The other applicants in the smaller viewing area become restless as the match begins.

They whisper to each other about both of the hunters in the ring as the two-minute timer starts to count down.

Their comments are either guesses about whether the Flame Emperor's power is real or just some hidden artifact Natalie is using to scare her opponents.

Others comment on how well Emrie, the Bedrock applicant, fought in his last few matches.

The confusion and concern in the voices of the Vice, Veridian, and Apex applicants that talk about this cements the idea that the Bedrock Region really is a weak region.

The fact that two of their fighters are actually within reach of claiming a B-Class license is apparently a big deal.

There are four armed guards at the back of the box we stand in, their levels all between 800 and 999.

One of them is the wind user I met at the gate when I first entered this exam site, another is the long-haired healer with dead eyes that tried to heal me before this tournament, and the other two I don't recognize, but they are of similar strength.

They stand unmoving, watching all of us, not paying attention to the fight that's about to begin; most likely tasked with making sure no applicants here get into quarrels.

Silence fills the room as both fighters in the ring receive my telepathy message, and I apply my ranked-up buff to Natalie, sharing 1% of my base stats and 1% of my mana control with her.

She looks up to the sky, pretending to pray, then her whole body erupts into flames.

Ember stares back at her from the far side of the ring, putting his hands up to fight, and bursts into far less powerful flames, using mana control hardly 10% as powerful as the aura Nat gives out.

He grins, then looks up to the sky and yells.

"Hey Flame Emperor, grant me power to make this a fair fight!"

Nothing happens, and his dull-looking flames pale in comparison to the hot ball of fire burning around Nat.

He yells again.

"Just this once. I swear my loyalty to you, and will follow you as my leader... You can grant this power to anyone who believes, can't you?"

Silence fills the ring.

A full 5 seconds go by, then people start to whisper and laugh in the crowd.

Ember continues to stare up at the sky, putting on the act I asked him to.

More words of doubt begin to spread as nothing happens, and people start to yell out and complain.

"See, she's been faking it!"

"It's all a facade! See, why wouldn't the Flame Emperor do it again if they could? Especially for a fire user!"

"It has to be some kind of trick, an artifact!"

"Yeah! That's right, she's from the Apex Region! We can't forget what the number one fighter said, they're just playing us!"

Then, a wide grin appears on Ember's face as he opens up his limiter and allows a growing amount of power to leak out.

Over the next 3 seconds, everyone's chatter and words of doubt cease as the flames around Ember grow to match Natalie's, looking almost identical.

Both of them run forward at each other and the entire blue dome is filled with flames while dense auras of mana clash.

The vibrations of mana that ripple through the arena now cannot be faked by mere illusions; it's the raw mana control that is being released in each attack. All of the Regional Directors stand up from their seats, similar to the time they did the first time Nat showed this power.

Then, chatter fills the stands again with a very different tone.

"It's real..."

"His mana control increased by over ten times in a few seconds... I've never seen anything like it..."

"Just like the Apex Region girl in the first round! It's replicable..."

"It looks real... Even if this is an artifact, I must have it!"

Cracks and twangs erupt through the ring as Ember's fists collide with Nat's daggers.

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I secure a telepathy link between both of them so they can coordinate their attacks.

In the last matches, when I gave Natalie enough mana control to win, she only managed to do so by overpowering her opponents with brute strength and a large perception increase.

Now, I want to give her the chance to get used to fighting with these heightened powers for longer periods of time while managing her MP output and increasing the density of her mana shielding to the proper level.

Even now, with perfectly matched mana controls, I can see that her daggers are being batted away by Ember's bare fists.

The timer hits 1:45 remaining, and I increase her control and buffed stats to 2%.

Ember matches it immediately, and the intensity ramps up even further.

The flames that fill the arena grow darker, and the waves of mana that seep out into the crowd are far more deadly than anything any of these Regional Directors are even capable of producing.

I smirk while watching Nat's blades clash with Ember's fists with more confidence now.

In just a few dozen exchanges and a rapid telepathic conversation between the two of them, her technique improves with every exchange.

Every 10 to 15 seconds, I increase her output by 0.5-1%, bringing them to about 6.5% of my mana control by the time the timer hits the last 30 seconds of the match.

By this time, the radiation of mana bursting out of the dome is overwhelming for some visitors.

All of the Regional Directors watch in awe, and even the guards that stand at the back of the display box here take a step forward to witness the incredible exchange taking place before them.

I send another wave of telepathy into their minds.

"Alright, that's enough. Wrap it up."

