The pattering of rain continually fell upon the marble bridge. Heidi and Elsie were soaked, knocked unconscious as the final two warriors stood awaiting the next move. Tate hid from the rain underneath the gate, and Osvaldo stood there blessed by his environmental effect. To put someone to sleep through the use of an element is quite the weird power and a dangerous one at that. For Tate could not take the risk, something needed to be done. The rain needed to stop, but the one he claimed as the weakest among them had just been put to sleep by the rain.

Oh… If only they were awake to knock the rain clouds away. At that rate, he’d have to praise her singularity, but the rain was far better than the blasted sun beaming him to death.

“Alright, Valdo. Can’t keep you waiting forever, so why don’t you take the first step forward?”

Extending his arms out, Tate wanted Valdo to strike first.

A moment of pause ensued, neither warrior making the first move. Seconds passed by as the rain continued pouring.

Five seconds…

Ten seconds…

Fifteen seconds…

Twenty…

Waves crashed against the bridge — Water colliding down onto Valdo in a reflection of power — he vanished! Tate held up his guard, turning his head to the right to see Valdo seconds from striking him. A vacuum of wind swept through the passage flowing water through. One wrong move, and either would be swept into the vast ocean below.

Slamming his gloved hand into the ground, Tate took a fist to the face as his alchemy started to activate again. Electricity rapidly expanded to the nearby pipes only to explode, blowing out steamy water onto Valdo knocking him over.

Electricity was distributed to the opposite side of the gate, uplifting the ground where the two spears lay stuck in the background. One of them propelled out of the ground only to be flung into Tate's hand.

Slicing the air before him, Tate began his assault, striking with the weight of his spear. It was light to hold, but when Valdo grabbed hold of it to prevent the strike, its weight increased, breaking the tiles beneath the two.

Water splashed against their faces; what trickery! How dare I am brought down by mere water! Tate, already beginning to feel drowsy, needed to think — While the two remained in a deadlock attempting to force each other back, Valdo slowly but surely came out on top. Tate glanced over to Heidi and noticed a break in the storm clouds. Light! He had to do something about this crazy weather.

Valdo smiled, knowing that victory was close by so fast and so quickly. The higher-powered fights tended to end fast, depending on the matchups anyway. Though, if he were up against Mahdri, she’d have just been immune to this rain of his. The ability to relax one's body with water and force them into a pleasant sleep. At first glance, not the most threatening ability, but this senor student learned to make it into a dangerous weapon.

“Well, Time to end this!” Valdo began to push back against Tates spear, slowly forcing the other up against the destroyed pipes that now gushed out water to his advantage. Swinging the two around, Tate mustered up his energy discharging electricity around his spear, shocking Valdo forcing him to release. However, the electricity radiating around the spear oozed with alchemic properties. Its coloration now makes the spear radiate in orange light.

“Hm...HA!!!” Tate pulled back his arms and flung the spear past Elsie and Heidi. It collided meters away from them into tiles, only to discharge a large wave of light uplifting into the air, knocking out the storm clouds!

An intense heatwave immediately brushed through the area, knocking Tate over and Valdo onto his knees. Both of them were now cooking in an oven. This heat coming out of nowhere and so quickly? Valdo peered his eyes at Heidi.

Her hands burned red with a radiant power! The wind halted as a dry wave of heat brushed the field — The queen under the sun opened their eyes, a jolt of energy waking them up only to immediately slam her hands against the marble tiles! The heat radiating in her hands plunged into the marble, forcing beam lights of heat to uplift from the cracks. In seconds, the entirety of the bridge was burning red, cooking up all those standing on it.

Tate heard the cracking of the gate and the ground beneath him. He clasped his hands together only to be interrupted by the entire bridge breaking apart, plunging all of them down into the sea! Elsie awoke to falling from the sky and was the first to fall into the ocean. Valdo right after, followed by Heidi.

