Lights. Camera. Action!

The gentle pouring of rain prattling against the building was heard clearly throughout the opera room. Maria did not budge an inch, merely standing there waiting for Alexia to take the stage. Alexia walked up to the stage, and upon making it, the two staring at each other.

Maria fashionably gave a polite bow, gently doing a twirl in the process. Her grace is ever-present and the same crafty smirk as always. Each light in the room started to shine on the two of them as if an audience in the empty room were anticipating their performance.

“Greetings, once more, my dear senior. Shall we begin the performance?” Maria asked.

“Playing the part I see.” Alexia liked the little act Maria seemed to be doing. To her, at first, it seemed like a child wanting to play a small role. Maria proceeded to raise her hands in the air. The stage lights aimed at the two of them started to flicker before each one burst open, turning off immediately. Glass shards falling down at the back of the stage.

A bit ominous in Alexia’s mind, for in her eyes, she could still see in the dark, but only because of Maria’s aura gently lighting up on stage. Alexia went on the offensive, rushing forward and sending her fists out at Maria. With ease, Maria avoided the attacks, at one moment catching Alexia off guard by grabbing hold of her left arm, slinging Alexia over her shoulder.

Hitting the floor, Alexia winced in pain, confused at how someone like Maria just flung her with ease. She wasn’t that light, was she? Maria’s crimson aura grew, like the intensity of a hot flame as soon as Alexia stood back up — Maria delivered a devastating kick that sent her flying into the seats.

Maria gazed into the audience seats, curious to see if Alexia was still up after that it would be a very disappointing match if that was it. “Come on now, I know this isn’t your best.” Sounding a bit disappointed. Maria noticed Alexia was very weak at the start of this fight, as if she had just awoken from a good night's rest. She could barely see her aura spiking while hers was going wild already. At that moment, Maria relaxed a bit, her energy subsiding for now.

Taking a rough stand, Alexia grabbed onto the back of a seat, glancing upward to the stage. Maria once more twirled around, her crimson aura visible once more upon the first spin. This time in the audience section, the remaining lights started to flicker, with Maria’s aura glowing vibrantly to all those watching unless they had a keen sense of energy. None could see it nor figure out what was occurring. Most would account for the lights as a stage hazard. Not only was this aura a disturbance to the stage itself, but it was also altering her body, allowing her to produce powerful attacks. Alexia could only associate this type of singularity with Roy, but something still had her a bit worried.

That simple catch of her fist and the repeated dodging with precise coordination was too good to be true, though she had to test a theory out in her headfirst. Admittedly, she threw all of her starting strength into those punches. Still, they lacked any instance that could be associated with boxing. Usually, when she threw punches like those back at the gym, the average goer would have difficulty catching even one. Before Alexia could process her thoughts even more, Maria leaped from the stage her aura, now gently coating her body. Gently, she landed in one of the chairs across from Alexia.

“Come on. I’ll give you one more chance. One last hit.” Tilting her body forward slightly, Maria patted the side of her cheeks. Immediately dodging out of the way with ease from having the sidearm of a chair thrown at her. “I said land a hit, not thro-” Maria was interrupted by Alexia. The latter rushed in, attempting to swipe them off the chair with their feet, only to have Maria yet again avoid the attack by jumping over Alexia and landing in the center walkway.

A hefty exhale of air left Maria’s voice, only for her to turn to Alexia disappointed. Though, in the end, at least she’ll have tomorrow to look forward to against Gabby. “Alright. My turn.” At that moment, the gentle crimson aura around Maria spiked. She vanished instantaneously, a crack in the floor forming from where she stood — Time started to slow down for Alexia. At first, she couldn’t quite keep up with Maria’s speed glancing around the room hearing the quick movements. Turning to the right — nothing. Turning to the left — nothing.

Turning her head to the right again — A swift kick to the face sent her crashing against the seats breaking more in the process. Rising to her feet once more, Alexia wiped the blood that trickled from the side of her mouth. Such a powerful kick, indeed; this singularity was just like Roy’s. But, it was far more controlled. It was clear that if Roy was in her spot, he’d be at a loss. A body-enhancing singularity was troubling, but Alexia was still worried about the dodging.

Maria gave a hefty chuckle watching Alexia get tossed around with ease.

“Ah~! I can hear the sponsors from here. Lucky m-” Maria’s little rambling interrupted by Alexia immediately running towards the exit door. This caught Maria off by surprise that she didn’t do anything allowing Alexia to escape into the halls of the opera building. “Or just run...Fine, let’s see what you’ll do.” Casually talking to herself, Maria’s eyes started to glow a bright crimson, her singularity finally activating.

