House of Amarin

Entering the arena, as soon as their feet passed through the magical veil, everyone found themself on a different, floating marble platform. Looking around, they had to realize everyone was scrambled up and teleported to a completely different and random platform in the air. As Lia turned her head, she saw Keily 30 meters deep below her on a different, circle-shaped one while Raufon was 100 meters to her left on another that looked like a hexagon. As she was darting her eyes around for her friends she saw the members of their opposition also appear, all flashing onto the separated, floating platforms.

"This is going to be tricky…." She murmured, taking a deep breath and pushing down her excitement. It was as if they were floating above the clouds on a sunny day, who knows how high from the ground. Would they die if they fell? Lia also couldn't help but think about it, gulping. "Oh?" Then she noticed it. The platforms were connected. As the light passed through the air from above, she realized that invisible chains were going from her platform in all directions. When light passed through it, it distorted a little and made it possible to see the vague outline of the chains. "This isn't going to be easy…." She murmured, scanning where they led, realizing she was connected to four others, housing girls from the opposing faction.

"I see, everyone is here!" Lauron appeared above them, sitting on a throne, floating there leisurely. "There are some rules!" He smiled, scanning the group with his blue eyes, "If you fall, you are going to be teleported out if you can't get back up to the playing field! If you are incapacitated, you are also going to be sent out! Any spells, weapons, and treasures are allowed! Feel free to use deadly force; I am here!" He laughed loudly, making many flinch and start sweating without realizing it. "If it would end in death, I'll intervene and teleport the loser out of here! Don't be afraid to maim the other party; our top-notch healing center can replace any and all lost limbs! Maybe you will limp around legless for a few months, but we will regrow them straight from your body! Ahahaha! Go wild, my beautiful flowers!"

"..."

Many of the girls from his fan club couldn't help but stare with open mouths, thinking this was some kind of sick joke… but no. His eyes were serious and the wicked smile on his face was anything but reassuring.

"Well…" Koa sent over a message to everyone as they were too far away to hear her shoutings, "Is this how he always was? It is a bit scary!"

"Yes." Aurora wrote back, "He is a bit sadistic. But this also means I can go all out!"

"Big Bro once said it is best not to anger Lala," Lia added to the group chat, "When he gets angry, he gets really nasty! I think he disliked the fact that Heliett attacked you when you were struggling with your tribulation, Koa."

"Oh~" She sent back with a smiley face accompanying her message, "I like him even more now!"

"START!" Lauron clapped, and the system voice shouted at the same time before anybody else could join in their chat and all hell broke loose at that moment.

The first to make a move was Lia, fearlessly stepping onto the invisible chain and running up on it. Sending out her mana, she could feel where it led and sneaked forward; for others, it looked like she was walking on thin air. She arrived at the other, small platform in a flash, finding a girl wearing the uniform of the 2nd-year students. Before she could say anything, Lia simply ran into her, shoulders out, covered in orange flames, blasting the unfortunate girl off from there with a muffled scream. Before disappearing amongst the thick clouds below them, yellow light enveloped her, teleporting her out of the arena.

"Easy!" Lia laughed, already heading in a different direction.

She wasn't the only one who quickly grasped the situation and the unexpected battlefield's structure. Looking around, Heliett was cursing as this significantly diminished their advantage in their numbers. Being separated like this made it hard to work together, but at least this was true for the other side too. She only waited a little longer than Lia, before stepping onto one of the invisible chains, noticing it quickly. Under her naked feet, it was coated rapidly in ice as she slid downwards from her high position, heading straight at her target: Raufon.

"It is good to be wealthy!" He laughed, noticing her incoming body. He would be wary of taking her head on in any other circumstances, but not today.

Shaking his body, he transformed himself into his beast-like form. Rocks appeared around him, spinning and attaching themselves to his enlargened body, welcoming Heliett's arrival with a roar.

"Hmph…!" Heliett snorted, forming a ramp of ice, flinging herself high, flying over Raufon's body. She was not about to go and try and wrestle him. Even if she was a tier higher, a beast folk with earth attribute was a force to be reckoned with physically. While flying over him, multiple icicles formed under where she passed, raining down on Raufon like blue arrows of death.

He wasn't taking it lightly, crossing his arms and summoning as thick of a rock shield as possible. When they made contact, their frosty energy seeped into it, freezing his defenses, weakening and cracking them for the next attacks. Yet when his shield broke, another bubble-like energy field appeared around his body, bathed in an earthly light. His artifact activated and resisted Heliett's spell, turning ice into water and letting it drop to the floor harmlessly.

