Aeren stared at the paper and saw the first match. He looked toward the gate where contestants stood waiting for his announcement, but Aeren was delaying the competition, still staring at the paper in his hand.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the stadium, Roan stared at Aeren with an irritated and frustrated expression. Roan looked around the stadium and thought, How did this bastard get to center stage? How is he even doing something like this? I should have killed him. Now he's telling the world there's danger around them through his very presence. Man, Aeren is getting in my way.
Roan had divided all his subordinates around the venue, and they were waiting for the competition to start.
Roan looked at his subordinates and said in their minds, "Don't react now. Wait for my signal."
Alice and the others heard his voice clearly and stayed in place, waiting.
In the stadium staff rooms, they were watching screens on the wall through artifacts.
Renn and Arin saw Aeren, but Renn didn't react much and thought, So today is his last day of life. What a pity. I had always seen you as a rival, but now I have a regressor close to me. And he's basically an immortal being whose skills the system can't copy. Sigh...
Arin was shocked by Aeren's appearance on center stage—he had never seen this before either. Arin turned his gaze to Renn, who looked relaxed. Seeing Renn's calm demeanor made Arin feel relieved. I was scared for a second, but I should have known. This is all part of Renn's plan. That's why he looks so relaxed. Sigh...
On the stage:
Aeren looked at the paper in his hand one last time and announced:
"LET'S END THE WAITING HERE AND START OUR FIRST SPAR BETWEEN THE MOST TALENTED STUDENTS FROM THE KINGDOMS!"
Aeren paused for a moment and announced again:
"MY BEAUTIFUL GUESTS FROM THORNE, HERE IS YOUR CHARMING STUDENT FROM YOUR KINGDOM! YOUR MOST DAZZLING AND BEAUTIFUL LADY FROM THORNE KINGDOM AND ONE OF THE BEST STUDENTS IN YOUR ACADEMY! PLEASE GIVE YOUR APPLAUSE—LADY BERNICE!"
A girl with purple hair and purple eyes stepped out from the door, her beautiful face radiating elegance and confidence with every step. Cheers reached their peak, and after seeing her, some were mesmerized and couldn't take their eyes off her, wanting to see more.
She came to the stage, and the cheers fell to silence as everyone watched her face with awe. She glanced at Aeren and ignored him, then looked at the crowd and whispered, "What a pain."
Aeren heard her comment but didn't respond. He also glanced at her beautiful face and thought, I should have commented less about her beauty. Let's not focus on beauty.
"AHEM! WE STILL HAVE ANOTHER COMPETITOR, AND SHE IS FROM OUR KINGDOM! YOU MUST CHEER MORE THAN A FEW MOMENTS AGO, OR PEOPLE WILL THINK OUR CROWD IS POOR AND PATHETIC! LET'S CALL OUR BEST STUDENT FROM OUR KINGDOM AND MAYBE THE STRONGEST OF OUR ACADEMY—LADY LIRA!"
The crowd didn't understand what happened. They had thought Aeren would describe more about her, but he just announced her like any ordinary person would announce another. Still, cheers erupted.
Lira came out from her door, and the crowd went instantly silent seeing her beauty. Everyone in the crowd stared at her, their eyes never leaving her.
Lira came to the stage and saw Aeren. She stared at him and didn't even look at her opponent.
A few moments later, Aeren came to the center between both of them. He ignored her staring and stood between them, glancing at both.
"Listen well—this is a friendly spar. Killing each other means direct execution. So don't think of killing each other."
Both of them looked at Aeren, shocked by the rule. Direct execution? Who has the guts to kill us or the power to kill us? Bernice thought but didn't show it outwardly.
The crowd went silent, wanting to see a good spar that would make their blood boil and give them the sensation they desired.
Both nodded their heads, but they didn't think much about the rule and kept looking at Aeren.
"Okay, shake hands."
Both took steps forward, shook hands, and then stepped backward to their positions.
Lira and Bernice stared at each other and drew their weapons. Lira drew her beautiful silver sword, and Bernice took her spear in hand. They signaled to Aeren.
Aeren glanced at both of them and shouted loudly, "BEGIN!"
Aeren stepped backward, but before he could leave the stage, Aeren's heart was pierced by Lira's sword. She looked at Aeren with cold eyes.
Bernice didn't understand what happened, but before she could do anything, royal guards came onto the stage.
Bernice was shielded by them as they left Lira and Aeren at the center. Aeren looked at her with cold eyes too, but he didn't smile or scream in pain. Aeren just stared.
The crowd didn't understand what was happening, but this scene made their heartbeats skip and felt eternal. This scene mesmerized them. They didn't know what was happening, but they didn't feel bad about it and felt like this was the dream they wanted to see.
Their eyes were on the beautiful girl who pierced Aeren's heart. The sun was shining on them as red blood dripped from Aeren's chest. Those who felt despair seeing Aeren now felt relief and saw the goddess they had been wishing for—now they were seeing her beautiful sword in Aeren's heart, making them happy from inside to outside.
Silence emerged in the stadium. Everyone saw the scene, but no one in the stadium tried anything for Aeren. No one thought much of Aeren. Even Adam didn't step forward for his brother—he had already shattered his illusion of being the best brother to his little brother and had given up on him.
Aeren's lips trembled as he still looked at Lira and said, "What did you do?"
Lira's cold eyes remained on Aeren. Lira had always wanted to know how he was always able to survive death, but she didn't understand before. Now she had figured out his skill. This bastard can't even use his mana—he just absorbs raw mana from the void itself.
When he said he was a drop of water, I didn't understand what that meant. But after thinking for years, I finally understand. The world absorbs mana through the void, so the void becomes like a lake, and Aeren absorbs his mana through the void like the world does. So his mana mixes with the world's and can't be differentiated. That's how the world and Aeren become drops of water.
Lira continued looking at Aeren's struggle and thought, So I made this sword to block all mana from the void itself. He doesn't know how to absorb mana from the world normally, so Aeren will die today. A mere mana-absorbing user gave me this much struggle. If I had known this, I could have killed him without any struggle.
Lira looked at Aeren. "It doesn't concern you."
Aeren stared at her with wide eyes and looked at the sky. Black clouds were breaking through and emerging in the sky, and everyone's eyes also went to the sky.
Aeren knelt on one knee, but Lira didn't take out the sword. She drew her staff and placed it in the middle of the stage. The whole stadium was shielded by strong mana that couldn't be broken by any mana attack—this was an anti-mana shield, and it was impossible to physically harm the shield.
Aeren stared at the sky and knelt on both legs, shattering all hope of being saved by others. Aeren then collapsed onto the stage.