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n“Now that I think about it, it probably looked like you led me on to wasting my mana in front of Loreina and Hal.” As Valyr helped Faulus stand up as they made their way back to the edge of the crater, the latter looked at the man beside him before opening his mouth. “How did you do that?”

n“Let’s just say there’s a ton of factors on your end that helped me make that happen. All I did was slowly lead you towards that eventual goal.” Feeling none of the anger or the malice he had felt emanating from Faulus earlier, Valyr decided to respond to the question. “In fact, you could even say that me angering you was inadvertently part of those factors.”

n“Then again, I definitely admit I was being absurd when we first met,” said the young man soon earlier, apologizing for punching the young man in the stomach.

n“I was absurd as well.” Slightly widening his eyes in surprise, a wry smile appeared on Faulus’ face as he apologized to Valyr not long after. “I shouldn’t have thrown my weight around like that.”

n“And only now you say that after you find out my identity,” replied Valyr, causing Faulus to let out an awkward chuckle.

n“More so your combat strength and your identity, but what about it? Better late than never.” As he responded to Valyr’s words, it looked as if Faulus’ arrogant side had never been there in the first place, finally accepting Valyr as an equal in terms of reputation.

n“I suppose we should move onto the next fight.” Seeing as the two had finally made their way back to the edge of the crater, even going so far as to sit beside each other, Hal’s words echoed throughout the area once more as he looked at Valyr.

n“As Faulus’ opponent in the previous fight, you have the choice to be the one to request someone to fight against,” Hal said to Valyr. “Of course, you could also choose to rest for the meantime and have someone else take that place.”

n“I’ll probably have to skip over this one for now.” Though Valyr was ready to fight against another person when it came to his stamina, he knew that it would take quite some time for him to recuperate his mana. After all, the final attack he had sent out towards Faulus cost a lot more mana than one would think, especially with how he had made them stop in place.

n“Since Faulus has already gone first, that only leaves either me or Loreina to be the next one.” Nodding in response, Hal looked at Loreina, faintly smiling as he noticed the flames of combat and ambition burning in her eyes.

n“I’ll go next,” said Loreina, prompting the three to look at her, briefly making her feel a sense of pressure. Fortunately, that feeling swiftly disappeared as she took in a deep breath, her expression now filled with that of determination.

n“Who will be you fighting against?” asked Hal in response.

n“Who else would I be fighting against?” replied Loreina, flashing a wry smile as she looked at Hal. Realizing what Loreina wanted to happen, Hal briefly flashed a wry smile as well.

n“Well, it only makes sense for you to fight me,” said Hal as he began to scale down the crater. “Faulus is definitely tired after the fight, while Valyr has definitely exhausted some of his resources during the fight as well.”

n“Hopefully, we don’t have to go all out.” Scaling down the crater after seeing Hal move, Loreina prepared her mind and body for the fight that she would have to face. “After all, I’m running on limited time here.”

n“I’ll try my best to not force you to get serious,” replied Hal as he nodded. “Then again, your combat style doesn’t really rely much on you making a move, right?”

n“It’s pretty much the reason why it’s my combat specialty.” Loreina nodded as she took in yet another deep breath. “Loreina Rainiere san Cappe, mainly specializing in tailoring, while summoning is combat specialty.”

n“Vylhalteinn Impyris, mainly specializing in the scholarly arts, though I also specialize in divination.” Hearing Loreina go through her specialties, Hal went ahead and recited his specialties in response. “As for my combat specialty… I’ll go with summoning since you’re going to fight me with summoning.”

n“What a show-off,” scoffed Loreina as she let out a playful giggle. “Then again, that’s definitely something I’d expect from the Lord of All Trades.”

n“Shall we begin the fight, then?” Letting out a bit of laughter of his own, Hal looked back at Loreina as he got in a battle stance.

n“Let us.” Nodding in response, Loreina took her battle stance, only to slam both of her hands on the ground.

nWhoosh!

n…

nAfter the two of them apologized to one another for their actions before the tournament began, Faulus and Valyr had spent the time talking about various topics whilst waiting for the other two to get ready.

n“The fight’s going to begin.” Seeing that Loreina and Hal were finally making their moves, Faulus prompted the young man beside him to look at the crater, which the latter did.

n𝒪𝓋𝔩xt.𝗰𝒪𝗆

n“Between the two of them, who do you think will win?” Asking this question a minute or so after the fight began, Valyr watched as Loreina and Hal summoned their respective monsters of choice, filling their sides of the crater with their summons.

n“It’s pretty much a no-brainer, don’t you think?” Looking at Valyr with a slightly bitter smile, Faulus responded. “If anything, it would be better for you to ask how long Loreina could withstand Hal’s attacks.”

n“Yeah… he wouldn’t be called the Lord of All Trades for nothing,” Valyr said in response, bitterly smiling as he thought about how Hal’s dominance over combat was well-known by many even before the War of the Three Sovereignties.

n“It really sums up his talent, to be honest.” With the bitter smile still affixed to his face, Faulus nodded in agreement. “Restrict him to a weapon, and he would use it as if he were a veteran of the battlefield.”

n“Restrict him to magic, and he would use it as if he were a mage that has studied magic for many decades.”

n“Restrict him to a bow and arrow, and he would use it as if he were a hunter since birth.”

n“Restrict him to summoning, and he would use it as if he were the greatest commander the world has ever seen.”

n“Heck, now that I’m talking about it, it kind of makes me feel like he can’t be beaten by any of our peers.”

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