The Fighting Arena was already full when Tony arrived.

Every seat was taken... entire arena is packed with large crowd. Tony just stared at a fat guy and found a position at the front, the leopard’s presence doing the work of parting people without him needing to ask.

On the platform, both fighters were already in position.

Max Pitt stood on the opposite of the Arena... Grandmaster stage cultivation with visible killing intent. He held the Earth Rank spear loosely in one hand, the way people hold things they consider already won.

Even at rest, the weapon looks fierce— One can see the quality of refined material, the condensed martial intent embedded over years of work, the subtle weight of a weapon that had moved past ordinary grades.

The crowd watched the spear with great interest.

On the near side... Kevin Ten stood with death stare.

He has a plain Human rank sword at his hip. The sword is issued to inner disciples who haven’t own any powerful weapon on their own. Kevin is a peak Master Warrior.

Everyone in the dome had decided to see the death of Kevin Ten before the fight even began.

But Kevin’s face was calm. Not the calm of someone who didn’t understand. The calm of someone who had understood completely and made peace with it before arriving.

Tony stared at Kevin with great interest as the system already placed Kevin’s name before him.

*************************

[Fated Villain System]

Heaven Chosen Detected!

Scanning... Profile Unlocked.

Name: Kevin Ten

Age: 18

Fate Grade: ★★★ (Three Stars)

Cultivation Base: Master Warrior [Peak]

Destiny: Sword Saint

Innate Ability: Sword Soul— Natural sword intent from birth. Learns any sword technique with a single viewing.

Note: If Kevin Ten dies today, a Sword Saint is permanently erased from the future.

**************************

Tony stared at the screen. Then at the elder overseeing the duel who is standing at the platform edge with his hands behind his back.

’So that’s how it is, Three stars. Not a direct threat to my fate line— not yet. But you don’t let a future Sword Saint die in a rigged match over a family fine.’ Tony thought.

He settled with a elbow on the snow leopard and watched the Arena master raise his hand.

***

Kevin moved first.

The crowd, which had come expecting a one move death of Kevin, leaned forward.

Kevin Ten’s sword strike precise. It was fast. He didn’t give any time for Max Pitt to use the power of earth rank spear.

Kevin’s each strike carried killing intent, the sword movement was unpredictable for Max Pitt.

Max was pushed back. One step... Then two.

Kevin decided to finish Max Pitt as soon as possible. Because once the Earth Rank Spear starts attacking, he won’t have any chance to kill Max.

Kevin’s plan worked as Max had no time to raise the spear.

"He’s winning?!"

"Kevin is actually pushing Max BACK?!"

"How...!? How is a Master Warrior matching a Grandmaster?!"

Tony watched and said nothing. He watched Kevin’s feet, not his expression. He watched the sword... it moved like an extension of something already decided rather than a tool being directed.

The Sword Soul wasn’t technique. It was instinct refined to the point where technique and instinct became the same thing.

Max who realised his mistake tried to move away from Kevin’s sword range. But he has no chance. Finally, Max wilffuly took a strike to his thigh and jumped away.

A small group of Kevin’s supporters clapped. But Kevin’s face turned ugly. He lost the advantage and the plan to finish Max at once.

Now Max Pitt has all time and space to rarrange his stance and use the powerful earth rank spear.

"Ahhhh..." Max cried as he pushed the Earth Rank spear with skill.

Kevin raised his plain sword to meet it.

"Katchhhh..."

The crack was sharp and clean and final.

Kevin’s blade split in two.

The human rank steel crumbled under the Earth Rank weapon’s pressure, pieces falling away across the platform.

"Hahahaha... that’s the power of earth rank weapon!" The Pitt family elder shouted in joy.

More Pitt family members began cheering with loud noise.

Kevin stood with the broken hilt in his hand and looked at it for one second. His expression didn’t change from that settled calm. But something underneath tightened, very slightly— the face of someone facing the fate which he already knew was coming.

Max smiled for the first time in the duel.

"There it is," he said. "Now we can finish this properly."

He drove forward with a loud cry.

The Arena became a one-sided domination.

Without the sword to answer it, the Earth Rank spear became unstoppable. Max moved through the space between them with ease. His wild laughter filled the arena as Max attacked nonstop like a cat toying with trapped mouse.

A strike to the shoulder that sent Kevin staggering sideways, a sweeping blow that buckled his knees and dropped him to one knee, a downward slam with the spear shaft that knocked Kevin’s guard wide and left him open and bleeding from his lip.

Kevin tried to stand. Max hit him again before he reached full height. He tried to raise his arm. Max redirected it and drove the shoulder down.

The crowd had gone from excited to quiet in a way that had nothing to do with anticipation. Some people were looking away. Others were looking at the elder, waiting for an intervention that wasn’t coming.

"It’s over," someone behind Tony muttered. "Just end it already." 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

"Where is the elder?! Why isn’t he stopping it?!"

"It’s death trail... Idiot." A lady uttered in a sercastic tone.

"The Pitt family wants it to go all the way. You think that elder is going to stop what the Pitt family wants?!"

Max stood over Kevin, who was on one knee with his head down and blood dripping from three places.

Max Pitt raised the spear for the final strike— aiming not at the chest but at the neck. Slow. Deliberate. Making sure every person in the Arena understood what it meant to cross the Pitt family.

The elder at the platform edge watched with his hands still behind his back.

Just then Tony reached into his storage ring. He grabbed the earth rank sword which his father gifted a long time ago on his birthday.

The sword left his hand in a single arc and flew into the Arena like a judgement.

The sword pierced into Arena floor and stood like a star in-front of Kevin Ten’s kneeling position.

"What...!!!"

The golden sword shined like a crown and attracted everyone’s attention inside the Arena.

"Earth Rank Sword!!!"