historical

Alex and the prince slowly climbed back to their seats.

There were only 16 contestants left in the martial competition.

The gap between the skilled and less-skilled imperials was narrower now, so the battles were more exciting than ever.

Time passed by quickly, and the sun was slowly shifting westwards.

The audience was louder and louder, and no one left their seats.

Food vendors had set up stalls around the seating area to accommodate the hungry spectators, who didn't want to miss the next battles to fulfill their biological needs.

Soon enough, the number of contestants further halved, and halved again, until there were only 4 contestants in the competition.

The host excitedly announced the next battle, "Black Horse, Prince Aadityapal, against Blessed by fortune, Prince Arjun!"

The other prince gained his title because his match-ups were always against the weaker contestants, and he only reached this point because of that.

With Ayush and Aarush, who were some of the strongest contenders for the throne, out of the competition, the opponents didn't quite match up to Aadityapal's skills.

The fight was quickly over, as the blunt edge of Prometheus brought down its judgments on anyone who dared to cross its path.

The next fight had Princess Ranya against a relatively strong prince.

In spite of his strength, Ranya completely obliterated him.

Aadityapal gulped and his composure turned anxious.

With the end of that fight, the final showdown of the martial competition would begin.

The rising underdog vs the elite princess.

The battle garnered blood-curlingly loud cheers before it even began, and when the two contestants made their way to the arena, the host's voice was completely inaudible because of the sheer volume from the crowd.

Ranya confidently stood on one side of the arena.

She was completely intact, and unharmed, except for a small tear in her clothing that Aarush's rope caused.

Strangely, Aadityapal's wounds from his fight against Ayush had all healed, and only the tattered clothing signaled any past harm.

The tension between the two imperials devolved into a form of psychological warfare.

Worry occasionally spilled out on Aadityapal's expression, but he nonetheless confidently raised his shoulders, and the now-clean Prometheus hung at his waist.

"START!"

Cool winds brushed by the two contestant's bodies, and in a split second, they both charged towards each other.

*CLANK*

The Vajra and Prometheus clashed against each other, and the force from the attack pushed both of them back.

Ranya seemed stunned when she saw the intact longsword, and remarked, "You have a good weapon."

"You too."

Aadityapal wasn't interested in any discussions and bolted back at the princess.

*BAM*

When the divine armaments hit one another, a vacuum of air generated from their pure, unadulterated physical ability.

However, Ranya didn't step back and pushed down a bit more.

Aadityapal frowned, and a numb sensation suddenly spread throughout his arms and body.

A flash of light went through the Vajra, and into Prometheus, conducting itself and zigzagging before it reached Aadityapal's body.

"AAARGH!" Aadityapal groaned from the pain of the lightning bolts and jumped back.

'I was too careless!' Since Ranya had only used her physical abilities until now, he forgot that she also had supernatural powers.

The two were evenly matched in terms of physical strength.

Therefore, Ranya decided to change her tactic.

She performed several impressive backflips, and when she was far enough from Aadityapal, she pierced Vajra into the dirt floor.

The weapon dug itself easily and stood straight.

Ranya snickered and placed her left hand on the weapon. The lightning tattoo on her bare arm threatening the eye.

Out of a sudden, a large storm of lightning started spreading from the weapon.

It was far denser than any lightning attack she used before, and she was going all-out.

Additionally, a stampede of white fire also blazed its way along with the lightning, and it wouldn't take long before the entire arena was a deadly trap of fire and lightning.

Aadityapal frowned heavily and circumnavigated the length of the arena for safe areas.

Spots without any of her interference were shrinking very fast, and the prince had to think fast.

As his back came into contact with the cold wall, he got a sudden idea.

Aadityapal jumped high up and placed his feet upon the wall.

He then propelled himself from the wall using his hands, and he didn't waste the momentum this propulsion created.

He swiftly ran over the perimeter of the wall horizontally and maintained his footing through the aforementioned technique.

This was uncomfortable, but he was at least out of the range of the attacks.

However, he also couldn't reach Ranya, who had an area of extremely dense lightning and fire protecting her.

The princess saw his little trick and sneered.

She clenched her hand on the Vajra, and the lightning, that previously only navigated close to the floor, rose up.

'Crafty....' Alex had no choice but to praise her intelligence.

Since it was quickly approaching sunset, the humidity was on the rise.

Ranya was using the high concentration of water vapor in the air to allow for an uninterrupted current of electricity.

"Aadit, what are you going to do....?" Alex murmured when he saw the helpless prince.

Even though he was climbing even higher up the wall, the lightning still managed to find its way to him, and the pain was unimaginable.

Smoke rose from his hair and eyebrows, and his eyes twitched rapidly.

He strongly bit his tongue, and blood spilled out of his lips.

With the immense pain from this wound, he distracted himself from the painful electrocution, that was followed by an even more horrible numbness.

"I have to make this gamble....!" Aadityapal exclaimed.

Then, he jumped down into the flaming ground.

With all of the lightning, visibility was extremely poor.

The prince felt his sandals rapidly heat up, and an uncomfortable level of heat burned his feet.

Aadityapal breathed heavily and ran towards the princess.

In comparison, the princess was exhausting every ounce of her energy into maintaining this power, and she was sweating buckets.

Suddenly, Aadityapal noticed a strange fact when he looked at Prometheus.

Even though lightning bolts did reach him, most of the electrical currents concentrated in the silver longsword.

Though, the ruby was free of any electrical charge.

"Could it be....?" Aadityapal had a realization.

Suddenly, he threw Prometheus to a spot far away.

"What are you doing, Aadityapal?!" Alex screamed out his lungs.

However, in the next second, his eyes widened at a certain phenomenon.

'You are such a genius, Aadityapal!!!!' Alex's eyes glowed when he understood what his disciple just did.