“What’s the matter, girly? Cat caught your tongue?” After spilling the beans, as James called it, Ana remained silent. The fight had turned from a simple duel into a much more complicated matter.

‘It’s never easy, is it?’ she thought while looking up at her friend. Fortunately, she had enough experience with annoying situations to keep herself calm. After organizing her thoughts, Ana talked calmly.

“I want to know what else you know, how you learned it, and who else knows.”

“Buahaha!” The stickman laughed while bending his body backwards. “Little girl, you’re in no position to be making demands. If I were you, I’d surrender obediently.”

“I refuse.” She and Ethan had trained for months so they wouldn’t get bullied by something like this.

“Really? In that case, ladies and gentlemen…!”

Suddenly, an earth spear was shot towards his face. James dodged it easily, but several others came flying from the ground. Like gravity had no hold on him, the stickman jumped 10 feet to his left and avoided the impact. He then turned his eyes back towards Ana, yet she was no longer there.

Instead, six stone pillars rose around him in an arc that merged right above his head. A moment later, hundreds of needles shot out of them until the pillars completely collapsed.

Even so, when the dust and debris finally settled, the stickman was completely fine. Only the broken scrolls around him indicated damage.

‘Just as brutal as expected.’ An eerie whisper was heard in Ana’s mind. ‘But, I thought a murdering wench like you would want to see her victims bleed. Quit hiding.’

Suddenly, a wave of frost was sent into the ground where Ana was located. Though her speed was somewhat reduced, she managed to dodge in time.

‘Are you trying to provoke me?’ she asked before returning the favor with a few dozen needles.

‘I’m saying the truth,’ countered the stickman.

A weird game of tag had formed between the two as more and more needles and frost waves were exchanged. Ana’s attacks were faster but easier to dodge above ground. The stickman’s blows were the opposite, though digging through the earth was slower as well.

‘I am not a murderer,’ thought Ana while expanding a wide cave for herself.

“You’re a violent wench.”

‘I do not enjoy violence. I did not screw Charles, and I definitely don’t have a boyfriend.’ With more space to move, dodging became effortless.

Then, for the next couple of minutes, the stickman went silent. Whether it was because of the cave which rendered his attacks useless or due to her counters to his statements, she did not know.

‘Oh, well. Were those your last words?’ James spoke as if he had just remembered there was a fight.

Suddenly, an enormous amount of mana appeared in his hands. Ana couldn’t see the actual scroll, but she knew that whatever followed would definitely be bad. While the stickman ripped it in half, she desperately dug her way towards the surface.

At the same time, mana seeped into the ground and the previously scorched earth became frozen instead. The ice reached all the way to the second row forcing the spectators seated above to hug each other for warmth.

“Can’t beat you with words. Can’t beat you with scrolls. How utterly annoying,” muttered the stickman. In front of him, a panting Ana was holding onto a tiny butterfly necklace.

Suddenly, the unmistakable aura of a mid rank two mage was released in the arena.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding.” Despite being a mere rank one, the stickman could feel it too. He began stomping his feet like a child and throwing a tantrum. “You just love one upping me, don’t you?”

Seeing how anger kept him distracted, Ana did not bother responding. Instead, she placed Ethan’s gift back into her dimensional pocket and ran her mana circuit trying to regain a feel for it.

‘So much for the element of surprise,’ she thought sadly. During this time, James dug deeper into his pocket and pulled out a few dozen scrolls.

“You think you’re hot stuff, huh?” The boy began fidgeting uncontrollably with a psychotic expression. “Think I’ll just drop dead like the others?”

“I haven’t killed anyone,” Ana responded having grown tired of his words.

“Ha, do you know how many people died in the preliminaries?” said James while grabbing the stack of papers with both hands. “How many people died at Arthur’s hands while you sat back and watched? What about those who got killed by mana beasts after you left them unconscious without even clothes?”

Feeling he was finally winning the moral argument, the stickman’s grin reached all the way to his eyes. Against such an inferior opponent, only complete victory could possibly satisfy him.

“So, you were spying on us,” deduced Ana in a regretful tone.

“Enough with your excuses!” shouted James while completely ignoring her words. To smack the final nail in the wench's coffin, he ripped the scrolls in half releasing a peak rank three snowstorm upon the entire arena.