Back in Saint Mary’s room, her team would be watching the match, with none of them worried about Maria.

“Oh? Is she using it here?” Aiken asked.

“I guess It’s honestly hard to tell when she uses it,” Joan replied.

“Hey, Angie. How long do you think it’ll last?” Aiken turned to Angela, who sat on the couch next to Quinn, her hands against her face watching the match.

“A minute, maybe? It’s not that long. But, she already used it.”

“She did?!”

“Yeah...Did you not see the start of the match? I know it's hard to notice, but she did it when Starlight tried to attack. Though, I’m amazed she did it so quickly.”

“I hear ya. I couldn’t see Starlight's punches.”

Quinn just sat there listening to them talk. He wasn’t quite stoked about this. Even if Maria could win, it was clear she was underestimating her opponent. Like she always did. All he could do was glance back up at the screen, watching Maria exit the opera room entering into the hallway.

“Hmm~♪ Hmm~♪ Hmm~♪” The same little humming emitted from Maria. She made her way down the halls glancing to her side noticing windows showing the outside of the building. Rain trickling down and pattering against the window.

In Maria’s eyes, she’d see herself move forward down the hall only to be attacked by Alexia again from behind the next corridor. For the next minute onward, the two would enter a little fistfight. Maria closed her eyes for a moment, then opened them again.

Nothing had changed her vision, clearing the way forward. With a smile, she’d proceed down the hall, and just as she predicted, Alexia was there waiting to ambush her. The ability to see into the future a sacred power rare among singularity users, all of which vary in range. But, for Maria, she could see a full minute into the future, naturally adapting to her opponents' actions. Revenge against East Bridge, coming into a package of a girl with two abilities.

Maria continued to dodge effortlessly at Alexia’s attacks; it was getting rather samey. The same attack patterns nothing but punches being thrown. The only difference from the punches now was the speed and power behind each one. Maria winced after avoiding another one of Alexia’s fists. This time, strange particles came shooting out from the air directly where she punched these particles shot into the nearby window shattering the glass instantaneously.

A sudden shiver overcame Maria after the glass shattered. Her future sight did not showcase, the window-shattering rainwater beginning to drip into the halls. Alexia, taking advantage of a surprised Maria, started to control the water pouring into the hall, allowing a decent fist-sized clump of it to slam into the side of her face. No effect, but at least she was now distracted with wiping the water from her face. Unfortunately, she was met with a swift punch to the chest by Alexia, the identical particles that shattered the window now brushing against her body.

The pressure from the impact caused Maria’s body to go flying down the hall only to slide back to the doors she previously exited.

“Finally got a hit in...” Muttering to herself, Alexia immediately moved her hands again — like the flow of a river. Water poured into the hallway, funneling out into airborne streams. Using her singularity to bend the water to her desired need, she’d unleash them towards Maria.

“Grah!” Maria picked herself up, removing herself from the path of the water streams. Once more, the same aura spiked around her body, and in a quick motion — Maria vanished from the spot cracks in the ground, appearing where she stood. Fists collided! Alexia halting the attack with her own — Her theory seemed to be working in her head. A delay in which the singularity activates along with the quick reflexes occurring also, but it was a short one.

A kick with grace and swiftness landed into the side of Alexia. Maria’s temper increased clearly, and she was frustrated for the moment, putting more power into the kick than any before. The attack hurled Alexia through the wall and back into the opera room. The streams of water collapsing to the floor, some of it splashing onto Maria in the process.

“Argh...Gonna feel that when we get out..” Taking a stand after collapsing over a few seats, breaking them in the process. Alexia took a moment to realize they were back at square one. At least it wasn’t another long hallway — closing her eyes, she’d begin to concentrate. On the other side of the wall, Maria made her way through, glancing at the area Alexia stood in. However, the delay on her 2nd singularity was about to be over upon completely stepping into the opera room again. A chilling breeze blew past her — upon looking down at her feet, ice had started to form at a rapid pace sticking her in place, unable to move.

“What!? Ho-” Maria being interrupted by Alexia with a dive-kick to the chest. The knockback from the kick causing Maria to tumble up near the broken window, rain still dripping in from the outside. Alexia hit the floor after making such a move; the balance wasn’t her forte. It seemed despite this, she gripped her right hand, taking control of the puddles of water that still lingered on the floor along with the rain pouring outside, gathering them all to wrap around Maria.

