I stared at Leonica, squinting. My Spirit Sense—which usually just tells me when a monster wants to eat my face—was buzzing weirdly around her. She didn't feel... human. Not anymore.

  "Hey, Leo," I said, dropping the whole 'shocked' act because, honestly, my life is a walking glitch anyway. "You don't seem like a human to me. Did you level up and skip a species tier? Have you evolved? What is this, Pokémon?"

  Leonica smirked, completely unfazed. "So you noticed it, bro. Yes! I have. I am a low-angel now."

  "A low-angel," I deadpanned. "Great. So my sister has wings now. Do you get a halo, or is that a premium unlock? The family reunions are going to be a logistical nightmare."

  (Wait, the camera is still on me? Oh, come on. Look, I'm having a touching, potentially lore-breaking sibling moment here.)

  (Hey, Writer! Yeah, you! I'm busy catching up with my newly angelic sister. Be a pal and pan the camera over to the B-plot, will you? Give the readers that fancy third-person cinematic treatment for the magical slugfest happening next door. Action montage, let's go!)

  [Third-Person Cinematic Mode: ON]

  While Ragna was busy interrogating his sister’s evolutionary tree, a completely different genre of chaos was unfolding nearby.

  Valerius was playing whack-a-mole, aggressively and continuously swinging his staff at Elysia. Every time she launched an ice attack, his staff flared, melting her projectiles into harmless puddles with frustrating efficiency.

  "Stop annoying me, you moron!" Elysia shrieked, finally hitting her breaking point. The ambient temperature plummeted, freezing the steam into jagged frost.

  "Aaah!"

  "Transformation: Icicle Monarch!"

  Elysia didn't just transform; she got a full-blown premium skin upgrade. Her eyes shifted to a pure, piercing icy blue, leaking a cold, freezing mist like dry ice. Her hair crystallized, turning stark white at the roots and fading into a deep, frozen blue at the tips. The standard dress she wore fractured and reshaped itself into an elegant, sweeping gown of ice-blue and white.

  As if that wasn't enough dramatic flair, a giant, intricate snowflake materialized behind her back, spinning like a crystalline halo.

  She floated upward, defying gravity, and raised both her hands toward the heavens. The mana in the air screamed as a giant, majestic spear of solid ice materialized, rapidly growing in size until it looked like it could skewer a dragon.

  "Spear of Frozen Heavens!" she declared, launching the massive projectile straight at Valerius.

  The sheer density of her freezing aura hit Valerius first. He froze in place, literally and metaphorically, blinking in confusion as the heavy, crushing pressure locked his joints.

  But you don't survive in this world without a second phase of your own. Just before the giant icicle could turn him into a shish kebab, Valerius lowered his head. His expression went dead serious.

  "Transformation: Infernal Emperor!"

  A localized hurricane of pure fire erupted around him, violently countering the frost. The flames devoured his clothes, burning them away only to instantly forge a sleek, heavy armor of red and yellow magma right onto his body.

  He was emitting waves of raw, blinding fire. Behind him, his staff magically enlarged to ridiculous proportions, spinning rapidly like a fiery helicopter blade.

  Valerius raised a single, gauntleted hand toward the floating Ice Queen.

  "Fist of the Sun!"

  A colossal fist made entirely of blinding, condensed fire materialized in the air, radiating so much light that everyone in the vicinity had to shield their eyes.

  The Spear of Frozen Heavens and the Fist of the Sun collided.

  The resulting explosion was a cataclysmic shockwave of roaring steam, fire, and shattering ice that violently shook the arena walls. When the vapor finally cleared, the epic, world-ending showdown between fire and ice had reached its grand conclusion:

  Both of them had been blasted into opposite walls, completely unconscious. A double K.O.

  (Writer’s Note: Anti-climactic? Maybe. But at least they left some really impressive, character-shaped craters in the masonry.)

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  Meanwhile, on the other side of the battlefield, Lior was taking absolutely zero chances.

  He raised his hands, his expression deadly serious, and the moisture in the air aggressively condensed into thousands—no, tens of thousands—of floating water droplets.

  "Water Drop Gatling," he stated coldly.

  The droplets fired at the speed of sound. It wasn't just a spell; it was an elemental firing squad. The supersonic water tore through Starlia's defensive lotus petals like wet tissue paper, leaving her battered, bruised, and bleeding.

  Rage flickered in her eyes as she staggered, but Lior didn't give her a second to breathe.

  "I won't win if I don't go all-out," Lior muttered, twirling his trident and pointing it directly at her. "So let the fun begin."

  The gem embedded in his trident flared with a blinding blue light, supercharging the moisture around it.

  "Aqueous Snipeshot!" he shouted.

  A highly compressed beam of water shot forward. Starlia frantically threw up layer after layer of glowing magic shields, but it was entirely useless. The beam pierced through her defenses at near-light speed, slamming into her and launching her violently into the air.

