After hearing the conclusion of the match, Alex fainted.

It was unexpected as he had been forcefully stopping himself from going unconscious, but now he had no more reason to do so.

Different from what others thought, the match was not when Jake finally manage to bypass his opponent's defense and hold his sword at the neck of his opponent.

Previously, Jake had directly forced Alex to "dance" with him. He noticed that Alex was bleeding from all his orifices and deduced that it was the consequence of overloading his senses.

So, Jake pushed him beyond the limit until his body failed him and, gradually, he began to lose speed, which made it easier for Jake to counter.....and the rest was history.

Jake paced his breath as he walked back to his seat.

The match was kinda tough. It definitely put Jake on the edge and was in no way won before the match even started.

Seated on his chair, he heard the referee announce the next match, "Match 2, Noah Hudges vs. Cheyenne Aztec."

'This is definitely interesting,' commented Jake.

The two opponents were big names and were rated as the two most likely to win the competition. Even himself would have trouble fighting with either of them, especially Cheyenne!

He could tell the princess was holding back due to her carefree manner. However, it didn't concern him. He was just here to get his rewards and disappear.

After hours of sitting, Jake had made up his mind to leave the kingdom. His instinct told him there was something sinister brewing under their foot and he didn't want to be caught in it.

However, as he had previously realized, Jake had no idea what the land beyond the kingdom was like. In fact, he had no idea how to get out.

'I would have to get a map,' Jake mapped it as one of his future missions.

Jake noticed that the crowd was getting louder, 'Hmmm…..it is starting.'

His dull eyes brightened as they paid close attention to the battle that was about to begin.

Though he was already guaranteed a reward due to his qualification, if he really wanted to be in charge of what he gets, he has to win his next battles. And to do that, he needed to know his opponents!

"Match 2, Begin!"

.....

With the words from the referee, the two opponents started with a close combat fight, trying to get a feel of each other.

Normally, due to her choice of weapon, Cheyenne would have instantly been on the losing end, but it seemed she have factored that when she chose her weapon.

Her light spear moved around as if the user, Cheyenne, was performing a special dance.

Using her innate agility, she sized up to Noah, whose only weapons were his gloves.

The match went up a notch when both of them started utilizing their energy for special attacks, creating all sorts of noises that would temporarily deafen anyone that was nearby.

Predicting a punch coming her way, Cheyenne ducked while also twisting her spear to get a good swing at Noah.

The attack only left a way for Noah to evade, but he was still cut on the waist by the spear.

He paused and touched the little blood spilling out of his thin injury.

Smiling, he said to Cheyenne, "I expected something like these. As expected, you are the real deal."

Cheyenne flashed a mocking smile at him, "Oh, so you are saying the previous guy you fought with wasn't the real deal?"

"I don't know," replied Noah.

In his last match, he was almost killed by Roan Aztec. His injuries gotten from that match were so intense that they required the full attention of more than five healers.

"Well, it doesn't matter. You see,---"

Baiting Noah into a conversation, Cheyenne took advantage and stabbed her spear at Noah.

*Clang!*

Noah reacted fast, deflecting the attack with the plated side of his glove.

He was only able to do that before he was slammed in the face by Cheyenne's spear. Teeth and blood flew out from his face and he tumbled all the way to the edge of the stage border.

This was only possible due to him reacting fast and using [Spirit Essence] to mitigate as much force as possible from the attack. However, it wasn't fully successful as the attack still had enough strength to dismantle his face.

He spat out every broken part in his mouth and shot a terrifying look at Cheyenne.

Yet, Cheyenne wasn't intimidated a bit by this.

As if not understanding anything, she blinked at her opponent, "You were looking really horrible before. It is better now…..I think?"

After five seconds of examining his face, she let out, "Well, if it isn't, I guess I will just have to try again."

Following her words, a gust of wind descended on her body. It covered her like a blanket.

By the time it cleared away, Cheyenne was nowhere to be found.

She appeared in front of Noah, but he wasn't having it.

After exchanging a few rounds of attacks, Noah was already used to her trickery.

He knew there was no way for him to defeat her when it came to pure combat, so he decided to rely on his only advantage, his higher cultivation base.

He was at [Realm-2], which in turn dictated bigger energy storage, and outward control of [Spirit Essence], but all the hidden stage cultivators already had that.

When the gust of wind appeared on Cheyenne's body, Noah reacted on instinct and rampantly used his energy to blast out unrefined energy bolts in every direction surrounding him.

Blitzing to him, Cheyenne didn't expect the careless attack, but she tried to dodge the attacks, which in turn made her lose speed and made it easy for Noah to react.

Noah smiled as he knew his strategy was right.

He had practiced making a few energy constructs, but while they were not on the level of seasoned techniques, they still had their damage point!

He invested a quarter of his [Spirit Droplets] and planned another attack.

Jumping in the air, he dropped down at Cheyenne's location, but the latter dodged it.

The two proceeded to engage in a game of dodge with Noah increasingly matching Cheyenne's speed due to him brutally increasing his speed with [Spirit Essence].

He was one of the people that had decided to fully convert his [Spirit Essence] to [Elemental Spirit Essence].

So, when he used his energy, he gained the additional attribute of the earth element; durability, and strength.

Finally, let loose, his fighting style inched closed to that of a berserker as he dominated the fight.

For the first time, Cheyenne looked to be on the losing side. However, she showed no signs of that and smiled.

In a shocking moment, she muttered something and her speed further increased. Cheyenne then used her newly-increased speed to evade Noah's attack, all the while piercing his shoulder with her spear.

After the attack, Noah left his "powered" state and fell on his knees. He looked at Cheyenne, who also seemed to want to catch her breath. The two of them entered a temporary truce.

"Haha," Cheyenne lightly chuckled and threw her spear at the fooled Noah.

She thought it was very foolish that Noah didn't use any of his techniques and, instead, chose to go berserk. Now, it had cost him his chance for qualification.

Aligning with her thoughts, her spear lodged itself in the chest of yet another participant and sent him out of the stage.

"Match 2, End!"

"It's such a pity. I didn't have the chance to show my true cultivation base," sighed Cheyenne as she left the stage.

[A/N: Hello, Author here. So, tell me, who do you think would win between Cheyenne and Jake?]