image [https://i.imgur.com/R89sYKh.png]
The signal sounded off and Bridgette immediately summoned forth her Manifest. The multiple golden bracelets around her wrists glistened and gleamed in the sun, jingling with each subtle movement she made.
‘I know Carmen likes to attack with speed right away. Once she rushes in, I’ll end this with a single blow.’
Bridgette aimed her hand towards the ground as she skillfully placed traps underneath the arena platform. However, to her surprise, Carmen made no attempt to rush her. It was almost as though she were waiting for Bridgette to make the first move.
‘Huh!? Is she seriously letting me take the lead? Pfft, if that’s how she wants to do this then I’ll gladly oblige.’
With one swift motion, Bridgette raised her hands towards the sky and exerted her Core Energy. The ground began to crack beneath them as multiple sandy rocks burst upwards from the platform, swarming in all directions. In a matter of seconds, she had Carmen fully surrounded. Every angle of potential escape was covered and well defended, highlighting just how much skill and foresight Bridgette possessed. Once all of the stones were in place, Bridgette swung her arms down, commanding the hundreds of rocks to attack their target.
They savagely raced towards Carmen, leaving behind sandy streaks in the sky. However, once they got within a few feet of her body, the rocks exploded and flung into different directions by some invisible force. The barrage relentlessly continued, but not a single stone touched Carmen as she stood there calmly.
“What!?” Bridgette exclaimed in an absolute shock, confused by Carmen’s seemingly new ability.
Despite being caught off guard, Bridgette quickly followed up with another attack. She aimed her palm at Carmen and commanded a large, raging torrent of sand to rush towards her. The wave of sand effortlessly snaked along the ground and through the air as it charged at Carmen with incredible speed.
In retaliation, Carmen quickly focused her gaze onto it, causing the sand’s approach to cease completely. She walked up to the weightless, frozen sand and simply placed her hand upon it. After exerting her Core Energy, the sand exploded outward and dispersed into nothing, filling the air with tiny particles floating in the wind.
Everyone in the stands looked with amazement at Carmen’s strength, surprised to see the thirtieth ranked student put on such a show. Bridgette exhaled and gathered herself, smirking slightly in the process.
“Hmph, seems like you’ve gotten a little stronger. But, don’t start getting a big head because you have a few new tricks. You still have a ways to go before you’re on my level and I’ll show you why.” Bridgette said as her Manifest began to glow brightly, propelling her strength to new heights.
At this moment, the amount of Core Energy rushing out of her was unreal. The ground started to violently shake, splitting the foundations of the field as new sand rose upwards like water. Within a few seconds, the entire arena was submerged under multiple meters of sand.
As the students watched from the safety of the stands, they were amazed at the control Bridgette had over her Manifest. No other student among the first years could cause this kind of transformation and destruction, especially not this quickly. Even the instructors were highly impressed by her display of power.
“To think that this girl is only seventeen is absurd…” One of the instructors murmured to another, jotting down notes quickly as they continued to observe the fight.
“Well, she is a Dahlia for a reason. We’re witnessing the future ace of LaVeda.” Another instructor replied.
The wind began to blow as fine grains of sand swirled and danced around Bridgette. She simply smirked at Carmen, her piercing blue eyes daring her to retaliate. Bridgette raised her palm and aimed it at Carmen before speaking up.
“You’re in my world now, Belouis. Let me show you what my Manifest is truly capable of.”
As soon as the words exited Bridgette's mouth, a wave of sand burst forth from the ground and quickly surrounded Carmen. Not wanting to be caught inside, Carmen leapt into the air, dodging the torrent as it blasted downwards with terrifying force.
When she landed, the sand attempted to grab at her arms and legs, reaching out with multiple earthy tendrils. It chased after Carmen without any commands, rapidly hunting her down with an almost agitated amount of drive. At this point, it was clear that Bridgette’s sand was acting entirely on its own.
