Legend has it that when the King of the Yarka Kingdom breathes, the entire Western continent shakes. And when the King walks, the entire continent trembles. That is not because the King has the backing of the majority of the Ten Heavenly Pillars, the ten strongest Wave-users in the entire world, neither was it because the Kingdom possessed vast armadas with hundreds of thousands in their ranks. It's because the Yarka Kingdom is just that big. It's the biggest, strongest, and allegedly the best and most powerful Kingdom in the entire world. Throughout the entire history of the world, it had taken many names, but its dominance remained. It is so big that the Watts family possesses wealth that rivals the royalties of smaller kingdoms like Varous or the Kingdom of the Eastern Sun, a small gem of a kingdom at the tip of the Western continent. Despite this, the Watts family is just one of the countless in the middle class in the city of the Green Dragon. Compared to others, especially her good for nothing little brother, Lily was special, and she had been special all this time. Obscured by her light and hidden in her shadow, Charlie did all that he could to survive the harsh competitions of the Yarka kingdom. To those from the Eastern continent, being accepted into the Infinite Academy is nothing more than a pipedream for the majority of Wave users. In comparison, most people in the Yarka kingdom know of someone that went to Infinite Academy personally. Nobody cared when either of the twins got in, and nobody cared when they returned home for the holidays. So why is he here? Why is he even trying so hard for? That was a question Charlie often pondered. He can never be as strong as his sister, or as popular, smart, and impressive as the kids from other families and sects from the same city. Then, he was brought into the Ville college, a no-name college with few students, while his sister was selected by the Illiol college seniors. Just like before, she was taken in by a popular college, where he went somewhere that had been scoffed at within the Academy for years. Charlie may not have been a genius, but he was no slouch either. Within the first year, he was able to fully develop his style of combat with the help of Olivia and a few others from the same year, and after their handed defeat at the Winter Wars, they decided to instead focus inwards and gain control of the entire college. Being a Caster with the standard book Cast as his medium, what makes Charlie different was his innate understanding and precise control over the various terrains, environments, and structures. Through his careful studying and planning, he imprinted a structure Cast into the very core of the Ville college. Then, with the threat of the ceiling crashing down over them, Charlie became the king of the Ville college. For the first time in a long time, he mattered, at least to those cowering beneath him. That was until the nuisance that is Wu showed up alongside the stupid loli girl Ita. Every generation of freshers before then quickly learned their place, but those two in particular... Charlie will make sure that he will always matter, and he will showcase his true strength not only to himself, his sister, but to everybody else. It was clear that Charlie and Lilly were planning to use Lily as their vanguard and have Charlie support with his Structure Casts from the very beginning. When Wu joked about Charlie doing something to the very foundation of the arena, he was only joking. But as Charlie slammed his fist into the ground and activated a massive Cast that spanned the entirety of the arena's battlefield, Wu knew that they were in trouble. Dodging and pushing off again the rapidly shifting environments as stone columns and walls grew out like grass shoots in the spring, Wu barely escaped a pair of walls that rolled inwards and collapsed on into him before he had to shoot out a crater-making blast from the One-shotter and break apart yet another wall that's collapsing onto him. "You thought you are truly stronger than me?!" Charlie declared, "I will not fall to your puny tricks this time!" "BE CAREFUL!" Lera screamed in the stands as another column barely missed Wu's head by a hair. Ver watched over her closely, her Kraken at the ready just in case Lera's protective instincts became too much and she intervenes. "He's been in the defensive since the beginning..." Ita said, her voice sounding worried as Wu vaulted over yet another rising column and jumped to another as Charlie elevated himself into the air so he can watch over both his battle with Wu and the fight between Lily and Fatera. So far, he is completely dominant in his very own battle against the powerless Wu, but Fatera's clearly beating down Lily. Tactically, it would be the