Heidi swam up to the top, catching a breath of air before climbing onto nearby floating rubble, pushing hard to climb aboard. She noticed her left leg was stuck and entangled by pipes and wires. The tapping of a shoe caused her attention to shift ahead of her, and there Tate was standing in a heap of his own sweat.

The heat was as dreadful as ever, but his smile brightened by the sun; his plan worked out.

“Oh, a miraculous exchange. I thank you, Starlight. But, its time we move on.” With the clap of his hands, an assortment of pipes and wires arose from the sea. The portion that held onto Heidi slinging her into the air.

Within Georgia’s team room, Jumon, Xavion, Tae, and Khinara watched on as Tate survived such circumstances.

“Well, at least he isn’t going easy. Millennium nearly had him there, and we’d be with 0 wins.” Jumon continued watching the match before Tae chimed in.

“So long as he wins, I can secure our next victory, then we’d only need the captain to mop things up. Another streak for us, right?”

“If she can handle Mahdri….” Xavion looked at Khinara out of the corner of his eye. The girl wasn’t upset with him; in fact, the look on her face had a few worries.

“Mahdri, huh? So long as I can keep my distance, then yeah. I can see a victory, but dragging the match will be a pain. I’m not like h-” Khinara halted herself; no comparing herself to the former captain would be futile. No one could compare to that devil — Even Mahdri failed in taking them down; all she needed to do was keep the legacy that their state wasn’t a pushover just because they were gone.

“Clark would be proud, right?” Khinara mumbled, a sense of doubt pushing through until Tae placed her hands onto their shoulders, giving them a quick massage. Above Khinara’s head, the number +10 appeared.

“You worry too much; I think we’ve already proven ourselves still; we made it to the finals after all.” Tae, the only first-year among her upper teammates, the girl had her suppressor off. To Khinara’s disapproval, the number above her turned to -43. The massage turned painful.

“Besides, if Tate wins this for us, just leave it to me. I’ll secure our victory properly!” Tae blinked only to feel her hands touching nothing. Turning her head over to the couch, Khinara escaped her grasp. The number above their head now changes to +7, only to hit 0 and vanish.

“Put your bracelet back on, Tae.”

“Look, my wrists hurt like hell keeping that thing on all day.”

“Then purchase a new one.”

“In this economy? I’d be better off selling it.”

Tae bent over onto the couch placing her elbows onto Jumons head, giving a bored expression. Jumon didn’t mind, his attention still focused on the match, wondering if Tate could keep going. As for the other teams, California’s vanguard Hayden wasn’t pleased with Elsie’s performance.

“Come on, Elsie! Get out of the water! You can do it, girl!!!”

Drogo slouched over on the couch next to Lei Lingxin, letting out a massive puff of purple mist from his mouth.

“She can’t hear you…”

“Yeah… I know. Just frustrated. Man, maybe we should have traded spots.”

The strum of a guitar caught Lei’s attention as she listened to Mason play, only for him to interject.

“You wouldn’t have faired much better either, Hayden. Osvaldo is one tricky guy… Sadly, she’s just getting countered hard, left and right. The heat from the south, A techno maniac from the north, and a sleeping storm from the east. Talk about rough…”

Mason once more flicked the string of his guitar, a light vibration emitting throughout the room. Lei watched the pulse hit her and everyone else instinctively; her power started to arise, with her breathing becoming heavier by the second. Placing a single hand over her chest, she slowly calmed down.

Hayden, still watching the monitor of an unconscious Elsie floating in the sea, slammed his fists together.

“COME ON! GET UP, ELSIE! YOU CAN DO IT! LET’S GO~!”

But, to no avail — She was sleeping with the fishes only to be washed away by the large splash into the sea near her. Heidi broke away from the amalgamation of wires and pipes fused together to hold her, the scorching heat bursting open the tubes held high into the sky.

Landing onto a broken piece of marble nearly breaking her legs, the last bit of the aura shielding her body gave out, dispersing into a red mist upon shattering. Taking a look up at the amalgamation — It continued to collect more and more pipes, this time incorporating even marble as a layer of armor. Parts of it started to look like a dragon's head with tendrils of pipes off to the side. One of these tendrils shielded Tate from the harsh heat. Pushing up his glasses to correct them, he couldn’t believe that starlight was still kicking; despite this, his attention was still set on making sure Valdo wasn’t sneaking around.

