The battle started and we both rushed towards each other at full speed. The sudden tension made the audience grow silent.
Clang!!!
The loud clashing noise of two swords reverberated the entire arena.
Neither of us were pushed back.
I traced the mana to my arms, putting more power to my sword, and Sylas' arms were wrapped around with blood. The effects of blood were much stronger than mana but my mana control was at a very high level.
Facing a slight disadvantage, Sylas' withdrew his sword and taking the chance, I decided to close the gap.
Sylas took a step back deflecting every one of my major strikes.
I never saw a single one of his matches. Similarly, he heard about me before but didn't see me fight in a match. That didn't mean we never saw each other fighting. We fought through life and death giving our all. I saw him fight in the warehouse and I knew he was in no way weaker than me.
Sylas was a vampire. Many of the humans supported the vampire subjugation led by one of the seven dukes. This was only because the humans were scared of them. Vampires had higher speed, sense of smell, even stronger muscles and bones than an average human.
I had no doubt that we were almost at similar levels. Still, a vampire should be much stronger than a human of the same level.
The only reason I was able to give him a fight was because my stats were quite nonsensical. No Level 24 person would have stats like me.
Plus, I wasn't pure human, but a Demigod.
Both the swords clashed and retraced their paths and clashed again from other directions. It was at a speed that many couldn't even follow. Despite this pace and lethality of every strike, we only had slight scratches on our body.
{Minor-Transformation}
Activating a skill, Sylas' canines grew ever so slightly. His veins popped a little and the redness in his eyes increased slightly. The changes were so minor that I doubt the people who stood far away at the audience would notice.
But it was not a minor change in all aspects. At least, not in his strength and speed aspect. His blade came at me with a furious speed. I defended against it at the last second with my sword, but my sword recoiled back with a massive impact.
I realised it was the same skill he used to defeat Victoria from Elysium. It was a simple technique but effective. His left hand formed a red sword that was aimed directly at my gut.
{Fireball}
I didn't expect his strength and speed to rise to this extent suddenly. He really caught me off guard. And now the same strike that defeated Victoria was aimed at me, I had no time to evade or defend against it.
Instead, I fought it head on.
Offence is the best defense.
I didn't throw the fireball at him. Instead, applying a major amount of mana to it, I held it in my left hand and directly faced his sword.
Booooom!
There was a great recoil and we both backed away from each other. His left hand had burnt marks and his blood sword fell on the ground and changed into red liquid.
But, I was affected more than him.
'It hurts dammit!'
My left hand was scarred with burnt marks. My hand felt numb and even the passing air was piercing it like needles.
I held the fireball and directly tackled his sword so I had to take an impact.
But, it was the best outcome I could think of.
I avoided a deadly blow with a minute of pain and numbness.
{Mana-Assault}
The ethereal glow shined brighter around my sword. It was like my silver sword had another ethereal sword covering it.
'This mana should make up for his strength but his speed was much higher than me.'
He dashed at me aiming for my chest but I succeeded in deflecting it away. But my one attack was challanged by his three attacks.
He slashed, hacked and stabbed.
I could feel his sword whistling in the air as I dodged and deflected his attacks.
He ducked down and squatted as another sword of blood appeared in his hand. I pulled myself back at once but he plunged at me the moment I jumped back in the air.
Giving me no chance to dodge, I placed my sword horizontally to minimize his area to attack. At the same time, I poured mana towards my right leg and somersaulted in the air to kick him.
Clang!
His sword made a slight contact with my jian making another echo. But at the last second, he changed his trajectory and sliced his blood sword slightly above my waist. He decided to attack instead of defending against my kick which connected right to his chin.
Bam!
I backed off three steps and touched my waist. This time it was not a minor one. I pressed down on it and applied mana to stop the blood. I was injured and my left hand was slightly burnt. On the other hand, Sylas only had some scratches and burnt marks.
But still the match was not decided. Sylas spit some blood as he picked him up from the ground. He was breathing heavily. My kick was not a simple one. I used the full momentum of my body and applied mana at the right place.
But that wasn't the cause of my confidence.
We wasted nearly half of our mana during all this time. And the reason Sylas was going all out was because he knew some of the skills I had.
{Mana Flow}
He knew he would be the first one to run out of mana.
Now he had to make a decision. Either to conserve mana and continue to push me slightly or to go all out with his remaining mana. Would I be the first one to fall? Or his mana would run out first? That would decide the conclusion.
***
"Are they... really kids?"
As the last day of the competition, the Stadium's Security group decided to tighten the security around the stadium. So they called everyone who was entrusted to gather information back to the Heart.
Right now, Diana and the trio met with the remaining three demigods and were spectating the finals.
"Yeah... I can't believe it as well. I-I think they are even stronger than me."
Lois, Celine, Ray and Evan didn't spare their comments as they couldn't believe their eyes. Of course, it was the same for Diana and Brian. They had stopped blinking their eyes order to follow their movements.
Every move looked fast, deadly, beautiful as well as menacing. A single mistake might end this battle, or even take one of their lives. But still, they fought following each other's movements and also found a counter to repel the other every time.
Brian nudged his gold rimmed glasses to follow their movements. His pupils danced all over his eyes trying to spectate every part of the match.
"What do you think, Diana?"
She looked at them with a tense expression and then sighed.
"... I don't know. If I fight with either of them... I don't know if I can win without consequences."
All the demigods present near her suddenly stopped their discussion and focused on her.
"W-what?! Even with that crazy intuition of yours?"
"Don't get me wrong. I don't mean I will lose. I am saying I really don't know what the outcome will be. I can follow their attacks with my mind, yes, but that doesn't mean I can react to it this fast. I think the only person who can be confident enough to defeat either of them is the Captain."
A strange silence followed her words.
Diana confirmed that she was not confident enough to beat one of those two. She basically placed them as high as the Knights of Elysium.
"Ray... Did you do a background check on them?"
"Yes. To be honest, both of them have no problems on the paper but I tried to dig a little deeper. Both of them have secrets and unclear origins. I think we should wait until we discuss it with the Captain. Moreover they both actively participated in that incident and were even backed by some high profile people."
"The Princess?"
"Yes. And also the Captain of Adventurer's Guild."
Diana thought for a bit and changed her questions.
"What about their combat abilities? Tell me what you think about them."
"Well, Sylas Zyair is more towards the perfect side of a human. He is stronger and faster than an average human, he plans ahead and always has a cool mind while fighting. He doesn't give any opening and exploit the moment his opponent shows an opening. Even his skills are unpredictable and powerful... In other words, he always has control over the battlefield."
Ray looked down and saw Sylas was still pushing his opponent. His opponent was barely dodging against his attacks as more and more injuries appeared on his already injured body. With a slight pause, he added, "He is the one that defeated Lady Victoria in just a minute."
"I see. What about the other one? That Marcel Mistmer?"
He thought for a moment observing the grey haired boy being pushed to his limits.
"Well... I think he is the scariest guy I have ever seen."