To everyone's surprise, this time Roland was armed with a huge axe with a gray blade and an azure handle.

He leisurely walked up to Fien and waited silently for the fight to begin. Fien looked at the relaxed Roland, frowned, and said:

"You`ve decided you couldn`t do without a weapon this time?

"

Roland nodded and calmly replied,

"You're stronger than my previous opponent, but I don't want to drag out the fight so I`ve brought it.

"

As always, Roland's words were very arrogant, although he was simply answering a question. He didn't mean to belittle Fien, but he really didn't want to drag out this fight.

Fien became angry at his words, and said nothing more.

After the two participants had said a few words to each other, Fane began casting a spell. Fien quickly prepared herself for the fight, while Roland was still indifferent.

Roldan pissed Fien off. She didn't like the fact that he acted as if she had no chance of winning. Fien was well aware of her worth and was not going to let other people look at her as if she was nothing.

Drip.

The green drip dropped and their duel began. Fien instantly pounced on Roland. She was going to give him a few pointed blows with her rapier, but she underestimated her opponent.

As soon as the drop crashed to the ground and their duel began, Roland changed dramatically. His eyes became cold and his gaze serious.

Whoosh.

Before Fien could even do anything, Roland quickly rushed toward her and grabbed her by the wrist with lightning speed. The girl had not expected Roland to act so quickly and sharply.

The young man wasn't going to attack Fien right away, he gripped her hand tightly and threw her upward with force. He greatly outnumbered Fien in physical strength, so he had no trouble pulling off such an attack.

As a result, a couple of seconds after the fight had begun, one of the contestants was already in the air. Fien was not injured by this throw, but she was very vulnerable while in flight. She had no way to defend herself, and Roland knew that.

Whoosh.

The next moment his

"Warp

" spun, and a large magical circle appeared on the ground beneath Fien. In an instant, iron rods emerged from it and rushed toward the girl. Fien wasn't confused and instantly cast

"Wind Cutter

". Two dense wind blades slammed into the iron bars and cut them into small pieces, but Roland was ready for such a development.

He knew that Fien would destroy the iron bars he had summoned, so he cast two more of the same immediately after the first spell.

Fien couldn't destroy them all at once, so she was soon grabbed by the iron bars right in the air. She couldn't even use her rapier, because Roland made sure that the bars were wrapped around her right arm as tightly as possible.

Whoosh.

The next moment Roland appeared next to the bars, and electric shocks began to accumulate on his axe. Gradually they grew larger and larger, until they became a huge bolt of lightning.

Roland brought this weapon for a reason. The axe in his hands was a

"Catalyst,

" which greatly strengthened the spells. When a mage casts a spell with this axe, he spends five times more mana.

After this attack, Roland will have less than a third of his mana left, but he didn't think he needed it.

Crack.

When the lightning reached its maximum, Roland did not hesitate to bring the axe down on the iron bars.

Boom.

The explosion was incredibly powerful and it was unlikely that Fien would be have able to survive it. Moreover, Roland himself would also have suffered very serious wounds. Naturally, Fien had no chance to escape, she had no power to do so and did not know the right spells for it.

Whoosh.

Suddenly two shadows darted into the arena and at the same moment, the fight was over. Roland's attack could have killed not only Fien, but himself as well, so it was necessary to save them both.

The girl in the black robe destroyed all the iron bars in an instant and rescued Fien from captivity, while the man in the white robe protected Roland from the terrible blast of lightning.

Roland looked at the bewildered Fien and silently left the arena. Despite the fact that Fien was much stronger than his previous opponent, Roland defeated her just as easily.

Until recently, Fien had never lost to anyone. But, then Evan beat her in a duel, and now at a tournament she had to fight Roland, whose level was beyond her reach.

What upset her most wasn't that she lost, but how easily and quickly she was defeated. It saddened her to realize that she was far from the most talented novice magician, but she wasn't going to stop at it.

No one in the audience clapped this time except for one person, Marcel.

Clap. Clap. Clap.

He was standing quietly and clapping his hands with a smile. To his opinion, Fien had really performed well. Sooner or later, everyone meets an obstacle he cannot overcome. At such moments, one must not give up, but accept the defeat and go on. Only by overcoming such obstacles, you can move on.

Fien was relieved, she smiled weakly and slowly left the arena.

As Fien passed Evan, he calmly said:

"I won't console you. You`ve lost because you were weaker.

"

Fien said nothing back. Evan's words were harsh, but it was truth. In such moments like Fien's, the truth was very helpful. Only a full-fledged awareness of the cause of failure could help you to prevent something like this from happening in the future.

...

Then the

"Tournament of Precious Stones

" continued at its usual pace. The participants fought, fought, and fought again.

There were a few curious fights, but mostly nothing interesting. Roland and Evan, from whom the audience expected the most exciting fights, just kept beating their rivals time and time again. They didn't even have to work hard for their victory.

Besides these two, a lot of attention was drawn to Enni and Katlyn, members of the two strongest Families in Mossy Vulture.

Luckily for the audience, these two nice girls met fairly quickly in the arena. The fight was exciting, dynamic and brutal.

Each of them wanted to win, no matter what, but there was one major difference between their aspirations. Katlyn wanted to defeat Enni to strengthen her family's status, in other words, she was fighting for her family's reputation. Enni, on the contrary, was fighting for herself. She wanted to be the only winner, and other reasons were not important to her.

As a result, it was not the desire to help the Family that won the battle, but eccentricity and selfishness. Enni had a hard time, but she was able to defeat Katlyn.

Naturally, their duel had no effect on the relationship between the two Families, and in some ways, you could even call it a friendly match.

Step by step, the tournament was nearing its logical conclusion.

Fane stood up from his seat and called the names of the two competitors for the last time:

"Roland Jellis and Evan Lynch!

"