Looking into York's eyes, Jason was full of excitement as he was finally able to go all out, while he could also test his new physique with its perks which not only decreased his mana consumption by a small degree but also enhanced his circulation speed and output with his fire affinity.

Until now, there was no chance for him to test his fire affinity with the Netherworld's forte body refining results, which he wanted to test now because his opponent seemed to be perfectly fit for this.

While he was like a black burning torch with his golden eyes charging towards his opponent, York was enveloped in a thick wind membrane, with a gust surrounding him, while his eyes were emerald in color without any white remaining.

Without the need to hold back, Jason couldn't help but feel fortunate, as he increased the temperature around him by a few degrees when he slashed out with his burning Viridi-Stardream daggers.

Forced out of his advance, York was only able to barely twist his body and deflect the daggers with his own as he noticed that the black flame burned his thick membrane, where it strafed him.

Frowning deeply, York jumped back a few meters, only to notice that Jason's mana fluctuation didn't seem to lessen to the slightest, which caused him to frown as he thought.

'Does his soulbond also have an ability to decrease his fire affinity's mana consumption...and why is his flame black?!'

However, there was nobody to answer his question, and it was useless to bother thinking about the questions in his mind as York decided to fully focus on the fight in front of him instead of possible answers to his questions when he led his mana towards the armor's damaged areas in order to repair them.

His mana consumption by manifesting the windbreaker armor was not much, but repairing it was, due to its complexity, and he could only lament about Jason's black flame, which he underestimated.

However, not only was York astonished but also Jason because he was obviously slower than his opponent.

Yet, seeing his opponents insanely fast mana circulation thanks to his eyes, Jason couldn't help but praise his opponent inwardly.

Exerting the weightless steps technique, Jason's speed increased by 40%, which was still lower than his opponent's, as he noticed that York continued to retreat in order to repair his damaged armor.

'He relies on his armor and is careful....how about I do this?' Jason thought as a vibrant smile emerged on his face, which looked devilish and cruel behind the black flames that enveloped him.

Using his fire affinity, he created a sudden, yet compressed flame behind his back and lower body in order to push himself further ahead, allowing him to appear in front of York, who was astonished about Jason's sudden increased velocity, as he lashed out at him to stall more time.

Deflecting the dagger with his own, they clashed several dozen times, when Jason suddenly shot a fireball from his chest towards his opponent, who didn't expect the sudden interception of their close combat fight.

Even if he tried to create a wind blade or something similar in order to defend against the fireball, their distance was less than half a meter which didn't even give him enough time to breathe freely, as the black fireball, smashed into his chest, burning the wind armor without any hindrance.

York was knocked away several meters, where he crashed into the ground.

With his mana eyes activated, Jason concluded that the fight was already over, as he extinguished the flames around him.

Taking a deep breath, he was about to retreat and wait for the AI to determine his victory, as he sensed dozen unstable mana fluctuations coming from York's position.

With several dozen wind blades manifesting above his opponent, Jason could only sigh deeply because the wind blades were not even something he should be afraid of without any affinity.

After his black origin flame pierced into his opponent's chest, without being disrupted by any resistence, it also shook York's mana core heavily, which required at least a few minutes to recuperate even slightly for him to be able to use mana under normal circumstances.

However, the several dozen wind blades above his opponent who still laid on the ground indicated that something was either wrong or that he ignored his mana core's pain, which was not something one should do if it was not a life-threatening situation.

Without further ado, all several dozen wind blades shot towards Jason, who could only shake his head, as he used his remaining mana in order to construct a half-circle-shaped wall in front of him.

This was solely because Jason was unsure how high his opponent's wind ability proficiency was as it was possible to control wind blades freely in a certain range around the wielder.

But other than building a half-circle-shaped wall, he didn't bother to build a complete dome or something similar around him because it was impossible for York to control his affinity to this extent, at least currently with his mana core shaking violently.

His mana eyes only perceived the situation through the mana wall and it astonished Jason that York tried to stand up, while the wind blades pierced inside the ice wall, as he finally collapsed on the ground.

York's mana core seemed to groan and even change its shape which was bad and the medic team had to act fast to prevent permanent damages as Jason shouted towards them before the AI even announced his win.

However, the medic team who witnessed the whole fight also noticed that something was off after Jason extinguished his flames before his victory was even official.

As such, they appeared in front of York only a moment later as they carefully picked him up to lay him on a hovering stretcher with healing currents enveloping him.

Jason looked at York for a moment, as he walked out of the arena, saying

"Good fight, I like your fighting spirit, but your health should be more important than a single win in the Big-Three tournament, right? It's not like we entered the K.O rounds…"

Hearing this, York couldn't help but frown as he gnashed his teeth, while Lore rushed towards his friend, only to hear Jason's words, as he retorted angrily.

"You may not see this as important, but everyone has their own dignity, right?!" Seeing the tall youth retorting him foolishly, Jason looked at him for a short moment, as he pondered for a second only to shrug his shoulder.

"Maybe, but staying alive is still more important than one's dignity.." Once he said this, Jason ignored the tall brown-haired youth who still glared at him, before he averted his gaze in order to check his friend and how he was doing.

In the end, Jason didn't care about dignity or something like this, because he simply wanted to survive to become stronger, but he could somehow understand the two youths' train of thought.

If he could prevent it in any way, Jason would give his all in order to win because losing was not something anyone really liked.

However, there was a big difference in fighting a life and death battle against beasts, foreign races, or whatever than a simple tournament fight in its first round at that, which wouldn't even give York a disadvantage after he lost.

He was still the third strongest in their group which made him eligible to enter the K.O rounds.

Instead of forcing himself too much which could lead to permanently damaging his mana core,  evidently throwing him out of the tournament, York could learn out of his mistakes and search for a way to counter his fire affinity.

Unfortunately enough, it seemed like he was the only one who looked at it long-term as the two youths didn't care about that at all.

Shaking his head, Jason went back to his seat, where he replenished his mana, before visualizing his fight against York in his head in order to figure out his flaws and what he could fix.