Amanda's mind raced through possibilities, but none of them made sense.
Celina had been battered and Burned every indicator suggested that the girl should have been on the verge of elimination. Yet she stood there, moving with purpose, her ruined face twisted into something that might have been a smile if it didn't look so much like a grimace.
The chains held firm around Amanda's legs. She could feel the magic coursing through it and it was the kind that required serious training to master. Not the sloppy earth manipulation Celina had been displaying throughout the match.
"You're wondering what just happened," Celina said, her voice taking on an almost conversational tone despite her battered appearance. She moved slowly, deliberately, circling Amanda like a predator. "You're wondering how I'm still standing. How I'm still fighting."
Amanda said nothing, but she was analyzing. She pulled at the chains, testing their strength. Whoever had enchanted them knew what they were doing.
"Let me tell you a secret," Celina continued, her swollen eye tracking Amanda's movements despite the damage. "Everything you've seen so far? The pillars, the boulders, the frantic attacks? That was me playing a role."
She stopped in front of Amanda, looking down at her bound opponent with an expression that was difficult to read beneath the bruises.
"But you see, Amanda, there's something everyone assumes about people like me. They think we're on the same level as the likes of you . They think we're just money and connections and nothing else." Celina's voice had taken on a bitter edge. "They think we've never had to work for anything, so we're automatically weaker than someone like you who had to claw and fight for every achievement."
"" You see the chains that are binding you took me a lot of time to deliver it as I have started to create it before the match even started, so be a good girl and took some beating from me too."" Celina said as she now started to attack amanda in the most brutal way possible by ramming a concrete pillar on her face again and again meanwhile amanda tried to dodge the attacks but the chains were preventing her to do anything and she had took all the beating head on.
This went on for a few minutes and at the end of it amanda stood there battered as her beautiful face has now been fully covered in blood and dust smear all over her face.
"My father didn't just give me magical tutors," Celina said, kneeling down beside Amanda. This close, Amanda could see face full of cruelty and arrogance. "He gave me teachers trained by the military specialists in combat magic, in strategic thinking, in psychological warfare."
Celina reached out and grabbed Amanda's chin, forcing her to meet those damaged eyes.
"I let you think you were winning," Celina whispered. "Every move you made, I predicted. Every attack, I calculated your response to it. I wanted you to feel strong. I wanted you to feel like you were the superior fighter. Because it was only moment for the likes of you to everyone feel this good in front of elite people like me and make you believe that it is better for you to back down because it is not your place."
She released Amanda's face with a slight shove and stood again, returning to her slow circle.
From the stands , Sammy and Talia had gone completely silent. The crowd's energy had shifted no longer the unified roar of a sporting event, but rather thousands of individual voices expressing confusion, shock, concern.
The cameras tracked Celina's movements, broadcasting this moment to the entire academy.
"The iron chains," Celina continued, "are something I learned two years ago. Earth magic is so crude, Amanda. Anyone can throw rocks. Anyone can make walls. But binding magic? Restraint magic? That requires finesse. That requires understanding not just how to manipulate your element, but how to hold the shape across extended periods." She smiled again, and this time it looked almost genuine. "It also requires not showing your hand until the critical moment."
Amanda pulled harder at the chains. They didn't budge. Whatever magic was holding them was strong—stronger than anything she could break through raw force alone.
"What do you want?" Amanda asked, her voice steady despite the rage building in her chest. She'd made a critical error, and she knew it. She'd let Celina's initial display of anger fool her into thinking the girl was relying purely on instinct and raw power. She'd underestimated her.
The realization burned almost as much as the iron cutting into her skin.
"What do I want?" Celina laughed—a genuine, harsh sound that echoed across the arena. "I want you to understand something that I've been trying to show you since we arrived at this academy. I want you to understand that no matter how hard you work, no matter how talented you are, I will always have an advantage. I will always be ahead."
She stepped closer again, and this time Amanda could hear the tremor in her voice—the emotion underneath the cold calculation.
"You came here on a scholarship," Celina said, her words like knives. "You probably thought that proved something. That it meant you were special. But do you know what it actually means? It means you were the best among the common people. It means you're exceptional for someone without resources, without connections, without a safety net."
