Soon, Davyon and his team, as well as Rudrean and the others, arrived at the Arena.

The Arena had a single giant floating ring spanning a 100-meter radius, covered by barriers, while audience seating surrounded it from all sides.

They registered for a duel with the handlers of the place.

"So, what are we betting?" Davyon asked with a savvy smile.

"Hmmm, how about some Mana Stones?" Rudrean smiled.

"Sure. Which tier of Mana Stones do you want to bet? How about Tier-7 Mana Stones? Or higher?" Davyon asked, his face almost sneering.

’A random riffraff can’t match my family’s wealth.’

Isalyn counted out a pile of Tier-10 Mana Stones from the mirror’s dimension and handed them to Rudrean.

Rudrean placed the pouch on the table.

"Tier-10 Mana Stones. A hundred."

Instantly, everyone nearby turned toward the table.

Even the staff member handling the registration was dumbfounded.

"Tier-10 Mana Stones?"

"Humph, he’s obviously joking." Davyon grabbed the pouch and checked it.

A moment later, his eyes trembled.

’What the fuck?! How does he have Tier-10 Mana Stones?’

’Even I would need to speak with my father to obtain Tier-10 Mana Stones!’

"Ehhh? Don’t tell me you don’t even have Tier-10 Mana Stones?" Aelira asked loudly, her tone dripping with mockery.

"Humph, who said I don’t?" Davyon snorted and took out another pouch. "Here. Exactly one hundred Tier-10 Mana Stones."

’Damn it. I was supposed to exchange them for lower-tier Mana Stones, and this is all I currently have.’

Davyon looked at Rudrean.

’But this guy is weaker than me. Once I win, I’ll get two hundred Tier-10 Mana Stones.’

Thinking that, a confident smile returned to Davyon’s face.

"Alright. Since the bet is placed, let’s do this."

"Sure." Rudrean casually flew toward the arena ring at the center.

Meanwhile, news spread rapidly.

"An insane duel is happening if anyone wants to watch and bet!"

"Rank 8 versus Rank 97! And they’re betting Tier-10 Mana Stones!"

"What?! Tier-10 Mana Stones? Are you drunk?"

"Holy shit, it’s true! Tier-10 Mana Stones as the wager?!"

"Humph, they must both belong to Top-100 families."

"One of them does. Davyon Lenerith. The Lenerith family currently ranks 62nd, right?"

"Yeah. They fell hard after dropping from 16th place over the last five years since their previous family head and his entire team were killed on the frontier. That was a huge blow."

"Everyone! You can freely place your bets in this no-item duel! Who will win?! Rank 8 Davyon Lenerith or the handsome unknown ranked 97th? The fight starts in five seconds!"

The referee arrived on a floating carpet and announced loudly while circling around the arena.

"Five!"

"Four!"

Rudrean and Davyon stood fifty meters apart.

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Zero!"

Davyon moved instantly.

Pointing his finger toward Rudrean, seven magic circles flickered into existence before firing flexible beams of crimson-green plasma toward him.

’Oh? Wind and Fire?’ Rudrean blinked. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Davyon possessed the same elemental affinities as him.

The attacks were extremely fast and struck Rudrean instantly, triggering seven loud explosions in succession.

"Huh? Don’t tell me that was it?" Davyon raised his eyebrows.

But once the dust settled, Rudrean was still standing in the exact same spot.

The ground around him had been damaged and was already repairing itself, but Rudrean himself remained completely unharmed.

"You got any Combat Art?" Rudrean asked casually. "You should use it and go all out."

Davyon snorted. "You need to be worthy of it first."

"Is that so?" Rudrean smiled wryly.

His eyes flickered slightly before he pointed his finger toward Davyon.

Zooom!

It happened in the blink of an eye.

No magic circles. No flashy visuals.

Only an almost invisible beam glowing with a faint smoky violet color.

This shade was created through the absolute fusion of Fire and Wind while maintaining maximum temperature at maximum execution speed.

Rudrean had named this swift piercing attack: Boreal Puncture.

An attack engineered for ultimate swiftness and ultimate penetration.

A perfectly round thumb-sized hole instantly appeared through Davyon’s shoulder.

"ARGHHHH!" Davyon screamed as the pain finally registered.

"Don’t worry," Rudrean smiled. "The wound is sealed. It won’t bleed. You can heal it easily later."

Davyon’s eyes snapped toward Rudrean in shock.

"Y-You..."

In the next moment, his aura exploded outward.

A pair of blazing fire-wind wings emerged behind him while a mixed elemental robe wrapped around his body.

’Oof. Such an inefficient and badly optimized Combat Art.’ Isalyn shook her head while observing from inside the mirror dimension.

Davyon vanished and appeared behind Rudrean at incredible speed, his fist wrapped in a blazing vortex of fire and wind aimed directly at Rudrean’s head.

At the same moment, Rudrean’s own Combat Art activated.

Flowing white ribbons appeared around his arms while rings materialized around his wrists and legs.

BOOM!

Davyon’s fist was caught firmly within Rudrean’s palm.

A violent explosion erupted from the impact.

Rudrean’s Magic Suit and defensive layers endured the entire force effortlessly.

But the rebound force generated by Rudrean blocking the attack exploded outward instead, violently flinging Davyon away like a ragdoll.

The audience was dumbfounded.

"What just happened?"

"Davyon attacked him, but Davyon was the one sent flying?"

"Who the hell is that guy?"

"Uhh... his registration says Rank 97."

"There’s no way."

Davyon got back up, his face burning with shock, embarrassment, and confusion.

"Who are you?"

Rudrean raised his eyebrows.

"I am Rudrean Zen."

"Heir of the..."

The entire arena fell completely silent.

Everyone leaned forward.

They all wanted to hear his background.

"The most glorious kingdom that exists in another world." Rudrean rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Let me think of a name. Give me one second."

"..."

"..."

"..."

Aelira burst into laughter first.

Then the entire arena exploded into laughter as well.

"Bastard! Die!"

Davyon erupted with his full power.

Two gigantic blazing lances formed around his arms, spiraling with fire and wind as he instantly appeared before Rudrean and thrust them forward.

Rudrean vanished from the spot at the final moment as though Davyon’s speed was nothing more than a joke to him.

Which, in truth, it was.

"Too slow."

Rudrean lightly tapped Davyon’s shoulder from behind.

At the moment of contact, he executed a technique.

Bomb Touch.

A tightly compressed layer of explosive wind and condensed firepower wrapped itself around Davyon’s body.

BOOOOM!

Davyon’s Magic Suit shattered instantly.

The explosion invaded his internals, flooding his body with smoke and overwhelming his mind before knocking him unconscious while simultaneously burning his entire body.

"AND WE HAVE A WINNER! HOLY MOLY!"

"Damn! He made it look easy!"

"It was fucking easy for him!"

"Yeah, no. That guy is definitely not Rank 97."

Far away, inside a tower pub, a pair of eyes narrowed slightly.

’He’s hiding his power just like those other monsters.’

’But who exactly is Rudrean Zen?’

’Interesting... this will become very interesting.’