In the arena, Lore stared at the spot where Rad had crashed, a trace of confusion crossing her mind.

  It shouldn’t have been this easy to take him down, right?

  "No—!"

  Her eyes suddenly widened, and she quickly raised her wand in front of her.

  But it was already a beat too late. If she had followed up immediately after Rad landed, she wouldn’t have been caught off guard.

  A door-panel-sized object spinning at high speed shot out from behind the dust cloud, reaching Lore in the blink of an eye.

  Bang——!

  In an instant, Lore was sent flying by the incoming shield.

  Her body hurtled from the center of the arena all the way to the edge, slamming into the wall before coming to a stop.

  "Unbelievable——!!!"

  "What a turnaround! Rad actually abandoned his shield! He threw it as a weapon! Lore took the full brunt of that attack!"

  Boom——!

  The moment the shield was thrown, Rad’s body was engulfed in a red glow. He charged toward Lore’s position at an astonishing speed.

  "Torrential Flood——!!!"

  Just as Rad was about to close in, a massive surge of water appeared out of nowhere, rushing toward him.

  Bang!

  Rad stamped hard on the ground, cracking the stone beneath his feet as he leaped into the air. Mid-flight, he made a pulling motion with his hand. To everyone’s astonishment, the shield he had thrown came flying back to him!

  The shield was attached to his arm by an extremely sturdy thin rope. It had never truly left his side, even when it seemed he had hurled it away.

  Boom!

  Almost the moment the shield returned to his grasp, a water cannon attack surged upward from below.

  Rad gripped the shield tightly with both hands and smashed it down onto the water cannon. At the same time, he pressed forward against the force of the water, descending from the sky and closing in on Lore relentlessly.

  "Incredible!!! In such a short time, the two have engaged in a blistering exchange of attacks too fast to follow! The tide turns so quickly that it’s impossible to predict who will take the upper hand next!!!"

  Crash!

  Just as Rad was about to reach her, a column of water erupted from the ground. Lore leaped onto the water jet, soaring into the air.

  After Rad had taken to the skies twice, she finally took the fight upward as well.

  Splash! Splash!

  The first water column was just the beginning.

  Lore quickly cast her magic, summoning one water jet after another. She used these columns to maneuver nimbly through the air.

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  Boom——!

  The familiar attack struck again.

  The massive shield, hurtling through the air at high speed, sliced the water column beneath Lore’s feet clean in two. As Lore began to fall, Rad gave the shield a sharp pull. Using the recoil, he propelled himself upward into the sky, closing in on her once more.

  With Lore about to hit the ground and Rad closing in fast, she clasped her wand tightly with both hands and held it to her chest.

  Boom! Boom! Boom......

  In an instant, countless compressed, high-velocity water projectiles exploded outward in all directions from Lore’s position.

  The force of the water projectiles slowed her descent, allowing her to soar back into the sky.

  As for Rad, he was caught off guard by this unexpected attack. With his shield still in mid-flight, he could only cover his torso with his arms to minimize the damage.

  This intense exchange left the entire audience stunned. Even the host George was so shocked that he forgot to speak.

  Then, the arena erupted in thunderous cheers that shook the stadium.

  "Brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!!! The strength of these two guests is truly eye-opening!!!"

  The match continued.

  Rad’s fighting style could no longer be described as that of a melee shield guardian—he was more like a Shield Berserker. The door-panel-sized shield was treated entirely as a throwing weapon, darting back and forth across the entire arena.

  On the other side, aside from the initial sneak attack by Rad, Lore maintained an elegant combat stance for most of the match.

  Her magic, as George had described, was as beautiful as it was deadly.

  If this was meant to be an exhibition, it was not only fully qualified—it was absolutely spectacular.

  The battle had dragged on for quite some time. Both warriors had revealed most of their tactics. What remained was a test of stamina and magic power—and this signaled the most grueling phase of the match for both sides.

  Water mist from the countless water cannons created rainbows under the sun time and time again. The ground was repeatedly smashed to pieces by the shield, and the shattered rocks were washed away by the surging floods.

  At the final moment of the battle,

  Lore brought the match to an end by pinning Rad firmly to the ground with an enormous water column.

  It was clear that with no significant gap in stamina, Lore held the upper hand in terms of magic power.

  "Lore! It’s Lore! The winner—Lore!!!"

  George held up his magic megaphone, shouting excitedly.

  The entire arena erupted in prolonged cheers that echoed endlessly.

  Rad patted the mud off his body and climbed to his feet. Like Lore, he waved to the audience around the stadium.

  "Let’s give a huge round of applause to both guests for this incredible exhibition match!"

  "Now that the exhibition match is over, we’ve finally arrived at the moment we’ve all been waiting for!"

  "Now! I solemnly declare——"

  "The Royal Martial Arts Festival of this year is officially underway!!!"

  Boom! Boom! Boom......

  Magical fireworks exploded once again above the Grand Arena, continuing for a long time.

  The audience that had gathered in the main arena began to file out one after another. Next, they would head to the various small arenas to watch the matches of their choice.

  The preliminary round auditions would last for several days, taking place simultaneously across dozens of small arenas. After the top 100 warriors were determined, they would advance to the Round of 100. The matches would then move to the four large sub-arenas. It wasn’t until the Round of 32 was decided that the competition would return to the main arena in front of them.

  At that time, the top 32 contestants would compete in front of the entire audience to determine the strongest warrior of all......

  "Dad, is that uncle really a shield guardian?"

  Right after the exhibition match ended, Mirei asked eagerly.

  "Uh, I suppose...... he counts?"

  Bars replied rather unconvincingly. Anyone who saw Rad Vail’s fighting style would have doubts—was this really a shield guardian?

  "Suppose?"

  "Yeah, he does! Although...... maybe adventurers nowadays have more unorthodox styles? Or perhaps......"

  As Bars explained to Mirei, Hulim’s gaze remained fixed on the two warriors in the arena. She didn’t look away until they had completely left the stage.

  "Hmm, I learned something."

  "?? Learned what?"

  Miko walked over just in time to hear Hulim’s words.

  "Nothing important."

  "Really?"

  Miko tilted her head in confusion.

  "Oh well, never mind that. Hulim, the preliminary round is starting soon, right? When is your first match?"

  "In about two hours. Why?"

  "In two hours...... How about we go watch some other matches first?"

  Hulim thought for a moment and agreed.

  "Sure. There’s nothing to do here anyway. We might as well head over early."

  "Great! Let’s go!"

  With that, Miko grabbed Hulim’s hand and ran out excitedly.

  By the time Mirei realized what was happening and tried to ask them to take him along, the two were already gone.

  He could only stare at Bars with eager eyes.

  "......"

  "Sigh......"

  Bars let out a helpless sigh and said:

  "Alright, I’ll take you to watch."

  "Yay!"