Klaus opened his eyes.

The minor sounds of digitalized noises and beeps from his surroundings, alongside the enclosed feeling of being inside a restoration pod made it clear to Klaus that he was in the medical facility. But that was not what went through his head at that moment.

The feeling of death. The strange and frightening feeling of taking your last breath before the world ceased to exist for you; was what Klaus felt up until that moment. The fear of the idea that this was what others had felt without the privilege of returning brought chills down Klaus' spine.

He never wanted to experience such a feeling anymore.

After a few more seconds of attempting to regain his sanity, Klaus finally managed to walk out of the pod he was in. He took a second before finally deciding to head back to the arena to not waste any more time since his presence was necessary for the event to proceed.

Walking back, Klaus noticed that none of the other pods in the other rooms had anybody in them, meaning that X was not present in the facility. This made him wonder if all his efforts couldn't even force his opponent to the medical facility, which was understandable since he had died before witnessing the aftermath of the battle.

Klaus continued out of the medical facility before returning to the arena. All that went through his head during his walk back was the idea of his actions and statements during his fight with X. The adrenaline rush and sheer determination to beat his opponent made Klaus say a few things that he was unaware that he felt during the span of the battle.

He never expected to be so passionate about anything, especially since he had not been for most of his life, but instead of making him feel odd, Klaus was surprisingly happy that he had such a mindset because it meant he was more human than he had thought.

After a brief moment in thought, while walking, Klaus finally returned to the Arena of Valor. Upon Klaus' entrance, the demigods turned their attention to him before moving toward his way with smiles and positive expressions.

"Hey, friend," Trent began. "Great effort on your fight."

"Si," Iris chanted with a smile. " Que maravilliosa actuacion. You were amazing."

While the other demigods met up with Klaus, he noticed X's presence at his usual seat, meditating, but did not have any time to make something off it before the demigods continued.

Klaus thanked them for their generosity despite knowing deep down that he had lost the battle. But among the other demigods, Lance suddenly walked up to him, grabbing his attention.

"Great try, Walker," Lance started before letting out a strong smile. "Your passion was beyond commendable, and among us all, I believe deep down that you are the best one."

Hearing such a statement from Lance made Klaus' eyes widen in slight shock. Such a weight-carrying statement felt too heavy for Klaus, and he felt like he was undeserving of it.

"Thank you," Klaus responded before continuing. "But I don't deserve such high regard. I didn't want to lose to him because to me it meant losing my morals; that was the reason I fought with such passion."

"Either way..." Lance started before turning to head for his seat. "Your fight was truly elegant."

As Lance returned to his seat, Klaus noticed Rose and Shade as they walked to him after the small crowd congratulated him.

"Hey," Rose said to Klaus with a smile. "I know you heard this a lot already, but you did great."

For some reason, hearing this from Rose made Klaus realize that despite losing, his efforts resonated with the people he held close to him. Upon seeing the smiles on Shade and Rose's faces, Klaus let out his own smile before responding to them.

"Thank you."

Seeing Klaus smile for the first time was very surprising to everyone around him, and his sudden expression also caught Shade by surprise. Shade felt that his brother was happier than usual, and this was unexpected considering his recent defeat to an opponent he despised.

But seeing his brother smile could not make Shade anything else but happy for him. It felt like Klaus was feeling more relaxed and open as Shade witnessed him talk with Rose with a positive expression.

"So you knew about his heartbeat, huh?"

Klaus turned his attention to the sudden question to find Quinn as the owner unsurprisingly.

"I'm surprised you found out," Quinn continued.

"Well," Klaus replied. "It doesn't take that long to get information from IV."

"You seem to have capitalized on that during this event," Quinn stated upon noticing the fact.

"Our instructors are available not just for sparring and physical training, but also access to information that they are aware of. This includes knowledge about all the demigods," Klaus explained. "It would be strange not to capitalize that."

"While I do agree with that fact..." Quinn then started after a second of thought. "I'm still wondering how you were able to evade X's True accuracy."

This was a question that was generally wondered by the spectators. Quinn stood patiently, awaiting Klaus' response to confirm one of her many theories on how it was possible.

"Wouldn't you like to know," Klaus suddenly replied with a cocky smile on his face.

"Oh, come on," Quinn responded upon hearing Klaus' statement. "Can you not do that right now?"

Klaus knew that Quinn desperately wanted the information he had, but he also knew that he was not entitled to give her a response.

Before the topic could go any further, yet another demigod walked up to Klaus with an intention in their mind.

"Hey, Klaus," Mia started. "I just wanted to say thank you for what you did. I'm not sure if it was on purpose, but I really do appreciate it."

Klaus turned his attention to her before letting out a smile and responding.

"It's fine."

