Soren Arden POV
"You… what is wrong with you?"
"Huh?"
Soren blinked back at Ivan, genuinely confused.
He had no clue what Ivan was asking.
Was it about the stupid tongue spell?
The reckless charge?
Something else entirely?
Ivan didn't elaborate.
He just kept walking.
Step…
The arena seemed to shrink with every heavy footfall.
The mana wrapped around Ivan's armour tightened and thickened, like invisible chains driven into his body.
Even from this distance, Soren could feel the pressure bearing down on him.
Ting-♪
A soft chime rang next to his ear.
.
[Unique Skill [?er?] is showing minor signs of awakening.]
.
Soren flinched.
His eyes darted around, looking for the familiar translucent window that should have appeared in front of him.
Nothing.
'Where is it?'
He had definitely heard it, that clean, bell-like sound that usually came with a notification.
But there were no words, no boxes, nothing he could see.
Only a faint, off sensation running through his body.
His skin prickled, his limbs felt a fraction lighter and heavier at the same time, like there was some second rhythm under his own.
'This isn't the time…'
He pushed the feeling aside.
Right now, the important thing wasn't some half-awakened skill he couldn't even check.
It was the lion beastkin walking toward him like an executioner.
"「Inventory」."
He raised his left hand, and space in front of his fingers rippled.
Labrys dropped into his right palm with a familiar weight, the haft fitting against his fingers like it belonged there.
He had no illusions about this duel anymore.
Ivan was tougher than him.
Stronger than him.
Better suited for a drawn-out fight.
If Soren tried to drag things out, he would crumble first.
So he couldn't drag it out.
He had to break through in one go.
"To the one who watches over me, see my strength and give your blessing for my victory. 「Blessing of Blood」."
Purplish-silver light flared in his palm, then tinted a deep crimson as it sank into his body.
.
[Blessing of Blood has been applied!]
[25% Increase to Blood-Element damage!]
.
.
"Hoo…"
He exhaled slowly and bit down on his own tongue.
Metallic warmth flooded his mouth.
The taste of iron spread across his tongue and teeth, thick and nauseating, but he kept his jaw clenched and held the blood in place, fighting the urge to cough it out.
Ivan had already retrieved his bastard sword and snapped his visor back down.
With the slit closed, there were no obvious gaps left in his armour this time.
No exposed skin for Soren to cheat with.
And yet, even with the helmet on, Soren could feel his opponent's gaze.
Heavy.
Condemning.
Soren's fingers tightened around Labrys.
The atmosphere around Ivan had shifted completely.
Early on, the guy had been arrogant and mocking, clearly sure of his victory.
Now, that arrogance had curdled into something else, something colder, meaner, more focused.
The mana enhancement helped.
It pressed in like a physical weight.
But beneath that, Soren could feel it, pure intent.
'Lilly… you'd probably tell me I'm an idiot right now.'
He swallowed the thought down with the blood gathering in his mouth and focused instead on her recent lectures.
– At first, Soren, don't overcomplicate it. Control, solidify, transform. Keep the shapes simple. Anything more than that and you'll pass out before you hurt anyone.
Control.
Solidify.
Transform.
That was all he needed.
He had already reached the first two stages in just a few days.
[Lunaris's Liquified Mana] had turned basic mana control into something almost unfair; fine-tuning the movement of his own blood was easier than it had any right to be.
But transformation, that was where he still struggled.
Anything delicate or complex collapsed the moment he tried to shape it.
So he wouldn't aim for delicate.
He would aim for simple.
Dash!
His feet pushed off the ground.
This time there was no wind spell under his boots.
No sudden burst of speed.
Just his own legs.
His own stamina.
Compared to his previous explosive charges, this advance was almost normal, slower, predictable.
Ivan was momentarily caught off guard, only for a heartbeat, but it was enough to make him shift weight a fraction late before he settled into his stance again.
Wooongg—
Light gathered along Ivan's blade.
At the same time, Labrys glowed in Soren's grip, its dull edge humming with power as mana surged through it.
They closed the distance.
「Olfram's Fang – Lion's Claw」
Ivan moved first.
His sword carved through the air in a brutal, downward diagonal arc, and three claw-shaped lines of force followed the path of the blade, layered atop the real edge.
The strike was not elegant.
It was not refined.
It was made to maul things.
「Einhardt Axemanship – Crescent」
Soren's axe moved at almost the same moment.
Instead of meeting the blade head-on, he dropped his centre of gravity even further, ducking under the main swing.
Labrys swept in a horizontal arc toward Ivan's shin, aiming to hammer at the same spot he had targeted earlier.
– Don't be flashy.
Amelia's voice echoed dimly in his mind.
– Break the balance or break the stance. That's enough.
Splatter!
Pain exploded along his left arm.
Ivan's skill hadn't missed completely.
The claw-shaped force sliced across his raised limb, shredding flesh and tearing through muscle.
His sleeve disintegrated in strips, and his arm went slack, fingers spasming open as crimson sprayed the arena floor.
Thud!
At the same time, Labrys slammed into Ivan's shin plate with a meaty, metallic thump.
The impact wasn't sharp enough to cut, but the momentum and mana behind it made Ivan's leg buckle for a beat.
He staggered back a couple of steps.
'That's enough.'
Soren's mouth tugged up in a tight, exhausted smile.
He didn't need to break the armour.
He just needed blood and a single opportunity.
His jaw parted.
Trickle…
The blood he had been holding in his mouth dripped past his lips and down his chin, sliding along his neck and over his chest, soaking into the sleeve of his ruined left arm.
A magic circle, deep and crimson, glowed faintly inside his open mouth.
"「He–mo… ki–eh… sis」."
The spell name was mangled, slurred by pain and the liquid filling his mouth.
