The tournament continued on despite Starlight missing its advisor and two key members. Roy went on to win his match after painstakingly exhausting his opponent. The next match commenced with Cheveyo taking on Leilani Academy’s Paulo Naihe.

Heidi patiently waited in the room for Roy to return, knowing that they needed their anchors if either she or Cheveyo lost. And if neither Deveron nor Alexia arrived in time, their team would be disqualified from the tournament.

Roy entered the room, exhausted himself apart from his usual energetic self.

“Those vines were no joke...Sheesh.” He collapsed onto the couch only to realize it was just him and Heidi. “Oi…”

“Hm?”

“Where are the others? And teach?”

“Uum… I don’t really know myself. They went looking for Teach but haven’t returned yet.”

“Have you called?”

“They left their phones...But, I'm sure they’ll be here soon.” Or so she hoped. It’s been almost an hour since they departed.

“Well, even if they don’t show up. The three of us didn’t want them to fight anyway. Sure, Alexia might have taken a single match, but we can still pull through!”

“Yeah, but the deeper we get into the tournament, the struggle increases. You had trouble with the vine girl.”

“Uhh...Well, that’s cause I was distra- Well… It was tricky moving around the vines.”

Heidi wasn’t convinced knowing Roy. “Yeah. I bet.” While the two waited, the day went on. Eventually, Cheveyo secured his victory against Leilani Academy, and up next for the breaker match, Heidi was next — No signs of Alexia nor Deveron yet.

“...Maybe we should call the cops? And alert the foundation?” Even Roy started getting concerned.

“N-No... As you said, we can win without them… I..I’ll do my best to win.” Heidi finally stood up and walked out of the room. A chilling realization in her heart, knowing the team's fate rested on her at this moment—something she didn’t expect at all.

She encountered Cheveyo, who had a deer antler poking out of his head on her way to the fight.

“Faint of Heart? Worry not about the forthcoming of your allies, and instead on the battle ahead.” Cheveyo’s eyes shining emerald green, it seemed a spirit was still in control. His body merely moving past Heidi guiding it back to the room.

“...Easy for a spirit to say.” Heidi continued on until finally opening the doors into the room. There already awaiting Leilani Academy’s ace — Kalena Onakea.

Kalena said nothing and merely started to speak via sign language, the same one used previously in the tournament. Heidi couldn’t understand it but assumed she was playful. Such a case was far from the truth in reality.

Heidi stepped onto the machine, suppressors dropping to the floor. The two would finally transfer into a realm of ash. Hoisted above what appeared to be train tracks, Heidi found herself in yet another city; however, this time, everything was covered in ash that continued to fall like snow.

Landing onto a derailed train cart, she noticed the tracks ended a few meters away only to realize splitting the city streets was a large abyss that none could see within. Only the white unknown ashes fogged up what was within it. Upon closer inspection, the city looked to be run-down and ruined, a fierce wind starting to pick up in the distance.

Heidi brought her hands together, and after a few seconds, bits and pieces of the fog started to scatter as the sunlight beamed through certain parts of the city. A flock of white birds brushing past the mist and into the heating light. Making way past a skyscraper fused with a tree overtaking it with greenery.

Seeing these mysterious birds brought a bit of comfort to Heidi. Half the flock started to become separated by yet another harsh wind. Heidi took note of what appeared to be dark clouds above and around certain parts of the skyscrapers. A storm rolling in?

With the tumbling of rocks nearby, an echo of movement in the distance from the unparted fog, several steel rods made their way towards Heidi. Like a ballerina, Heidi gracefully avoided five of the rods, with the rest missing their mark by a wide margin.

The sunlight poking through the fog started to intensify, the unfortunate birds that did not make it out of the light began to burn up, and their feathers caught on fire. Gusts of wind blew through the valley of buildings allowing Heidi to see Kalena standing on the other side of the abyss on top of a steel rod lingering off the edge of a cliff.

Among the city that was lost to time, the two girls made eye contact. The latter started to say something in sign language once more. Heidi couldn’t even make it out anyway from the distance before she was abruptly flung from the ground by a large gust of wind. The ash in the air started to disperse with storm clouds rolling in, a light drizzle of rain came upon the city, blocking out the sunlight.

The wind swept Heidi into one of the buildings landing on broken glass. When she took a stand, she accidentally cut her finger, steam slowly emitting from the wound as blood started to crawl to a halt.

Picking up pieces of broken glass, the heat started to concentrate and convert what was held into molten glass. Wind speeds kicked up to a level that resembled a typhoon approaching.

“Right… Gotta focus.” Heidi started to mold the molten glass into a compact ball. Once done, she’d lift her thumb up, trying to calculate the wind speeds. Waiting for the right moment to throw it, after a few seconds, she’d fling the ball out of the building. The wind carried the molten ball through the ash, vanishing.

