The tournament moved fast, and it was now down to five winners, but the numbers were no longer equal, and one person wouldn't have a fight.

The five left were Aren, Athena, Raze, the girl he had seen work the false Shadow, and a tall redheaded dude. This was who was left.

Now everyone in the group knew that Aren was basically the strongest here, and they didn't want to get into a fight with him, well, except Raze, who seemed eager to actually battle Aren.

He stepped forward and spoke, then looked at Elton. "I have a proposition," he said. Elton raised her brow.

"Let me hear it."

"I want to fight him. It's evident that he is also the strongest here. There is no point in anything further. Let's just have a normal tournament between us four, and whoever wins faces him," Raze said, offering a simple solution.

To some, it sounded wrong, having someone just be number one already, but they all knew that Raze wasn't in their strength level.

Elton looked at the group of five for a few seconds, then waved her hands. "We'll go with that," she said casually.

Seeing how the situation had progressed, Aren started walking away. He looked at Athena and nodded. She gave him a nod as well.

He walked to the side and leaned against a pillar, waiting for the next round to start.

Their systems came on, and the pairing was made. Athena was placed against Raze, and the redheaded dude was placed against the hooded girl.

The first duel began, the hooded lady versus the redheaded man, and it didn't last very long.

The redheaded boy turned out to be a flame mage, and a fairly competent one at that. He wielded his fire with confidence, attacking and defending seamlessly, weaving flames into a brilliant display of skill. Explosions, waves of fire, and controlled bursts followed one after another, showing both his power and his experience.

But none of it was enough.

The hooded girl moved like an inevitable force, one he simply couldn't overcome.

She didn't use any special artifacts or flashy weapons. All she held was a short dagger, a straight, foot-long blade with a sharp tip. Aren could tell immediately that she was holding back most of her abilities. He didn't know why, but it made sense. There was no reason to reveal too much when she could already handle the fight with ease.

She maneuvered around every flame attack, even the wide-area ones. Somehow, she slipped through the fire, closed the distance, and before anyone could fully register it, the tip of her dagger was pressed calmly against the boy's neck.

No explosion.

No dramatic clash.

Just precision.

Compared to the destructive battles before it, the duel was almost anticlimactic, but it was still impressive. It showed them something important.

Not all strength came from overwhelming force.

Some fighters relied on finesse.

The redheaded boy had no choice but to surrender.

The hooded girl stepped back, her expression unreadable. She didn't look at anyone as she walked away, except for a brief glance at Aren before joining the others at the side.

That duel came to an end.

And then, the next fight, the second-to-last battle.

Athena versus Raze.

Aren watched the fight keenly, fully focused on how it would unfold.

Raze was an unexpected powerhouse. Despite only meeting him here today, Aren could tell that the depth of Raze's strength ran far deeper than what he had shown so far.

But then there was Athena.

Athena was, quite simply, the definition of limitless. It was governed by her emotions. The more she let them loose, the more terrifying she became. If she truly lost control, she could destroy almost anything in front of her.

So there was no clear winner on paper.

This wasn't a fight that could be predicted.

It had to be witnessed.

The two of them stood facing each other for a few seconds in silence. Then Raze reached for his sword and pulled it free.

Unlike his fight against Ragna, where he had deliberately delayed drawing his weapon to gauge his opponent, Raze didn't hesitate this time. He understood immediately that Athena was far more dangerous.

He gripped the sword with both hands in front of him and smiled faintly.

"I'm a bit nervous to face you," he admitted.

Athena glanced at him briefly, then muttered, "Me too."

Her eyes glowed red.

Chaos surged forward instantly.

The ground cracked as five violent streams of chaotic force tore through the floor, rushing toward Raze from different angles. He reacted immediately, positioning his sword to intercept them. Each attack slammed into his blade with immense force, sending him flying backward and up into the air.

He flipped midair, landed hard, and stabbed his sword into the ground to stop himself from sliding back. Using the blade as leverage, he ripped it free and launched forward, spinning like a vortex as he slashed downward.

Athena looked up and countered.

His blade collided with her chaos head-on. A sharp explosion ripped through the air from the impact. Raze was forced higher into the air, but he remained unharmed.

He looked down just in time to see Athena already preparing another attack.

Without hesitation, he hurled his sword downward.

It fell like a meteor.

Athena leaped aside at the last second, rolling across the ground as the sword slammed deep into the floor, embedding itself all the way to the guard.

Raze landed moments later, gripping the hilt and pulling the sword free as Athena rose back to her feet.

He settled into his stance again, that same calm smile still on his face.

Athena clenched her jaw, inhaled deeply, and muttered under her breath,

"I can do this."

She forced herself to stay calm.

If she went overboard, things would spiral out of control. She needed precision. Control.

Raze took the initiative this time.

He lunged forward, slashing diagonally toward her. Athena responded with the same Chaos Vortex she had used before, a defensive swirl of distorted energy that the blade cut into before being forcefully repelled.

She didn't hesitate.

The moment his attack was pushed back, she countered.

Her eyes glowed brighter as a concentrated blast of chaos shot straight toward Raze's chest.

But Raze was fast, extremely fast.

His sword came down just in time, blocking the attack. He skidded backward several meters, boots scraping against the ground, but instead of stopping, he leaned into the momentum.

He ran forward again.

Leaped.

And slashed downward at Athena.

To counter immediately, Athena shut her two normal eyes and opened her third Eye of Chaos.

The moment it opened, a massive blast of chaotic force erupted from her, slamming directly into Raze's sword.

Raze pushed forward with everything he had, muscles straining, teeth clenched, but the pressure was too much. An explosion rang out, and he was blasted backward.

He flipped through the air, landed hard, skidded several meters across the floor, and finally came to a stop.

He looked at Athena.

Her third eye was still open, glowing intensely.

Raze let out a breath and smiled.

"How about we go all out," he said, gripping his sword with both hands and lifting it over his head, "and end this quickly?"

As his words fell, rune markings along the blade lit up with a soft purple glow. They pulsed rhythmically, like a heartbeat.

He planted his feet into the ground.

A crater formed beneath him from the sheer force his body was exerting.

Aren, watching from the side, narrowed his eyes.

Athena readied herself as well.

She raised both hands. Her two Chaos Eyes opened in the sky behind her, while her third eye remained active on her forehead.

Raze saw it and laughed softly.

He launched forward.

The ground beneath him shattered, collapsing into a massive crater as dust exploded upward. A deafening sonic boom tore through the throne room. Even space itself seemed to bend under the speed of his movement.

At the same time, Athena unleashed everything she had.

A single, overwhelming chaos attack surged forward. The air itself was torn apart. The ground in front of her split and ruptured as the force traveled toward Raze.

"Arghhhhhhhhhh!" both of them roared.

Their attacks collided midair.

For a split second,

Silence.

Then,

A blinding white explosion ripped through the entire throne room, swallowing everything in its light and forcing everyone present to shield their eyes as the shockwave thundered outward.

[End of Arc Three, thank you for coming this far, see you in the next]

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