As they unleashed more power with their skills, the resulting force grew exponentially.

  Jason's sword shattered, yet it was strong enough to push Mark out of the arena.

  When he saw that unfortunate accident, the demi-human professor—who was the judge of that match—moved with surprising speed for someone of the magical style. He used a spell on Jason's neck to contain the injury until the arrival of one of the academy's specialists.

  He realized that, although the fragment was in his neck, it hadn’t penetrated deeply and had sealed most of the wound.

  Relieved, he managed the situation until the specialist arrived.

  With the end of another tournament day—after Jason could recover—the population began to drink and talk about the fights.

  Many subjects were discussed, but the main ones were debates about: how Mark would have won if the arena were a bit larger; if Jason would recover in time for the final; and if Alexander could rival the power demonstrated by Jason.

  Since Alexander thought these speculations didn't concern him, he joined Diana and Ocean and went to rest.

  "Congratulations, Alexander," congratulated Diana. "Now you're just one victory away from winning the tournament."

  "Thank you," said Alexander. "But defeating Jason won't be easy."

  "I know," agreed Diana, "Yet I still think you're going to win."

  On the way back, Diana told Alexander that her classes were better now. She even started talking with classmates more easily.

  "It seems her life has improved," thought Alexander. "She's even more confident and has stopped getting tangled up because of shyness… Good for her."

  The next morning the city awoke bustling.

  Bets of all kinds were opened all over Twin City, speculating who would be the winner and how their victory would be.

  Curious about the fight's bets, Alexander took a quick look.

  He discovered that the bets and odds were in Jason's favor by a minimum of 70 to 30. "The information that I won't use offensive spells must have reached the betting houses."

  While analyzing the odds with interest, Alexander didn't notice that Diana was betting until she had already completed most of the transaction.

  He couldn’t see how much she had bet, but judging by the clerk’s smile, it was a substantial amount on the underdog—him.

  Not knowing exactly what to say about that, Alexander decided to say nothing and let things take their course.

  When the time for the dispute for third place—which would happen before the final, arrived—Stella still hadn't arrived at the arena.

  After a few minutes of waiting, when she was about to be disqualified by W.O, she arrived at the arena accompanied by Jason.

  When Mark and Stella entered the arena, most of the audience began to speculate how long Stella could last.

  To the surprise of these people, the confrontation between them ended up being unfavorable for Mark.

  Although his defense was excellent against direct attacks, it couldn't protect him very well from temperature variation, and Stella was one of the people who knew this.

  Since Stella seemed to have stopped using her win-at-all-costs fighting style, the combat could be described as a lone knight navigating through a sea of flames and explosions.

  Mark's goal was to reach and corner Stella, and Stella's goal was to "roast" Mark in his armor before he reached her.

  There were some attack and defense disputes between them, but since Stella's spells didn't cause much damage to Mark—who dodged and defended very well—the fight boiled down to which of them would reach their goal first.

  Near the end of their fight, Stella had nowhere else to run and was finally cornered. But, just before achieving victory, Mark fell to his knees on the ground a few steps from her due to exhaustion and heat.

  Surprised to have won, Stella wiped her forehead sweating heavily, and turned to Lucas for his verdict.

  However, looking at the ground beneath Mark and the arena, Stella bit her lip until it bled from frustration.

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  "I abdicate this fight," said Stella, frustrated. "Mark won this match."

  Nodding slightly as if happy with the result, Lucas finally spoke: "The fight is over. Competitor Stella abdicated the fight."

  A good portion of the audience was indignant at that result—especially because there were bets involved.

  Those who truly understood what happened praised Mark and Stella for their actions.

  The truth is that Mark managed to corner Stella a few moments before falling. He just didn't want to advance and hit her with his burning shield.

  Knowing that this could cause significant damage to her appearance, Mark chose to endure the heat and try to further reduce the space to make her give in. A true gentleman knight.

  While Mark was receiving first aid, the people who understood the end of the fight began to explain to those who didn't understand it.

  As he was taken out from the arena, Mark was applauded by the entire audience for his spirit and chivalry.

  The cheering only calmed down again when the final was announced.

  With that cue, Alexander and Jason went to the arena, drawing applause from the crowd.

  "I heard you're not going to use offensive spells," commented Jason upon coming face to face with Alexander. "Is it true?"

  "Yes," confirmed Alexander. "But I'm not looking down on you or any other competitor. This is simply something I imposed on myself to keep improving."

