The atmosphere inside the arena had changed completely since the beginning of the final combat phase.
What started as simple curiosity from the crowd had slowly transformed into genuine excitement as duel after duel showcased the terrifying level of talent gathered inside Aetherion Academy this year.
Explosions of mana constantly illuminated the colossal stadium while magical barriers surrounding the battlefield repaired themselves repeatedly after every clash.
And somehow…
Kael looked more excited than nervous.
“This is amazing,” he whispered while staring toward the arena like a child discovering paradise for the first time.
“I can literally hear people screaming.”
“That’s usually how crowds work,” Faelyn replied calmly.
“Ignore her,” Lyra added softly.
“You’ll do great.”
Kael grinned immediately afterward before rolling his shoulders loosely.
Despite the excitement in his expression, I could still feel the tension hidden beneath it.
He understood this would be completely different from fighting inside the Battle Royale.
There would be no team support.
No chaos to exploit.
No distractions.
Just him.
And his opponent.
Far above the arena, one of the professors standing beside the central platform slowly opened another glowing scroll before amplifying his voice through mana.
“Next duel.”
The stadium gradually quieted.
“Kael Arden.”
Thunderous cheers immediately erupted from parts of the crowd.
Kael blinked in visible surprise before pointing toward himself dramatically.
“Wait… I already have fans?”
“You screamed while fighting a lightning eel,” Varkas replied calmly.
“People remember stupidity.”
“Charisma.”
The professor continued without reacting.
“Versus…”
The magical screens above the stadium shifted instantly before displaying the image of a broad-shouldered young man covered in scars, his dark brown hair tied loosely behind his head while heavy stone gauntlets rested around both arms.
“Darius Stonehelm.”
The reaction from the crowd immediately changed.
Recognition.
Respect.
Interesting.
Authority of Knowledge activated naturally.
Darius Stonehelm.
Rank A.
Earth affinity.
Defensive combat specialist.
Extremely high durability.
Recommended caution.
Well.
That explained the crowd reaction.
Kael slowly stared toward the opposing entrance afterward before exhaling once.
“Okay… he looks like someone who punches mountains for fun.”
“He probably does,” Faelyn answered.
The arena barriers activated moments later while both battlefield gates slowly opened simultaneously.
Darius entered first, each heavy step causing faint tremors through the stone beneath him.
Unlike Kael’s energetic personality, the earth mage radiated calm confidence.
No arrogance.
No unnecessary intimidation.
Just stability.
Dangerous.
Meanwhile, Kael walked toward the battlefield with his usual grin despite the pressure filling the arena around him.
Lightning already flickered faintly across his upgraded daggers while small electrical arcs occasionally traveled through his arms naturally now.
The Thunder Eel upgrades had changed him noticeably.
His mana circulated smoother than before.
Faster.
More violently.
Even the air surrounding him carried faint electrical pressure constantly now, and unlike earlier during the Battle Royale, his body no longer showed strain every time he accelerated his lightning output.
The arena barriers fully sealed behind them.
Then the professor raised one hand calmly.
“Begin.”
The battlefield exploded instantly.
Kael vanished forward in a burst of lightning so fast several spectators gasped immediately.
Electricity tore across the arena floor while his body crossed the distance between them almost instantly, both daggers already aimed toward Darius’s throat.
Fast.
Extremely fast.
Far faster than during the Battle Royale.
The upgraded mana conductivity from the Thunder Eel materials had pushed Kael’s acceleration to another level entirely.
But Darius didn’t move.
The earth mage slammed one foot against the battlefield.
Stone erupted upward instantly.
An enormous wall of reinforced rock exploded directly between them a fraction of a second before impact while Kael’s daggers carved across the surface in a violent storm of sparks and lightning.
The collision detonated through the arena.
Cracks spread everywhere.
And then Kael smiled.
“Oh this is gonna be FUN.
Kael launched himself backward the moment the stone wall exploded apart beneath the force of the collision.
Lightning surged violently around his body while electrical arcs spread across the battlefield floor in unstable waves, illuminating the arena beneath flashes of blue light.
The crowd erupted immediately afterward.
Even among the surviving candidates, very few possessed movement speed capable of rivaling what Kael was displaying now.
Darius, however, remained perfectly calm.
The earth mage slowly lowered his arm while fragments of shattered stone floated naturally around him before recombining into new defensive layers across his gauntlets.
Unlike Kael’s explosive style, every movement from Darius felt controlled.
