Shades of the New World

The smoke from the explosion cleared and the audience could briefly see a drenched Bella, covered in mud. She immediately jumped at the boy and violently assaulted him.

'She most likely created a mud wall to protect herself from the heat and the impact. To make sure her move is not wasted, she promptly resumes the fight. But this time, she has the advantage and she won't underestimate Arza's brutality' Evin noted.

Arza was suddenly put in a terrible state, with some part of his skin burnt and bruised. With the addition of the sudden assault, it was now his time to get battered.

He looked like he couldn't take it anymore, so he was about to use the World of Fire and Luminous World to create distance and recuperate himself.

Noticing that, Evin shouted:

"Trying to run away?! Didn't you always talk about how you would always face your problems head on and punch them in their faces! Such a pathetic liar!"

"Hey! That's cheating!" Rith pestered him from the side.

"We never agreed on a rule that said external help was prohibited," Evin grinned back.

Hearing the words, Arza had a sudden change of plans. He still channeled Light and Fire and his sword started to imitate a miniature sun, blistering hot and blindingly bright. He threw a strong sweep with his sword, using the moment of surprise that bought him a second. Bella jumped back to dodge the sudden sweep that suddenly appeared in front of her.

While she jumped back, she threw a mass of gas made of the World of Emotion's energy towards Arza. She didn't imagine anything too complicated. The gas's only purpose was to increase whatever emotion one was feeling, if one inhaled it. On Arza, it increased his feeling of shame and stubbornness.

Arza's original plan was to use this brief moment to heal himself, but due to Evin's words and the effect of the gas, he couldn't make himself do that. He jumped forward with his battered body and continued the brawl.

At first he had the advantage because of his flames and his blinding light, but Bella soon started utilizing a mud armor to deal with the heat and she applied the Dark World on her eyes to soften the impact that the light made. She was extremely steady in her fight, making almost no mistakes that Arza could exploit. Rith and Evin could see some, but that was because they had the leisure to observe, instead of being the one in the ring, fighting for victory.

It was like watching sports. As a spectator, you could see a hundred things that the athlete could've done better. But sadly, the confusion and chaos in the field would never allow the one actually playing to see the things that a spectator was seeing. Not to mention the bird eye view most spectators get.

His trump card countered, Arza soon got worn down by his opponent and got knocked out. Bella waited for him to surrender, but the boy did not know such concepts, so she had to do it the hard way. Finally, after a few minutes, Arza fell to the ground after a heavy blow to his chin, his body falling down like a puppet that had its strings cut suddenly. The battle seemed to have ended.

Bella saw him fall, but did not approach the unconscious body. Instead opting to use the World of Life to slowly heal her beaten body. Her healing speed was slower than Evin and Arza, since she didn't receive the World Sprites' enlightenment and was not a natural genius like Arza. Evin approved of the girl's decision, but he would still have her attack the downed enemy just in case. Sadly, he could not shout this advice out, as Rith was dutifully holding his mouth in check with some unknown magic.

Just as the earl was about to announce the victory of his daughter, Arza rushed at Bella with renewed vigor. Bella was not completely taken by surprise, but she still found the boy even stronger than before. Although the boy's sword was not imbued with Fire and Light like last time, the force that wielded it became much more violent, albeit a bit less precise. But against an amateur opponent like the girl, it wasn't much of a disadvantage.

Evin and the Feline both knew how annoying Arza was to deal with. His most powerful World was the World of Life and after that was the Luminous World. On top of having ridiculous healing powers, he could enhance his muscles and skin briefly just like Ssatsko. The old man was very surprised to see a child copying his techniques. He didn't even teach anything to him, and the boy managed to achieve it thanks to his natural talents.

The tide of the battle shifted once more. With Arza using his trump card, it was Bella's time to receive punishment again. The back and forth of the spar amused Evin and shocked the spectators. While the soldiers were excitedly watching the fight between the young mages, Bella's sisters were gleefully looking at the sight of her youngest getting pummeled. They never watched her fight before, and was honestly shocked at how strong she was, but she was still weaker than some no name commoner boy.

Bellaslayn was desperate to try anything to change the situation of the spar. She had to do something to break Arza's rhythm. She thought about her biggest advantage and realized that it was the Channeling artifact that let her cast spells without wasting time to absorb energy through the Worlds from lodestones. Arza obviously absorbed as much World of Life energy that his core could handle, but it will still run out and he will have to recharge at some point. She just had to make sure to use that moment to her full advantage.

With a new plan, she began looking for clues that the boy was about to create distance between them and recharge. It turned out to be harder than she expected, since Arza fought like he was filled with energy even when he was about to run out.

Most people would naturally start being frugal with their energy usage when they realize they're about to run out, but not Arza. But this did make it a bit easier for Bellaslayn, since when the moment actually came, it was obvious for everyone to see.

Arza, who never once attempted to kick at Bella, suddenly added a shoving kick in after his combo. The girl knew that her chance was upon her, so she decisively dropped her sword and grabbed the boy's leg. It was a gamble for sure, but it won her the fight big time.

Arza, who was fighting like a never tiring machine, suddenly became extremely weak. His body was basically going on a type of adrenaline known as the energy of the World of Life, and when his supply got cut, the exhaustion came in giant waves. He tried swinging his sword, but could only fumble clumsily.

Bella performed one of her well practiced close quarter fist combo that mainly aimed to stun the opponent into a daze and Arza fell to the ground unconscious once again.

But this time, she didn't let the boy restore himself. She immediately conjured an ice prison using practically all her unused World of Water energy in her glove. The limp body of the boy was encased in a beautiful shackle of ice, that covered every part of his body except the face. Arza couldn't move his hands to his lodestones, so he couldn't melt the prison with Fire. He could only helplessly struggle inside the ice, trying to break free. He glared at Bellaslayn and found the girl smugly staring back while healing her wounds.

"I lost…" the words came out of his mouth.

It was actually the first time Evin and Rith heard Arza admit his defeat. Evin thought that such a thing was impossible, so he would always knock him out for good. The new discovery made them see hope that they could somehow humble Arza using imprisonment tactics.

The audience was shocked to see such an intense fight during a random lunch break. The common soldiers could only sigh at the superiority of mages, while some of the mages were feeling pressured and jealous of the young mages' talents.