Chapter 87: The Apex Duel

Loud.

That was the first thing Seraphine thought when she exited the medical area. The students that were in the stands were cheering so loud that simply standing among them made her feel like she was going deaf.

But she could also understand them, because the thing they were cheering for was the best fight they would see today.

The two dark horses of the first year, both reaching S- at just 16 and displaying excellent combat abilities.

The two fights of the semi-finals were already amazing, with the fight between the elven prodigy and the newcomer that ended by a hair’s breadth for Arthur.

And the clash of Frostflame and Absolute Zero that left the students shivering and drowned the whole colosseum in a wintry cold.

Now these two giants were about to clash for the Apex title of the first year.

Seraphine moved between the students and found herself a seat among the endless ocean of onlookers. She didn’t want to stand out and just wanted to blend in with the others.

But her performance in the fights and her angelic appearance made it difficult to not stand out.

The loud cheers of the students were interrupted by Selene as she announced the final match of the ranking tournament.

"Everyone, are you ready?!"

"YES!!!"

All the students shouted in unison as the atmosphere rose to another degree.

"Then let’s not keep you waiting!"

Down in the arena that was already repaired after Valerian’s and Lucian’s match, the two finalists appeared.

"On one side, we have the one that came from nothing and rose to be one of the best! He defeated all his opponents in the block phase without getting hit and later even defeated the elven princess. Make some noise for Arthur von Pendragon!!"

The crowd erupted and chanted his name.

Arthur, who stood down on the battlegrounds, had a slightly embarrassed look and scratched the side of his head.

’This is actually kinda nice...’

As he basked in the attention and cheers, completely forgetting that he was here to fight and not be worshiped, Valerian, who stood roughly 20 meters away from him, could only look at him with a deadpan face.

’This guy... let him have his moment. This was long overdue.’

He and Arthur hadn’t sparred in almost a month, and even when they fought against each other in the voidwoods, they couldn’t go fully all out, as they didn’t actually want to kill the other.

But now, with the barrier taking away the fear of killing the other, Valerian wanted to beat some sense into his friend.

Partly because back in the castle he had a weird look on his face when he looked at Freya, and also because he wanted to.

I mean, who wouldn’t want to fight their best friend to the death and see who is actually stronger? Everyone does! Right?

"And on the other side, we have the anomaly, the one that has the record for the fastest fights and never once got touched by another opponent. Valerian von Astrea!!"

While the cheering from the people was still enough to deafen someone, it was noticeably quieter.

Not because they didn’t enjoy his fights or anything. But during his fights, to others, it always seemed like he was just toying with the opponents while having a smile on his face.

And everyone could feel it in the arena, the way the mana moved around him. Proactively amplifying his spells on its own. That, paired with the horns and the suffocating aura around him. They were mostly afraid of him, even some of the upperclassmen; even when they wouldn’t admit it, they were scared too.

"And without further ado... LET THE FIGHT BEGIN!!"

A holographic screen appeared in the air inside the colosseum.

"5"

"4"

Valerian and Arthur faced each other; both had a grin on their face. Both wanted to fight the other equally as much.

"3"

"2"

Both took on a battle stance they felt the most comfortable in. Neither had any real training or technique, so their fighting style was formed through their fights in the voidwoods and relied heavily on pure strength and speed.

"1"

"FIGHT!"

A loud buzzing sound rang through the stadium, and the crowd became quiet, not wanting to miss a single detail.

The second the buzzer rang, like an agreement formed with a single glance, both of them dashed towards each other.

The crowd was slightly confused; they had seen that Valerian was a strong caster, and they thought that he would start the match by throwing dozens of magic projectiles at Arthur.

But instead, they were just running towards each other, and the strangest part was that neither of them used mana.

They didn’t even use it to enhance themselves and just rushed at each other with their bare bodies.

But even without their mana enhancement, they were fast; both were at the S- rank, but their actual strength was far above that.