Efficient.
Interesting matchup.
Raw speed against absolute defense.
Kael attacked again without hesitation.
Lightning detonated beneath his feet while his body split into multiple electrical afterimages crossing the battlefield from different angles simultaneously.
The upgraded conductivity from the Thunder Eel materials allowed him to maintain acceleration bursts far longer than before, and for brief moments his movements almost resembled short-range teleportation.
The audience exploded louder.
“He’s so fast!”
“Is that even Rank A movement speed?!”
“Look at the lightning output!”
Kael reached Darius instantly.
Both daggers struck simultaneously toward the earth mage’s ribs—
And stopped.
Stone armor had formed around Darius’s body at the exact moment of impact.
The explosion of lightning cracked the battlefield apart beneath them while electrical energy flooded across the arena violently enough to force several spectators to shield their eyes.
But when the dust cleared…
Darius was still standing.
Kael clicked his tongue while leaping backward again.
“Okay, that’s annoying.”
“You rely too much on momentum,” Darius answered calmly for the first time.
His voice matched his fighting style perfectly.
Heavy.
Stable.
“Strong against fragile opponents.
Inefficient against someone who can endure it.”
Kael grinned wider afterward.
“Good thing I can hit harder.”
Lightning erupted.
This time the entire arena shook beneath the pressure of Kael’s mana.
Electricity exploded outward around his body while his upgraded daggers amplified the flow of lightning continuously, allowing him to sustain output levels that would have destroyed his own muscles only days earlier.
Then he vanished again.
The next exchange became almost impossible to follow.
Kael moved across the battlefield like living electricity itself, changing direction instantly through lightning bursts while blue trails carved through the arena from every angle imaginable.
His daggers struck repeatedly against Darius’s defenses in a relentless storm of speed and aggression.
And little by little…
The earth mage started giving ground.
Cracks spread across sections of his stone armor while several defensive walls shattered entirely under Kael’s increasingly violent attacks.
The crowd roared louder with every successful strike while lightning storms continued tearing through the battlefield uncontrollably.
Even Darius’s expression changed slightly now.
Not fear.
Respect.
Because Kael was forcing him to defend seriously.
Kael noticed it too.
Which was exactly why he pushed even harder.
The lightning mage slammed both daggers together before driving massive amounts of mana through the weapons simultaneously.
Electrical pressure exploded across the battlefield afterward while dark thunderclouds started forming above the arena itself.
“Oh no,” Faelyn muttered from beside us.
“He’s improvising again.”
“That sounds dangerous,” Lyra whispered.
“It always is,” I answered calmly.
Kael raised one dagger toward the sky while electricity erupted upward in a colossal pillar of lightning.
“Storm Breaker!”
Thunder detonated across the arena.
Multiple lightning strikes crashed downward simultaneously toward Darius’s position, each one powerful enough to obliterate large sections of the battlefield instantly.
The spectators exploded in shock while the central arena disappeared beneath violent flashes of blue light and shattered stone.
For a brief moment…
It genuinely looked like Kael might win.
Then the earth beneath the arena moved.
Massive stone pillars erupted upward around Darius before compressing together into an enormous reinforced dome seconds before the lightning storm connected fully.
Thunder shook the stadium repeatedly while electrical explosions swallowed the battlefield beneath pure destructive force.
Yet somehow…
The defense held.
Cracks spread everywhere across the stone structure while lightning flooded through portions of the arena uncontrollably, but when the smoke slowly cleared afterward, Darius still stood inside the ruined defensive formation breathing heavily.
Injured now.
But standing.
Kael’s smile faded slightly for the first time.
Because he understood.
That attack had consumed a huge amount of mana.
And Darius had survived it.
The atmosphere inside the arena shifted completely after the storm faded.
Until now, the crowd had treated the duel like entertainment.
Exciting.
Spectacular.
But after witnessing the sheer destructive power Kael unleashed moments earlier, even the spectators understood they were watching two genuine elite candidates pushing each other far beyond ordinary Rank A standards.
Kael stood at the center of the shattered battlefield breathing heavily while electricity continued flickering uncontrollably around his body.
The upgraded equipment forged from the Thunder Eel materials allowed him to sustain absurd amounts of lightning mana without destroying himself instantly, but even then, the repeated acceleration bursts and large-scale attacks had started draining him visibly.
Across from him, Darius looked injured for the first time since the duel began.
Cracks covered the remaining stone armor protecting parts of his body while blood slowly ran down one side of his forehead.
