“You have already lost.” Azrael said as he aimed the Light blade on the back of her neck.

“How did this happen!” Isabelle was filled with disbelief. She cannot allow herself to lose. She gripped her staff and slowly started pouring magic into it.

Azrael looked coldly at Isabelle.

“You have a choice here, either give up or try to fight it out this situation, but know this, If I feel even a hint of magic from you, I will not hesitate to cut you down.

Cold sweat dripped on Isabelle’s face. She felt a cold piercing gaze behind her as if Azrael could see through her.

“How does he know?” she thought to herself. Isabelle was in a dilemma, she was still unable to grasp that she was bested on that exchange and thus was not willing to admit defeat.

“It could have been a coincidence that he said he could feel my magic. I am casting as silently as possible.” She thought to herself.

How could she have known that Azrael’s perception was high enough that he could detect magic?

In the end, she reluctantly resigned herself to defeat. In a low cracking voice, Isabelle said. “I give up”.

The threat of a blade cutting her down was very real, it was not wise to risk it in her opinion.

Cheers resounded from the crowd after Isabelle gave up.

The announcer then proceeded to declare the results. “The winner is Azrael”

“Answer me! How did you survive that?”

Isabelle said as she abruptly turned around and was able to see Azrael’s figure. His clothes were tattered, he had a few fresh scars and a few wounds.

“You Weren't left unscathed after all. You used protection and healing magic right before the impact didn't you?”.

“How did you know?” Azrael asked. He was curious how she had known.

“Seriously? The basics of elemental magic were taught to us nobles when we were kids. It's common sense that light elementalists can use healing and protection magic. To think that I lost to you.” Isabelle said haughtily.

Before Azrael could reply Isabelle walked away from the arena and left in a huff.

Azrael’s family was not directly supported by the Anguis clan. With the lack of resources, Azrael had missed out on the advantages that should have been given to him.

“Next time you won't be so lucky”. Isabelle steeled herself, she took this match to heart and swore she would get even. Although she lost, she was not fully convinced about the outcome.

“What a difficult girl.” Azrael thought to himself as she looked at Isabelle’s parting figure.

________________________

Azrael then proceeded to get back, he needed to start recuperating as soon as possible to prepare for his next fight.

Unexpectedly he was forced to reveal his cards right at the start. This caused him to worry, there was still either Phaeton or Thanatos.

The tournament had a bracket system, however, all the fights will take place on the same day, meaning the only breaks they would have are the fights they are not in.`

“What a close call!” Phaeton shouted as Azrael arrived at the waiting area of the participants.

“You failed to mention that Isabelle was strong,” Azrael said as he glared at Phaeton approaching at him.

“Hey! I might hate her guts but I want each of our fights to be fair, besides I’ve also known her since childhood.” Phaeton said as he was looking sideways out of shame.

The truth was, he initially wanted to tell Azrael, only he forgot to tell him before he fought. He realized it too late.

“Tch!”

“Hey on that note, won't you tell me more about your encounter with Thanatos, I’ve been asking around already but no one knows anything much about him.” Phaeton asked shamelessly.

“I already told you, there isn't much to go on with. I just bumped into him, other than his creepy vibe, that’s all the information I have.” Azrael replied.

“You couldn't be holding out on me just to get even.” Phaeton smirked as he asked Azrael.

Azrael's eyes bulged out when he heard this.

“Woah calm down man. Your wounds might open up, try to recover will you.”

________________________

General Escariot clapped. “Just the first round and we already got a great fight”

“I can't help but admire that Anguis fellow, he was able to calculate the risk and applied himself to the best of his abilities. Knowing that he couldn't dodge the move, he pushed for an early activation which he could confront while using Protection and healing to mitigate the bulk of the damage and counter-attacking flawlessly.”

“The final movement skill he used was almost on the realm of teleportation.”

Princess Hildegard then looked to General Zarathos curiously. “Who’s the participant you sponsored?”

“It's Thanatos, your highness. You will be seeing him after the next few matches.”

“Do you think he’s strong enough to get into the top 3?” General Escariot smiled as he poked a question.

“I believe he will, he could very well be the champion.” General Zarathos replied without even glancing at General Escariot.

“Quite confident aren’t we?” Princess Hildegard said.

Zarathos turned to the princess. “I was the one who after all selected this boy hence my confidence in his abilities”

Hildegard smiled. “I’m looking forward to it.”

________________________

“Damn it. I'm ashamed of how my fight turned out. Now because of that, my next opponents will know my arsenal. I have to think about how to carefully approach this.”

