SHATTERED REALM: FORGOTTEN ECHOES-Chapter 171: How Dare You Taint Me?? II

Lavla's fingers twitched, and her needles fired.

They blurred — a storm of whistling red death.

Iris dove straight through them.

The front row melted instantly against her aura. A few grazed her skin, slicing shallow lines that hissed shut under her heat.

Lavla's lips parted, fear eating at her.

But she felt it would be more embarrassing to give up than to be defeated, so she stayed.

Because of Pride.

She forced all the blood she could control around her to quickly rush to the broken giant. She reformed it, but it was smaller now.

Iris burrowed into it without wasting a second.

A trail of blistering flame carved into the construct's torso as she tore deeper, ripping out structural veins of blood like molten cables. The giant lurched, cracking at the seams.

Lavla panicked.

She shoved both palms forward, forcing more blood from her own body. Thick, rope-like tendrils surged into the giant, desperately trying to reinforce it. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

It wasn't enough.

Iris burst out of the construct's back in an explosion of steam and flame, wings flaring open like a phoenix tearing free of a corpse. The ripped-open cavity sagged, melting along the edges where her fire touched.

"You're DONE hiding!" Iris bellowed, eyes glowing like molten gold.

Her blazing swords snapped to her sides, orbiting her with lethal impatience.

Lavla staggered backward, gripping her arm as blood dripped freely.

Putting herself back together was costing her more than she could afford.

But Iris wasn't giving her the chance.

"I'm ending that thing—"Her wings folded in."—and then I'm ending you."

She pointed a finger.

The three swords shot upward, trails of fire blazing behind them.

They locked into formation overhead, spinning faster and faster until the three blades blurred once more into one enormous rotating edge.

Lavla's heart froze.

"No—"

The giant raised its arms to shield her.

Useless.

The spinning blade hit the giant in the torso, and a violent gushing roar of evaporating blood released. Fire spiraled through the midsection, drilling downward as Iris pushed her hand forward, accelerating the rotation.

The giant split.

Clean.

A vertical cut down the middle, flames eating the edges, both halves collapsing outward like melting slabs of crimson wax.

The arena floor hissed under the torrent of boiling blood.

Lavla dodged, but now, she was exposed.

She trembled as her last reserves surged outward in instinct — a thin red barrier forming around her, shaking violently. She pooled every drop she could manage under her feet, preparing to flee, but Iris was already above her.

"No more running."

Lavla's throat tightened.

She now understood that she wasn't getting out completely unharmed.

This was her payment after tainting her.

Lavla braced herself, the thin blood barrier trembling around her like cracked glass. She could barely stand. Her legs shook with every heartbeat. The metallic taste of drained vitality coated her tongue.

Lavla's instincts screamed.

Move. Or die.

She flung herself sideways, blood pooling under her feet to slide her across the ground, but Iris adjusted instantly, redirecting mid-dive with a violent snap of her wings. She landed in front of Lavla in a burst of flame and force, the shockwave nearly knocking the blood manipulator off her feet.

Lavla gasped.

Iris grabbed her by the front of her collar.

"Don't. Ever. Touch. Me again."

Lavla didn't have time to respond before Iris slammed her knee into her ribs. The impact detonated with a burst of steam; Lavla's barrier shattered like thin ice.

She screamed and staggered backward, clutching her side as blood spilled freely from the cracks in her construct-armor.

If she belonged to another Academy, someone would have stepped in to ask the referee to end it, but this wasn't the case where she belonged. Pity was foreign.

Fight till you can't move anymore.

Those were her orders.

...

Iris didn't stop.

She flicked her hand.

One sword darted forward.

The blade sliced across Lavla's shoulder, scorching the skin, carving a molten line that hissed with burning blood. Lavla collapsed to her knees, teeth clenched against the pain.

Her healing tried to surge, but she had nothing left but scraps of strength.

Iris hovered inches away, heat radiating like a furnace.

"That's for tainting me."

She raised her hand, commanding the swords to attack again, but—

"That's enough, Iris!" One of her tutors shouted.

"Tch! You're lucky," Iris muttered. "Just admit defeat already," she added, clearly annoyed.

Lavla trembled, both hands on the ground, blood dripping down her arms in thin streams she no longer had the energy to control.

She finally forced out a rasping whisper:

"…I…yield."

The moment the word left her lips, her blood techniques unraveled, dissolving into harmless mist. The last fragments of her crimson aura flickered, guttered, and died.

The arena went silent for a heartbeat.

Then—

BOOM.

A thunderous roar of shock, awe, and disbelief exploded from the stands.

The announcer's voice cracked as he practically screamed.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN—IRIS WINS!! WHAT A SAVAGE, RELENTLESS DOMINATION!"

Spectators leapt to their feet, energy pulsing through the arena like a living heartbeat. Someone slammed both hands against the railing, eyes wide.

"LAVLA! Idiot girl—why didn't you come out sooner?! She almost barbequed you alive!"

Another friend of hers exhaled shakily, sweat trailing down his temple.

"Remind me…never to piss off someone with vermillion fire."

The first girl snorted."Remind me never to piss off Iris specifically. The girl fights like an apex predator that skipped breakfast."

The second student nodded solemnly.

"She absolutely does."

Down on the field, Lavla swayed, her healing struggling. She lifted her eyes to Iris, shame and frustration warring with exhaustion.

Iris stared back, chest rising and falling with furious breaths.

She flicked two fingers, summoning her swords back to orbit her. The flames dimmed.

Then she stepped back, giving Lavla's space to the medics rushing in.

She said only one thing as she passed her defeated opponent:

"I won't forgive you the next time you touch me with something so disgusting."

Lavla let out a weak, breathless laugh, half-pained, half-respectful.

But Iris responded with a disgusted look.

And then she collapsed as Iris turned away, wings folding tightly against her back, aura still simmering with residual fury. They dissipated slowly as she left.

The crowd roared again.

The battle was over.