Most of the audience present in the arena rose to their feet while some remained petrified in their seats.
Their mouths hung open, their jaws practically touching the ground.
Their eyes were practically either glued to the screen that hovered above the arena or on the field itself.
Their vision was obstructed by the rising black smoke that filled half of the arena and the cloud of white dust and particles of light that veiled the other half.
–"Wha-What the… What just happened?"
–"I– I don't know?"
–"H-Huh?"
Everyone in the audience… All of them were completely and utterly stumped out of their minds.
The events that unfolded before then were… indescribable!
But it wasn't over yet… The match itself wasn't over, or was it?
Even in the VIP stand, the instructors present there looked at the Arena with quizzical and baffled gazes.
They weren't sure of what to make of the duel they had just witnessed.
Even Liz herself, who was so sure of Nero's victory earlier, seemed to be in a stupor, as if unable to believe her eyes.
After witnessing some of the matches, she knew that Lucas was strong. But he was this strong?!
He knew two high-level spells and such deep combat intelligence! He was, and Liz couldn't believe that she was even thinking this, almost as strong as Nero.
…Almost.
While everyone seemed to be thinking that the match resulted in a draw, Liz herself knew better.
She knew that if push comes to shove, her disciple would pull all breaks and pull out his Gift. Which, to her fear, he had already done.
As the smoke slowly dispersed and dust calmly settled, two silhouettes of handsome young men became visible.
One was on his knees, violently coughing blood as he struggled to rise up on his feet.
The other, however, was already on his feet and nearing the kneeling figure of the silver-haired young man.
As soon as Lucas' spell hit Nero and the young swordsman was entrapped in an immolating explosion, the silver-haired boy looked up and saw a pillar of light descending on him.
Lucas gritted his teeth, clenched his jaw, and strengthened his back before crossing his arms over his head while maintaining his true Martial Aura to the best of his humble abilities.
But nothing was enough to shield him from the full might of Nero's weapon art. In the end, it felt as if a giant mountain had fallen on him from the heavens.
If not for his true Martial Aura, Lucas would've been crushed under the destructive force of that pillar of light.
Of course, crushing weight wasn't the only obstacle he had to face. The incandescent white light that the pillar was made of also burnt him in several places.
His beautiful face, to his horror, was especially married with a wicked burn mark running down his left cheek.
Coughing a mouthful of blood, Lucas shot a death glare at the figure stepping out from the smoke in front of him.
Nero looked almost unharmed… almost.
His battle attire was in rags, revealing his toned physique in several places with lean muscles rolling under his skin.
He looked like a fantasy swordsman who had just slain a god… or was about to.
The bastard sword in his hand was broken, but Nero had another sword in his hand…
In his left hand, the black-haired man firmly grasped an intricate ninjato with a shiny azure blade.
It only took Lucas a single glance to recognize that sword. It was the Heavenly Sword of Water.
Nero had used his Gift… He must've used a water barrier spell to protect himself from the destructive explosion cast by Lucas earlier.
"Heh," a smirk formed on Lucas' face before he shifted his eyes to Nero and spat in a tone dripping with venom while still coughing violently: "You scarred my handsome face!"
Nero shrugged, stopping a few steps away from Lucas. "You challenged my strength."
The silver-haired boy looked at the young man in front of him and lingered for a moment before he threw his head back and laughed hysterically.
After a few seconds, he stopped and turned to Nero, amused for some reason. "I hate your guts, man. At first, I thought I would just ignore you and interact with you only as much as I need to. But goddamn! There are only very few people who can irritate me so much in the world and you're on top of that list!"
As Lucas said all that, he couldn't help but remember how he planned to stay away from Nero and avoid the fated duel with him as he did in the novel.
Yet, here he was, doing exactly that.
Nero looked at Lucas with an unreadable expression and then asked, "Why? What's your problem with me? I said I'm sorry, did I not? Even though I knew we could never be friends, I at least expected us to be on good terms. If you're still hung up on what I said to you, then I'll apologize again since it was my fault. I'm sorry."
"You don't understand," Lucas shook his head. "Well, for what it's worth, I don't blame you. I just hope you will soon be able to see my point."
As he said that, Lucas started rising to his feet. Flickering orange flames appeared and enveloped him in their warm embrace.
These flames, however… They didn't look ordinary or mundane… No, they looked different.
They looked… pure.
Before Nero could understand what was happening, Lucas started standing up. The orange flames surrounding him flickered vigorously and turned to… silver!
Soon, the burnt marks and gaping wounds on Lucas' body started to heal, his body repairing itself!
This was something Lucas had discovered recently. He had gained an extremely fast regenerative healing factor after syncing with Sera.
He found it when he was training with Leo and acquired a wound on his wrist. Only then he found out that by focusing on his and Sera's bond, Lucas could summon mythical flames.
These silver flames could heal his wounds, but to what extent, Lucas didn't know.
He doubted that using it could bring him back from the brink of death like an actual phoenix, but the healing factor was still appreciated.
"....?!" Nero looked at Lucas with wide eyes.
Learning healing spells, especially self-healing spells, with fire affinity was not unheard of, but all of those spells were of high level.
So… does that mean that Lucas had learned not only two but three high-level spells?!
Well, not really.
His Flame Lances was a spell that Lucas instantly learned after obtaining the Bringer Of Lost Flames. His healing fire was more like a second Gift that he got from Sera rather than a spell.
The only high-level spell he actually learned in all this time was the Hellfire Explosions that he unleashed on Nero earlier.
But the black-haired swordsman didn't know that. So he looked at Lucas with a shell-shocked look but then quickly came back to reality.
Finally, after his wounds were healed, Lucas weaved a quick hand sign and then stretched out his hand.
His palm was instantly clad in crackling electricity as Lucas bent his knees and prepared to launch himself at Nero.
Nero, in turn, also bent his knees and raised his ninjato, completely discarding his broken Bastard Sword.
Nero didn't even have a single drop of mana left in his body anymore. He was surprised that Lucas was able to cast a spell even after the level of duel they had.
However, Nero was still certain of his victory. He knew that Lucas could only cast a single spell. The young Morningstar was also at his limit.
Nero, on the other hand, could cast as many water spells as he wanted to with the help of one of his Heavenly Swords.
If Nero could avoid this one attack from Lucas, then his victory was inevitable.
…However, Nero didn't want to avoid this attack. He already had a big advantage over Lucas now that he had summoned his Gift.
If he ran from here, then where would he go?
Drawing a deep breath, Nero clutched his azure short sword tightly. A stream of water flowed out from the blade of his ninjato and formed a sharp edge as if extending its reach and sharpness.
Not a single word was exchanged as both warriors rushed at each other, Lucas with his lightning claw and Nero with his azure ninjato.
Nero waited until he stepped into Lucas' striking range and only then did he swing his own blade at him.
In response, Lucas himself lunged forward at Nero with his claw clad in lightning.
Thak—
Fwuush—!!
Both figures of the cadets disappeared and reappeared a few meters away from each other, their backs facing one another.
Nero had a deep, gaping wound around his heart while Lucas had a long gash running along the right side of his lower ribs.
Thud—
In the next moment, both Nero and Lucas swayed a little, but the one to fall face first on the ground… was the young wolf.
"[It's over! The final match has now officially ended! The Fallen Angel, Lucas Morningstar, is unable to continue the duel! Nero Dekrauf, the Swordsman of End, has won!]"
