ROSES HAVE THORNS

"Oh, Yamada-kun, honestly," a melodic voice sighed, cutting from the Myrian bench. "With all that big talk you were blabbering, you could have at least tired her out a teeny-tiny bit. How embarrassing, haha."

["OH MY GODDESS!!!"] Commentator Ken suddenly lost his mind into the microphone. ["LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE MYRIA’S SECOND CONTESTANT STEPPING UP TO THE ARENA!!! She is the undisputed golden idol of the Myrian continent! The shimmering jewel of the martial arts scene! MAKE SOME NOISE FOR... JIN FU!!!!"]

A young woman with radiant, golden hair tied back into an intricate, flowing high ponytail gracefully hopped over Ryuuji’s charred body, marching straight onto the arena. She wore a stunning, highly specialized black and golden combat dress that fluttered elegantly with every step.

Jin paused right at the edge of the ring. Looking up toward the floating display tag that broadcasted her face to the spectators, she casually formed a finger gun with her right hand. She brought the tip of her index finger to her pink lips, planted a soft, winking kiss against it, and aggressively "shot" it straight at the camera with a bright smile.

"Pow!"

"KYAAAAAA!!! JIN FU!!! LOOK AT ME!!!" Thousands of fans – from Myria especially – aggressively waved glowing golden light-rods through the air.

"THE GOLDEN IDOL IS HERE!!! DESTROY THEM, JIN FU!!!"

"SHOW THAT EMELIE WHAT TRUE MARTIAL PROWESS LOOKS LIKE!!!"

Down in the VIP front row, Dominik leaped completely out of his seat with pure excitement as he pointed a trembling finger at her. "It’s Jin Fu! It’s actually Jin Fu! Kurt, holy crap, I’m literally seeing the golden idol live in person! Mia, look! Look at her hair! Are you looking?! Look at her!"

"Oh. My. Goodness! She’s even prettier in person!" Mia clutched her cheeks as her eyes practically turned into hearts.

"Hey. Dom. I thought you were supposed to be a hardcore Emelie?"

Dominik didn’t even look back at Kurt as he waved his arms wildly through the air and let out a loud cheer for the Myrian idol.

"Kurt, listen to me! Two things can be true at once! I love Emelie, but Jin Fu is someone I rarely get to see!" He then cupped his hands around his mouth and screamed toward the center of the arena, "DO YOUR BEST, EMELIE!!! WE LOVE YOU, JIN FU!!! KILL EACH OTHER!!!"

Because the Gauntlet format was a continuous bout, there was no need for a secondary countdown. The moment a new combatant’s boots touched the arena; the match was on.

Jin didn’t waste any more time on her entrance. The moment her winking gesture left the projection, her bubbly smile immediately sharpened into an intense, focused battle grin.

BZZZZZZT!

A blinding aura of golden lightning surged from her body. She thrusted her right hand out to the side, and mustered a flash of condensed mana, creating a double-headed golden battleaxe right in the palm of her hand.

"Let’s see if that invisible armor of yours can handle the destructive force of my gold, Emelie-chan!" Jin Fu shouted cheerily.

Using an explosive burst of lightning steps, she transformed into a golden blur, leaping high into the air and bringing the massive golden axe crashing down toward Emelie’s head with a whistling downward force.

Emelie didn’t feel threatened, nor did she move. She simply raised her left hand, her green eyes flashing with mana as a dense wall of telekinetic force materialised above her hair.

BOOOOOOM!!!

The golden battleaxe slammed powerfully against the invisible barrier, creating a concussive shockwave that blasted the surrounding debris away in a perfect circle. The golden lightning streaks from the weapon strenuously spiderwebbed across the air, desperately trying to pierce through Emelie’s defense.

["Whoa!"] Christy gasped into her microphone. ["The raw power behind Jin Fu’s opening strike is completely diabolical! The sand is practically cracking beneath them!"]

["But Emelie’s specialised technique is holding firm!"] Commentator Ken roared over the noise. ["She’s blocking the weapon with just a single hand!"]

Emelie’s razor-sharp smile didn’t fade as she addressed the girl trying to crush her. "Nice toy, Goldilocks. My turn."

With an upward flick of her wrist, Emelie unleashed a telekinetic pulse, forcefully throwing the golden axe – and Jin along with it – high into the air.

"Whooaoaaohhh! So this is your specialised magic, Telekinesis!"

Before the idol could recover her orientation, Emelie pointed two finger guns at her, manifesting three pressurised spheres of water. She then shot them like cannonballs straight toward the airborne fighter.

"Na-ah uhhhh!"

Jin Fu, displaying an extraordinary level of mid-air agility, casually released her battleaxe and let the weapon dissolve into harmless golden sparkles. In that exact same second, she clapped her hands together and created a pair of golden dual-swords.

SLASH! SLASH!

With two incredibly fast cross-cuts, she cleanly sliced the first two water spheres in half, sending light drizzle cascading over the arena.

