The Greatest Sinner

Fien dodged two of Dirk's attacks and now it was her turn to attack. Like the last time she had fought against Evan, her weapon was a snow-white rapier.

Pushing herself back from the stone bayonet, she began to gather mana and in a moment, a wind vortex appeared around her rapier. She cast - "Humble Whirlwind", now her weapon was more deadly and had an increased area of damage.

Fien understood that she was faster and more agile than Dirk, and she needed to use it. Moreover, the hammer was a slow and heavy weapon, while the rapier could attacked dozens of times in a matter of seconds.

She landed and rushed toward Dirk at lightning speed. The young man wasn't going to dodge, he was just going to take a blow and block it.

Clang.

Fein swung her rapier from top to bottom, intending to wound her opponent. But Dirk simply set the hilt of his hammer to the blow and completely negated the girl's blow.

Nevertheless, Fien wasn`t upset by this outcome, for her plan was fully executed.

Whoosh.

The girl jumped aside and looked at her opponent. At this moment, Dirk's face contorted in pain, as Fien didn't just attack him. When she had struck, she`d cast her summoning spell and a thick root pierced Dirk's leg.

Dirk clenched his teeth in pain, broke and pulled the root out. Now Dirk realized that he had underestimated Fien, and that he needed to pull himself together. Now he realized how many opportunities the rules that Fane had set up could give.

Whoosh.

Dirk's "Warp" spun and changes began to happen to his hammer. A thick layer of stone began to cover the weapon. Sharp, stone spikes grew on the striking part of the hammer. The hammer looked more menacing now. The spell Dirk had cast was very similar to Evan's "Ice Veil".

The hammer was stronger, but much heavier. In his normal state Dirk could swing his hammer with one hand with ease. Now as he was wounded and the hammer was covered in a layer of stone, he needed to hold the weapon with both hands.

On the one hand, it might seem that Dirk made a mistake using this spell, as he became even slower, and he was well aware of that.

He couldn't be as fast as Fien, much less with an injured leg. Therefore, Dirk staked on slow but very powerful strikes.

The young man did not attack, but kept a close eye on Fien and her actions. He intended to block each of her attacks and look for the right moment to his attack. If Fien wanted to win, she simply had no choice but to attack him herself.

However, she was in no hurry to attack. Her opponent was already wounded, which meant she just had to build up her advantage.

Whoosh.

Fien gathered mana and a green magic circle appeared from the ground behind Dirk. Just like last time, the thick root rushed to pierce her opponent's leg, but this time Dirk was ready for such an attack.

Whoosh.

He swung his massive hammer and smashed the root into pieces.

Fien frowned, her attack was ineffective, but to drain her opponent's strength she cast the spell several more times. Dirk destroyed each of the roots before they got to him.

After several unsuccessful attempts, Fien stopped attacking Dirk, as it was a waste of mana, which she had less than Dirk.

Their duel slowed for a few seconds, but Dirk's next actions shook everyone in the arena.

Whoosh.

Two magical circles instantly appeared next to Fien and the stone bayonets flew straight at her. Of course, she had expected such an attack, so she could easily dodge them.

However, Dirk had no hope that such an attack could hurt Fien. It was a distraction.

The moment the stone bayonets appeared next to Fien, another appeared next to Dirk. The young man was wounded, but seeing that their fight was not moving from a dead point, he decided to act.

Whoosh.

Dirk jumped into the air and pushed himself back from the stone bayonet with all his might.

Crack.

Dirk was incredibly strong, so at the same moment the stone bayonet fell apart. He flew toward the girl like a bullet.

A second later, Dirk was at Fien's side. The girl hadn`t expected such an eccentric and daring attack. She only had time to dodge the two stone bayonets as the massive hammer was already bearing down on her.

Bam.

Fien tried to block the blow, but it did her no good. The spiked hammer slammed into the girl's left arm, sending her flying back several meters.

Dirk spent quite a lot of mana and strength on this combination. One bounce from the stone bayonet brought him terrible pain, but he was pleased with his result.

With her face contorted with pain, Fien slowly rose. Her left arm was not just broken, but shattered by the spiked hammer. It was a terrifying sight, but you could get worse wounds on the battlefield.

Of course, Dirk's blow was very powerful, such an attack would have easily killed an ordinary person. But magicians were much stronger, and their bodies were stronger than others.

When a person becomes a magician, even if he is just a beginner, he is already strikingly different from those who have no talent for magic. Not only does mana allow magicians to use spells, but it also allows them to become stronger.

That's why Fien was able to withstand such a powerful blow. If she hadn't been a magician, she wouldn't have been able to survive the attack of such a physically strong opponent.

For the same reason, there was no inequality between the two sexes in the world of magicians. Whether you were a woman or a man, it didn't matter. The strongest person decided everything. If a man and a woman were equal in strength, then they had the same status.

No advantage was given to either side, nor were any indulgences given. For some, absolute equality was a real curse, but for others it was considered the ideal treatment of one another. Everyone was free to go his or her own way and not to conform to anyone else.

Why made up something, put labels on a person or treated him with witting dislike if it simply made no sense? Power decided everything, and this applied not only to gender equality, but to the whole structure of Clans and Families and politics.

Of course, humans are not soulless tools and they all have feelings. Freedom is also about being free to do what you want and think. But, if you turn out to be wrong in that case, you have to be prepared for the consequences.

Fien was seriously injured. Her left arm was now completely useless, but that didn't mean she was going to give up because of it. Her opponent also didn't have much strength left, which meant she had a chance to win.