The battle that took place next was one hell of one to see.

The arena was back in place now, without a scratch. Time Magic was truly powerful.

The two contestants that would finish off the first half of battles in this tournament were both leaders, just like Peng Yao and I. Their names? Lin Luo and Octavius, a young girl and boy respectively, both of which were only a year or two older than I was. Their profiles displayed the following information:

Name: Lin Luo

Gender: Female

Race: Human (Half-Celesticus)

Role: Leader

Rank: Ancestral Mage

Elemental Affinities: Sky, Space, Time, Poison, Curse, Sound

-

Name: Octavius

Gender: Male

Race: Demon

Role: Leader

Rank: Ancestral Mage

Elemental Affinities: Fire, Metal, Earth, Blessing, Demon, Void

Both had quite the troublesome elements. Lin Luo had Space and Time, a deadly combo, while Octavius had Demon and Blessing despite already being a demon. This would make him practically invincible if he buffs himself and uses the full body demonic transformation.

To be honest, I didn't want to face either one. Not because I didn't have confidence I could beat them, but because I would have to show some of my cards in order to do so. I managed to BS my way through the judges this time around, but could I keep going? I wasn't about to push my luck.

So, the best outcome here for me would be for the two of them to tie just like the lightbearer and shadowbearer pair of boys had done earlier, thus disqualifying both of them. I would automatically be made the leader of my bracket.

Of course, the chances of this actually happening were quite low. So far, only Xiang Peng had a guaranteed ticket to Fragment. Ironic, considering even if she didn't participate in this tournament, she would still be able to just waltz straight in. That's where she was born, after all.

The battle began soon after.

Octavius didn't waste anytime, striking first.

"Level Three Fire Magic — Burning Maul!"

He slammed his spiked gauntlets into the ground with a grin on his face, as several streams of fire began shooting out towards Lin Luo. There were three sets of them, each one continuously sending out a blast of flames sliding on the ground.

Unfortunately, it seems he didn't do enough study on his opponent — Sky Magic was Lin Luo's strongsuit.

She ascended gracefully into the air, holding two swords, one sparking with blue lightning and the other one with blue. The burning ground did not affect her whatsoever.

Then, two wings sprouted out of her back, flapping gently. They were similar to that of Sigil's, from the Library of Infinite Beginnings. It symbolized her other half — her Celesticus half.

The wings were glorious, making her seem like a knight of heaven. She then narrowed her eyes and pointed one of her swords at Octavius. There was killing intent in her gaze — it seemed she was planning on finishing this battle as soon as possible.

"Legendary Poison Magic — Asura Hell."

Immediately, the battlefield turned black, enveloping both contestants inside. Octavius looked around, trying to look for a way to escape this situation. He knew — this wouldn't be good if he stayed here.

Then, he froze, and quickly covered his nose. It seems there was poison in the air. He tried running in a random direction, but ended up being burned by some kind of faintly glowing green figure, which apparently had corrosive powers. As Octavius gritted his teeth and held his arm where he got hit in pain, the figures began closing in on him from all around.

"Agh… Legendary Metal Magic — Unbreakable Dome!" he yelled at last, forming an indestructible dome all around him.

At least, that's what he — and the rest of us — all thought.

To our shock, the corrosive powers of Asura Hell began slowly wearing away at the metal, corroding it little by little. The metal was melted into liquid, slowly dripping onto the ground. The dome's walls became thinner and thinner.

To make matters worse for Octavius, Lin Luo hadn't just been floating in the air doing nothing while he ran around trying to avoid the mysterious 'Asuras'.

She combined her two swords, blue and yellow, into one. Her eyes, along with her new, combined sword, both glowed a deadly and ominous green as she raised her weapon into the air.

"Lord Raijin, I call upon your power."

Clouds began to form above the pitch black arena as green lightning began to strike down everywhere. Suddenly, Lin Luo's sword shone even brighter than before, and all the lightning accumulated in one place.

The various lightning bolts all struck down on the tip of the sword, charging it with electricity. By this time, Octavius's dome had melted. He emerged slowly, using his final resort.