As the third sphere neared her face, she nimbly planted the soles of her boots directly against the liquid surface and used it as a platform to launch herself backward in a graceful backflip, landing gracefully on the ground several feet away.

"Hahaha! Wow, you’re a tough nut to crack, aren’t you?" Jin laughed breathlessly as she spun the dual blades around her fingers before letting them snap out of existence with a casual wave.

"No wonder Yamada-kun got his butt handed to him. You’re a total powerhouse."

"And you talk a lot for someone who’s supposed to be a Myrian Representative. Although, I guess you all have your quirks. So, are you going to fight me, or are you trying to impress me?"

"A little bit of both, honestly!" Jin beamed, her eyes sparkling with competitive fire. "A true idol always has to keep her beloved fans entertained, after all! Watch this!"

Jin violently slammed her foot against the stone floor. This time, her golden lightning mana didn’t just wrap around her body – it surged outward into the air behind her, rapidly forming a massive, floating armory.

Within seconds, multiple types of weapons ranging from swords, spears, daggers and curved blades – all of different varieties – hovered in a semi-circle around her silhouette, all locked squarely onto Emelie.

["HOLY! Look at that absolute visual spectacle!"] Commentator Ken screamed with amazement. ["Jin Fu is deploying her legendary Unlimited Golden Arsenal! She can manifest and control an entire battalion’s worth of weaponry through her will!"]

["Also, look closer! Every single one of those constructs is reinforced with her signature golden lightning,"] Christy added. ["This is going to test the absolute limits of Emelie’s defensive capabilities!"]

With a theatrical snap of her fingers, Jin’s entire floating armory launched forward. The spears, swords, and daggers tore through the air like a metal storm, leaving long, crackling trails of golden electricity in their wake as they converged on Emelie’s position from multiple angles.

Realising that her telekinetic barrier would eventually shatter under that amount of consecutive blows, Emelie opted for an offensive defense.

She raised both of her hands and twitched her fingers in complex gestures. Using her telekinesis to forcibly seize control of the loose stone boulders that had been shattered during Ryuuji’s earlier earthquake, she pulled the massive rocks into the air, spinning them around her body like a planetary ring.

’Let them know pain, Emy.’ Kurt watched with a dreamy gaze.

Zip—BANG! CRASH! SHATTER!

The golden spears and broadswords slammed explosively into the spinning boulder shield, detonating in a series of bright, electrical explosions.

Stone debris and golden sparks rained down across the arena like a chaotic firework display as the sheer force of the impacts created a thick cloud of dust that completely obscured the center of the arena.

But that didn’t stop the onslaught.

BOOM! BANG! CRASH! SMASH!!!

After a five-minute non-stop assault from Jin Fu, the attacks finally stopped.

"... D-Did she get her?!" a Myrian screamed from the upper decks, leaning over the railing.

"... No way, Emelie wouldn’t go down that easily! She’s literally called The Best!" an Eldorian roared back.

Suddenly, a forceful gust of wind blew from the center of the dust cloud. Emelie shot wildly out of the haze, flying barely an inch off the ground as she manipulated the air currents behind her heels.

Her black combat bodysuit was completely pristine, not even a speck of dust had touched her skin as she swiftly closed the distance to the idol.

Jin’s eyes widened with genuine thrill coursing through her veins. "Yes! That’s what I’m talking about!"

As Emelie neared her, Jin instantly created a massive golden warhammer into both of her hands, swinging it horizontally with an air-shattering force.

Emelie’s hair brushed against the golden metal as she smoothly ducked beneath the swing. Using her telekinesis to anchor her left hand against the stone floor, she used the momentum to swing her entire lower body around, executing a flawless enhanced sweeping kick aimed at Jin’s ankles.

Jin effortlessly leaped over the sweeping leg, but the moment her boots left the ground, Emelie’s right hand shot upward, blasting a ball of fire from her palm directly toward the idol’s chest.

Mid-air and unable to dodge, Jin hastily crossed her forearms in front of her face, creating a golden kite shield just over her skin as the fireball detonated.

BOOOOOOM!!!

The explosive blast sent her flying backward through the air, her boots skidding severely across the stone as she landed, leaving two long, deep trenches in the arena floor.

She let out an exhilarated laugh as she wiped a trace of soot from her cheek.

Across from her, Emelie stood perfectly composed.

Down in the VIP seats, Kurt slowly leaned forward. His single eye locked unblinkingly onto the two girls as a dangerously appreciative smirk pulled at his lips.

’Now this is a real fight. Jesus, I’m getting pumped just watching them. Neither of them is holding back a single damn thing anymore.’

The entire coliseum fell into a tense, breathless silence. Both the golden idol of Myria and the top hound of Eldoria stood at opposite sides of the ring, their respective elemental and telekinetic auras flaring so fiercely that the air between them began to visibly crackle and distort with terrifying power, setting the stage for an explosive clash.

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