In the sky, the ape launched its lightning smash.

  BOOOOOM.

  A deafening blast shook the Colosseum. The sheer force of the impact kicked up a massive shockwave, completely swallowing the impact zone in a thick, blinding cloud of smoke and dust.

  The crowd gasped, straining to see if the Princess of Alzaria had just been pulverized.

  Slowly, the smoke began to clear, dissipating into the wind.

  Ragna was shown hovering in the dead center of the clearing smoke.

  And I wasn't just floating by magic. Bursting from the back of my sleek, adamantite-forged Black Knight armor were two massive, crackling wings made of pure elemental energy.

  I held Starlia securely by the waist with my left arm. With my right hand, I was casually gripping both of the Lightning Ape’s massive, electrified fists in mid-air.

  The crowd was dead silent. I could practically hear the collective sound of thousands of jaws hitting the floor.

  But I wasn't paying attention to the audience. I was focused entirely on the ape.

  The beast roared, trying to force its fists down, trying to pump more high-voltage electricity into my armor. It was a futile effort. Physics 101: if you want to neutralize a rogue electrical current, you ground it.

  I channeled the heavy, terrestrial energy of my Dragon core into my right arm. Earthen Bind.

  Thick, dense rock spiraled up my forearm and aggressively encased the ape’s fists, hardening into solid stone. I didn't actually turn the ape's hands into rock—that would require molecular transmutation, which is a massive waste of mana—I simply coated them. The rock acted as a perfect insulator. The lightning crackling around the beast’s arms was instantly absorbed and grounded out by the earth element.

  The ape roared in pure agony. Its primary power source was being violently siphoned away, leaving it completely neutralized.

  "Only twenty-five seconds left for the wings," I muttered, my voice dead serious.

  (Inner monologue: Maintaining physical, aerodynamic constructs out of pure Qi is a massive drain on my mana reserves. Flying is a logistical nightmare. I need to wrap this up before I burn through my fuel and drop us both.)

  I released the ape's useless stone fists and quickly descended, placing Starlia gently on the arena floor.

  "Stay," I ordered.

  Before she could even formulate a question, I activated the skill book I had looted back in the forest. Shadow Walking.

  I melted straight down into my own shadow, vanishing from the physical plane.

  Behind me, Starlia stood completely dumbstruck. Up in the VIP box, I could only imagine the absolute chaos. The King, the Queen, and the entire royal entourage were likely choking on their tea. They thought they had paired the Genius of the Century with a lowly, stage-two commoner.

  Surprise, Your Majesty. The commoner just audited your entire bracket.

  I didn't have time to bask in their shock. I was moving through the dark, cold dimension of the shadows, tracking the heavy thermal signature of the Fire Dragon across the arena.

  I erupted from the dragon's shadow, launching myself into the air above it. My Black Knight sword was already drawn, humming with lethal intent.

  "Draco-Phoenix Overdrive!"

  I coated the heavy black blade in superheated plasma and slammed it down onto the dragon's armored spine. The sheer kinetic force of the impact drove the massive beast straight into the dirt, cracking the arena floor.

  But I wasn't finished. As the dragon bounced from the impact, I shifted my grip, pointing the blade straight down.

  "Draco-Phoenix Thrust."

  I drove the sword perpendicularly into its scales. By concentrating the total mass and acceleration of my strike into the single, microscopic point of the blade's tip, the pressure was absolute.

  CRACK.

  The dragon's eyes rolled back into its head, and it went completely unconscious. Threat neutralized.

  It happened so fast that the opposing trio of humans was still standing exactly where they had been, their faces frozen in absolute, comical confusion. They hadn't even processed that their frontline tank had been eliminated.

  Then, panic set in. Realizing they couldn't fly to reach me, the two boys frantically began weaving hand signs to launch a barrage of long-range magical strikes.

  If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  Too slow.

  Before their spells could even leave their hands, I sank back into the shadows. I bypassed their firing line entirely, emerging directly behind the enemy's most lethal asset: the Ice Phoenix.

  The giant, chilling bird squawked, sensing the sudden shift in ambient temperature behind it.

  I didn't give it time to turn. I coated my sword in pure, unadulterated Phoenix fire and plunged the blazing steel directly into the bird's icy flank.

  The resulting thermal shock was devastating. The Ice Phoenix shrieked in absolute agony, the sudden introduction of extreme heat to its sub-zero biology causing its internal mana structure to violently destabilize.

  In a desperate, panicked reflex, the bird summoned a massive, jagged icicle directly above itself, intending to drop it on my head.

  I didn't even flinch. I just raised my free, empty hand.

  "Incinerate."

  A shotgun blast of violet fire erupted from my palm, slamming into the Phoenix point-blank. The bird dissolved into a cloud of steam and fading light, plummeting unconscious to the arena floor.

  I glanced at my internal timer.

  "Ten seconds left," I stated coldly.

  I dropped back into the shadows, crossing the arena in a fraction of a heartbeat, and reappeared right next to Starlia.

  I raised my sword, channeling the remaining elemental energy from my cores. With two precise, horizontal slashes, I sent twin arcs of compressed elemental force screaming across the arena. The shockwaves slammed into the two boys, instantly knocking them off their feet and blowing them out of bounds.

