(Xiang Peng's Perspective)

As smoke appeared from the arena's platform, preventing anyone from seeing what was going on, I remained in the air and narrowed my eyes, waiting to see the results of my attack.

"That should've gotten her… right?" I muttered quietly.

Normally, my Prison of Lightning would be able to vaporize anyone below the Golden Monarch stage - and even if they were above that stage, they would end up being severely injured if they were truly struck by the final lightning strike of the spell. Needless to say, Two-Face was dead… or was she? For a reason I couldn't quite place my finger on, I felt like something was wrong - something was off. No matter how hard I tried, I could not suppress this feeling of uncertainty and nervousness in my heart.

Was I… worried?

Worried that if Two-Face was still alive, I wouldn't be able to defeat her?

No… I can't be. Ever since that day, I've learned not to show any sign of weakness to anyone. Because of this, I never felt worried about defeating my opponents. Every time I struck, I struck with certainty, never hesitating a single bit. Every time I defeated an opponent, I was sure I had defeated them.

That is, except for this one.

I gulped in nervousness, anxiety filling up my head as I pointed my palm towards the smoke, ready to unleash a spell the moment Two-Face showed herself.

No, this isn't good… I'm assuming that she will actually survive… I should be thinking the opposite…

Suddenly, I was in the middle of debating, a figure leaped out at me from the smoke like a panther jumping on its prey, purple eyes shining with bloodlust. My eyes widened as I quickly backed away to avoid getting hit, then immediately let out my most powerful attack in a panic.

"Legendary Sky Magic - Fang of Zeus!"

Raising my hand into the air as Two-Face continued to get closer to me with but a single jump, a massive lightning bolt conjured above my head, in my palm.

"Take… this!"

I flung the enormous bolt of electricity below me, straight at Two-Face. However, to my surprise, she smiled like a devil as my attack went straight through her. Then, I felt a presence behind me. I froze in fear.

Before I could even turn around to see who it was, I was kicked straight in my back. I pummeled towards the floor, crashing onto the arena.

"Cough, cough… agh," I groaned, desperately trying to get back to my feet. The perpetrator of this landed back on the ground a little distance away from me, a smug grin on her face.

"Close one, close one indeed," she chuckled, walking closer to me menacingly. "You're the first one, you know? To almost knock me unconscious and lose control over this body."

Knock her… unconscious? In other words… if I could just knock her out…

It seemed that there was no choice but to use that. My special artifact, able to take out anyone at the Golden Monarch stage or below.

"Too bad, too bad… in this world, even a little bit of strength can make all the difference in a close fight," Two-Face sighed, stopping before me and pointing her palm at my body, laying on the ground. "Even if two people are both extremely strong and unparalleled, if they were to fight against one another, whoever is more powerful will win, even if it's just by a tiny bit. Unfortunate, yes, but… quite enjoyable for the victor, don't you think?"

She smirked and licked her lips like a devil as she took out a knife from her belt, twirling it around before finally stopping it at my neck.

"Goodbye."

Now!

I activated my artifact, right before she could cut down on me. A bright white flash of light ensued, blinding her and everyone else in the arena - except for me.

I took advantage of this moment of clarity to suddenly get up from the ground and take her own weapon. Then, kicking her in the stomach, I sent her crashing to the floor.

"Ngh-!" she cried out, gritting her teeth. However, she was still unable to see.

As she kicked and punched frantically towards her front, I discretely circled around to her back and placed her own knife on her throat.

She froze.

"Ah… you got me."

Without any hesitation, I cut her neck open, the blood spilling out and tainting my face.

Soon after, everyone was able to see again.

"W-What happened?!" the announcer cried out in shock. "Oh, it seems we have a winner… was that an artifact you used, miss Xiang Peng?"

I nodded slowly on the stage, placing Two-Face's dagger back in her hand as a sign of respect.

"I see! You were on the verge of defeat, but managed to turn it back around with your trump card! Wonderful!" the announcer exclaimed excitedly as I walked off the stage. "I declare the winner of this battle to be… Xiang Peng!"

*****

(Xuan Kai's Perspective)

As Xiang Peng returned to the room, I glanced at her serious and slightly crestfallen expression that was unlike her.

"… Good work," I said quietly.

"Yeah…" she responded meekly, as if her heart wasn't in it.

"That artifact… was that the one you said could kill even Golden Monarchs?" Feng Mian asked hesitantly.

Xiang Peng returned to her seat and nodded, exhaling deeply. "It renders everyone within a 500 meter radius of me blind and deaf for about a minute or so. It also prevents them from casting any magic. This essentially makes them mere targets for me to take down. But after using it this time, it'll take a full year to recharge before I can use it again."

"That's interesting… what's the artifact called?" Yu An Yan asked.

"The Litehedron."

"Lite… as in light, and hedron, as in prism. Makes sense," Qing Yue analyzed, then tilted her head slightly in confusion. "You won the fight, but… why do you look so down about it?"

"That's… well, I didn't want to have to resort to using this, if that makes sense," Xiang Peng replied, sighing.

"You wanted to beat her with your own strength, without relying on external help such as artifacts," Obsidia concluded. "A respectable mindset."

"Yeah, but… I ended up using this anyway. I can't help but feel my victory was slightly… unfair."

I snorted. "Honor? Chivalry? Fairness? Those are all false concepts. Mere illusions, created to satisfy one's own heart and emotions. Tell me - which one of those artificial, fake fantasies are of any actual use? Can honor save you from death? Can chivalry provide you with power? Can you rely on fairness to climb to the top in this cruel, ruthless world? No - you can't. Might as well save the trouble."

Faced with my speech, the girls fell silent. Some were perhaps wondering how I could be so cold, and some were genuinely contemplating my words and finding them hard to accept.

However, what I said was true. Even if you held honor, your opponent may not. That could end up getting you killed. The same theory applies to the other two.

Better safe than sorry.

Besides, Xiang Peng wasn't telling the full story, since she wanted to appease me. Sadly, I saw straight through her facade. She claimed that her discomfort came from her not winning 'fairly', but that was only half of it. The truth was, she had genuinely felt regret and guilt for killing her opponent, Two-Face.

I guess it was understandable - Two-Face probably didn't even want to compete in this at all, but her other self forced her to. She was, at heart, an innocent girl who didn't wish to cause harm to anyone. Unfortunately, she was cursed somehow with possessing two souls in one body, and it just so happened that her other half was tainted with malevolence, killing and harming without a second thought.

Still… I had to say, I was disappointed in Xiang Peng. Not because she felt regret about killing another human being - that was perfectly understandable - but because she had attempted to lie to me.

It seemed… further training would be necessary for her.

"The match outside is starting," Lan Xiao Su said, breaking the silence. Feng Mian switched the hologram's screen to a livestream of what was going on outside, and so we watched.

"The next contestants are… Mu Mo Lin and Pao Zhen!" the announcer declared as two teens roughly my age walked onto the stage.

Both of the two appeared to be the confident, combat-driven type. Looks like we'll be having a show on our hands.

"Lady Obsidia - you will be fighting next after this fight, I figured I would just tell you now," a voice said from outside the door.

"… Understood," Obsidia replied briskly back, then turned her attention back to the screen.

Hm… if Qing Yue was a support, and I was a 'leader', then I guess Feng Mian, Yu An Yan, Yu An Xue, Xiang Peng, and now Obsidia were all just… 'fighters'? No, I suppose Feng Mian would be an Assassin.

Well, whatever… the role classifications didn't matter too much anyway. I decided to just stop thinking about the upcoming battles so hard and focus on the fight about to unfold.