Two avatars stood facing each other. One green and one red. They were in the shape of a simple figurine. Making it too complex would be a waste of effort and concentration. One stood at 40 metres tall while the other stood at 20 metres tall. It was like an adult facing a child.

The audience watching in the academy started to place their bets. Ronald, who crushed his opponents earlier, was among them. He watched the screen intently. Contrary to what others thought, he had a feeling that Artix would be the winner.

As if hearing an inaudible whistle, the duo vanished from their spot at the same time.

They clashed in the middle of the platform, sending air currents in all directions. The green avatar punched while the red avatar dodged waiting for an opportunity to strike.

"Is dodge all you can do?" Said Sarah tauntingly.

Artix didn't reply. He spread his hands wide then he clasped them together.

Whoosh!

Several hundred red arrows shot towards Sarah. Artix had condensed them while dodging and infused them with Hide.

Sarah naturally couldn't see those arrows, but her sense of danger was much more acute than an average person. She immediately distanced herself from Artix and used her avatar's arms to cover herself. When the arrows landed on her avatar, they managed to disintegrate some part of it. Frightened as she was, she managed to remain calm. She immediately used an Earthscape and managed to dodge by a hair's breadth.

Immediately, the ground began to tremble. Huge rocky hands emerged from the ground. Artix shrank his avatar and dodged quickly. He used his avatar's hands to keep the rocky hands in bay. He shot arrows at the ground when he had the chance. He knew he couldn't use the same trick twice so he didn't waste stamina infusing them with Hide.

Artix struggled in the forest of hands. The good thing was that his red avatar naturally countered these life imbued hands. But, when he managed to get rid of a hand, two emerged to replace it. Artix was gradually being cornered. In the end, Artix was surrounded from all sides. The hands merged and imprisoned the red avatar. A crushing force beared on Artix. Immediately, Artix used Aging and the hands were reduced to dust.

The dust settled and Artix emerged. He dispelled his avatar. Beads of sweat dropped down his forehead. He looked ahead as a figure emerged from the ground. She looked at Artix and took a step forward.

Suddenly Artix exclaimed, he pointed behind her and said, "look, a trihorned planetary demon!"

Sarah looked behind her unconsciously, but she didn't see any demons. When she turned around, she found that Artix had disappeared.

The audience became silent. Ronald became speechless.

Sarah took a while to process what happened. Her sense of danger triggered and she immediately condensed a shield in the nick of time. A punch struck her shield and sent her flying.

"Damn! So close!" Said Artix.

Sarah landed and looked warily at the boy who just emerged again. She didn't understand why she had fallen for such a low level trick and she didn't have the time to think about. She couldn't afford to lower her guard anymore.

She condensed her avatar and infused it with life. Artix could only condense his avatar again, but this time it was only 10 metres tall.

Sarah put her hand on the ground and rocky vines emerged from the ground. They were incredibly life like and flexible as if they were plants and not rocks. The vines shot towards Artix either to hit him like a whip or entangle him to impede his movements.

While Artix was dodging the vines, Sarah stepped back and condensed a 100 metre long green blade. She then struck at Artix with all her might. The blade contained immense strength as it went through the avatar's defense effortlessly.

Artix watched helplessly as the blade drew closer. A thought struck him, 'if I didn't wear my bracelet, wouldn't I be dead now?' A smile emerged on his face.

BOOM!

The blade landed before it vanished. Dust covered everyone's sight. The audience looked towards the platform, but didn't see anyone emerging. They looked at the screen again.

Sarah used a simple wind spell to clear the dust. She was wary of being caught off guard so she maintained her avatar at all times. Sweat trickled down her forehead. She looked ahead and saw a boy standing in front of a deep gash, unscathed. The boy had a smile on his face. When she was his smile, her danger sense triggered countless alarms. She didn't hesitate and used the remaining vines to entangle him while she shot forward and attacked with her avatar. Then, she witnessed an incredible scene. All her attacks went right through him! No matter how she attacked, she couldn't land a single blow.

Exclaims came from the audience.

**********

Artix was in a wonderful state. He felt like he was free from all the shackles of reality. He cared not for what tomorrow will bring nor did he care about the sorrows of the past. He felt like he could do whatever his heart desired. Even death couldn't stop him!

Artix looked ahead at the girl who was attacking him desperately. His smile widened as he pointed at her with his finger.

The girl blanked out, her avatar disintegrated and she started falling. The world went silent.

One second later, the girl opened her eyes and saw a bright-red, crimson hand rushing towards her. No alarm went off inside her head nor did she attempt to defend. She seemed to be waiting to receive the peace that the hand will bring to her. Her bracelet lit up and she was transferred out.

Outside, the audience had their mouths agape not knowing how to respond.

Finally, someone broke the silence, "Hahaha! I won 100 pounds!"

Pangs of regrets hit the hearts of many students.