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Weryn bobbed through the stands that were filled completely for the second day of the tournament. He had arrived a little late because of his mother scolding him for practicing magic inside of the house. Weryn had put a hole in the roof when he tested out the earth and wind bullet from the first battle yesterday.

All of the rest had been just as entertaining or even greater. The way they used magic was amazing. The weaker ones supplemented their magic by putting multiple types into one shot.

The stronger delivered powerful blows that would make the arena shake a little bit.

Yes, it had truly been an amazing time. Master Erebus and other members of the Council had even offered up criticisms. Even though they talked to each other, Weryn was listening in to gain even more insight.

Erebus looked up when the young dragon had arrived before closing his eye again.

Despite the noise, Erebus still managed to take a nap.

Truly commendable, not even Massath could sleep through all of this noise. Instead, the homeless-looking man was staring tiredly at the arena.

If any of Erebus’ servants were here, they would have applauded him wholeheartedly.

“Master Erebus, aren’t you excited about all of this?”

“Not really,” he answered. Erebus yawned and stretched. Seemed like the kid wouldn’t be letting him sleep any longer.

Weryn cast his gaze downward for a moment before directing his attention to the ongoing battle.

Erebus, too, was watching the battle with bored yet appraising eyes.

He didn’t exactly care about the battle like Weryn did, but it was a temporary fix for his boredom.

The individuals fighting right now were far more skilled than the ones previous to them. There wasn’t a single wasted movement or moment of hesitation. Their attacks were decisive.

Erebus nodded his head in approval, they were skilled. Judging from their attacks, they had been through countless life-or-death situations.

One was a woman with teal hair and tanned skin, her body was lithe and tall. She was facing off against a man with dark red hair cut wildly and a slim, sinewy body.

The difference between their skill wasn’t too much. The woman was stronger in terms of magic but the man in pure physical strength. If she hadn’t dodged his attacks with agility, she would’ve been defeated a long time ago. The same thing went for him.

The ancient dragon found himself starting to feel the anticipation and excitement that the others were experiencing. This was surprisingly interesting, after all!

Every time a spell or fist would miss by a hair’s breadth, Erebus’ fist would tighten. If a fist or spell did land, he restrained himself from cheering with the rest of the crowd.

Intense.

This battle was intense. Neither party was losing or winning.

The woman wiped the sweat from her brow when the two stopped exchanging blows. Then they went at it again, she shot off magic with rapid succession and he managed to destroy it with his fist augmented with mana. The man’s movements were so fluid he looked as if he was dancing.

“They’re doing very well, don’t you think, Erebus?” Azure asked from next to him. She looked up at him with a playful gleam in her golden eyes.

“Indeed, I wasn’t expecting to see people of their quality.”

It had thoroughly surprised him. He had thought of the Tournament as an annoying, childish game. But they had changed his mind. It was easy to tell that they were taking this very seriously.

Azure combed a hand through her hair. “Haha, so you underestimated this festival?”

Erebus chuckled a little. “I suppose that you could say that about. It’s more entertaining to watch than I had thought.”

“Eh? Does it make you wanna spar with me?” Azure said playfully, nudging him with her elbow. “When was the last time you got to fight a worthy opponent? Huh?”

Erebus rubbed his chin. “Ah...”

When Azure saw Erebus was seriously contemplating this, she shook her hands furiously. “No, no, no. I was kidding, that was a joke. I don’t want to fight you, not in the slightest.”

Weryn turned his head at this. “You two are going to fight?”

Other members of the Council turned their heads around from the match.

“Really? Erebus and Azure are planning on having a spar?” Frize asked. The Dragon Councils had never fought each other. The last time one of them had sparred with each other... sheesh, had it already been that long? Time sure does fly.

“W-wait,” Azure tried to say.

Erebus cracked his neck. “I haven’t sparred in a long time. It’ll be fun, right, Azure?”

Her face was turning paler. “I wasn’t reall--”

“That does sound like it’d be fun,” Rolut intervened. “Haha! Perhaps it could be shown in the Tournament. These children will be able to see something interesting.”

Her opportunity to get out of this was closing. “I-I’m afraid a battle between Erebus and me wouldn’t be too entertaining to watch. Maybe Lisset or someone could fight!”

Lisset guffawed. Her expression read absolute confusion. “Why are you involving me in this?”

“I’m not very skilled in hand-to-hand combat,” Azure laughed, pushing the responsibility onto Lisset.

Dragons were rather stubborn creatures. Once they got their minds on something, they wouldn’t stop. Meaning, now that it was out there, it would be impossible for Azure not to fight Erebus.

That is unless she volunteered someone else.

A dark smile spread across Azure’s face.

“Oh, that does make sense.” Rolut crossed his arms. “Do that instead!”

“B-but, Rolut!” Lisset cried.

She wasn’t confident in her abilities to defeat Erebus. The only way she could possibly win is if they were fighting for real. All the original dragons were more or less equal in power, after all.

Unlike Erebus, she did not fight very often. To fight after so many decades of being dormant wouldn’t prove too well for her.

That would be a very embarrassing situation to lose in.

“Ugh...” Lisset groaned. Everyone was looking at her expectantly. “I can’t fight against Erebus in a battle of magic!”

Her saving grace.

Yes, his magic was created for the sole purpose of destroying. It could never be used in a light matter. She couldn’t fight him like that...

“I know some other magic,” Erebus said. He was getting excited, it had been so long until he’d been able to fight against someone of his caliber.

“...” Lisset buried her face in her hands, the red curly mass of her hair provided a shield to her face. What was this, why was this happening to her?

Even though she knew Erebus was an ultimate slacker, his fighting abilities were top tier.

In terms of sheer power, her’s was greater. But Erebus could bridge that gap with his actually skill...

She could win but it’d be hard. Very hard.

Lisset steeled herself. She could do this! Or at least, the match could end in a draw.

While Lisset was having a silent conversation with herself, everyone else had directed their attention back to the battle.

For them, the situation was settled, so there wasn’t any need to focus on it.

The man and woman were still going at it. Their perseverance was, without a doubt, amazing.

Both of them were exhausted but neither gave up.

The man attempted to kick her, but she would dodge and start using magic to keep the distance between them.

At first glance, she had the advantage. He was clearly specialized in close combat, so if he couldn’t get near her, he couldn’t hit her.

But there was a downside to using so much mana. She was using her mana faster than it was regenerating, she’d be incapable of casting magic strong enough to hold him back soon enough.

He would use that as his chance. He could win as long as he waited her out. But, that being said, if any of her magic hit him solidly, he would be out. He didn’t have enough energy to stand back up if he was knocked down.

If he was down for five seconds, the match would end.

He couldn’t let her magic hit him. But that was hard. She had opted for speed rather than power. Though the bolts weren’t extremely powerful, she was firing them off rapidly and in large numbers. The quickness that she was sending the magic at him was starting to exceed his capabilities to keep up. He was too tired to keep blocking for too much longer.

This would be a close match.

The woman let out a roar of pure desperation and managed to start shooting off her magic even faster.

Her opponent started to panic. He couldn’t keep up. He desperately tried to dodge the attacks but he couldn’t.

A bolt of magic hit him in the chest. It wasn’t enough to knock him down, but it was enough to break through his defenses.

The moment the first hit, the other bolts came, slamming into his body and causing him to fall flat on the ground.

The entire stage shook at the impact of him falling. The woman put her hands on her knees as she breathed heavily.

“1!” the announcer began his countdown.

“2!”

“3!” the crowd joined in.

The man remained on the ground, struggling to stand.

“4!”

His arms shook and collapsed.

“5!”

“The match has been decided! The winner is Fia!”