Chapter 60: The Duel at Rank 26
The Obsidian Circle was alive with tension.
Students packed the terraces—2nd Years, 3rd, even curious 4th Years—gathered to witness a challenge most deemed suicidal. Cassandra Ikemba, Rank 38, 7th Spirit Cycle, had formally accepted a duel from Rank 26: Sol Renner, a 10th Spirit Cycle and senior among seniors.
The arena crackled with suppressed soul energy, and the moment Cassandra stepped into the ring, murmurs rippled through the crowd.
"She's not serious."
"Seven cycles? Against Sol?"
"She's going to be obliterated."
Karen, Leslie, Marie, and Jim stood together in the front rows of the observation tier, their eyes trained on the arena. Karen's fingers dug slightly into the railing. Even she wasn't sure Cassandra would walk out unscathed.
At the highest observation platform, behind one-way soulglass, Joshua Ikemba watched silently, arms folded, unreadable.
The bell rang.
Sol Renner stepped forward, his form cloaked in flaming white aura, towering with sheer pressure. His signature technique, Crimson Manifold, flickered like fire wrapped in lightning.
Cassandra, by contrast, looked almost unarmed—her aura pulled tight against her body, her expression blank.
"You should've stayed in your rank, Ikemba," Sol said coldly. "You'll regret climbing over corpses too quickly."
Cassandra said nothing.
He struck first—fast, brutal, efficient.
In a blink, his fist was at her side. A wave of heat exploded, sending the ground trembling. Cassandra barely avoided the strike, her silhouette sliding backwards on compressed aura, but Sol didn't let up.
Two more punches. Then a crushing palm strike laced with Soul Detonation.
She took it squarely in the chest—flung backwards into the barrier. The shield rippled violently.
Gasps echoed through the arena.
Karen bit her lip. "Cassandra…"
"She can't win like this," Jim muttered.
Sol launched toward her again.
Cassandra stood—blood at her lips, eyes flashing—but still calm. Still composed.
Then, just as Sol's next attack came, she whispered under her breath.
"Null Field."
The air went still.
And then it collapsed.
A sudden implosion of energy detonated at her feet, not an explosion but an erasure. The entire arena dimmed. Sol's blazing aura vanished in an instant—snuffed like a candle under a dome.
He stumbled. "What—?!"
Cassandra walked forward, a colourless field radiating from her body—unnatural, silent, and absolute. Her domain.
Her Proto Domain had awakened.
"No external energy," she said softly. "Inside the Null Field, you fight with your body alone."
Sol tried to summon his soul weapon. Nothing happened.
He panicked. Rushed forward.
She ducked beneath his punch and struck his rib with her elbow—an ordinary move, but with his defenses down, it cracked like a whip. Then a palm to the neck. Then the knee—fast, clean, brutal.
Within moments, Sol hit the floor hard, coughing blood.
Gasps turned to stunned silence.
Cassandra stood over him, expression cool as winter. Her domain faded, slowly, like a dream retreating.
The bell rang.
"Winner: Cassandra Ikemba. Rank 26."
The arena exploded with noise.
Karen exhaled shakily. "She… she actually did it."
"She awakened her domain," Leslie said, wide-eyed. "A Null-type… That's unheard of ."
"That's why her aura always felt restrained," Marie murmured. "She was suppressing that."
Even Joshua, high above, cracked a small smile. "indeed."
As Cassandra exited the arena, bruised but unshaken, she passed the stunned crowd like a phantom.
Jim clapped once, impressed. "Okay, that was terrifying."
Karen met her eyes as she approached.
Cassandra simply said, "Told you. Thoughtless climbing gets you killed. Strategy doesn't."
Karen gave a faint grin. "And unlocking your Domain in the middle of the match wasn't 'thoughtless'?"
Cassandra blinked once. "Calculated risk."
Then she walked ahead, calm as ever.
And the Academy now knew without doubt—Cassandra Ikemba wasn't just some noble's daughter. She was a contender.