But intent mattered more than pronunciation.
The circle pulsed once.
The blood snaking down his jaw and arm suddenly stopped obeying gravity.
It lifted away from his skin, rising in small streams, then merging into a single, quivering orb the size of Soren's head.
The world swayed.
His vision blurred at the edges, his body growing colder with each heartbeat.
Even with all the growth he had managed, that much blood loss hit him hard.
But he held on.
'Control… solidify… transform…'
– Simplicity is key.
The orb compressed.
In just a breath, it elongated, thinning out into a single, long spike, no unnecessary ridges, no decorations, just a straight line ending in a vicious point, like an oversized awl.
The moment the shape completed, the surface darkened.
The bloody sheen dulled as the entire construct hardened, turning denser, tougher than steel.
Whoosh!
The blood awl launched forward, driven by the last scrap of strength Soren had shoved into it.
Only then did Ivan lower his arms from his face, expecting another suicidal close-range spell and not finding it.
His eyes widened behind the visor as he realised, a fraction too late, that the danger wasn't at his head this time.
Stab!
The spike punched cleanly through the shoulder joint of the arm holding his kite shield.
The impact was so forceful that it drove him backwards and down, his boots skidding before his body hit the floor with a heavy thud.
His own blood splashed across the arena stones, stark and vivid.
"Arghhhh!"
Ivan's roar of pain echoed off the arena walls.
The awl didn't just pierce; it pinned.
The hardened blood had speared straight through armour, flesh and stone, fixing Ivan to the ground like an insect on a board.
Soren swayed where he stood.
The world tilted.
His left arm hung limp at his side, useless and drenched.
His legs trembled.
His lungs burned.
But his eyes stayed on the target.
"「Blood Absorption」."
The spike trembled, then dissolved, turning back into liquid that flowed against gravity.
It streamed off the stone and out of Ivan's shoulder, flowing across the ground and up Soren's legs, disappearing into his body like ink soaking into paper.
Warmth flickered faintly through his veins as some of his lost strength returned.
It wasn't enough to fully heal him, not with how much he had already pushed himself, but it stopped the freefall.
His shredded arm still dangled uselessly, blood continuing to drip, but he could stand.
He turned his head slowly toward the Overseer, waiting for the duel to be called.
This was enough.
He had shown overwhelming intent.
He had pinned his opponent, forced a serious wound, and was barely holding himself together as it was.
Any reasonable referee would end it here.
The Overseer inhaled, lips parting…
"Don't you dare end this."
Soren's head snapped back in Ivan's direction.
Stagger…
Ivan pushed himself up from the floor.
The wound in his shoulder was still bleeding.
His right arm drooped awkwardly, the kite shield hanging at an ugly angle, but he forced himself upright regardless.
His breathing was ragged. His armour was dented and stained.
But his eyes, those golden eyes behind the visor, still burned.
"...You're still standing?"
Soren's voice came out hoarse.
The blood awl, boosted by a blessing, was the strongest attack he had ever used.
The fact that Ivan was still on his feet after taking it worried him more than he wanted to admit.
'I thought that would do it…'
His mana reserves were low.
His stamina was fraying.
His divine power was already partially spent.
He had gone all-in on that gamble.
"Shut up… filthy creature…" Ivan spat, each word dripping with venom.
He lifted his bastard sword again.
The arm holding it shook slightly, but he raised the blade regardless, pointing it at Soren with trembling, stubborn force.
"You… will lose…"
Fwoosh—
The mana surrounding his body suddenly dispersed, collapsing inward for an instant before reforming at his feet.
This time, the enhancement wasn't spread evenly.
It concentrated entirely into his lower body.
The air around his boots warped faintly, dense enough that even from across the arena Soren could see a thick, shimmering outline hugging Ivan's legs.
Cold sweat crawled down Soren's spine.
His instincts screamed at him.
He raised Labrys as best he could and tried to form [Shield] on his tongue at the same time, light gathering faintly in his mouth.
Even that small multitasking made his head pound.
But he was too slow.
Ivan vanished.
It wasn't teleportation.
It was speed.
Pure, straight-line speed, amplified to the limit.
Slash!
In less than the span of a blink, Ivan reappeared directly in front of Soren, his sword already in the middle of its swing.
Soren didn't even have time to fully process the gap that had been crossed.
'I'm fucked.'
The thought was flat.
Simple.
The blade was already there.
It hung in the corner of his vision, impossibly close to his neck, the mana-coated edge cutting the air with a sound that seemed far too quiet for something so final.
Only at this point, staring at that final, unstoppable arc, did Soren truly understand what had changed in Ivan.
'He wants to kill me.'
There was no room for misunderstanding.
No noble posturing, no prideful boast.
Only murder.
He couldn't dodge.
He couldn't block.
Even the Overseer wouldn't make it in time.
Because this duel was considered a trivial noble squabble, they had only assigned an Academic Studies TA to watch over it, not a proper combat professor.
By the time she realised what Ivan intended, by the time she formed a magic circle and released a spell, the sword would already be through.
Lilliana was somewhere in the stands.
But she was a magician, too.
Even if she reacted instantly, even if her instincts screamed louder than anyone else's, the delay between forming a circle and casting was fatal.
Too slow.
Too far.
Too late.
Ting-♪
The bell-like sound chimed again, louder this time, echoing strangely in his skull.
.
[Unique Skill [?era] has slightly awakened.]
.
Soren still couldn't see the window, but he felt it.
Something inside him shifted.
His body, which had felt fuzzy and off ever since Ivan had first used mana enhancement, clicked into a new, unfamiliar state.
A second rhythm ran under his heartbeat.
Something unseen stirred, reaching out…
Whoosh—
The blade sliced cleanly through Soren's neck.
————「❤︎」————