Xuan Xi burst out of the water curtain and struck with her palm toward the enemy ice user’s neck. The ice user raised her arm in a hurried block, ice armor covering her arm, but Xuan Xi’s palm hit the armor, shattering it and forcing the opponent back three steps.
“Water can counter ice,” Xuan Xi said.
The ice user gritted her teeth and reformed her ice armor. But those three steps back had already taken her out of the flag capture zone.
Sigrdrífa’s thunder light exploded above the flag, silver-white arcs weaving into a fine net in the air, driving back the enemy lightning and wind users who were trying to seize the flag. Her lightning was unnaturally precise—every arc landed exactly at the opponent’s feet, neither harming them nor letting them advance a single step.
The opponents were retreating, but they hadn’t given up. The fire dragon reorganized a counterattack—flames came around from the side, bypassing Viralis’s ice wall, heading straight for Xuan Xi’s back.
Xuan Xi didn’t turn around, because she knew someone would handle it.
Reggie’s earth wall rose behind her. The flames crashed into the wall, sending rubble flying, but didn’t touch her at all. She didn’t even look back, continuing to suppress the enemy ice user.
“Elsa! Left side!” Xuan Xi shouted.
Elsa’s flames spread to the left, perfectly blocking the enemy wind user’s sneak attack path. The wind user twisted sharply in the air, barely avoiding having his hair singed. He stumbled two steps after landing, and before he could gather his thoughts, Reggie’s stone spikes rose beneath his feet, forcing him to jump again.
As he jumped, Sigrdrífa’s thunder light was already waiting at his landing point—a hair-thin arc of electricity struck his sole with precision. When he landed, his leg went weak, and he dropped to one knee.
“Out.” Cecilia’s voice came from the sidelines.
One opponent down. The remaining four didn’t panic. They quickly adjusted their formation—fire and lightning at the front, ice in the back for support, earth in the middle for coordination. The four bunched together, no longer spread out, using concentrated firepower to suppress Xuan Xi’s advance.
Xuan Xi’s team also began to show cracks in their coordination. Elsa’s flames and Viralis’s ice wall collided during a cross-cover—Elsa’s fireball scraped past Viralis’s ice wall, melting a corner of it. Viralis frowned but said nothing.
Reggie’s earth wall and Elsa’s flames also had a misstep—Reggie’s earth wall rose and blocked Elsa’s line of sight, causing her fireball to veer off and nearly hit her own teammate.
But Sigrdrífa and Xuan Xi’s coordination never failed.
They didn’t need to speak. The moment Xuan Xi’s water curtain rose, Sigrdrífa’s thunder light came through from behind it.
Using the principle of water conducting electricity, the water curtain became an amplifier for the thunder light. Silver-white arcs danced on the surface of the water, forming a barrier of intertwined lightning and water. The enemy fire user tried to break through with flames, but the moment the flames met the water curtain, steam rose, and the lightning spread along the steam, hitting him instead.
“Out.” Cecilia’s voice rang out again.
Another one down. Three against five. But the remaining three didn’t give up. They tightened their formation and focused all their firepower on one point—trying to force a breakthrough through Reggie’s earth wall defense. Reggie’s wall began to crack under the continuous barrage of fire and lightning. Sweat beaded on his forehead, and his arms trembled slightly.
“Reggie, fall back!” Xuan Xi shouted.
Reggie didn’t hesitate. He retreated three steps, and Elsa’s flames came in from the side to fill the gap he left. Viralis’s ice wall rose behind the flames, forming a second line of defense. Sigrdrífa’s thunder light roamed the outermost perimeter, preventing any enemy from cutting in. And Xuan Xi’s water curtain flowed at the very front, ready to fill any gap in the defenses.
Five people. Five elements. For the first time in real combat, they formed a complete defensive chain.
The remaining three enemies launched a final charge in the last two minutes. Fire and lightning charged together, with ice covering from the back.
Their coordination was smoother than Xuan Xi’s team—after all, they had trained together longer. The fire user punched Reggie’s earth wall, shattering it. The lightning user released three bolts simultaneously, forcing Elsa and Viralis back. The ice user’s ice spikes precisely sealed off Xuan Xi’s water curtain path.
In an instant, a gap appeared in the defense.
