Nero looked at the young man with curly dark-brown hair and green eyes, who was also looking at him with a calm expression.

He was none other than the last King of the younger generation, Ackley, who was proficient in using the Earth Element.

Just like Gilmore, he was also a member of a Royal Family that belonged to one of the Six Kingdoms that supported Barbatos Academy.

“The moment I saw your name on the list in my Division, I knew that the two of us would meet in the final match,” Ackley said.

“I had the same thought,” Nero replied. “I knew that you would be my last opponent before I stepped into the Semifinals.”

“You’re that confident in winning, eh?”

“But of course.”

Ackley smiled because he had known Nero for a very long time. He knew that the young man in front of him had the qualifications to be arrogant, even if he was up against a Prince from one of the Six Kingdoms.

“Well, then, I hope you will give me a good fight,” Ackley stated.

Nero didn’t reply and only smirked. Words no longer mattered, and only their fists would do the talking.

Judge Dredd, who was officiating the match, glanced at the two fighters who seemed to have finished their little chat.

“Are both of you ready?” Judge Dredd asked.

“Yes.”

“I am.”

Judge Dredd nodded and raised his arms. “Battle Start!”

Ackley stomped his right foot on the ground and immediately, his entire body was covered in a rocky armor that increased his defense many fold.

Nero, on the other hand, slammed his fists together, creating a powerful spark that enveloped his entire body. A moment later, a silver-blue armor set with tendrils of lightning crawling all over its surface could be seen on his body.

Ackley stomped the ground a second time and several rocks, the size of an adult’s head, flew towards Nero.

Judge Dredd, who was watching the match from the side, sighed internally.

‘Why do you kids always have to destroy the arena? Don’t you know how much it costs to always repair it every time your battles are over?’

In the earlier match, the Earth Mages had to work together in order to fix the stage that had been cut in half by Keane’s sword slash. Fortunately, the cut was quite clean, so the mages only needed to fill the gap with Earth Magic, and reinforce it several times, before it got Bruno’s, who was the final decision maker of the matches, approval to be used again. Nw novel chapters are publshed on N(o)vl(ꜰ)ire.nt

Despite Judge Dredd woes, his gaze was still fixed on the two fighters who were fighting inside the arena.

Nero was moving around, evading Ackley’s attacks, while the latter stood firmly in place, unleashing a barrage of Earth Magic at his opponent.

Several lightning bolts descended upon the Earth Magician, but the latter only summoned rocky pillars to block the barrage of long-ranged attacks that Nero was hurling at him.

“Earth has very strong defensive properties, while Lightning has a very strong offensive power,” Lux muttered. ‘Right now, Ackley has the advantage, but his attacks aren’t able to touch Nero due to his quick movements.’

Nero tried several times to get close to Ackley, but whenever he did, several three-meter Earth Spikes would shoot up from the ground, stopping him in his tracks.

Glancing at his surroundings, Nero started to increase his speed, going around Ackley and trying to look for his blindspot.

Ackley knew what Nero was doing, so he decided to use one of his Trump Cards called “One with the Earth”.

The young man that was covered with rocky armor merged with the arena until he disappeared completely. At that exact moment, a giant hand made up of rock materialized in the air and swatted down on Nero from his blindspot.

As if sensing the attack behind his back, Nero cloaked himself with lightning and shot towards the sky like an arrow in flight, completely evading the giant hand behind him.

Nero hovered dozens of meters above the ground and raised both of his arms. Dark clouds appeared and blocked the clear, blue sky from view. Clearly, he had summoned a lightning cloud to aid him in his battle.

The High-Rankers, who were observing the battle, frowned when they realized that the lightning they saw flashing amidst the dark clouds was black. This was no ordinary lightning, and those who had seen it in the past looked at Nero with a nod of satisfaction.

A moment later, a loud thunder clap reverberated in the surroundings before several black lightning bolts descended upon Nero’s body.

“Abyss Lightning Bolt!” Nero roared and a giant black lightning bolt descended on one specific point in the arena.

A few seconds later, Ackley emerged from the ground. With a glance, everyone could tell that parts of his armor were destroyed, and his left shoulder had a big, black burn mark on it.

The smell of burning flesh reached Judge Dredd’s senses, making him frown.

‘Abyss Lightning from the Abyss Monsters,’ Judge Dredd thought. ‘That is one nasty ability.’

Most Abyss skills could penetrate through the hardest defenses and deal significant damage to their foes. While Nero’s black lightning bolt could bypass any defensive abilities, the damage that it could deal to its target would be reduced by half.

Even so, he could easily rain black lightning bolts on his opponent until they were burned to a crisp with his long-ranged attacks.

Lux, who had experienced how strong Abyssal Monsters were, now had a serious expression on his face. Since Nero had acquired this Abyssal ability, it also meant that he had fought against one of them.

The Half-Elf was right in his assumption. During one of Nero’s expeditions, he had stumbled upon a Rank 4 Abyssal Creature who specialized in casting long-ranged lightning bolts.

After much hardship, his guild managed to defeat it and acquire its Beast Core, which was prized for the amazing skills that one could acquire from them.

Since Nero was the Guild Master, he was able to get the Beast Core without too much resistance from his guild mates, allowing him to learn the skill, Black Lightning, which complimented his other lightning based attacks.

Lux observed the battle with a critical eye and paid extra attention to the intervals at which Nero could fire his lightning bolts consecutively. He was looking for any kind of loophole that he could exploit, but after five minutes of observation, he wasn’t able to see anything that he could use to his advantage.

After the match had dragged out for another twenty minutes, Ackley finally surrendered after being repeatedly attacked by the Black Lightning, which rendered his defense useless.

Nero landed on the ground and gave a salute towards Iris’ VIP platform before leaving the arena.

The crowd cheered and applauded the winner of the battle, and some of the girls even giggled after seeing the good-looking-teenager’s performance of saluting the young lady, who was hugging the handsome Half-Elf beside her.

In terms of looks, Lux was clearly superior, but when it came to fighting prowess, Nero reigned supreme. At least, this was what Alicia thought as she glanced in the chubby boy’s direction, who was going to fight in the arena next.

Keane, Cai, and Nero, had now entered the Semifinals.

Only one spot remained, and Lux would be able to claim that last spot, only if he won his match against the last of the Five Overlords, who was said to be as strong as Nero.