“Honestly, you’re still not using the shield to its best ability.” A girl’s voice wakes me up.

I open my eyes to find myself standing in front of a familiar table set in the middle of a familiar garden. On the table set, I expected to find Balia sipping tea again, but instead of seeing Balia again, I found myself facing a goddess with a similar dress to Balia, but the dress was all purple, and she was drinking a glass of water instead of tea.

“You’re not-”

“Not Balia? Nope, not at all, but I’m still the shield on your arm.” The goddess cuts me off.

I rack my brain trying to figure out what was going on.

“You still don’t get it?” The purple-dressed goddess laughs loudly and stands up, “Don’t you think it’s weird for the shield to be named with ‘Two Opposites’ yet still give you only one elemental power?”

I think a bit harder. Yes, I did indeed think it was pretty weird for my shield to have “Two” in the name, yet only one power, but I really didn’t think too much about it.

I analyze the goddess a bit more. She bears a resemblance to Balia, but I could tell that she was taller and slightly “larger” in some aspects which I refuse to go into detail about, because I’m sure she can read my mind just as well as Balia. Her color scheme was also purple rather than white.

Wait…purple?

“This is going to sound crazy,” I start, “but are you the purple jewel on my shield?”

“Bingo!” The goddess points finger guns at me, “My name is Lagulia, and let me ask you, what’s the opposite of fire?”

It doesn’t even take me a second to respond, “Water.”

Lagulia points a finger gun at me again. I expected her to say “bingo!” again, but instead, she makes a shooting motion with it, and a stream of water bursts out of the air straight toward me. I barely manage to dodge the water, and I turn to see that the blast had created a mini crater on the floor.

“What if that hit me!?” I yell.

“This is my realm. I’ll just heal you back.” Lagulia calmly says.

Seriously?

I calm myself down and face the goddess. If she was the emerald in my shield and had the power over water, I should be able to control water as well, right?

I close my eyes and begin to visualize a stream of water the same way I visualized a blazing flame. When I opened my eyes, I find my shield on my arm again, but no water anywhere.

“Your shield is still in the form of Balia. I’m guessing my younger sister didn’t bother to teach you how to change the shield to take my form, did she?” Lagulia asks as she walks around me.

“N-No, she didn’t.”

“That girl, and we both promised that we would do as much as we could to help you. She just wanted you all to herself.”

I blush a little bit at the thought of two goddesses fighting over me, but quickly throw that thought out of my head in fear that Lagulia would read my mind.

Lagulia comes to a stop behind me and lifts my right arm, “Tell me, Rin, what’s my name?”

I turn my face to the goddess, “Lagulia?”

The goddess smiles and points to my shield. I turn to my shield and almost jump in surprise.

My shield, which was all white before, was now all purple. The gem, which was purple, turned into a clear white jewel.

So, the shield is the catalyst of their power, and I guess the jewel is like their storage?

“That’s a rather funny way to put it, but you’re not wrong.” Lagulia reads my mind, “Well then, try out your powers again.”

I visualize flames the same way I’ve done multiple times, but this time, nothing happens. I close my eyes and visualize a stream of water again, and this time, water flows around my shield.

I couldn’t keep my excitement, “This is so cool!”

Lagulia giggles, “Calling our names will switch whose power the shield will become a catalyst for.”

“I see.”

Although my mind was racing with excitement from my new powers, my mind instantly recalls the memory of the battle with Luke Virac.

“How much time has passed since I appeared here?” I ask.

“Not much, time flows differently in our realms. Right now, I’ve slowed down time in here.”

“Does my body still have the power and energy to regain consciousness?”

Lagulia looks at me with concern, but I stare her back with determination in my eyes. I was completely set on waking back up, even if it meant that I would be in a lot of pain when I regained consciousness.

Finally, Lagulia sighs, “I guess I can’t stop you, can I?”

I smile, “Thank you, Lagulia!”

I quickly close my eyes and begin counting to ten.

When I reach three in my head, a feel a soft sensation on my cheek.

What was…

“Good luck, Rin,” Lagulia whispers, and I feel my consciousness begin to shift from the realm back to my body on Spirinall.

* * *

I burst open my eyes, but quickly wince as I begin to feel the pain that my body endured. I force myself to look up and dread fills my chest as I watch Luke with his spear raised high directly in front of Isabel, who was frozen still in place.

Contradicting her completely frozen body, I notice the subtle movement of Isabel's lips as she mouths the words: Save me

…

I feel my body heating up, and my vision begins to turn slightly blurry as I rise once again. The black metal that once surrounded my shield begins moving up my arms and extends my gauntlets until my arms are covered by glistening black armor. My now pure white shield shines as large droplets of water dance around my shield and my arms.

There was no more limiter on my shield, it was calling for me to use the most of my power.

The audience gasps, attracting Luke’s attention to me, and with my newfound confidence and bravery, I raise my hand and point at him.

“It’s not over…” I begin, “My shield isn’t broken yet.”

A smile crawls over Luke’s face sending chills down my spine despite my shield and arms roaring with flames.

He swings his spear around nonchalantly, “Well then, I guess I should get serious.”

Luke readies his stance, and his spear begins glowing a bright gold as if even the silver had turned to flames.

I take a deep breath as I prepare for Luke’s attack.

“Allow me to let you in on something, Shielder,” Luke begins, “My skill, Blazing Soul, will slow me down considerably.”

“…”

“It allows my opponents to watch their final moments!”

Luke begins charging toward me, leaving flaming footprints on the stadium floor with each step. With every meter Luke closes in on me, I begin to gradually feel the heat from his spear. My instincts begin screaming at me to run away, but I keep my legs rooted in place.

Visualize water!

The streams of water that danced around my shield shot out in front of me and created three large barriers of water that were shaped like my shield.

Luke reaches the first barrier and instantly vaporizes the water shield. He struggles a bit with the second barrier, but still manages to send it into steam. Finally, he reaches the third and final barrier. Luke stabs his spear against the barrier, and steam bursts into the air where his spear made contact with my barrier. Although the final barrier was stronger than the rest, Luke still managed to completely evaporate it.

Nothing was in between Luke and me anymore, it was time to face him head-on. Luke takes a large stride and dashes at me, and I raise my arms to prepare for the worst.

“I forfeit!” A familiar voice shrieks.

Luke’s spear comes to a stop a couple of centimeters away from my shield, but the sudden stop of momentum was enough to blow the remaining streams of water around me away completely. I feel the air around me burn away, and for a couple of seconds, I wasn’t able to breathe. Even though Luke hadn’t even touched me, the power from his Blazing Soul skill was enough to bend the laws of physics.

His spear really just… burnt the air around me… Is that even possible?

The crowd continues to remain silent while my party members are carried by knights onto stretchers. I force my shield away and slowly make my way past Luke and towards Isabel.

“A-after a one-sided match, Luke is the winner of this quarter-final!” The announcer finally manages to speak.

Suddenly, breaking the silence of the crowd, a familiar voice shouts out into the silent stadium.

“You did amazing, Isabel!” Aquaria’s voice rings around the stadium.

I couldn’t exactly see where she was in the crowd, but her sudden cheer of encouragement brought some life back into the crowd, and slowly but surely, the crowd became noisy with cheers again.

“It was an amazing run, Summoner Isabel!” A spectator yells.

“You put up a great fight, Shielder!” Another compliment.

“You’ll get them next time!”

We keep our heads low as we follow the knights carrying our party members into the break room.