Celina knelt down again, her damaged eye somehow more intimidating now than it had been.
"I, on the other hand, am exceptional period. Not exceptional for someone privileged. Exceptional. That's the gap you need to understand, Amanda. It's not just money. It's not just connections. It's that I've been trained by the best since I was a child. I've had access to magic theory that most students won't see until they're in graduate studies. I've been prepared for every conceivable scenario."
"And yet you needed to trick me to get an advantage," Amanda shot back, unable to help herself. "If you're so superior, why not beat me honestly?"
Celina's expression darkened. She stood abruptly, and for a moment, Amanda thought she was going to strike. Instead, the girl just turned away, running a hand through her blood-matted hair.
"Because this isn't about honesty," Celina said quietly. "This is about the real world, Amanda. In the real world, no one cares how you won. They only care that you did. My father didn't become the Prime Minister by playing fair. He got there by being smarter, by being willing to do what others wouldn't."
The crowd was in turmoil now. Some students were booing. Others were cheering for Celina. The referee had made no move to interfere technically, binding magic was a legal tactic in combat. Unconventional, but legal.
"Are you going to finish this?" Amanda asked, her voice cold. "Or are you going to stand there philosophizing all day?"
Celina turned back to her, and for the first time, Amanda saw something like uncertainty flicker across her battered features.
"I could finish this," Celina said slowly. "I could attack you right now while you're bound. But that wouldn't prove anything, would it? It would just prove that I can beat someone who's already been subdued and there no fun in it ."
She paused, and Amanda watched as something shifted in the girl's expression. Some internal calculation was taking place.
"So here's what we're going to do," Celina said, walking back to stand over Amanda. " I am going to finish you in one attack try to dodge if not I win and if you are able to it then the fight continues. Not a cheated victory, not a trick. I'm going to prove that I'm simply better than you. That's what I want."
Amanda felt a spike of something—hope? Fury? Maybe both.
"Consequences can be fatal ," Amanda said.
"Maybe," Celina acknowledged. "But it's my mistake to make."
Going a little back celina to prepare her final attack as she took all the remaining contrete slab and molded it into countless spears meanwhile tried amanda tried everything as she tried took it by brute force and by using mana but nothing worked and as celina had prepared her attack she finally took a last look at amanda and said
"" Try to move if you possibly can.""
Saying that she threw all the spears on amand and all at once.
Seeing this amanda panicked and as nothing worked she had use her last resort she exerted all her mana onto the chains and as the result of it the chains shattered because eof too much mana was exerted on it.
The moment the last chain released, she moved.
Not to attack—not yet. Instead, she rolled backward, creating distance between herself and Celina. She came to her feet in a smooth motion, shaking out her legs to restore circulation. Her muscles burned from the lack of blood flow, but she'd endure.
But the issue which was created by it was that now amanda has exhausted 80 percent of he rmana reserves and she started to think how to conserve mana as much as she possibly can.
The crowd erupted and whatever had just happened whatever conversation had occurred between these two fighters had them pumped up. The energy in the arena transformed. This was no longer a predictable match. This was something else entirely.
Amanda looked across the arena at Celina, really looked at her. The girl was standing there, battered and bleeding, but with something in her posture that suggested she was still operating at full capacity. Or close to it. Those bruises, that blood if Celina was right about the battle so far, then the girl had taken all of that damage deliberately, as part of her strategy.
Which meant she was still holding back.
The realization should have been terrifying and it was, in a way. But it was also exhilarating. Because if Celina was right, if everything up until now had been calculated strategy, then Amanda now had information she hadn't had before. She knew that her instincts were sound. She knew that her attacks were landing, her magic was working but She just needed to adjust her approach.
"You want to show me you're better?" Amanda called across the arena. "Then stop playing games. Show me everything."
Celina's smile widened despite the pain it clearly caused her. "With pleasure."
The referee, who had been standing to the side watching this strange interlude with obvious confusion, stepped forward. "Are both fighters ready to continue?"
Amanda nodded.
"I've never been more ready," Celina said.
"Then the match resumes!" the referee declared, stepping back to the sidelines.