Ichiro stood up and raised his great sword.

"Come!"

Yoko merely looked at him and snorted.

"You overestimate yourself."

Cold, that was the only way to describe the tone and words she spoke.

Ichiro leaped up to slice down Yoko from above.

Yoko merely swiped her arm lightly in front of her. A massive pressure of darkness came and blasted Ichiro who was in the middle of leaping.

Ichiro took the attack head on and spun twice in mid-air before falling.

"What is that power...?!"

That isn't normal at all! Even if her power had gotten out of control and it was released without restraint, it's impossible for her to produce this much power!

Ichiro changed the way he held his sword to attack from Yoko's side while charging from her front.

Before slashing sidewards, Ichiro roared.

Yoko held out her hand.

"Fool!"

But just as Ichiro's attack would land on Yoko's palm, it was stopped by a dark aura.

"?!"

Ichiro was alarmed and tried to pull back but found that he was stuck in place.

"In case you can't tell, I'm now higher in terms of magic level."

"I know that!"

Ichiro grit his teeth and roared. He sliced with his great sword once.

"[Dark Breeze]!"

Yoko did the same as before; with the swipe of an arm, the attack dispersed.

"I don't want to waste my time with you. I'm going to end this fight right now."

Yoko held out her palms.

The head elder had furrowed his brows and was watching the fight closely.

"Barrier specialists, be on guard."

A dozen people stepped out from the sides of the arena and surrounded the stage.

They were clothed in brown robes that stretched all the way to the floor and their faces were covered by a hood. It was obvious to anyone that they were mages.

The head elder was more prepared than last time, Kai went out of control and they only had attackers on guard. He wouldn't dare kill a talent like Kai so he chose to use a barrier instead; but that barrier instantly broke under Kai's move. He had decided to hire people with specialty for safety, even more so because this tournament was many times more important than the mock tournament.

Ichiro quickly set himself up to defend from Yoko by setting up a spell with his great sword.

"[Giant Wall]!"

Ichiro stabbed his great sword into the floor and a huge magic circle spread out from the point where Ichiro stabbed until it covered at least twenty meters of the floor around Ichiro. The magic circle then began to create a barrier with a slight golden tint.

It covered a height even higher than the arena itself and was at least fifteen meters thick. Ichiro then kept the great sword stabbed into the floor and raised his palm towards the walls.

"[Barrier]!"

Even with all those defenses, Ichiro didn't feel safe at all. He wasn't specialized with barriers and so was unsure. If competing in terms of defense, Inejiro would be even better. Luckily for Ichiro, his Enchanted Gear, Robur had its own defensive spell.

"[Dark Beam]."

A small ball of darkness that seemed so strong that Ichiro wanted to enchant his barriers even more appeared in Yoko's hands.

The ball of darkness became larger and became a dark ray of light that hit Ichiro's [Giant Wall].

A couple of seconds after impact, [Giant Wall] began to have cracks appearing on them.

Ichiro gripped the hilt of his great sword tightly with one hand and roared.

The cracks spreading on the barrier became slower and slower but that was only for a moment as Yoko stepped forward. Cracks began spreading on the barrier and the first meter of the barrier was finally pierced through. With one meter down, the rest of the wall became weaker and the [Dark Beam] pierced deeper into the wall faster and faster.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Ichiro placed his other hand on the great sword and held it by the bottom of the hilt. He raised his shoulders and twisted the sword to the side.

"[Giant Wall: Restore]!"

The wall began rapidly restoring until it closed off, Yoko's attack disappeared after that. Ichiro had successfully defended from Yoko's first attack.

Ichiro was greatly exhausted after that and had to use his sword as a support, he had one knee on the floor and was breathing roughly.

But Yoko on the other hand, wasn't exhausted at all. She only used a small part of her mana for that attack.

"This is your loss."

Yoko used another [Dark Beam], it took longer but was more powerful than the previous one.

Ichiro had only managed to calm his breathing and held onto the sword.

"I'll take it head on!"

The wall was easily pierced through meter by meter until it completely shattered. The only defense Ichiro has was his own [Barrier] and the great sword.

Of course, Ichiro's [Barrier] was pierced through without any trouble. Ichiro then changed his footing and charged with his great sword.

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Ichiro gave a war cry and slashed downwards using his great sword.

With the thickness of the great sword and the sheer power behind Yoko's attack, the laser would be split in half... if this was a game but unfortunately for Ichiro, it's not. Ichiro and his great sword were swallowed up by the [Dark Beam] and was flung back. While being blasted, he stabbed his great sword into the floor and blocked the [Dark Beam] with the blunt area.

"That's pointless."

Like Yoko said, Ichiro's struggle was pointless and he was flung back again.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Ichiro screamed as he was flung back all the way to the edge before stopping.

"Damn it!"

Ichiro had blood leaking from the corner of his mouth but wiped it off.

"I will defeat you!"

Ichiro roared in range and raised his great sword.

"[Robur: Release]!"

Ichiro's family instantly went into uproar.

"Stop it!"

"Don't do that!"

"Stop, you can't handle the power of the great sword!"

The head elder heard their comments.

"Barrier specialists!"

They heeded the head elder's thoughts even if he hadn't said them and instantly erected a barrier around the stage.

A dark golden aura appeared around Ichiro and his eyes turned red with veins, it was blood.

"I'll kill you!"

