Rise of the Devourer
Book 4: Chapter 25 — Tournament Pt. 12

It was the last day of the tournament, and the colosseum was buzzing with excitement that Noah had never felt before. Twenty-five thousand people were talking and making noise, which made the air feel electrified. Every level had banners flying, traders were selling tournament souvenirs, and the energy was so high that it felt like the ancient stones were holding their breath.

Noah was in the contender preparation area going over the last inspections on his gear. There would be no more upgrades, no more locked skills, and no more concealed trump cards. This would be the best he could do. It would be the last test of everything he had learned and gained in the preceding year.

"Are you ready for this?" Aurelia questioned, but there was something in her voice that Noah couldn't quite place. She had changed since her fight with Vion. She was calmer and more serious, as if the fight had changed something important about how she perceived the world.

Noah checked his spear one last time and said, "As ready as I can be." The red weapon hummed with hardly restrained strength, and it had grown a lot during the tournament's clashes. "I have a feeling this is going to be different from anything I've ever faced."

"Vion's different," Seraphina said in a matter-of-fact way. "Her power levels have been going up during the tournament. Whatever her evolution started, it's still going on."

Noah nodded, knowing more than his pals probably thought. He could see it in Vion's eyes during the few times they had talked since she changed: a certainty and a purpose that appeared to guide every choice she made.

"Final match preparation!" someone called from the door. "Please get ready to go in five minutes, Noah Brown!"

Noah stood up, and his buddies gathered around him. It felt more like a goodbye than a pep talk.

"Good luck," Erwest responded in a polite way. "You've worked hard to get here."

"Show them what an Outerworlder can do," Aurelia urged. This time, her grin was real, even if she was going through a lot of trouble within.

"Don't die." Seraphina helpfully said, "I'm interested to see how this turns out."

As Noah approached the tunnel, he pondered about everything that had happened to him up to this point. The abyssal cult where he first learned how to use his powers, the many fights and difficulties he had faced, the friends he had met, and the power he had achieved. All of it had led up to this: a final fight with someone who had been just as crucial to his quest.

The tunnel seemed to go on forever, but ultimately Noah came out into the hot afternoon light and faced the largest throng he'd ever heard.

"THE TOURNAMENT FINALS!" the announcer's voice somehow got through the noise. "Noah Brown, the Void Walker, the Outerworlder, and the master of impossible magic!"

The crowd went wild. Noah had gained a lot of fans during the tournament because of his unique skills and the dramatic changes that happened during his matches. He raised his hand to show he understood, feeling the weight of thousands of people's hopes and dreams on his shoulders.

"And his opponent," the narrator said, "Vion Ashscale, the Dragon-blooded Warrior, master of dragonfire!" The noise somehow got even louder.

Vion's entrance was amazing. She came out of the other tunnel with the predatory grace that had become her trademark, but now she had something more: a royal air that demanded everyone's attention. The heat distortions around her felt like a personal atmosphere, and when her dragonfire wings appeared, the crowd's roar became nearly too much to bear.

She was stunning in every way, strong, self-assured, and walking with the full confidence of someone who understood precisely who they were and what they wanted.

They met in the middle of the arena for the last time to acknowledge the tournament, and Noah couldn't help but notice how different this was from all the other times they had met. There was no hatred or desire to hurt each other here. They were just two individuals who had been changed by their trip together and were now confronting each other at the end of everything they had worked for.

“So, we’re here at last.” His voice was hardly heard over the crowd's cheers.

"Here at last indeed," Vion said, and even though her eyes were full of competition, her grin was kind. "Show me how much you’ve grown, Noah. And I’ll show you how much I’ve grown."

"I wouldn't want it any other way," Noah responded with agrin.

As the crowd got quieter, they went to their starting places. Noah called for his spear, and Vion pulled her sword, which was already on fire at the edge. The air itself seemed to get thicker with potential energy since both fighters emitted strength.

