The sun dipped low over the outskirts of the Spark Empire, casting crimson light over the abandoned playground. The meeting between Leo and Arnold had ended in a handshake—an agreement forged more from necessity than trust. But the air still pulsed with unspoken tension.
Perhaps it was pride. Perhaps suspicion. Or perhaps they simply needed to know.
What would happen if they fought?
Leo was the first to speak. "We're both walking into something dangerous. If we can't understand each other's strength, then we're just pretending to be allies."
Arnold stretched his arms lazily, white feathers shifting and gleaming under the fading light. His arms bore the unmistakable mark of the Pale Watcher—a divine-like being of silence and thought. The feathers grew from his forearms like a cloak, faintly glowing with ethereal sheen. He rotated one arm, cracking his shoulder.
"You want to spar?" Arnold asked, voice tinged with amusement.
Leo nodded. "No holding back. If either of us dies, then it was never going to work anyway."
A grin pulled at Arnold's lips. "Finally, something interesting."
They stepped back, ten meters apart. The cracked earth between them became their arena. The air grew dense with mana. Distant crows scattered from nearby power lines, sensing something primal stir.
---
Leo moved first.
He summoned three of his five flame beads, aligning them in a slanted cross pattern across his left forearm. Each bead emitted a faint orange glow as he mentally visualized the pattern required.
With a flick of his fingers, the formation ignited.
Flame Serpent.
A weaving lash of fire hissed and twisted through the air toward Arnold. The serpent roared as it cut across the ground, melting debris and carving black trails of soot.
Arnold responded calmly. He activated one of his eight thought beads, positioning it on the crown of his head. A smooth triangular pattern shimmered faintly across his temples.
Mental Shift.
His perception darted forward a half-second in time, just enough to anticipate the serpent's strike. He sidestepped fluidly, allowing the flames to pass within inches of his coat.
"Tame," Arnold said, brushing ash from his shoulder.
Leo narrowed his eyes but smirked. He reshaped his remaining two active beads into a shallow arch across his left palm.
Ember Guard.
A thin coat of fire shimmered over his arms and legs. His breath fogged in the heat. The glowing shield danced along his skin like flickering candlelight.
Arnold activated a second bead, placing it behind his right ear. The triangle expanded to a four-pointed shape.
Silence Field.
A pulse of quiet rolled out from his body, blanketing the ground around them in unsettling stillness. In this zone, non-verbal casting would be harder, slower, fuzzier. Leo felt it immediately, like mental cotton dulling his instincts.
With no beads left for new spells, Leo decided to close the distance. He dashed forward, his fire-coated fists aiming for Arnold's torso.
Arnold's third bead shimmered into existence, forming a diamond with the previous two.
Kinetic Reversal.
Leo's momentum was halted in mid-air and flung backward. He twisted in the air, crashing onto the cracked playground tiles.
He rolled and skidded to a halt, gritting his teeth. "You use too much defense."
"You use too much fire," Arnold replied dryly, feathers rustling.
Already, the mana within Leo's three used beads was depleted—leaving them dull and inert until recharged. Apprentice mages couldn't sustain much. Leo was pushing it.
---
Leo forced himself up. His ribs ached. He inhaled deeply and activated the remaining two beads. He aligned them into a claw-shaped fan across his palm.
Infernal Claw.
His hand burst into searing flame, fingers tipped with burning talons.
Arnold now activated his fourth bead. The pattern aligned beneath his spiral.
Feather Drift.
The feathers along his arms lifted and rotated gently, and Arnold rose a foot into the air, floating with silent grace. The wind caught him, pulling him sideways like a falling petal.
Leo lunged again, swinging the fiery claw upward. Arnold dodged midair with a subtle shift of balance, barely moving.
"You're quick to ignite," Arnold said. "But fire burns fast."
Arnold now used his fifth bead. The pattern clicked into a cross-hair alignment.
Mental Chain.
Invisible threads lashed toward Leo, trying to bind his thoughts, lock his memory, freeze him in fear. Leo roared, pushing through the stifling effect.
He activated his final spell with the last dregs of mana left in his usable beads, shaping them into a compressed hexagon.
Combustion Rebound.
A concussive blast of heat erupted around him, pushing the chains away and knocking Arnold off balance midair.
Leo stumbled, breathing hard. His limbs trembled. He looked down at the beads hovering around him. All five glowed faintly, then dimmed completely—spent.
---
Arnold still had three beads unused. He adjusted his spiral into a new configuration and aligned a sixth bead in a figure-eight loop.
Cognitive Avalanche.
A storm of intrusive thoughts exploded from his body—fearful visions, false memories, simulated trauma. Leo staggered backward, clutching his skull.
He braced himself, biting into his lip to maintain focus. The pain helped. The residual heat from Ember Guard, still flickering slightly, protected him from total mental collapse.
Arnold floated higher, rotating his final two beads in a subtle star pattern above his crown.
Pale Lance.
A thin, glowing spear of thought energy formed in his hands. Unlike the chaotic burst of previous spells, this one was sharp, focused, divinely calm.
He hurled it downward.
Leo's mind was almost blank. No mana left. No beads to command. He grit his teeth and remembered the shape of one last spell.
Ash Phoenix.
Using only the residue of fire still clinging to his body and sheer will, Leo mimicked the casting posture, drawing the runic pattern in the dirt with his fingers and forming the final sigil with his steps.
A small ember-bird, shaky and barely stable, burst into life and soared upward.
It collided with the Pale Lance midair. The explosion rocked the battlefield.
They were both thrown violently across the playground.
---
The sun had vanished completely. Stars blinked into the purple sky. The ground was scorched, glassy in places from the heat.
Smoke curled over the battlefield.
Leo sat up first, blood trickling from a cut on his brow. His robes were tattered, and he could barely move one shoulder.
Arnold rose next, feathers dulled, his floating grace now a stumbling crawl. He winced as he dusted ash from his chest.
They looked at each other. Wounded, sore, exhausted.
But smiling.
Leo extended a hand.
Arnold took it.
"Now," Leo said, "we're allies for real."
Arnold nodded. "Agreed. But next time? Let's not burn the whole park."
Leo laughed, coughing through his cracked lips. "No promises."
They sat together in silence for a while, catching their breath.
Finally, Arnold said, "That last spell—you didn't have the mana to cast it properly, did you?"
"No," Leo admitted. "I just... remembered how it felt."
"Risky. Reckless."
"Effective."
Arnold laughed. "You're insane."
"You're not the first to say it."
They stood again, slower this time.
Arnold looked down at his beads. "Only one of mine still has anything left. The others... they're going to need days to recharge."
Leo nodded. "Same. But we learned something today."
"That we're both lunatics?"
"No. That we might actually survive what's coming."
They turned toward the direction of the city. The faint lights of the Spark Empire capital glittered in the distance, a serpent of power and politics slithering into the night.
And above it all, the stars watched in silence.
---
(Pls comment, otherwise I might go into depression)
(And while your at it, do send power stones)