The once rowdy battlefield turned into a silent arena between Magnus and Tighearna. Their eyes shone and both of them vanished.
Several seconds later, they appeared once again in a perfection condition. Once they appeared, they exchanged hundreds of invisible blows in the sky.
Energy alone blasted most of the unprepared army dozens of meters away. Both of the armies tacitly left, leaving a bunch of SS and SSS rankers who would watch and potentially assist.
The entire time, Tighearna had a massive grin on his face as he felt his body thrive. Each second he spent on the battlefield, the emotions of wrath, greed and such, like nourishment, filled up his body.
Unbeknownst to Magnus, for Tighearna, he was just a way to squeeze most of the juice inside his body for the greatest effect.
This time, Magnus threw out an artifact, which stabilized the space even more. Next, an 'arena' had been made and a system notification appeared.
[Challenger Arena Established...]
[Challenger Magnus vs. Tighearna... Duel to death... No intervention allowed.]
Tighearna looked confident even when he noticed the little trick Magnus had pulled. His muscles bulged and his lean physique transformed into a gym freak like body.
He flashed a grin as he teleported in front of Magnus and swung his fist. In Magnus' vision, Tighearna just appeared out of nowhere as a sense of incredible danger filled his mind.
The unexpected speed Tighearna possessed forced him to use one of his stronger cards right away, as he literally melted into the light just to appear a few meters away.
Before the enemy could organise the next assault, Magnus' body flashed in bright colours and a bunch of status buffs appeared in the corner of his vision.
The world around him began to crawl. At that moment, he could see Tighearna's attack as he barely reacted.
His identification spells failed time and time again. With no options left, he used the special Human System identification which would alert his enemy.
A few seconds of invisible struggle resulted in his victory. Another screen appeared in the corner of his vision.
It held a small amount of information. Not to mention that most of it was useless.
Perhaps the one useful confirmation was his 'weakness' to light based attacks. Helpless, he activated every single body boosting buff and spell.
His muscles now held a grey sheen, and the world slowed down a bit more. Now it was much easier to react to his punches.
With the ability to see the attacks with ease, Magnus began his counterattacks as well. Although Tighearna was losing the exchange, his smile never left his face.
Were their battle spread outside the arena which protected the outside world. The North Pole would be no more.
Magnus knew that it couldn't go on for much longer and began incorporating spells. Tighearna's body slowed down as nausea assaulted his mind.
In a split second of distraction, his body was sent hurling into the barrier. It rippled and a part of his body was turned into a bloody mess.
As if he had enough of playing around. The bones and blood soon turned back. To reveal his perfect condition and this time an armour began to spread around his body.
A chainsaw axe in his arm roared to life. Magnus, too, equipped his armour and a bunch of swords appeared around his body.
Furthermore, unknown to Tighearna. His armour hid a bunch of microscopic needles, waiting to be unleashed.
The duo vanished, and their clash continued. One by one, the swords broke before they were stitched up together by mana.
More and more swords appeared as their quality kept improving. The axe eventually failed to cleave a sword in half and, at the moment of their impact, it sawed through it at incredible speeds.
'Hundreds of rotations per second at least.' Magnus thought to himself as he looked at his inventory.
All of his gear would stand no more than a few seconds before they were turned to shreds by that monstrous weapon.
His mind spun as Tighearna kept to his assault. It continued on for a few moments where dozens of small battles happened. Most of which resulted in Tighearna's victory.
When Magnus found himself near the corner of the arena. He took a deep breath as he summoned a bunch of weapons.
Each held for a few seconds thanks to his mana, and he breathed out hundreds of small needles. Large part of his sneak attack was futile and was blocked by the weapon.
But that was what Magnus wanted as a corrosive effect began eating at the weapon. Like alive, the weapon began to tremble and summoned Tighearna's mana to resist the effect.
Meanwhile, a few needles passed through his defence and reached his armour. It created an identical situation and gave Magnus a few seconds of breathing time.
Except for breathing time, though, it accomplished little. Tighearna's mana pool seemed to be infinite so far as he showed no signs of exhaustion.
This seriously confused Magnus, as he could feel Tighearna's body just growing more and more powerful.
He activated a bunch of visions and noticed something when he activated the mana vision. Inside that man's heart, mana kept engulfing something as it generated more and more mana.
Thanks to the hint he got. He noticed a subtle change regarding his surroundings, as they seemed much less like a battlefield filled with corpses and more like a peaceful graveyard.
Minor change which he wouldn't register if he wasn't fighting a being from the dark dimension. The bodies were fine and their mana cores and things like that had been untouched too.
A bit anxious, he became much calmer in the next second. Something clicked in his mind as he tried to get angry just to be 'robbed' of such a feeling.
The 7 sins passed through his mind as he began working on an illusion spell. Moments later, just as Tighearna had dealt with the corrosive poison, he finished a half done version.