There was also something else there: a thrill that had nothing to do with competition and everything to do with the chance to finally let go entirely. Noah smiled as he got into his posture, and Vion's face showed that he was just as excited as Noah was.

"Are the fighters ready?" the announcer asked.

"Are you ready?" Noah asked, and he could feel all of his powers vibrating under his skin.

"Ready to show you everything I am," Vion said, and her dragonfire wings expanded wide as she smiled with complete excitement.

"START!"

At the same time, both boxers moved, and the arena went crazy.

Noah started with Arcane Step, which put him right in Vion's guard with his spear thrust boosted by void energy. Vion's sword hit his weapon in a shower of sparks, and the force of the blow made both fighters slide back across the stone floor.

Neither one hesitated. Noah quickly chained into another teleportation and showed up next to Vion, but she had already planned for this move. She swung her blade in a wide arc, and he had to teleport again to avoid being hit.

"You have gotten better," Vion said, and her dragonfire wings appeared as she flew into the air.

"Could say the same about you, lots of new abilities to see here," Noah said as he activated Runeforged Armaments to make a lot of spectral weapons.

The first few exchanges set a new standard for what they could do. Noah's grasp of space had gotten so good that even improved senses couldn't foresee where he would move next. Vion's three-dimensional control of the battlefield made him have to change his position all the time.

Dragonfire fell from above in precise patterns, each one designed to limit Noah's teleportation possibilities rather than hurt him directly. Noah used his ethereal weaponry to attack from several angles, which made Vion have to split her concentration between assault and defense.

"The dragon-blooded warrior has gotten a lot better at tactical analysis," Tony said. "She's predicting our attacks before they hit."

Noah turned to Power mode, and his increased strength let him drive Vion back into the arena floor with blows that broke stone when they missed their target. But Vion's body had changed in ways that he didn't foresee. When she landed and hit his next blow head-on, the arena floor shook with the impact.

"Impressive," Noah exclaimed, and he meant it. He could feel the impact run up his arms.

Vion's answer was to show how far her evolution had come. Her dragonfire wings grew to twice their original size, and the temperature in the arena started to rise quickly. The stone under her feet glowed red, then orange, and then it began to flow like thick liquid.

The floor of the arena changed. There was a sea of molten rock where solid stone had been just a few moments earlier. Vion stood in the middle like a mythological figure, fully unharmed by temperatures that would have killed any other person right away.

Noah had to teleport all the time just to stay on his feet. Every time he stepped on what looked like solid ground, the stone below him would start to melt in a matter of seconds.

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"Territorial dominance through geological manipulation," Noah said under his breath as the heat in the room started to effect even his augmented body.

Vion's next step forward was even more shocking. She raised both hands, and the hot arena floor exploded in a dozen places. Lava geysers rushed up to the roof, and their paths were carefully planned to hit Noah's teleportation sites with perfect accuracy.

But Noah was ready for his own escalations.

Void Annihilation started at many places at once, and dark lightning cut channels across the lava flows to make temporary safe zones. He started teleporting in quick sequences that even Tony's increased perception had trouble keeping up with. He appeared and disappeared faster than Vion could aim.

"Master should know that the draconic aura she's giving off is messing with our spatial calculations." Tony said, "The distortion of reality around her is getting worse."

Noah could sense it, though. Every time he teleported close to Vion, the change felt less seamless and more difficult. Her evolved draconic presence was taking control of the local space-time continuum in ways that made his powers less trustworthy.

Vion's next move made Noah rethink his whole strategy. The dragonfire around her started to come together into separate shapes. They weren't just flames; they were creatures that seemed to have their own minds and goals. The dragon-shaped fire constructs moved on their own, each following its own attack path as she coordinated the whole attack.

Using Cosmic Vault to get special weapons made for fighting more than one opponent at a time.

The battle got a lot more complicated. Noah was fighting six dragonfire elementals at once, and Vion was a moving target that was hard to hit because she was faster and could fly.

