We stay a bit longer and I keep an eye on Tacita and the knife she has hidden behind her back.

She is like a wounded animal, growling, and showing teeth, but knowing she is getting help and not biting because of that. I can’t help but find it amusing to watch her face while Lily works on healing her, at this point Tacita’s probably finding herself feeling even better than she did before the duels.

As we leave she doesn’t bother to draw anything for our benefit. She just watches us, clearly having us so close is making her nervous.

Giving her one last glance, I teleport us away and let Lily deal with any questions our group might have. I, meanwhile, take the opportunity to stretch and return to sitting in the spot I abandoned before. I still have some time before my final duel with Savant, so I may as well work on Flamebearer.

I replay the events of the 1st event in my mind, paying special attention to Savant’s use of the arcane glove he found there. Back then I wasn’t taking anything too seriously, but arcane weapons are probably difficult to control. Very difficult.

Flamebearer is like that even with my temporary inscriptions. It's hard to say how much more difficult it is to control a fully powered arcane weapon.

To hear Savant tell it, the glove tended to guzzle mana, and yet he made decent use of it, even with his paltry reserves. And the restriction he had in place only makes his feat even more impressive.

Hell, he demonstrated his prowess again during his duel with Tess when he managed to force her primordial lightning under his control. I think his skill gives him an edge when he needs to manipulate an ability that he’s absorbed.

That explains why he couldn’t control her lightning before absorbing it. Even so, the fact that he was able to do as much as he did says a lot.

Then there’s his duel with Tacita. I'm not worried about his domain or poisoning as I can counter it with mine. Actually, he should probably be worried about my domain. No, the interesting thing is that his bones were capable of resisting Tacita's attacks.

Tacita showed a rare expression of surprise when he did that. Connecting it with the mana stone he gave to Lily and the knowledge it contains, it's possible he made some modifications.

The question is if he replaced all of his bones or picked and chose. If I had to guess, I would say he went with the latter.

(Would you mind if I asked you something?) Sophie probes, connecting to my mind.

(Go ahead.)

(While you were playing with your ax, Lily explained what happened with Tacita. She tried to not show it, but she was disappointed and surprised.)

(Makes sense. So what’s the question?)

(I'm surprised by your reaction. I think it’s out of character,) she says.

(Is it?)

(Yes, I would have thought you would try to help just to get her on your good side, it wouldn’t have even cost you anything. You already seem to have some small connection with her, and she seems to respect you.)

(Weren’t you trying to kill her earlier?)

(A bit, but that was just in the duel. I don’t think I truly wanted to kill her if you know what I mean. So can I have an answer?) Sophie pushes.

(I'm an asshole, simple as that.)

(Were you waiting so that Lily could take the blame? Why would you do that? Why…)

(Anything else?) I snap, interrupting her.

(Just one more. I noticed a weird feeling a few times during our conversation, but did you die?)

(Yeah, once or twice.)

Sophie cuts off for a long moment and when she continues, her tone cautious, (Nat, others are coming to me to weaken their memories so they can keep dying while training. Yet you died at least two times during our conversation and who knows how many times before. Are you sure…)

(It’s fine. A bit of training didn’t kill anyone… well, you know what I mean.) Having had enough, I just cut off the connection.

Two times? It was twice as much.

I'm using this opportunity to examine my heart as much as possible, even cutting it apart inside of my chest to examine its pieces. So of course, there are some risks.

It would probably be safer if I didn’t work on Flamebearer at the same time, but it’s fine.

As for Savant, I'm curious how he will heal. At the start of the tournament, he appeared missing an arm, which Lily restored, but I can’t help but wonder if he did it on purpose so he could examine her healing. Maybe he even absorbed some? What an annoying guy.

Either way, I’m certain that he has some plan to heal the wounds Tacita inflicted. The weird effect produced by that dagger can probably be removed if he’s willing to sacrifice a decent chunk of his mana to fuel his domain.

As for me, I don’t think the duel will last very long. I plan to go all out fairly quickly and I have no qualms about using the last charge of Titan's Backbone. It already proved itself in my fight against my duplicate.

Once again, I feel myself getting giddy.

Soon.

POV Brainiac

I poke Gary and gesture at the screen. The old man finally stops talking and focuses his attention.

After he got his ass kicked by Noname, he seems even more interested in this fight. He may be trying to hide it, but I can tell that he is deeply dissatisfied with being subjected to such a one-sided defeat.

Well, it’s not his fault. Noname—that guy is bonkers, even the twins and Kim can’t say any different.

The screen displays an image of the final Arena, where the two stand, face to face. The setting appears to be a generic city from Earth.

They’re surrounded by skyscrapers and the sun sits high in the sky. Down on the streets, cars, bicycles, and a myriad of other vehicles stand parked. But not a single human can be seen.

Though the setting is familiar, I can’t help but find the image of a city without its multitude of bustling inhabitants disturbing.

“Hey, Adam, know what city it could be?” I ask.

