8th August

With Arnold out of the way Rusty now faced Lin. They both stared at each other intensively as though they were arch-enemies from long back in history. Rusty had revealed his tricks but Lin hadn't moved an inch yet. Everyone knew their fight would be grandiose. The winds took their pace and the clouds stifled the sun as if to witness the fierce contest. A can could be crushed by the tension in between these two. Both refused to jest the others' capabilities and range. But that was no battle in The end one had to make a move, and the one to take the call was—

✳ ✳ ✳

This whole time Lin watched the others fight, standing in the middle of the ground with his hands folded and a deadpan face. He watched Rusty as he dashed towards Arnold and after a short exchange of hands knocked him out all while maintaining a calm demeanour and without even batting an eye. He commended Rusty's martial arts skills but wasn't truly pleased by them, if asked to him why he would respond with, 'Any Martial Artist can pull that off'. He didn't hold any kind of opinion on Arnold, rather he didn't even acknowledge his participation in the fight. Though, when he saw the girls disheartened at Arnold's defeat he cringed.

After emerging victorious against Arnold, Rusty now stood facing Lin. Lin stared down at Rusty contemplating his build. As their intense staredown continued they both knew one had to take the first step and attack the other. The question was who would? After processing this multiple times in their heads they knew who it would be.

Lin wasn't standing with his hands folded anymore and had taken a stance by focusing most of his body weight on his front left foot and his arms near his face with his chin touching his shoulder. Rusty had started racing in on Lin henceforth the stance. Rusty knew Lin wouldn't be making the first move because as per him Lin didn't want to reveal his cards, whereas Lin knew Rusty would make the first move because he simply thought he was arrogant.

As Rusty closed the gap between him and Lin, he leaped into the air with practised precision, aiming a powerful kick toward Lin's chest. Lin, calm and composed, anticipated the move. In a single fluid motion, he inhaled deeply, grounding himself as Rusty's foot hurtled toward him.

With flawless timing, Lin caught Rusty's foot mid-air, his grip firm yet effortless. Without a second’s hesitation, Lin channelled his aura, swiftly drawing the kinetic energy from Rusty's strike. The moment Rusty’s momentum died, a sharp chill surged through the air. Ice began to creep over Rusty's leg, crawling from his foot up toward his shin. In a matter of seconds, the frost invaded his shoes, encasing his feet entirely in a solid sheet of ice, both inside and out.

Rusty was stunned. Not only had Lin effortlessly stopped his kick mid-air, but he had also frozen his feet in a matter of seconds. His mind raced as he felt the conflicting sensations—warm blood coursing through his veins, while the skin on his feet was now trapped beneath ice, the temperature plunging to sub zero levels. The sudden formation of ice sent sharp, stinging pain through his legs, clouding his judgement.

Panic set in. Desperately, Rusty tried to concentrate his Crux Particles to break free, but his feet remained frozen solid and unresponsive. With no other option, he agitated the Crux Particles in his palms, planning to release a burst of flames directly onto his own feet in an attempt to melt the ice.

Lin noticed the surge of energy in Rusty’s hands and immediately condensed the ice, releasing his grip. He leapt back just as Rusty unleashed a furious jet of flames toward his own frozen feet.

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But Rusty’s flames, wild and uncontrolled, backfired. Instead of melting the ice cleanly, they seared his own skin. With a pained shout, Rusty lost his balance and fell hard onto his hip, the flames from his palms blasting down to his feet. What should have been his salvation turned into his undoing as he unwittingly burned himself in his frantic attempt to escape.

Miss Iva took a step forward, ready to intervene, but Rusty held up his hand, signalling her to stop. "Don't you dare," he growled, his voice laced with frustration and pain. His eyes locked onto Lin, seething with anger. "I won't forgive you for this humiliation." Despite his fiery declaration, Lin remained utterly indifferent, his expression as calm as ever, betraying no emotion.

Rusty’s burns weren’t severe, largely thanks to his shoes, which had absorbed the brunt of the flames. But that didn’t lessen his fury.

“I’ll make sure you walk away with more than just a memory of this fight,” Rusty spat, venom in his words. “I’ll carve a scar into that pretty face of yours.”

And with that, he slammed his fist into the ground, the force reverberating through the earth beneath them. Crux Particles swarmed around his hand, drawn by his fury. The ground beneath his knuckles cracked and roared as flames erupted from the point of impact, like a beast awakened from the depths.

The fire didn’t simply flare—it exploded.

Rusty, eyes blazing with determination, unleashed a torrent of flames, the sheer force of it sending shockwaves through the air. The inferno surged forward like a tidal wave from hell, twisting and writhing as it sped toward Lin. The heat radiating from it was unbearable, the intensity of the blaze warping the very air around them.

This wasn't just an attack—it was destruction incarnate.

The ground beneath the flames blackened and cracked, small fissures forming as the firestorm consumed everything in its path. The tsunami of flames grew larger, hotter, faster—there was no escape. The sheer magnitude of the attack was overwhelming, the fire too vast to avoid, too furious to tame, and too relentless to outrun.

The heat was suffocating, and the students watching from the sidelines could feel the burn from where they stood. It was as if the entire training ground was being consumed by Rusty’s wrath.

And yet, in the midst of the chaos, Lin remained still.

For the first time, Lin finally spoke. "I'm bored," he said, his voice calm and unaffected. Before anyone could process his words, Lin vanished, moving so fast it looked as though he had teleported. In a blink, he was right in front of Rusty. Without hesitation, Lin jabbed him sharply in the neck, sending Rusty crumpling to the ground, unconscious.

The entire training ground fell into a stunned silence. Every student stood frozen, jaws slack, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Lin's movement had been so swift, so effortless, that it left the onlookers questioning whether it had even occurred. The only sound was the soft thud of Rusty's body hitting the ground, followed by the distant crackle of fading flames.

Miss Iva, equally stunned, snapped back to reality after a few seconds. She rushed over to assess the scene, her eyes darting between Rusty and Arnold, who had collapsed as well. "Yo—yes, yo, and yo," she called, gesturing to a handful of students. "Take them to the infirmary. Now!"

As the students scrambled to lift Rusty and Arnold, Iva turned to Lin, who stood there like nothing had happened, hands casually folded in front of his chest. After a few moments of conversation with him, she sighed and told him to return to the classroom and rest. Lin nodded slightly, completely unbothered, and walked away as if knocking out Rusty had been no more than a casual inconvenience.

With Rusty and Arnold gone and Lin walking off casually, Miss Iva turned back to the rest of the class, a sly grin creeping onto her face. "So, as ya saw, it was a grandiose fight," she began, her tone not entirely convincing, "but I'm still not content. I want more." Her eyes sparkled with excitement. "Which means I'll have ya all fight one-on-one."

The class collectively froze, wide-eyed. They had barely recovered from witnessing Lin’s raw power, and now they were being thrown into the ring themselves?

"The rules are the same," Miss Iva continued with enthusiasm. "No holds barred, and I’ll be watching closely. Let's get started with the pairings."

Her voice echoed ominously across the training grounds, the tension among the students thickening as they braced themselves for what was coming next.

<21 - Let’s get physicalーEpisode 3 - Fin>