The final match among the top 8 was between Rose and Tiove. After the nobles had lost their main hope after Octavia's defeat all of them put their full support on Tiove. He was the heir to an Archduke family so they didn't mind putting their faith in him. Another participant, who was technically noble was Gabriel, but the nobles were too proud to put their faith in a bastard child.

Tiove was also incredibly strong. From his early childhood he had always sought strength crazily. He was also nominated to be the next king candidate many times but he declined that every time as if he wanted to become king he had to learn a lot of things outside combat like politics, domain management etc. But he didn't want to waste his time on those things when he could use that time to get stronger.

Rose was not very confident this time. She knew about Tiove's strength and also knew that it would be impossible for her to defeat him normally. So she had to use roundabout methods. She had already made a plan to beat Tiove without fighting him head on. But she didn't know what type of trump cards he had so Rose was still not assured of her victory.

The match started with Rose using an artifact to completely cover herself with a strong and sturdy barrier. Then she started chanting a very long spell. Tiove was a rare spear user, which was a weapon specialised in penetration so this barrier should have been weak against Tiove's attacks. But that was not the case.

The barrier created by this artifact was like jelly. Every time Tiove attacked, he was able to easily penetrate the barrier but was not able to go far. After attacking the barrier for a few times normally, he gave up and used the skill "Rendering Thrust". This approach was successful as the barrier was broken quite easily with this skill.

But it was too late. Rose had already completed her chanting and was just waiting for a perfect time to attack him. And when he was able to break through the barrier he relaxed just a little but that was the perfect time in Rose's view and she unleashed the magic "Fallen Flaming Cage".

This was a magic spell she was able to develop after getting a lot of advice from Elena. This spell was an imitation she herself created after learning about an extreme rank spell called "Hellish Scorching Prison for Sinners". This was the strongest spell she could use for now and she needed an insane amount of mana and quite a long time to cast this spell.

If Tiove took the match seriously and used the rendering thrust from the very beginning then he would have been able to stop her. But he had a bad habit of not taking a match against someone very seriously until his opponent hurt him. So Rose took advantage of this habit of his and used her strongest spell when his guard was most down.

As she expected, Tiove was unable to dodge the attack. A large red magic circle appeared below him and from the side of the magic circle 10 thin pillars of flame erupted. All the pillars' tips bent slightly and met at the top of his head. Then nine rings of fire appeared to completely seal off the cage-like structure.

Even tho he was trapped inside this cage, Tiove still didn't look worried. He was confident that his spear would be able to destroy this cage. But soon his expression changed. It went from relaxed but just a bit worried to concerned and extremely worried. The reason for that was simple. This spell was not just a simple spell to trap someone. The main function of this spell was to judge someone's karma and burn that person's soul depending on the amount of sin he had.

Obviously such a spell was not easy to cast. For this match finally Rose accepted all the help from her family and was fully geared. She had a pendant that was able to store mana and she had drank a mana recovery boosting potion just before the match. She even had a robe that increased her mana recovery rate and a bracelet which could boost the power of fire type magic. Her successful casting was the result of these preparations.

Even with all these preparations she was still dead tired just after casting this spell. She didn't have much of a fight left in her after this. If Tiove could break the flaming cage he would definitely win but if his had a lot of sin then it would be Rose's victory. It was a big gamble for her as she didn't know a lot about Tiove's personality.

Tiove was feeling an insane amount of pain because his soul was burning fiercely. Even tho he wasn't a very bad person who committed many sins, he was still a noble and a power maniac. So many times he had used bad, sometimes even inhuman methods if it could give him more strength. So his list of sin was definitely not short.

But was it enough for him to give up. Not really. Tiove again used his skill "Rupturing Thrust" but this time it was ineffective. He then used other techniques but even the strongest one among them was only able to shake the cage a little. At the same time his pain was getting worse as the time was passing by.

He guessed that he would be able to stay alive with his burning soul for only 20 minutes maximum. So it was time for him to step up. He took out another spear from his spacial ring. This one was a legendary grade spear called "Ikaros" with the ability to increase the amount of damage and penetration capability. And he could use a secret spear art only when he was using Ikaros. This art had a total of 6 moves but he had only mastered two but that would be enough for him to turn the tide.

"Ikaros Spear Art: First Form -> Coming out of the cave" and he followed that with "Ikaros Spear Art: Second Form -> Going to the city"

The first attack depleted most of the magic defending the cage and the second one was able to destroy the came outright. Tiove was finally free from the soul rendering pain. But the match was not over yet. Even tho he was able to come out of the cage, he was badly injured. At the same time, after using such a strong magic, Rose's condition was not much better.

So, both of the combatants had lost most of their energy and the result would depend on who had more willpower than the other. Rose was trying to create several small fireballs and Tiove was trying to lift his spear to deal the final blow. But both of them were too weak to do even that simple thing. After a few more minutes the winner was decided as one of them was no longer able to keep his senses and got unconscious.

One person was still somehow standing on the stage and the other one was lying on the stage, fainted. The one who was standing was using his legendary spear to somehow stand. Yes the victor of this match was Tiove Hortalis.

And just like that Rose also got out of the tournament. The semifinals and the finals would take place the day after tomorrow to give the participants a little break. The individuals who were able to reach the semifinals were - Gabriel Riora, Lucian Rokka, Colette and Tiove Hortalis.

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