They were led through a corridor with white glowing crystals embedded on each side. It opened up into an alley with an array of seats facing the Arena before them. A wide-open space, big enough to host a football game appeared in their vision. Shaped in a circle, the Arena was surrounded by a mirage of seats that were spotted with a few people observing the fights. It wasn’t even half filled.

The Arena was divided into Nine Platforms. Each one currently getting barraged by the duels that were going on. Despite the fact that most of the fights were between Spectrals, they couldn’t even leave a scratch.

Ragnar and Aura were led to a few seats near the bottom where they had a perfect view of the battles in the Arena. Ragnar observed that the seats were arranged in an upward motion like in a stadium. There were enough seats to house at least a ten thousand people. There were also some cabins at the top layer of the seating area, with black tinted glasses blocking outsider’s from observing their insides.

The seats were sparsely populated as of now, Kalix explained it as lack of any significant battles. So only those who were interested in initiating duels, challenges or observing others duke it out were present. He also mentioned that whenever a match between the top 20 occurs, it would be impossible to find a seat without having any connections.

Aura was also looking around with just as much curiosity as Ragnar. She also noticed from the open roof, since the Arena did not have a ceiling and was completely open, that the sun was about to disappear beyond the horizon. The Sun in the Realm was pure white, unlike that on Earth, so a tint of white was visible among the vibrant violet of the sky.

Aura was thinking about how long this whole charade was going to take. They had many things waiting for them outside of this arena, so it would be nice if things ended here quickly.

Kalix had decided to sit along with them for some reason, did he not have a better thing to do? Anyways, it was better for Ragnar since he had a few technical doubts regarding this whole thing.

“Is my opponent available for this match? How do you make sure that the people being challenged are present in the arena?”

Kalix understood where this was coming from so, he didn’t take long to reply.

“Yeah, your match will probably be next after any of these fights end. We keep it simple, the list I showed you only shows those challengers who are present in the arena. If you want to issue a challenge, then you need to be in the arena. The challenge is put on hold once you leave and will be active again when you return.”

Ragnar nodded as that was a neat system. As he was thinking more on this topic, he heard the announcement being made that called out his name.

“… will be going against, Lord Ragnar”

“It’s your time to shine. You need to head into that arena over there. Good luck.”

Kalix said as he pointed Ragnar towards the designated arena.

Ragnar stood up, taking a big breath as he did. He wasn’t really nervous but slightly excited since he had no idea what to expect from a Spectral. Considering this, it seemed kind of dumb how he was so confident in his victory, but for some reason, he knew he won’t lose here.

He heard another good luck coming from behind him as he walked towards the stairs that led down into the spotlight. He waved his hand to signify that he heard it but didn’t look back. He maybe should have consulted with her regarding his opponent and the ability he was up against, but eeh… too late for that now.

His announcement failed to garner much attention since the result of this fight wasn’t a surprise for the audience. It would appear that his opponent as well didn’t have much going for him. Hence the lack of fan following. Still, a few people were interested in seeing an Arcane get thrashed around on the arena, so they decided to observe this match.

Reaching down into the Arena, he was greeted by the referee who confirmed his identity and then instructed him to climb up on the platform. He could hear sounds of several other fights going around him as other people duked it out. But it was all sent to the background as he saw his opponent climb aboard the platform from his opposite side.

He had a weird fashion taste as he wore an all-white traditional outfit that was accompanied with white hair tied into a ponytail. He was clearly in his 20s but he looked quite old to be honest. But Ragnar wasn’t here to judge. He was just here to beat the living hell out of this guy.

The guy also gave Ragnar weird looks but his reasons were vastly different from Ragnar’s own. And that guy was willing to articulate those reasons through his voice.

“Are you doing charity? I won’t refuse it of course, but why go through such a tedious process. You could have just handed out the money…”

Ragnar found this guy to be quite weird since it didn’t seem like he was joking, instead, he really meant those things. So, instead of getting angry for no reason, Ragnar just turned to the referee for the cue to start.

The referee seemed to understand the assignment as he spoke in a monotone voice, he seemed eager to get this over with as well.

“Start!”

As soon as the words were sent out, no actions were taken by either of the parties except, the white-haired guy raised his hand in a quick motion, only to reach out to fix his hair.

Ragnar was not very appreciative of the lack of respect for himself in the opponent’s eyes, so he planned to attack first to get things started. But as he was considering how he wanted to do it, he suddenly felt the threat of death looming over him. But he couldn’t see anything wrong with his environment. That guy was still fixing his hair without a care in the world.

But Ragnar had the feeling that if he didn’t act this very second than he will die. So he did, a volley of waves erupted from the front of his body that disrupted the flow of air in front of him, at the same time sending his body a few meters behind his initial position. As he stabilized, he felt the threat was no longer there. He had no idea what he had just dodged, but he knew where it had come from.

Because someone seemed to have clicked his tongue at being unable to finish this in one strike.

“*Sign* Couldn’t you have just let it hit you, then we could have both gone our own separate ways, happily ever after. What’s the point of drawing out this meaningless thing anyways?”

Ragnar looked at him straight in the eyes, his face looked expressionless, but it told his opponent a lot of things.

“Yeah, I Agree.”  

With that said, Ragnar raised his arm, turning it into a handgun. His index and middle fingers pointed at his opponent as his thumb was raised high as a trigger. In the next moment, the thumb came down without creating any noise whatsoever.

However, that action was accompanied by a thundering boom that left a trail of vacuum in its path, visible to the naked eyes as the air rushed to fill the gap. Ragnar had used over 50% of his strength in that one and concentrated the attack to a sufficient degree to create a hole through that man’s torso.

But things yet again weren’t going to go as planned. The white clothed man although surprised, managed to erect some sort of barrier in the form of an armour that seemed to be made out of twirling wind around him. However, that wasn’t nearly enough to completely neutralize the attack. He was blasted off the platform despite his efforts to try and stay in.

The audience that was expecting to witness a good thrashing were now glad to be observing this match. Since it seemed like a dark horse had appeared. Arcanes who could go head-to-head against a Spectral were not impossible to come by, but they were still pretty rare. And it would appear that one was present in the Arena today. This also caused more people to shift their attention to this battle between a Spectral and an Arcane.

But despite this, Ragnar didn’t look happy. The white clothed man was currently hovering mid-air outside of the platform as he made his way back within a few seconds. He gracefully landed exactly where he had started and then spent a few seconds fixing his hair. For real this time.

Ragnar heard him speak again but this time, there was no eye contact as that man had his head facing the ground.

“So, you aren’t here for charity, I guess. It’s a good thing; you should give it a try.”

Then he finally raised his head, alongside making several hand gestures that made it seem like he was chopping the air in front of him with his bare hands. He might have been hoping to catch Ragnar off guard again.

But this time, he was ready. He was continuously using his echolocation which allowed him to perfectly see what it was that almost took his life the first time. And to nobody’s surprise, he saw air blades heading at him at breakneck speed. They were invisible to the naked eyes so Ragnar could imagine how many people might have fallen to them.

He must have used it the first time when he reached into his hair. That must have been a cover for his attack. But unfortunately for him, Ragnar’s instincts that were now infinitely amplified by the mere existence of his Shifted form allowed him to sense his imminent death. And thus, dodge it. He probably wouldn’t have died but still pretty heavily injured at the very least.

Now that he could see them, they were easy to dodge.