Yet despite the damage…
His stance never wavered.
Still stable.
Still grounded.
Still standing.
“You’re strong,” Darius admitted calmly while fragments of broken stone slowly floated around him once more.
“Much stronger than I expected.”
Kael smirked despite his exhaustion.
For the first time during the fight, Darius almost smiled.
Then the battlefield trembled.
Mana surged through the arena floor violently as the earth mage finally stopped fighting defensively.
Massive sections of shattered terrain slowly rose around him while compressed earth mana condensed into enormous floating stone fragments circling his body like satellites.
The crowd reacted immediately.
“He’s getting serious now…”
“That’s Stone Dominion…”
“Kael needs to finish this quickly.”
Kael clearly realized the same thing.
Lightning exploded beneath his feet again while his body accelerated forward in another violent burst of speed.
This time there was no hesitation left in his movements.
No testing.
No holding back.
Only commitment.
Electrical afterimages crossed the battlefield from every direction while Kael pushed his enhanced mana circuits to the absolute limit.
The Thunder Eel upgrades amplified every movement continuously now, allowing him to chain accelerations together at speeds that visibly distorted the air itself around him.
Fast.
Too fast for most candidates to even follow properly.
But Darius didn’t need to follow him perfectly.
He only needed to control the battlefield.
The floating stone masses surrounding the earth mage suddenly crashed downward simultaneously.
The arena exploded.
Massive waves of rock erupted across the battlefield while entire sections of terrain collapsed beneath Kael’s feet.
The lightning mage narrowly avoided the first impact before immediately changing direction through another electrical burst—
And stepped directly into a trap.
Stone chains erupted upward around his leg instantly.
Kael reacted immediately, lightning detonating through the restraints hard enough to shatter them apart.
But one second was enough.
Darius appeared directly in front of him.
The earth mage’s gauntlet slammed into Kael’s stomach with enough force to launch him across the arena like a projectile.
Blood erupted from Kael’s mouth while his body crashed violently through multiple sections of broken terrain before skidding across the battlefield.
Lyra instinctively stood up beside me.
“Kael!”
“He’s still conscious,” I answered calmly.
Barely.
The lightning mage forced himself back to his feet through visible pain while electricity flickered unstably around his body now.
One arm trembled slightly.
Several burns covered his skin from pushing his mana too far.
And yet…
He still grinned.
“You hit REALLY hard,” he coughed.
Darius slowly walked toward him through the destroyed arena.
“You rely too much on explosive offense.
Against weaker opponents, it overwhelms them instantly.
Against someone capable of enduring your attacks…”
He stopped a few meters away.
“…you burn yourself out first.”
Kael laughed weakly while wiping blood from his mouth.
“Yeah… probably.”
Then lightning exploded around him one final time.
Every remaining trace of mana inside his body erupted outward violently while thunder shook the entire arena beneath the pressure.
Even exhausted, even injured, Kael still forced himself forward again with everything he had left.
Not because he thought he would win.
Because giving up simply wasn’t part of who he was.
The final clash shook the stadium.
Lightning and stone collided head-on at the center of the battlefield while mana exploded outward in violent waves.
For a brief moment, Kael actually pushed Darius backward through raw force alone.
Then the earth mage’s fist connected cleanly.
Silence.
Kael’s body froze for half a second before the remaining lightning around him shattered apart completely.
Then he collapsed.
The transfer system activated instantly afterward.
Light swallowed his body before he disappeared from the battlefield entirely, signaling his defeat.
A second later, Kael reappeared safely outside the Pocket Arena near the academy healers, completely restored physically thanks to the dimension’s protections.
The crowd erupted into applause anyway.
Because despite losing…
He had impressed everyone.
Darius slowly lowered his fists afterward before giving a respectful nod toward Kael’s position outside the arena.
“You fought well.”
Meanwhile, Kael stared at the battlefield silently for several seconds before clicking his tongue in frustration.
“…Damn it.”
Then his eyes slowly lifted again.
Not discouraged.
Burning.
“I won’t lose again,” he said quietly.
The words carried no arrogance.
Only conviction.
I walked toward him afterward before placing one hand against his shoulder briefly.
“You fought extremely well.”
Kael looked toward me for a second before laughing weakly.
“Yeah?”
“You pushed a hard counter into a real fight.
Most candidates couldn’t have done that.”
The frustration remained visible inside his eyes.
But so did something else now.
Motivation.
Real motivation.