The voice of reason ordered him to think rationally, look at the situation from all the angles. He had to find different ways out with minimal risk.

Everything would be fine but Kyon had already made up the psychological portrait of the princess: an ambitious bitch who’d get to her goal by all means! He couldn’t cancel the battle through Juno, it would only make things worse. The recent events when she’d been squeezing the girl against her will had only confirmed his idea. It was also pure nonsense to surrender or simulate his defeat!

Kyon signed grimly. {I see… I have to defeat her.}

That option had its advantages. In addition to the banal joy of defeating the bitch, there was also a chance the princess might get interested in him. It would be a triple win! Winning the bet, the prize of the tournament, and the interest of the influential royal person!

The eyes of the princess flashed with anger and bloodthirst, as well as some disappointment. A diehard bug was wasting her precious time...

The guests cheered for the girl, applauded her foresight and understanding of the situation.

«A truly wise queen is growing! The future pillar of the kingdom!» - kowtowed to her one of the Browns. He wasn’t the only one, though.

Kara waved her hand, sending another slow stream of intense yellow heat at the enemy. The flame had such characteristics: there were more fire plumes; the emitted light and heat was more intense than of any other practitioner with similar development. At the same time, the flame of the princess was not quite ordinary and it was not the matter of the superior grade but no one could see that.

There was an amazement in the girl’s eyes. The future dead man was not going to dodge! He simply put forward his hand to the flame in a gesture "freeze."

{He is an idiot... The flame of the unawakened phoenix of the superior grade cannot be blocked at your level. Burn.} - She wasn’t enjoying doing the dirty job like frying the flesh and brains of a piece of shit but Juno had to learn her lesson.

At the last moment, Kyon’s palm flashed in a pale azure fog beautifully shimmering in the rays of the clear moon. It gave the sound of tiny ice crystals rubbing against each other.

There was an inevitable collision of azure and scarlet yellow... When the flame met his hand it went out like fire without oxygen, instantly, without unnecessary effects and sounds. The boy seemed to be sucking in heat like a funnel.

«He bends four elements!» - Stephanie exclaimed.

«The element of cold?! Is he a great genius?!» …«Is he really a master of four elements?» …«Oh my God, a talented person is talented in everything!» …«Incredible! How did he block the heat of the superior grade?! Ahhhhhhhh! What is going on here?! Who the fuck is he?!» - The Stones and the other families shouted with envy and shock. The very fact of suppressing the flame of the princess fired every imagination. To crown it all, he turned out to be a master of four elements!

Only a few rare practitioners bend four elements, they are almost one in a million! It’s an exceptional valuable gift! Outstanding talents like Tsayan and Lee bend three elements. They are much more... they are more common.

Dinah could no longer see take the boy for the cunning little snot. He was an angel with no feathers on his wings and she was a demon desiring his death, encroaching on his sacred life.

The heavenly genius simply fought for his life, clung to it with his tenacious hands. That sausage... All those deceptions and tricks of his... The evil average maid wanted to kill a talented genius sent to earth by heaven, created to change the history of the world. And she...

Dinah rubbed the bridge of her nose. The boy’s talent was getting more and more stunning but it didn’t matter... The sick bastard had given her lingerie to the perverted master. He had smeared her with his seed. She would be a reaper killing heavenly geniuses because he dared to ruin her peaceful life with his filthy intervention.

With gloomy thoughts of her imminent revenge, the maid assessed the strength of her enemy and the prospects. She remembered their first meeting when Kyon was in the 2nd stage of the base phase. He was in the 7th at the moment! A damn genius, indeed. In six months, a year max, there would be nothing she could do to him no matter how hard she tried. She was running out of time. She had to get rid of the jerk in the nearest future.

Dinah left the training ground. She could feel that the boy would survive the fight with Kara. His life belonged only to her. Otherwise, why had she been suffering so much?

Kara frowned her delicate eyebrows.