Memories and lives of peace and prosperity were stuffed into Tighearna's brain. At the same time, the process stopped for a few moments.
Assured, now he just had to find the key...
Tighearna became angry, as he felt like he was being played like a fool, and cranked out his power output.
He became much stronger and his axe turned into a blur as three axes appeared around Magnus.
Another power up didn't startle him as much, and he activated the teleportation for the second time.
This time, though, Tighearna's axe shone in the bright light and interrupted his casting process. A booming sound was followed by a body violently smashing into the barrier.
It rippled for a second as it was strengthened by the system. Compared to Tighearna's crazy regeneration, Magnus couldn't figure out how to regenerate without losing his lifespan like crazy.
As such, he summoned a bunch of rare potions and treasures he got from the system and devoured them.
His broken legs and arm began to heal at the visible rate. Though it didn't dull the pain as he grit his teeth.
He couldn't afford to sit in one place and threw out a bunch of illusions, which created hundreds of copies inside the arena.
Tighearna didn't waste much time and nearly finished Magnus with a right swing. Meanwhile, Magnus recasted most of his buffs and got ready to go at it again.
Much to his relief, the enemy didn't have a monstrous instinct or all-seeing eyes. Thus, Magnus kept swapping his body with the clones whenever Tighearna chanced nearby.
This cat-and-mouse chase continued for a solid minute before Magnus regenerated back enough. By the time he did, just two copies remained and soon were destroyed.
Tiny fear soon returned to his mind, with memories of his past life flashing by. In the end, he didn't know if he should laugh or cry as that fear was ripped out and soon absorbed by Tighearna.
To test things out, he summoned a nuke out of his inventory and teleported it next to his last clone.
Massive explosion engulfed Tighearna and small cracks appeared on his armour. Magnus wasn't spared from it either though and shield artifacts he prepared for it kept breaking.
Then he teleported next to Tighearna and hugged him tight. Surprised, Tighearna didn't know what to think for a second before he felt a sharp pain in his stomach.
Magnus used his most potent trump card as literal light began to shine in the part of Tighearna's stomach.
Like searing a steak a smoke came out of his body as Tighearna turned into a dark substance which fought against the aggressive light.
A tug of war continued for a few moments and used this opportunity to absorb negative emotions. The container which stored mana he and Sophia came up with worked somewhat.
He then put hundreds of mana stones next to the container and merged them. A simple spell was cast, which would repeat a single spell.
Next, he put his final 'masterpiece' as the negative turned into a positive. Mana began to drain at a rapid speed. However, it would last for a few minutes.
The density of negative emotions lowered down and the mana regeneration, Tighearna fueled everything with, did too.
Magnus then more than 2/5s of his remaining mana as he used his strongest quick attack. The wave mana turned into a lion on its way as it chomped down Tighearna's hand.
Rest of his light needles followed as they struck two parts of his body. The light made Tighearna wail in agony as searing pain tortured his body.
Magnus was about to finish it all before a small, unnoticeable trinket on Tighearna's neck shone in green and blue.
Light rampaging inside his body was extinguished in an instant as a soul attack struck Magnus full on.
In time, he barely managed to put up a defence as his instincts screamed. Like sea sickness, it struck him and made him dizzy.
Tighearna's body healed itself by the time he shook off the dizziness and he was already squeezing the last pieces of his mana inside an all out attack.
He used his last two trinkets to turn into light, forcing Tighearna to divert some mana to stop him. Magnus showed his final card as he summoned a sharp, light spear made out of his inventory.
Bunch of spells which drained the last drops of his mana boosted the speed of the spear to maximum as he threw it out.
His own body falling, making it an easy target. Meanwhile, Tighearna threw out his overwhelming attack as well.
Perhaps he even burned a part of his lifespan, as the attack was dozens of times more powerful than Magnus could ever cast.
It had one fatal flaw, however. Its density was quite low due to the amount of mana, and it was more of an AOE attack.
Both strikes turned it into a contest of speed and endurance. The spear slowed down a bit as it pierced through the attack.
Tighearna's strike landed first and tears on his armour and flesh began to appear. A couple of healing items hidden in Magnus' mouth saved him from an instant death.
In a moment, dozens of cycles filled with regeneration and destruction followed before the spear found its victim.
It cleanly entered Tighearna's body as it found his soul and exploded.
Just when Magnus couldn't hold on for any longer, the time seemed to stop. Attacks lost their potency as the overseer appeared.
"The two of you are rare talents, and I couldn't bear to lose you. However, there can be only one who attends the Academy, even I cannot change that." He said as he tapped his cane and both of them appeared sitting in their chairs.
The chessboard no longer held only the kings, as pawns, horses, queens, bishops, and rooks were knocked over in different spots.
And there was a clear checkmate visible on the board...
[Volume 1 end]