Maria groaned, returning to her senses from being kicked so hard the air would have customarily been knocked out of a person. Growing tired by the second with this constant display of water and body flinging, muttered a single word. “[Double!]”

Time itself proceeded to slow down within a few seconds, Maria began to witness the future two minutes ahead. It wasn’t an absolute prediction, but the longer she saw into the future, the more accurate it became. One disadvantage was memorizing the patterns to help give more weight to the accuracy. Far more problematic being the longer duration each time she increased it, causing her strain.

“Oh! Here it comes, folks! Are we about to witness another incredible feat from the young Maria!?” Joel's voice echoed through the monitors across the building. Pearl took another sip of her coffee, squinting at the screen; she could feel the energy emitting from the fight merely sitting there. Though the power itself faint and lacking in substance.

“Peh~!” A gentle breath of air exhaled from Pearl after drinking the coffee, gulping it all down in that single move. “This could end it...But, don’t go crazy on me.” Pearl refers to Joel catching all the excitement.

Reynolds could only give all of his trust in Alexia’s ability with the match entering into a dangerous phase. Failing here would cripple his plans down the line, after all.

“Hey, Roy.” Deveron glanced over in his direction.

“Yeah?”

“You said Alexia could use some crazy energy move, right? Do you know when she’ll do it? All I see is water.”

“Heh. Believe it or not. I’ve had a hard time figuring that one out. She rarely used it when we had practice matches against each other.”

“Right. So how’d that go?”

“I think she picked up my fighting style.” Roy snickered a bit, remembering his practice matches with Alexia after her gym training. Nothing, but both of them throwing their fists at each other, of course, he always came out on top in raw strength.

“That’s bad. But, I meant the other thing.” Deveron pin-pointing towards Alexia’s primary ability. On a few occasions, he’s only seen it, the most recent being the match against one of the sponsored fighters. To be honest, he didn’t even know what her actual ability was.

“Oh! The stars! She can make stars, but I think recently she figured out a stronger way of using it.”

“Oh? Like what?”

Heidi then sat up, finally recovering from her match previously, the soreness in her body no longer there. Letting out a gentle yawn, she’d make her attention to the others.

“Ah...She can form stars and the like...She only used it twice when fighting Roy when you were busy, and it was just us three. After that, she started calling some strange particles around her ‘Stardust’ hence her punch name yesterday.” Heidi rubbed her eyes then let out another yawn. In truth — She had slept.

“Not gonna lie, I'm a bit jealous.” Deveron tapped his hands against the end of the couch.

“You have no right to be jealous,” Roy replied

“True… Out of all of us, you’d be considered normal. But, at least you have spirit.”

“Roy is clearly superior to his betters!” Heidi jutted into the convo once more.

“Yeah!” With Roy agreeing with Heidi. Deveron could only shake his head at the two. Despite them being the freshmen and his juniors in age, they knew how to support each other, to say the least.

“Right, right. But, if she can form stars...Then why isn’t she using any? Wouldn’t it be an instant win?” Deveron's question sparked something in both Heidi and Roy, with the two each staring at each other, wondering if they should speak up. Reynolds, on the other hand, started to enter into the conversation now.

“See, this is why you and Chev need to come to practice. We noticed she is frail at the start of a match, but she gets stronger and stronger as it progresses. It reminds me of a few people I know.”

“Oh, So she's similar to that Pearl lady. What an annoying fight.”

“Sort of. Pearl’s singularity activates starts out strong but doesn't change in power, unlike Alexia's. There should really be a class on this part, but there isn’t unless you do a bit more research. Some singularities have conditions to them or attributes.”

“Right, Right. Like mine and needing to take damage.”

“Yeah. We did a few test runs, and normally, by the time the game's timer ends, Alexia is at her best. She gets stronger the longer the match lasts.”

“I think she also has a similar attribute to me,” Heidi mentioned. “ I’m weak during night time and strong during the day, but she seems to get stronger no matter what time it is during the match. I honestly don't wanna think of how it is during ‘other’ events.”

“Teach sure did fit together a crazy team. But don’t worry. I’ll be sure to show you all my stuff when the time is right!” Roy said.

Out of everyone on the team, Roy had the most common singularity of body enhancement. Nothing else provided that he was unique. It was not even an attribute that improved him even more, but this did not stop his approach towards the team or his excitement for showing off.