Different strategies were needed for each piece. Some were quick and hard to hit, so Noah had to utilize precise strikes. Some were strong and direct, and it took a lot of force to break them up. At the same time, Vion planned their moves to go along with her own strikes, making tactical combinations that pushed Noah's ability to adapt to the maximum.

The arena looked like a foreign place. Lava flows produced rivers of molten rock, and eruptions shot fountains of superheated rock into the air every so often. The dragonfire elementals flowed around this place as if it were their home, getting stronger from the heat and volcanic activity around them.

Noah went into Mystic mode, which tripled his magical reserves and made his spells more complicated. The alteration let him keep Void Annihilation around all the time while also coordinating dozens of Runeforged Armaments in complicated attack patterns.

But Vion's counter-escalation showed that she had been holding back just as much as he had.

Her dragon-like aura grew a lot, and Noah could feel her presence like a heavy weight on him. This wasn't merely magical pressure; it was the apex predator's claim to be in charge of everything in her domain.

The dragonfire elementals grew bigger and smarter as a result of her greater power. Flames that looked like creatures turned into beings that were almost as intricate and smart as real dragons.

"Show me everything," Vion urged, pointing to the arena floor with a voice that was full of power.

The hot stone obeyed her command and rose in waves that almost completely covered Noah. He teleported like crazy, but her dragon-like aura was getting in the way of his ability to move around in space.

Noah's answer was to push his skills to their theoretical maximum. He started using Arcane Step to teleport himself and his strikes right inside Vion's defense zone, which shouldn't have been feasible.

Void energy started to show up inside her flame barriers, which made her change her whole defense approach on the fly. But for every new idea Noah came up with, Vion had an answer that showed how she had grown.

She raised her hands to the ceiling of the arena and called on powers that made her previous shows look tame. As she pulled thermal energy from sources outside of her immediate surroundings, such the sun, the earth's core, and the basic heat of molecular motion itself, the air itself started to burn.

When she let go of all that energy and attacked in a coordinated way, the attack was so strong that it bent space along its course. Noah's void tactics barely stopped the worst of it, and even then he felt like his Constitution-mode upgrades were having a hard time dealing with the impacts that were still there.

The fight reached a peak that took both men to places they had never been before. Noah's combinations turned into tactical works of art: teleportation chains that generated geometric patterns of void energy, weapon barrages that seemed to move with their own intelligence, and spatial aberrations that made reality itself appear negotiable.

Vion's show of might mirrored his rise, changing what draconic powers could do. She made strikes that burnt through dimensions, changed gravitational fields with concentrated fire, and showed that she could control basic forces that no one else should have been able to.

The venue looked completely different. What used to be a simple stone circle was now a volcanic landscape where lava flows changed the earth with each exchange. The barriers that kept the throng safe burned white-hot from the energy they were taking in, and the air itself shimmered with heat waves that made it hard to see.

The last exchange happened when both fighters put everything they had into moves that were the best they could do.

Noah used all of his skills in a single, coordinated attack. Void Annihilation came from points that were spread out over several spatial levels, and Runeforged Armaments made weapons that worked in both regular space and his dimensional vault. The attack design was so complicated that Tony's increased brain was needed to coordinate it. It produced a web of destruction that blocked off all conceivable escape routes.

Vion's answer was just as complete and scary. She took in the heat from the people around her, the warmth of the afternoon sun, and the heat that was left over from every surface in the colosseum. When she focused all of her energy into one powerful explosion, it had enough power to run a small city.

The explosion that happened when their ultimate methods hit each other changed the laws of physics for a short time. When void energy and concentrated stellar fire collided, they caused a reaction that shook the colosseum's foundation and made its own weather patterns in the area around it.

When the energies eventually faded, both fighters were on the ground, totally worn out.

Noah lay still, his mana completely gone and his body pushed beyond what he believed was possible. He had to think about every breath he took, and his eyesight was full with dark spots that made it look like he was about to pass out.

