Both of us charged at each other.
I merged with my shadow, shrouded in a dark glow, while Snow shone brilliantly in the light.
We clashed, sending thousands of black and white streaks slicing through the air, colliding violently.
Each strike released a burst of fiery sparks, setting the arena ablaze in a frenzied inferno.
The crowd could only watch as we battled within that hellfire.
"More!"
"MORE!"
Snow Lionheart unleashed everything he had.
Although I could block all his attacks perfectly thanks to the Shadow Adaptation, he still managed to land hits!
Even though I fought him evenly, even though I had found a way to counter him ...
He still broke through!
"SNOW!!"
I screamed, attacking even faster.
I unleashed a type of aura I had never used before.
My vision had turned completely red.
After pushing Hawk Eyes to their limits for too long, I was practically blind.
But even so ..
I could still see Snow Lionheart with absolute clarity.
We moved at impossible speeds, landing blow after blow upon each other.
My shadow, now fused with my body, dulled the damage I took.
Meanwhile, Vermithor inside Snow's body continued healing him, although the healing was no longer as effective.
At this level... I sweated blood instead of sweat.
Launching our strongest strikes at one another, both of us were hurled into the arena barriers.
And the moment our backs hit the walls—
We immediately launched ourselves forward, crashing into each other again.
When even our swords could no longer cut through the clash ...
We ended up headbutting each other, smashing forehead against forehead like two rabid beasts.
Snow Lionheart's face was now bloodied, twisted into a terrifying smile.
The same smile that had spread across my own lips.
We truly were—
"Two sides of the same coin."
The battle raged on.
The show continued.
I slashed him.
I punched him.
I headbutted him.
I no longer knew what I was even striking him with.
But Snow Lionheart wouldn't fall.
We were the same in that regard.
"More!"
If I wanted to defeat him, I had to push further ... hit harder !
"More!"
Snow roared as well.
His thoughts mirrored mine.
We had to crush each other with everything we had.
Frey wouldn't fall to this level of attack.
"More!"
Snow wasn't so weak as to lose here either.
"More blood!"
He wouldn't go down!
Neither would I!
More blood.
More filth.
More madness.
Somehow, it felt like we could hear each other's thoughts.
The endless exchange of blows went on and on.
The audience couldn't comprehend what they were witnessing.
And the only clear thought left in their minds ...
Was that Frey Starlight, somehow, had erased it.
He had erased that massive gap that once separated him from his opponent.
After that relentless storm of strikes ..
Torn bodies.
Spilled intestines.
Half-severed arms.
Bloodied faces.
One with golden eyes burning brightly,
And one whose eyes shone with a radiant violet glow.
We stared at each other, gasping for air.
I had no idea how I was still standing.
That shadow wrapped around my body was somehow holding me up ...
As if telling me:
"Do not fall now."
I had gained a power I didn't fully understand, but even that wasn't enough to bring him down.
The flames around us raged so fiercely they reached the skies.
Amidst those roaring fires, Snow Lionheart's body began to glow.
"You're truly incredible, Frey Starlight."
My eyes widened as I saw that light.
Snow stood there, inside a strange circle—
A magic circle etched with incomprehensible runes, spinning violently around him.
"Be proud of yourself,"
"You're the first who ever made me bring out everything."
The hidden strength he had kept sealed away ...
The power that Ghost once longed to witness ...
I saw Snow's six elemental powers converge into a single force.
I witnessed the birth of his greatest weapon, much earlier than it should have come.
It was...
"The Grand Cosmic Formation…"
I muttered hoarsely, almost unable to believe what I was seeing.
It was the very skill that had once inspired me to create my own ultimate skill—Ignition.
By fusing all his elements into a single force,
He was like a nuclear reactor melting everything together into one devastating blow.
A single strike ...
Snow Lionheart was now forging his own explosion, his ultimate attack:
The Grand Cosmic Formation.
A skill he was never supposed to acquire this early…
And yet here it was, unfolding before my eyes.
Above Snow's sword, an aura of countless colors manifested ...
An array that represented all of his elements.
The pressure alone buried me deeper into the ground.
"Thank you, Frey Starlight ... for showing me the path."
Snow Lionheart raised his sword high,
And the entire world gazed up at that brilliant, blazing blade in sheer awe.
Snow Lionheart's smile gradually shifted the moment he saw my body beginning to crack, violet lines surfacing across my skin as that devastating aura flooded into my sword.
I, too, burned with a radiant violet glow, standing against his brilliance—
Two luminous stars, poised to collide.
"Frey, you..."
"I'm the one who should be thanking you, Snow Lionheart."
Without you, I would have never reached this point.
Both of us raised our swords high.