By now, Natalie is far more accustomed and confident using these extreme levels of power; so her flash training exercise is complete.

Now, it's time to follow out the strategy to finish up this tournament.

I smile and cross my arms while red flashes of light reflect off the glass in front of me onto my face from a distance.

Ember's perceived mana control output begins to dwindle and it appears as though Nat is landing more and more hits on him than she did in the beginning.

As the seconds tick down, their apparent gap in strength grows wider.

Ember throws himself around the ring while Nat lands attacks from long and short distances, throwing crescents of flames his way.

The last 10 seconds are the most brutal. It's almost hard to believe they're acting, which is perfect.

As the timer hits zero, Ember is still standing; but his concealment cloak portrays a battered and beaten hunter from the Bedrock Region that collapses on the ground without any flames left to burn on him.

Nat goes in for a finishing blow, but the timer runs out and Rodrigo's voice echoes throughout the ring.

At the same moment, I release my buff and take away Nat's flames and power.

"That ended our first semifinal match! Another unexpected chain of events! It seems the Flame Emperor will bestow its power to anyone who calls its name... They just have to believe...."

He grins, turning to all of the Regional Directors.

"Nonetheless, this match has ended without a kill. We will count a vote from our Directors to find out who has won!"

After about half a minute, the votes come back with Natalie being the winner 6:1.

The Bedrock director voted for his applicant even though it was clear he had no hope of pulling out a victory in the end.

I whisper under my breath.

"An expected turnout..."

Dane stares wide-eyed at the dome that still crackles with flaming residue.

"You... expected that...?"

A flash of white light brings Ember away and into the room we stand in about 5 meters to my left, and immediately I watch the healer at the back of the room approach him.

I can't help but let out a small laugh at the reactions of other hunters' surprise when he refuses her heals, then walks over to us covered in burns and sear marks on his cloak.

He stares forward at the ring just like me, crossing his arms while I give Nat Self-Regeneration and she walks back to her room.

He speaks to me through our link.

"I hope you had a good reason for all of this. I wanted to take a crack at that lightning user too... I wonder where he managed to get a divine fragment. Even if it was a weak one, mortals shouldn't be playing around with power like that. Especially at this low of a level, that easily could have killed him."

I raise an eyebrow and reply to him through our link while the arena is cleaned up to prepare for the next match.

"So it was divine energy... It messed with that concealment item you made when one of the bolts got close."

"Yeah, it might have even completely unraveled the barrier if it was a direct hit..."

My eyes widen, but I continue to stare forward with a blank expression.

"What do you mean unravel? What are those things? What is divine energy anyway? I can't even perceive it. If I wasn't already suspicious, and didn't see the light show that followed, that stone looked like nothing more than a red rock."

He grunts and shrugs, looking over his shoulders then back toward the arena as the apex workers leave a shiny brand-new arena behind.

"It's more complicated than just simple energy like mana or qi, or even demonic energy. It shouldn't even be manifested in such a rudimentary form on this world... Something is very wrong about all of this."

Ember's face twists a bit, and I can tell he's genuinely in deep thought.

Meanwhile, Rodrigo speaks up and two more fighters enter the ring.

Trax limps his way to the center of the arena, and Mack, the battle healer, walks in to face him with a confident stride.

I reply to Ember while their room doors close and the fight clock starts to count down.

"I'm going to need more of a response than that... Now isn't the time to be withholding information. However improbable it may be, it just happened. You saw how unbothered the Apex Region was after that light show, didn't you? Those golden eyes... I know you felt them too. Are you sure the Sun God isn't one of you Divine Beasts?"

He shakes his head and continues to stare forward.

"I'm sure of it, he isn't."

At the same time as these words hit my mind through our link, I witness the healer from the Apex region walk forward and place both of his hands on Trax's chest and a blinding series of light pulses fill the ring.

It's not teleportation magic, it's healing skills being activated.

Seconds pass and the lights fade.

Trax is now the one standing tall with a determined and evil smirk across his face while Mack falls onto the ground pale, sweating and shaking just as Trax looked moments ago.

A whisper escapes from his lips.

"I- I surrender. I've done my duty."

He's teleported out of the ring and into the finishers stands right behind us.

Trax makes a slow walk around the ring while Rodrigo yells with an excited tone to the crowd.

"That settles it! An unorthodox win, but Trax is now moving onto the Finals to face Natalie. Two applicants from the Apex Region will be facing each other in a final bout. The self-proclaimed strongest Lightning Mage in the world, and the follower of the Flame Emperor. Who will claim this year's prize and win it all?"