The battle between Nova Drakeheart and Seris Pendragon began.
After the intense battle between Lian and Cassius, the atmosphere inside the stadium had become strange.
The excitement was still there, but it was mixed with exhaustion, the spectators had been sitting in their seats for hours.
They had watched dozens of battles.
They had experienced many surprises, and they had seen battles they never thought were possible, battles that had awakened excitement in all of them.
Because of that, they felt that their standards had become much higher, and their expectations had also become much higher.
But they knew this battle would not satisfy them, the winner was already completely obvious, and they were all waiting for the final battle.
Nova Drakeheart walked into the arena with firm steps, red flames danced around her body, and the air around her became noticeably hotter.
Her fire mana spread across the entire arena like a wave of heat, the daughter of the Drakeheart family had not reached this stage without reason.
She was considered one of the greatest talents of the younger generation.
Her magic had proven itself again and again on real battlefields.
But from the very moment the battle started... everything went differently from what everyone expected.
Nova did not waste even a single second, she raised her hands, and one magic circle after another appeared in the air.
The mana became extremely dense.
Then... a sea of fire covered the entire arena.
Huge flaming snakes jumped out from the flames, the sky above the arena became dark, and a rain of burning meteors fell from above.
The power she displayed was truly amazing.
It was clear that she knew what kind of opponent she was facing, and she wanted to finish her enemy with one powerful attack from the very beginning.
But... Seris simply walked, she was not in a hurry, she was not nervous, and she did not even look like someone who was fighting.
She simply kept walking, every time one of the flaming snakes came close to her, her body moved only a few centimeters.
Every time a meteor fell, she stepped out of its path at the very last moment.
It was as if she had already seen the entire battlefield before, as if everything that was going to happen had already been recorded in her mind several seconds earlier.
This made the spectators certain that this had to be a special defensive skill, otherwise there could not be any other explanation.
Slowly, a frown appeared on Nova’s face, she increased the speed of her attacks, and increased the amount of mana.
Hundreds of different spells were fired one after another.
But the result did not change.
Seris kept walking, calm, indifferent, cold and then... for the first time, she slightly raised her silver sword.
Only a little, once again no huge skill was activated, no wave of mana was released, just like every other time, it was only one simple movement.
One step, one slash, and a sharp sound echoed across the entire arena, all of Nova’s magic was split in half.
The flames went out, the meteors were destroyed, and the flaming snakes turned into mana particles.
And in the next moment... the edge of the silver sword was resting against Nova’s throat.
The end.
Less than two minutes.
Silence spread across the entire stadium, no one was shocked anymore, it was as if everyone had already gotten used to it.
Every time they thought they had already seen Seris’ true limit, she proved them wrong once again.
The referee announced her victory.
Nova gave a bitter smile and stepped back, she had not even gotten the chance to show her full strength, but she herself knew better than anyone that the difference between them was simply too great.
Still, it was not that bad, right? At least she had managed to take third place, besides earning everyone’s respect, she could also enter the famous Heavenly Treasury.
Even among the Six Great Families, the Heavenly Treasury was very well known.
And now... only two people remained.
Lian Vorhelm and Seris Pendragon.
Everyone’s eyes were focused only on those two, the generals leaned forward without thinking, and the politicians forgot about the conversations they had not finished.
Even the elders of the great families had become silent.
Because everyone knew... this was the battle they had been waiting for since the beginning of the tournament.
This was once again another battle between the Vorhelms and the Pendragons... would the Pendragons win once again? Or would the Vorhelms win?
The elders of the Vorhelm family were hoping Lian would win, even though he was a rejected son, he was now the only one who could save their honor and reputation.
After both sides rested for a few minutes, the time for the final battle finally arrived.
Seris calmly stood up and returned to the arena, a beautiful and very faint smile could be seen on her face, a smile that looked more like the shadow of an emotion.
At the same moment, Lian also walked into the arena.
The signs of his battle against Cassius could no longer be seen on his body, he had changed his clothes, and the healers had completely healed him.
His mana had fully recovered, and all of his skills could be used again.
When they stood in front of each other, neither of them spoke for several seconds, they only looked at each other, it was more like they did not know what they should say.