Ichiro roared and a massive pressure came from his body that was enough to even make the out-of-control Yoko to flinch.

"You're not worthy!"

Yoko leaped forward and Ichiro did the same; both of them struck out with their weapons and the instant their weapons clashed, a shockwave spread out.

The shockwave was so strong that it cracked the floor beneath them and wind rampaged from their position all the way to the barriers.

""HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!""

BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM

For each hit they landed with their weapons, large booms resounded and shockwaves followed. The floor kept cracking and tiny parts of the stage kept flying all over the place from the wind.

They had stopped using magic and kept trading blows, it was like they were crazed. They had landed more than a couple dozen hits and the floor below them was almost destroyed by the sheer destructive wind.

Yoko didn't use her leg attacks and Ichiro didn't use his sword skills, it was pure weapon fighting.

But naturally, Yoko would lose in a direct confrontation.

Ichiro slammed down with his great sword and Yoko was forced to defend, both of them spat out a considerable amount of blood from their mouths, Ichiro's eyes had blood as tears and his skin showed veins all over.

Yoko on the other hand had an aura of death surrounding her but her eyes were still pitch black.

""DIE!""

Both of them roared and unleashed their most ferocious strike.

"[Twin Dragons]!"

Yoko spun and attacked with both of her daggers, a faint silhouette of two black snake-like dragons appeared behind her as she sliced upwards.

"[Robur: Mountain Crushing Bash]!"

It was another technique from his great sword, Yoko felt a pressure like she was looking above a mountain but that hadn't stopped her. The crowd all felt that they saw twin dragons fighting against a mountain.

Their attacks landed and both connected, Yoko was sliced diagonally while Ichiro was sliced vertically. Both of them were flung back to the end of the stage and left trails of blood in their wake.

Yoko had chosen to attack Ichiro directly rather than countering his blow and Ichiro chose to attack her directly rather than meeting her blow. It was an attack that forced both parties to sacrifice themselves.

Both of them tried to stand up but with all the blood they lost, it would be a miracle if they were even conscious. That is, if they were in their normal state. Right now they were in a berserk state and were out of their normal minds. Yoko was being consumed by her negative emotions and Ichiro was running rampant because of his Enchanted Gear. They looked quite horrible when looked upon by the others.

Akane held her breath and covered her mouth, tears were dropping from the corners of her eyes.

"Yoko... please, stop!"

She suddenly stood up and yelled.

"You don't have to sacrifice yourself so much just to win this! You're killing yourself just to get this temporary power!"

Akane yelled but Yoko ignored her words and stood up.

"I WILL KILL YOU!"

"HAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Yoko and Ichiro charged forward, it was evident that this was their final clash. They repeated their earlier attacks, they had to. It was their only chance of winning.

"[Twin Dragons]!"

It was evident that Yoko put all of her power into this attack, it felt as if it was many times stronger than before.

Ichiro leaped above and slammed down.

"[Robur: Mountain Crushing Bash]!"

Yoko's eyes were fierce and her silhouette disappeared. She had jumped upwards at blinding speed.

""HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!""

They roared as their final attacks clashed, a huge shockwave spread out that even cracked a small area of the barrier closest to the attack but other than that, nothing.

A huge pile of smoke and debris spread out as one of the two fell to the floor. It was evident that this contest was finished.

"...She took on a great sword from overhead!"

Akane rolled her hand into a fist and slammed it in front of her.

Juro clenched his teeth.

"...She's not in the proper state of mind."

It took a few minutes for all the dust to clear and two silhouettes could be seen from within.

"They're actually both standing up!"

The head elder exclaimed his surprise and waited for more of the dust clouds to clear. And when it finally did, there was Yoko with blood all over her body and Ichiro who mirrored her looks. There was a pool of blood beneath them and a crater in the floor in the middle, one of them had crashed down into the floor.

Yoko's eyes were clear but it seemed as if they would close anytime. Ichiro's eyes were still red but the veins had already retracted, all that's left was the blood.

Akane's eyes revealed horror as she followed the trail of blood from the crater, it headed towards... Yoko!

"She lost the clash..."

Akane immediately stood up from her seat and went as close as she could to Yoko.

"Yoko!"

Yoko had one hand on her abdomen and one hand holding a dagger, her other dagger was nowhere to be seen. Once Akane spoke, Yoko turned her head around.

A smile was etched on the bloody face of Yoko.

"Sorry, Akane. I lost."

After her words, Yoko spat out a large amount of blood and fell to the floor, she had collapsed in her own pool of blood.

Akane's pupils retracted and cried hoarsely.

"Yoko!"

The head elder stood up from his seat.

"Immediately get that girl to the infirmary!"

Yoko hadn't lose no small amount of blood, she was definitely having a near-death experience right now. But, Ichiro wasn't spared from it.

"...the winner of the triennial tournament is Ichiro!"

With those words, the crowd cheered and Ichiro roared as he raised his great sword.

"I-!"

Before Ichiro could say anything, his eyes turned white and he collapsed to the floor.

"Quick, get him to the infirmary as well! We will settle the tournament's affairs once they've awoken! Tend to their wounds and spare no effort!"

The head elder barked out orders and all the staff were taking care of them. It was an emergency where both of their talents would die if they were any slower.

Akane followed Yoko into the infirmary.

"You idiot..."

Akane weeped as she followed next to Yoko who was carried by the staff.