On the other hand, Deveron scoffed at Roy's comment looking back at the match at hand on the screen. During their talk, it seemed Alexia was having a bit of trouble taking on Maria attempting to land punch after punch, but to no avail leading to a flurry of punishments from Maria.

“So it's not that she can’t use it...But a matter of when?” Squinting his eyes, Deveron could only wince in pain in the way the fight headed.

“Maybe...We don’t know.” Heidi replied. All of them could only keep watch over the fight and see how it progressed. A hint of them hoping Alexia had it in her to pull something off against someone that could predict the future.

As for Saint Mary’s Academy, they viewed the events playing out with a sense of glee.

“See. Mary has it in the bag!” Angela smiled, wanting to cheer Mary on.

“No, kidding. But, you have to admit. Starlight isn’t a pushover, either.” Aiken leaned forward a bit, staring at the screen. Quinn, on the other hand, only grew worried by the second. While Maria was their ace in the hole, it seemed Starlight had theirs. They should have expected something like this to occur; after all, if a school like East Bridge existed, who’s to say another also did in the state. A foolish mistake to not consider — A dark horse loomed over the tournament, and it was Starlight.

“Keep your faith in Mary. If she can only land a good hit and end it quickly. We will be in the clear, then East Bridge will be next.” Quinn finally spoke, keeping some of his thoughts to himself. As the fight progressed, he was noticing a trend. At this point in the match, it was hard to keep up with a few movements from both fighters to an average human some of their attacks would come up as blurs on the screen. The fact that Alexia kept up with Maria even with the prediction of events worried Quinn.

Lennox is the same way. Despite him going up in age over the years, he knew when an exceptional fighter was around. From Maria to even Alexia, both of them would have promising futures if they continued in this field. Though, the academy’s future seemed unclear for this year to him.

“Oh, deary.” Was all he could muster up, it seemed.

CRASH!

The 2nd floor of the opera room collapsed from the strange particles known as stardust hitting it. Despite seeing the match two minutes ahead, Maria was being halted at each point by something new. Not only did she have the advantage over Alexia in strength, but also speed everything at this very moment was going as planned, or so it should be. Every time attempting a fatal strike, it was always intercepted by stardust or Alexia herself, barely missing it.

Frustration was beginning to kick in. No matter how many times she’d attempt to land a hit now towards the end of her future sight, it never connected.

“What’s going on?! Come on!” Once more, the crimson aura violently spiked around Maria. The sudden nature of this aura freaked Alexia out, briefly halting her defense only to be kicking in the face tumbling back in the room, which was now half destroyed. “Stay. DOWN!” Maria went in for another attack this time; however, she could see the stardust particles moving around her and Alexia.

For the first time in the match Maria could see the particles the first time it shattered the window and second moments ago it broke the supports to the 2nd floor, but this time she could see it. Brushing her hand near one feeling the intensity of heat coming from within. They were like suns orbiting a larger body — Maria’s ability seemed to be in its cooldown phase; her prediction was still accurate. She was winning.

There was a thought that her precognition was fatally wrong in the back of her mind, it scared her deep down, but she couldn’t know for sure why this was happening for the first time. Either this was becoming an embarrassing dream or an unspeakable nightmare. The person standing before her started to remind her of the rumors of those on a national level. People who would show-off crazy feats and even defy logic at times. No, this was to be HER moment to shine and win! Not this, nobody!

Maria’s attack missed Alexia by a long shot, causing her to collapse to the ground out of exhaustion now. Sweat began to drip down her forehead; the area was heating up. Was it the stardust in the air? Or the frustration finally settling in; no matter what it was, Maria couldn’t quite read it.

Alexia, after avoiding the attack, jumped back onto the opera stage. Rain continues to pour down outside the building; a light fog rolled its way into the room from outside. The rolling sound of thunder echoed through the building; a sensation lingered in the air. Alexia sensed it giving Maria her complete attention. Deveron, Quinn, Angela, and even Pearl felt a sharp amount of energy beginning to spike.

“Fine then… I’ll end this in three…” Maria muttered, closing her eyes. Taking a stand, the young girl opened her arms as if to embrace a hug, the fog in the room thickening around her feet.

“[Triple!]” Opening her eyes, they began to shine a green hue, blood dripping from her left and tears from her right. Tiny strands of green energy running into the iris — and crimson energy coating her body. Clairvoyance now kicking into full gear.

The match entered into the final ten minutes that remained.