Firion crossed his arm before he glanced around at his competitors. His vision stopped at Faust before his lips curved up a smile. "Alright, I will go first."

"Crucifying Heaven!"

He took a step back before plunging forward at a blinding speed. A dagger flashed the crowd's eyes as the sound of thunder follow suit.

"Impossible!" Firion opened his eyes wide as the result of his attack was not as he was expecting. His hidden dagger did not manage to cut through the stone, in fact, it didn't even manage to slash deeper to the center.

"Whoah, that's a really hard piece of rock,"

"Even with his power, he didn't manage to cut half of it?"

The crowd immediately entered their own discussion. The experts and the commoners naturally had different ways of thinking.

"Tch!" Firion immediately went back to his team and let the others take their turns. The rock immediately regained its structure in a single blink of an eye.

"Hahaha! Reyes, you look disappointed, Erdrich! Show him your might!" shouted Beren.

One of the twins, Erdrich looked at the principal before cupping his hands. After a slight bow, the black earrings ringed as he jumped to the air. The crowd's eyes followed his movement as the intensity of the air was getting denser. His figure slowly floats as if the wind was supporting him

"Wind Art: Piercing Space!"

Like a flash of lightning, his figure immediately transcended downward before his kick made a loud boom toward the rock.

"Hmm," mused Erdrich as his leg still connected to the rock. The crack appeared but it was not all the way to the other edges.

He retracted his leg before bowing down and retreated from the scene. He did not know if he was better than Firion but he was certain he was not lesser than him. However, the winner was not decided by strength alone, thought Erdrich as he looked at his twin brother with a nod.

"The two of the academies aces have had their chance! Now, who will do it next? Will it be the cold beauty? Or will it be the little brother of the last champ? Or the underdog?" shouted Sophia as she opened her arms in excitement.

"Remember guys the betting session has already closed! With the odds varies who are you betting on? At this time, betting on Lyon would net you one thousand percent of the bet you make! and the least would be on Faust since he is everyone's favorite, so one hundred and fifty percent if you bet on him!"

As Sophia explained, her assistant suddenly leaned closer from behind and whispered before giving her a piece of paper.

"Ohh what's this?! Looks like there are a lot of people playing it big for the underdog rather than the favorite! Now, this is a surprise!"

Faust smirked at Lyon before he said, "Looks like a lot of people are going to be disappointed because of you."

However, Lyon acted as if he didn't hear what he said. His eyes were looking at Chloe as if there were only him and her at the moment. (You must have gone stronger since the last time we met).

"So Chloe, how are you these days?" asked Lyon out of the blue.

Faust immediately irritated as Chloe raised her eyebrows, they both couldn't believe he would just casually start up a conversation in a situation like this.

She shook her head before turning around and left the scene. This action of her sparked some confusion and anger of the crowds but the most agitated one was the principal.

"Agh! I forgot she is a wise girl," said Yozec while putting his hand on his head.

It was quite easy to understand that Chloe didn't want to even slightly, showing her bright skills and strength, else it would be to her own disadvantage later on. In her eyes, winning was the only thing that matter, there was no gain in showing one's prowess for a mere amusement of the bet.

And then there were only two men standing opposite each other with a rock as their separator. The underdog and the favorite, one was an unknown youth from the lesser world while one was the little brother of the last champion.

"Haha! Let me show you why you and your group don't belong here!" shouted Faust before he took a step back.

"Yeah show them!" shouted Fue Hufei from the bench while raising her hand.

"Oh, would you look at that, you have a fan," teased Lyon with a smirk.

"Hmph! Let's see if you can smile after this!"

Faust opened his hand before forming a palm in one. The mana gathered at the edges of his finger as the crowd's attention glued.

"That's the famous Mantis Art!"

"He sure is following his older brother!"

Faust's lips curved up before he whipped hand and ax downward to the stone.

"Mantis Art: Crippling Slash!"

He immediately retracted his hand as he said, "Behold!"

The stone was almost sliced in half, only a few millimeters off before making it into two. However, what was to be concerned was the strength those fingers had. It was a clean strike with no sound but the wind it crashed. That was the power of the Mantis Art.

The experts in the crowd were rubbing their chins and beard as they nodded in his effort. Though the last two were quite amazing it was not to this extent.

"Oooh! What a great effort! He is just a few pushes away for cutting in two like his older brother did last time!" shouted Old Dan proudly.

"Yay! Go Faust!" shouted Fue.

"That is quite the challenge for the underdog to overcome will he be able to make a miracle today?" shouted Sophie before she rested her face on her palm and looked at the young man below. (Now then, are you really him?) thought her as her mind wandered.

About a month ago.

Sophia was about to knock on a door before a woman's voice halted her motion, "Come in."

She opened the door before immediately bowing her head, "Sorry to intrude, empress."

"Don't worry about it, I'm taking a bath right now so you have to wait, or do you want to join? Oh, and put that painting on the wall on top of the fireplace while you're here," said the woman from another room.

"Yes!" answered Sophia with a blush.

She looked up and noticed a painting on the easel as a variety of brushes and color paints were present on the side table. She was at awe by the quality of the painting that she couldn't believe it was made by her empress.

It was a painting of a smirking man with a crossed arm. He had a long black hair draped around his shoulder. He was looking up as he faced off against a golem three times his size in a night under the full moon. It was a night where the clouds were not present and the stars were hiding.

"E-Empress, might I be rude to ask who is the man in your painting?" asked Sophia as she lifted up the painting and hanged it on the wall.

"Hahaha! Not at all, he is my husband."

Sophia opened her eyes wide, "H-Husband?! When did the empress get married?"

The marriage of a ruler would surely be a huge thing that would shake the world. However, as long as she could remember there was no such thing happening. Her empress seemed to not take any liking to her suitors and there were only fewer people that could impress her. Then, now she told her that she had a husband already?

The sound of splashing was heard before the woman answered.

"It was a long time ago."

The ring on her finger flashed by the light from the window before her lips curved up a smile.

Sophia looked at the painting once more as the smirk of the man in the painting overlapping with the smirk of the young man in the arena below. Bringing her back to the present.

.