Vion was in the same shape; she fell to her knees, and her dragonfire wings were hardly visible. The floor of the arena, which was made of molten rock, had started to cool and harden around her. For the first time since the contest started, she looked really tired.

Neither fighter moved for a few moments. There was no sound in the arena except for the cracking of the cooling stone as it shrank.

Then, with what looked like pure willpower, Vion was able to get up. Her legs shook uncontrollably, and she swayed as if she may fall over at any minute. However, she was standing while Noah was still on the ground, unable to move no matter how hard he tried.

Twenty-five thousand people were still in the arena, trying to make sense of what they had just seen: a fight that had changed the way they thought about what individual combat could do.

"Victory to Vion Ashscale!" the speaker shouted, as the crowd went wild.

Vion remained still for a while, swaying a little from being tired, and then moved over to where Noah was lying on the ground. He still couldn't move, no matter how hard he tried. She smiled and held out her hand to him, which showed that she cared more than just as a friend.

"That was great," she replied as she helped him up. "Thanks for that fight."

"Congratulations," Noah said, still out of breath but able to stand with her help. "You won fair and square. I've never pushed myself that hard before, and you still had more to give."

Vion's face become more serious, and she looked around at the crowd that was cheering before looking back at him. "Noah, I need to tell you something. It's something I've wanted to say for a while now."

There was a change in the air between Noah and the other person, a tension that had nothing to do with their recent fight. "What's going on?"

Vion remarked, "The first person I wanted to see when I woke up from what felt like such a long dream was you. Not because of duty or friendship, but because..." She hesitated to gather her confidence. "Because I care about you, Noah. I can't ignore my feelings for you anymore."

Noah's eyes were big with shock as his mind tried to figure out what she had just stated. The announcer's voice blasted across the arena again before he could think of what to say, and the crowd's clamor grew so loud that it was deafening.

"VION ASHSCALE IS THE CHAMPION OF THIS YEAR'S DRAGON WARRIOR TOURNAMENT!"

Vion clasped his hand once and then let it go as she turned to face the center of the arena. She drew on hidden reservoirs of power that made her previous displays look weak. Her dragonfire wings expanded wide as she got ready to speak to the whole realm.

She shouted, "I have something to tell my people," and her voice mysteriously grew louder so that everyone in the colosseum could hear it.

People in the throng started to quiet down, realizing that something important was about to happen.

"I am Vionette von Drakonias," she said, her voice full of power and assurance. "Princess of this kingdom, daughter of dragons, heir to the ancient bloodlines. And today, I announce myself to this kingdom—not as someone hidden away for protection, but as someone ready to stand in the light."

The arena went utterly quiet. Twenty-five thousand people were so shocked that they couldn't move. Their princess was the dragon-blooded warrior who had won their tournament and caught their imaginations.

King Draxius stood up from his throne in the royal box. Father and daughter glanced at each other across the arena for a moment that seemed to last forever. Then the monarch grinned with obvious pride and offered a single, clear nod of approval.

That nod broke the trance.

The crowd cheered so loudly that it was the loudest in the history of the tournament. Their voices made a wall of sound that shook the very foundations of the old colosseum. People waved banners and yelled her name, and the party became something that people will remember for a long time.

Noah stared at Vion with a mix of feelings that were too complicated for him to work out right away as the noise flowed over them. He couldn't handle everything that was occurring too quickly: her confession, her victory, her revelation.

But one thing was clear: things were about to get quite different.

Vion looked back at him for a moment, and even though there was a lot of noise surrounding them, she seemed to understand. She didn't think she'd get an answer right now, when she was feeling so happy and enlightened. But what she said was honest and tough to ignore.

The Dragon's Heart was waiting for the champion, along with all the secrets and power it held. But for now, Noah stood in the arena next to someone who had the strength to tell everyone the truth about herself and her feelings for him.

Even if he didn't know what to do with them.