Rainer breathed in and out, taking the time while his opponent was just looking him over to fill the Arena with Arcane. He did it as slowly as possible, lest he alert any magical senses of the person across from him.

Looking at the strange robe across this man’s body, Rainer guessed he wasn’t from the same planet. If the fact he had the once exclusive Golden Aura of Kara’s family didn’t make that obvious. Was it a mutation of some sort? Or an outside factor that then passed on through the generations? Finding an answer to that question was as likely as finding an answer to why his grandfather had been born with Arcane.

The addition of Magical Perception made Rainer feel he could see far more in this man’s body than the Wolf King.

A shame he received another warning from the system that this was a place of fighting only, or he’d question this man.

“A Human Arcanist. What accursed existence are you?”

Rainer raised an eyebrow. So wanting to experiment on his opponent was not fine, but questions were? Fair enough. That said, the glare on his opponent’s face meant he wouldn’t get anything useful from that. Looking deeply with [Arcane Revelation] would have to be enough.

“I’m sorry to disappoint, but I’m quite the normal Human,” Rainer responded, happily sending more Arcane into the air. That would be useful later. He wondered if his opponent might let him charge up an [Absolute Frost] as well?

“If only this would end in permanently killing an abomination like you,” the man ground out before charging forward, Golden Aura enhancing his body.

The two [Arcanum]s behind Rainer fired two beams of Arcane energy, burning the torso of the charging Aura user, piercing through his slight defense.

The battle suddenly halted as both of them stood in surprise. But neither had a moment to wonder why the other was surprised as the fighting resumed.

Rainer constantly Void-walked as he dodged the fists of the enemy, sending back [Arcanum]s or blasts of Arcane whenever he could. It took only a moments look to realize he was spending energy far faster than his opponent. If the attack wasn’t strong enough, his opponent wouldn’t even bother using Aura to defend against it and instead heal the after effects with the Golden Aura intertwined in his body. Assuming there was any damage.

[The Imperishable] wasn’t an inaccurate title, Rainer thought.

Rainer quickly realized that he needed to pin down this opponent and assault him heavily if he was to have a chance of winning, but any attempts with [Arcane Chain]s or [Arcane-Spatial Domain] were easily rebuffed. How would he win against such a fast Aura user without [Void Hold]?

Time passed and Rainer realized in such a small arena, he was left with little choice but to constantly Void-walk with only an occasional counter. If this continued, he’d run out of energy far faster than his opponent.

He stepped forward instead of [Void-walking], his entire left shoulder blown back from an attack as he slashed down with a [Soul Presence]-enhanced [Arcane Blade]. The man accepted this trade, taking on the blade in turn for the earlier hit.

The Aura user barely managed to dodge backwards as the blade cut into his neck. Whereas Rainer was surprised it did so little, wondering if he somehow increased his skin strength with Aura, the Aura user was surprised it did so much.

Rainer charged forward with another Void-walk, even as [Arcane Inviogration] healed the damage, and he slashed down at his opponent. But after only a second of holding onto his neck, the wound was already healed.

His opponent dashed backwards again, this time a giant golden body surrounding him, and holding him mid-air. He charged forward at far greater speed. Rainer felt a pressure holding him down, but it wasn’t one of body, but rather of Soul. He grinned as he unsheathed his Soul and attacked with [Devil’s Soul Language], enhancing it with all he could. Whatever this golden giant was, it affected the man’s Soul.

The Aura user collapsed mid-attack, and barely avoided Rainer’s [Arcane Blade]. Several more rounds of dodging and healing, he managed to recover, expending over half his Aura in the process.

Rainer could only frown grimly as the man then played it safe, slowly outlasting him. He landed several more hits with [Arcane Blade], but they did even less damage than what was done to the 3rd Tier Elf. Nor did they require that much Aura to block it enough before the man could dodge away. Rainer even received a warning for trying to use a Mana Potion.

And attempts to box him in with [Arcane Domain] were unsuccessful. Such a small Arena gave Rainer no time to charge up any strong enough attack. [Void-walking]’s range was far too limited in this case. The Aura user caught up almost instantly after any teleport.

Rainer could only throw a [Arcane Awakening: Final Arcanum] at the Golden Aura user and his last [Arcanum]s in a last ditch effort to finish him off. Despite the showing of bone and even part of his heart, the man hadn’t lost any mobility.

Rainer, nearly manaless, and currently barred from his energy pools, was then easily killed.

Rainer didn’t even have a moment’s rest as he was sent to the next fight.

He inspected his next opponent and his armor for only a moment. A Tier 2 Aura user from the Taranien Empire. It seemed a Will of some sort was his specialty as his Aura wasn’t anything special. And it seemed his [Arcanum] Arcane-weaved circles were recovered. A good sign.

Rainer rushed forward, still angered and relishing the chance for an easy target for that rage. Being outlasted in such a long fight had been completely demoralizing.

He pressed down with [Arcane-Spatial Domain] and infused his manipulated [Arcane Blade] with [Soul Presence].

The man seemed to meet his charge, perhaps not privy to certain information or not recognizing the [Archon] in front of him.

