Chapter 238 238: Only 1 can be

Words : 2186 Updated : Sep 27th, 2025

The arena fell silent as the two fighters took their positions. On one side stood Jayden Smoak, Academy 8's formidable S-Class elemental, his eyes glacial and unblinking. Across from him, Luis Quinn, Academy 1's kinetic specialist, bounced lightly on the balls of his feet, his body a coiled spring ready to unleash. The platform beneath them glowed to life, and a shimmering energy barrier rose around the perimeter, encasing the fighters in what was essentially a controlled disaster zone. "They reinforced the barrier after Lucas,'s last match," Kelvin whispered to Noah. "Triple-layered kinetic dampeners with thermal diffusion tech." Noah's eyes narrowed, studying both fighters' stances. "They'll need it." The countdown flashed on the screens above the arena. The crowd collectively held its breath. Three. Two. One. The platform blazed white, signaling the start. Neither fighter moved immediately. They circled each other, each step calculated, measuring. "Come on, icebox," Luis taunted, his voice carrying through the silent arena. "I've got places to be." Jayden's response was a sudden flash of his palm, from which erupted a blinding wave of superheated air. The heat shimmer distorted the space between them as the thermal blast shot toward Luis. Luis didn't dodge. Instead, his body tensed, and he punched directly into the oncoming heat wave. The collision created a thunderous boom as his kinetic strike dispersed the thermal energy in a circular pattern around him. "He just punched heat!" Noah murmured, leaning forward. "Kinetic dispersal," Kelvin explained. "He's using force compression to create a counter-pressure wave that nullifies the thermal expansion." But Noah already knew this. The exchange was merely the opening salvo. Both fighters exploded into motion simultaneously. Luis blurred forward, his momentum suddenly doubling as he closed the distance. Jayden's hands began to glow—left hand radiating frost, right hand shimmering with heat. Luis launched a straight jab that seemed to accelerate mid-strike. Jayden pivoted, barely avoiding the blow, which struck the air with enough force to create a small sonic boom. The miss cost Luis a fraction of a second—time enough for Jayden to slam his frost-charged palm against Luis's extended arm. Ice crystals instantly formed along Luis's forearm. But instead of pulling back, Luis smiled and flexed. The ice shattered as he suddenly accelerated his arm's vibration. "Momentum shift," Noah observed. "He's vibrating his molecules to generate heat." The fighters separated briefly, reassessing. Luis's smile was gone, replaced with calculating focus. Jayden's eyes narrowed, steam rising from one hand, frost from the other. "You hit like a year one," Jayden sneered. "Academy 1 sending their B-team now?" Luis didn't respond verbally. Instead, he stomped his foot on the platform. The impact sent a ripple through the material beneath them, disrupting Jayden's footing for just a microsecond. It was all Luis needed. He crossed the distance in what appeared to be a single step, throwing a punch that seemed to drag time along with it. The air compressed visibly around his fist, distorting light itself. *Krakrooom!!!* "Force compression at maximum," Kelvin whispered, awe in his voice. "He's storing kinetic energy from multiple potential strikes into a single point of impact." Jayden brought both hands up in a cross-block, and the instant before impact, his arms became encased in a shell of ice several inches thick. *Brzzzzzzzzz~* The collision was catastrophic. Luis's fist shattered the ice barrier, but the impact diffused enough force that Jayden was merely thrown backward instead of being obliterated. He slid across the platform, his heels carving twin grooves into the reinforced material, frost trailing from his fingers as he stabilized himself. "Smart defense," Noah said. "The ice takes the initial compression shock, and the phase change from solid to liquid absorbs a significant portion of the kinetic energy." But Luis wasn't giving Jayden time to recover. Using his momentum shift, he instantly accelerated again, charging forward with a barrage of strikes—each one seeming to move faster than the last. Jayden backpedaled, hands weaving patterns of alternating heat and cold that created a disorienting thermal barrier between them. Air crackled and popped as extreme temperature differentials collided. "You're fast," Jayden grunted between defensive maneuvers, "but speed won't save you from what's coming." With a sudden stomp of his own, Jayden channeled cold energy into the platform beneath them. The surface frosted over in an expanding circle, the temperature dropping so rapidly that the material itself began to contract and crack. Luis's next step caught the slick surface, but instead of slipping, he used his momentum control to anchor himself. Still, the momentary adjustment cost him his rhythm—and Jayden capitalized. The S-Class elemental thrust both palms forward, one blazing hot, one freezing cold, creating a thermal shear wave that slammed into Luis with physical force. The temperature differential was so extreme it created a localized pressure explosion. *Boom!!!