Page 141 of House Ignis

"Above you. Shift two steps west," Asher's voice commanded in my mind.

Zya moved without a flicker of hesitation, melting into the shadows and reappearing at the edge of Naelle's platform.

She slashed at Neria with quick, brutal precision, her shadowy claws humming with dark energy.

Across the gap, Tyric slammed his massive fists down.

The stone platform beneath me groaned and cracked, tilting sharply. I felt my footing vanish, the stone giving way as gravity claimed me. But Zya darted in, her shadows weaving a temporary barrier beneath my boots to slow the descent.

Asher's whip lashed through the air, dark and lightning-fast.

It caught me mid-fall, wrapping around my waist and yanking me upward in a blur of obsidian smoke and pure momentum.

I slammed into his chest with enough force to knock the breath from my lungs, my fire flickering out at my fingertips. For a single heartbeat, our bodies locked—chests heaving, magic wild and tangled between us.

He didn't say a word. Just gave a sharp nod, and then we were moving again.

Naelle slid across the spinning platforms on a localized wave of water, Neria circling beneath her like a living shield.

She fired twin blasts of freezing mist—one toward Aether, one toward me. Aether dodged, ducking under a rotating stone, and responded instantly to a mental pulse from Asher.

"Flank left. Now."

Together, Aether and Zya launched an assault—one from the air, one from the shadows.

Neria tried to shield her wielder, but Aether rammed into the stingray's side, sending the creature spinning. Zya followed with a predatory swipe of clawed shadows, forcing Naelle to stumble.

I seized the opening, launching a fireburst directly at her chest. She blocked it, but the force was enough to ruin her balance.

She tumbled straight into Neria, and both of them fell off the edge, crashing into the sand below.

One down.

Tyric roared, launching two massive boulders toward me in a lethal, spinning arc. His badger slammed a stone claw into my current platform, trying to shatter the ground beneath me.

"Switch targets, flank right—now!" I vaulted across two spinning stones that hissed with steam.

Zya was already engaging in the badger, her shadows dancing like blades around the creature's paws.

It struck back with a heavy blow, slamming her into a wall of rock. She let out a sharp yelp that echoed through the bond.

"Aether. Go. Now."

He didn't wait for a second command. Aether shot across the arena like a black missile, slamming full-force into the badger's side with a feral growl.

The creature stumbled, the impact breaking Tyric's focus for the split second we needed.

Asher moved in like a predator, shadows wrapping around Tyric's arms, legs, and chest, locking him mid-punch. Zya leapt back into the fray, latching onto Tyric's bracer and yanking it clean off. He roared in frustration, but he was wide open.

I leapt from my platform; fire coiled in both palms. I unleashed it, white-hot and roaring. The blast hit him square in the chest, the concussive force launching him backward off the edge.

The blast hit him square in the chest, the concussive force launching him backward off the edge.

He crashed into the sand.

Whistles blew, and the arena runes flared a triumphant gold. Match over.

We stood there on the final platform—Asher, me, Aether, and Zya—heaving, sweating, adrenaline buzzing through our veins. The four-way bond still hummed between us like a secret heartbeat. No one knew the full extent of it yet, but gods, did it make us unstoppable.