The arena's temperature dropped a few degrees. Startled by Thanatos’ voice, Phaeton readied himself.

A dark purple mist appeared beneath Thanatos’ feet accompanied by a crackling sound of mana colliding against each other.

Thanatos then uttered in a cold voice.

'Claw'

A large seven-clawed forearm suddenly appeared from the mist. In a split second, the claw charged right at Phaeton.

“What the hell is that?!” Phaeton exclaimed. He then readied himself to receive the attack.

“A summoner!” Princess Hildegard gasped as she saw the scene transpiring below.

“Indeed your highness, I was lucky enough to meet a person who already had a summon. I only helped him in his dimensional magic.” General Zarathos said with a slight puff in his chest.

Summoners were very rare, the incantations and techniques used are usually kept in secret. The general populace does not have access to it moreover it requires a lot of resources to be able to use effectively.

First of all one needs to have a summon, they can be acquired either artificially or naturally.

The crucial issue here is the capabilities of the summon, if it isn't strong in the first place, it would have no meaning.

Nurturing a summon is extremely costly.

Second, the user needs to determine the method of summoning, the most common method which is dimensional magic is also one of the hardest magic to master, hence alternatives are still being sought after. Multiple factors like these are the reason it's highly discouraging to be a summoner.

“By the looks of it, the summon seems to be parts of monsters of some kind. What is it exactly?” General Escariot said as he continued to observe the claw.

“I’m not sure, Thanatos doesn't talk much about it, however, I was able to glean quite a bit of information when I was training him. It should be an organic-based magical construct”. General Zarathos shook his head.

“Is he from ‘Alarsis’?” General Escariot asked.

General Zarathos nodded. “That’s correct, to be precise he’s an orphan from one of the workshops there.”

________________________

Phaeton brandished his two falchions and activated his fire imbuement. Embers sparked forth from his blades and a slow blaze was becoming more and more visible.

‘Block’

Phaeton successfully blocked the attack however he was sent flying. He immediately somersaulted and steadied himself.

The moment his feet hit the ground he dashed straight for Thanatos. He poured mana on his weapon and executed three alternating flame slashes why flew towards Thanatos while he was still dashing.

The flaming slashes provided cover as well as offense.

Seeing this, Thanatos uttered. “Claw”

A larger claw surfaced from the mist and assumed a barricade in front of him blocking the two slashes.

The collision resulted in a blaze of flames covering Thanatos vision.

This was Phaetons plan in the first place. Phaeton then sidestepped and sped towards the unprotected side of Thanatos and made a close-range slash.

Peng! His sword bounced back upon impact, another claw surfaced near Thanatos’ side.

Phaeton realized that his attack did not work, thus opted to retreat and regroup for his next barrage of attacks.

A low voice was heard as Thanatos uttered. “Weak”

The moment he thought of retreating he found himself surrounded by multiple claws.

“Shit! There's no way out!” Phaeton panicked, this was the first time he encountered something like this.

Thanatos attacks were all coming out of thin air. “These things are coming from the mist”. Phaeton thought.

With no path to retreat, Phaeton increased his mana output and poured it into his falchions.

“The Andares does not retreat just because of this.”. Phaeton steeled himself and charged forward once again.

“Useless.” Thanatos muttered, more dark mist released from his body.

When Pheeton was near enough, he executed a dual stabbing motion only to be received by the grotesque claw.

Surprisingly Phaeton didn't retreat once his sword was blocked, instead, he further stabbed the blade deeper. “Let's see how strong your defense is.”

A red glow gradually permeated from the base of his blade and gradually radiating to the tip.

Phaeton then released and activated a spell. Right after he jumped backward leaving one of the blades behind.

“Flame burst”

The detonation of Phaeton's magic caused a conflagration of flames to engulfed Thanatos and his defenses. Pieces of bony claw fragments scattered in the arena as Thanatos' barricade was shattered.

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Amidst the explosion, Phaeton scanned the area and a voice originated from within.

“You can have this back”

Suddenly a flying blade emerged from the smoke and darted straight for his head, he then blocked it with his sword and caught the blade with his other hand.

Soon enough the smoke cleared out and Thanatos figure was visible.

“He’s unharmed?!” Phaeton was surprised as ‘Flame Burst’ was actually one of his stronger offensive spells, and it was executed at point-blank. Even if it was guarded, he should have still sustained damage.

Looking closer at Thanatos, the purple mist was enveloping his body almost as if he was being wrapped by it.

“That was a good attack, pointless but good nonetheless.” Thanatos dismissed Phaeton’s attempt at attacking him and sighed.

“I expected some standard from you nobles, after acting high and mighty this is the best you can do?”

“What?!” Phaeton was ticked off by the insult, before he could react, Thanatos uttered another word.

‘Horn’

An irregular circular purple mist appeared in front of Thanatos, and two long twisted horns similar to an ibex’s horns emerged.

Retorting is useless if you get defeated anyway. Phaeton cooled his head and brushed off the insult thrown at him.

A ball of mana was gathering at the horns and then started emitting purple lightning.

Based on Phaetons experience there is a high chance that this was a long-range attack.

Phaeton then circulated more mana on his body to increase his physical limits, then he moved. He was slower than Azrael’s enhanced light steps but it was way more sustainable to use.

His figure moved about the arena gradually shortening their distance.

