"He actually landed a blow."

Everyone was shocked as they witnessed Arthur fall to the ground. Trent instantly launched another attack at his fallen opponent, but Arthur instantly regained his footing and managed to evade it.

With this, Arthur decided to take a few steps backward to understand the situation.

"How is his movement so different from before," Arthur thought for a second before rushing back into battle.

Arthur swung punches at Trent, with Trent evading them quite easily. Trent seemed to remain on the defensive in the fight, but it was clear that the gap between them initially had reduced.

Arthur continued his attack as he swung his hand directly at Trent's head, but Trent instantly placed his left forearm in the way of the attack. But surprisingly, Trent's arm was able to completely stop Arthur's attack, even though Arthur had his Harden ability active.

"What!" Arthur exclaimed in surprise before realizing that Trent had created a patch of water around his forearm.

"He's enveloping his arm with constantly flowing water, causing the attack to soften upon contact," Shade commented, deducing the idea of why Trent was able to defend Arthur's attack.

Arthur threw a few more punches but immediately knew that more would be pointless. With this, Arthur then moved back, clenching his fists before launching a windbreaker attack once more.

Trent then placed his palm ahead of himself facing up before he proceeded to raise it slightly. Instantly, a sizable pool of water spawned on the floor ahead of him and rushed upwards. This pool of water proceeded to come in contact with the wind attack, causing the attack's trajectory to move upwards alongside the water.

This made Arthur a bit agitated as he realized that the battle had completely changed from just a few minutes ago. Before this, it was Arthur who had the advantage in close combat and range, but now, Trent seemed to close the gap due to the exponential growth of his defenses.

"What exactly did you do to yourself?" Arthur asked Trent.

"I'm not sure," Trent responded. "But I guess I just decided to take the battle more seriously."

Hearing this made Arthur even more agitated than before.

"Oh..." Arthur said as he clenched both his fists once more. "Then may I respond in kind."

As Arthur concluded this statement, he raised his left hand and moved it backward, farther than he usually does for the windbreaker. Immediately, he then launched his fist forward once more directly toward Trent.

Trent created the water pool he had previously used ahead of him once again, but as the water covered the space between him and Arthur, a heavy attack suddenly appeared on Trent's right side, hitting him off his feet and dealing noticeable damage.

"W-What!" Trent chanted as he fell slightly to the ground briefly.

Arthur launched the same attack once more before Trent could completely regain his footing, but Trent managed to see the attack coming and decided to move away instead, jumping to his left. But as he jumped, he instantly realized that the attack ahead had vanished. Once again, the same force appeared at his left, where he had just jumped, as the attack came in contact with him and launched him to the opposite side once more.

"What the hell is going on?" Rose asked at the spectator's area.

Nobody could understand what was happening. Everyone saw the attack launched from Arthur and knew he only launched one, but for some reason, the attack seemed to have appeared from a completely different direction than its launch.

"Any ideas?" Klaus asked softly as he turned his head to Quinn.

Quinn took a few seconds before she finally responded.

"Not right now."

This was surprising to Klaus that she was unaware of the nature of the ability, but it made slight sense since the ability was only done twice at that moment so he decided to continue spectating the battle.

Trent slowly picked himself up after receiving the two launched attacks head-on. He instantly turned his face back to his opponent, realizing that Arthur was charging yet another attack.

Trent knew that he had to somehow counter the incoming attack even though his last two attempts failed. Not wanting to take any more chances, he then created a large spherical shell of water around him, using the water as a cover from all possible angles.

"Even though it's necessary, I shouldn't be cutting my vision from my opponent," Trent thought to himself as he awaited to hear a sound of contact between the attack and his water shield.

A few seconds went by before something strange proceeded to occur. As Trent waited for the little seconds that the barrier was on, a sudden occurrence appeared inside the barrier and directly behind Trent.

This was the windbreaker attack that Arthur had launched.

The attack instantly appeared behind Trent, hitting him immediately on contact and launching him out of the water shell he had created. This meant that the attack Arthur had launched had somehow gone through Trent's water shield without dealing any damage to it.

Klaus and the other demigods watched as Arthur punched the attack before Trent had placed the barrier. But Klaus noticed something different between the initial windbreaker Arthur normally used and this one.