most ideal for him to finish up Wu as quickly as possible before going over to help his older sister, but personally, he wanted to make Wu's defeat as painful as possible, physically and mentally. He needed to break Wu down in front of everybody this time, and then, nobody will ever dare challenge him again. Wu turned another corner and leaped high up into the air before he started scaling the wall when suddenly, Charlie manipulated pre-formed walls all around him and trapped him inside a prison of rocks and stone. With his One-Shotter, Wu shot out a series of blasts into the corner, hoping to exploit the structural integrity at the connecting joints. However, all he did was cause the entire cube to collapse on top of him. With Lera's bubble bubble, Wu held on and tried to blast a way out as Charlie took this chance and subtly manipulated the geography of the arena ever so slightly. To Lily, it looked as if the outer circles of the battlefield were crawling creepily towards her. That was the signal she needed. She clapped her hands and unleashed a blast of air that pushed Fatera straight out of the outer circle before Charlie swung his hands together and restored the deformity to the battlefield back to its original shape. A despicable tactic to be sure, though one that didn't really go against any of the written rules of the Ring of Fire. Fatera is disqualified, and Principal Khan acted as such. Freeing himself from the pile of debris with his body covered in dirt and bruises, Wu climbed out only to see Fatera chained down by the Principal with her feet firmly locked outside the outer circles. With a forced smile, Wu reached out towards her, "It's going to be okay. Don't break the rules...just for me." "It's not for you! It's for me!" Fatera protested as Charlie slowly emerged from behind the stone walls alongside Lily that lowered herself down to the ground, "I have never lost in a fight, ever!" "And that's exactly why you have lost this time." Lily said, "You are but a selfish brat that never learned teamwork." "Real-world battles don't finish when you step out of a circle! Fuck this!" Fatera spit as the crowd gasped at her language. "Real-world battles have other constraints." Wu said, his voice low and calm, "It's okay, Fatera. You have done well to help me, but...this journey is my very own." Then, he rose up and faced Lily and Charlie as the little brother dispelled the manipulation to the local structures and stepped aside. "Fatera." Before the wall of flames swallowed Wu, he half-turned his head and looked back at Fatera, "I promise to get so strong in the future that you will be proud to fight alongside me." Then, Lily's flames completely bathed Wu's body, swallowing him whole, and started melting away at the bubble bubble he hastily constructed. He knew that the intensity of the flames far-out weighed the maximum output of the shield from his One-Shotter, since he never intended to use his weapon as a defensive tool. Opening up just the smallest window in the shield and accepting the gust of heat rushing at his face, Wu sent a full-powered blast straight through the flames and into Charlie's stomach. There was a loud THUD before his unconscious body flew all the way out of the battlefield, his book of Cast left behind on the floor. "YOU!" Lily shouted in anger and reconjured up the fire mecha. She did not care for Charlie being hit, though a loss in this manner is nothing short of disgraceful, "You shall pay with your life!" "NO!" Lera shouted as she sprung into action. However, Ver immediately stood up and pulled her back as massive white chains formed and wrapped around Lily's fire mecha, holding it in place with complete ease. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!" Lily looked up and asked when Principal Khan put his hand up and shut her up. Then, he gestured his finger down, where Wu placed a charred hand over the outer circle as he became unconscious in the heat. "Ring of Fire: second bout...END! Victors: defenders of justice, Charlie and Lily Watts!" Principal Khan declared to the thunderous cheers of the crowd as Lily glared at the unconscious boy with a smirk over his face. If anything, he did get a revenge hit onto Charlie at the end of the day despite the burns. Lera, stunned, sat back slowly onto her butt and dug her nails into her head. "Wu Hui, you are now expelled from the Infinite Academy!" Principal Khan announced, "You shall live with the consequence of your defeat until the end of time!" "No...no...what have I done..." Lera started trembling in place, the hints of hope brutally snatched from her grasp as Ver padded her on the shoulders lightly. Ita, in the meanwhile, gripped her fists so tight that her nails dug deep into the flesh of her palm. "That idiot..."