  "I trained a lot to learn more spells and improve my mana control to face you again," said Jason. "Is there any way you could reconsider your decision so we can go all out with everything we have?"

  "Unfortunately, no," replied Alexander. "I made the commitment not to use them. Many people bet on this fight counting on that."

  "In that case, I have no reason to go all out either," said Jason, quite discouraged. "Even if I win, I won't feel this fight was worth it."

  "So why don't we fight without offensive spells?" suggested Alexander after analyzing the situation. "Even if you're better than me at using our respective weapons, I guarantee I also have my own advantages."

  "Then let's do it that way," accepted Jason, regaining a bit of spirit.

  Upon hearing the conversation, which neither of them made a point to hide, most of the audience, especially those who had bet on Jason, began to boo, hiss, and the like.

  Not being bound by his own words like Alexander, Jason didn't care much about the audience and calmly unsheathed his new sword.

  Upon seeing Jason's new sword, Alexander smiled bitterly.

  Just by looking, he realized the sword was much stronger and heavier than the old one.

  A terrible combination for the spear, which prioritized on quick movements rather than head-on clashes of strength.

  With Alexander and Jason ready, the judge started the fight and they began to exchange "normal" blows with their weapons.

  With such a frontal and heavy exchange, Jason easily invaded the spear's range advantage, forcing Alexander onto the back foot.

  The audience was quite surprised by the low level of energy and power used by them in the initial blows.

  However, when he saw he was being pushed back, Alexander began to release more energy, and his blows became faster and stronger.

  Feeling that initiative, Jason responded in kind and also used his energy to regain his advantage and go back to invading Alexander.

  With them exchanging over 60 blows per minute, it became clear that Jason had more mastery with his respective weapon than Alexander.

  In the middle of a more intense exchange, Jason managed to increase his attack speed even more, invading the space of Alexander's spear and landing an attack.

  Reacting quickly, Alexander dodged most of the blow. His |Mana Barrier| protected him from the rest of the damage he would suffer.

  Yet that exchange showed him that he could easily lose if he were careless.

  Feeling there that the danger of losing was real, Alexander used all his attributes to the maximum to place himself above Jason in attack and movement speed. He wanted to compensate for the difference in their weapon mastery.

  Watching as the fight, which began slowly, turned into a storm of fast, heavy blows, the crowd began to cheer, shout, and get more and more excited with each passing second.

  Seeing that this fight was correcting his flaws, Alexander decided to go all in.

  He would either improve his mastery in this fight, or he would lose the fight trying.

  "Don't you think it's already time for us to let loose and go all out in this fight?" asked Alexander while pushing Jason back.

  "Can you read my thoughts?" joked Jason. "Because I was thinking exactly that."

  The audience doubted if they had heard correctly. Yet, when the two used all types of enhancement they possessed, only the trails of their blows, the sounds of metal clashing, and splatters of blood remained visible to untrained eyes.

  Unfortunately for Alexander, most of the blood was his. The intensity and speed that the fight took on made his flaws even clearer and more obvious.

  Jason capitalized on every opening Alexander made.

  In a grave mistake from him, Jason even managed to cut his abdomen very close to where one of his cores was located, making his situation increasingly dangerous.

  Forcing himself not to back down even in the face of pain and fear, Alexander remained steadfast in the fight.

  He had enough energy and HP to ‘pay’ for his mistakes while improving—but his hit points weren’t infinite.

  They decreased with each attack and second.

  As Alexander grew accustomed to that level of fighting, the cuts he received became increasingly superficial.

  After blooding more than half of his HP, he finally managed to expel Jason from the area that should be controlled by his spear.

  Jason tried countless times to regain control of the situation, but was always contained and forced to retreat by Alexander.

  He slowly began to exert his range advantage more and more.

  Ding!

  [|Spear Mastery (Advanced)| leveled up to |Spear Mastery (Peak)|]

  The moment |Spear Mastery| leveled up, Alexander didn't hesitate and used his only (Proficiency Enhancement Card)—which he had been saving for a long time—to increase it even further.

  Ding!

  [|Spear Mastery (Peak)| leveled up to |Spear Mastery (MAX)|]

  Feeling that new level of mastery and power flowing through his body and mind, Alexander attacked Jason with an extremely heavy blow—disarming him.

  "I lost," sighed Jason, resignedly, with the spear at his neck.

  Ding!

  [Mission Completed]