"So you are their brute, huh?" She thought, still in mid-air, by now descending towards another invisible chain she targeted. She was not about to remain and fight against someone clearly geared to withstand her attacks for a long time. Let his energy and treasures run dry, then she could finish him off later.

"Not so fast!" Raufon roared, waving his hand, summoning a flask of turquoise liquid, gulping it down, and stomping on his platform, making it shake. Heliett didn't know what he had just drunk as she had to concentrate on her landing.

The previous spot she was heading towards had already changed by the time her feet touched down on it. Raufon's platform stretched out, forming an elongated shape as hard rocks created ample space for her to land on while walls rose upwards, entrapping her immediate escape. All of this happened in under a second, and she didn't have time to look back, not that she needed to. With an elegant move, she skidded towards the left like a skater, dodging Raufon, who was rushing past her like a freight train without brakes.

"Annoying." Heliett groaned softly, raising multiple layers of walls made out of ice, letting Raufon's body smash through them as he made a U-turn. From the outside, it looked like an enraged bull, going through window after window, trying to reach the constantly backing off matador before him.

On a different platform, Koadriana had just grabbed another girl's hands with a spell, summoning a whip made out of water. Yanking on it, she dragged her off her platform. No matter how hard she tried to gather her fire, it was snuffed out by Koa's spell. After successfully sending her flying, she heard the ice breaking and snapped her head to her left and up; she noticed Heliett fighting against Raufon.

"Gotcha!" She chuckled, drinking a potion, clapping, and a strong jet of water blasted below her like a geyser. It flung Koa's slim body straight towards them, eager to join in on the fun.

In another place, Sion and Aurora worked surprisingly well together. They noticed the other right as they entered the arena. They were only 20 meters apart, and another 'floating' piece was lying between them, housing two of their opponents. When the signal was given, Sion opened with a spell, lighting up the area and blinding the other girls instantly. On the other hand, Aurora was forming a bridge towards them from an inky, black substance, rushing over on it, her eyes closed, unaffected by Sion's light. It was so bright that she could swear she saw what was happening around her through her eyelids. Everything else was washed away by Sion's light, turning all things white and leaving only Aurora's spell as the world's sole color.

When it ended, and the blinded girls moaned and cried, tears falling from their burnt, injured eyes, it was already too late for them to do anything. They were unaccustomed to battles like this; fierce fights were not what they did while attending the Academy. Their sole worry now was that they were potentially blinded for real. No matter how hard they blinked or squinted, they couldn't see anything but the unbearable whiteness. Because of this, their heads would already be rolling on the floor in a real battle. Lucky for them, Aurora managed to hold back enough, appearing between the two without killing them. With one spell, she waved her hand, sending out a black arc, severing the tendons in one of the girl's ankles, drawing a painful scream from her mouth as she fell forward like a sack, face first into the hard marble ground. With her other hand, she grabbed the other's ponytail, pulled her down, and landed her knee in her face, breaking it into multiple pieces. This alone made her disappear with a pop as the system teleported her out… same with her other, bleeding, screaming partner.

"Another three at three o'clock." Sion appeared next to her, unperturbed by her actions.

"I didn't think you were in the army." Aurora signaled to him with her hands, reading some similarities in how he moved and how she was trained by the Amarins. When Sion answered, showing he DID know how to read sign language, he surprised her again.

"Not in the army. But close. I'll play the support role; you go and send them out. Make them bleed."

"Roger." Aurora signed, with a slight but excited grin as the two disappeared, feeling like sharks in the water, smelling blood.

The only one feeling his heart beating in his throat because of fear and sweating buckets was Keily. Being stranded on a minuscule platform, his face turned exceedingly white in an instant.

"No… I need to focus!" He slapped his face, pulling his ears, shaking himself up. When he heard Lauron's voice, he snapped his head to the left, noticing a platform not that far away. From the looks of it, he was the farthest from anybody, standing on one of the lowest of the marble islands. "Is that…?" He murmured, snapping his fingers, letting an ember land on the invisible chain, leaving sparks behind. He hesitated briefly before rushing along, sometimes throwing fire out to check where it led when he became unsure. When he finally arrived at another platform, he realized there were others there, one of them being Yanura.

"Relax." Yanura crossed her arms, watching the boy's eyes and his raised hands, ready to cast spells. "Just go; we won't do anything." She added as she was standing there with her partner.

"Then off you go!" A new voice cackled, and Palvina arrived, crashing down from the sky like a meteor.

