Leona and Ruqqaya went blow for blow.
Hit for hit. Kick for kick. Neither one giving an inch. The crowd watched in silence, barely breathing, as the two of them moved across the arena like mirror images of each other — every attack answered, every defense broken through, every counter met with another counter.
Then Leona shifted.
She pressed her hands to the ground and activated Stage 2 of her earth Damik. The arena floor responded instantly — splitting, rising, reshaping itself into jagged formations that launched upward from directly beneath Ruqqaya's feet.
Ruqqaya's eyes went calm.
Flow.
Stage 2 settled over her like a second skin and she moved without thinking — weaving between each formation as it erupted, her body finding the gaps before her mind could register them. The ground tore itself apart beneath her and she drifted through it like water.
Leona watched her and something hardened in her expression.
She reached deeper.
Stage 3.
One of the four volcanoes surrounding the island groaned. The lava inside shifted — not randomly, but deliberately — pulled and shaped by Leona's Damik until it began flowing toward her, gathering and concentrating into her left fist. She infused her Raiki through every inch of it, the heat becoming something beyond heat, the weight becoming something beyond weight.
Above her, Ruqqaya rose higher into the air. Stage 3 Raiki surged through her right arm, building until the energy around her fist was visible — crackling, dense, a concentrated point of everything she had.
They looked at each other across the distance.
In the crowd Zain's eyes went wide.
"Scarlet. Sulaiman."
He was already moving before the word left his mouth — speed blitzing across the arena to where Sulaiman and Scarlet had been warming up, snatching all four of them in one motion, and returning to his original position before anyone had registered he'd left.
Hannah let out a shaky breath. "Thank God the chiefs didn't see that."
Below, neither Leona nor Ruqqaya had noticed. They were locked onto each other completely.
Leona planted her feet.
Ruqqaya pulled her fist back.
The announcer scrambled out of the ring.
"I'M GOING TO WIN!" they both shouted at exactly the same time.
Green versus red.
They collided.
The impact sent shockwaves rolling outward in every direction — across the arena, across the water, across all four islands, rippling through the entire nation like the earth itself had been struck. The force of it was enough to make the volcano rumble.
And then, in the middle of it all — still attacking, still pushing forward — both of them whispered it together.
"Descending presence."
The shockwaves multiplied.
Every person in the arena dropped. The crowd, the natives, the chiefs — unconscious before they could process what had happened. Every person except Team Z and the Revolt. Their wills held. They stood in the silence of a stadium full of people who were no longer standing.
Then Leona and Ruqqaya fell.
Not dramatically. Not slowly. They just — stopped. And dropped straight down onto the arena floor, both of them hitting the ground at the same time.
Sulaiman stared. "Did they just..."
Rimazu was already moving down toward them. He knelt beside Leona. Then Ruqqaya. He looked up.
"They knocked each other out." A pause. "It's a tie."
Nobody said anything for a moment.
Then a hand closed around Rimazu from above — fast, too fast — and Jean was already airborne, Rimazu tucked under his arm, shooting upward into the sky and away from the arena at full speed.
"What the—"
"RIMAZU!"
The shout went up from half the group at once. Every head snapped upward.
Jean was already a shape in the distance, growing smaller by the second, moving in the direction of the neighboring land.
"I have gotten exactly what he needs," Jean said to himself, not looking back. "That bastard will be pleased."
He didn't slow down.
Team Z and the Revolt were already moving — every single one of them launching into the air simultaneously. Hama and Suka were right behind them.
Zain turned mid flight. "Bob."
Bob's voice came back immediately.
"I heard. I'll get the ship. Leona, Ruqqaya, Agnis and Mimi — I'll look after them when they wake up. I'll bring the ship to you."
"Good."
The tournament was over. This was something else now.
They crossed the water at full speed and made landfall on the neighboring territory — Eve's Gates. Not a nation. Not a kingdom. A land of rituals, ancient and still, the kind of place that felt like it had been waiting.
Rimazu was already there.
Jean stood at the center of it all — tall, composed, the kind of stillness that didn't come from calm but from complete confidence. Rimazu was in his grip. Around him the air felt different. Heavier.
Zain landed and looked at Jean.
His eyes narrowed.
"You're from the Reathagon." He said it quietly, like a confirmation rather than a question. "I've heard about you." A pause. "Jean. The Natural Disaster."
Kaisen landed beside him. "What the hell are you doing here? This isn't even a nation. It's a land of rituals."
Hamilton touched down on the other side and went very still. "Oh shit."
Jean looked at all of them with the expression of someone who had expected exactly this. His eyes moved to Zain first.
"The Devil of Light. Zain Akashi." A faint smile. "Working with criminals now, I see." His gaze moved to Hamilton briefly. "Yes, Hamilton. I brought the boy here." He looked out at the group. "There is a beast that needs to be summoned. One that will serve the Rolencian Empire's expansion. And your friend's power—" his eyes moved to Rimazu "—is a requirement for the summoning."
Hama stepped forward from behind the group, eyes wide. "A summoning? Here? In Eve's Gates?"
Suka grabbed her arm. "Don't. This place has rules older than any of us."
Ryo stepped forward past both of them.
"To hell with that." His voice was flat. "Let my friend go."
Jean looked at him. Something in his expression shifted — not fear, not surprise. Something closer to interest.
"Come and take him, kid."