Showdown

The sky was shrouded in flames as the burning orbs bombarded the center of the battle field. A dark plume of smoke rose to the top, giving the other candidates a sense of relief that was quickly torn away as Zain and Vira dashed from the smolder in the air. Blast of flames and bolts of lightning rained down on those that attacked them as the two moved in sync.

"Don't let up! We have the numbers!" Desperately, they all fired on one location, but the duo split off before continuing their counterattack. More explosions rang out as countless mages were defeated, and in the process Zain started analyzing Vira. Any edge he could get in their inevitable fight was something he needed. But as he focused on her for the briefest of seconds, he noticed the plume of fire on her head had grown exponentially large.

"I know it wasn't always that huge…" And now that he thought about it, as he moved to see his own flaming feather, just like Vira it had grown to a similar size.

As another mage fell to his side, Zain noticed the fire that burned slightly on top of his head had flown towards his own, and in response the fire on his head grew in intensity ever so slightly.

"Now I see…" With each opponent they defeated, the flames would transfer owners before merging. The more people they took down, the larger their flames would be. But he couldn't help but wonder, what would happen if he gathered them all?

"Whatever happens, I'll find out soon enough…" As he stated this, the last of the mages on his side was defeated. After finishing his end of the bargain he looked towards Vira, and noticed she had just finished as well. Slowly, the ember on top of her opponent's head flew towards her own, and once they merged, a strange alertness grew in the last two remaining candidates. Instinctively they both knew they were the last ones standing, and with that knowledge Vira turned towards Zain.

Her grin never left her face as she slowly walked towards him. Zain did the same, and they grew ever closer to the center of the arena. Flames and smoke billowed to the sky, but failed to deter them from meeting. With each step they took the flames on their heads slowly started to leave them before rising up higher above them. They linked with one another and started forming a sphere of golden flames.

"And then there were two." Vira greeted Zain just before they made contact with a statement, acknowledging him as her final opponent.

"I'm curious…" Zain ignored her greeting before focusing on his own question. "You could have taken me out earlier when I tried to attack you. Why didn't you?"

Vira was shocked for a moment before going into deep thought. Her lips curled into a small smile before she looked towards her last opponent.

"I wanted to save you for last. It wouldn't be much fun fighting you with constant little interruptions."

"Is that so?" At last, the two were standing across from one another, and the once massive flames from atop their heads had flown into the sky and made a miniature golden sun. It shone above them, as the apex of the battle royal was about to be reached.

"You'll regret that decision."

"No, I don't think I will."

As those last words parted Vira's lips, her and Zain had nothing else to say to one another. In an instant, the two clashed as flames and lighting sprawled across the destroyed ground. The people in the crowd were pushed back from the force of their clash. Soon after their cores rumbled with the heavy explosion in the center of the ring. From the explosion Zain was seen backing away with his right arm singed.

"Dammit…so she fights while encasing her body in flames."

Vira didn't let up the chase as she followed after Zain with both her arms covered in fire.

'If I fight back while coating my arms in lightning like I just did, I'd only hurt myself in that clash. In that case, fortification!' Zain's feet dug into the ground as a black aura covered his fist and he punched Vira yet again. The wind kicked up as his attack only hit air.

Zain had missed, but in the corner of his eye he saw an oncoming attack and blocked. Flames danced right before his pupils, causing him to look up to his attacker. Vira let off a number of kicks that Zain guarded or redirected before catching her ankle. Turning his boy, Zain threw her across the field in order to distance themselves.

"Fortification. Smart!" Vira's flames burst from her open hands and slowed her down as she landed on the ground. "If you fire off your lighting recklessly, you'd only hurt yourself. Though I wonder!"

In an instant, she was upon Zain again and started her counter attack.

"How long can you last without using your lightning?" Zain fought back to the best of his abilities, countering and dodging her attacks, but whenever he fought back with his own, she would move just out of range of him. His eyes rapidly moved to track her down, as the gears of his mind started turning.

'...Now I remember…!' In desperation, Zain covered himself in lightning before leaping away, and just before Vira could chase after him he threw a lightning spear towards her. As he expected, Vira dodged the spear by leaping up into the air. Zain watched her land before charging towards him yet again, but as she ran, Zain started speaking aloud..

"You use your flames to propel yourself and dodge out of the way. You can also use them for limited flight and mobility…" Boldly, Zain started listing off the ways she could fight and utilize her flames, and that caused her to waver for a moment. In that instant Zain threw out some of his lightning in the surrounding area. Surprised by him suddenly making a move, Vira tried to dodge out the way.

Holding his arm out Zain fired an attack that seemed to be aimed at her, but it easily missed. For a second she let her guard down, but the same black bolt of energy flew past her face and into the ground.

'But that just flew behind me!' Her eyes looked straight towards Zain who started releasing small balls of static electricity into the air, before throwing more lightning bolts into them. As they made contact, they shot off in different directions with blinding speed. Vira turned to her side and started flying off in order to dodge the attacks, but they followed after her and changed directions on a whim. After finally losing their tracking she grinned towards Zain with a confident grin.

"So you created an attack pattern that could hit me both in the sky and on the ground. While that's a good move, it's-"

"Meaningless while the sky is still so open to you? Don't worry, I've got that covered…" Cutting off her sentence and finishing it, Zain placed his hands on the ground as a massive rune formed on it. Spears of lightning rose from the ground and formed a cage around the two.