But Sigrdrífa’s thunder light shot through that gap, hitting the ground and sending rubble flying, creating a temporary smokescreen.
The enemy fire user’s vision was blocked for a moment. In that instant, Xuan Xi’s water curtain came around from the side and wrapped around his ankle. Under the influence of Viralis’s ice aura, the water instantly froze, trapping his foot to the ground.
“Out.”
Time was up. Cecilia raised her hand. “Combat over. Xuan Xi’s team wins.”
The enemy ice user looked at her frozen feet, was silent for a moment, then raised her head to look at Xuan Xi. “Your water curtain’s movement speed was at least twice as fast as at the start. How did you do that?”
Xuan Xi didn’t answer directly. She just said, “I have good teammates.”
She glanced at Viralis. The light golden-haired ice dragon was standing beside her, a look of appreciation in her ice-blue eyes. She didn’t say anything, just gave Xuan Xi a slight nod, then turned and left alone.
After training, Elsa plopped down on the ground by the field, panting heavily. Her hair, now a darker shade of brown from sweat, stuck to her forehead in strands.
“Dead, dead, dead,” she gasped between breaths. “This is more tiring than fighting three matches on my own.”
Reggie sat down next to her and handed her a bottle of water. Elsa took it, twisted off the cap, and gulped down half the bottle. Then she let out a long breath. “Thanks, Reggie.”
Reggie glanced at her. “You almost hit my head just now.”
“It was almost—it didn’t actually hit.”
“It did hit, actually…”
Elsa froze. “…Really?”
Reggie pointed at his right ear. Above it, a small tuft of hair was singed, curled into a subtle curve. Elsa stared at the curly tuft for three seconds, then clasped her hands together. “Sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn’t mean to! That earth wall blocked my view!”
“I know.” Reggie stood up, brushing the dust off his clothes. “Next time, just yell, and I’ll drop the wall early.”
Elsa blinked, then smiled. “Okay.”
The two walked out of the training ground side by side. The setting sun stretched their shadows long—one short and fluffy, one tall and steady. Elsa was chattering about something, and Reggie listened, nodding occasionally, replying once in a while.
On the training ground, Xuan Xi and Sigrdrífa remained.
Xuan Xi sat on a bench, looking down at her hand. There was a faint red mark on her palm—a scratch from the enemy’s ice spike. It wasn’t deep, but it still throbbed faintly. Sigrdrífa stood in front of her, pulling a roll of bandages from the pouch at her waist.
“Give me your hand.” She crouched down, took Xuan Xi’s hand, and began wrapping the bandage. One wrap, two wraps, three wraps.
Xuan Xi looked down at her. Sige’s silver-white hair fell from the side of her face, almost brushing Xuan Xi’s arm. Her hands were steady, the pressure of the bandage just right. Her cool fingertips occasionally touched Xuan Xi’s skin—like ice, but not quite. Ice was hard; her fingertips were soft.
“You cooperated well today,” Sigrdrífa said softly, still looking down. “Elsa and Reggie’s cooperation was much better than before too. As for Viralis… she matches you well.”
“You sound like a teacher writing evaluation reports for us.”
“It’s not a report.” Sigrdrífa tucked the end of the bandage in and looked up. Her amethyst eyes met Xuan Xi’s amber-gold ones. “Just my personal observation notes.”
Xuan Xi smiled. “And who are you planning to show those notes to?”
“Myself.”
Xuan Xi curved her lips but said nothing.
Sigrdrífa stood up and extended her hand to her, palm up, fingers slightly spread. Xuan Xi placed her hand in Sigrdrífa’s palm—warm palm against cool bandages. She held on and stood up.
The two walked out of the training ground side by side. The setting sun slowly sank behind them. In the distant sky, the sunset clouds shifted from orange-red to pink-purple. Xuan Xi glanced down at her bandaged hand. The white bandage glowed faintly in the twilight, like a thin layer of snow.
“Sige.”
“Hm.”
“Want to come down the mountain with me this weekend?”
Sigrdrífa turned her head to look at her. The wind lifted her silver-white hair, drawing a soft arc in the air.
“Do you want to?”
“Yes.”
“Then let’s go.”
Xuan Xi tightened her grip on her hand. Their hands clasped together in the twilight—one wrapped in bandages, the other not. But their warmth was the same.