After focusing on the attack, Klaus realized that it vanished immediately Arthur launched it, almost like it wasn't even created at all, unlike the others. However, the attack would somehow appear from another direction at Trent's location, almost like it was teleporting there.

Trent managed to get on his feet after a few seconds of agony from the attacks he had just received. He knew that any more of those would cause him to get knocked out or even worse so he had to come up with some kind of idea to prevent the attack from harming him.

But as Trent turned his focus to his opponent, he realized that Arthur was panting from the backlash of the attacks he had been launching. The ability Arthur was doing seemed to require a sizable amount of energy from him, causing him to resort to heavy breathing to catch his breath.

Trent then saw this as an opportunity to fight on even terms with Arthur since they both seemed to be beaten up from the attack. He then rushed at his opponent as Arthur also swung back, creating an even clash between the two.

"I get it."

A voice suddenly muttered those words in the spectator's area as all the demigods turned in its direction. Klaus turned only to notice that it was Iris who had stated this.

"You do?" Quinn asked in surprise since she seemed to be unable to understand what was going on herself.

Iris took a second as she turned her head around, looking at every single demigod and realizing that they all had their eyes on her. She then smiled before she managed to explain what she had noticed from the battle.

"Well, from what I'm able to pick up, it seems that Arthur is using a stronger force on his range attacks, making them even stronger than before," Iris started.

"Yeah, well that's pretty obvious, isn't it?" Mia then responded.

"Relax mija, lemme finish." Iris stated to Mia before proceeding. "Anyways, I seem to have an idea of what might be causing his ranged attacks to appear from different locations instead. The attack may be too powerful in nature that it's breaking reality in a way and altering its flow due to that. But while the ability traverses, it eventually slows down and reverts to its original state, causing it to appear in a different direction. It's almost like..."

"...The ability's shifting its dimensional nature." Quinn suddenly cut in as her eyes widened in realization. "I get it now. Iris, you're a genius."

Iris smiled before responding to Quinn. "Yeah. That and I guess I'm able to see a few things clearer than normal."

"Probably because you're the daughter of the God of Sight," Tyler clarified before Quinn then took their attention to explain what she understood.

"You know, I had somewhat of the idea that Iris had mentioned, but I just thought it was too outlandish for anyone to do so. But I guess nothing should surprise me at this point. Basically, what Arthur is doing based on this theory is punching the space ahead of him so hard it creates a force that shifts its plane into a different dimension; specifically the fourth dimension."

"So it's changing into a fourth-dimensional force?" Link asked.

"Exactly. Similar to how humans can perceive the world in the second dimension, the force perceives the world in the third dimension. This is possibly why the object seemed to go through Trent's barrier without harming it. It's kind of like a person jumping off a 2D plane and lands at another location. If a 2D being perceives this on the paper, it will be like the person's feet disappeared and reappeared due to the change in dimensional direction."

"I don't get it?" Ace commented.

"All you need to know is that it changes dimensions," Klaus replied.

"Yeah," Quinn commented. "The attack cannot maintain its momentum indefinitely because it is a force rather than an object. This causes it to eventually decelerate and return to the visible realm. Arthur directs the attack's path from point A to point B, and the attack's emergence from any direction is due to this predetermined path. To ensure that the attack stops precisely before reaching Trent, Arthur must apply the precise amount of force required for it to decelerate at the correct moment."

"I guess that makes sense," Ace said. "But why exactly does it change direction?"

"Because it can," Link then commented after seemingly analyzing the attack by constantly playing it back to himself in his mind.

"Arthur sends the force in a straight path, but if there is a change in dimensional planes, the attack may also change direction. This is because Arthur doesn't have complete control over the initial change in direction. It's similar to placing a finger on a piece of paper and moving it forward. If you switch to three dimensions, you have more options to move your finger in various directions."

"Yes. And If a second-dimensional being were to observe the finger being moved from the two-dimensional plane to the three-dimensional plane, they would only see the finger disappear and then reappear in the same location. However, they would have no control over where the finger would reappear since it is beyond their dimensional perception." Quinn then buttressed.

A few seconds of silence filled the spectator's area as all that could be heard was the ongoing battle between Arthur and Trent.