Even if the body of the phoenix had not awakened and the flame had been only a bit stronger than usual, it was of the superior grade! Why did the cold suppress her fiery stream? Did the boy also have a superior grade?! Judging by the saturation of the azure radiance (pale blue), he didn’t! The superior grade of cold emits a dark blue fog. Moreover, it is impossible to have such an outstanding talent for the elements being at the base phase. Where does his power come from? Could the level of purity of his keys be that high?

Furthermore, the princess was annoyed that the enemy could bend four elements, like her! It was unforgivable to put the representative of the royal family and a miserable bug at the same level. She didn’t know which element was his fourth and she couldn’t care less.

{He is very talented for his trashy development... I don’t give a damn, I’ll incinerate the asshole anyway.} - The girl did not want to waste her emotions on the miserable biomass. She waved her hand sending a similar stream at the enemy. Only, it was five times faster than before (with the wind element inside).

Heat and cold are slow elements but their shortcoming is compensated by destructive power. If adding the wind to the atack, these elements get flawless. That’s why the wind and heat / cold benders are especially strong and dangerous. The combination of wind and heat is sometimes called "inferno."

Kyon put his hand forward covering it with azure haze. His pure key of the cold element had absolute superiority over the princess’s elements of heat. However, her last attack surprised him with its power... Apparently, the girl had the superior grade of heat. Awesome!

The boy could use cold in every possible way: cover his body, concentrate it on his hand, release it in a “slow” stream. There was no way of using ice nor blizzard. They required water and wind, and he did not want to use them. His fifth element would stir up the whole kingdom, even the empire.

The frantic flame met the azure fog and immediately went out.

{It’s outraging...} - The enemy annoyed Kara worse than a hungry mosquito on a sultry summer day. Intoxicated by her fury, enraged by the boy’s resistance, the girl bit her lip. How could he so easily stand up to the flame of the unawakened phoenix?! Could she, the most talented young person of the kingdom, be inferior to him in the power of the opposite element? Her eyes didn’t deceive her! It was embarrassing but she had to admit the truth.

{I don’t care... The games with this puppy do not deserve my attention.} - Her beautiful face with smooth porcelain skin calmed down. She decided to crush the enemy with the quality of her technique, not with the power of the elements.

With a wave of her hand, the girl created a fiery snake (wind + heat). The beautiful reptile had scales in the form of flames.

Any technique, as a rule, is stronger and more effective than using any element alone but as part of the price, it consumes much more energy. For example, the power of the flame concentrated in the snake is twice as high as in ordinary heat release not to mention its enormous speed and flexibility!

The technique the princess used was of the “B” rank. It was a national asset in any kingdom and even empire. It’s dangerous and destructive. No opponent in the base phase will ever learn something so amazing and of so high quality. It requires a high rank and monstrous talent. Of course, this technique is significantly inferior to the “explosion of the phoenix” and even more so to the “relic of the phoenix.”

The guests were staring at the dangerous fire clot in the form of a snake, awestricken. It could swallow up even the adversary at the beginning stages of the second phase!

{What a high-ranking technique!} - Everyone thought when they felt the aura of the snake.

{My element of cold won’t overpower this creature...} - The boy realized and changed his strategy.

Kara gracefully waved her hand sending the snake at high speed at the enemy’s head. Let the naive fool try once again to absorb it with his miserable cold!

Contrary to all the expectations, the boy quickly dodged to the side when the attack was supposed to collide with his azure hand. He reduced the distance with the girl and landed a sneaky blow to her temple.

{How come he is so fast?!} - Kara realized with frustration that she could not compete with her opponent in speed at her 7th stage. He was too fast! No matter how hard she tried, a moment later she would get a blow to the temple. It was unacceptable for Her Highness.

{It does not matter! Just die.} - The girl raised her development by six stages, instantly parried the blow and sent the snake straight to the enemy’s head.

Her actions were worthy of contempt. It was a blatant brazen attempt to finish off the enemy as quickly as possible! However, the noble princess had an excuse for the public. Kara wanted to come back to her beloved girl so much... She had wasted enough time, hadn’t she?

~whoosh~

The fiery reptile passed through the silhouette of his head getting no prey.

{Is it an illusion?!} - Kara got angry.