PLAYERS x AND x PREDATORS
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣
SECOND HALF — UCL MATCH
Raymond wiped the blood at his jaw with the back of his hand, eyes sharp now instead of cocky. Kurt and Remi shifted, adjusting their stance, refusing to fold.
They weren’t done.
Both shapers lifted their wrists at the same time, dual sigil ignition.
Their bands flashed red-black.
The air split.
A towering construct stepped onto the lane: THE RED BLADE RONIN. A collosal Ronin made of volatile aether, armor layered in cracked red plating, body stitched together through black aether seams. In its hands an obsidian nodachi, long enough to cut the lane in half.
The crowd reacted fast. Cheers, chants, shock.
Before Triple Kill could fully reset, Raymond tapped a sigil of his own.
A targeting prism flickered into existence above the lane, cycling between Set → Riven → Talla, each lock flashing for one brutal second before swapping to the next. Each swap, an impact of Raymond's stored aether on its target.
They couldn’t outrun it.
Kurt pointed forward. Remi raised his arms as though he wielded the nodachi.
The Red Blade Ronin obeyed.
One step.
The arena shook.
Another step.
The nodachi dragged sparks off the ground.
The first swing came fast aimed at Riven.
He rolled under it as the blade detonated against the lane, the impact sending sand and debris up in a thick cloud impeding everyone's vision, including those in the stands.
Riven disappeared inside it.
Talla didn’t hesitate.
Her acorn nodes, the ones she planted at the start had already rooted beneath the lane.
Her fingers twitched once.
Boom—boom—boom.
A chain of detonations erupted under the Ronin’s feet and across the lane, fractal vines exploding upward like rupturing steel cables. The construct staggered but didn’t fall. It's nodachi lifted for another strike.
Through the dust, two jade scythes sliced out at high velocity. Past the Ronin.
Both slammed clean through Remi’s forearms before he could react and shield, completely severing one arm and carving the other deep enough to drop him to a knee.
The crowd recoiled at the brutality.
Before they could even process it, Set moved.
Like a big cat trained for war in true form, he was hunting.
Weight low. Shoulders coiled. Tail straight for balance.
His hands came together over his chest, fingers forming a precise shape.
A sigil from within activated.
Set vanished into a burst of violet-black smoke.
Above Remi, that smoke gathered into a massive, undefined shape. Shifting, pulsing, forming the silhouette of a colossal panther’s limb.
POOF.
Set reappeared ten feet down lane, crashing into a three-point landing, one fist driven into the ground.
THE MIGHT OF KAIJIN answered the motion instantly.
A colossal panther fist dropped from the smoke-cloud like a hammer.
Once again, Remi didn’t move in time.
The impact slammed him into the lane hard enough to bury him in sand. Dead.
The whole arena froze for a heartbeat.
Raymond and Kurt saw exactly how outmatched they were.
Still, they didn’t stop. The UCL had no forfeits.
They triggered another set of sigils in panic but Talla had already sent her acorn discs skidding across the lane.
The explosions hit in rapid succession, lifting both Vharon summoners off their feet.
Riven’s scythes angled upward, responding to his rhythm.
He hummed calmly still.
Two more gentle strums.
Two more kills.
Two blades flashed toward the airborne summoners.
“OKAY! THAT’S ENOUGH!”
The announcer’s voice cracked through the arena speakers, sharp enough to slice through the moment.
“MATCH POINT — TRIPLE KILL!”
The scythes dissolved mid-air.
The arena erupted.
Some cheering.
Some booing.
Some already placing new bets.
Most wanting them dead.
Up in the stands, Otto didn’t cheer.
He just watched.
That same smirk from earlier.
This time it wasn't amusement, more like he was accepting an unannounced challenge.
Triple Kill didn’t celebrate.
They didn’t even look back at the bodies.
They walked off the lane together as the odds boards updated in real time and the UCL floor exploded into chaos behind them.
The target on their backs had doubled.
And everyone in the arena was ready to cash in.
⟢───── Ashes × Aether ─────⟣