“It looks like somewhere in North America.”

“How lazy can the system be? It could have at least set it in New York, Paris, or San Francisco. That’s where all the big disaster movies take place, right?” Mari asks, giggling.

“Well, the two of them are definitely going to cause a catastrophe.”

I watch as Savant leaps to the top of a skyscraper in a few bounds, his path up the building, marked by a trail of crumbling glass and concrete. Meanwhile, Noname is already waiting at the top. As always, he wears that same punchable expression that’s so emblematic of his personality. The one that makes it seem like he is looking beyond you like you’re just a bug in his way.

Granted, having known him for a bit, it’s probably not intentional, but damn, I would love to punch him. If he was at least a bit less good looking… if he smiled a bit, I bet all the girls would be all over him. Even so, I don’t know how big a chance they would have with that mana maniac.

The fight doesn’t start immediately. For a moment, they face each other, neither of them using their skills. They are measuring each other.

A few seconds pass and not a single word is exchanged. Then the fight starts.Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

Noname takes a step forward and mana roars from his body as that pale blue crown appears taking its place over his head and golden circles form in his eyes. He stomps and the entire skyscraper cracks and starts to collapse.

Orange light flows from Savant and crashes into Noname’s mana and for a moment they seem to push against each other, though the blue mana starts to take over as Savant jumps to another skyscraper.

Like a predator pouncing on its prey, Noname charges him and swings that ax of his with both hands.

Golden flames devour the area, burning between the buildings, cracking glass, and reducing the cars below into molten heaps of slag.

Another swing and more golden flames explode into the area.

And then a third evaporates the building Savant was standing on, the man surrounded by his orange light and holding that broken sword in front of him.

Slowly the flames die off, leaving burning streets, destroyed buildings, and molten metal in their wake.

“Well, I had hoped it would do more damage, but at least it depleted a lot of your mana,” Noname says as he floats in the air. Without any hesitation, he throws the ax aside, leaving it buried in one of the buildings.

“Your ax’s output was unexpectedly high.” Savant nods.

Both of them are weirdly calm.

This time it’s Savant who makes the first move and the orange light he’s been radiating increases. It expands further and further, lighting up the sky, like the breaking dawn. It pushes against Noname’s own light and rapidly approaches it, eager to make contact and poison him just like Tacita.

“Sword of Aeons was the best mana battery on Eladore, wasn’t it? I wonder how much mana you stored to push me like that.” Noname inquires, seemingly unconcerned, even as the orange light reaches him.

Blisters start blossoming across the surface of his skin but he seems to be examining them instead of trying to fight back. More and more orange light exerts its pressure on him, surrounding his body like it means to devour and drown him, while it slowly forces him to reduce his mana expenditure.

“Well, not like it matters.” He says, the serenity in his voice making me shiver.

It’s like he doesn’t even care that he can die now. He acts no different than he did when he was invulnerable. On the contrary, he’s even more daring now.

Noname lifts his arm to the sky and one of those scary black orbs forms in the palm of his hand. It grows more and more until it’s the size of an orange and then elongates into the simple shape of a sword.

Immediately, all the orange light surrounding them gets pulled inside. It doesn’t even touch Noname anymore, it just flows into the black sword like water down a sinkhole.

Noname floats into the air again, holding the black sword which absorbs any mana close enough to reach him. His blue crown slowly spins over his head.

Then he starts releasing his own mana seemingly unaffected by his terrifying black sword.

Every time I think he might reach his limit, he pushes more and more mana from his body.

And then more.

And more.

“Fuck… just how much…” Mari sighs.

And more.

Gareth keeps his eyes glued to the screen and I realize that calling Noname a mana maniac was an understatement. How is he not dead? Did… did he invest all… of course… of course he did. He was always telling us in the Community, we were fools to think he might be joking.

What a monster.

Everything is fine, it’s even running smoother than expected.

Savant’s [Dawn] can’t do shit against me. The black sword just absorbs any of his mana that reaches me. It sucks it in like a black hole. Sure I could make it easier to upkeep and maintain the black mana as an orb, but the sword looks cooler.

My training also paid off and with the help of my eyes and [Resonance] I can change the frequency of black and normal mana so they do not affect each other. It’s extremely difficult and I'm sure the aftereffects will be severe even with Titan's Backbone. Though I can’t keep it up for long, which may be a problem in the near future, but it should be fine for now. No, it’s more than fine.

Most of my primordial energies are gone but I can still use all of the mana I’ve pushed into the surroundings to pressure Savant, his domain is already dissipating and he turns it into that orange sword that seems to be trying to fight it. So far he’s enduring pretty well even under all of the mana I’m radiating, an attempt at mimicking his domain and mana radiation.

Seeing as he’s not trying to poison me anymore, I split the sword into three parts, forming each one into a javelin before launching them at him.

Each one crashes to either side of him, pulling on his mana and devouring it gluttonously.

