The fight between Tristan and Edna was fast.

Not in the sense that they were moving fast, but in the sense that there was no room for thought. It looked like they were simply letting their reflexes do the job, reacting to attacks that they shouldn’t be able to react to while launching attacks at openings that they couldn’t possibly have seen.

The rapier served as more of a bludgeoning weapon, forcing the spear to recoil after striking it with its springy effect pushing it away.

Initially, it would seem that the staff was being wildly twirled around but a careful observer could see that it was forcing Edna to move in a pattern that Tristan wanted her to move in, by closing off the exits, while the real strikes came from his fists and feet.

Unfortunately, Adrian wasn’t a careful observer.

“Go rest,” he said after he touched Emma’s frozen hand, now kneeling on one knee next to her, who was lying on the ground.

It was almost solid.

Could their natural healing solve it?

It probably could, but what would the side-effects be?

“I know that,” said Emma and gave him a pained smile, “You had the common sense to come to your betrothed during a tournament, I see.”

“You’d have yelled at me if I didn’t do something that looked good to the spectators,” said Adrian.

“It hurts,” she said as her eyes slowly closed.

“You’re damn heavy but I guess I’ll have to do it,” said Adrian and let out a slow sigh.

He couldn’t find room to enter the fight between siblings so all he could do was look fashionable until they ran out of Stamina.

Slowly, Adrian climbed up to his feet while holding Emma in a princess carry, and with as solemn an expression as he could muster, he walked up to the edge of the stage until he reached the judge.

“She passed out,” said Adrian and he produced a Green Crystal from his Spatial Ring, “Have the medics find a Sense Severance Elixir for her and feed it to her before she wakes up. I don’t care if I have to pay twice or even ten times the actual price.”

She was actually awake.

He could feel that from her breathing pattern, which felt proud, that was possible.

The judge, an old man with gray hair and silver armor, nodded and gestured for the medics who’d just finished escorting Eric to the treatment room. Then he carried Emma to the nearest stretcher.

There were six stretchers, one for each person, but only one had been used: for Eric.

Normally, only Nobles could get their hands on the Sense Severance Elixir, or through an auction, but Adrian was already a noble to most.

He’d be marrying into House Beaumont, so he’d take the name of Beaumont but the ceremony wouldn’t be held for a while.

With that done, though, he needed to enter the Tristan and Edna fight and assist her in some way.

They were way beyond him.

Adrian couldn’t believe that he thought that he could take Edna just because she tried to stab her a few times, which was when he realized that she wasn’t using stabs at all.

Was she bad at them?

Without any means of ranged attack, it was difficult to get close, let alone intervene, so he looked awkward as he stood a fair distance away from them.

Tristan’s expression was serious, lips slightly puckered as he struggled to balance inhaling and exhaling, timing each exhalation with a strike. Edna, too, did the same, trying to time her exhalations with her sharp movements.

It was enlightening to just watch the two of them fight, completely in the zone.

He knew about the combo.

They’d discussed it before the match started.

It was a simple one, really.

Adrian would use the Cloud Body Technique to get past Tristan’s defenses and use the Mystifying Palm Technique to latch onto Tristan’s face, covering his eyes in the process.

It’d be difficult to pry him off his face, during which Edna would unleash her strongest technique: the very same thrusting attack from before, and they’d hope that it scored a ring out.

That was why both Tristan and Edna were fighting near one corner of the stage, which was where she’d guided him.

One team and the last standing member of the other team would enter the semi-finals, which meant that no matter what, Tristan would be in the semi-finals.

Even if Edna and he lost, or if they won.

Then he found an opening.

Within a moment, Adrian lunged into the fight and activated the Cloud Body Technique halfway through to increase his speed mid-flight.

As expected, Tristan struck Adrian with the back of his staff but the Cloud Body Technique let him sway away from it while maintaining his momentum, which let him his palm onto Tristan’s eyes.

After the constant usage of his Qi Techniques during the fight with Eric, he was low on accumulated Qi.

The method that Isabella used was unfair and that meant he wanted to learn it, but that was a thought for a later time.

“Now!” shouted Adrian, but even before he shouted that out, Edna was pushing her rapier into Tristan’s guts as it coiled, ready to send him flying with Adrian on top of him.

But that didn’t matter, as it was a team match, not an individual one.

Neither of the duo saw the large grin on Tristan’s face nor the way his body swayed along the rapier’s path, just as if he’d learned the Cloud Body Technique.

The spring reached its full course and when it was time to push it away, Trevor didn’t fly away, but only rebounded backward while his feet were almost glued to the ground.

During the rebound, Adrian’s Qi ran out and that was when Tristan managed to pull Adrian away from his eyes, and then casually toss him outside the ring.

Just like that?

That kind of strength was absurd.

It was like he was a child again and Tristan was an adult, casually throwing him aside as if he weighed nothing and all his efforts were useless.

How was Edna fighting a monster like that?!

Move for move, at that, as if she was equally matched.

Did the rapier help that much?

Then it was time for him to buy a weapon!

It wasn’t like it’d be difficult for his father to buy.

Soon after, Tristan managed to sway away from Edna’s strike and slam her outside the stage with his staff as well.

That meant that Edna would be the last standing fighter of their team, and that meant the tournament was over for both Adrian and Emma.

But he didn’t mind that.

If he had to fight monsters like Tristan, Edna, and Isabella again, then he’d rather not participate at all.

They were scary, but unlike before, there was something in him that was still uncertain about the results of his fight with Edna.

She was almost casually defeated after Tristan started using the Cloud Body Technique, so perhaps he had a chance as well…

With no Qi to fuel him, the enhanced strength faded as his body became more and more difficult to hold up, and he fell to the ground, deeming it easier to just lie on the ground until his body absorbed more Qi into its system.

This was another disadvantage of using Qi Techniques: it’d completely paralyze him if he ran out of it.