"One participant has been eliminated!" the announcement came as Ace released his breath.
'It hurts,' he thought, clutching the bite mark on his neck. 'Too bad I don't have the time to worry about that. A really annoying one just arrived.'
From the distance, a silhouette approached Ace.
"Hi," Ace greeted. 'I still need a little more time to find it, but I guess I've got no choice.'
Arnold appeared before him. The tension in the air was unlike any other, and though people were still shocked from what they had just witnessed, Isidor suck it up, and announced the encounter with enthusiasm.
In the meantime, Emilia, back in her normal state, appeared in the losers' waiting room. Though she was standing, it was almost as if she was unconscious, and beside her, Mira and Frank were calling out to her.
As her eyes blinked, "Emi!" screamed out Mira. "Thank goodness you're awake. Seriously, how can Ace just torture you like that?! It's just cruel!"
"Huh? Uh, yeah," Emilia said, still in a bit of a daze.
The surreal things that she experienced before her transformation, the welling sensation of power, and her fight with Ace all made her body tremble with uncontrollable fear and another unexplainable emotion.
"What… what happened to me?" her mind was a mess, to the point that Mira who had been calling out to her again, shook her up to get a response.
"Emi! Are you sure you're okay?" asked Mira, her worry reaching the roof.
"I think it'd better for you to go to the infirmary," said Frank. "Try to rest up."
"Uh, yeah. You're right. Sorry to worry you guys," said Emilia with a forced smile.
"I'll come with you," proposed the worried Mira before being turned down by Emilia.
"Sorry, but I'd like to be alone for a while."
"O-okay."
"That Ace… How dare he do that to my dear Emi! Just he wait until the competition ends! I'll beat him up all black and blue!" said Mira, boiling down with rage after Emilia left the scene.
"True that," replied Frank. "Might as well go see how he gets beaten up by Prince Arnold, right?"
"Yeah! I hope he suffers a grueling defeat."
'And I thought he was just an awkward guy,' thought Frank as they went to see how Ace was going to fare against Arnold. 'I certainly didn't expect him to be so ruthless.'
'But I wonder, should I report what happened to Nikolaus?' scratching his head in confusion, Frank looked at the screen, seeing Ace and Arnold who were standing face-to-face. 'No. I guess that can wait for the moment. I first need to deal with Ace before anything else. I don't have any proof yet, but I don't think he's just a simple Special Admission student.'
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"I've been waiting a long time to meet you, Ace Blakelord," respectfully said Arnold with anticipation.
"And to what honor does a lowly person such as myself owe the interest of Your Highness, Prince Arnold von Riese Enfilia?" said Ace with a hidden, uninterested and condescending tone.
Arnold only smirked. With a single step back, he fixed his posture and put up his guard. In response, Ace created some distance between him and Arnold, also fixing up his stance as he readied himself for the imminent battle.
They exchanged no words. It only took for the rain that had been pouring down to stop with the last drops for them to engage.
Ace immediately disappeared from Arnold's sight before appearing behind him, sword aimed directly at his throat.
Evading the strike by a hair's breadth, Arnold only got a graze on his ear before igniting his sword and unleashing his technique.
Arnold slashed upwards, his swing followed by a rising arc of white flames that Ace evaded at the last moment before countering with his own attack.
He released a powerful attack that Arnold redirected even while being pushed back.
And at the moment he lost sight of Ace for a single instant…
Ace came charging at Arnold with a lightning-fast thrust that was blocked in his armpit, taking a slight cut on the abdomen which made him laugh.
"You truly are one interesting opponent, Ace Blakelord," said Arnold with a grinning expression.
"Thanks," bluntly said Ace, striking Arnold with a kick to his sides that was evaded at the last second by leaping backward as he released their locked position.
They then created distance between them, but as Ace landed, he wasted no minute going back on the offensive.
Arnold was surprised as he saw the blade coming straight at his eyes, barely managing to redirect the attack that shattered the ground.
Arnold then leaped sideways opposite to Ace, still grinning excitedly as he steadied his breath.
'Without a doubt, out of all the opponents I've faced today, he's the strongest,' thought Arnold, his form not showing any openings. 'My dear sister definitely did a number on me, but his skills are definitely the real deal.'
Meanwhile, Ace was also evaluating his options.
'He definitely isn't an easy opponent," Ace thought. "Ryuken, an attack that focuses energy throughout the blade and then releases it in form of a slash attack. Raikiri, a quick draw technique that focuses on striking the opponent before he can react. And then Raiko, a thrusting technique which focuses the energy into a single point for maximum impact. But I'm pretty sure he's figured that out already. This is going to be a long fight.'
During that time, the battle between Ace and Arnold had started to be bathed in the moonlight, the skies slowly giving way to the night sky.
Ace had perfectly understood that Arnold's mastery of the sword combined with his magic made him a foe not to be underestimated.
With a single flinch that turned into a rapidly executed technique…
Arnold unleashed attack that Ace barely managed to evade by leaping to the side.
'Impressive,' Ace witnessed the damage done on the ground and the slight burn on his leg which made him anxious. 'He's a real beast. Unlike Chris or Deker, he hasn't reached a monstrous realm of high-level magic and swordsmanship, but if I'm not careful, I'll lose.'
Ace then started shooting at Arnold while dashing around him, using a technique that covered his blade in shadows before releasing and launching them at him in the form of a black cross with blades on four sides.
"Hmph," Arnold scoffed, gripping his sword tightly.
"If that's the best you've got a long way before you can hope to defeat me!" stated Arnold as he unleashed a sword thrust which obliterated Ace's attack, hitting him directly in the process.
As Ace took the full brunt of the attack and crashed on the ground, he was covered in black sphere which protected him, but unfortunately, now covered in burns, he had lost his left arm.
'Yep, that really hurts. No way I can beat him by normal means. His attacks are precise and sharp while his magic has high output and is destructive,' internally monologued Ace, thinking on the situation while struggling to get up. 'In terms of raw power, he surpasses me in every aspect of it.'
Ace sighed, sitting on the ground exhausted with his usual aloof expression while Arnold slowly walks towards him.
'Too bad this isn't a real life-or-death battle,' he continued as Arnold now stood before him. 'If it was, I could have finally achieved my goal.'