The moment the final battle began, neither Max nor Ervin moved recklessly.
They stood on opposite sides of the arena, watching each other through the heavy silence that had fallen over the Eternal Hourglass.
After all the battles they had seen and fought, both of them understood one simple truth. There was no longer any need for shallow testing.
Ervin had watched Max defeat Revona, Damian, Orion, Kaiden, Aurelian, and Rakan, along with every other opponent placed before him.
Max had watched Ervin defeat Damian by the smallest margin and push Revona to the point where she had been forced to use Return To Nothing and Null Origin Tide.
Neither of them was an unknown opponent, and neither was weak enough to be handled with half-hearted attacks.
The first movement came from Max. His hand tightened around Dragonheart. Then the four Divine Veins opened inside his body.
"Vein of Origin."
"Vein of Vitality."
"Vein of Speed."
"Vein of Strength."
Boom!