In less than a second, they crossed the distance and were upon each other. Without wasting a second, they engaged in pure hand-to-hand combat.

Arthur moved to strike Valerian in the head; Valerian dodged his head to the side and moved in to deliver a hook into Arthur’s open side.

Arthur’s body twisted around and barely avoided the punch; even though it wasn’t enhanced by mana, he knew just how powerful Valerian’s body was, even without mana fueling his muscles.

Spinning in the air, Arthur kicked with his foot towards Valerian’s head. But Valerian caught his leg, and with a wild grin, he spun around and threw Arthur as hard as he could down onto the ground.

The stone ground exploded as cracks moved through it in a spiderweb pattern. The force of the throw knocked the air out of Arthur’s lungs as his body bounced back up into the air.

Valerian used this moment where Arthur was in the air, spun around, and delivered a brutal kick to Arthur, who wasn’t able to dodge it, but at least blocked some of the damage with his arms.

His body was thrown away 50 meters by the force behind the kick; when he landed, he could feel his ribs ache, but other than that, he was mostly fine.

’God damn it. Fucking dragon...’

Arthur pushed himself up from the ground and turned in the direction of Valerian.

Valerian was just walking towards Arthur with a relaxed attitude and a grin on his face.

"Is that all, Artie?"

A vein popped on Arthur’s forehead at the nickname.

"I can show you what I have, virgin boy."

Now a vein of annoyance popped on Valerian’s forehead at the insult.

"You’re one to talk!"

Arthur let out a light laugh as he once again readied himself for battle, not offering a reply. Valerian did the same, but now he was fighting with a slight annoyance at his friend.

Their bodies exploded in movement; they moved faster than the vast majority of the audience could even if they used mana.

Both weren’t especially skilled in unarmed fighting, but the force behind every punch and kick would be enough to explode the bodies of anyone below B-rank.

They exchanged dozens of attacks, then hundreds. Neither of them showed any sign of exhaustion or slowing down. On the contrary, their bodies were speeding up even more, leaving behind only afterimages for the audience to see and explosions in the ground as their fight took them across the whole stadium.

But throughout all their exchanges, Arthur was getting pushed back; he was always on the back foot and only managed to get a counter in here and there.

He knew he was physically below Valerian; even with his bloodline, he couldn’t compete with the insane nature of the [Infinite Cosmic Physique] that made Valerian’s whole body out of mana.

Every punch felt like he was getting hit with a battering ram, and he could feel his bones protesting.

Valerian punched out towards his face, and he blocked it with his hands, but the strength behind the punch made them feel numb, and his body was thrown into the air for a second.

Like a predator, Valerian moved in when the opening presented itself, and right now Arthur’s hands were at his face and his feet were off the ground.

Faster than any of the students could see, he punched Arthur in the stomach. Arthur’s body bent in the air, and he flew backwards as a loud explosion resounded in the stadium.

Dust was kicked off the ground as Arthur’s body was hurled backwards until it hit the ground hard, creating an indent in the stone as a cloud of dust swallowed his body.

Valerian cracked his knuckles and walked towards the dust cloud at a leisurely pace. He was very confident in his physical abilities; even if he considered himself more of a caster, there were very few within the S-rank that could match him in pure physical stats.

As he reached the dust cloud, he didn’t hesitate for a second and moved into it.

’Where is he?’

As he walked straight through the cloud, he reached the place where Arthur impacted, but the crater was empty and Arthur was gone.

The urge to remove the dust with a gust of wind was strong, but he resisted it, as he didn’t want to be the first to use mana.

When he looked around, his mana sense, which he actively restricted during the fight, flared up as a high amount of mana was near him.

He spun around, but he was too late as a punch enhanced by blue lightning hit him in the chest.

Arthur was standing behind him; the blue tips of his hair were standing up and floating like they weren’t affected by gravity, and his red eyes formed a blue outer layer.

’This fucke-’

He couldn’t finish his thought as he was catapulted away by the punch enhanced by [Lightning God’s Descent].