Maybe deep inside, both of them had known from the very beginning that they would face each other in the final battle.
The two people who had fought side by side for their lives only a few weeks ago, were now standing against each other.
Then Seris broke the silence.
"I didn’t think it would take this long."
"I also didn’t think you would be this weak, why did you make every battle take so long?" Lian gave a short laugh.
The corner of Seris’ lips moved upward. But this time it was completely clear that she did not like it.
"Weak? This is the first time someone has called me weak, I don’t like it, don’t say it again."
"I’m sorry, I was only joking." Lian raised his hand.
Seris answered calmly.
"It’s fine, but now I won’t show you even the smallest amount of mercy."
Lian smiled, this was exactly the reaction he wanted.
Several people nearby who heard the conversation looked at each other without thinking.
They had a strange feeling, it seemed these two knew each other much better than they had imagined.
In the Pendragon family’s seating area, Aurelia watched them carefully.
Unlike everyone else... she was happy, because she knew Seris better than anyone else, a girl who normally never spoke more than a few words.
A girl who was indifferent to almost everyone, but now... she was talking with someone, she had taken the first step to talk to someone.
She was really talking.
Aurelia smiled softly. Maybe... maybe her plan would work, although convincing the other leaders of the Pendragon family would not be easy.
But at least for the first time, there was hope.
"Then let’s find out who is stronger." Seris never took her eyes off Lian.
Lian nodded.
Even the referee looked nervous, he looked at both of them, then raised his hand.
"Begin."
There was no explosion of mana, no huge skill was activated, no wave of energy was released... only... both of them moved at the same time.
BOOM!
The sound of the collision echoed across the entire stadium like the explosion of a war cannon.
Lian’s fist and Seris’ sword collided in the center of the arena, and a huge shockwave spread in every direction.
The people in the front rows stepped back without thinking, the ground beneath their feet cracked, but neither of them took even a single step backward.
Their eyes locked for a moment and then... both of them smiled.
At last, Seris truly looked happy, at last she could use all of her strength without worrying that she might suddenly and accidentally kill her opponent.
The battle had begun, and neither side had the advantage.
Attack.
Defense.
Attack.
Defense.
Move.
Attack.
Clash.
Their speed was so great that many spectators could only see shadows, the sound of fists and swords colliding echoed through the stadium without stopping.
Every attack was blocked, every defense was broken, but neither of them stepped back.
Even Damian was giving the battlefield his full attention.
"At last... I found one..." he quietly muttered.
"What?" One of the elders beside him frowned.
"Someone who can stand against her." But in the next moment, he sighed.
To be honest, he was not feeling very well, since the beginning of the tournament, he had thought Lian would be eliminated halfway through.
But now? This boy had reached the final.
And with things like this... his chance of becoming the champion was truly high.
"Damn it..." Damian muttered unhappily.
The more he saw Lian’s strength, the more certain he became that they had to bring him back to the family.
Where had all of this power even come from? He was certain that Lian’s class was at least four stars.
Maybe even five stars, but even then it still made no sense, nothing made sense.
How had he even managed to defeat Cassius after he used Ascended Mana?
Could it really be just as he had claimed, that the reason for this strength was his innate skills?
Several minutes passed.
But neither of them had used their main skills yet.
Not Thunder Calamity, not Glacial Reaper Claw, and Seris had also not used her skills.
It was only a pure fight and only experience, it was completely clear that both sides were testing each other, they wanted to see how close or far they were in terms of pure strength.
And during all this time, neither of them had managed to gain even the smallest advantage, it was clear that their raw strength was very close.
In the end, both of them jumped back at the same time, and several meters of distance appeared between them.
The wind passed between them, Seris slightly raised her silver sword, and Lian opened and closed his fist.
At that moment... the mana around both of them began to shake.
The air in the arena became heavy, an invisible pressure spread across the entire stadium.
The spectators once again felt the same excitement they had felt during Lian and Cassius’ battle... even more than before.
Everyone understood one truth, until this moment... neither of them had gotten serious yet.
But now, their evaluation of each other had finally ended... and the battle entered its serious stage.