Ethan’s past rank nine self could only manipulate mana, all mana, even the one which formed the soul. However, to mess with consciousness, a special kind of tool would be needed.

‘If not for this, I’d have to use my tattoos,’ he thought while pulling out his knife. ‘Or waste a s**t-ton of scrolls…’ As Ethan stared down the monster that was charging towards him, he made a mental note to thank Ana for her gift.

She gave him the perfect weapon for the job. Now, if only he could figure out his target.

- Boom! -

Once again, the creature tried to strike him down and the boy escaped by blowing himself up. Whether it was the coliseum’s walls, soil, or even the air itself, whatever the spirit struck was reduced to ashes.

By now, flames were engulfing a good chunk of the arena. Balls of fire the size of a human torso burned in mid air in the places where Ethan had barely avoided annihilation. Like eternal flames, they kept going without any source of fuel outside of ambient mana.

“You must have dozens of those things,” noted Stella somewhat impressed. More than 30 scrolls had been used until now.

“Make that a couple thousand. Want to call it quits?”

“Are you kidding?” chuckled the girl. “This is hilarious!”

Every single time, the youth barely escaped death, usually at the cost of smashing himself into the walls or flying head first into the sand. Sooner or later, either his stamina or his scroll supply would give out. Everyone knew this would happen and were now waiting to see when.

“Is this all it’s got!?” yelled Ethan while preparing to dodge. “I thought a mighty spirit would do more than just punch.”

Sadly for him, Stella was not one to act without fully understanding her opponent’s intent. Was he stalling for time? Was he hoping her spirit would waste its mana on some larger attack? She did not know, so why would she risk it?

“The spirit’s just following my orders,” the girl explained casually. “Why would I waste mana on some giant blast? You’re running out of space anyway.”

By now, more than half of the arena was covered in flames. Most of the sand was turning into molten glass, and even the walls which surrounded it were melting.

‘S**t.’ Ethan could already count how many moves he had left. He thought the spirit would launch a wide area attack sooner or later. The energy expenditure would momentarily expose its insides helping the teen locate the origin of its mana.

‘Should I just use scrolls?’ Since it did not have a body, the peak rank 3 creature was much more resilient than a mage of similar strength. No less than 300 lightning scrolls could possibly defeat it.

‘F**k, I can take out Charles’ dad with that many.’ After already taking a gamble, Ethan was not willing to just call it quits. Instead, another possibility flashed through his head. With less than 4 moves before checkmate, the mage stopped running and welcomed his enemy.

“Out of scrolls!?” shouted Stella with a grin.

Suddenly, the knife in Ethan’s hand glowed brightly and an ungodly amount of mana poured out. The boy’s body rapidly absorbed it, and as if he were using dozens of mana cores, his level was momentarily raised to rank three.

‘One soul down, four to go,’ muttered Ethan. In fact, it was not mana that Ana had poured into the knife. Without even realizing it, the half demon girl had ripped five souls out of the world’s stream and sealed them inside the weapon. After absorbing its energy, the fate of one of those beings was now questionable at best.

‘Come,’ ordered Ethan in his mind while staring down the fire spirit. However, the monster did the exact opposite of his wishes. At Stella’s command, the creature stopped its sprint and began retreating instead.

“Where the f**k do you think you’re going!?” shouted Ethan before running after it.

“Away from you,” Stella answered calmly.

With things having taken an unexpected turn, the girl had also adjusted her strategy. In her mind, the solution was simple. With a confident smile, she snapped her fingers and the spirit made a grabbing motion with its arms.

Suddenly, all the flames that were scattered around the arena started chasing Ethan. After a futile struggle, the boy became a giant ball of flames and disappeared from sight.

Seconds passed and there was no movement from inside. The audience watched with interest and even the Hunt family started questioning his fate.

‘If he dies, we lose an ally and a nuisance all at the same time,’ thought Arthur. ‘So, what’s it gonna be?’ He couldn’t believe for one second that this was all the teen was capable of.

At the same time, Oliver was watching with his mouth wide open while Ana was frowning deeply. Of all those involved, only Ethan’s opponent was smiling.

“Hey, host!” she shouted. “He’ll run out of energy any second now. You might want to ask his family to throw in the towel on his behalf.”

The girl played her role as a benevolent healer well. Unfortunately, host Edwin had not paid enough attention to the commoner to know where he came from. Unless someone stepped forward, the fight would continue.

Slowly but surely, the mana signature inside the flames was dwindling. Any second now, it would all be too late.

Then, in one moment, Ethan’s energy seemed to flare out of existence. In the next, the flames expanded like a balloon and shook violently. An even greater amount of mana appeared in their center before hundreds of gallons of water were summoned.

The fire spirit did its best to counter them, but by the time Ethan ran out of mana once more, all of the flames were extinguished.

‘Bet you can’t see my tattoos when I’m covered in magic flames, can you?’ Despite this momentary victory, the mage was anything but happy. ‘67 scrolls and three souls gone in a single battle… I need to up my game.’