Finally, the next day arrived. Sero barely noticed the crowd outside his penthouse or the swarms of people heading towards the arena as Amaya tried her best to maneuver around them. The liaison could sense Sero's mental state and wisely left him alone. Not that he could really open up to her about what was on his mind, or what had happened last night.

Before he left, he made Luna swear to stay at his place, or at the very least keep low while he was out. After that, Sero's mind whirled with thoughts and worries. He was so distracted that he hadn't realized he had ended up in the waiting room, where Liam had already arrived.

As soon as the Demonic Enforcer saw him, his red eyes narrowed, a slight disdain in his gaze. Liam's look shook Sero out of his autopilot as he steeled himself.

"You really showed. That means you're prepared for what comes next, right?"

"Yeah. My victory." Sero blurted without thinking once again.

Liam's eyes twitched before he gave a small, cold smile. "I'm going to enjoy this."

The tension in the air was thick, so much so that a couple of the officials stepped forward, ready to break them apart if it came down to it. But Sero backed away first, sitting near the entrance to the arena as Liam took a seat in the center of the waiting room.

"You two, make any preparations now," The man with the scar below his eye hesitantly began. "The match will begin in an hour."

Sero nodded, his focus back on the impending fight. He had been too distracted by everything else, and now he needed to clear his head. He began to meditate, focusing on his breathing and his senses, trying to center himself. As he did so, he felt his Rationality calming his mind, soothing his rage and anxiety. He could feel the energy flowing through his body, ready to be unleashed in the arena.

He hadn't rested very well, but he felt fully prepared for his match against Liam nevertheless. His father had pulled through, and now it was Sero's turn to fulfill his part. Millions of strategies ran through his mind, some he had thought of the moment he saw Liam on the first day of the tournament and some he formulated now.

As time passed, Sero recalled each and every sensation of all the fights he had been through, repeating moves and skills in his mind. Subduing the two Culling members had boosted his ego, but he kept Enzo's words at the forefront of his thoughts to humble himself. The matches he saw Liam fight in never saw the Demonic Enforcer seriously injured, so there was a good chance that he was much stronger than what was shown.

"Sero Kassel, Liam. Please step forward and enter the arena."

Snapping back to reality, Sero stood up, taking a deep breath as he entered first. Half-expecting Kit to be waiting for him, she was once again absent as another official escorted him to the arena grounds.

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High up in the skybox, Enzo leaned back in his seat as he crossed a leg. Gregor had given him the day off for obvious reasons, bringing Max with him instead. Cassandra sat next to him, a soft smile on her face. Despite having known her for almost a year, Enzo still couldn't tell if she was 'all there' or not.

The Demonic Judge watched on as the crowd cheered, seeing the final two contestants walk onto the arena after the announcer introduced them in.

"Oh? This is the first time I’ve ever seen you watch a match in person," Kit popped up out of nowhere. "Is it because of your student and your brother?"

"Shouldn’t you be patrolling the perimeters?" Enzo scowled as he opened a can of beer.

Kit stuck her tongue out playfully. "You know I can do that even if I’m here."

"Whatever. You didn’t go see him off?"

"I wanted to," Kit admitted with a wry smile. "But I didn’t want to say anything that would make him second guess himself." She pulled her feet up onto the seat and wrapped her arms around her knees. "So, who do you think will win today?"

"Hard to tell," Enzo sipped his drink. "He’s really strong, but I have a feeling that he might lose this match."

"Oh? Why do you think that?" Cassandra leaned forward to join in on their conversation, her eyes suddenly present. Kit made a face, but decided not to voice her displeasure.

The Demonic Judge growled to himself, choosing his words carefully. "He gets ahead of himself way too easily, even though I keep warning him not to. Not to mention he’s going up against someone whose strength could one day surpass mine. Honestly, I’d be surprised if he won this match."

"Aww," Kit looked crestfallen. "You really think Sero will lose, then?"

Enzo turned to her with a slightly confused look. "Sero? I was talking about my brother."

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"Do you both understand?"

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Instead of a singular referee, there were three; two men and a woman. Sero figured they upped the staff due to the rising concern of the output of his skills along with Liam’s brutality.

Both he and the Demonic Enforcer nodded slightly, keeping their glares locked on each other. The three referees cautiously watched them for a moment before they jogged off, signaling for the match to begin.

Sero turned and walked a few paces away, facing back towards Liam. His opponent narrowed his eyes, watching him with a cold sneer. Liam made no move to get into position, his body still relaxed with his hands in his hoodie pockets. Sero tensed his body a little, preparing himself.

"5... 4... 3... 2... 1!"

Straying off his usual rotation, Sero only activated his efficiencies and Inspiration, focusing all his concentration into Perfect Analysis. He conjured a playing card and threw it at Liam, summoning Sting.

"Attacking first? You’re confident." The Demonic Enforcer raised an eyebrow and pulled a hand out from his pockets to summon his Order staff. Sero’s body buzzed as he copied the skill, learning that the heavy weapon had the same conditions as the Jury axe.

