The air shifted the moment their names were called.

  “Preliminary match commencing: Riku Saito versus Ren Saito,” the announcer echoed over the speakers. “Essentia types: Wind versus Ice-Crystal. Begin when ready.”

  The twins stepped forward to opposite ends of the arena. For most, a spar like this was routine. But for these two, this wasn’t just a match.

  This was a language.

  They didn’t just fight each other they understood each other.

  And they were about to prove it.

  Ren Saito stood loose but focused, arms at his sides as frost curled around his wrists. His Essentia gleamed like fractured diamonds, light refracting off tiny crystal plates forming along his forearms. He looked calm calculating.

  Riku Saito, by contrast, bounced on the balls of his feet. His white jacket fluttered slightly as currents of wind spiraled around him, invisible but potent. A confident grin played on his lips.

  “Let’s make it interesting,” Riku called. “Loser has to cook dinner for a week.”

  Ren snorted. “Make it two. You’ll need the practice.”

  The bell rang.

  Round One: Speed

  Riku moved first he always did.

  A flash of wind burst beneath his feet and launched him into the air, twisting with a sharp kick that sent compressed air blades straight toward his brother.

  Ren flicked his hand up, forming a curved wall of translucent ice. The air strikes smashed into it, scattering into harmless gusts.

  But Riku didn’t stop moving.

  Mid-air, he redirected with a sharp pulse beneath one foot his signature trick and teleported through a sudden vacuum pocket. He reappeared behind Ren in an instant, launching a sweep kick aimed at the legs.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  Ren caught it barely and the ice along his arm reacted with a snap, coating his legs in a protective shin plate just in time.

  He twisted and sent a jagged spike of crystal straight for Riku’s side.

  Riku bent back matrix-style and the crystal barely sliced past his shoulder.

  The crowd roared.

  Round Two: Power

  Ren shifted now. No more conserving.

  He placed both hands to the ground, and with a sharp breath, columns of crystal erupted from beneath the arena floor in a widening radius. They shimmered like glass, twisting to trap Riku into a narrow space.

  Riku narrowed his eyes.

  “Fine. Let’s go full tilt.”

  With a loud clap of his palms, he forced air pressure downward, exploding himself upward like a missile.

  Wind spiraled beneath him as he launched into a spin kick mid-air typhoon-form. Wind gathered like a miniature storm at his heel.

  Ren leapt onto one of the rising columns and snapped his fingers.

  The column he stood on shattered into hundreds of needle-sized shards and he sent them flying.

  Riku’s eyes widened as he twisted in mid-air, redirecting wind behind him to just avoid the incoming hail of frozen crystal.

  The clash was chaos and elegance. Ren’s control was frightening his crystal constructs rotated mid-flight with unnatural precision. Riku’s movement, on the other hand, was artful, wild, and unpredictable.

  Round Three: Dead Even

  Both landed hard sweating, grinning, bruised.

  Ren’s gauntlets were cracked. Riku had a gash along his cheek from a near-miss crystal shard.

  They circled each other now. No more quips.

  Just breath.

  Instinct.

  Then they moved at the same time.

  Ren went low, forming a whip of crystalline frost.

  Riku vaulted over it and countered with a concentrated burst of wind from his palms, sending Ren sliding back.

  Ren spun, skidding across the floor, then used the momentum to hurl a crystal javelin.

  Riku crossed his arms, generated a vortex shield, and the javelin shattered on impact but the force still sent him reeling.

  They froze, locked eyes, both panting.

  Neither moved.

  The tension crackled in the air.

  And that’s when Instructor Baek’s voice cut in.

  “Match ends. Draw. No point in pushing into injury territory.”

  A murmur ran through the crowd half disappointed, half in awe.

  Riku dropped to a knee, laughing between heavy breaths.

  “Told you I wouldn’t lose.”

  Ren leaned on one of his own ice pillars, shaking his head.

  “You also didn’t win.”

  The crowd clapped, but the Saito twins didn’t seem to care. This wasn’t about the audience.

  This was theirs.

  Back on the sidelines, I watched them return, wiping sweat and bumping shoulders.

  Riku gave me a thumbs-up. “Tried not to show off too hard.”

  Ren rolled his eyes. “You were out of breath first.”

  I smirked. They were idiots but damn good ones.

  And as the crowd began to hush again, all heads turned to the arena.

  Because now, it was time for the real storm.

  Kyra Voss vs. Aki Jang.

  And the room felt colder already