Emil

“Solidify!” Emil yelled as he lunged backwards.

He tried to seize the initiative right away, not wanting to give Anna any time to control the flow of the battle. The ground atop of the outcrop trembled as a series of stone protrusions rose to cut off the space between him and Anna. His first goal was to create separation and limit Anna’s movements.

Bzzzt!

The air cackled with a sharp wail. A flash of static shrieked across the space. A chunk of the stone barricades that he conjured were immediately decimated into thin slices of earth.

Anna advanced, attacking continuously with electric discharges as she moved to close the gap. The bursts of electricity were highly condensed, blasting into his stone structures with the sharpness of ultra-fine blades. Emil winced as his fortifications were instantly cut down like paper.

She improved this much in two weeks?!

During their intrusion on the Hidden Laboratory in the sacred grove, she was only capable of unleashing electricity in a wide radius. Now she possessed enough control to condense the discharge into fine streams. The result was a faster, more precise, and dangerous attack.

Emil flinched as the last vestiges of his stone barricades were blasted into smithereens. A loud buzz crackled at his foot. He stepped back, narrowly dodging a surge of electricity crawling along the ground. All the water soaking the outcrops was extending the spread of her attacks, artificially enhancing her Interference Range beyond her normal limits.

I should retreat.

There was no reason for him to get involved in a disadvantaged fight. Time was ticking down towards the conclusion of the preliminaries. He had already secured his spot onto the next stage. And honestly, Anna was a terrible matchup for him.

Emil’s incredible performance in the preliminaries so far was built not on his ability to create phenomenon with Bulwark, but by exploiting his overwhelming advantage fighting in close range.

However, against Anna, his strengths were nullified. The unfair nature of her Gift was its paralysis effects. Getting hit once was a death sentence for someone who relied on hand-to-hand combat. Emil experienced it firsthand. The instant electricity made contact with his body, his limbs and muscles ceased to function.

For a close-ranged combatant, Anna’s Volt was unbearably oppressive.

He made up his mind as he conjured another wall of earth. Once his line of sight with Anna was cut, Emil wasted no time and sprinted away from the craggy outcrops.

I made them brittle this time.

It was the same tactic that he used again Kai—make the walls fragile so that they would disintegrate into a cloud of sand when broken. The sandy veil would hopefully obfuscate his position long enough to give him time to run.

He overheard the wall shatter as he jumped off the ledge. Emil channeled Bulwark to create a thin stone disc beneath his feet. After adjusting his balance, he applied pressure. The sharpness of the sand dune carried him forward as he glided down the slope.

“Emil!” Anna’s voice thundered overhead, “You damn coward! How dare you run away from me?!”

Bloodlust echoed from her furious scream. A horrifying crackle of electricity shrieked in the air. Emil couldn’t help but look back, catching a glimpse of Anna as she leaped off the stony ridge.

Shit, she already caught on.

A trail of azure sparks flared behind her as she landed with a loud thud. She dug her foot into the sand dune and immediately pushed off into a mad dash. Electricity wrapped around her body like a cloak.

“You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Despite the terrain being unfavorable for running, Anna sped down the sand dune without problems. She quickly began to close the gap as her speed exceeded human limits.

She must be using Volt to augment her physical abilities.

Emil shuddered at the sight of Anna bulldozing towards him. Her bloodshot eyes were gleaming for blood. He didn’t want to imagine what she would do if she caught him.

“Why are you running Emil?! Are you scared?!” Anna’s vicious mockery echoed in his ears. “All I’ve been hearing this whole time is how amazing you are! How you’ve been kicking everyone’s ass and bashing their faces in! Where the hell is all that spunk now?! Huh?!”

Why is she so pissed off?!

Emil had no idea what he did to deserve this ire, but surely him running away from a fight wasn’t the source of her anger. This felt much more personal.

A bolt of electricity suddenly whizzed by his ears. He tossed his head to the side the instant he felt a surge of static. The attack just barely missed, burning the edge of his ears. A faint buzz bit into his skin.

“Bastion!”

He aimed his hands at the ground. An array of stone columns spontaneously rose along the slope of the sand dunes as he continued his descent. Based on the attack earlier, he was already at the edge of Anna’s Interference Range. He had to slow her down.

A loud pop burst behind him.

Suddenly, Emil felt himself airborne. A brief sense of weightlessness enveloped his body. He glanced down. The rear portion of his stone disc had been blasted off. Momentum of his descent carried him through the air.

The ground suddenly loomed close. Gravity dragged him down. Emil realized that he was going to fall face-first into the sand. At the last second, he twisted his body around and fortified his back in a layer of stone.

Thud!

He crashed. A painful groan escaped his mouth—his chest burned as the air was forcefully expelled out of his lungs. His body skidded down the sand dune until it gradually slowed to a stop. Emil bit the side of his gums and pulled himself up, trying to use the sharp pain to snap him out of the concussive effects of the impact. His vision had barely steadied when Anna swooped in.

A blast of electricity flew at him. The trajectory of the discharge was too fast for his eyes to track. In desperation, Emil tossed his arms in front of his chest. Stone manifested across his arms just in time as the electric discharge bounced off the non-conductive surface.

