The battle began with a loud clash of metal. Both boys wielded swords - one of shadow and one of light. Quite the interesting duo, they were - it reminded me of the sister cross-fight Yu An Xue and Yu An Yan had earlier.

The two backed away from each other at the same time, both with a fearless grin on their faces. Then, wordlessly, they charged back towards one another, meeting once again with their blades. The same process repeated for about a good five exchanges - and quite frankly, it was getting boring.

Finally, the two decided to switch something up. They both used their own respective spells instead to turn the fight into a ranged one. The lightbearer used Light Magic, obviously, and the darkbearer used Shadow Magic. It was pretty funny, since both used a spell of the same archetype - a projectile, explosion-based attack.

As the yellow-white and purple-black spheres collided in a powerful blast of energy, both swordsmen leaped towards one another again, this time not backing away after one strike. At first, it seemed like the lightbearer was winning and pushing the darkbearer back, but the tides soon shifted. The two teens were of perfectly equal power, neither giving in to the other.

Soon, ten minutes passed, and both fighters were running out of energy. They panted heavily, swords in hand.

"You're good," the lightbearer teen said, wiping sweat from his forehead.

"I could say the same to you," his opponent replied, shaking off sweat from his hair.

"I would offer a draw, but… I don't think that is even allowed."

"What do you say we both take a break, then continue once we're both rested?"

"Sure, sounds good to me. I'm really enjoying this fight anyway."

And so, the two dropped their weapons at the same time and lay down on the stage, closing their eyes.

"You're kidding me, right?" Feng Mian stared awkwardly at the two boys from our screen, unsure whether if they are really this dumb or are just being clowns.

We could hear the audience roaring in disappointment, but since the stage's walls were soundproof to everything except the announcer, the two combatants had no idea.

"Well then… looks like it will be quite a bit of time until I have to fight," Obsidia sighed.

"Both contestants! Sudden death begins in one minute!" the announcer suddenly interjected, as the two teens' eyes snapped open.

"Sudden death? What's that?" the lightbearer murmured in confusion.

"I don't know…" his opponent muttered, scratching his head.

The announcer laughed boldly. "If a victor is not decided between the two of you before then, both of you will be eliminated! Basically, hurryyyyyyyy up!"

The two's eyes widened as they immediately faced each other once more, picking their swords back up from the ground.

"We don't have much of a choice, it seems," the light-wielding teen said, gripping his weapon tightly.

"Indeed… best of luck," the shadow-wielding teen replied, similarly bracing for the upcoming final sixty seconds of their duel.

Then, on cue, the two combatants dashed towards one another at the same time. As they sprinted, they both developed an aura around their bodies - one of Light energy, and one of Shadow energy.

It seemed that they would be settling this with one final strike.

"HYAHH!" The lightbearer yelled, leaping into the air and preparing to unleash all of his pent-up power. "Divine creator, bestow upon me your blessing, so that I may vanquish all shadows within your graceful domain of light-"

Naturally, the shadowbearer returned this favor in kind.

"Revered creator, grant me your power, so that I may devour all light within your endless domain of shadows-"

"HOLY SUNDER!"

"UNSANCTIFIED SLASH!"

The two figures, along with their weapons, collided with one another, sending a shockwave powerful enough to shake the entire arena. The whole structure was blinded by a dazzling white light. However, unlike Xiang Peng's Litehedron, this light was only able to blind anyone seeing the fight directly. The girls and I were still able to see, although barely.

A loud explosion ensued, deafening all other sounds as a pillar of energy surged upwards, breaking the ceiling of the arena's cage and shooting high up into the sky towards Fragment.

Luckily, an array was in place to block it, otherwise things could have turned ugly.

When the light at last faded away, both contestants were left laying down on the arena, knocked out cold. It was impossible to determine who was the winner.

"Both combatants are unconscious - and so, the results, I announce: both have lost! The winner of this bracket goes to Xiang Peng!" the announcer declared, much to our surprise.