Sting clashed with Liam, but was quickly defeated as Sero purposefully didn’t strengthen her. However, he did summon two Jacks and a Queen while Liam was distracted, causing the Demonic Enforcer to go on the defensive and block both close and ranged attacks.

Liam’s face twitched in annoyance and his red eyes glowed as he blocked their attacks with ease. Immediately after Sero copied the Pacify skill, he recalled his familiars.

The Demonic Enforcer swung his staff around, slamming it down vertically and gazing at Sero, a look of confusion mixed with irritation. "What the fuck are you trying to do?"

Sero licked his lips and smiled. He had tested the waters by sending his familiars and realized that Liam’s reaction speed was unfathomably quick, even faster than his Perfect Analysis could keep up with. His mana pool was like an ocean, and the pressure he exerted reminded him of Enzo’s. Even while preoccupied with his familiars, Liam kept a portion of his attention on Sero, leaving no openings to exploit. Essentially, Sero was outclassed in every way possible.

"Just checking your strength," Sero began carefully. "And you’re right, you’re truly strong. Unimaginably stronger than I am."

"What are you saying right now?" Liam narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Where did all of that anger go?"

Sero took a second to prepare himself. "I’m just saying, you’re a lot stronger than me, but I think your brother is leagues above you. No wonder you’re a bottom-rank compared to him."

"Champion?!"

Sero ignored the goddess as Liam’s body flared with dark red lightning and flames. If there was one thing Sero was absolutely certain he was the best at, it was riling up his opponent as much as possible. That, and taking hits.

As he copied the ‘Hellspark’ skill, Liam dashed forward, swinging his staff around. Sero quickly activated Iron Skin and Undying Spirit to avoid directly clashing with the staff, but found himself just barely able to dodge Liam’s supersonic speeds. The Demonic Enforcer was ticked off, but Sero needed him to get even angrier if he had a chance to win.

"Is this all?" Sero taunted, simultaneously bracing himself for the beatdown of his life. "Enzo was much faster than this."

In response, Liam smiled coldly, upping the pace of his attacks. Sero had to double up on his Iron Skin as he began to take the hard hitting blows mixed with the stray elemental attacks flying off Liam’s body. He summoned his pups and Sting to help mitigate and absorb some of the hits he couldn’t block or dodge.

Liam's anger grew as he continued his assault, his breathing becoming more labored. He began to focus solely on Sero, his eyes locked onto him like a predator. The wind picked up around them, swirling as Liam's dark aura reached out to him. Even with the combined efforts of Sting and the dragons, Liam was easily able to fight them all at once, his staff flowing through the air in a graceful dance.

Sero, on the other hand, was beginning to accumulate too much damage. He swung his blade, missing Liam completely, which gave the Demonic Enforcer the opening he needed.

With a growl, Liam rapped Sero's wrist with his staff, causing him to flinch and drop his blade. Liam followed up with a rapid punch to Sero's gut that knocked the wind out of him as well as launching him backwards; Sting and his dragons were recalled.

However, Sero had anticipated that, simultaneously casting Shadow Bind and Mana Lock on Liam as he dropped mana knives that triggered a Force Field around his opponent at the moment of impact. He flew through the air, but shifted into shadows and reforming to halt his knock back. His abdomen throbbed painfully.

"What the hell?" Liam scowled, finding himself bound by shadowy chains and a green cage within a green bubble. "You think this'll keep me locked up?"

"Nope," Sero snapped his fingers, detonating the knives he had left inside the Force Field with Liam. The contained explosion rocked the arena, but Sero knew it wouldn't do much to Liam.

Just as he predicted, an unearthly howl reverberated through the stadium even before the dust settled, a flash of dark red breaking through the makeshift prison Sero made. Liam stood there, unharmed with a crazed and furious look in his eyes.

Sero barely had time to copy 'Provoke' before Liam blinked out of existence and reappeared before him. The Demonic Enforcer thrust his staff towards Sero's head, but two Kings suddenly beside him, swinging their heavy weapons.

Impossibly, Liam switched his grip mid-thrust, changing his Order's trajectory so that it was horizontal and aligned with the two Kings' weapons to block it. Their weapons bounced off the golden staff, giving Liam the window to switch his grip once again and slice through Sero's familiars with a swing, completely disintegrating them.

Yet Sero had even more up his sleeve, conjuring the Jury axe and coating it with Revenge as the Kings were defeated, pulling the weapon down as hard as he could onto Liam. In his initial plans, Sero wanted to use the axe to deal significant damage, but faced with Liam's monstrous power made him decide to go for lethality. Hopefully, Liam would be able to survive this.

"Huh?"

Liam dispersed his staff and quickly clapped his hands together, catching the blade of the immensely heavy Jury between his palms. The impact sent a small shockwave outwards, rippling through the arena. A weapon Sero used that, without fail, cleaved through everything in its path, had just been easily stopped by Liam. There were no signs of struggle in his eyes as he sneered at Sero, the Revenge coating the axe fizzling out.

"What made you think using my brother's weapon against me would work?"