The preparation for the upcoming match was complete. Armad and Niyashi were both ready. Only one of them would proceed to the semifinals to fight either Tyren, Bizaya or Hán Amuru.

The audience cheered their heroes. The suspense was almost palpable. Everyone had their eyes fixed on the match.

"And now... let's BEGIN!" Ghalee announced.

Armad stood on the right, his soul sword hanging on his left arm. Niyashi stood on the left, his spear tied on his back.

The whistle was blown but for the first fifteen seconds none of them moved a muscle.

Niyashi sighed. He gave Armad a piteous look. "You didn't kill anyone in your block during the battle royal; you are probably not a cold-blooded killer. I'll let you live. Just step out of the ring and surrender. You have five seconds."

Five seconds later...

Niyashi tilted his head to the side in wonderment. Why is he still here? Humans always choose the outcome that will ensure their survival. Why is he not running away already?

"Do not blame anyone but yourself." Niyashi said. He weaved a hand sign and borrowed the power of a spell to punch the air three times in a row.

"Blue Death." He chanted.

A gentle wind picked up and swept over the ring. Armad suddenly felt lightheaded. He staggered but he used his sword to support himself.

"This spell is my own creation." Niyashi boasted. "It modifies the air, making it unfavorable for humans like you who are no martial artists. The lack of air will soon turn your skin blue. The lightheadedness will progressively worsen until you lose consciousness. Death is imminent in five minutes. To save your soul, you have to step out of the ring. It's over, young man."

Niyashi turned around and headed to the other side of the ring.

"I won." He murmured.

The first step to becoming a mage was by taming and enslaving a Djinn. It was believed that Djinns were the most powerful, wild and dangerous beings in existence. A common question was how did humans tamed such beings? Djinns didn't just have a perfect, indestructible body, they had control over elements and other rare abilities. If you mastered the ability of your Djinn, you would become a Djinn Master and could use Djinn magic.

Armad wasn't a Djinn Master. He had already chosen to become a Magician and a Sword Master. Whether he made the right choice was something to be seen. But one of the benefits of becoming a Magician was learning how to channel your life energy to power a spell. You could use life energy in the same way but for different reasons. Simply put, life energy to power spells, life energy to power swords, life energy to power anything. You just had to learn the proper technique.

Are you sure you want to suppress your body metabolism? Y/N?

Cost: 5/min.

Armad pressed yes. It wasn't a spell, just a minor trick to channel your life energy through your veins and suppress your blood flow.

"What is it that you won?" Armad asked. He heard what Niyashi said, and it actually helped him to come up with a solution.

Niyashi turned slowly. He gave Armad a surprised look.

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"Um.. you are not bad. To suppress your basal metabolic rate with your longevity is not something anyone can pull off. By suppressing your body metabolism, you reduce the air needed by your system. It's clever, but you still won't last for five minutes. I should just watch you die slowly. But, there's no need to make the weak suffer anymore than they have to."

From the side, Ghalee was commenting on every aspect of the match, exaggerating where he felt like. "Armad has withstood the first wave of attack from the prince, but I can see the prince isn't so happy about it. Who will get the last ticket to the semifinals: is it the crown prince from Burja or the dark horse from Mikrom?"

Niyashi made another gesture, and his right hand transformed into a massive eagle claw. A thin layer of smoke lined the claw.

"Claw Hand Deformity!" He chanted, lunging forward.

On the other side, Armad created three bolts and kept them by his side. When Niyashi was close enough, Armad fired all the three bolts. The first bolt was ripped to shreds by the claws, the second bolt was destroyed as well, but the last bolt did the job. It hit Niyashi just above the claws. An ear deafening explosion arose. The audience blocked their ears and closed their eyes due to the blinding flash. Niyashi was sent back flying. He turned midair and used his spear to support himself and land on his legs.

"You have done it, there's no salvation for you now." Niyashi pointed his spear at Armad. Not only did Armad bruised his arm, he forced him to use his spear.

Armad smiled wickedly as he pointed his sword back. He summomed five more bolts and kept them by his side.

"I do not have time to play with you." Armad said.

"What did you say?" Niyashi said, gritting his teeth. No one had ever insulted him like that. He was the crown prince of a whole empire, the eldest son of an emperor and a leader of the younger generation. The mage insulting him was a nobody with a measly fifty years of longevity.

"This is what you get by trying to be nice to commoners. I'll show you the difference between us." Niyashi murmured loud enough for Ghalee to hear him. No longer hiding his disdain for the commoner in front of him. His eyes turned red and vicious and his anger reached a new height.

Niyashi roared and lifted his spear up, calling upon the power of one hundred years of longevity. Red chains appeared above his head to form a halo. If you looked closer, you would see exactly one hundred chains. Each chain represented a year of longevity and a hidden death energy.

Niyashi made another incantation and all the chains melted into one giant red orb. The orb fused with his spear and, in a surprising turn of events, the spear divided into one hundred spears of the same size and design. Each spear floating above the ground, pointing at Armad menacingly.

Niyashi made another incantation for the third time and he pointed at Armad, setting ten spears in motion. Four attacked from the front, three from the back and three from above. The spears carried both life and death energy worth ten years of longevity. The air howled madly as they cut through it.

Armad created ten lightning bolts, each bolt worth one year of longevity, and fired them at each spear.

Ten spears collided with ten lightning bolts, releasing another ear deafening explosion and flashes of fire that engulfed everything. The ring shook violently and cracks appeared on its surface.

Ghalee hid behind the podium to avoid the fire splashes.

Even the audience that were several meters away felt the tremors in the ground and fear gripped their hearts.

Things calmed down after several seconds. The audience had expected Armad and Niyashi to take some damage or at least some seconds off to regain their strength, but they immediately launched a second wave of attacks. Armad blasted Niyashi with lightning bolts while Niyashi tried to impale him with magical spears. Explosions, earthshaking tremors and lightning splashes filled the arena.

Spear for a bolt. Bolt for a spear. They exchanged twenty attacks in fourteen seconds. None of them was getting any tired, but, based on their energy reserves and longevity, Armad would lose if things continued like that.

Armad reached out for the headband on his head but he remembered it was no longer there.

Armad took a step back and reanalyse the fight in his head. Niyashi had about seventy spears remaining while he had around twenty-five bolts.

I can't win like this... I need to do something. What should I do?

Niyashi saw Armad's hesitation and he smiled proudly. "I told you I'll show you the difference between our levels." He pointed at Armad and, with a wicked smile, fired all the eighty spears at Armad. He wanted to kill him and made an example. So that no commoner would talk back to the nobility again.

The audience had a sudden vision of Armad's body impaled by spears. Armad wasn't among the names the audience idolised before the matches began. But Niyashi was among those names. He'd always been there, walking among the big names from the day he was born.

The spears picked up speed and surrounded Armad from all directions.