  As for the girl who owned the Ice Phoenix?

  She didn't even require my attention. She happened to be standing directly underneath the massive icicle her panicked bird had summoned moments ago. Gravity did exactly what gravity does.

  CRASH.

  The ice block plummeted, striking the girl and instantly knocking her out cold.

  The arena went completely, terrifyingly silent. The dust slowly began to settle around the unconscious bodies of the opposing team.

  I tapped the silver locket on my chest, letting the heavy Black Knight armor dematerialize to conserve my remaining mana, leaving me standing in my crisp Azure Frost jacket.

  I let out a slow, controlled breath, turned to the dumbstruck Princess, and offered a polite, deeply sarcastic bow.

  "My apologies for the delay, Princess," I said smoothly. "Now, if you don't mind, there is a bakery down the street, and I really want a pastry."

  The crash from the girl's own Ice Phoenix didn't just injure her; it took her out of the equation entirely. Meanwhile, the remaining two boys actually showed a spark of competence. They didn't just spam spells; they merged them.

  One channeled Draconic Crash—a massive, fiery dragon projectile—while the other wrapped it in a high-voltage Lightning Bolt. It was a beautiful display of elemental synergy, I’ll give them that.

  Zero. My wings flickered and vanished. The physics of high-altitude mana suspension are unforgiving; once the fuel is out, gravity becomes a very aggressive landlord. I could have dodged the incoming nuke easily, but there was a logistical problem: Starlia was right behind me. If I moved, the Princess became a royal smear on the arena floor.

  So, I did the most "Ragna" thing possible. I stayed put. I raised my hands to my shoulders and took the combined elemental blast head-on.

  BOOM.

  A massive cloud of black smoke engulfed us. The two boys started celebrating, probably already mentally spending their prize money. But as the smoke cleared, their cheers died in their throats.

  I was standing there without my armor, looking completely unbothered.

  "One minute left," I said, my voice cutting through their confusion.

  Here’s the secret they didn't catch: I had activated Draconic Scales from the very start of the match. It’s a passive-active hybrid technique that reinforces the epidermis with the density of Mizuki’s hide. Even the lightning-ape's smash earlier had only been hitting a dragon-scaled tank. My skin currently looked less like a twelve-year-old’s and more like a jade-scaled reptile.

  I didn't give them a chance to process the biology lesson. I vanished—Shadow Walking is a hell of a drug—and reappeared behind the first boy.

  "Elemental Draco-Phoenix Strike!"

  The impact was surgical. Before the second boy could even blink, I was behind him too, repeating the process with a different sequence of strikes. I won the match without a single scratch on me.

  I walked over, picked Starlia up, and held her in my arms. She was staring at me like I was a different person entirely.

  "Alright, Princess, let’s go," I said, offering a genuine, tired smile. "The fight’s over."

  "Are you going to tell me the truth now or not?" she asked, her voice quiet but sharp.

  "Oh, yeah. First, we should probably head back," I replied, feeling the mana-hangover starting to kick in.

  "I want to know everything," she insisted.

  "Yes, I'll tell you," I promised. "But first, we’re going back to recover our mana. I used a disgusting amount of it on that Shadow Walking stunt, and frankly, I'm exhausted."

  "Hey, Writer? Next time you decide to 'balance the gameplay' by making me a human shield for a twelve-year-old Princess, maybe give me a heads-up. My Draconic Scales are top-tier, sure, but that lightning-fire-dragon-nuke combo was a bit much for a Monday morning.

  (Actually... don't change a thing. Watching those two 'geniuses' realize their ultimate move barely wrinkled my jacket was worth every drop of mana. I live for the look of pure, unadulterated confusion on an opponent's face. Keep the 'impossible' odds coming—I’m starting to enjoy making you look like a bad storyteller.)"

  But guess the writer has just got rejected or something... How was in a bad mood.

  A dangerously calm voice echoed in my mind

  "You moron, just shut up and focus on the plot. I'll cut your pay, I mean I'll take you through hell if you keep that tone with your writer. I have the pen, remember that you bastard. Now go."

  I blinked, my internal monologue momentarily stuttering as the "Writer" actually had the gall to fire back.

  "Cut my pay? You’re lucky I don’t charge overtime for all the physics tutoring I’m doing in this medieval fever dream," I scoffed, though I quickly felt a cold shiver crawl up my spine that had nothing to do with the Ice Phoenix’s residue.

  (Alright, alright! Calm down with the 'God Complex'—the ink is still wet, I get it. You have the pen, I have the trauma, and apparently, I’m about to go through another 'hell' session. Just make sure the next 'hell' comes with a decent loot drop, or I’m unionizing with the rest of the characters. I'm going, I'm going!)

  I adjusted the collar of my Azure Frost jacket, tucked Starlia more securely into my arm, and marched toward the waiting room without looking back. I had a Princess to debrief and a core to recharge, and quite frankly, the "Writer’s" temper was starting to become a bigger logistical hazard than the E-Rank monsters.

  We reached the waiting room, and for the first time, the silence between us wasn't filled with her arrogance, but with a whole lot of unspoken questions.

  But guess she wasn't the one who's as shocked as I was going to be in the waiting room.