I reach towards all the mana within my [Mana Domain] and shape it. I send it his way in the form of tricolored orbs, javelins, mana wires, and mana orbs. Each attack pierces through a skyscraper as Savant jumps from one to another and I force the black javelins to follow him.

We destroy the city so similar to the one I grew up in, leaving everything trashed. The choice of this Arena is a clear message from the system.

Look and see what you could do to your planet and cities.

Buildings crash. Roads get torn apart, cars bowl over. I unleash flames that melt the concrete and kinetic energy reduces large statues and telephone poles into dust.

Savant dodges, the orange sword made of his domain flickering under the constant pressure applied by my orbs and mana. Yet he still manages to absorb some of my attacks. Some fire disappears here, and a pulse of kinetic energy doesn’t hit him as strongly there, and tricolored orbs fail to explode.

His heart beats. At this point, I'm sure it’s not the original. Neither is his right arm, one of his legs, and one of his eyes. All of these parts came from different beings, all of them more powerful than his own and absorbed into his form.

So I'm not surprised when all the attacks he absorbed get released, compressed into a single orb, not dissimilar to my own. His poisonous domain, my fire, and kinetic energy, my tricolored orbs and javelins, all of it merged into a single orb, which he sends my way with perfect timing.

Even before it explodes, the orb releases immense heat, setting nearby buildings on fire and collapsing the road under it.

I move one of three black javelins and shoot it through the orb, the black weapon sucking in all that mana, leaving only primordial energies behind, which I reabsorb into my Vortex Core.

The attack disappears as if it never existed.

I move my arm and the three black constructs fly back to me, all of them contained within my domain. In my hand, they connect and reclaim the form of a sword. Moving them now is much more difficult, but they are also so much more effective.

Boosting my body, I reach Savant who meets me head on, his orange sword clashing with mine.

I watch as his sword tries to poison me, to take over black mana. The domain is extremely concentrated in that weapon. But it can’t do anything. The black sword just absorbs it all with ease and it doesn’t even seem to have enough to resist.

“You won’t be able to keep it up for much longer so that’s why you are pushing me,” he says as if it’s a fact.

“Yup, soon it will start wrecking my body. How much more mana do you have stored in that sword?” I ask, gesturing at the Sword of Aeons.

“Enough to keep resisting your domain for another ten to twenty.”

I shoot a pulse of kinetic energy at his head only for it to be absorbed, and returned immediately. He does the same with my fire, javelins, and the tricolored orbs I form over our heads. All of it taxes him, I can see that.

In the last attempt, he finally pulls out his trump card. He absorbs his left arm, the one Lily restored at the start of the tournament.

His sword made of his domain disappears with it. The wounds on his body heal, the arm most likely containing some of Lily’s healing powers and his strength and speed increase likely enhanced by the biomass he absorbed from his arm.

The orange light ignites again. A light shines from the broken blade, extending it and giving it the look of a normal sword. His domain taking the place of the missing mana.

Savant then powers his sword with the mana remaining in his body and the Sword of Aeons itself.

It’s scary how much comes through and some of his domain even pushes through the black sword I made, for a moment escaping its reach and affecting my body. The damage reaches my heart even though my domain and all my other defenses. It pierces through my mantle and spreads through my circuits.

Even then, it’s not enough.

It’s far from enough.

My heart thumps and I compress the mana flowing through my body. I throw the black sword far away and I grab hold of Savant´s hand, holding his sword in place. Then I push further, I compress more and more until all the mana currently flowing through me becomes tricolored before resolving into that mysterious black mana.

In a blink, it devours my mana poisoning and threatens to tear me from inside, until I push it out. Ignoring the damage it causes I form a big nail out of it, the same kind I made during the 1st event.

I then jam said nail into Savant’s chest, making sure he understands the message.

He tries to absorb it, he tries to work around it, but he can’t. Not currently. With his body in tatters from our bouts and the sheer amount of mana we were channeling and our abuse of powerful skills, he looks at me.

I'm ready for anything. My mind is sharp, my heart is beating wildly, and the world feels so colorful, so alive.

Show me what you can do when pushed to the brink.

“I forfeit,” Savant says simply and disappears.

For a moment I just stare into the air and at the destroyed city all around me.

What?

I appear outside in the common area, to the sound of people shouting my username down below.

What just happened?

Some members of my group rush to congratulate me but I don’t hear them.

Did he give up just like that? Just because I had an advantage?

I feel myself clench my teeth and my now restored mana starts seeping from my body.

Is he messing with me?!

I send my senses through the common area in one strong pulse and fail to locate him. I can't sense him at all.

As my mana starts to build up I glance at Lily and Isabella who are smiling. Izzy is even holding my hand and I'm sure she can feel my emotions right now. I once again look at the crowd down in the common area, most of them shouting my nickname, happy and celebrating the end of the event.

When I glance at Izzy again, she smiles at me and taps my hand.

Feeling extremely frustrated I sigh and seize control of my mana. I start cycling it again before it can start to leak and reach the people down below.

This doesn't feel satisfying at all.