Chapter 46
Mana roared.
The air itself trembled as waves of power surged from Alexi's raised blade, pressing down on the arena like an invisible weight. The ground beneath his feet cracked, spiderweb fractures spreading outward as the blue stone embedded in Grand pulsed with ominous light.
Gasps rippled through the stadium.
"So much mana…!"
"That sword—no, that Hero—he's on a completely different level!"
Alexi stood tall, eyes blazing with fervor
"This sword," he declared, his voice echoing through the arena, "exists to protect what is precious. And I won't let someone like you mock it!"
Across from him, Lugh stood unmoved.
The violent mana washing over the arena never reached him. It parted around his body, slipping past as if unwilling to touch him. His expression remained calm—almost bored—as he looked at Alexi and then, briefly, at the sword.
"Protect?" Lugh repeated softly.
He exhaled.
"That's a convenient word."
The crowd fell silent again, sensing something was wrong—not with Alexi, but with the man facing him.
Lugh rolled his shoulders once, as if loosening up before a stretch.
"You swing that sword like it defines you," he continued. "But in truth, its not that blade is what defines you, its you who defines that blade."
"Blade defines me?, I was chosen to wield this blade because I am WORTHY!" Alexi snarled.
"Then prove it" lugh replied simply.
"What!?" Alexi questioned.
Lugh spreaded his arm apart "This ground we stand on is meant for one purpose and one purpose only."
In the VIP seats, tension thickened.
"He's provoking him…" Kiero muttered.
"No," Lucious said, eyes narrowed. "He's directing him."
"Directing him?." Asked kiero.
In response Lucious sat silent "you'll know"
Aria clenched her hands in her lap, her gaze fixed on Lugh.
(Please… don't humiliate him too badly. He...)
Alexi took a step forward.
The arena shook.
Mana flared violently as Grand screamed—not audibly, but through pressure alone.
Don't you dare look down on me!" Alexi roared. "I fight for the Church! I fight for Volcis! I fight for—"
"For yourself," Lugh interrupted.
Alexi froze.
Lugh discreetly casted a spell that prevented anyone outside from hearing.
The audience dropped silence and began to riot. To no avail the duo inside remained unbothered.
" hero have you fed yourself the delusion that your determination towards church and loyalty to volcis amounts to something " lugh exclaimed.
Hero listened holding onto the blade that screamed pressure.
"You don't even realize it," Lugh continued, his voice calm but sharp. "You're not fighting to protect anyone. You're fighting because you're afraid of losing something you can't control."
Alexi's pupils trembled.
"That's enough!" he shouted, lunging forward.
In an instant, Alexi crossed the arena.
The crowd barely kept up with the movement—only the explosion of dust had followed.
BOOM!
Alexi slashed Grand down in a devastating overhead strike, mana detonating on impact as the blade slammed into the arena floor.
Dust and debris erupted skyward.
Cheers thundered from the stands.
"He got him!"
"There's no way anyone survives that!"
But when the dust began to settle—
Gasps replaced the cheers.
Lugh stood there.
Unscathed.
His body was angled slightly to the side, the massive blade having missed him by less than a finger's width. The ground beside him was obliterated, yet not a single scratch marked his clothes.
Lugh glanced down at the ruined stone beneath his feet.
"…Too slow."
Alexi's eyes widened.
Before he could react, Lugh moved.
There was no explosion. No flash of mana.
Just impact.
Alexi felt the air leave his lungs as Lugh's shin slammed into his abdomen, the force precise, controlled—and terrifying. His body lifted off the ground before he even realized he'd been hit.
CRASH!
Alexi skidded across the arena, bouncing violently before slamming into the barrier at its edge.
The stadium fell deathly silent.
"W-What just happened…?" someone whispered.
Alexi coughed, blood spilling from his mouth as he struggled to stand. His hands shook as he stood Leaning on Grand
"Y-You—!" His voice cracked with fury. "I won't lose! Not to you!"
Lugh took a step forward.
Then another.
Each footstep echoed louder than the last.
Alexi felt it.
Not mana—pressure.
An instinctive dread crawled up his spine, screaming that if Lugh reached him like this, there would be no second chance.
Alexi slammed the tip of Grand into the ground.
"—Grand Guard!"
The blue stone embedded in the blade blazed violently. Mana erupted outward, not as an attack, but as structure. Layers of translucent blue light unfolded in front of Alexi like interlocking plates.
The arena trembled as the shield fully manifested.
Gasps burst from the audience.
"A defensive manifestation—using the sword itself?!"
Lugh showed an expression of intrgue.
"Oh,.. so its an Art Type Weapon."
"You are well informed." Hero confirmed "This is the guardian art of Grand! It exists to protect the faithful!" He declared.
Lugh who stood outside the shield smirked.
"Calling Grand the blade that protects the faithful? Its the most abusud thing I've heard today"
Alexi frustration increased as The mana density inside the shield skyrocketed.
Even the spectators could feel it now—breathing became difficult, ears ringing as the air vibrated.
In the VIP seats, Aria's eyes closed slightly as she peered in the battlefield.
"He's going to overload himself…"
Kiero grimaced. "That output… he's betting everything on one strike."
Lucious didn't look away from Lugh.
"…And Lugh hasn't even released mana yet."
On the arena floor, Lugh tilted his head slightly.
"You're hiding behind it," he said calmly.
Alexi snarled. "It's called strategy!"
"No," Lugh replied, voice flat. "It's called fear."
Alexi's eyes twitched—but he kept pouring mana into the spell.
Lugh continued in a mocking tone.
"You behave like a fool who doesn't understand his highs and lows" Saying lugh took a stance as if he was about to throw something.
In his enclosed palm the stone was gripped tightly.
Alexi noticed it—and scoffed.
"You think throwing a pebble will do anything?" he shouted from behind Grand Guard. "This barrier repels spells, weapons, and force itself!"
No answer came from outside the barrier.
He drew his arm back slowly, posture loose, casual—like a man about to skip a rock across a river.
Lugh's eyes sharpened.
"You never learned what Grand actually guards."
He flicked his wrist.
The stone left his hand.
There was no sound.
No sonic boom. No flash.
The stone simply vanished.
A fraction of a heartbeat later—
CRACK.
Alexi's eyes went wide as a shockwave detonated infront of the barrier, the blue plates rippling violently as if struck by something that had never passed through them at all.
"W—WHAT?!"
The shield crumbled like glass followed by an intense Shockwave that crashed against the barrier that protected the arena and the audience.
Thr barrier shattered as a massive Shockwave erupted from within targetting the sky.
Clouds were obliterated.
Audience nearely held onto to their seats in attempt to not be blown away by the force.
Slowly the wave dissipated as dead silence roamed the arena.
Panting crowds eyes were fixated on the hero, who sat kneeled down.
Shoulder slumped.
Hand tightly gripped on the hilt of Grand as sat upright Leaning on it.
A creaking sound filled the silenced field as a crack ran through the blade.