Chapter 175: The Duo Tournament Finals [I]

The day of the final arrived under full stadium lights.

The Garden Arena was packed beyond any previous day of the tournament.

Every lower section was filled. The upper stands were filled.

Multiple media platforms were in attendance, hoping to capture this moment.

The large screens cycled between slow-motion clips from the earlier rounds and the four finalist profiles.

Kalon Manchester and Thea Bluegale.

Sun Greatest and Moon Greatest.

The crowd noise never fully dropped. It only changed shape whenever a new replay of Kalon’s ice shard or darkness erasure crossed the screens.

It also showed Sun and Moon using their own skills to easily dispose of their opponents on the other side of the bracket.

In the lower Academy sections, students stood pressed against the railings. In the Awakened School blocks, organised chants rose and fell in waves.

Scouts from multiple organisations filled the reserved middle tiers with tablets already open.

In the west competitor tunnel, Kalon stood with Thea in standard tournament gear.

Thea rolled her shoulders once and checked the wraps on her wrists.

"They’re stronger than anyone we’ve faced," she said.

"I know," Kalon replied. "Stay mobile. If either of them locks you down, prioritise breaking free over forcing damage. Don’t get dragged into a hard exchange just to prove a point. We’ve already proved enough."

Thea nodded. Her blue eyes were steady.

Across the arena, in the east tunnel, Sun and Moon waited with the calm posture of people who had been trained for stages like this since childhood.

Sun’s bright blonde hair caught the tunnel lights. Moon stood slightly behind her, dark grey hair falling near his eyes, presence quieter but no less sharp. Neither of them spoke. They did not need to. The way they held their line already showed clean coordination.

The green lights activated and the barrier doors opened.

Both pairs walked out onto the field. Camera drones adjusted angle to keep all four competitors in frame at once.

The announcer’s voice carried cleanly across every speaker.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Year One Duo Tournament Final. On the west side, representing the Academy of Systems: Kalon Manchester and Thea Bluegale. On the east side, representing the Awakened School: Sun Greatest and Moon Greatest."

The crowd reaction split immediately. Support for Kalon had grown massive after the affinity reveals. Support for Sun and Moon was as it had always been. Between them, the noise was defeaning

The barrier dome sealed. The death-prevention field layered over it.

All four competitors took their marks at regulation distance.

Sun looked across the field at Kalon with severe hostility. Even then, her model-esque face and glorious blonde hair was beautiful.

Moon’s gaze moved once between Kalon and Thea with an equally aggressive look.

The announcer drew a short breath.

"Final match. Begin!"

Sun was the first to move.

Light gathered around her in a clean rising surge. There was no wasted motion or exaggerated wind-up. The air in front of her brightened hard, then compressed into a dense spear of pure radiance.

The edges of it burned white enough that nearby camera drones automatically dimmed their lenses.

She fired it straight at Kalon.

The spear crossed the field in a fraction of a second.

Kalon did not raise a wall, nor did he dodge.

Black Sun Corpus activated.

The light he had been storing for days inverted across his skin in a single dark pulse. When Sun’s spear hit him, it did not explode outward. The darkness took it. The radiance sank into his body along the contact line and vanished into the black reservoir under his skin.

For a moment his outline looked wrong under the arena lights, as if the brightness around him was being swallowed.

The crowd noise broke into shock.

Sun’s eyes widened by a fraction. She had clearly expected a block, a counter flare, or a forced retreat. She had not expected her opening light attack to disappear into him like that.

Kalon lowered his hand slowly. Residual black haze clung to his fingers before fading.

"Light’s not going to work the way you want," he said, voice amplified by the speakers.

Sun’s expression hardened, making her beautiful face look frustrated.

The next gathering of radiance around her was already more powerful.

At the same time, Moon moved on Thea.

He did not charge in a straight line. Darkness spilled from his hands in thick, controlled bands and snapped across the floor toward her position.

Thea reacted immediately, firing a pressurised burst of water to cut one band apart and sliding off-line from the second. She was fast enough to avoid the first binding attempt.

She was not fast enough to avoid the second layer.

Moon’s darkness split, reformed, and closed around her from four angles at once. The bands thickened into solid black bars as they connected, locking into a tight cage around her body.

The structure was more than just a prison. It cut movement, muted her footing, and pressed against her arms before she could shape another water technique cleanly.

Thea slammed a water-coated fist into the nearest bar. The impact splashed hard and did almost nothing. She tried a second strike, then a short Water Dragon Fist into the corner joint.

The cage shuddered, but it did not break.

Moon stood several metres away with one hand still raised, maintaining the construct.

"Stay there," he said quietly to Thea in a cool tone.

Thea’s blue eyes cut toward Kalon through the black bars. She was upright and conscious, but fully separated from the active fight.

Every second she spent locked inside that cage was a second Kalon would have to handle both siblings alone.

The Garden Arena processed the opening exchange.

Sun’s light attack had been absorbed.

Thea had been removed from the field without being knocked unconscious.

The final had started in less than ten seconds, and the shape of it was already different from every match before it.

Kalon turned his full attention toward Sun and Moon as the darkness cage held firm around Thea.

The finals had begun.