Carmen masterfully dodged every attack it made, staying light on her feet and using her gravity barrier with the utmost precision. However, the sand quickly figured out her pattern of movement and adjusted itself accordingly. She ducked a rush of sand at the last second, but once she stepped back, the earth below shifted away from her foot and left behind a small hole.
‘What the hell!?’
Carmen lost her balance entirely and fell back on her butt, shocked that this field of sand was learning and adapting on its own. Before she could stand up, Carmen was swallowed whole by another massive wave of sand and forced deep down into the sea of yellow grit.
“Tch, that’s what you get…” Bridgette said, panting heavily as she continued to maintain her Manifest’s special ability.
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As she began to let her guard down, a blast of sand occurred in the center of the field and there stood Carmen with her Manifest in hand. Upon closer inspection, the sand continued to swirl around her violently, however, not a single grain made contact with Carmen’s body.
“Are you ever going to do anything other than block my attacks? This is getting boring….” Bridgette asked with an annoyed cadence.
The instructors were wondering the same thing, eagerly waiting for Carmen to show some form of retaliation. Carmen simply sighed before looking Bridgette in the eyes.
“Sure, I guess it’s time to show you the gulf between our power.” Carmen replied with a cheeky smirk, mocking Bridgette’s statement prior to the mock battles.
She raised her rapier to the sky and suddenly a massive geyser of black ink fired out of her shadow. Mere seconds later, Bridgette’s entire sand field was painted black and fully covered. The ink raced towards Bridgette’s feet, causing her to leap into the air and watch as her Manifest’s ability was consumed. The sea of black absorbed everything in sight, clearing away a significant portion of the arena grounds.
‘What the hell is this stuff!?! This isn’t from a Void affinity!’
Bridgette was shocked by what she was seeing, not understanding how Carmen had something like this up her sleeve. The instructors were equally stunned and at a loss for words.
“Wait, is she a dual type?? Why does her chart only mention one affinity?” One of the instructors questioned as they rummaged through their papers, trying to piece together this new development.
The crowd of students filled the arena with intense chatter as they saw Carmen’s true strength for the first time, having never seen a dual type Vesta in person.
Carmen’s shadow began to recede, revealing a completely clear and empty arena. Not a single grain of sand or rocks were in sight. Bridgette landed on the ground and glared at Carmen as she collected herself. The two had a silent yet tense stare down until Carmen aimed her Manifest at Bridgette.
She planted her foot and sprinted forward with an unreal amount of speed, covering multiple meters in a blank. She slashed her rapier downward, barely missing Bridgette’s chest as she dodged backwards at the last possible moment. The speedy barrage continued as Bridgette’s sand barely blocked blow after blow, not fully able to keep up with Carmen’s newfound speed.
Carmen feinted a hit from above, but quickly readjusted and kicked Bridgette in the stomach, forcing her back a significant distance. As Bridgette slid backwards, Carmen dashed forward to continue pursuing her target. Bridgette quickly touched the ground with her palm and summoned a large sandy pillar from underneath her. She catapulted into the sky far above Carmen, temporarily giving her the high ground.
Bridgette aimed her hands downward and as she exerted her Core Energy, multiple rocks and boulders rained down from above. Carmen leapt into the air and began to fly towards her, zipping around the torrential downpour of sharp stones with graceful movements.
“She can fly!? Since when could she do all of this!?” Bridgette exclaimed as Carmen barreled upwards, deflecting every stray rock with her barrier.
Carmen focused her gaze onto Bridgette and with a single thought, Bridgette was forced off of her pillar by Carmen’s gravity manipulation. As she fell downward, Bridgette rapidly motioned her hands around her, conjuring together a bowl of sand to jump on safely. However, once Bridgette’s feet landed, Carmen appeared behind her. She looked back with a stunned expression as Carmen swung her Manifest with all of her strength.
