Rising Against Fate

He dodged the lightning bolts by jumping from one glass step to another. He wasn't sure where the lightning would hit next, but by constantly moving, he was able to dodge them all.

After the lightning stopped, the next attack came in the form of wind slashes. Even though they were invisible, it was easy to sense them coming as he noticed the change in melody.

As soon as he noticed, he reflexively activated the shadow shield and blocked the attack.

After blocking the first few flashes, he used Glass Walk to charge forward while still blocking the incoming slashes. Even though he couldn't hear, he could sense the vibrations of air ripples, which made those attacks predictable.

"Dark slash!"

Right when he found an opening, he fired a Dark slash at Ren.

Even though there was an opening since Ren had to dodge the attack, Razak didn't charge in. This was because he was aware of the technique that sound mages could use when their opponents cover their ears. It was a simple technique that could take the opponent's advantage away, called physical conduction.

It was an advanced version of bone conduction, which was used to transfer sound through bones in the skull instead of the ear canal.

Within a specific range, Ren could use this technique to transfer the sound to his inner ear, so moving closer was dangerous.

Ren moved around and dodged the attack while still playing her flute. As she was doing that, a ripple of highly concentrated air was being sent towards Razak.

Razak dodged them by jumping from one glass step to another, and using the opportunity he gets to counterattack Ren with the shadow slash.

Both of them looked completely even as this was happening. Now the question was: Who could keep this up longer?

The match looked close, and a single mistake here was enough to cost either the tournament. But both were so flawless in their arts that it was hard even to catch a single error.

The cheering was getting louder the longer the clash drew. All three judges were staring at them without even uttering a single word.

Watching the masters of two drastically different arts clash like this was simply an exciting experience for most out there.

As the clash drew, signs of fatigue could be observed in Ren's movement. This was no surprise since she was continuously playing the flute all this time. While in comparison, Razak was showing little to no fatigue. His movements were getting even smoother with every passing moment.

Old man Kin, who was closely observing Razak's movement, was smiling from his chair. It didn't take him long to recognize the motion he was using.

In the war, the battle could draw for any number of hours. Due to that, the military magicians were taught a number of ways to preserve their stamina. The technique Razak was using prevented any unnecessary movements that would require too much energy.

Not just physical movement, his use of magic was also phenomenally advanced. He was preserving his mana, and instead of constantly using it like Ren, he was using it in bursts.

For several of Ren's attacks, he was just looking for an opening and attacking with only one Shadow slash. This way, it would appear as though he was firing at the opponent with equal force, while in reality, he would just be using less power and more precision.

Ren smiled as she stopped playing, and jumped back. She realized that this way, her loss was obvious, so her best option was to go all out instead of drawing this match more longer. She knew that she was only giving Razak an advantage over her this way.

"I think it's time for my last performance of the day."

Even though it looked like her guard was down, all of her senses were focused entirely on Razak. He knew that, so instead of charging in thoughtlessly, he prepared himself for the final clash.

Ren took a long breath, during which she was vulnerable. Razak used this window of opportunity to move closer and attacked her with a series of shadow slashes.

He was aware of her abilities, so instead of stepping on the floor, he was still using the glass steps.

She moved towards her left to dodge the attack and prepared to go offensive.

"Calmness of the forest!"

As soon as her lips touched the flute, a wind barrier appeared around her to prevent any incoming attacks.

While Razak was trying to ascertain the new spell's risk and prepare his defenses, he felt a sharp pain near his ear.

"Dark Cocoon!"

Before even checking what happened, he activated the spell. If he had waited to confirm what happened, he would have been a victim of over ten tiny cuts like the one he just felt in his ears.

There was no such thing as being over-cautious when your opponent turns out to be this stilled.

He never thought Ren would be able to activate and use it this quickly, but what she pulled off just now proved that his cautions weren't unjustified.

The Calmness of the forest was an advanced class spell used while fighting a stronger opponent. It was a set of small scale sneak attacks that were hard to notice. But under the right circ.u.mstances, it could slowly weaken your opponent with minor cuts and make them bleed to death without them even noticing.

Under the right environment and in the proper situation, this spell could cause massive damage to opponents and even confuse an entire medium-sized company of soldiers.

Razak could just wait for her to run out of mana and go on offensive later, but that would kill the crowd's excitement. Instead, he decided to go with the plan for which he had already laid down the groundwork.

He deactivated the cocoon and activated the shadow shield, which covered most of his vital parts. He then used the glass step to move towards Ren.

While moving forward, Razak received a few cuts on his arms and legs. But right when Ren was increasing the speed of her tone, something grabbed her from behind.

It was the shadow devil that Razak had sent behind during the earlier attack. The frontal attacks then were just an diversion to send the devil. She was vulnerable while catching her breath, and that was when he planted the trap.

Due to the sudden surprise, she lost her tone, and her music stopped. At that exact moment, Razak reached right in front of her. And before she could see what's coming, he attacked her with a sharp blow to the side of her neck.

She was in no position to dodge the attack, and the blow was aimed perfectly to knock her unconscious. With that, Razak won the match after suffering a few minor injuries.