Thanatos did not miss what Phaeton was trying to do. The horns then fired off a large violet beam towards Phaeton.

“Ughh!! That was a close call.”

The beam grazed Phaeton’s leg, had he not increased his Physical enhancement he would have been seriously injured.

As Phaeton was trying to recover a barrage of claws slashed towards him.

Phaeton assumed a defensive position, he stood his ground to receive and parry the attacks.

A flurry of exchanges took place. For a time it was a stalemate, Phaeton was successfully able to repel the attacks of Thanatos.

Phaeton glanced at Thanatos’ position and felt frustration built in himself. “This is crazy, he hasn't even moved a single step since the match started.”

The intensity of Thanatos’ attacks increased by the second, Phaeton was already struggling to defend himself when he noticed Thanatos lips moved.

“You’re struggling is only prolonging the inevitable.” The purple mist enveloping Thanatos spread outward from his position.

Several pairs of horns emerged and begun accumulating energy.

A frown formed on Phaeton’s face. “This is cheating, how much mana does this guy have?!”

Phaeton was in a panic however he quickly calmed himself. “You’re the strongest person my age that I’ve ever met, but the winner will be me”

________________________

On the observatory.

“His summoning is based on dimensional magic. He has already achieved such a deep reservoir of mana despite being so young.” General Escariot praised then looked at General Zarathos.

“This young man would be a great addition to his highness’ entourage.”

When general Zarathos heard this, a frown was slightly visible on his face.

Seeing Zarathos’ reaction he further added. “Unless you aren't willing, the princess won't force you.”

Zarathos smiled and nodded at the princess. “Surely you jest. I'm willing, as long as he wins of course. It would be an honor if I can contribute to the Empire.”

________________________

Attacks were all approaching Phaeton in almost all directions. Instead of being on the defense Phaeton changed his mindset and shifted into an offensive stance and circulated his mana.

“I’ll aim for a counter. I just need to deflect the first wave of those claw attacks, which is highly doable. The problem will be those turrent like horns. I’ll just have to use ‘that”

“Disappear,” Thanatos said. Countless attacks clawed away at Phaeton.

Mentally prepared for the incoming attacks, Phaeton lunged forward and weaved his sword and carefully deflecting each attack aimed at him.

Countless flaming sparks erupted. For every deflected attack Phaeton moved forward consistently to Thanatos’ direction.

If one observed carefully, they could actually see that Phaeton’s sword was glowing brighter and brighter after every exchange.

A resounding booming sound echoed. The charging horns that have been accumulating energy simultaneously fired at Phaeton.

Phaeton’s eyes flashed. “Right on time!”. He then gripped his swords tightly

‘Flame burst-overhead slash’

Flame burst relied on accumulating heat to increase its power hence despite it being a close-range technique it does require ample time preparation.

The easiest way was by simply charging, the other method was to rely on magic clashes, either way, the technique is versatile enough to be used in most situations.

All the user needs to do is to be creative enough.

Compared to the first time Phaeton used ‘Flame-burst’ where it was released as is, he used a combat technique, this had momentum and sharpness which increased the power multiple times.

A large slash mark appeared on the arena from Phaeton extending to Thanatos.

He was sure that he had enough destructive power to destroy Thanatos’ defenses this time, however, reality was often harsh.

As he observed Thanatos’ figure. His upper clothes were ripped and a shallow bleeding cut was made visible.

A large elongated skeletal gaping mouth had received his attack, it was split in two but due to summoning magic, it was still floating in the air.

It was more than six feet tall and had large razor-sharp teeth which looked capable of shredding iron much less flesh.

Thanatos’ face was contorting in anger. One could say that he had actually blocked Phaeton’s attack successfully but judging from his reaction, this rage was unnatural.

“Piece of trash”

Thanatos then raised his arm and made a crushing motion with his hand.

'Fang'.

Immediately the gaping mouth bared its fangs at Phaeton and bit at him.

Unfortunately, there was too little of a window to be able to dodge. The fangs dug into Phaeton’s arm penetrating it to the back.

“Ughhhh”. Phaeton grimaced in pain, he then wailed his falchions but he was unable to budge the fangs. He was trapped.

“I must have been insane. To think I allowed a piece of noble trash to wound me.” Thanatos said as he motioned the fangs to grip harder on Phaeton’s flesh.

“Aghhhh!!”

Phaeton was in unimaginable pain that he dropped his swords. Thanatos then slowly walked towards Phaeton and picked up one of his falchions.

He moved on Phaeton’s side and whispered. “I can’t gut you right now so you should be grateful. I’ll destroy your weapon instead”.

Phaeton was in disarray.

Multiple claws appeared on Thanatos all aimed at Phaeton’s sword.

Snap!

Phaeton’s sword broke in two. Seemingly all pleased with himself, Thanatos walked away slowly as if the matter has already slipped his mind.

Phaeton clenched his fists. He was filled with anger. Phaeton didn't look like it but he took great pride in his clan. His pride was apparent the moment he had any consciousness. This was a provocation, an insult.

What hurts Phaeton most of all was the sword. It was given to him by his brother before Rigel went to the Military, this was a keepsake.

Phaeton was trying to keep it all in as no matter what happened he had already lost however he heard Thanatos’ voice talking to him once again.

It was the last string.

“Say you give up so we can get this over with.”