“This may be a free battle, yet it is still a battle nonetheless,” the guard on the stage said, shifting his eyes between Alnea and the woman. “The Arena will try to ensure your life, but anything can happen in a battle. If you feel that you are going to be injured gravely, or might die, then do not hesitate to give up. Do you understand?”

  “…Yes,” Alnea said, as he heard the familiar words from the guard. The woman, on the other hand, seemed to be a little disinterested in the guard’s words.

  “…Can we start already?”

  “…It is my duty to warn you of the dangers—

  “We all know of the dangers of a battle, and we come here despite knowing what may become of us. So, stop yapping and start the battle already.”

  “Once the Arena decides that a battle has been settled, you cannot make any more moves, or you will be disqualified…”

  “…It is like they are not even human anymore,” the woman mumbled, before turning towards him. “A black robed kid… It looks like today’s battle is going to be interesting.”

  “If by interesting, you mean that you are going to lose, then yes. Today’s battle is indeed going to be interesting.”

  “Are you trying to get under my nerves, and make me lose my judgement?” the woman said, shaking her head in disappointment. “Using such despicable tactics… And here I thought that I was going to enjoy a hearty fight today.”

  “…Despicable? I do not think that I have done anything excessive. You though… As a Wanderer, whether you are Wandering the Origin Sea, or fighting against your enemies, even when you are just training, you must always be ready to face attacks against your Heart. That is the most basic lesson one learns while laying their foundation. Not to mention the fact that I did not even attack your Heart. At most, I just expressed my confidence. Does that truly make me despicable? Or are you trying to disturb my Heart?”

  “…You have got a slick tongue. Forget it. We are not the same kind of people. There is nothing to talk between us,” the woman said, shaking her head, before turning towards the guard. “Hey, can we start the battle already?”

  “…Let me ask you again,” the guard said, repeating his question. “Are you two ready?”

  “…I am.”

  “Why else would I ask you to start the battle?”

  “…Do you need me to remind you of the rules?”

  “No need.”

  “Stop yapping and start the battle already.”

  “…You can start.”

  The guard’s words were like lighting a fuse, igniting the woman’s fighting intent in an instant. Especially with the words that Alnea himself had said earlier. Even if he did not manage to disrupt the woman’s Heart, he did earn her ire. Next, he just had to slow down a little, and hand over the initiative to the woman. With how much he had seen of her, he was sure that—

  Alnea unsheathed his sword in one clean, swift motion, bringing it front of himself, barely blocking the woman’s swords from slashing his chest. At the same time, he observed the woman once again. This time, in a much more solemn manner than before.

  It had barely been a moment since the guard’s declaration, and the woman had already crossed over ten metres. She did not even show any signs of using her Aspects or Arcanas. Such a terrifying speed… It looked like he did not have to worry about how to hand over the initiative of their battle to the woman.

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  “Tsk. It looks like your hands are just as fast as your mouth,” the woman said, clicking her tongue in displeasure, as she backed away from him before he could launch a counterattack, while wrapping the red and golden lights surging from her body around her swords, preparing for her next attack. “But if that is all that you have, then I will end the battle with the next move.”

  “I would not be so sure if I were you,” Alnea said, emptying his Heart of all distracting thoughts, focussing solely on the woman in front of him. She was fast. Ridiculously fast. Even after half a year of tempering his body with the Blood Crystal Martial Styles, he still could not catch her movements clearly.

  Then again, the Blood Crystal Martial Styles were not designed to increase his reaction passively. Unless he actively manipulated his blood, and the Blood Crystals that lay slumbering within his body, the Blood Crystal Martial Styles would not help him much in improving his reaction. But that was too much of a hassle. It was better to use Lightning Stream instead.

  Despite being just a Lowest Grade Martial Style, the Lighting Stream Style worked wonders when it came to increasing his reaction and agility. Rather, it was precisely because the Lighting Stream was just a Lowest Grade Martial Style, that he was able to use it so smoothly, with perfect control. After all, lightning was not an easy force to control. Especially if the said lightning was the ‘Primitive Golden Lightning of Life’.

  There was a reason why the lightning, despite running in his veins, had never hurt him. As one of the rare types of lightning that was tainted with the Mysteries of Life, the Primitive Golden Lightning would never hurt anyone, except those tainted with the Mysteries of Death. But that did not mean that just anyone could control its prowess.

  Even with the help of Martial Styles and Arcanas, being able to control a hint of the Primitive Lighting at the False Rank was already an accomplishment for most Wanderers to be proud of. Alnea, however, was never the kind of Wanderer to rest on his laurels. So, even after he had gained perfect control over the Lighting Stream Style, he still kept practising, until he finally understood its essence, comprehending the trace of Life hidden within the Golden Lightning.

  Unfortunately, what he had understood was not enough to allow him to summon the Golden Lightning on its own. And so, he could use it only in conjunction with the Lighting Stream Style. At least for the moment, he had no other ways of using the Primitive Golden Lighting of Life. After all, understanding the essence of Martial Styles was not easy. It did not matter that he could master most of the Martial Styles to a level beyond what even their creators could use. Unless he could grasp a hint of the Concept behind those Martial Styles, their essence was bound to keep eluding him.

  Fortunately, he had finally manged to grasp a hold of a couple of Concepts in the desert. And coincidentally, it just so happened that one of those Concepts overlapped with the Concept behind the Lightning Stream Style. Coupled with his acquaintance with both, Mysteries of Lightning and Life, it was only a matter of time for him to grasp a hint of the Golden Lightning of Life.

  Of course, there were roughly a dozen more Martial Styles that he had also grasped the essence of. It was just that none of those Martial Styles could help him at the moment. And so, even though there were literally hundreds of other Martial Styles of a better quality that he could use, he still preferred to cover himself with the Primitive Golden Lighting of Life, allowing it flow in his veins, while he himself moved like a Stream of Golden Lighting, clashing with the Storm of Golden Fire that the woman had become.

  Silence spread on the stage, as both the lighting and fire came to a still, before quickly spreading around them, flooding the entire stage in a fraction of a moment, only to be stopped by the translucent dome that hastily rose up to contain the aftermath of the battle. It was just that, in the process, it also stopped the storm of lighting and fire within its confines, and even rebounded it back onto the stage, making the already obscured vision become even more obscured.

  Consequently, since no one in the stands could penetrate through the dome with their Spirit, they could only sit back, and wait for the storm on the stage to clear, while watching the occasional flash of golden light within the storm, that was almost always followed by a loud boom. Like a shockwave formed by the explosion of a Peak Stage Fire Blast. It was not until a quarter of an hour later, when the storm on the stage finally died down, that everyone saw what was happening on the stage. Or what was left of it.

  Pots and craters, with veins of cracks connecting them all together, were spread all across the stage, covering all of its corners and edges. And at the very centre of the stage, standing in the largest of all the craters, probably three to four metres in diameter, and a quarter as deep, were the two Wanderers that everyone was cheering for. Panting, sweating, and grinning.