Bang! Boom!

A body went flying into the arena barrier. The man it belonged to didn’t fold so easily, though. He kicked off the barrier, using his strength to propel himself back at his opponent!

His spear clenched tightly in his hands, he thrust it forward, coating its tip with swirling mana and simmering flames.

Bang!

His opponent raised his hand and swiped it furiously, sending a wave of colorless mana at him and distorting the atmosphere. When his spear collided with this mana, it felt like his strength was immediately diffused.

Still, the man didn’t stop. His name was Richard, and he was the fifth member of the King Bracket that had stepped up to face Damien today.

After witnessing how the last four were defeated, he was well aware of his opponent’s spatial prowess. He also knew that the man could use Time Laws to a certain extent.

Therefore rather than retreating when his energy was dispersed, he pushed forward with all his might! Long-ranged combat was ineffective against Damien, so getting in close was all he could do!

“Haa!”

With a spirited shout, he broke through the mana wall and arrived in front of Damien with a flash of light. His spear swept out powerfully, his mana moving to activate a skill.

‘Cyclone!’

VOOM!

A terrifying vortex of flames engulfed Damien. While this happened, Richard moved his spear again, stabbing out thousands of times within a single second.

‘One Thousand As One: Flame Piercer!’

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The vortex was filled with holes as the Flame Piercer attack penetrated it and struck Damien. Damien’s body was pushed back many kilometers as he used his arms to block.

A grin surfaced on his face. He’d fought five times including this one, and every fight just got better and better.

At this rate, he couldn’t even imagine what his tenth opponent would be like.

Damien waved his left hand without hesitation, summoning Freya from his subspace and immediately firing tens of spatial mana bullets at Richard.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The bullets exploded in mid-air as they collided with the penetrating force from the Flame Piercer. With the two attacks neutralized, the two fighters were back to square one.

“Haa…haa…” Richard let out heavy breaths as he used the lull to recover. Damien watched him with an amused look on his face.

But internally, he was truly getting a bit serious.

‘These guys aren’t the peak of the universe for nothing. It wouldn’t be hard for me to stomp someone of Richard’s skill level as long as I spammed larger attacks in succession, but I’m not here for that.’

His main purpose in coming to the battle arena was training. If he simply dominated his opponents without a care for his original intent, how would he improve?

Richard was incredibly skilled in one-on-one combat. His techniques were magnificent and skillful uses of mana that Damien found himself admiring as they fought.

With the All-Seeing Eyes reading this mana flow as the battle continued, Damien truly learned more than he’d ever expected.

The two fighters burst towards each other once more. Richard gritted his teeth and slammed his spear into the ground, causing a massive gash in the arena floor that expanded until it was well past Damien’s location.

‘Arise!’

Richard jerked his spear out of the ground and, following his motion, a massive spout of magma raised along with it.

Boom!

‘Earth Flame: Cursed Dragon!’

Roar!!

The magma pillar transformed into a blackish-red draconic avatar. Its body was entirely made of energy and elements, but carried a different type of hardness that Damien couldn’t quite put his finger on.

Without hesitation, he charged at the forming dragon.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He shot tens of bullets from Freya’s barrel as he moved. The gun in his hand disappeared thereafter, returning as its black counterpart.

Compared to Freya’s speed and accuracy, Hel carried unimaginable raw power.

Spacetime mana flowed from Damien’s body. The fabric of reality in the surrounding few meters halted, creating a temporary Dead Zone around him. The power of this zone condensed and loaded itself into the forming mana bullet inside Hel’s barrel until finally…

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The bullet fired. It cut through the air relatively slowly, but it was surrounded by a world-bending force that made it impossible to dodge.

When it reached the magma dragon, it burst into its original form, forming a Dead Zone that disallowed the use of mana.

Roar!

The dragon roared furiously as if unable to accept its immediate loss. Its body expanded, furious flames spreading through the Dead Zone and infecting its foundations.

Kacha!

Its borders shattered. The dragon, though weakened, managed to escape and charge at Damien at insane speeds.

‘Tch. It’s not battle-ready yet. Well, isn’t that why I came here in the first place?’ Damien thought to himself as he watched it happen.

The creation of a temporary Dead Zone could be a powerful ability once it was matured, but before that point, it had countless weaknesses. Forcefully imposing a Dead Zone onto stable space would naturally weaken its foundation. A strong enough enemy could use their mana to target this flaw and destroy the zone before too much damage was done.

While this would force them to use a good chunk of their mana capacity, it wasn’t enough for what Damien eventually wanted to do with it.

Nevertheless, reflection and improvement came after the battle ended. For now…

‘Void Sword Art Second Form: Horizon Break’

Bang!

A massive hole was punctured in the dragon’s body. Despite the injury, it kept moving. It had no physical presence, after all. As a being made of energy, it wouldn’t die until the last flame of its body was snuffed out.

But Damien was prepared for this.

‘Void Sword Art Fourth Form: Spatial Collapse’

BOOOOOM!

Space within 1,000 kilometers shattered and bent, becoming a chaotic flow of mana that swirled into a black vortex emitting terrifying suction force.

Naturally, the power of this Spatial Collapse wasn’t nearly at Damien’s peak, but what could he do? The arena was only 10,000 kilometers across.

ROAR!!

The dragon furiously cried out as it tried to escape the barrier, yet every usage of its energy was a depletion of its life. Against this vortex whose suction force was powerful enough to consume it whole, did it have any choice but to submit?

“Empower!”

A cry rang out from far away. Richard slammed his spear into the ground and allowed his aura to release wantonly. Condensed Flame Essence gathered around him as more and more rampant mana came under his control.

And every bit of this mana was used to empower the dragon he’d summoned.

Sadly, his loss was set in stone the moment he decided to do so.

Damien grinned wildly. His body flashed away from the dragon and appeared directly behind Richard like a ghost.

“Remember, when you’re up against a spatial practitioner, distance will never be on your side.”

“You…!”

‘Seven Stars Encircling The Moon’

Before Richard could finish his sentence, a shining fist resembling a moon surrounded by seven small balls of chaotic energy impacted his chest.

And everything went white.

A terrifying explosive mana wave covered the arena floor. Richard’s body was instantly blown to bits by the violently rampaging mana that entered his system.

He was already nearly out of energy after the battle so far, and with the wounds he’d accumulated until this point…

He simply stood no chance.

The brightness cleared up, giving way to the vision of Damien standing alone in the battle arena.

And the crowd went wild.