Victor was also surprised. Not because Sol disappeared, but because he saw that his bombardment was completely evaded. Even though he had held back to avoid accidentally killing Sol, it seemed that his attack was actually not powerful enough.

Tracking the movements beneath him through [Mana Perception], Victor leaped backward into the air. Soon after, Sol burst out where he once stood and activated the Lipon’s third skill, [Violent Whirlpool]. It cost a third of his water elemental cartridge, but in return, a large blast of water ejected from his blade at close range. This was powerful enough to extinguish Victor’s [Flame Barrier] but was unable to hurt him thanks to his second barrier. Though unhurt, the force was enough to blast him 15 feet backward as he slid across the floor.

“Sol dodged his fireballs by going underneath the arena! Not only did he evade it completely, he also launched a surprise attack on Victor, forcing him to move for the first time!” Oeser announced excitedly.

The water that wasn’t evaporated by the now quenched [Flame Barrier] scattered throughout the entire arena.

“[Fire Snakes]!”

Deciding to step up his game a bit, Victor finally cast his first intermediate spell. Three large twisting pillars of fire shot outwards and curved towards Sol.

“[Tsunami]!”

A large wave of water rose behind Sol as it passed over him and met the three fire snakes. Though this spell definitely cost the most mana for Sol, it did its job perfectly in extinguishing the snakes.

Victor continued to cast spell after spell, now using intermediate level spells, but as Sol found ways to either dodge or counter them, Victor grew more and more annoyed.

‘I know Lord Sigurd said I should keep it to basic spells to undermine them all, but I’ll never beat him at this rate.’

He swung his arm, sending a large wave of fire, which Sol countered by casting [Ocean’s Protection], creating a dense barrier around him as he broke through a small part of the fire wave. After breaking out, Sol didn’t even attack but instead waited for Victor’s next spell.

“Sol broke through the large wall of fire!” Oeser exclaimed.

While the audience was loving the drawn out fight, Victor was already past the point of annoyance, ‘This rat keeps avoiding me.’

It hadn’t escaped his notice that after Sol used the Lipon’s active skill and didn’t break through his final barrier, he had stopped attacking altogether. Sol would still cast a spell or launch rocks at Victor, but none of them had any intention of actually doing anything besides bothering him.

‘He knows he can’t win with those attacks, so what the hell is he planning?’

A water arrow collided against Victor’s barrier, doing nothing but spraying water in his surroundings.

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His eyes twitched in fury, ‘Fuck it.’

He began to mumble a spell for longer than two seconds.

Sol’s eyes widened in alarm, ‘Definitely not a normal spell to take that long. I don’t know if I have a counter for that… Should I start for real? No, I still need more time!’

With [Terra Manipulation], Sol caused the ground beneath Victor to sink in hopes of making him fall in, but to his surprise, the man floated in the air, held up by his own mana.

“[Mystic Confluence]!”

As a last ditch effort, Sol cast a spell at the cost of a large portion of his mana. Water appeared from both sides of the arena and crashed into each other with Victor stuck between them. Not only was the collision of two bodies of water extremely powerful, but it also had the added effect of flooding the area with the water element, making it harder to cast non-water spells.

From within the turbulent waters, Victor was unharmed, his body emanating intense heat that boiled and evaporated any water that got within one foot of him. Two more seconds passed, and he finished casting his spell.

“[Infernal Star].”

The crashing currents began to boil as Victor levitated out of the water, holding a shining white light. Even from a distance, people could feel the intense heat it radiated, and even Sol, who had an incredibly tough body, began to sweat.

‘I don’t think I can survive that if I get hit by it directly. It’s not ready, but it’s all I’ve got.’

As this occurred, Sol realized he was no longer able to hear the audience. This wasn’t because they were quiet but because the colosseum workers activated the arena’s barrier.

Outside the barrier, Oeser explained to the crowd how it worked to reassure them.

“Don’t worry, folks, we have just activated the barrier! This is just a precaution as it appears the fight is now reaching its peak! Unfortunately, the barrier also blocks sound based attacks as a safeguard and can’t be deactivated, but worry not! We do not need to hear their words but see their actions! Let’s see who comes out on top!”

Holding the burning star over his head, Victor spoke, “I’m only gonna say this once, surrender. You don’t have to die here.”

Victor was pissed at the fact he actually had to cast an advanced level spell just to win a fight against someone who wasn’t even A-Rank. Though previously he had been elevating spells to the advanced level through his mastery of magic, it never held the same power as a true advanced level spell.

“Can you give me some time to consider it?”

“No.”

“Pretty please?”

Victor had enough of his games. “Enough stalling, good luck surviving th—huh?!”

Victor’s instincts screamed at him, warning him of something deep below. When he looked down, he saw incredibly dense mana enter his range of [Mana Perception], coming from deep underground and heading towards him frighteningly fast.

Sol smirked upon seeing Victor's shock, giving him the confidence that it just might work.

“Nah, I don’t think I’m gonna surrender.”

The ground trembled and cracked, revealing a one foot long spike made of partially crystallized stone. It flew through the air, still heading straight towards Victor.

“Shit!”

With how dense the spike was, he wasn’t going to risk it with his mana barrier. The star originally intended for Sol was sent downwards to intercept the dense rock.

The star exploded upon contact with the spike, resulting in an explosion that expanded throughout the arena. Sol dived underground to take cover from the indirect attack as Victor used it to blast himself away from the spike's trajectory.

The fiery blast was contained within the arena’s barrier, for if not, the weaker members of the audience would have been severely or fatally burned.

Once the explosion subsided, Sol reemerged and saw Victor perfectly unharmed but livid. After emerging, Sol saw his spike was red from the heat it had absorbed but had survived the blast, which meant he could still use it.

Levitating the red hot spike, Sol pointed it towards Victor and asked, “Do you want to surrender?”