* Luis crossed his arms to block, but the impact sent him skidding backward. For the first time, his confident expression faltered. The energy barrier around the platform flickered as it absorbed the excess thermal energy. "The barrier's already struggling," Kelvin noted, pointing to where the energy field wavered like a heat mirage. "And they're just getting started." Luis recovered quickly, shaking off the thermal shock. His eyes had changed—playfulness replaced by cold calculation. He began to move differently, his steps creating subtle vibrations in the platform with each footfall. "He's building resonance," Noah realized. "Every step is adding to a kinetic wave in the material itself." The fighters clashed again in the center of the arena, exchanging blows at blinding speed. Luis's strikes came from impossible angles, his momentum shifting mid-attack to bypass Jayden's guards. Jayden countered with precision thermal strikes—a freezing touch here, a burning palm there. Where Luis landed hits, the impact shook the entire platform. Where Jayden connected, Luis's skin either frosted over or reddened with first-degree burns which shouldn't have been possible. But it was because the gear they wore did next to nothing to stop the damage. They separated after a furious exchange, both breathing heavily. The platform beneath them was a disaster—sections frozen solid, others showing heat stress fractures, the material warped from extreme temperature changes. "You're good," Luis acknowledged, rolling his shoulder where a patch of frost still clung to his gear. "But I'm getting faster." "And I'm just warming up," Jayden replied, his breath visible despite the sweat streaming down his face. Luis charged again, but this time Jayden was ready. He slammed both hands onto the platform, channeling his Absolute Snap technique. A wave of flash-freezing energy erupted outward in a circle, instantly transforming the ambient moisture in the air into a shell of ice that encased everything within a three-meter radius. Luis, caught mid-stride, found his lower body suddenly encased in ice. But rather than struggling, he smiled. "The barrier—" Kelvin started. "It's going to break," Noah finished. Luis's body began to vibrate—subtle at first, then with increasing intensity. The ice around him started to crack, then splinter. "Momentum theft," he growled through gritted teeth. "Thanks for the resistance training." *Skrrraboom!!!~* With an explosive burst, he shattered the ice completely. But instead of dissipating, the kinetic energy of the breaking ice seemed to flow into his body. His movements became a blur as he suddenly operated at a speed that seemed impossible. "He's absorbing the kinetic potential from the breaking ice," Kelvin explained breathlessly. "Converting potential energy to kinetic advantage." What followed was a one-sided barrage as Luis unleashed a flurry of accelerated strikes. Jayden, unable to track the enhanced speed, took hit after hit. Each impact sent shock waves through the platform. The energy barrier fluctuated wildly as it struggled to contain the kinetic discharge. Jayden crashed to one knee, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth. Luis stood over him, fist cocked back for what looked like a finishing blow. "Send my regards to Lucas," Luis smirked. "Tell him Academy 1 produces winners, not whiners. Perhaps I'm the number one to beat!" Something shifted in Jayden's eyes—a cold fury replacing the pain. His body temperature plummeted so rapidly that frost formed instantly across his skin. "You don't get to have him! He's mine!!!" Jayden hissed. With a roar, he executed his Thermal Reversal technique. The air around him went from sub-zero to plasma-hot in a microsecond. The shock wave of expanding air slammed into Luis with the force of a bomb, sending him flying backward into the energy barrier, which sizzled and warped upon impact. "Thermal expansion," Kelvin gasped. "Air increasing in volume by a factor of thousands in a split second." Luis peeled himself off the barrier, his gear smoking