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"The attack changes dimensions and reverts due to its nature of requiring momentum to be there in the first place. So that's why we cannot see the attack until it reappears around Trent, am I correct?" Klaus then eventually said.

"Yes," Link and Quinn responded simultaneously.

Klaus then sighed before continuing, "You Atlas twins and making simple things more complex than they need to be."

"Whatever do you mean?" Link softly said as he turned his head before displaying a musical note on his head mask as he whistled in ignorance.

"Nerds," Riley quickly said with a smile on her face.

After everyone finally returned their focus to the battle, they noticed Trent and Arthur still swinging attacks at each other while also defending.

"Damn, they're still dead even," Rose commented as the rest of the demigods watched.

The battle continued as both fighters started to pant heavier by the second. Eventually, their attacks started getting slower and slower as well. Until, simultaneously, Trent and Arthur stopped right in front of each other, unable to do anything else but breathe heavily.

"It would appear that you are a stronger fighter than I had assumed," Arthur managed to word out to Trent.

Arthur's compliments didn't seem to make a difference to Trent as he continued to breathe, with his expression not changing at all.

And after a heavy sigh from Trent, as he closed his eyes for a bit, he instantly moved back a large distance before he finally opened his eyes. With this, he stretched both of his palms to his sides before, instantly, water proceeded to rush from them rapidly. Trent's pain in pushing himself even further was evident as he grunted with each second that the water continued to gush from his hands.

"Woah," Quinn exclaimed at the spectator's area. "He still has that much energy?"

The water continued to flow as it gradually proceeded to consume his entire half of the battlefield.

"How is he even able to create such an amount of water?" Tyler asked.

"Well, I have a theory about that," Quinn then replied. "I assume that he possesses the capability to use his energy to transform inanimate objects into water and back to their original form. This could be the reason he was able to restore his sleeve after losing his arm, or how he retained his clothes after using the runic teleportation during the Capture the Flag game in the Cosmic League. Currently, it appears that he's utilizing this ability by converting the air molecules in his surroundings into water particles."

"The AIR?" Ace exclaimed. "Damn, people are full of surprises, right?"

Arthur looked forward as he noticed that everywhere around Trent had water concentrated at that location. The water was so much it filled half of the arena and continued to rise. Everyone wondered how Arthur was going to evade such a situation, but no one had any ideas so they just awaited the outcome of the battle.

Klaus stared at both fighters before realizing a strange fact.

Arthur was smiling.

Although Trent seemed to have the upper hand, the smile on Arthur's face was evident as Klaus focused more on the battle, knowing that Arthur was probably enjoying the battle.

"Amazing. You are still able to produce such amounts of water with such low energy," Arthur chanted with a smile as Trent seemed to start blending with the water.

Arthur then clenched his fists before he stared forward at the water body, still retaining his smile. The water then proceeded towards Arthur like a tsunami as Trent controlled the water to rush towards his opponent while still in. The water rushed with haste towards Arthur as he stretched both his hands outwards, opening his clenched palms and awaiting the water to reach.

"I will admit it now, Trent," Arthur then stated. "You truly are a formidable foe."

As the water body reached his location, Arthur instantly slammed both of his palms together ahead of him, where the water was rushing from. Instantly, the water that rushed at him proceeded to separate in two due to the force from the impact between his palms.

The splitting water continued before, in the middle of the parting location, Trent suddenly emerged and launched himself at Arthur one more time, hoping to finally conclude the battle. The water continued to rush as Trent jumped out at Arthur, with his opponent realizing this and deciding to retaliate.

"I can't see anything," Rose commented at the spectator's lounge indicating that the water was so high that no one could see the outcome.

All the other demigods waited for the water to reduce or dematerialize to see what was going on in the battle. Eventually, the water managed to slowly turn back to its original state being the air around them. This was possibly due to the fatigue that Trent would be feeling from using such a tasking amount of energy.

The water slowly reduced before the demigods managed to see what was going on in the arena.

"It seems the victor has been decided," Lance said with his arms crossed.

Klaus took his time to analyze what was going on before the water continued to drop, revealing the fighters in a clearer state. With this, Klaus was able to realize that Arthur had launched his fists directly through Trent's chest as the two fighters stood there in exhaustion.

"Oh my Gods," Mia stated in shock at the sight.

