Chapter 89: The Apex Duel 3

The dark rod moved downwards slowly, but for Arthur and Valerian time might as well be slowed down.

The slow and careful movement was all that Arthur could see; his eyes were glued to it. And deep inside him, his senses that had been yelling at him to move now screamed to move away, to dodge, to do anything but be in the path of the rod.

Arthur channeled all the mana that he could move in such a short time through his wind and fire affinities, trying to create an updraft with the wind or propel himself with the fire.

And it was working; his body was moving, but he could see that he was too slow. He wouldn’t be able to move away before the rod reached his path.

He gave all he had, but he just couldn’t move away. The rod came down; it ignored the distance, it ignored the armor he had or the mana that was covering his skin.

It just cut through everything in its path. It was fast; there was no travel time or delay; once it passed through him, his skin was cut.

His skin parted, his bones split, and his mana was severed. But it didn’t stop at him; it moved further into the back.

The spatial distortion that created a nearly infinite battle area for the contestants was cut, and every student that sat behind Arthur lit up as the barrier took them away.

Silence overtook the stadium; no one knew what to say. Not even Selene, who normally would be commentating on every movement or attack the fighters would make, was at a loss for words.

The professors sitting high in a lounge above the stadium couldn’t believe what they were seeing and stood there with open mouths.

Only one person in the whole stadium wasn’t shocked, but instead looked down on Valerian with burning eyes. A large grin formed on Sylas’s face, and the silver string in his eyes rotated faster.

Inside the arena, Arthur stood on shaking legs. He managed to dodge just enough to not activate the barrier, but he paid the price for that.

His right arm was cut cleanly off. Even the bone looked like it was cut with the highest precision. Blood spurted out of the open stump, and a grimace stretched across his face.

’Fuck, that hurts!!’

The pain of losing his arm was intense, and he could feel himself becoming lightheaded from the blood loss.

He moved his shaking hand towards his wound and cauterized it with fire. The pain of losing his arm was replaced by the excruciating pain of now burning that wound closed.

Normally, Valerian wouldn’t give him the time to tend to his wounds. But right now, Valerian wasn’t in a state to rush over to Arthur.

His skin was paler than usual; the healthy glow was replaced with a sickly pale that made him look like a corpse. He was barely able to stand as he breathed heavily.

His legs were shaking, and his right arm that held the rod was twisted and bent in unnatural directions.

’Haa... haa... it... worked...’

He was exhausted beyond belief; there was nothing he wanted to do more than just lie down and close his eyes. Even if the last attack didn’t take that much mana, the strain it took on his body was enough to kill anyone in the S rank.

The only reason he was still standing was because of the tenacity his race gave him and the enormous vitality supplied by his physique. But even with these two factors, he was spent.

Valerian moved his eyes up and saw Arthur, who had just closed his wound.

"Haaa.... You should have stayed down," with a strained grin Valerian said, not even knowing if he was loud enough for Arthur to hear. But his message somehow reached Arthur, and he too got a strained and blood-covered grin.

"Only when I’m dead."

The two fighters, who were at the end of their strength and were both running on fumes, slowly walked towards each other.

The endeavor and desire to fight that previously burned like a bonfire was now nothing more than a small flame in the wind, but it still burned. The desire to win was still burning in their chests.

And so they walked towards each other, at the end of their strength, but neither wanting to lose.

When they finally reached each other, it wasn’t the high-speed fight it previously was; both moved slow and sluggish. Even the students that watched them would be able to move faster, but it didn’t matter; nothing mattered right now except being the last person standing.

Arthur’s desire to be seen and accepted disappeared, as the only thing he could see was Valerian, the first friend he made in his second life. And the person he looked up to the most.

His unwavering confidence, the casual usage of high-tier magic, his strength. And most of all, the person that reached out to him. There was nothing more he wanted to do than beat him.

And Valerian wasn’t any different. He lost all thoughts about being rank 1; meeting the principal didn’t matter anymore. Unraveling the mysteries around the Celestials and reaching Tiamat could be done later. But right now, and right here, he had to beat his best friend.

Valerian punched out; it was slow, but Arthur was also tired, and he couldn’t move away fast enough and took the punch to his face, making him stumble backward.

But Valerian was too exhausted to close the gap and take the opening, and instead used the time to try and catch his breath.

Arthur didn’t allow it and punched Valerian with a wide left hook that landed square on his face.

While Valerian was fighting with the deep exhaustion caused by the space spell, Arthur had to somehow learn to fight with one of his arms missing.

The fight looked like it was playing in slow motion, but the excitement in the stadium was at an all-time high. No one was loud; their whole focus was on the close battle between these two young titans.

No one expected the fight that shook the arena before would be decided by simple punches and kicks.

Arthur tried to kick Valerian’s thigh, but Valerian managed to catch it and pushed forward, causing Arthur to lose his balance and fall on his back.

With slow steps, Valerian moved closer, mounted Arthur, and began to assault his face with his fists.

It wasn’t a pretty sight, but Valerian didn’t care. He just continued to beat his friend’s face into mush. Blood began to cover his fists as Arthur’s lip burst and his nose began to bleed.

Arthur struggled to get Valerian off his chest, but the continuous assault left him limp.

And yet, the barrier didn’t activate.

That was the only way to win the fight. There was no referee that would step in if one party was unconscious; it was a duel to the death.

Valerian stopped his fists and looked down on Arthur. His face was swollen; his nose and lip bled. Even some of Arthur’s teeth were stuck in Valerian’s fist.

Valerian took a deep breath. He wanted to end this; he channeled his mana. The energy that always felt good to use now felt like needles were moving through his body.

A black substance formed in his hand; after concentrating for a few seconds, the substance formed into the shape of a dagger.

A dagger—the weapon that Arthur mainly used and the only thing he could create right now; with his exhausted mind and the pain of using mana, there was no way he could create a sword.

He took the black dagger into both of his shaking hands and held it above Arthur.

Arthur’s red eyes slowly moved and met Valerian’s purple ones. In that small moment, countless emotions raced through them.

The unwillingness to give up, the unwavering desire to win, and the immense respect they had for each other. All these emotions and more passed through both pairs of eyes.

Arthur tried to raise his hand and stop the dagger, but his body wasn’t able to.

Taking a last deep breath, Valerian tightened his grip on the dagger and brought it down directly above Arthur’s heart.

The blade was stopped by the barrier that finally took effect and protected Arthur from the lethal blow.

As the barrier covered Arthur, they looked one last time into each other’s eyes before he was finally taken away so that his wounds could be tended to.

After Arthur’s body left the arena, Valerian fell down on the ground.

The stadium was silent; no one could believe what they had just witnessed; they had no words.

Selene caught herself and, with a shaking voice, announced the winner of the ranking tournament.

"The winner and Apex of the first years is Valerian von Astrea!"

Only after a few more seconds did the result set in, and the crowd began to cheer.

Valerian couldn’t hear any of them; his ears were ringing, and his eyes felt heavy. This wasn’t mana exhaustion; he still had a good amount left. But his exhaustion sat deep, like he had overstretched his soul and was now paying the price.

High in the air, the principal’s form appeared; his golden eyes with a rotating silver ring looked down on Valerian with a wide smile as his voice reached directly into his mind.

"Congratulations, Mister von Astrea. I believe we need to talk."

Valerian forced himself to stand up against his protesting body and looked up into the sky to meet Sylas’s eyes.