'Well, fuck. This just got a hell of a lot harder,' Lone thought to himself while he eyed the Lionkin who was emitting a very fierce aura from his very being. Lone wondered if his own first awakening was anything like this, but for now, he had no time to entertain the idea for long since Greyfus had placed his fur covered hands on the ground and had entered a pouncing position, which obviously forced Lone to take this all very seriously.

Lone was watching Greyfus' every minute movement with vigilance while he was debating whether he should use his bone armour or not because it was quite heavy and would impede his agility a fair amount if he used it. However, if Greyfus were too fast to dodge, then not using the armour would be stupid.

'Red centres, huh? I wonder what emotion that represents. Probably pride, I'm guessing,' Lone distracted himself for a split second to think this, and at that moment, Greyfus took advantage of the opening Lone had so kindly granted him.

A huge impact and Lone was sent shooting across the arena at an unbelievable speed. Greyfus had leapt at Lone with so much force that he had cracked the tiles of the place he once stood. Lone didn't know what these tiles were made of, but he was aware that they must have been durable if they were used as the flooring of a fighting stage used by powerful experts. However, Lone had more pressing issues to worry about right now the state of the flooring.

He immediately healed all of the damage done to his body via his Passive Regeneration, which intrigued the audience. Such powerful healing was truly rare, even amongst the experts present, so seeing it coming from a lowly E-Ranker was quite the surprise for them.

Lone then jumped up and tried to dodge Greyfus' second attack, but failed again, and was sent back into the wall he had just escaped from.

'Uhuh, no way I'm dodging that shit. Blocking it is," Lone thought before he immediately decided to use a very dirty tactic. He didn't even bother standing up and just immediately created a bubble out of his bones. This bubble surrounded him and gave enough space for two people to stand.

"Breena, get out here. You'd be better off saving your stamina since I've already won this fight," Lone said to which his three-tailed companion appeared directly in front of him making his bubble slightly more cramped. Lone then created a single flame of pure mana, not a kindling, but just something to light the impromptu room.

"W-What are you d-doing, M-Master?" Breena nervously asked Lone. In all honesty, she was still feeling a rush from having successfully stabbed an S-Ranker in the eyes without being caught or harmed. However, despite her battle-high, she was still clueless to what Lone was doing.

"I dunno if there's a proper name for it. Despite being a history teacher, I cared more about historical advancements and cultures, not battles. Anyway, let's call it the turtle. You see, I still have about five fully charged mana orbs left. That's like, two and a half million mana. I'm just gonna keep feeding my bone bubble here until Greyfus collapses from the side effects of awakening. Pretty cowardly, but a win's a win. So now we wait. Wanna read a book or something?" Lone replied in a proud, yet nonchalant manner.

Breena was stunned by this. How... tactical. She too had noticed that Lone stood absolutely no chance of beating Greyfus in regards to speed, and probably strength, so she was wondering how he would manage to put up a fight against Greyfus, but his chosen method had actually surprised her. She just shook her head in response to Lone's question which elicited a shrug from him before he turned his attention back to the bubble. Breena then sat on the floor and began practising her Shadow Melding. Getting stronger was the most important thing for her right now.

Alfonse was in shock. Deep shock. That, and worry. He was shocked at what Lone had chosen to do, but his worry was the stronger emotion. Greyfus needed to win. He absolutely couldn't afford to lose. Not now that he had stopped holding back his awakening. Everyone in the audience could see how furiously Greyfus was striking the spherical wall of black and blue material, but regardless of how much he damaged it, it just regrew continuously. Never ending. It was a never ending cycle. Greyfus was making absolutely no headway on Lone.

"Just how is the Foxkin keeping up that... whatever that is for so long? Where is the needed energy coming from?" Alfonse whispered to himself. He was getting increasingly anxious because he could see Grey hairs slowly taking root on Greyfus' otherwise golden locks. The side effect was coming.

Very few races knew how to prevent or weaken the side effects of awakening their bloodlines. One such race was the Foxkin's, as with Lossa. Lone had noticed a yellow centre to her crimson coloured eyes, yet she still retained a youthful look, proving that she had at least some way to resist the effects. However, the Lionkin were utterly clueless on how to fight this ailment. Unfortunately, Hope wasn't home to many powerful beastkin clans, so their collective knowledge still wasn't enough to counteract the results of awakening.

It took all of two hours for Greyfus' previous youthful looks to change into those of an elderly man. He then collapsed on the spot. Lone had won.

Alfonse immediately jumped down onto the stage and shouted in his loudest voice possible, "LONE IMMORTUS IS THE WINNER! THAT CONCLUDES THE DUEL!" Shortly afterwards, Lone's barrier finally disappeared to reveal the handsome Foxkin. There wasn't even so much as a single drop of sweat visible on him or any signs of exhaustion.

"Oh dear, he's not looking too great, now is he? Want me to give him a hand?" Lone asked the panic stricken Alfonse. Apparently, he had heard the retainer's shout and had immediately dropped his bone shield. Lone didn't want Greyfus to die, so he needed to help him as soon as possible. However, he still insisted on keeping up the nonchalant attitude because he found it fun to act that way.

Alfonse's face was still full of worry, but quite clearly, he also seemed very relieved by Lone's words. The two quickly left the arena with Breena trailing after them and Greyfus in Alfonse's arms. Many of the citizens who had watched the fight were gossiping amongst each other in wonder at their Lord's dramatic transformation and defeat.