Her arrival was violent, and the shockwave she generated was followed by bursts of orange rings of flames. Keily hurriedly activated one of his artifacts on his fingers, erecting a blue shield around his body, withstanding them. From the other party, only Yanura was quick enough to block the attack with a water curtain while her friend was blasted off the platform into the deep abyss.

"You should have jumped." Palvina chuckled, standing up as her flames slowly died out, replaced by blueish electricity dancing around her arms. "Because I won't give you another chance to flee~" She giggled, looking at Yanura, then turning towards Keily. "Boyo, if you jump now, I won't-"

As an answer, Keily simply summoned his strongest spell, his hands stretched out, letting wild flames burst forward in a cone before him. It surprised Palvina and Yanura as none expected anything from him. His body language told that he was wary and unsure, a beginner in all senses of the word, yet he made the first move. After Keily's fire died off, he wasn't waiting to be sure and summoned two vials, gulping down their contents.

"Potions?" Palvina whispered, shaking her hands that were a bit red, but she easily withstood Keily's spell. Although Keily surprised her, it wasn't something she would be worried about. "Even if you drink some boosting miracle drug, boy, you are just an amateur when it comes to spellcasting!" She chuckled, turning her back towards him, focusing on Yanura, who looked much more serious. "Jump." She smirked, ordering her.

"Make me." She answered with a snap, letting her arms be surrounded by small dragons formed from water.

"I hoped you would say that!" Palvina chuckled, letting sparks jump around her body when Keily's second round of fire hit her on the back. It gave out a thudding sound as her body faltered a little, leaning forward. It looked like someone slapped her on the back while Keily's fire tried to burn her away. "Okay… this is getting a bit annoying. A moment!" She scoffed, waving her hand backward as she forcefully took control of the fire Keily summoned. "You are weak, boy! Learn your place!"

The fact that his spell was ripped out from his control was already a heavy damage, causing a backlash and making Keily stumble backward. He felt his head throbbing, wanting to split apart, making him dizzy in a flash. When Palvina moved her hand, the fire she held shot back, straight at the young bunny boy, blasting him in the face and making him fly off the platform.

"Now… where was I?" She turned towards Yanura, facing a column of water heading towards her. Yet instead of hitting her body, it simply curved around Palvina as if she was surrounded by a weird, invisible field of energy.

"How…?" Yanura gasped as she was so sure that she would hit her while she was occupied by Keily.

"Ahaha~" Palvina chuckled in a relaxed voice. "You never played with your brush and flowing water? Try it once!" She winked, switching back and forth between using fire and electricity, now blasting towards Yanura with a bolt of blue lightning.

Before it could hit, a loud whistle whizzed by, and by the time Palvina blinked her eyes, Yanura was blasted out of the way of her attack. Literally, as Lia had arrived, slamming into her body and knocking her out of the way.

"T-thanks…?" She groaned after rolling away, just stopping herself at the platform's edge, looking up, and seeing Lia standing there, coated in fire.

"Ahm… s-sorry, I couldn't slow down in time!" She smiled, rubbing her head, embarrassed as that was the truth.

"Sure…" Yanura groaned, feeling she just broke a few of her ribs but it was no time to speak.

"This is perfect," Palvina murmured, looking at them. "I was told to deal with you and your sisters anyway. You are sparing me the pain to go looking for you all."

"Good! I wanted to fight someone strong!" Lia clapped, ready to go at it.

"I'll kick you out just like your baby boy~!"

"Hm?" Lia tilted her head, "Keily is fine." She pointed to the left, and they could see Keily holding a rope made out of fire that he was using to climb back up. He formed it by reflex, letting it wrap around the invisible chain as he fell off and was trying hard to get back to fighting with a determined look.

"There is potential there." Palvina nodded, a bit of admiration echoing from her voice, "Too bad he had chosen the wrong side. No matter." She turned towards the two, raising a hand towards the duo. "Come at me together. Let me warm up before the main dish."

“If you take me… us, lightly…” Lia cracked her knuckles, and Palvina felt a surprisingly strong fluctuation escape her small body, "You are not going to have a chance to face Koa!"

"You are right." Palvina nodded, her face turning calm and dark, as a bolt of lightning came down from nowhere, barely missing the dodging body of Lia, "I will use all I got to beat down someone from an Honored House… Everyone thinks you are the shit… Well, you are… Shit." She spat, summoning a vast blueish magic circle behind her back to face not just Lia but Yanura and Keily, who just managed to climb back up right then.

Corty

I accept responsibility for the cliffs...