"...Weak...?" Eve muttered. How many people could confidently call the daughter of Hector Cirillo weak? Putting that aside, was Eve actually weak? She never once had the doubt, she was taught that doubting oneself was a grave mistake. Yet, Eve stood there, facing an opponent who may very well be stronger than her.

"..." Ken simply smirked, he casually swung his Tachi in the air and the droplets of blood from Eve's wound fell to the ground.

'Bastard....'

She clenched her jaw, her armor was soaked in blood. Eve raised her hands while bearing the stinging pain, she summoned two pillars of fire where Ken stood and shot multiple fireballs as insurance, it was a desperate move but she needed something to buy her time, Eve backed away as soon as the first spell left her hands.

"Fire Pillar!"

"Fireball!"

It was pointless, Ken waited for the perfect time and in one swift motion, he cut through the pillars as well as the fireballs. However, that brought Eve enough time to step back and chant her spell. It was one of the strongest spells in her arsenal, the same spell that wiped the floor with her first opponent, Nala.

"𝑶𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝑭𝒊𝒓𝒆, 𝑺𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒆𝒓 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏"

"Pointless" Ken scoffed as he sheathed his Tachi.

"𝑰 𝑩𝒆𝒔𝒆𝒆𝒄𝒉 𝒚𝒐𝒖, 𝑯𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒂𝒍𝒍"

"Alright have it your way,"

"𝑪𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒉 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒄𝒊𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒆"

"The truth of the sword, the lies of this World. Water Style-" he muttered as he slowly removed his Tachi.

"Herald of Fire!" Eve screamed.

*𝑩𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑶𝑴*

"The Calm Before the Storm"

*Ziiiiipppp*

It was like the clash between a colossal giant of fire and the entire ocean. No matter how violent or explosive Eve's fire is, in the face of the sheer pressure of water, it was nothing. The ocean literally absorbed Eve's giant. It was futile in Ken's eyes. He was someone who was obsessed with the path of the sword. He knew when things were unnecessary and pointless, and Eve's attempt to fight back was exactly that.

"That!!!" Luke shot out of his seat when he saw the move Ken just used.

'Water style...but not void.....' he thought, 'the similarities are not too many but to think a player would acquire a sword style....especially this early into the game,'

'I guess it's unfair for me to feel stupefied considering both Nate and I have gotten a power far stronger...'

"You okay? sit back everyone's looking at us..." Nate whispered.

The scene was a masterpiece in the eyes of many. Ken's move was serene, even though it looked like an entire ocean had come crashing onto Eve, it looked tranquil. The fire giant Eve summoned, thrashed about in the waters but in the end, just like Ken had predicted, it was futile. His move "Water Style- The Calm Before the Storm", was focused or centralized on one aspect of life, and that was tranquility. It was like a droplet falling into a smooth crystal-like lake.

"Y-you're..right.." Luke sat back, "at least he actually uses the water style,"

"Hey come on, I was only joking in my fight," Nate frowned.

"Aurora....she lost huh?"

Eve undoubtedly lost, her body was completely crushed under the water pressure, and a minute later she stepped out of her capsule. She didn't even bother waiting around, she went straight for the steps and left to go back to her VIP room. Meanwhile, Ken casually walked out of the capsule and went towards the seating area. However, just before he left the stage, he shot a quick glance towards Luke who returned the gesture and smirked under his mask.

'Wait for me, bastard...'

"You're up, you got this."

"Yeah," Luke said as he went to the stage.

Luke waited on the stage but to everyone's surprise, this "Elion" didn't even show up, however, she did show up for her other matches, naturally, realizing this the crowd assumed she had forfeited the match knowing that she would lose to Night. Luke just stood there hearing the audience's roars, some were even laughing, apparently to the crowd "it was only obvious" that someone would just leave rather than fight Night.