  She crashed down hard. Her clothes were torn, her nose was bleeding, and by all conventional RPG mechanics, her HP bar should have been blinking in the red danger zone.

  Instead, she started laughing. A low, creepy chuckle that usually implies a boss is about to enter their second phase.

  "I wasn't expecting you to be that strong," Starlia coughed, wiping blood from her chin. She reached into her torn robes and pulled out a glowing green sphere. "I thought I would save this to use against Ragna, but... you forced my hand."

  She crushed the orb in her palm.

  Instantly, thick green smoke erupted from the shards, swallowing her entirely.

  "Orb of the Desperate!" her voice echoed from within the smoke, suddenly sounding unnervingly chipper. "When you're at low health but desperate to win, it fully heals you and makes you invincible for two minutes!"

  (Writer's Note: Two minutes of full invincibility? That's not a tactical item, that's just a blatant pay-to-win cheat code. Someone ban her from the server.)

  The green smoke cleared. Starlia stood there, perfectly healed, glowing with an untouchable, shimmering aura. She grinned maniacally.

  "So, as you said... let the fun begin."

  Hey, Writer! Yeah, back to me now, please.

  I ducked instinctively as a massive shockwave of steam and a random chunk of ice the size of a coffee table crashed into the ground about fifty feet away. The entire floor vibrated under my boots.

  "What in the name of the Goddess are those idiots doing over there?" I muttered, brushing a layer of frost off my jacket. I peered through the dense clouds of green smoke and steam billowing across the battlefield, completely clueless.

  I literally can't leave them alone for five minutes. Are they dead? Are they winning? Did someone just pop a legendary consumable item without me? I couldn't see a damn thing through the debris.

  "Whatever," I sighed, adjusting my grip on my sword and turning my attention back to my own immediate problems. "Not my fight. Yet."

  (Alright, Writer. I can hear the distinct sound of someone getting repeatedly punched in the face through this green smoke, but I can't see a damn thing. Take the wheel and show the audience what's happening. I'll just fight here and try not to get hit by stray debris... and my angelic sibling.)

  With her two-minute, frankly unfair invincibility buff active, Starlia didn't even bother with elaborate magic. She simply closed the distance and started beating Lior like he owed her money. It was continuous, ruthless, and entirely one-sided. Lior’s elemental superiority didn't mean much when his target was literally incapable of taking damage.

  Meanwhile, on a completely different section of the battlefield, things were equally brutal, but significantly quieter.

  Jade was currently getting handed his own dignity on a silver platter by Alita.

  The most infuriating part? Alita looked completely bored. Her face was a blank slate, not a single drop of sweat or expression of effort to be found. She was dodging and countering like she was playing a tutorial level on easy mode.

  Jade, on the other hand, was practically vibrating with rage. Watching your opponent treat a life-or-death battle like a mild inconvenience does terrible things to a warrior's ego.

  Finally hitting his breaking point, Jade forcefully sheathed his sword and let out a visceral scream.

  Alita politely stopped her assault, watching with mild curiosity as Jade began to glow, his feet lifting off the ground. His heavy armor dissolved into light, instantly replaced by a highly stylized, fancy ensemble of green and gold fabric. His regular eyes shifted to a glowing, solid pearl white, and his hair flared into a vibrant emerald.

  "Transformation: Tempest's Spirit!" he roared, unleashing a massive shockwave of wind and aura.

  Alita, still entirely expressionless, simply raised a hand and summoned a basic magic shield to casually deflect the howling gale.

  "What a nuisance," she murmured, her voice flat.

  She reached out, and reality seemed to warp around her hand as she summoned her own weapon. It wasn't a standard blade. The steel looked like a tear in the universe—a literal window into a swirling, galactic space. Nestled menacingly right on the hilt was a large, unblinking demon eye, glowing a sinister purple.

  "Let's end it then," Alita said.

  A sword containing the vast emptiness of space and a creepy eyeball? Edgy, but undeniably effective.

  Jade, fueled by his new Tempest buff, didn't hold back. He launched a relentless barrage of multiple attacks, moving at blinding speeds and finally managing to land a solid, heavy combo directly on Alita.

  But Alita was apparently made of titanium and sheer apathy. She took the hits, stood right back up, dusted herself off, and immediately started swinging back. No matter how hard Jade hit her, she just kept recovering, completely unbothered.

  Frustrated to the point of madness, Jade decided to just drop a nuke.

  "Eternal Spirit Strike!" he shouted.

  He slammed his power into the earth. Massive, thick creepers and enchanted vines instantly erupted from the ground, violently wrapping around Alita and binding her securely in place.

  But he wasn't done. Jade summoned a massive, towering ethereal spirit behind him. He tossed his sword to the giant apparition, and the weapon instantly scaled up, growing a hundred times larger until it was the size of a skyscraper.

  The giant spirit gripped the colossal blade in both hands, raising it high above the restrained Alita, ready to cleave her and the entire arena in half.