Azrael thought back to his previous fight. He was able to penetrate the enemy’s defense due to magic he just grasped right at that moment.

Azrael was able to do it before hence he looked back on how he manifested that blade. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

An image of a blade formed in his mind. He pictured its appearance, its shape, its length, and its intensity.

While he was focusing on this, he slowly retracted his arm pointing upward. Light particles converged to his arm and slowly formed the blade he was imagining it.

Azrael opened his eyes and looked at the blade. He analyzed it and wondered about how he could use this in the future.

“It does not take much mana to use, the only issue is the sharpness, this can simply be fixed by practicing the spell and making sure he has enough mana reserves.

“In order to display the same power that was capable of cutting the wall of water, I’ll need to master this quickly. Finally, I have another offensive spell. Let's name it ‘Light Blade’.”

________________________

Azrael was currently in a room . He was meditating and was focusing on recovery and accumulating energy.

After a match, the winner was instructed to proceed to a room for recovery.

The moment he entered the room there was already a Medic waiting for him. His wounds were treated with magic he was given a few pills (tt) to ingest so he can recover his mana.

These pills were a standard issue that is most commonly given to lower-ranked soldiers. The pills were able to replenish mana almost instantaneously after ingesting

All this however was not enough for a full recovery. This meant that even if there support provided if you didn't plan your matches very well, you’d wear yourself down and won't be in optimum condition before your successive matches come.

Azrael took a note of the time. It was Phaeton’s match soon, he needed to watch this, as either of the two will be probably on the finals.

“You done sleeping? You should have rested more” Phaeton joked as he barged into the room where Azrael was staying, he then looked at Azrael’s serious expression.

“Still in the mood to joke around? Don't you have a fight soon?” Azrael replied.

“Chill out brother, I just came to give you some news regarding the matches after you. I kid you not, it was like a total mess”. Phaeton said as he explained animately.

After Azrael’s fight, the next matches continued. The participants of the next fight were all fired up.

The was pressure for coming in next of good performance. They felt that if they didn't do as well as them, their chances of winning will diminish.

They wanted to make an impression. Due to this big moves were made earlier and this made the fights chaotic.

________________________

An announcement filled the whole stadium.

“Next round, Phaeton Andares vs Thanatos”

“Both participants, please proceed to the arena.” The announcer called.

“It’s finally my turn now”. Phaeton picked up both his swords from the ground and made his way to the arena.

“Good luck.” Azrael thought to himself. Over the duration of the enlistment, Azrael had grown fond of Phaeton despite him being a major competition in reaching the top. He did wish in his mind that Phaeton would win, however, he was worried about Thanatos.

“Thanks! I know I'm strong enough to be able to fend for myself. I’ll win this for sure.

Phaeton arrived at the center of the arena.

“Phaeton.. Isn’t that Rigel’s younger brother?”. Princess Hildegard remembered Phaeton, since she was of royalty, she was required to be present at most social gatherings in the capital hence she knew almost all of the current successors of each respective clans.

“You mean Rigel the ‘Infernal’?” Escariot had an amused expression.

“Inst he applying for Knighthood soon? If he’s Rigel’s brother, then his strength should be above average at minimum.” Escariot added.

“Andares is truly a hands-on military clan, most of their direct lineage are all part of the military, now even the youngest was also asked to enlist.”

Even after the head of Andares retired from the military as general, the influence of the clan in the military was impressive. Among the direct lineage, One was a knight, while Rigel was a Vice General. Other clansmen were mostly officers, all in all, the clan generally occupied high positions in the military

_______________________

Moments after Phaeton, another figure arrived at the arena. A slim figure stood adjacent to Phaeton. It was Thanatos.

“So that's the one you sponsored, he looks like he’s about to topple over.” Escariot said smilingly as he eyed for General Zarathos’ reaction.

“Thanatos is not a warrior, he’s more of a mage.” Zarathos rebuked.

Phaeton felt a slight tingle in his senses when he eyed Thanatos. He remembered how Azrael described him.

There was a dead stare as if everything around was all meaningless before him. Occasionally there will be abrupt irritation s changes to his look. It was going back and forth.

“I don’t like this guy's vibe. I need to be extra wary.”

FIGHT!!!!

Once the fight has begun, silence filled the arena. Both fighters were at a standstill.

Phaeton had already decided how to open this fight, however, when he was about to act, he felt a feeling of unease from Thanatos.

Phaeton looked at Thanatos with caution. He was waiting for any shifts in his position whether he moved or not, however, Thanatos remained unmoving and expressionless.

After a few moments, Thanatos let out a low voice and raised his right hand. “If you’re not coming. I will”