THE SHOOTING STAR FESTIVAL

A festive air was sweeping the citadel. The Harmonia Clan, in an effort to boost morale, was the organizer of the "Shooting Star Festival". Sacres, seeing the tension in his team, insisted that they participate in the main event: a 2 vs 2 friendly sparring tournament.

The choice of partners was, to say the least, interesting. Lyra, with her deadpan logic, chose Asimil. "The optimal synergy is an attacker with a healer who can apply power-ups. Our odds of victory are 17% higher." This left a visibly furious Noelia teaming up with an overzealous Ikel.

After preliminary rounds where both teams demonstrated the abysmal difference between their styles, they reached the inevitable final.

The sparring arena vibrated with the anticipation of the crowd. On one side, Ikel and Noelia, a duo that radiated pure power. On the other, Asimil and Lyra, whose calm seemed almost out of place.

— Ready to be crushed? — Ikel roared, his fists already engulfed in flames.

—  Let's get this over with quickly —  said Noelia, her eyes fixed on Asimil with icy intensity.

The gong sounded, and the battle began like an explosion.

There was no strategy on the part of his opponents. Just an overwhelming assault. Ikel lunged forward like a missile, while Noelia, from behind, began to conjure.

— Lyra, watch out! — shouted Asimil.

They were completely on the defensive. Asimil was barely dodging Ikel's punches, the heat of his flames scorching his tunic. Every time he tried to find an opening, a spear of ice from Noelia forced him back. Lyra, for her part, was totally dedicated to keeping them alive, her hands glowing as she cast healing spells and light barriers cracking under the relentless onslaught.

— Haha! Come on, little brother! — mocked Ikel, enjoying the hunt. You need to move faster than that!

— Focus, Ikel! — Noelia snapped at him. — Take out the healer. The other one is irrelevant. —

Lyra, now the main target, was forced to use a more powerful barrier, consuming a large amount of mana. The level difference was brutally obvious. They were being overwhelmed.

— This is inefficient —said Lyra with her usual calm, as she created a larger temporary wall of energy to give them a breather. He turned to a panting Asimil, — Analysis: total defensiveness will lead to exhaustion. Estimated success rate: 3%. We need to change strategy. —

— I can't even get close! — Asimil protested, — They're too strong. —

— You don't need to be stronger. You need to be smarter —Lyra replied. — And, for a brief moment, faster. Get ready. On my mark. —

The wall of energy shattered. Ikel charged again. — Now! — commanded Lyra.

A silver aura enveloped Asimil. [Agility Enhancer]. For five seconds, the world seemed to move slower. Ikel's fist, once an unstoppable blur, was now a projectile he could see coming. Assimil didn't just dodge it; he ducked, spun and delivered a quick slash to his leg with his sparring dagger. The damage was minimal, but the shock on Ikel's face was total.

— Whoa, where did that come from? — The booster vanished, and Asimil scrambled backwards, his speed returning to normal.

The battle found a new and frustrating rhythm. Ikel and Noelia were attacking, but their coordination was nil.

— Stop throwing crazy attacks! — Noelia shouted, — You're melting my ice!  —

— If you froze his feet instead of the whole stadium, I could beat him! — Ikel replied. 

While they argued, Lyra directed Asimil like a puppet. With absolute calm, she would apply enhancers to him in very short windows of time. A flash of speed to dodge, an instant of heightened perception to see an opening, a brief power boost so that her green flames, though weak, would be annoying enough to interrupt a Noelia spell.

They were losing in life points, but they were winning the psychological battle. Ikel and Noelia's frustration was palpable.

— I'VE HAD ENOUGH! — roared Ikel, concentrating all his power in a massive, telegraphed attack: the "Volcano Fist".

— Dodge left, now —Lyra's voice echoed in Asimil's mind. — She's going to leave an opening. —

Asimil, with another agility booster, slid out of the path of the attack. At the same time, Noelia, seeing Ikel unprotected, cast an ice barrier spell to cover him, leaving her own flank exposed for a second.

— Now, Asimil. All or nothing —  said Lyra.

He channeled all his remaining energy into it. A golden, silver and greenish aura enveloped him. Asimil felt invincible. He lunged, not at Ikel, but at Noelia.She reacted, creating a nova of frost around him. But to Asimil, thanks to the [Perception Enhancer], time seemed to stand still. He saw every ice crystal forming, every escape route.

Following Lyra's instructions, he did not attempt to go through the nova. He did something unexpected. He used his green flame, powered up, not to attack Noelia, but to instantly melt the frozen ground right under her feet.

Noelia, in the middle of her incantation, lost her balance. A misstep, a hesitation of less than a second

That was all Asimil needed.

With his speed boosted, he slipped through the opening his own trick had created and placed the tip of his sparring dagger gently against her neck.

Silence.

The entire arena was silent for a moment, before erupting in cheers for the incredible victory of the team that no one expected to win.

Noelia looked at the dagger, then at Asimil. Her face was a mask of disbelief that quickly morphed into deep, burning humiliation. But it was worse than that. Seeing Asimil's serious, focused expression, the image of the hero of her dream, powerful and unattainable, was superimposed on that of the boy who had just defeated her with sheer strategy. The contradiction was a fracture in her soul.

Without a word, he slapped the dagger away and ran out of the arena, leaving behind his companion, the audience and a victorious but deeply troubled Asimil.

— THEY DID IT! — shouted Ikel, running to hug them, "They won with dirty tricks, I love it!

Lyra simply nodded, her face expressionless. — Mission accomplished. —

But Asimil could not celebrate. He could only think of the expression on Noelia's face. Sacres approached. — A victory is a victory. But an injured teammate is a loss for the team. Go get her. —

The three of them found her on the walls of the citadel. — Noelia... — began Asimil.

She did not turn around. —  Leave me alone. —

Ikel and Lyra slipped between the two of them, breaking the tension. — Hey, it was just a friendly tournament — said Ikel, his tone uncharacteristically soft. — And it was a great fight! —

Noelia finally turned around, and in her eyes was a storm of emotions that she could not control. She looked directly at Asimil, and her voice was a whisper laden with confusion, anger and a pain he could not understand.

—  Who... demons... are you? — thought Noelia, she no longer recognized that weak boy, but he wasn't that hero of green and dark flames of her dreams, he was something completely different.