The air thickened.
Neal's body glowed brighter as if the flames surrounding him were drawn into his very skin. The white fire condensed, focusing inward until it cloaked him like a second skin.
Then he vanished.
To most eyes, it was a blur.
To Kaelen, it was like watching a beam of light move.
He ducked instinctively and just in time.
A fist whooshed past his head, ripping the air open where his skull had been a second ago.
Kaelen pivoted and countered with a mana-infused palm.
Neal blocked and retaliated with a hook followed by a knee then lastly a spinning kick.
The exchange turned brutal.
Each of Neal's attacks struck with force like a battering ram. Each time Kaelen blocked, he felt his arms go numb. Each time he was struck, it was as if he'd been hit by a boulder.
He was tossed. Slammed. Punched into the air and kicked into the ground.
Yet he stood back up.
Again and again.
The crowd no longer laughed. No longer mocked.
They watched in silence as Kaelen was pummeled across the dueling platform but kept rising, bloody and staggering, his fists still clenched.
Neal's superiority was clear.
Faster.
Stronger.
He had class advantages, level advantages, stat advantages.
And yet Kaelen endured.
He couldn't win in a direct confrontation. But he didn't need to.
He was buying time.
Every time Neal landed a blow, he left behind mana burns. His body would absorb some of Kaelen's lingering mana, thanks to his talent and the mana control technique.
Neal didn't realize it.
But Kaelen had now planted 83 mana marks on his opponent.
All he needed was the moment.
Just one.
But for now, he took the punishment, gritting through broken ribs and bruised skin, waiting for the tides to shift…
Kaelen coughed blood.
He stumbled, collapsed to one knee. Jered clenched his fists on the sideline, gritting his teeth. Even Tashi's brows were creased.
Neal walked slowly towards Kaelen like a white reaper.
"Give up," he said flatly.
Kaelen chuckled.
"Not yet."
"I don't want to continue this useless fight, you're too weak" Neal doesn't like bullying the weak, he had the pride of a noble which he must maintain.
"Big words for a guy whose about to lose" Kaelen barked at Neal with a hoarse voice
"Enough of your petty tricks Kaelen, just give up you already loss" Neal tried to make Kaelen surrender on his own.
Kaelen with his body all battered up with bruises, turned to leave the stadium staggering away from Neal.
Everyone thought he had given up but nobody mocked him.
But just as he reached the edge of the platform.
He raised his right arm clenching into a fist and closed his eyes.
His body was broken. But his mana wasn't.
Kaelen smirked and snapped his finger, "Detonate."
Inside Neal's body, the tiny residues of mana marks which he had planted awakened.
A silent explosion erupted.
Neal gasped.
"What did you do? You dirty scum"
From inside his body, a surge of mana burst out. It was Kaelen's own divine energy, now turned against him.
Pressure points flared. Muscles seized and the Balance broked.
Kaelen shot forward with a devilish grin.
"Nothing dirty, just skills."
At this moment Jered grinned along with Kaelen, at first he also thought Kaelen had given up but that smirked at his face and the sudden stillness of Neal's body made him realize something was up.
Then they shout in unison.
"There is no honor in fighting and since you are already fighting forget about your pride"
One punch to the gut. Another to the ribs. A rising knee to the jaw.
Neal tried to move, but his limbs were jittering from the internal mana surge.
Kaelen spun and dealt his final move, a two-palm strike right into Neal's solar plexus, pouring all his remaining mana into it.
BOOOM!
Neal flew.
His body hit the dueling platform, bounced once, and lay still.
The white flames vanished.
Silence.
Then thunderous cheers.
"You did him dirty boy." Tashi was laughing his heart out. He had personally taught the kid how to manipulate mana but he wasn't expecting the boy to learn this small tricks in such a short amount of time
"Vasra if you are not doing anything I'll do it myself" Baalk said, very annoyed by Kaelen's little tricks. According to her this particular kid was walking down a despicable path not suited for nobles or awakens meant to be the pillar of humanity.
Kaelen stood above him, panting, trembling.
He had won.
Not through power.
But through perception, timing, strategy and grit.
Kaelen shut his eyes exhausted from the fight.
Jered leapt onto the platform, laughing and crying all at once.
"We won Kaelen, we won."
"This calls for celebration"
"I can't move, just take me home already." Kaelen whispered.