Rainer Void-walked forward, breaking the man’s expectations as he appeared to his left and slashed down with the [Arcane Blade].

In this seemingly slow slash, Rainer felt all the flaws in the [Arcane Blade] with [Soul Presence]. All the wasted energy and turbulent Arcane that wasn’t going towards making the blade stronger but wrongly circulating.

He slashed down, cutting through the man’s blocking sword as the panicking Aura user dashed backwards.

Rainer appeared behind him, once more noting the flaws in his [Arcane Blade]. The cycling Arcane shifted, and Rainer looked through the formula in his head.

Every slash he slightly altered it, improving the very nature of the blade rather than his use of it at this tier. His enemy futilely expended Aura as he backpedaled, cauterized cuts appearing all over his body. Never did he once realize that he was being used as a target dummy. Rainer Void-walked constantly, striking from different angles every time.

Slowly but surely the blade and its formula improved. The tendrils of Arcane that once extended out from it’s base shortened and started to disappear, leaving only a clear blade of Arcane.

[Arcane Blade amended: Arcane Blade lvl 1/11]

The blade jumped 2 tiers from 1/13 as Rainer instantly removed all the found flaws with his expert control of [Soul Presence] and [Arcane Energy Manipulation]. The newly formed blade seemed to hum with Arcane as it stirred the air around it. Another flaw then, Rainer thought, feeling the energy wasted in this show, however impressive it was.

He swung downward, bisecting his foe despite him using as much Aura as he could to defend against this strike. There was little more to be gained in this Duel. Rainer grew briefly pleased at the distorted space generated by the new blade, before readying himself for the next fight. He could only hope for another chance to fight the Aura user.

“Matheus?” Rainer asked in surprise, looking at the glamoured Fae in front of him.

“Just my luck. And I thought that golden freak that almost beat me with a strange Soul skill despite not being able to use his Aura was bad enough.”

“You killed him?”

Matheus shrugged like it was obvious. No matter how stupidly tough that man’s body was, without Aura, it was just a matter of time. Matheus had plenty of skills in damaging an enemy internally.

“What can he truly do without Aura and apparently Will?” Matheus asked. He himself had a decent amount of Will at the behest of his master who taught him a method of gathering it. He never saw the point of it, as the slowly regenerating pool paled in comparison to his Psionic Energy in every possible way. But he would never disrespect the master that had given him a way forward in the manaless hell he was born in.

“Well, shall we start?” Mathues asked, before pressing down with his Psionic Energy on Rainer’s energy pools.

Rainer frowned before roaring out with [Arcane Awakening] and spreading a [Soul Presence] affected [Arcane Domain]. It took only a moment to resist the pressure Matheus put on him. Given what level he had been at when he partially resisted it the first time, it was a given even if Matheus managed to gain some levels himself.

The male Fairy let out a long sigh, but he wasn’t surprised.

“Make it painless?”

“Of course.”

The next few battles went quickly. Only an 8 armed Ape-like race had given Rainer any trouble. But it seemed the person depended entirely on Will as he had no other pools of energy. While his innate abilities were powerful, it wasn’t enough to deal with even the [Arcane Blade] of the past, let alone the current one.

[Round 11: Three-way Tie.]

[Current Party Point Total: 18]

So two points?

Rainer thought to himself. He supposed it made sense to end here, no matter how unwilling. As it was, they were tied in a rock-paper-scissors manner. There was no easy way to resolve such a thing. He was teleported back to their original arena moments later.

Thinking over his mistakes in the battle versus that Aura user, Rainer incidentally thought over another mistake. Why not use the time he wasn’t participating in Rounds to go visit the other Soul Marks? Every round regenerated his energy before hand. So there was no excuse not to.

It took only a short discussion for his party to agree on taking as long as possible to fulfill any qualifying conditions. Given his options, he chose the [Nature’s Walkers]. They were least likely to be antagonistic, and they had handed him a high-tiered group spell so easily. That said a lot about where they came from.

Using his Avatar, he crossed a boundless distance as he Void-walked to his Soul Mark. It was a stable plane, at least from his angle. But he still struggled using [Void Seer] over such a distance. It was only with a last ditch effort he managed to land outside his target’s current room.

He instantly entered [Void Suppression], curious what he could glean from this group. He entered the opened door and sat in the corner, looking around.

The person he had Soul Marked lay on a floor in the middle of room. Given their attire, he had expected them to live in a place that was ‘one with nature’. But it just seemed like a poorly built hut. Were they wanderers? How could such a civilization treat a Tier 6 spell so casually? Or was the hoarding of magic a cultural thing?

“Master?” the target’s sister asked.

“It will take some time to remove, but it shouldn’t be an issue.” Unlike the others’ leaf and flower covered attire, this ‘master’ wore plain cloth clothes.

Rainer found himself slightly impressed by this man who could claim to remove his deeply intertwined Soul Mark without causing any damage.

“Who’s there!” the old man suddenly shouted and looked straight at Rainer.

As if trying to call a bluff, Rainer didn’t budge an inch.

It was with an annoyed snort later, Rainer felt his Avatar go unconscious.