“No more struggling, Starlight. Just give up victory is mine now.” Clasping his hands together — Tate placed his gloved hand onto the pipes, accelerating this metallic beast's growth. It let out a screech coming to life, only moving down into the water. Tate immediately took damage, coughing up blood.

Heidi rushed off the floating marble and onto another, making her way towards Tate. Her hands began to glow a burning red once more — The water around her started to glow. Each step she took onto a platform, the glow followed.

After taking a few moments to catch his breath and wipe away the blood, Tate saw Starlight approach. Just when he stepped forward, intense pressure grabbed his ankles. A sense of drowsiness overtook him; of all places to get caught, now wasn’t the time. At the edge of the platform, Osvaldo held onto Tate’s legs. Intentions to drag him into the ocean until witnessing Heidi approaching. The closer the girl got, the heat in the area kept increasing. They were still being burned alive the longer they remained in the open. Valdo even struggled swimming in the water as parts of it felt as if he was being boiled alive. Close by, Elsie floated in the water, knocked unconscious.

What’s this? Working together? No, no, no. Work all you like, but you’re never dethroning the kings of this tournament! Tate raised his right-hand, gathering energy. Orange flowers started to blossom forth from this energy and fall onto Osvaldo.

Heidi jumped from the nearest platform, heat intensifying quicker and quicker. Her hand a blazing red! Valdo attempted to release his grip as the glow moved onto the platform, but the flowers paralyzed his arms. His skin started searing from the platform, burning extremely hot.

[ERUPTING BLAZE!] Heidi Shouted! The heat emitting from her hand oozed with intense radiation, glowing brighter and brighter as it approached Tate’s face.

[PRATIA!] Tate announced! The flowers blooming in his hand scattered around. There were dozens, no hundreds of flowers distributed around him. Heidi’s hand made contact with one of the flowers as a discharge of energy moved from her body and through her hand, creating an enormous explosion taking the entire platform with her! Osvaldo knocked back into the sea near Elsie, Tate flung into the sea, and Heidi on the platform injured, petals scattered across her body, paralyzing her and taking root inside her arm and leg.

Tate arose from the sea, climbing onto a nearby platform. With the snap of his fingers, the water underneath Heidi, Osvaldo, and Elsie glowed. His energy left his body before he collapsed entirely, whereas underwater, a gathering of energy formed with the metallic dragon preparing an attack!

Heidi couldn’t move, Elsie still unconscious, and Valdo paralyzed by the flowers floated in the sea. After a few seconds, a beam of light engulfed the three, and they were instantly ejected from the system.

When Heidi opened her eyes, she could hear the crowd's cheers going wild for Georgia. She failed yet again — Clenching her chest, she stood up, slowly making her way down from the platform.

Tae slowly tapped her fingers against Jumons head, the numbers 1, 5, 9, -12, 15, and -34 constantly fluctuating above him. At one point, Tae poked the numbers, making them vanish before taking a stretch and heading to the door.

“Good on Tate for winning us! Time to secure our victory.”

Khinara looked towards Tae, the Vice-captains match was just around the corner, and even if Tae won, she’d have to stall the others to make the victory assured. It was a shame; they could not secure a perfect triumph this year. But, all of them knew things would be difficult regardless without Clark around.

“Good luck.”

Tae gave Khinara a thumbs up before heading out.

Within Millennium’s room, Mahdri watched Osvaldo walk off the stage.

“Oh… Unfortunate tidings. He could of won if bridge didn’t collapse….”

Ariella didn’t expect the match to go the way it did, but it was basically a two versus one when you think about it.

“Well, we can still win soooo. You’re up, Triston!” Ariella looked behind her to the individual that was already walking out. This time, however, the guy had flames flicker around him periodically.