"Uh… okay then," Xiang Peng murmured, blinking a few times in confusion at this sudden turn of events. "That was… a bit too easy?"

"Just accept it," I sighed. "This makes things easier for us."

"Yeah… I guess so."

"Well, Obsidia, you're up next," Feng Mian reminded calmly. "Let's see here… your opponent will be… Shinrai Kazuomi, it seems."

Saying this, she pulled up the person's profile:

Name: Shinrai Kazuomi

Gender: Female

Race: Demihuman

Role: Fighter

Rank: Advanced Mage

Elemental Affinities: Shadow, Blessing, Gravity

"I see," Obsidia responded briskly. "I can deal with her."

"So confident… what if you lose?" I teased, a faint smile on my face.

"If I lose, I will call off our deal and leave you all be," she replied without any hesitation.

I chuckled. "Sure. Show me you're worth keeping around."

Soon after, Obsidia was led by the IMF official to the arena, where she would face off against a wolfgirl named Shinrai Kazuomi.

*****

(Obsidia's Perspective)

When I got onto the stage, my opponent was already there, waiting for me. She was a wolf demihuman of small stature, but she had a confident grin on her face as she faced me.

"I'll beat you today, for sure!" she said, pointing at me.

Little kids… so annoying.

I didn't bother responding, and instead waited patiently for the announcer to signal the battle's start. In all honesty, this child reminded me of Flaria - not a good thing. I was naturally cold to everyone, but I held a particular dislike for Flaria and all other little kids. Qing Yue… she was questionable, but she could act mature at times. At… rare times.

"Alright, both contestants seem to be ready! Well then, without further ado… let the battle begin!" the announcer declared, whistling as he signaled the start of our duel.

My opponent immediately activated her mechanical claws, an extended form of her real ones to add higher damage output and reach. She then dashed towards me in an instant, moving on four limbs like a true animal.

Calmly, I activated Flight to soar upwards into the sky, avoiding her attack with ease.

"Hey! That's not fair!" she cried down from below.

"Hmph. Fairness? What a joke," I muttered, remembering Xuan Kai's words from earlier. They had struck a chord within me.

Then, aiming my palm downwards, I cast a spell. "Level Two Fire Magic - Twin Dragons."

Of course, I chose Fire Magic and this particular spell since I was… well, a dragon myself. My aptitude with Fire Magic was the highest.

I sent down two flaming orange dragons towards Shinrai Kazuomi. My Chaos energy was not as potent as Xuan Kai, so my spells did not change color or receive a power amplification as of right now. However, I could feel it - the Chaos in me getting stronger and stronger, the more time I spent with him. Strangely, it was a nice feeling.

The wolfgirl dodged out of the way of my attack, but my two dragons followed her around, much to her annoyance. Twin Dragons was only a Level Two spell, but it sure was useful - one of the best out there for this level.

Eventually, Shinrai got tired of running away, so she turned around and cast a spell of her own.

"Grr… Level Three Fire Magic - Engulfment!"

Sending out a vortex of fire, her flames swallowed my dragons whole, before disappearing for good.

"Heh… you're really pissing me off now!" she yelled, before suddenly jumping up to the reinforced glass walls and scaling them with her claws. My eyes widened slightly, impressed.

When she got to my height, she jumped for me, claws outreached. Unfortunately for her, I simply dodged out of the way-

-Or so I thought.

Suddenly, her claws extended as my eyes widened. Quickly, I tilted my body and grabbed her wrist as hard as I could, using the might of my draconic strength to prevent her from budging a single inch. Making use of this muscle power that did not show on the outside, I flung her downwards towards the ground mercilessly.

"Ahn!" she cried out from the impact, claws returning to their original size.

"Tch…" I muttered. How shameful - actually nearly getting injured by a brat like this.

Realizing it was about time to finish this fight, I prepared another attack while my opponent still lay on the ground, struggling to get back up.