"Last call for Player Elion, this is your final call, please report to the stage, the organizing committee shall wait for a maximum of 5 more minutes after which Player Night shall be deemed the winner and shall advance to the next round..." Dr. Reed announced.

However, as he expected, there was no answer, it looked like he had to wait for another five minutes for formalities-sake. In one of the VIP rooms, a woman stood in front of a large screen that showed Luke and Dr. Reed standing on a stage.

"Are you sure you want to miss this?" Arthur asked.

"Of course, this isn't the time I reveal myself, maybe if you didn't make a fool of yourself then I would've gone but now I have something else in mind," Elena replied.

"Okay....."

"And that is time! Player Elion is disqualified for failure to show up and Player Night is given the win, I apologize for any inconvenience caused, thank you for waiting. Onto the next match!"

Hearing Reed's voice, Luke had no choice but to go back to his seat, it was Nate's match now, Valerian's sister, Layla vs Nate. As he walked back to his seat he could see his friend's stupid wide grin which made him slightly titter. Nate made his way to the stage and met Luke halfway there, it was his chance to show off and Luke's chance to sit and watch. Just before they passed each other, their palms met in the air for a brief second.

*TAP*

A loud noise was heard when they shared a high-five. While the crowd was moved by the display, Elena Richardson let out a scornful laugh, her eyes followed Nate as a plan began to formulate in her mind.

"Until I get to know who your family is, how bout we play with your little friend there? pfft haha" she cackled.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A young man, probably in his mid 20's sat amidst a group of old men, however, nobody could see anything wrong with this, in fact, everyone there considered this boy as one of their own and more. They valued and respected him and very rarely when they witnessed his strength, did they fear him. He had deep blue eyes, that put even the guardian of the water to shame, his copper-colored hair was messy and curly, nobody would even guess he was a part of the army.

By the looks of it, the young man barely spoke, he just listened to the conversation between the other older men and nodded. Most of the time, the men spoke about politics and the affairs of the Kingdom. In all honesty, the young man hated listening to such topics, he enjoyed speaking about war and strategy, however, he knew that discussing the current affairs of the kingdom was extremely important, and considering his position, he had no choice but to share his view regarding the situation.

"Ahem.." he cleared his throat, instantly bringing the conversation to a halt. The gazes of the older men fell upon the man, they were like baby animals waiting to be fed, they were desperate for his knowledge and insight on the situation.

"Forget about the Legend," he said making the eyes of a few widen.

"And why is that?" someone asked.

"Simple, because we don't know anything about him, and whatever I know, does not help in killing him, at least directly it doesn't help."

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Hmm, while I understand our relationship with the Norse and the Beast Kingdom isn't the best and we are essentially prone to war breaking out at any given time, we should also remember that such things can easily be deterred. As of this second, we are not at war with anyone and extending our forces out of our kingdom only makes us weaker."

"That being said, we, the Imperials are not cowards are we?" the young man questioned.

"Definitely not!"

"Hah, no way!"

"We? Cowards?"

"If we are cowards then the Norse are the most intelligence race!"

"Haha well said!"

"Exactly, we are NOT cowards! I propose we assist the magic tower led by the rogue mage Damianos. Before anyone objects, I hope you hear me out." The man said before waiting for a few seconds, "good. The magic towers, they are dangerous, each one is capable of destruction we can't even begin to comprehend. But that was a matter of the past, we are strong as well, if not stronger. They cannot dominate us in any way possible, besides we are merely going to throw them aside once we're done with them."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I mean exactly what I said, the Legend who waltzed into the Kingdom and threatened our very safety, let's just say he is somehow connected to the magic tower led by that Magician Damianos. God knows where he even is but all we know is that he is the one behind the tower....we can use this to our advantage and completely crush the Legend, as well as take over the magic tower..."

"...."

"...."

"....."

The men quietly looked at each other, until the one at the head of the table spoke up,

"As expected of Neo Thallius, the man who didn't even flinch when facing a Legend"