slightly. His confident smile was gone, replaced with grim determination. "Alright then. No more playing around." The fighters crashed together again, this time with a ferocity that made their earlier exchanges look like a warm-up. Luis's every strike carried the concentrated force of a wrecking ball. Jayden's counters alternated between freezing cold and searing heat, the temperature differentials creating localized air explosions with each connection. The platform beneath them began to buckle. Fracture lines spread across its surface, some sections glowing hot, others covered in crackling ice. "The structural integrity is failing," Kelvin said, pointing to where the platform material was warping. "Even reinforced beast coatings can't handle these thermal stress cycles." Noah nodded, his eyes never leaving the fighters. "Look at their techniques—they're both approaching their limits." It was true. Luis's movements, while still blindingly fast, had lost some precision. Jayden's thermal output was fluctuating, the frost and heat emanating from his hands coming in uneven pulses. The fight reached a breaking point when both fighters launched simultaneous attacks. Jayden thrust forward with both hands, channeling extreme cold with his left and extreme heat with his right. Luis countered with a force-compressed straight punch, kinetic energy visibly distorting the air around his fist. Krakaboom The collision was cataclysmic. The opposing forces—thermal versus kinetic—created a feedback loop that neither fighter could control. The energy barrier around the arena flashed blindingly bright as it struggled to contain the discharge. Spectators shielded their eyes as the platform itself seemed to fold inward at the point of impact. When the light faded, both fighters had been thrown to opposite ends of the now-devastated arena. The platform resembled a war zone—cracked, burned, frozen, and warped beyond recognition. Luis was the first to stir, pushing himself to his hands and knees. His gear was in tatters, blood streaming from numerous cuts, but his eyes remained focused. He began to gather himself, drawing in remaining kinetic potential from the environment. Across the ruined platform, Jayden rolled onto his back, his breathing labored. Frost and steam alternated across his skin as his control slipped. "It's over," Luis called out, staggering to his feet. "You fought well, but Academy 8 just doesn't produce our caliber." Jayden's eyes snapped open, rage replacing exhaustion. "I'm not done." With what looked like monumental effort, he pressed his palms against the platform. The temperature around him began to fluctuate wildly—freezing, then burning, then freezing again. The platform material groaned under the stress. "He's going to shatter the entire arena," Noah realized. "Thermal stress fracturing." Luis recognized the danger too late. As he charged forward for a finishing blow, the platform beneath him suddenly shattered along stress lines that Jayden had methodically created throughout the fight. Luis's momentum carried him forward, but his footing was gone, disrupting his kinetic chain. In that moment of imbalance, Jayden struck. Not with ice. Not with heat. But with both simultaneously. His hands slammed into Luis's chest—left hand flash-freezing on contact, right hand superheating instantly afterward. The thermal shock sent a catastrophic wave through Luis's body. Muscles seized as they were subjected to impossible temperature gradients. Luis's momentum control failed completely. He crashed backward, his body convulsing from the thermal shock. Jayden stood over him, barely able to stay upright himself. Both hands smoked—one from extreme cold, one from extreme heat. The platform around them was coming apart, the energy barrier fluctuating wildly. "Tell your Academy," Jayden growled, "that was just the warm-up." He leaned down, close enough that only Luis could hear his next words. The spectators saw only his lips move, but Noah, whose observation skills were sharper than most, read the name formed by those lips: "Lucas." Luis tried to rise one last time, his body trembling with effort, but collapsed back to the shattered platform, unconscious. The energy barrier finally gave out with a sizzling pop, and medical teams rushed onto what remained of the platform. The crowd erupted—some in cheers, others in shocked gasps. "That," Kelvin breathed, "was the most destructive match I've ever seen." Noah nodded slowly, his eyes following Jayden as the victor limped off the ruined platform. "And it's just the beginning."

Chapter 238 238: Only 1 can be

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