"Damn it… I hate flying insects like you!" he yelled, roaring in fury and clutching his head. "LEGENDARY DEMON MAGIC — TRUE TRANSFORMATION!"

His body, slowly, began changing. The two horns on his head elongated, and his ears turned sharp and pointy, almost like that of an elf. His nails extended into long claws, as his whole figure turned into nothing but a hazy black shadow. His eyes became long, demonic white ones with no pupil as two massive wings sprouted out from his back.

If Lin Luo's wings were like that of a fallen angel, then Octavius's were like that of a true demon.

"RAH!" he hissed, launching himself into the air with his wings in an instant, claws outreached and ready to tear his opponent apart.

"Nine Heavens…" Lin Luo narrowed her eyes, and brought down her charged sword.

"… Divine Lightning!"

A massive lightning bolt shot out of the tip of her sword, directly towards Octavius. She had no choice but to do this, since her opponent in this form was far too fast for her to cast any other spells.

Would Octavius's demonic claws reach her, or would her divine lightning purge him first?

A bright white flash ensued, blinding all cameras. We were unable to see what happened apart from a loud rumbling noise coming from outside that signaled a loud explosion. Still, it was nowhere as powerful as the explosion I had made with my Chaos Nova.

"Who won…?" Qing Yue murmured, completely engrossed in the fight as she sat on my lap.

The light faded away soon after, allowing us to see the aftermath of the fight. On the stage stood Lin Luo alone. Beside her was a pile of ash — what remained of Octavius.

"Goddamn…" I muttered quietly.

"Welp. There's your opponent," Xiang Peng laughed nonchalantly, having been already guaranteed a spot in Fragment.

I sighed. "Yeah… she's going to be a troublesome one. The most troublesome one I've faced yet."

"Can you beat her?" Feng Mian asked.

I snorted. "Hmph. Good question."

She pouted at my refusal to answer her properly, but I ignored her pleas.

"The winner of the match is… Lin Luo!" the announcer declared, whistling loudly as Lin Luo walked off the stage. "And now… it's time for a lunch break!"

I checked the time. 11:30 AM. Half an hour until noon. It was indeed about time to eat lunch.

"The matches will resume at 1 PM in the afternoon — that's in 1 hour and 30 minutes. I repeat, 1 hour 30 minutes! I sincerely hope none of you have thrown away your tickets, because you were explicitly told not to do so when you first came in this morning! If you lose your ticket, you must buy a new one, and you will not be guaranteed a spot!"

The audience stood up and began shuffling away, heading for the exit to find somewhere to eat.

"So, uh… where do we go?" Yu An Yan asked, embarrassed as her stomach growled. "I-I'm kind of hungry too…"

As if on cue, our door was knocked on.

"Please open the door — I have brought your lunch."

Qing Yue's eyes lit up as she hurried over and pulled open the door immediately, letting the IMF employee in. He was pushing a large cart filled with all sorts of delicacies on it, perfect to open up a meal with.

But that was not all.

He then went out the door again and pushed in a second cart, this time filled with main courses, from steak to rotisserie chicken. The third cart was filled with vegetable appetizers and fruits, while the fourth was filled with side dishes such as spicy lamb skewers.

And of course, finally, the fifth dish, filled with desserts and sweets along with drinks.

The girls all began drolling at this scene, and even I gulped.

"Please, enjoy your meal," the man said, smiling warmly before leaving us to ourselves.

Immediately, the girls reached for the food, but I stopped them.

"Hold on!" I shouted, causing all of them to freeze in the middle of their movements.

"Jesus… I never knew you all were such… foodies."

I sighed and swiped my hand.

Level One Poison Magic — Detect Poison.

Nothing came up, signaling the food and drinks were all safe to consume.

The girls collectively looked at me with a pleading look in their eyes, like a bunch of sad puppies. Faced with this adorable scene, I gave up and waved my arm.

"Fine, fine… you can eat now."

The girls cheered happily and immediately dug in, stuffing whatever they could into their mouths.

I smiled warmly at this scene.

… Heh. So much for their ladylike appearances.