CHAPTER 41: The Forty-First Fracture

But “Next match: Karna of the Fractured Academy of Light versus Vodyanoy of Seraphyne Institute,” Xena’s voice rang out, echoing through the half-ruined coliseum as glyphs flared to life beneath the arena. “Arena restoration at 80%. Combatants—approach the platform.”

I returned to the stands. Saaya ran into him with a tight embrace.

“You did very well. Congratulations on your win.”

“Thank you,” he said, hugging her back. Alric nodded in silence. No one said more—because the air was already shifting again.

The ground trembled. But not from damage.

From arrival.

Vodyanoy stepped forward.

A cloak of abyssal water trailed behind him, rippling like a sentient ocean. The liquid crawled up his arms and spine, condensing into armored layers of coral, bone, and runes that pulsed with deep-sea pressure. The floor slicked beneath his steps—but he never stumbled. The water feared him.

And then—

The opposite end of the stage ignited.

Karna walked forward, slowly—deliberately.

Golden-red fire coiled from his shoulders in disciplined arcs. The flames didn’t flicker. They marched in formation, descending around him like proclamations from the sun itself. His presence wasn’t just hot—it was holy.

And behind him floated two golden artifacts.

They weren’t new. They had been with him all this time.

But now, they revealed their true nature.

The first was a curved dagger, obsidian at its core but veined with molten gold. It pulsed softly with heat that never faded—an ancient weapon forged from a shard of Surya’s judgment, said to have tasted the sins of gods and devils alike. It didn’t glow—it whispered.

The second was a broken crown, a fractured loop of brass and crystal that spun slowly behind him. Its jagged edges shimmered with distorted light, folding the space around it. This was Karna’s divine halo—a failed relic once meant to amplify divinity, now bound to him like a memory that refused to die.

The dagger hovered at his right. The crown spun just above his back.

They didn’t hum with energy.

They watched the world.

Karna’s steps cracked the platform beneath him.

The moment he stopped, the stage glowed—not with enchantment, but with expectation. The glyphs around the arena pulsed as if they too were holding their breath.

Vodyanoy’s water hissed louder.

Karna’s fire burned hotter.

The two anomalies faced each other—fifteen feet apart.

A single bell rang—sharp, ceremonial.

The duel had begun.

The platform cracked under their feet.

Golden fire met abyssal water—not with balance, but with a warcry.

Karna’s aura roared to life, engulfing him in radiant heat. Golden flames surged from his back, spiraling upward in a corona that stretched into the sky like the arms of a burning god. His dagger floated high, spinning like a solar wheel, while the broken crown pulsed at the base of his spine, light warping around it with gravitational rhythm.

Vodyanoy’s body liquefied, then solidified again. His devil aura bled shadows, deep blue-black tendrils dancing across his skin. Steam hissed as the ground beneath him flooded with unnatural tides. His fingers curled, summoning water from beneath the shattered glyphs, pulling moisture from the very air.

Then they moved.

Karna dashed forward, trailing solar sparks. Vodyanoy countered by slamming both hands down. A whirlpool exploded from the ground, rising like a sea serpent, roaring toward Karna. But Karna didn’t stop. He leapt through it.

And the water caught fire.

Flames licked the inside of the whirlpool, turning it into a spinning tornado of steam. The audience gasped as the devil’s water ignited, seared away by the fire of Surya himself.

Vodyanoy’s eyes narrowed. He raised a wall of obsidian-colored water.

Karna drove his fist through it.

The wall evaporated on contact.

Vodyanoy reformed behind him, driving a palm strike toward Karna’s back—only for the golden crown to twist space, pulling Vodyanoy just inches to the left. Karna turned, elbow wreathed in flame, and drove it into Vodyanoy’s jaw.

The impact detonated like a sun flare.

Steam burst in every direction. The platform under them blackened.

Still, Vodyanoy surged forward—liquid limbs turning into whips. One snapped Karna’s leg from under him. Another wrapped around his neck. Vodyanoy lifted him, aura darkening, and slammed Karna headfirst into the ground, cracking the stadium floor.

But as Karna lay in the crater, his dagger floated above him—glowing white-hot.

It spun once—then dove.

A column of solar fire erupted, launching Vodyanoy skyward.

Karna rose from the crater, blood running from his brow, his body glowing brighter, hotter.

“Sunfire Purge.”

He raised a single finger to the sky.

Above him, a miniature sun flared into existence.

The crowd shielded their eyes.

It screamed downward.

The entire battlefield exploded in gold.

Vodyanoy raised every ounce of water he could—a dome, a barrier, a sea wall of devils’ blood. It all turned to vapor. The sunfire crashed through, burning through divine resistance, scorching the darkness itself.

Vodyanoy hit the ground, coughing steam and blood.

He stood again. Barely.

His arms trembled.

