"Xhi! What the hell are you doing?!"
Xhi remained wholly unresponsive.
Realising that things had taken a turn for the worse, Lyra steeled herself… and screamed.
It was a soundless scream.
What followed was an annihilating wave of concussive magic force.
It tore through the entire arena in a brutal pulse, crashing into the walls with enough power to send deep echoes rebounding despite the heavy soundproofing.
Seats trembled. Wood cracked. The air itself seemed to shatter. Glass would have followed—if not for the arcane reinforcements built into the chamber, protection standard for a facility used to contain and train magic users.
In the midst of the reverberating, vacuum-like oscillations, Xhi still stood. Unaffected. Or rather, seemingly so.
Lyra could tell, because the force that had been binding her had vanished.
She didn't hesitate.
Charging forward, her hair lashing out like living cords of fury, Lyra launched herself. Eyes locked onto Xhi.