After such a heated battle, the sight of Arthur's arm impaling Trent was still too gruesome for most of the demigods, especially since many of them barely saw such a thing in their normal lives.

"You were a powerful opponent," Arthur stated to Trent. "But it seems I managed to come out on top."

Trent's vision was blurry and his presence was unclear. Nobody could tell if he had already died since all he did was stare at the sky, not moving once.

"At least it's finally over," Quinn said. "He did well so he deserves to rest."

A few of them seemed to agree with Quinn's statement so they all accepted the outcome of the battle. Everyone seemed to be content with the match and the outcome and rated the match as a perfect battle between both fighters.

But before anyone could realize it, Trent gradually proceeded to move his head back, turning his focus back to Arthur.

"What!" Arthur asked in confusion, with his fist still through Trent.

Trent then used his left hand to hold Arthur's hand that went through him in place. after this, he instantly stretched his right hand to the sky before water proceeded to materialize over his palm.

"How is this possible?" Klaus asked in confusion. "How is he still alive?"

"I don't know," Quinn responded, indicating her lack of knowledge as well.

Arthur attempted to pull his right hand out of Trent, but he seemed to be having a difficult time doing so. He also couldn't use his Harden technique since he was too exhausted to do so at that moment. But Trent continued to hold on to Arthur's hand while still having the energy to create a large ball of water with the other hand. This continued as the straight face on Trent seemed to be a frightening sight at this point.

But as Trent managed to create a ball of water big enough to deal significant damage to his opponent, his eyes suddenly locked with Arthur's, which caused him to see a reflection of himself through Arthur's pupils. This caused Trent to snap back to reality almost instantly, causing him to realize what he was doing and how much energy he was utilizing.

Trent's right hand then fell, causing the created attack to fall to the ground and spill like normal water. Trent then turned to the other demigods who were spectating the battle, as well as XVII, as he proceeded to mutter a few words.

"I give up."

Every demigod's eyes widened in surprise at Trent's statement.

"What?" Shade asked.

"Are you certain," XVII asked Trent.

Trent then pulled Arthur's arm out of his chest as Arthur also seemed to be too stunned to comment on what was happening. Suddenly, water proceeded to flow from around Trent's body and directly at the opening that was made, reforming his skin and other damaged organs from the water particles that continued to form around the hole.

"I am certain," Trent then responded to XVII as he slowly sat on the floor, allowing the water around him to continue the reforming process.

"Then it means that Arthur Knight proceeds to the next round," VII then announced.

"I genuinely have no words for what is going on right now," Siren stated as all the demigods watched Trent gradually heal his fatal injury in minutes.

"Why did you do that," Arthur then suddenly asked Trent. "The battle was not over."

Arthur walked forward to Trent who was still seated on the floor with both palms placed behind, keeping him in a resting position.

"To be honest, I think I lost sight of what I was fighting for, so I thought there was no point in going any further," Trent said to Arthur before continuing. "Besides, your last attack would have killed anyone else, so I thought it wouldn't be fair to continue anymore."

Even though Trent was right, the fact that a forfeit was made meant to Arthur that the win was still not his to decide. With this, Arthur then crossed his hands as he continued away from Trent before saying a few words.

"And here I thought you were a worthy opponent. Guess I was wrong."

As Arthur stated this, he proceeded to walk away from Trent.

Trent smiled as he lay on his back due to the energy he had exhausted. After taking a few steps, Arthur also seemed to lose his balance as he fell to his knees supposedly not realizing that he had also exhausted a tremendous amount of energy during the battle.

They both stayed on the ground before, suddenly, they eventually appeared to be dematerializing, similar to the other game modes during the Cosmic League after a battle. Soon enough, both fighters had vanished from the arena and appeared at the medical facility a few meters from the Arena of Valor.

"The next battle will commence when both Trent and Arthur Knight complete their treatment and return to the arena," XVII then stated before walking back to his initial location.

"That was something else, wasn't it?" Link stated as the demigods turned back to themselves in conversation.

The battle had concluded and Arthur would proceed to the next round like XVII had mentioned, but a few lingering questions remained in Klaus' head about the battle. But Klaus still decided to ignore his thoughts and await the presence of Trent and Arthur so that the next battle would proceed.