The crowd's roar cut off the moment the two fighters stepped onto the field. A heavy, suffocating silence reigned over thousands of spectators. Only the sound of the wind flapping the Academy flags remained.
In the VIP box, Edward sat on the edge of his seat, hands clasped together. Sarah, amidst the crowd, covered her eyes with her hands, peeking through her fingers.
On one side of the field stood Damian Von Taurus. In light, magnificent armor without a single scratch. He stood with arms crossed, with an indifferent and cold look, as if looking at an annoying insect that needed crushing.
On the other side was Maria. Her combat outfit was dusty and torn. She still walked with a limp; a souvenir from yesterday's hard battle on the ice. Two silver wristbands on her wrists and black daggers in her hands were all she had against this magical monster.
The referee lowered his hand.
"Begin!"
Damian didn't even take a guard stance. Didn't move his feet. Just waved his index finger boredly.
"Wind Blade."
Five invisible, compressed, sharp waves of air were fired at Maria like flying guillotines.
Maria didn't see the airwave, but she heard the splitting of the atmosphere.
Fast!
She tilted her body with an instinctive reaction.
Whoosh!
The first blade passed millimeters from her ear, cutting a few strands of her black hair which drifted slowly to the ground.
The second scratched her left arm. A sharp sting settled on her skin.
Maria grit her teeth and jumped to the right with an acrobatic move, rolling on the ground.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Three other blades hit the ground exactly where she stood a fraction of a second ago, creating deep grooves in the dirt.
Damian smirked. He hadn't even changed his position.
"Not even worth moving from my spot. Just dance, little mouse."
Maria knelt and stood up. Her injured ankle throbbed, but she ignored the pain.
He wants to humiliate me. Won't waste his energy. As long as he's this far, I have no chance. I have to get inside his guard.
She started running in a zigzag, irregular pattern to make targeting hard, but every step was a battle against pain.
Damian, seeing Maria constantly dodging and closing the distance, sighed. Boredom rippled in his face.
"Only know how to run? Getting boring. Thought you'd be more creative."
He opened his right palm. Purple and yellow sparks danced around his fingers with a sound like thousands of sparrows.
"Let's see how you dodge this. 'Lightning Grid'."
He slammed his hand on the ground.
Unlike ordinary lightning which is a straight line, Damian executed a high-level, area-of-effect magic. Electricity spread like glowing roots across the surface of the ground.
A vast electric carpet surged toward Maria, swallowing the ground as it came.
The attack was so wide it couldn't be dodged by running or jumping. The entire ground in front of Maria was electrified.
Spectators half-rose. Sarah held her breath.
If it hits her, she's paralyzed instantly.
Maria stopped.
Escape was impossible. No chance to retreat.
Time slowed for her. Her eyes followed the path of sparks advancing on the dirt.
Her engineering mind activated in a fraction of a second:
Electricity... electricity always seeks the shortest and easiest path. Metal resistance is less than the human body.
Maria raised one of her steel daggers.
Mana Edge.
She thrust the dagger with all her might into the dirt ground, exactly half a meter in front of her feet.
"Take it!"
She tucked her legs and crouched behind the dagger, without her body touching the dagger.
The wave of lightning arrived.
The electric current, looking for a victim, suddenly noticed an "easier path": the steel blade of the dagger deeply embedded in the ground.
The entire electric charge of the grid was drawn to the dagger like water to a drain.
A loud electrical explosion sounded. Sparks and smoke rose from the impact point.
Maria's dagger turned red and molten from the intensity of the current, but it transferred the electricity deep into the ground.
Maria remained unharmed. Her hair stood on end from static electricity, and the pungent smell of ozone filled her nose, but not a single shock entered her body.
Dust settled.
Maria stood behind her glowing red dagger, safe and panting.
Damian frowned for the first time.
He opened his hands, which had been crossed until now. His look changed from indifferent to "mildly curious."
"Hmm...? You grounded it?"
He smirked, but this time more nervously.
"Was lucky. But luck runs out."
Maria pulled her hot dagger out of the ground. The smell of burnt earth and ozone filled the air.
Her breathing was heavy. Deflecting that lightning had put a lot of pressure on her body.
If his attacks continue with this intensity, I have no chance. I have to get close to him no matter what.
She reached into the hidden pocket of her outfit. Touched two black, polished spheres.
Pulled them out and threw them toward Damian with a quick motion.
Poof!
The spheres detonated midair above Damian's head. A thick, black cloud of microscopic coal dust and sulfur spread around Damian like octopus ink.
Damian coughed and laughed mockingly. His voice was heard through the smoke:
"Foolish... these tricks are repetitive, Maria. Saw what you did to Elizabeth. Smoke doesn't block my vision. I have 'Mana Sensors'."
Damian opened his hands. Flames licked from his palms.
"Ring of Fire!"
He wanted to push the smoke away with the heat of the fire and simultaneously build an impassable thermal shield around himself.
Maria, who had retreated, smirked.
"Goodbye, Oxygen."
Damian's fire flame collided with the suspended coal dust in the air.
The reaction was instant—violent.
BOOOOOOOOM!
A terrifying thermal explosion ripped through the smoke. The black dust ignited in a second, the ring ignited into something far larger than intended—a roaring dome of fire.
But the main point wasn't the explosion; it was the Oxygen Vacuum.
The sudden burning of all coal and sulfur particles consumed all the oxygen inside Damian's defensive ring in a fraction of a second.
Damian's magical flames were instantly suffocated and extinguished. Even magic can't burn without air.
Damian's eyes widened. He put his hand on his throat. His mouth stayed open, but there was no Oxygen to breathe. His lungs were emptied, and the negative air pressure hurt his eardrums.
He fell to his knees.
His defensive shield, activated moments before the explosion, flickered and went out.
Maria was waiting for this moment.
She pumped the remaining mana from her right wristband to her boots.
Mana Burst.
The ground cracked beneath her feet.
Maria passed through the smoke and residual heat like a human bullet.
Damian, suffocating and blacking out, saw a shadow coming toward him. Tried to cast a weak mana shield around himself with his last strength.
Maria arrived.
Gripped her dagger with two hands.
"Break!"
Struck.
The tip of the dagger, enhanced with Maria's Mana Edge, shattered Damian's half-formed shield with the sound of breaking glass.
Crack!
The barrier broke.
Maria jumped on Damian, put her knee on his armored chest, and brought the dagger down.
The dagger's sharp tip forced its way through Damian's semi-stable aura, grazing the pale skin of his neck.
A drop of warm, red blood slid on the black blade.
Time stopped.
The stadium fell dead silent.
Damian's emerald eyes, always cold, arrogant, and indifferent, were now dilated to the limit. His pupils trembled.
In those eyes, there was no sign of the "Academy Genius" anymore.
Only pure, naked terror.