"Please don't smile at me," Mia responded before heading back to her seat. "it's already hard enough to ignore your charm the way it is."

Quinn sighed in frustration after watching what had happened.

"Girls just can't stop falling for you, can they?" Quinn stated with her eyes closed and her right palm on her forehead. "It's no wonder Riley cried for you when we found out you were dead."

Hearing this statement from a distance, Riley instinctively turned to their location with a flushed expression.

"Quinn!" Riley chanted, trying to get Quinn not to go any further on the topic she had mentioned.

A few more moments of conversation continued before it was cut short by XVII after he walked ahead of the demigods once more.

"I am aware that there is no reason to announce the next match due to general knowledge, but I will do so nonetheless," XVII began before continuing to announce. "And the next battle is... Lance Knight vs Arthur Knight"

Although the demigods were aware already that this was the case, hearing the announcement made them realize that this was a battle between two siblings. Not just that, but these were two fighters that were held with high regard among the demigods, so they knew that the battle was going to be epic.

Both Lance and Arthur walked into the arena upon hearing their name being called. Their straight expressions heightened the curiosity of the demigods as both fighters stood opposite each other. The demigods stared in silence, watching both brothers await the commencement of their battle.

"Unlike our previous spars..." Arthur began after the brief silence."I will not lose this one."

"Then I expect you to give it your all," Lance then responded before adjusting his stance.

After the brief encounter, the sound of the alarm queued around the arena, signifying the battle's commencement.

As the battle began, Arthur instantly took a battle stance, readying an attack, before launching a Wind Breaker at Lance. Upon noticing this action, Lance quickly spawned a shield on his left arm before placing it directly in front of the incoming attack and smacking the force away.

After doing so, Lance despawned the shield before taking a certain stance similar to that taken by a javelin thrower. After taking the complete stance, a long sleek javelin-like spear began to spawn around his palm before he gripped the weapon. Lance then used his right hand to launch the weapon at his opponent with tremendous force.

As the spear darted at Arthur, he immediately placed both his hands ahead of himself before grabbing onto the launched weapon before it could make contact. The force of the throw was so immense that it caused Arthur to move back a significant distance before the spear finally came to rest. It seemed like the force of the throw, accompanied by the strange weight of the spear, was more than expected, especially since after Arthur tossed the weapon to the ground, the impact between the weapon and the floor caused a loud slam to echo around the battlefield briefly.

Arthur had not expected to use the amount of force he did, and if he was even a brief moment too late to realize its weight, the object would have slipped through his grasp and pierced through him. But as he sighed briefly before turning to his opponent, Arthur noticed Lance wielding a bow equipped with an arrow that was drawn out completely before the shot was fired at him.

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Arthur managed to react quickly as he gradually tilted his head leftwards, allowing the arrow to miss. Lance then began spawning arrows from thin air before placing them on the bow and firing at Arthur. Arthur continued to evade the attacks while he also began to move forward, closing the distance between him and his opponent.

"Well, isn't that convenient," Mia commented from the sidelines upon noticing Lance's sequence with the arrows.

Arthur continued to move forward until he reached Lance, with which he then switched to the offensive, launching a strike at his opponent. Lance jumped a few meters back before despawning the bow and spawning a long, slim sword. Both fighters began to swing their attacks at one another, switching from offense to defense when necessary.

The battle sequence continued until Lance managed to get an opening before swinging his blade directly at Arthur's torso. But before the attack could connect, Arthur placed his right hand between the attack, causing Lance's sword to break upon contact.

Without hesitation, Lance immediately despawned the broken blade before spawning a long staff and engaging in close combat with Arthur.

Both fighters clashed with maximum damage output, showing that they were not holding back any attacks against each other. The heat of the battle was very intense and the focus that both fighters had gave the spectators reason to look forward to more. But it was clear who had the upper hand when spectating the battle.

"Lance is really having more impact than Arthur despite their physique difference," Tyler commented at the spectator's location.

"Yeah," Siren replied. "And he isn't holding back in the slightest, it seems."

"As expected," Shade then commented, showing his knowledge of Lance's reasoning. "Since it's his brother, he wouldn't want to be holding back any of his strength."

"Because it would be disrespectful," Klaus buttressed the point Shade was making.

"Exactly," Shade confirmed with a smile.

Shade and Klaus's understanding made Rose realize they understood and supported the same mindset as the Knight brothers.

"You know..." Rose began. "I kind of wish you guys could've fought each other during this tournament."

"That would've been epic, don't you think?" Shade asked Klaus with a smile on his face.

"I guess," Klaus responded with a less gloomy expression than usual.

The battle between Lance and Arthur continued and Arthur began to lose ground. Lance continued to swing his staff at his opponent and Arthur knew that he would have to use his ability to close the gap between them. He knew that the energy required to perform the technique was immense, and it wouldn't be advised to drain more energy than he had anticipated, but it was better to make the trade while he had the chance.

