Armad didn't wait for his first slash to land before he slashed again. This time he targeted Tyren instead of the clones.

The first slash cut through the clones' attacks and destroyed them. It slashed through the first clone, cutting it in half, before it dissipated. One clone attacked Armad head-on while the other moved to block the slash targeting the original. Armad lunged forward, cutting through both clones in an instant. The first clone turned to dust before the sword touched the second clone. Both Armad's strength and speed were beyond comparison. It was like having the strength of a thousand bolts and the speed of the Lightning Flash simultaneously. His moves were meant to kill.

He slashed at Tyren's neck.

"King Steps!" Tyren summomed his Gift.

Time literally stopped. Armad's sword hanged in the air as Tyren walked seven steps backwards. Once he made the last step, the sun disappeared and was replaced by the soft light of dawn. After five seconds, the sun came up again and everything returned to normal. No one among the audience understood what happened.

Armad regained his mobility but he now looked at a new Tyren. A man dressed in a golden cloak, holding a golden sword that shone brightly like the sun.

Armad and Tyren faced each other down again. None of them was worn out. They would never give up. Armad's motivation was his mom, but Tyren would rather die than lose a battle in front of all these people. He carried the weight of his entire House on his shoulders. If he fell then the rebellion and House Bayajidda would be gone forever.

"Yellow Dance, right?" Tyren said, looking at Armad's yellow sword. "It is an impressive sword, I wonder how you got it. If I wasn't here, you might have even won the Jinzidal. But my Gift is different. If you have anything up your sleeve, now is the time to bring it out."

Tyren lunged forward, dragging his sword on the ring. A black mist surrounded the sword. Anything it touched would age ten years at once. The ring, which was new and shining, withered into a grey wood full of cracks, as if it had been there for a century.

Armad took a step back. He weaved another sign, bit his right palm and smeared the blood on the sword. The star at the tip of the sword visibly shook and began to divide into two, but before it could, Tyren had slashed. Armad blocked with his sword. The sword was okay but his hand felt so weak; as if it had been broken a thousand times. The skin wrinkled and his hair turned grey. He had to immediately switch the sword to his left hand.

Tyren slashed down again.

Luckily, the star had finished its division. Instead of one there were now two stars. An oppressive energy burst out from the sword to fill the arena. It was followed by the raise of the gravitational force around the ring. The increased force dented the area beneath Armad by several inches.

Tyren's knees buckled and he almost fell on his knees. But as he shook his sword, the force pressing him down aged and disappeared.

They looked at each other with narrowed expressions.

"That Dance can even affect gravity? Interesting. You have trained yourself well, unlike those useless old fools that gave power to Urúrú. However, my Dance of Dawn speeds up time. Anything it touches will age ten years at once. Even if you were a newborn, you will age ten years on the spot. Your ancestors lost to Urúrú, but I will not lose."

"I really don't like noisy people." Armad said before he slashed down again.

Tyren lunged forward.

Wherever Armad passed, the place would dent several inches down as if a giant had stepped on it. Whereas Tyren turned the ring into a raggedy, old wood.

Armad could send a slash five meters away from his sword, so he used that to maintain a safe distance from Tyren. Even when they were close, he would use the lightning to shield his sword. He also used gravity to parry Tyren's attacks, making it impossible for Tyren to get close enough. On the other hand, Tyren formed an invisible barrier around him that blocked Armad's attack. The barrier aged all attacks ten years as they passed through it.

The air aged and cracked as they slashed madly at each other. For the first time, the ring was utterly destroyed. The audience could only see blurs behind the dust.

The intense battle continued for seven minutes before the silence came. The ring was destroyed, and a massive crater stood in its former place. Armad and Tyren had been fighting inside the crater. The audience had stopped seeing anything long ago. Everyone fell silent as they waited for the dust to settle and see the winner of the 234th Jinzidal.

When the dust settled, Armad and Tyren were found lying on the ground, barely conscious. Tyren was bleeding all over his body while Armad looked like an emaciated old man who had been alive for two hundred years. None of them could move an inch.

Armad sustained double injury, both from his Yellow Dance and from Tyren's sword. But he managed to break every bone in Tyren's body. But, even now, the fight continued through their eyes. They stared down at each other with an unwavering faith that was palpable to the entire world.

Ghalee was dizzy, he didn't know what to do about the situation. Even the audience were silent.

Amid the dilemma, Armad suddenly saw a hairy old man standing over Tyren. The old man touched Tyren's forehead and, in that instant, Tyren's exhaustion disappeared. His wounds and fractures healed, his longevity and life energy went back to one hundred percent.

"Bayajidda, what if someone sees you?" Tyren said.

The old man called Bayajidda shook his head. "Even Uznu Urúrú there can't see me. First, his longevity isn't enough. Second, even if he has the longevity, only my descendants can see me."

Armad opened his mouth to report the obvious rigging but he couldn't. He had no energy to do so. Hell, he didn't even have the energy to blink.

I will not allow this rigging. And what the hell does that old man means by only his descendants can see him. I can clearly see him and I am not his descendant.