"That was an amazing match," Itsuki announced, still riding the energy of the crowd from Masato's victory. "Now, for the second match—we have Ryuji against Rin. This will be a match of Fire against Ice. This will be interesting to watch."
A wave of excited murmurs rolled through the audience.
Ryuji stepped forward, rolling his shoulders and cracking his neck casually, though sparks of heat were already radiating off him. Rin walked up opposite him, calm and expressionless, a faint mist swirling around her feet like loyal pets waiting for direction.
Both fighters locked eyes.
The air between them sharpened, heating on one side, chilling on the other.
"Remember," Itsuki said, raising one arm, "the match ends if a fighter is knocked out, a fighter forfeits, or if a sensei stops the fight. Other than that—fight on. Begin!"
The wooden board beneath their feet quaked with the sudden explosion of movement.
Ryuji instantly thrust his palms forward and a barrage of red fireballs erupted toward Rin. They cut through the air like flaming comets, bright enough to stain the walls orange.
Rin didn't flinch.
She stomped her heel into the ground—
A crack splintered beneath her, shooting outward in a jagged pattern—
—and with a sharp exhale, several giant icicles launched upward, meeting the fireballs mid-air.
The collision blasted steam across the field.
But Ryuji's flames weren't melting the icicles fast enough.
Some of them burst through the steam cloud intact.
"Ah—damn!" Ryuji twisted his body, dodging the icy projectiles. A few grazed him, shaving thin, cold lines across his arms and cheek. Pain stung, but he didn't slow down.
He raised a hand again, ready to switch to more powerful flames—
—and stopped himself.
No, he thought. Save the blue flames. If Jay becomes an opponent… or when I'm in a really tight spot.
He clenched his fists, breath heating.
Rin wasn't giving him a second to think.
She summoned an entire ring of ice spikes and flung them with relentless speed. Ryuji countered with flame bursts, shattering enough to avoid fatal hits, but one spike lodged in his shoulder.
Blood dripped down.
Ryuji hissed, ripping it out.
"You're holding back," Rin called out. "Why?"
"Because I still want you conscious after this," he smirked.
A flicker of irritation showed on her face.
She slammed both palms on the ground.
The floor beneath Ryuji erupted—
Not with spikes, but with a massive icicle, thicker than any she'd produced earlier.
Ryuji's eyes widened.
Melt it? No time.
He teleported sideways with a burst of flame propulsion, landing on the ground just as the icicle smashed down where he had been standing. The ground cracked.
He exhaled—
And froze.
Not from fear.
From coldness.
He glanced down.
His legs—
Were completely encased in ice.
"What—?!"
He tried to move but the ice held firm like steel shackles.
Ryuji quickly released more heat from his body. The ice began melting around his ankles, dripping into small puddles.
Rin realized and shot more icicles, forcing Ryuji to shift his fire output toward blocking.
The ice on his legs climbed higher.
Up to his knees.
Up to his waist.
Up to his chest.
"Not good—!" Ryuji roared, blasting fire outward.
Rin kept attacking, intentionally controlling the battlefield, giving him no chance to focus. Her eyes were sharp, analytical. She wasn't as hot-headed as Ryuji—she strategized.
And her strategy was working.
The ice crawled to his neck.
"Ryuji, you should forfeit," Rin called, breathing harder now. "Your flames won't melt fast enough. It's over."
Ryuji stopped struggling.
He was buried in ice, unable to move his arms.
The crowd murmured anxiously.
Chiaki stepped forward, raising her hand to end the match—
—when a sound broke through the frozen silence.
A low rumble.
A hiss.
A boiling, bubbling noise.
Steam poured out from Ryuji's frozen form.
Then—
CRACK!
The entire ice shell shattered in an explosion of vapor.
The temperature spiked so violently that the front-row spectators flinched and shielded their faces.
And standing within the evaporating cloud—
Ryuji stood tall, breathing heavily, eyes glowing—
His entire body was engulfed in blue flames.
Electric, roaring, alive.
The audience lost their minds.
Gasps. Cheers. Shouts.
Even the senseis were stunned.
No one—not even his teammates—had ever seen Ryuji's blue flames.
Rin stepped backward instinctively.
"W-What is that…?" she whispered.
Ryuji looked at his hands, now wrapped in that ethereal fire. "I didn't want to use these… but you left me no choice."
The ground beneath him scorched, the wood turning black instantly.
Rin shot an icicle the size of a spear toward him, desperate to keep distance.
Ryuji flicked his wrist.
The blue flame sliced through the ice like it was warm butter.
Another icicle.
Another.
Three at once.
All melted before they came within three feet of him.
Rin's breath trembled.
She summoned a massive ice wall, thicker than a tree trunk.
Ryuji walked toward it.
Not ran.
Not sprinted.
Walked.
And the moment he raised one hand, the entire wall evaporated in a burst of steam. Droplets rained down harmlessly.
Rin backed up rapidly, forming ice traps across the ground—slick patches, spikes, hidden mines of frozen mist meant to explode upward.
But the aura of Ryuji's flames alone made every trap sizzle away before activation.
She couldn't get close.
She couldn't stop him.
She couldn't even slow him down.
Rin fired a barrage of icicle bullets in panic.
Ryuji shot a single blue fireball.
It detonated mid-air, swallowing all the icicles and blasting Rin backward several feet.
She hit the ground, sliding on melting ice.
Her heart pounded, fear mixing with awe.
Ryuji tightened his stance.
"I'm ending this," he said softly.
He burst forward—
So fast Rin barely registered the movement.
She reacted instantly, thrusting her hands downward.
The ground rose in a giant iceberg, trying to shield her.
But Ryuji jumped over it with effortless speed and came down in a flip, flames spiraling around him.
Rin stepped back, trembling now. She slammed an ice wall between them—
Ryuji burst through it like it wasn't even there.
He landed inches from her.
Blue flames coiled in his hand like a living serpent ready to strike.
Rin's eyes widened.
"You win," she whispered, voice shaking. "I… I forfeit."
Instantly, Ryuji extinguished all flames.
The heat vanished.
He stepped back and bowed slightly.
"I apologize for scaring you."
Rin nodded, chest rising and falling rapidly, still processing the overwhelming heat she felt moments earlier.
"The winner is Ryuji!" Itsuki shouted.
The crowd erupted into wild cheers.
Northern Shrine members swarmed him, bombarding him with questions.
"What was that flame?!"
"How long have you had it?!"
"Train me too!"
Ryuji scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed by the attention.
Back at the precinct, Lisa stared at her computer.
She typed in: Eye-Circle Symbol meaning
Dozens of articles appeared—but only one mentioned the symbol at all.
A short, old write-up on an obscure witchcraft archive website.
Her eyes skimmed it quickly.
The Eye-Circle symbol dated back to the 1400s, created by a woman named Sarah Good. A book filled with spells had been found in her possession. The townspeople accused her of witchcraft and burned her alive.
But her last words before the flames took her?
A curse.
A promise that darkness would consume the world.
Lisa frowned.
That still didn't explain why the symbol appeared on multiple crime scenes—
or why different types of murders carried the same mark.
She searched Sarah Good again.
A tiny article appeared.
Sarah Good, age twenty-two.
Executed by fire.
Born in this very city centuries ago.
Lisa leaned back.
If she wanted more answers, she needed to dig into the city's original settlement history—back when Sarah Good was alive.
There would be old records somewhere.
City Hall.
Specifically…
The City Hall Library, home to the archived historical documents.
Lisa grabbed her coat.
Her heartbeat quickened.
Something was connecting the past and present.
Something dark, ancient, and intentional.
And she was going to uncover it.