**

The crowd went silent. Some thought that Red had already lost because of how beat up he looked. From any distance, a lot of the audience already predicted that Red wouldn't win against Seren and that perhaps the match against Lionel was a fluke.

But there were a few true die-hard fans that shouted his name in horror when Seren charged towards him with a magic blade attack.

But surprised to all, he was still standing. In addition to that, he was fine with no injuries. Upon taking a closer look, they all saw the same thing, Red was holding the Lightning sword that was still cracking and clicking with just his left hand.

Seren was surprised but not for long. She tried to free her sword from Red's hand, but the sword doesn't budge.

Lionel who was sitting in the front seat could see what was happening. Red managed to cover his left hand with aura perfectly. Even King Darius was surprised his mouth hanging.

"How long did you say you taught him?" Emperor Agnus asked

"A month..."

"Impossible, how can 1 month of training, lead to that precise control of Aura." King Albert retort.

King Darius then looks at the mask, suspecting that it was Ryong's doing. However, the beast in the mask had a sweating icon on the mask and turned to King, looking just as confused.

Red stood there quietly as Seren attempts to sweep his leg to get him to release the sword. Red just jumped the moment she launched the kick.

However, it worked as Red's hand releases the weapon, giving Seren her weapon back.

Seren then retreated and focused her stance against Red.

Something felt odd to her. Previously he was careless and sluggish. Suddenly, the entire mood changed. Now Seren herself was feeling the pressure when in the arena. It's as if the person fighting was a different person. Red raised his sword in the sky, and then poof suddenly it changed. The sword was shorter now and smaller, it turned into a dagger. 

Seren, now more cautious than before casting a wide Magic circle in the sky, hailing down storms of ice spears all aimed at Red. But it was all for nought. Red disappeared from the arena. Seren took a look around but he was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly, she felt someone tapping on her armour. Cold sweat starts dripping from her forehead as she realises where her opponent when. She dragged her sword and swung it behind her, just for him to tap her again on her back. Paranoid, she cast an AOE spell around her to keep her attacker off of her.

[Blizzard Corner]

AOE Magic Spell

Designate a space around the target and hails blizzard in that area, everything caught in the corner will start to freeze

Status Effect: Freeze, Frostbite

Magic Requirement: 4th Magic Circle

Mana Consumption: Fair

A magic circle appears on Seren's feet, causing the ground near her to freeze. But, the magic spell caught nothing. She starts breathing heavily, trying to figure out her opponent's next move when_____

Whamp!!!

Her arm collided with something. The impact was so great that it would shatter the bones in that arm if she hasn't blocked the attack with her sword. 

She grunted in pain and swings her lightning blade to keep a safe distance away from Red. But as she desperately swings her weapon, Red just moved the minimum amount needed to dodge it and still have the energy to conserve his strength.

Seren slashed vertically, Red tilt his body a little to avoid it.

Seren slashed horizontally, Red hop back a little, completely avoiding Seren's attack.

Seren pierced her sword forward, Red just kicked her sword to deflect it away.

No matter what she do, she suddenly couldn't land a single attack on him. With his dagger in his hand, Red advance slowly towards Seren and just [Right Uppercut]. Seren could see the attack but her legs couldn't move as she wasted too much of her energy hitting nothing.

The punch landed on her armour and she curled up trying to absorb the impact from the punch. She flew across the arena and landed near the walls. She stood up and cast her magic again.  

[Regeneration]

The mana cost for [Regeneration], this time round was more than she thought as she used up a lot of her stamina as well as the damage she received is a lot higher compared to the first time.

Her wounds and stamina slowly healed up again. However, after checking on her condition, her mana was almost depleted after mass-casting magic. Seren knew herself the only way to fight against him was through swordsmanship and Aura.

[Seren's POV]

What is this guy? A moment ago, he was half dead. Now he could suddenly see through all my attacks and counter them as well. Is he another genius?

I closed my eyes estimating what spells I can use with the amount of mana left in my body. 2 Lightning blade is my limit currently. Looks like, in the end, I have to resort to swordsmanship.