Kalena watched as the molten orb moved into the ash opposite of her. They were more confused than anything; perhaps this one was throwing the fight? Regardless, the girl placed her hands together, forcing hurricane-level wind speeds to manifest. Rain started to fall, mixing in with the endless ash forming an eerie fog that moved through the valley of ruins.

Lifting up their left hand then right, Kalena concentrated, allowing the rain to mix mid-air, forming a stream of water before her. As the rain continued pouring, the city streets started to flood, mixing with the ash. Kalena gently moved her hands in circular motions as the gathering water started to twist and turn above the abyss.

A vortex of water shrouded in the fog of ash and rain accumulates with a single swipe of the hand. Kalena sent the vortex spiraling towards Heidi’s direction. Although she could not see the rain-wrapped vortex, Heidi could feel a strong pull of wind move in her direction. Quickly rushing to the other side of the building.

After a few seconds of waiting, Kalena noticed her vortex fade before even touching the building. The water spout hit solid ground and quickly dispersed onto the other side. Kalena didn’t expect her attack to be naturally disrupted by the environment. Such events could not be helped, there were always disadvantages.

Once more, with the swing of her arm, she brought in another gust of wind. Suddenly a streak of red moved in through the sky and impacted a building behind her. The molten ball had solidified while moving through the wind, with Kalena bringing it back. Breaking through the ruined supports of a skyscraper, it collided nearly, crushing Kalena only to fling the girl up into the air.

Conveniently making a land bridge across the abyss — Kalena hit the ground hard — backside first onto a couple of ruin tracks. The immediate pain only intensified from the burning of the rails. Quickly getting up, she realized the tracks were burning red, steam emitting from the sides as the flood water touched it.

These events occurred faster than she could comprehend, hearing the sound of footsteps rushing at her. By the time Kalena turned to face the sound from the fog, Heidi burst out with hands burning red!

Water surged around Kalena’s arms as the two countered each other, parrying every hit. Steam spewing into the air with every impact. Water wrapped onto Heidi’s leg as a tendril formed from the nearby floodwaters slinging the girl towards the abyss.

Time started to slow to a crawl for Hiedi upon being slung towards the abyss. Upon the abandoned city drowned in green, she reached her hand out towards the dark abyss. Even the falling rivers of water vanished inside. The feeling of dread crept its way into her mind as anxiety pushed her emotions to the brink. At this moment, the abyss could swallow her whole. Light broke through the stormy clouds and parted the fog amidst the rainy weather. Hot air moved around Heidi as an updraft of wind pushed her into the sky — Her body started to warm up and generate steam.

Kalena felt the earth underneath them shake as tectonic plates started to shift and alter the landscape. The abandoned city begins to tilt over and crash. From the abyss and various holes, smoke started to gather and rise.

At this point, she struggled to find Heidi among the fog, which was now being replaced with smoke and sunlight. From the nearby train tracks, lava crept up from the sides and clashed with the water. Just as it appeared, more and more lava converged, similar to the water on the opposite a river of lava flowed. Only this time, tiny lava balls flung themselves at Kalena.

A dodge here, a dodge there — Kalena’s senses sharpened — the more the lava and water interacted, the more steam emitted into the air mixing in with the smoke. Smoke became problematic on the field. Breathing in this particular smoke created a sense of nausea and dizziness that Kalena had to pace her breaths.

SPLASH!

The sound of something colliding into the river of lava alerted Kalena. Upon turning around, she realized Heidi had just landed in the center of the lava, no less. What’s this, though? There were no burns visible on her body; while flames seemed to flicker around them, they were not sought on fire. The lava acted like water to Heidi. A baffled Kalena quickly summoned another vortex.

Ruined streets started to shake, hills being uplifted from their original spots, and buildings continued to collapse. The rumbling of the ground interrupted Kalena’s summoning as lava kept erupting.

Raising her hands into the air — Heidi gathered her strength as the frenzy weather started to clear. Sunlight breaking up the soot and ash, in the distance towards the end of the battlefield, a rather large mountain extruded large amounts of smoke. A volcanic eruption inbound.

Kalena signed off towards Heidi, then with a simple gesture of aiming their thumb down. Hot and Cold air continued to mix, with steam continually being produced by the lava and water. Pressurized water uprooted from the skyscrapers as gallons poured into the city streets mixing with the rivers of lava.

Suddenly, Kalena began to speak for once.

“Alright, Starlight! Your time is up~! Prepare for my [HYDRO ST-]” The ground rumbled with the echo of a boom! Buildings shattered in half as the shockwave rippled through the field, lava and water in unison swayed and uplifted from the ground. Kalena turned to see the volcano had erupted — the shockwave damaging her ears. Before they could attack Heidi again, an enormous amount of heat moved through both of them. Greenery catching on fire and stone eroding away.

Even Heidi was affected by this heat collapsing to the ground — The faint sound rang through her ears. “Ga...me... S..et!”