of excitement and pride on his face despite Xin's pain expression at seeing the girl that's practically her daughter be all battered and passed out on the projection Cast, "Xin! Let's go!"

"But grandmaster! She's..."

"She had gotten strong in her own way, Xin." The grandmaster of the Surging Tiger style said without looking back. He would never say it to her face, let alone to anyone else, but perhaps, "Perhaps the Surging Tiger sect is too small for her talents...Perhaps she is meant for something far greater..."

When Fatera opened her eyes, she found herself already moved back to her own room in the Winter Wars resort that's now almost fully vacated. The remaining fights in her round had already been completed by the time she woke up.

With only three other fighters left in the tournament, the tension in the air is starting to become more and more uncomfortable. Worse yet, she is now feeling the full brunt of her Killa mode, the strongest mode of hers so far. If her baseline is enough to make most other Wave users shake in their boots, her hard mode enough to counter the strongest attacks created by the likes of Ver and Yuna, her Killa mode is what pushes her even beyond that level.

Perhaps she is even able to compete with the generals and even the Sky Guardian Corp members...But no powers in this world come without a price. For many, the stronger they pushed past their baseline, the harder the kickback from the power usage is.

Every muscle all over her body felt as if there were pins and needles digging deep into her flesh, and even the simplest movements make her wince. She felt the strains in her legs and the dull pain in her elbows and shoulders.

She needs to get used to this if she is to climb to the apex of power.

For some reason, the hot baths in the resort seemed to have been beneficial for her body though, or at least she could focus on different sensations other than the strange pains.

As Fatera enjoyed her brief day off in between the day of the semi-finals and the finals, the defeated ones were treated by the Guild of Medics before John King came in and easily captured them, teleporting them back to individual cubes in his King's Palace.

For those waiting for their friend's return, the words were that they are still recovering from the battle, and will eventually be returned. The conversion process will be excruciating during, but have no more than the most subtle effects afterward. After all, the PORA already had enough foot soldiers and brutes. They need Wave users at the highest of levels as their sleeper agents, a hidden strength of theirs that will only be activated when the time is right.

The semi-finals happened in a flash for her, and her opponent swiftly fell the moment she entered into her Killa mode again. As she stood amid the destruction, the sensations from her body completely cut off and the Wave powered solely by her adrenaline, only one thing remained on her mind.

Lily Watts.

The fated rematch is here, at last. At the biggest stage that Fatera has been on so far: the grand finals of the Winter Wars Tournament. The culmination of an entire arc, and the finale of the First Term for the freshers at the Infinite Academy.

When Fatera walked into the empty restaurant in the morning, the smell of her morning steak filled the air. The chefs had known Fatera's dietary preferences well by this point, only preparing the bare minimum of fruits and vegetables while giving her a selection of the meats that she always goes back to.

"Good morning." Lily Watts's voice came from behind, and Fatera spun around to see her in a set of light armor that's painted snow white. Her curves were accentuated by the straps around her waist, and even Fatera couldn't deny her grandeur. In comparison, knowing that she still has two hours to spare, Fatera's in her tank top and sandals, "I look forward to the battle today."

"Me too." Fatera admitted, too tired to come up with any snarky remarks, "I am just going to win and go home..."

"You heard about the final rewards?" Lily asked, picking up a plate and starting to load it up with fruits and vegetables.

"What?"

"A floating structure, all to your own, over the forest." Lily said, sliding a grape into her mouth before the flavor burst within, "A new house. Now that's something worth fighting for..."

Something worth fighting for? Fatera tilted her head slightly before looking at the meat sandwich in front.

Is there anything worth more than the taste of victory itself?

After all, that's all that her father instilled within her...