Gar was the first to move.
He didn't hold back just because his opponent was a second-year girl. Having been at the academy for five years, he knew exactly how much weight the title "Tyrant" carried.
Holding his shield across his body, he charged at Setis like a wild bull, every step on the stone slabs kicking up a cloud of dust—Fearless Charge, a basic warrior dash, but executed by a Rank 3 Earth Warrior, its momentum was entirely different.
Setis did not retreat.
She leveled her staff, a few syllables spilling quickly from her lips as the tip glowed with a sudden burst of red light.
“Triple Fireball!”
Three fireballs formed simultaneously, shooting toward Gar in a straight line, one after another. The first exploded against the shield, causing Gar’s figure to stagger slightly. The second followed immediately, slamming into the same spot and finally causing a crack to appear on the shield’s surface. The third dove precisely into that crack—
Boom!
Gar let out a muffled groan as a burst of flame erupted from his shield, his charging momentum cut short. He looked down at the scorch marks on his shield, his expression turning solemn.
A Rank 1 spell had delivered enough power to threaten a Rank 3 warrior’s defense... This girl’s magic compression rate was abnormal.
Before he could adjust his stance, Setis’s second wave of attacks arrived. She didn't continue casting; instead, her figure blurred as she darted toward Gar’s flank like a red silhouette. The staff in her hand was no longer just a tool for casting, but was swung out like a short club—the melee combat style of a magic warrior.
Gar hurriedly raised his shield to block, and the staff struck the edge with a sharp crack. He followed through with a left hook, his fist wrapped in a layer of pale yellow magic—Rock Fist. Setis leaned back to dodge, her toes touching the ground as she pointed her staff forward, releasing a Flame Impact almost directly against his chest.
At such close range, there was nowhere to hide.
Gar only had time to condense magic into a thin layer of protection on his chest before the flames exploded. He was shoved back four or five steps by the impact, his breastplate scorched black as a metallic tang of blood rose in his throat.
A collective gasp erupted from the stands.
“Gar is being suppressed by a second-year?!”
“That Setis is way too much...”
“You only just realized she’s a monster?”
Gar gritted his teeth, forcing himself to steady his stance. He stopped holding back, slamming his shield violently into the ground with both hands.
“Earth Bind!”
Several chains of ochre-colored magic surged from the cracks in the stone slabs, coiling toward Setis from all directions. This was the signature crowd-control technique of a Rank 3 Earth Warrior; once ensnared, subsequent attacks would come flooding in like a tide.
Setis’s gaze sharpened.
She didn't dodge; instead, she raised her staff high. The magic circuits on the staff lit up one by one, spreading from the base to the tip at a speed more than twice as fast as the third-year fire mage from before. The surrounding air began to vibrate violently, and a scorching wave of heat radiated outward with her at the center.
“Flame Star Fall.”
Her voice wasn't loud, but it was heard clearly throughout the martial arts arena.
A massive fireball condensed at the tip of her staff—this was no ordinary fireball. The color of the flames turned into a blinding, incandescent gold-white. It was larger than she was, with flames churning and flowing over its surface like a miniature sun held in her hand.
The moment the spell took form, she slammed this “sun” downward.
The magic chains were vaporized the instant they touched the fireball. Gar’s expression changed drastically as he poured all his magic into his shield while activating his only life-saving trump card—Earth Guardian. A thick layer of stone armor quickly covered his entire body.
The two forces collided.
With an earth-shaking roar, a massive mushroom cloud of fire erupted in the center of the platform. The heatwave, carrying shattered stones, swept in all directions, only to be blocked by the protective magic walls around the ring. The referee on the stage wasn't so lucky, ending up completely covered in soot and dust.
When the flames and dust finally cleared, Gar was lying against the barrier at the edge of the platform.
His shield was half-shattered, and his stone armor was covered in cracks. Although he was still conscious, he clearly had no strength left to fight. Meanwhile, Setis stood in place, her staff lowered. Her breathing was slightly labored from the heavy magic consumption, but other than that, she was virtually unscathed.
The entire arena was silent for two seconds.
Then, applause and cheers erupted like a tidal wave.
“Setis! Setis!”
The referee hurried forward, checked Gar’s condition, and raised his right hand.
“The winner, Setis Anna!”
The cheering grew even louder. Normally, the winner would bow to the audience in acknowledgement, but Setis didn't do that.
Her gaze swept past the crowd, searching row by row in the tiered stands. Her eyes scanned every section of the audience before finally landing on a splash of cyan in a corner against the wall.
The familiar cyan robe was leaning against the wall. He gave her a slight nod, a faint smile playing on his lips.
Setis’s eyes lit up instantly. An irrepressible joy seemed to overflow from her eyes—even though she was trying her best to restrain it.
She instinctively took a step forward, then realized she was still on the platform and quickly stopped. She immediately pulled a straight face and gave a messy nod to the surrounding audience as a gesture of acknowledgement before quickly walking off the stage.
Her steps were much lighter than when she had entered. These small movements escaped most people, but they didn't escape Reinhardt, who had been staring intently at his younger sister.
In the VIP section, Reinhardt von Sebas watched his sister disappear into the entrance, then turned to look at the young man in the cyan robe in the last row of the opposite stands. The other party seemed to notice his gaze as well, and the two locked eyes for a brief moment across the arena.
Li Yuan nodded politely in greeting. Reinhardt returned the nod, then looked away with a subtle expression.
He remembered how Setis had been searching all over the stage just now, and he recalled her expression back at the Memorial Plaza—how she had clearly been happy to see this tea shop owner but insisted on acting like she didn't care. Adding in the fact that she had been running off to that remote Outer City late at night recently...
The clues connected in his mind, forming a single line. The resulting suspicion made Reinhardt take a deep breath before leaning over to whisper in his mother’s ear.
“Mother, I think there’s something I should tell you and Father.”
The Duchess, still immersed in the joy of her daughter’s victory, was slightly taken aback. “What is it?”
“It’s about Setis.”
Reinhardt weighed his words carefully before speaking cautiously.
“Lately... she seems to have taken a particular interest in a tea shop owner.”
The Duchess blinked, and the fan in her hand suddenly stopped moving.
“A tea shop owner?”
“Yes, the one who sold us those peace talismans at the plaza.”
The Duchess’s expression shifted from indifference to thoughtfulness, and then into a certain meaningful smile.
“That young man in the cyan clothes?”
“...You noticed him too?”
“He was the only one in the whole place dressed like that. It would be hard not to notice.”
The Duchess unfolded her fan, covering half her face and leaving only her smiling eyes visible.
“Tell me more about him later—exactly what kind of person this tea shop owner is.”
Reinhardt opened his mouth, suddenly feeling like he shouldn't have started this. Compared to the potential issue with Setis... his mother seemed to prefer listening to more scandalous things.
Meanwhile, Duke Sebas was still caught up in the excitement of his daughter’s win, completely oblivious to what his wife and son were whispering about. He was slapping the armrest of his seat, shouting to a nearby noble, “Did you see that?! That’s my daughter! One move and she flattened a fifth-year!”
The noble nodded repeatedly with a forced smile, though in his heart, he was likely thinking—this entire family really isn't normal.
Rate on N.U.