Unlike me, Snow's attack had no side effects.
In other words ... if I failed now, it would be over.
The sea of SSS ranked aura crushed my aura pathways until they burst, as I forced every ounce of strength from within me.
The crowd stared in pure disbelief at what was unfolding.
Ivar Valerion shouted as a wave of fear swept through everyone ...
"The barriers won't withstand this level of power!"
But who cared anymore?
Our eyes saw nothing but each other.
And in a single moment ..
Everything exploded.
"Ignition."
Like two nuclear reactors ...
We both unleashed everything.
A deafening explosion shook the heavens, light and darkness swallowing one another.
The entire arena quaked violently as the barriers barely held under the impact.
The mages struggled desperately to contain it.
Inside the arena ... everything was obliterated.
Amidst the white and black chaos ..
Snow and I vanished.
In that instant, I prayed with all my heart ..
That this would be enough.
In utter shock, with wide eyes and gaping mouths, the entire world watched.
Phoenix Sunlight stared at the nuclear eruption before him.
It was much weaker than the one he had seen that day ..
Yet somehow,
It felt exactly the same.
Everyone's minds went blank.
Could first-year students truly unleash something like this?
The audience sweated profusely in their seats, shaken to their core by the earthquake of the blast.
Waiting breathlessly to see the outcome of the catastrophe.
And at last .. the result came.
The arena had become a giant crater.
Everyone saw what had happened.
I felt my shattered body buried deep within the broken wall.
My sword had exploded into fragments after triggering Ignition.
My aura pathways had burst again, and my body had reached its absolute limit.
I didn't even know why I was still alive, with my intestines spilling out before me.
But I didn't care about the pain.
I was only searching ..
For him.
Snow Lionheart.
What happened to him?
And then .. I found my answer.
His sword was buried deep into the ground,
While he crawled slowly toward it.
Bloodied, just like me ..
His once white hair now stained a deep crimson.
But he was still conscious.
"Seriously?!"
Even Ignition hadn't been enough...
That's how monstrous he truly was ..
until the very end.
...
...
...
Snow Lionheart continued to crawl toward his sword.
He had to fight.
He couldn't fall .. no matter what it cost.
He stretched his hand toward the hilt, desperate to continue.
His injuries were grave ..
Even Vermithor couldn't heal him unless he expelled it from his body.
He knew that.
He knew he had to grab his sword and keep fighting ..
But his hand never reached the hilt.
Instead,
It touched the chest of the bloodied figure standing above him ..
The man whose entrails dragged behind him on the ground.
Hardly a single place on his body remained unscathed.
Yet he stood... and came at him again.
One draped in white.
The other cloaked in black.
Frey Starlight suddenly dropped to his knees, wrapping his arms around Snow's battered frame.
Through the blood and grime that stained them both, Frey whispered hoarsely:
"That's enough... Hero."
With the last ounce of his strength, Frey's left hand seized Snow's sword and dragged it to the ground.
"Your journey has just begun, But mine..."
Summoning the final flicker of his consciousness, Frey drove the sword toward Snow's chest.
"My journey... ends here."
That thrust ..
A hollow stab without aura or strength behind it ..
Yet it was enough.
The entire world heard it loud and clear.
[Critical Hit!]
Snow Lionheart's golden eyes flew wide open, staring at the blood-soaked youth before him.
A reel of memories flashed before Snow's mind ..
All his struggles, all the vows he had sworn.
He had vowed never to lose—no matter the cost.
Yet, in the end,
his awareness slowly sank... into darkness.
Silence fell.
The entire world froze.
Snow collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
And Frey, barely clinging to consciousness, fell to his knees beside him, staring up at the sky.
Above them, the colossal screens displayed the words he had longed to see with all his heart ...
Words crowning a journey of relentless suffering, brutal battles, and incomparable agony.
Ada Starlight stared at her brother.
At that blood-soaked, sweat-drenched face ..
A face that shed something else as well.
Tears.
And a smile of pure release.
A face she had never seen before.
A face carrying emotions she would never truly understand.
And then, only moments later,
Frey collapsed beside Snow, unconscious.
At the heart of a crater of ruin ..
Before the stunned eyes of a world that had just witnessed a miracle of madness ..
everything ended with those simple, unforgettable words:
Winner of the Victoriad: Frey Starlight.
...
...
...
A.N :
The Victoriad Tournament has come to an end, but the arc itself is far from over.
With this battle, we now open the door to the next step that will determine the fate of Frey Starlight ... the true beginning of the story and the climax of the first volume.
These extra 4 chapters are a token of gratitude for the gift received today.
Thank you all, and I hope you continue to enjoy the novel.