Anna rushed in with a right hook. Emil tossed his head back. The air in front of him burned with an astringent smell from the burst of energy. He stomped the ground. A stone protrusion shot up and coiled around Anna’s left arm.

“Shackle!”

More protrusions emerged spontaneously, grappling onto Anna’s limbs to keep her in place. Seeing Anna struggle to free herself, Emil took a step back to continue his retreat.

“Emil!” Anna let out a visceral scream.

Mana engulfed her body as a flood of electricity stormed. The stone protrusions keeping her confined were blown apart by the explosive energy. Emil winced, shielding his face from the sand and shrapnel. As the dust settled, Anna stomped towards him. Sparks flickered around her.

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“Fight me, you bastard! Take me seriously! Am I not someone worthy of your respect?! Do you think so little of me?!” she screamed. Sand clouded her face, but it did little to diminish the savage glint in her eyes. “Call me a burden again! I dare you! I’ll make you take back those damn words!”

Burden? What is she— A memory came to mind. The scene prior to their battle against Professor Callum flashed in his head. While trying to convince her to retreat and hide, he had called her a burden.

…Is that what this is about?

Emil frowned. The words he said to her back then was out of panic and duress. She was on the verge of Overclock. She didn’t have the Sensitivity to perceive the professor’s attacks. He was desperate to get her to safety so he can fight against the professor without worry. She should have understood his intent, and yet here she was, desperately clamoring for a fight.

Sorry Anna, but I’m not risking my mission just to massage your pride.

A glint of azure entered his periphery. The ground beneath him suddenly began to transform. Emil hoped to the side. An array of ice pillars erupted from the ground where he was just a second ago. Anna experienced the same attack. Instead of retreating, she stomped the ground, firing back a stream of lightning to cut off the ice column’s formation.

An ominous set of footsteps echoed. Emil spun to the left. A palpable dread crawled up his spine.

Oh, for fuck’s sake. Not you too.

“I came here looking for a fight,” the haughty voice resounded with a tingle of amusement, “But it seems like I might be intruding on a lover’s quarrel instead?”

It was Liesel. The noble girl approached with a confident air of dignity. She walked with perfect posture—a calm and elegant gait devoid of faults. A flower of ice bloomed beneath her feet before every step she took, as if dirtying her shoes in the sand was an unthinkable sin. Her face and uniform were spotless, somehow unblemished at this stage of the preliminaries compared to the smear of sand and dirt across Emil and Anna’s outfits.

“I usually have an appetite watching drama unfold, but my hands have itching for a satisfying fight,” Liesel said as she stopped just a few meters from Emil and Anna. The corners of her lips curved up into a slight smile. “So, mind if I join in on this little scuffle of yours?”

“Get the fuck out of here, wench,” Anna immediately hissed, teeth bared, sparks dancing around her body, “There’s no spot for you in this fight.”

“Oh my, such vulgar words from such an adorable person,” Liesel giggled. Her eyes suddenly grew vicious. An icy mist slowly permeated her vicinity. “But surely you realize that was a rhetorical question?”

Suddenly, they were locked in a 3-way battle. Silence lingered across the sand dunes. Emil could hear his heart pounding. Even the audience and commentator held their breaths, suppressing their frenetic excitement as they waited for a trigger to begin the fight.

Sweat cascaded down Emil’s neck. His hands trembled with anticipation. Tension suffocated the hostile air. His eyes darted about, trying to discern his opponent’s intentions while making sure not to miss a single detail. A slight twitch. A minor step. A spark of azure. Something small was all it took for this powder keg to erupt.

Still, despite Liesel’s provocations and Anna’s bloodthirst, none of them seemed willing to make the first move. There was too much risk to be on the receiving end of a two-prong attack.

This might work to my advantage.

Liesel’s appearance complicated the situation. There was a real chance that he could wind up in another disadvantaged situation. But the reverse was also true. If he could muddy the fight, there might be an opportunity where he could slip away in the ensuing chaos.

I need to make sure Anna won’t attack me first.

He shot a glance at her. Their eyes met for the briefest of seconds. Emil tilted his head discretely towards Liesel. In the corner of his eyes, he caught a faint nod.

Good to know that she doesn’t completely hate me.

He stomped the ground.

Anna and Liesel instantly snapped into action. The area was immediately dyed in brilliant blue. Mana surged with violence before rapidly condensing into phenomena.

A ring of stone protrusions erupted around Liesel. They swarmed her like spears, crowding the airspace, threatening to maul from all directions. Meanwhile, Anna barreled towards the noble, electricity screeching in a field centered on her body.

“So predictable!” Liesel cackled.

In a radius around her, a maelstrom of ice exploded outwards. The ice structure’s emergence tore through Emil’s ring of stone protrusions. Liesel immediately waved her hand, tossing an array of icicles in Anna’s direction.

The red-haired girl struck her knuckles together. The electric field following her suddenly oscillated. Like high-frequency blades, the electric current hissed with a metallic hum. The icicles were shredded into pieces the moment they entered the field.