Mahdri watched these flames and couldn’t help but keep a weird smile. Of which, Triston noticed.

“Oi, Mahdri. Stop smilin’ like that! You’re gonna get called a freak if it keeps up.”

“Oh! Sorries.”

Ariella jabbed Triston in the back. The flames ticking away — Triston rubbed the area he was just stabbed before opening the door.

“Hey! Hey! I didn’t mean it, just playing around relax, Ari… Anywho, I got this. Seems you might get to fight Afterall, Mahdri. When this is over, have fun~. Oh! And I’ll be taking the win.”

Triston departed from the room, exhausting a breath of air that only distributed flames. His suppressor beeping red, indicating his power was on a fast track to unleashing.

The slamming of a table could be heard outside of California’s room.

“NOOO! ELSIE! Aw man.” Hayden couldn’t believe it. Elsie had quite the horrible setup. Oh well, you win some, and you lose some. The strumming of a guitar caught his attention. It seemed now was the time. Quickly, Hayden rushed towards Mason.

“ALRIGHT, MASON! Give it your all!”

“So loud…” Mason strummed once more, a low vibration hitting Hayden, stopping him in place. The guitarist arose from his seat and walked towards the door.

“Look, I already got what I wanted, but winning this will push my career forward.” Before departing, Mason looked towards Lei.

“Also, Lei. I’ll try to make it easier on you and win this…How rare, we might be getting a captain's match in the finals.” Mason pondered for the moment, now that’d be fun to watch, but first, he was up to greet his fans. His guitar had the foundations mark on it, an instrumental weapon that catered to his power — With a smile, he’d wave goodbye and be off.

As the three teams began to congregate at the center stage, Starlight was now at a critical point of no return. A loss in this next one would definitely put them out, but a victory would tie it up between all the teams. The score is currently 1-1-1-0.

Deveron walked out of the room before Roy or Cheveyo could usually say anything. Now would be when Reynolds gave a motivational speech or a breath of fresh air to rejuvenate them all. But, with the foundation still having him, disappointment filled the room.

Cheveyo wasn’t going to give Deveron a motivational speech anyway. He couldn’t. The two of them knew what to do, and all he could do was conjure up the spirits to grace him with luck. Even worst, their captain was also missing now. Alexia had not returned — The sun started to set outside the final hours of the tournament were approaching.

On his way to the machine, Deveron intercepted Heidi. The girl looked broken to him, ready to burst into tears. With a hefty sigh, Deveron tapped his fingers against her forehead.

“Hey. Don’t go moping about just cause you lost.”

“B-But I didn’t do much! It all happened so fast that I just couldn’t!”

“Well, matches like that happen. It’s only cursed that it had to happen during the finals. At least you had a chance to fight; what if the setting was that of nighttime? You’d be sleeping like that California girl.”

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t be, as I said, Stop moping.”

Deveron continued to march on past Heidi. She watched on the boy who had all eyes on him during the regionals and even now. If he couldn’t do it, none of them could.

“Good luck…You’re gonna need it.”

Pushing open the double doors to the stadium, Deveron immediately received massive cheers from the crowd compared to the rest of his team. Being the last to arrive, his eyes locked onto all three of his opponents. A guitarist, A weird freshman girl, and the smell of sulfur emitting off the other guy. To think these three were to be the ‘best’ of the best in the nation for this category currently didn’t really sit right with him.

Finally, Deveron stood on top of the machine, waiting to be transferred in. Then he remembered none of the teams had used their unique ability to summon another teammate. Talk about pain. Guess he’d have to rely on someone to really drive this home. Knowing fully that the rest were waiting for this moment to do the same.

The singularity machine kicked into gear a monotone voice calling out to all.

“Fighters at the ready!”

Honestly, this was painful. Deveron thought to himself only to notice odd numbers floating above everyone's head. Above his was the number +13, Tae had +4, Mason +17, and Triston with a +39. No matter how this match would go — Bad luck was always around the corner.

“Commencing Transfer!”