Page 68 of House Ignis

With a lazy flick of his fingers, the fountain behind him erupted.

Water surged high—something enormous rose from within it.

Styx.

A hulking mass of black muscle and suctioned limbs. Eight massive tentacles unfurled with unnatural speed, slick skin glistening as it pulled itself onto the stone. Eyes blinked open one by one across its central body.

I swallowed.

I hated things with eight legs.

Aether stepped beside me, hackles raised, golden eyes blazing.

"We've got him."

Professor Aldara's voice cracked through the charged air.

"Begin!"

Zorian snapped his fingers.

The air shifted—

And the world detonated into chaos.

Salt and pressure slammed into the arena like the deep ocean rising to the surface.

The fountain exploded outward in a violent surge as Styx lunged through the water like a sea-born nightmare. Tentacles unfurled, slick and glistening. Its eyes glowed faintly—too faintly—like drowned stars lit from beneath.

Aether roared.

Flame tore from his jaws in a blinding arc, carving straight through the tidal wave. Steam detonated outward, hissing around us like a dragon's breath.

The shield flared violently, runes blazing as heat and water collided against its boundary.

I darted left, barely avoiding a crashing tendril of water that struck the stone hard enough to fracture it.

He flicked his wrist and shards of ice spiraled toward me, jagged and spinning. I rolled across the gravel, skin scraping, and hurled a blast of flame back at him.

He didn't block it.

The mist did.

A curtain of vapor rose instantly, swallowing my fire and diffusing it into nothing.

Aether lunged.

Claws tore into soaked earth as he sprinted for Zorian, flames pulsing through his black coat like molten veins.

"Now!" I shouted.

Aether unleashed a column of white-hot fire.

It hit Zorian full force.

The crowd gasped.

Heat slammed into my face and I shielded my eyes, heart pounding—