“Hahaha! Not bad!” Liesel exclaimed.

She swept the ground with her legs. A sharp wave of frost rippled along the earth.

Anna jumped. Sparks trailed her movements. With her physique enhanced by Volt, she cleared the wave of frost effortlessly. She soared towards Liesel, electricity flickering around her dangerously. Liesel smirked with savage glee. An agglomeration of mana bloomed at her fingertips, already in the midst of condensing into ice.

Now!

Emil snapped his fingers. The airspace above the two girls suddenly popped. The stone fragments that were flung towards the sky by Liesel’s ice structures spontaneously disintegrated into fine grains. Sand rained down, shrouding the surroundings in a thick veil.

He spun around and conjured an array of stone footholds along the ground. Using them as a makeshift path, he broke into a full sprint.

That should buy me enough time.

He ran with reckless abandon, trying to create as much distance as possible. The sandy veil should have been disorienting enough to buy him a few extra seconds. Anna might have immediately caught onto his ruse, but he hoped that Liesel’s lust for battle would keep her occupied.

What Emil forgot to account for, however, was the watchful eyes of the audience.

“What a surprise! Emil Milligan rejects the three-way battle and retreats! But will Anna and Liesel simply let him escape?!” Melody’s voice rang over the Nautilus.

He felt an explosion of mana behind him. He glanced back. Liesel burst out from the veil of sand. A long, winding surface of ice spontaneously emerged into the air, creating a sloped passage down the sand dune. Liesel landed on top of the ice path. With a push of her foot, she slid down the slippery plane at a blazing speed.

Emil couldn’t believe his eyes. This fucking commentator! He tossed out a block of stone into the path of the ice. The ice passage wobbled as the stone smashed apart a portion of the structure. Liesel instantly responded, conjuring a column of ice to preserve the passage’s integrity.

“Come on, darling!” Liesel yelled over the chaos.

The Ice Maiden was quickly gaining on him. A flash of azure blinded his periphery. Emil tilted his head to the side. A storm of icicles rained down on his location. He ducked and weaved as the projectiles shattered around him like glass.

An ice column suddenly erupted before his feet. Emil was forced to stop as the protrusion nearly stabbed his body.

I’m already in her Interference Range?!

Liesel’s condescending voice rang overhead, “What a capricious man! You got two beautiful ladies vying for your attention, and yet all you do is run?!”

Emil turned around. Liesel was on his right, nearing the end of the ice passage. Anna was on his left, storming down the slope, leaving behind a vicious stream of sand. Her eyes were wide, red with fury. Emil’s blood ran cold as their eyes met.

Oh, fuck.

Anna lunged. Lightning snapped. The air was instantly abuzz with static.

Emil stepped back, shielding himself in a layer of stone armor. The blast of lightning collided against his arms—the electromagnetic force knocked him backwards as his stone gauntlets fractured in an instant. It’s fine. He just needed to buy time. Suddenly, he pushed into the ground. A fissure emerged beneath Anna’s feet. She stumbled; her legs dropped into the sudden opening on the ground.

“Cage!”

He pressed his hands together. Earth closed around Anna, trapping her lower body beneath the sand.

“Damn you, Emil!” she protested, desperate to pry herself free.

He turned to face the other threat. Shadows loomed above. Liesel jumped off the passage of ice, accompanied by a storm of icicles. There was no time to defend.

Desperate, he launched his body backwards as the ice storm stabbed into the sand. One of them carved into his left thigh. Blood sprayed. Pain exploded. The scalding burn of the ice was debilitating.

Liesel landed. She wasted no time and swung with her bare hands. A sword of ice spontaneously manifested in her grasp. Emil’s reaction was slow. The initial confusion froze him in place. His wounded leg also dragged him down.

Squelch!

Liesel’s sword cleaved into his right shoulder.

This is bad!

The Ice Maiden was relentless. Without rest, she withdrew her sword and aimed for another strike.

Clank!

“Huh?” Liesel’s eyes went wide.

Emil stood there, arms outstretched, somehow stopping her blade with his bare palms. Upon closer inspection, there was a thin layer of stone encased around his palms.

In her split second of hesitation, Emil kicked the ground. A wave of sand blasted into Liesel’s face. The Ice Maiden grimaced, retreating, eyes closed, while frantically trying to brush herself free from her momentarily blindness.

Emil pounced, desperate to deliver a finishing blow.

In the corner of his eyes, he caught a silhouette barreling towards him. It was Anna. Shit! Emil contorted his body in a last second attempt to dodge. Anna’s fist loomed close, energy cackling with inevitability.

I have to take the hit. He gritted his teeth and braced himself for the devastating blow.

Bong!

The bell of the Nautilus suddenly blared with a deafening bellow.

Emil flinched. Sparks flared in front of his face. But the punch never arrived.

Cautiously, he opened his eyes. Anna was glaring at him, laboring with heavy breaths. Tears of frustration cascaded down her cheeks. Her fist was outstretched—just a few inches from making contact with his face.

She was a second too slow.

The Clash of Dawn preliminary stage was over.

Emil let out a sigh of relief. The crowd screamed with excitement.