"You finally show your true colours huh." I said, provoking him so that when his guard is down, that's when I would strike him down.

"..." 

Father's disciple was quiet as always. However, he wasn't provoked but was still calm regardless. Looks like Father picked a good disciple...

I got into my stance and imbued aura around my body and sword. My opponent flew to me with his dagger and started slashing. With my sense heightened, I could his attacks through and parry and deflect his blow. He then started mixing punches and kicks in his attacks. It was hard to keep track of where each punch and kick was coming from but I still managed to block all of it, until he unleashed this move:

[Trickster's Kick Combo 1]

[Right Roundhouse Kick] 

I saw the attack and attempted to slash his leg with my sword.

[Question Mark Kick] 

The kick suddenly change trajectory in mid-motion and went up to my head, landing a blow to my face.

[Spinning Hook Kick] 

As I stumbled back to recover from the attack, the back of his legs came. He gripped me with the heel of his foot and dragged my entire head to the ground.

[Axe Kick]

I slam on the ground, looking up the see the heel of his foot above my face, ready to deal a powerful blow to me. Even without Aura detection, I knew facing that blow head-on may potentially kill me.

With no choice, I cast [Barrier] with all the mana remaining mana I have, hoping that it would be strong enough to block the kick from this man.

My opponent slams his foot against the barrier. The barrier shook violently as it absorbed the damage head-on. 

Then slowly, the barrier, like a mirror cracked. Until I saw Father's Disciple lifting his dagger again. This time it changed, suddenly turning into a large lump of metal. It turned into a greatsword.

With aura detection equipped, I sense a high amount of Aura Imbued in that blade, as he lifts it against me.

"Shit, I'm going to die."

*[Butcher] Effect Triggered*

Cleave now deals extra damage and guaranteed 15% Critical Damage

I stare as the Aura Imbued in the greatsword turns red as it strikes down at me.

I closed my eyes and brace for impact.

Thump-!!!

The impact of the greatsword booms across the Colosseum. I slowly opened my eyes, surprised that I was not injured. I looked up, seeing Father blocking the greatsword with his weapon.

**

[King Darius's POV]

The Kid seemed to be out of it. When fighting against Seren, his entire body was in a relaxed motion, it kind of reminded me of when I was fighting the beast but this time even the beast doesn't know what was happening. 

As the match went on, his attacks got more aggressive and smart. Using all the tools he have in his arsenal, he gained control of the match quickly, exploiting Seren's fear of uncertainty. Normally I would praise him for using his brain, but the idiot's too dumb to have tactics like this. 

The end of the match came the moment he stomp his foot against Seren's barrier. But when he changed his weapon's form to Greatsword. 

Something was wrong. 

Quickly, I jumped down and summoned my weapon. Even without Aura Detection, the Bloodlust was so high that you can practically smell it.

I flash step towards Red and collided my weapon against his with my full strength. 

Klunk-!!!

Shockwaves resonate around the arena and created a screeching sound across the Arena. I could feel my hand getting numb as the impact of the blades colliding created backlashed to my arms.

"That's enough, Red. Stand down" I warned him as I direct his sword away from me.

King Albert arrived at the scene as well, with his sword pointed at Red's neck, along with the rest of the Frostguard guards all pointing their swords at Red.

Red points his weapon down and just stood motionlessly. As if he was just woken up, suddenly his head jerked. He looked around looking very confused and dropped his weapon, raising both his hands high like he was surrendering. Sensing that he went back to normal, I exhaled a sigh of relief. Immediately clenching my first, I whack him in the head,

"IDIOT YOU COULDN'T CONTROL YOURSELF!!!"

He grabbed his head and rolled around the floor. I can practically see him cursing my name under the mask. I laughed, certain that the idiot came back to his senses.

I request Albert:

"My apologies, he was a little heated up. He's fine now." As I said that, I smiled brightly at Albert.

Albert sighed and replied, "Hais, you never change huh." He sheathed his sword and ordered his guards to stand down. 

The Host who was watching. saw that both me and Albert leaving and shouted in excitement:

"WINNER! RED!!!"