With his gaze steadied on the opposing players, standing on the opposite side of the frozen Frostfang logo at the coliseum's center.
Which oddly enough was that, of a deformed rhino wearing striking silver armor around its cracked horn.
Steeling himself for the coming war was not going to be easy, but Chase already knew that. He had spent the last few months truly trying in all of his classes, and ended up passing in the top ten of his class, and even put himself on a much larger map thanks to both The Underbelly, and The Aetherball team.
He was now just below Michael of House Everfrost, who had actually fallen down to the eighth strongest out of the first years.
Breaking his thoughts, he felt a rigid poke against the back of his shoulder.
"Chase."
He turned to see Equan wearing a determined expression, his bright blue eyes shining like the same lightning that he had unleashed many times before.
Behind him, stood a Jack who looked eerily nervous.
"What is the plan?"
The dark skinned boy asked quietly, as his hands were balled into fists at his side.
Chase took a deep breath, and felt his catalyst begin to magnetize toward the little heat that was left inside of his body.
It burnt, and for a moment he felt his veins explode in a mirage of a thousand piercing blades smoldered in molten metal.
Then it stopped, and his body came alive.
"This..."
Then vibrant orange flames bursting with life, illuminated among his arms and legs.
"An aura..."
Jack said, amazement filling his once scared eyes.
"How?"
Equan asked, as his gaze met someone far behind the enflamed boy.
"I still don't know its full name, my Vox tracker was broken somehow and won't tell me what it actually is, but I got it after a pretty crappy detention."
Both of his allies nodded, as their expressions hardened once more.
"I'm guessing you want me too use mine as well?"
Equan asked, as a look of dread showed itself for only mere seconds on his young face.
"Lightning is just heated up energy, is it not?"
Chase said lightly, all though he was completely serious about this plan.
Jack then chimed in quickly.
"What if you're ejected for using Primis?"
Chase looked around at the grand arena, and for the first time in his life... He realized just how big this moment truly was, the size of the massive coliseum walls made out of stone bricks, that had been reinforced by decades of below freezing temperatures.
As well as the tiny dots that were actually thousands of people that lined each and every seat around the battlefield that both teams would fight a war on in only moments.
The giant glowing scoreboard, that was portraying the match live for the entirety of the continent that he had only seen a small fraction of his entire life.
"There are two types of Primis abilities in this world... Active Primis which acts as the true scale of power among the Paladins, and then there is Passive Primis, which among Paladins and even most low ranking knights is known at an ability you don't usually consciously use..."
"You're point?"
"A happy little accident."
Equan replied with a dangerous smirk, as bolts of lightning began to burn away the snow around his feet.
"And they wouldn't dare eject someone for a false reason, in front of this scale of spectators."
Chase continued after a short pause.
Then he turned towards Jack once more, as the three now stood in a small triangle.
"You wouldn't happen too have any tricks up your sleeve, would you?"
Jack shook his head.
"Not that I know of."
The other two boys looked at each other and shrugged.
"So be it."
With Chase's final line, a man in white robes and an unseeable face appeared above the center of the battlefield.
"CHAMPIONS AND WATCHERS ALIKE! TODAY I WELCOME YOU TO THE MOST GRAND OF EVENTS..."
Chills ran down Chase's back, as war drums began to blare underneath the arena, vibrating his skull like a small shack in the eye of a hurricane.
His heart beat silenced because of the sheer length at which the volume resonated at, causing his blood too swiftly run cold.
"ON THIS NIGHT! WE GATHER FOR A SPECTACLE THAT CAN SIMPLY NOT BE DONE THE JUSTICE OF RETELLING! A STORY AS OLD AS THE FIRST GREAT HOUSES! THE FURY OF PHOENIX ACADEMY AND THE CHILLS OF THE FROSTFANG EMPIRE!"
Now that the three attackers of Phoenix were in position, Chase steadied his ragged breathing, and planted both his feet deep within the frozen ground below him.
"ON MY MARK!"
He closed his eyes, and let out his first deep breath.
"THREE!"
Another breath escaped his shivering lips.
"TWO!"
A final breath escaped, as his eyes relaxed behind his eyelids, he could feel his fire burning hotter and hotter as the seconds passed.
"ONE!"
Nothing.
"LET THE GAMES BEGIN!"
Chase's eyes snapped open, and as the ball was still amidst shooting into the evening sky above them, burning like a true phoenix...
He instantly met the cold clash of Thane of House Frostfang, and in that very second, the arena exploded with life.