Arthur then managed to create distance between Lance and himself before taking his Wind Breaker stance. Noticing the potential of an attack from his opponent, Lance reduced his aggression as he began walking closer to Arthur with caution. Arthur then took a second before he finally launched a punch ahead of him.

Lance continued to walk forward before stopping for a second. Upon stopping, Lance instantly spawned a shield on his left hand before turning his attention to his left and placing the shield there. Immediately, the force of wind rushed from the exact location where Lance had placed the shield, defending him against the attack.

Arthur's eyes widened in shock upon noticing that Lance had successfully defended against his Realm Breaker.

"What?" Riley asked in shock at how Lance was able to predict the attack's trajectory.

Arthur stared in shock for less than a second before keeping his cool, knowing that any opening he granted Lance would be fatal to him. Arthur then began to launch more Realm Breakers at Lance, hoping to land a single attack at his opponent despite the cost of energy.

Lance continued to place the shield ahead of the attacks as they spawned from multiple directions around him. He then began to move around as he evaded some and blocked the ones that were too fast for him.

The force of Arthur's attacks was too strong, causing the shield that Lance was using to break over time until it was unusable. But after dematerializing the shield, Lance continued to evade for a while before he suddenly spawned a certain familiar golden weapon from his arsenal. With Camelot in his hands, Lance began to evade the Realm Breakers gracefully, using the weapon as well to slice through the heavy wind attacks.

Lance continued to defend and evade Arthur's attacks until Arthur was unable to launch anymore due to exhaustion. Some of the attacks were able to briefly graze Lance's shirt while he was evading, but none of the attacks had connected completely with their target.

The demigods stared in awe, wondering how Lance was able to evade the randomness of the Realm Breaker. The attack was known to be unpredictable and spawned from anywhere around Lance, yet he was able to predict and counter the attack, though barely. The speed of the occurrence was immense, showing the level of power and perception both fighters had.

Arthur fell to his knees with his palms on the floor before coughing out blood from his mouth. He had pushed himself to such an extreme and the backlash for spamming his attack in multitudes had finally taken effect.

Lance gradually walked towards Arthur who slammed the floor beside him with force in anger of his weary state. With Arthur turning his head upwards, the two fighters kept their attention on each other before Lance stretched his right hand to the sky, creating what appeared to be a slim, long blade. However, instead of moving closer with the weapon, Lance suddenly threw the blade to his right, between the both of them.

Seeing this action, Arthur closed his eyes and took a deep breath before rising to his feet. Both fighters walked closer to each other before Lance began to rip his shirt off, with Arthur doing the same, revealing their perfect physique as they got closer.

"Ay dios mio, que vista tan sabrosa," Iris commented from the sidelines with her eyes fixated on the two fighters.

A few seconds went by as both Lance and Arthur stared at one another in silence. Almost instantly, both fighters began to swing attacks at their opponents with haste, engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

The two fighters continued to brawl using their fists, excluding any of their abilities from the battle. The spectating demigods stared in confusion as to why the fighters were not using their abilities since it made no sense. Lance had not spawned any weapon since the brawl began and it did not look like Arthur was using his hardening technique as well, despite its value in the fight.

"Strange," Trent commented. "Neither of them has even an ounce of thought in using any of their power."

"That's the point," Klaus then replied before continuing. "They want to fight on even terms, with no advantages from their abilities."

The two warriors clashed punches with one another, switching from offense to defense when necessary and keeping up with each other. The battle felt intense despite the lack of any supernatural and both fighters appeared to take the fight with utter seriousness. But the difference between the fighters, although very slim, was still present.

Arthur and Lance continued their brawl for a little while, landing successful punches and evading successfully. But despite their even appearance, Arthur's panting compared to Lance's made it clear after the minutes that went by that his chances of victory were non-existent.

Arthur's physique made it clear that he was a very fit person. He always trained his body to be stronger and he was naturally gifted with a perfect metabolism to maintain and perfect it. Although the same could be said for Lance, Arthur's physique trumped his brother's and was evident by sight alone. Arthur was also slightly taller and bigger in size, despite still being seventeen years of age and the younger twin of the two. But that did not mean he was stronger.

Despite Arthur's physique, the comparison between his training and his brother's was almost a joke. Lance's dedication to power was always stronger and he kept pushing himself since childhood. This was one of the reasons Arthur genuinely and wholeheartedly admired Lance.

Growing up together meant that they both saw each other's strongest and weakest, but Arthur never once saw the "weakest" of his brother. Lance never had such a state.