His devil aura shrieked, trying to regenerate—but the burn marks across his chest and arms glowed gold.

The divine fire couldn’t be extinguished.

Selkira whispered, “He… burned the water. That shouldn’t be possible.”

Elunara stared, jaw tight. “It’s not just fire. That’s the purest flame—myth turned weapon.”

Saaya’s heart raced, psychic bond flickering with every flare of Karna’s power. “He’s… not holding back anymore.”

Yuuka’s voice dropped to a whisper. “That fire—if it touches mortal flesh, there’s nothing left. That’s not school-tier magic. That’s divine.”

Alric clenched his fists, feeling the pressure. “And yet… Vodyanoy’s still standing.”

Avalon didn’t blink, her eyes locked on the arena. “They’re going to erase each other.”

Vodyanoy screamed, summoning a massive tidal serpent—nearly seventy feet high. Its mouth dripped acidic brine and lightning. Karna met it head-on.

With both artifacts flanking him, he soared upward.

The serpent dove.

Karna flew through its core.

The water burned away.

He crashed into Vodyanoy, and they spiraled across the air, crashing into the far side of the arena. Dust exploded.

They rose one last time.

Fists met.

Fire and water exploded outward, a sphere of clashing forces.

The arena could not hold.

It shattered—stone, glyph, barrier—all disintegrated in a single, god-level detonation.

When the dust cleared—

Karna lay on one side, body burned and bleeding.

Vodyanoy on the other, chest seared, eyes flickering.

Neither moved.

A draw.

Selkira exhaled. “Impossible…”

Elunara whispered. “They burned down the battlefield.”

Alric and I stare down at them

Avalon turned away. “That was not a fight. That was the meeting of myths. I wonder how much stronger they’ll get In The future ”

The arena was gone.

Not cracked. Not broken.

Gone.

Ash and mist drifted where glyphs once floated. The sky itself still trembled—like it hadn’t caught up to the destruction below. Fires still flickered in patches of molten stone, steam hissing where scorched water boiled from the crater’s edge. All that remained was silence.

No one moved.

Until we did.

I stepped off the stands. Saaya was already moving beside me, barefoot, her long coat trailing behind her like smoke. Neither of us spoke. We didn’t have to.

The ground still radiated heat as we reached the center. Stone turned to slag beneath our feet, and light shimmered in distorted waves across the impact zone. The destruction was total—a divine battleground that had consumed itself.

Karna lay at its core.

Half-buried in cracked obsidian, blood matting his dark red hair, breath ragged. His golden dagger floated behind him, flickering like a dying ember. The broken crown pulsed weakly nearby, its fractured brass rim still spinning in lazy defiance.

I knelt first.

“You alive?”

Karna cracked open an eye. “Define ‘alive.’”

“You breathing?”

“Barely.”

Saaya dropped to her knees on the other side of him. Her hand hovered inches from his chest, golden glyphs already forming beneath her palm.

“You were a bit reckless,” she said

“It’s how I normally fight, you should have seen the other guy.” He responded laying on the ground in pain

She pressed her hand against his sternum. The glyph flared brighter. A reverse pulse spread from her fingers, gentle but unrelenting—undoing injury, not healing it. Burnt skin smoothed. Bone shifted back into place.

“So this is the power of controlling causality.”

Selkira and Elunara watch us as they get their teammate up.

“What the hell did she just do?” Selkira asked

“I have no idea. I’ve never seen a power like that before.” Elunara responds

Saaya looked down at Karna

“You’re lucky it’s not worse,” she murmured, focusing. “You shouldn’t be able to move. Not after all those injuries you got.”

“I blocked the attacks with my artifacts.”

“And got yourself half-fried for it,” I said, watching the light fade from one of the cuts across his arm.

“Worth it,” he muttered.

I smiled

Saaya rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky I’m here.”

Karna gave her a weak grin. “You just wanted an excuse to touch me.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. I have Sukara and I can touch him whenever I want” But her hand lingered reversing the cause of his injury

I stood, surveying what remained of the platform. “Arena’s done. Vodyanoy’s unconscious. Barrier’s down.”

“I noticed,” Karna muttered. “Pretty sure half my ribs are still echoing from that impact.”

“You drew with a devil-empowered warrior. That counts.”

Karna exhaled, finally sitting up with Saaya’s help. “That’s not a win.”

I look at Karna, “just don’t block with your face next time.”

Saaya gave a soft laugh under her breath, still steadying him. The glow in her glyphs faded, but Karna’s color was already returning. The worst of the damage—undone.

“Don’t push it,” Saaya warned.

“Yes ma’am, but don’t underestimate the power of the son of the sun god.” Karna said back being grateful

I turned toward the scorched remnants of the platform’s edge.

“Come on. Let’s get you up before the gods think round three is starting.”