With one swift blow, Bridgette was knocked off of her sand. She careened downwards and crashed onto the arena floor, kicking up a burst of dust and smoke. Once the smoke cleared, Carmen noticed that Bridgette had cushioned her fall with more sand. Even though her attack had landed and seemed to cause significant damage, Bridgette was still relatively unscathed, with only a few scrapes here and there.
'Damn it. Even after all of my training, Bridgette's still tough to crack.'
Carmen sucked her teeth and readied herself for her next move, feeling a bit irritated that her efforts were pointless. Bridgette got to her feet and immediately raised her hands to the sky.
Without warning, two massive walls of compacted sand rose out of the ground, each towering over Carmen on opposite sides. Bridgette then clapped her hands together, causing the walls to slam into each other. The explosion of dust and rocks was incredible as the entire arena trembled violently.
“Are these really first year students!? I’ve never seen anything like this before!” Another instructor commented as they struggled to stay on their feet, covering their face from the burst of sand and wind shooting outwards.
However, before the dust even remotely settled, the two walls crushed in on themselves and revealed Carmen without a single scratch on her. Her gravity barrier had shielded her surroundings, completely unfazed by the destructive blow. As the walls of sand fell and crumbled, devastating the arena in all directions, Carmen simply reared her Manifest back and charged up her Core Energy.
Graviton's Eclipse began to glow a sinister hue of purple as Carmen's inky shadow rose up from the ground, swirling and surrounding the rapier's blade. Carmen's Core Energy exploded to incredible levels, sending chills down the spines of every person that watched from the stands. Then with a single step, Carmen thrust her Manifest forward.
The speed of her sudden movement crushed the ground beneath her feet as she barreled across the arena floor. Bridgette had no time to react and in that same moment, Carmen’s rapier pierced straight through Bridgette’s shoulder. She screeched in pain as Carmen glared deeply into her eyes, pushing the glowing blade further in.
As her rapier dug deeper, Carmen could sense Bridgette's sand approaching fast from behind her. Wasting no more time, Carmen pulled her Manifest out with one swift motion, flinging blood across the distressed floor. Bridgette stumbled back slightly as Carmen suddenly raised her leg. Using every ounce of gravitational energy she had, Carmen increased the weight of her foot and kicked Bridgette straight in the chest.
Bridgette blasted off of the floor and careened past the open field, landing straight into the empty stands on the opposite end of the arena. Upon impact, a massive explosion occurred as part of the building crumbed and shattered in impressive fashion.
All of the students and instructors were absolutely floored by the outcome of the fight. The silence was deafening as Carmen flung more blood off of her Manifest. She desummoned her weapon and turned towards the steps, her face housing a rather underwhelmed expression.
“Umm… Did that really just happen?” An instructor asked with a perplexed look on their face.
Yeah.. Uh, why was she ranked thirtieth again?” Another replied, vigorously jotting down notes on his clipboard.
“I don’t know, but that was unreal. I mean just look at her, she doesn’t have a speck of dust on her. The number one ranked student didn’t even land a hit after all of that. I can’t believe it.”
The instructors simply stared at Carmen as she found her seat, admiring the theatrics they had just witnessed. Once she took her seat, everyone looked at her with absolute bewilderment. However, when she turned her head, Mariah noticed something quite peculiar about her.
“Umm, Carmen… What happened to your eyes?” Mariah asked with a curious tone.
Carmen’s eyebrow raised in confusion, wondering what Mariah meant by her question.
“Huh? My eyes?”
She looked over towards a small puddle of standing water and saw her reflection. Carmen’s pupils were completely gray, not a tinge of red in sight. As she stared at herself, Carmen realized that her eyes weren’t changing back to normal.
“Uhh, I’m going to the bathroom. Excuse me.”
Carmen’s voice had a hint of panic to it as she quickly stood. While she rushed towards the arena exit, the instructors began to send medics over to where Bridgette had landed on the opposite side. Once they dug through multiple broken seats and debris, they found her unconscious and surrounded by a cocoon of hardened sand.