Lance always placed his priorities over his own comfort and accompanied by his warrior nature, it gave him a reason to keep pushing up the ranks when they were both assigned to the military. This gave the officials a reason to set the two brothers on a higher path than normal soldiers, ultimately leading in their highly respected ranks as war advisors due to them being too young for infantry at the time.

Arthur and Lance had always been around each other, always having a just mind and a rational approach to everything they encountered, so when faced against one another, they knew that their status as siblings was not going to prevent them from fulfilling their tasks.

But there was one thing that both brothers always placed above their assigned tasks, and that was their warrior's honor. Arthur knew that this was why Lance had ultimately switched to a hand-to-hand style, attempting to level the plain for the both of them. But at the end of the day, all it did was delay the inevitable.

After minutes of pure physical clashing, Arthur was exhausted, and upon receiving a strike from Lance to the face, he fell to the ground.

The demigods stared in silence as Lance walked closer to his opponent. The overwhelming sensation of curiosity filled the spectator's area as they awaited what was going to happen next. Then a statement was finally made, breaking the silence.

"I yield."

The demigods appeared surprised as they stared at Arthur in confusion. Upon hearing these words, Lance closed his eyes before letting out a sigh and turning away from his fallen brother. It had already been stated by Abyss that the ability to forfeit was no more, so the spectators wondered what was happening.

Lance turned his face away from Arthur in silence before finally wording out a few words to his opponent.

"You did well, brother."

Hearing these words from Lance gave Arthur a smile on his face. A slight feeling of satisfaction, despite his defeat, passed through his head before he finally got the strength to get back up on his feet.

Lance remained at his position as Arthur barely got on his feet and gradually began to walk to the side, exactly where the blade that was thrown earlier rested. As Arthur got to the weapon, he picked it up from the ground before falling to his knees in exhaustion. But this was what he wanted.

Before any of the demigods could realize what he was about to do, Arthur quickly positioned the blade ahead of him before driving the weapon straight into his chest.

Gasps and slight reactions filled the spectator's area by the demigods who had just watched Arthur stab himself in the heart.

"Oh my Gods," Tyler chanted after witnessing the scene.

The gory and brutal scene presented itself as blood began to gush from Arthur's chest before he finally fell to the ground in severe agony, yet remaining silent and not letting out a single cry of pain.

"The winner is Lance Knight," XVII eventually announced, confirming Arthur's death.

Lance's face could not be seen by the demigods since he was facing away from them, but his silence seemed to be louder than anything that could be said. And eventually, both fighters began to dematerialize, getting transported to the medical facility.

CONVERSATION

Rose: That was something else.

Ace: Yeah... you couldn't pay me to do that to myself, man.

Riley: Not like you could get paid if you did it.

Ace: Fair enough.

Link: Still... that was one heck of a fight, despite the one-sidedness.

Shade: It really was. Makes you wonder if Arthur actually had better chances using his abilities.

Klaus: No point in wondering, is there?

After a few more minutes of conversation and absorbing the concluded battle, Lance and Arthur finally returned. The demigods rushed to the previous fighters to congratulate them on their efforts.

Despite the lack of a connection with Arthur, the few demigods still commended him for his efforts and he was in a situation where he could not decline their remarks so he just shrugged it off. Lance shared a smile with the other demigods in appreciation of their remarks, relieving their worries about him.

And after a brief moment, XVII finally walked ahead of the demigods to announce the next phase of the event.

"After the completion of the previous battle, the semi-finals have come to an end, and the finals will now begin without delay."

The demigods stared in silence as XVII continued.

"Even though this information is already known, I would like to formally announce the two fighters who will compete in the final round. They are... Lance Knight and X."

Hearing the announcement made everyone realize that this was the most expected outcome. After hearing that Ash was not going to participate, the two candidates for a spot in the finals were the two who had made it. Although a few of them felt like they had failed to overcome the Titans among them, no one could argue that this was going to be the most anticipated battle in the entire tournament.

This was definitely the one fight that all the demigods had wondered who would come out on top. Despite the idea that X was rated higher than Lance during the leadership process before the Cosmic League, Lance's performance during his time as a demigod not only rivaled, but possibly even surpassed that of X.

A smile filled Lance's face after realizing his next opponent. This was the fight he had always anticipated since the Cosmic League, and with the rules of the Divine Tournament, it meant that both fighters could fight at their maximum without any need to hold back. This was the fight that Lance wanted.

"Finally," Lance whispered to himself before getting up from his seat and walking into the arena alongside X.

Both fighters proceeded onto the battlefield and took their positions. Lance's smile was clear to see by everyone, but X's expression did not seem different from his usual one.

The silent anticipation filled the entire Arena of Valor as everyone present stared, awaiting the sound of the alarm. And after a few seconds, the alarm rang and the final round of the Divine Tournament had commenced.