Kaida exhaled slowly, accepting the reality of the situation. No matter how hard she thought, she found no way to get out of this predicament.

"I concede," she said.

The crowd erupted into cheers filled with genuine warmth for both fighters.

Kaida had pushed Morgana harder than anyone else in the tournament had managed, and the stadium knew it.

Morgana unclenched her fist.

The vines retreated, unwinding from Kaida’s legs and arms and sliding back into the cracks in the arena floor until no one could see them again.

She lowered her sword, looked at Kaida directly, and gave her a single nod.

Kaida returned it, a wide smile breaking across her face despite everything.

She rolled her shoulders, shook out her arms, and walked back to her chair knowing that she’d given everything in the tournament and had nothing to regret about it.

Rollo allowed the cheers from the crowd to settle before speaking.

"And before our very eyes, we’ve seen a glorious exchange between two exceptional fighters." He looked up into the stands. "Remember that match."

He turned.

"Our second semifinal match begins with a name that has generated strong feelings in this stadium since his quarterfinal performance." He paused deliberately.

"Let’s welcome... Liam Walker."

The crowd was split in their reception of the young man.

Some cheered, willing to see more carnage now that it was two guys fighting, while others booed, unable to let go of what he’d done to Belle Aurielle.

Liam stood and walked to the arena without acknowledging either response.

His expression was calm, and nobody could tell what he was thinking behind those dark eyes.

"And his opponent." Rollo’s voice filled the air, "we have an Awakener who always comes out on top no matter what is thrown at him, Lukas Valentine!"

Lukas stood.

He’d watched Morgana’s vines emerge from the stone and had already identified which class she had.

He was certain it was the [Druid] class, and as she already knew about his [Fallen Angel] class from the registration slip, they were even on information.

There would be no advantage to not showing all his skills today.

He smiled to himself as he walked to the arena.

Today, he was going all out.

Rollo’s arm came down. "Begin."

Lukas raised his hand towards the sky immediately the fight began.

Liam activated [Unbreakable] in the same instant as Lukas brought his hand down.

[Smite] activated.

The sky above the open-roofed stadium darkened in a localized pocket directly above the arena, and then the beam descended. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

A concentrated column of golden holy energy, the same as Liam’s [Divine Wrath], hit the arena floor where Liam was standing with a sound like a struck bell amplified a hundredfold.

[Unbreakable] shattered immediately.

Liam fell to a knee, the impact driving him down. The impact had hit him as if his skill hadn’t been active, but he knew that without it, he’d have taken more damage.

Blood left his mouth, spraying onto the cracked stone beneath him.

He stared at it for a moment, his face filled with shock and disbelief, as if he couldn’t believe there was someone else in the tournament apart from Belle who could break his skill.

He looked up at Lukas to see the young man had a vicious grin on his face.

Liam snarled and activated [Avatar of Valor], the golden light igniting in his eyes as the aura began to build around him.

But before he could even rise to his feet, another [Smite] descended.

His second knee hit the stone, and the floor cracked from the point of impact in a spreading web.

This time, the damage was lesser due to his [Avatar of Valor] as he tried to push against the force.

Then the third [Smite] hit.

He went down on all fours, the empowered [Avatar of Valor] aura flickering under the sustained pressure of repeated divine energy meeting divine energy.

The force threatened to overwhelm the peak state he was in, and the only reason it hadn’t was because his [Crusader] class generally received less damage from other holy skills.

Until the fourth [Smite] descended.

His whole body hit the floor, a loud crack filling the air.

But Lukas just kept going.

The crowd had been loud going into the fight, but now they were quiet, watching in open mouthed horror.

They were unable to tear their eyes away as [Smite] after [Smite] descended one after the other, each one landing before the dust from the previous had settled.

The force kept slamming into Liam, driving his empowered state deeper and deeper into the shattered stone.

He couldn’t rise, and he couldn’t activate anything as the force didn’t give him enough time to do anything except endure the pain.

And so the seconds passed, and when Lukas finally lowered his hand, the arena floor around Liam was unrecognizable.

The stone was cratered and reduced to rubble in a wide radius around the point of impact.

At the center of it, Liam Walker lay face down and motionless, blood pooling on the stone beneath him, the golden light gone entirely from his eyes.

The stadium was silent as Lukas stared at what remained for a moment.

"Tch." He turned away. "Weak."

He walked back towards his seat.

The silence lasted for two more seconds before the crowd found its voice again.

And this time, the cheer that came down from the stands was the loudest the current tournament had ever produced.

Rollo descended, looking at the scene below him, and raised his hand.

"Winner, Lukas Valentine."

He hovered there for a minute, letting the cheers go on before continuing.

"We’ve had two beautiful matches today, and seen two different kinds of excellence."

"Tomorrow, only one match remains. The final. And from that match, one fighter walks away with the [Kairos Fillet]."

He turned to look at Lukas and Morgana in turn.

"Rest well, Awakeners. Because tomorrow, this tournament ends."

He rose into the sky and was gone.

The crowd immediately erupted in conversation, everyone discussing the way Lukas had dominated against Liam.

Lukas stood from his chair, ready to leave when he saw movement at the edge of his vision.

He turned to the arena to see Morgana walking across it towards him.

The nearby competitors noticed immediately and Whispers began to fill the air, everyone turning to see what was going to happen.

She stopped in front of him.

"Expect a visit from me." Her voice was low, meant only for him to hear.

Then she turned and walked away.

Lukas stood there, watching her go.

Was she actually going to visit him?