I entered the arena and took off my blazer and tossed it out of the ring while Dean stood, lazily peering at me.

I gave him a grin. “Are you ready to lose, Mr.Star?”

“I admire your confidence, peasant; it’s admirable. I’ve already taken a liking to you, so I’ll be sure not to embarrass you”.

That’s when I felt something, a strong force overpowering my mind; it felt almost as if I was being choked.

The crowd of murmuring people was silenced, no one daring to let out a sound.

What caused this…this killing intent, this bloodlust?

I finally managed to peel my eyes upwards to the seats, there standing with silky white hair and raging, piercing red eyes.

The leader of the number one ranked Empire.

 Juhai Home.

"...He is pissed..."

“Dean, what is going on?”

His voice was loud and domineering; it didn’t sound enraged, but it still carried all the influence. 

The event was supposed to kickstart with simple greetings before Juhai Home would arrive and announce the Sapphire Star.

He had not appeared in hours, so all the masses could do was wait, but the Sapphire Star was allowed to walk around, and now we were in this situation.

“Ah, Mr.Home, I just needed to show this little peasant his place. It’ll be over in a few minutes”.

“Why would you accept any duels before being properly announced? And with someone of the same age group? You know he can’t give you a challenge”.

Dean smiled, then said, “He insulted my father; that is more than enough reason to duel this scum”.

It was rather evident that Dean knew Mr. Home, and by the way he was talking to him, I doubt he would face any repercussions for acting out.

He was probably already being trained under him; this fight would really be tough.

“Fine then”, Mr.Home said, then set his gaze on me.

“Who are you, boy?”

I bowed stylishly then said, “I am the second-born child of the 27th-rank Vulture’s Empire, Damian Simmons”.

“Do you know the situation you are in?”

“Yes, I do”.

“If you would like to back out, there would be no shame”.

There was a grin of silence around the arena, then I raised my head to the man, meeting his eyes.

“But there would, sir”.

“The Sapphire Star’s scummy father tried to assault my servant, my personal one at that. I see all my servants as my own elder brothers and sisters”.

“So while to many, there would be no shame in backing away…”.

I smiled at Mr.Home, “I can’t handle such an insult”.

“I have been offered my first duel, and I’m going to take it, and I’m going to revel in the moment”.

“So let me bleed!”

“Let me break a bone!”

“Let me destroy something!”

“Let me fight!”

Silence, my speech was met with nothing but a graveyard.

But then Mr.Home laughed; he laughed hard; he held his stomach, he banged his hand on the railings, then he slowly but surely stopped.

“You speak very well for a child; you have been raised wonderfully”.

His voice rose, “Then Empires! Politicians! Colleagues! Servants! Let us begin the Sapphire Star Event with a bang!!”

“Contestants, grab your weapons!”

I walked to the walls of the arena and scanned the weapons. I needed something which could give me a bit of range yet be able to land blows and parry since I knew nothing of his fighting style.

Some people believe the most adaptable weapon was the sword, but I believe in something else.

I held the long wooden staff by the grip in the middle. It was made from strong brown wood, lightweight and had its grip wrapped in red cloth.

I walked back to the ring and saw my opponent had gotten himself a short double-edged sword; it may not be bad for his size, but I had a serious length advantage.

We both got into our fighting stances, and Mr.Home bellowed, “The Sapphire Star challenges the Second son of the Vulture’s Empire”.

“May the battle begin!”

He bolted towards me and swung his blade to my right, but I swiftly dodged. He followed up with a thrust to my abdomen, but I evaded that too.

While powerful and a bit quick, my eyes allowed me to keep track and evade all of these sharp attacks.

Now he had entered my range, I pivoted and swung my staff down at him, but he quickly dashed backwards, fortifying his body with mana.

“Ah, made you dodge”, I teased.

He hissed and came at me once more; this time I charged in too. Heavily fortifying my body and staff with mana, our weapons clashed against each other.

My Staff managed not to break cuz of my heavy influx of mana, but it wasn’t wise to keep clashing with him. My eyes allowed me to see his attacks before they happened. I saw his movements as afterimages before they happened, so as he went in for a thrust to my stomach, I weaved and elbowed his wrist before using my staff as an anchor and kicking him in the stomach.

A few gasps escaped from the crowd; landing a clean hit on the Messiah wasn’t quite expected.

There was yet another pause in the fight as Dean skid back and looked at me with a slight scowl.

“Oh, didn’t think I could hit you?” I said with a smile.

I noticed him infusing his body with even more mana, then he shot back at me with frightening speed.

I thrusted my staff, hoping to slow him down, but he lowered his body stance in an instant and gave a thrust of his own.

My supporting hand was already in place as I used wind magic to push the blade down and topple his balance; however, he used the momentum and changed his pivot in an instant.

He turned slightly to his back and propelled himself into the air and spun into a kick. While I managed to block the initial kick, the power and follow-up still landed at the side of my cheek.

I flew slightly backwards, and the audience grunted at the sight of the kick. I landed on my feet and spat out a bit of blood; I had bitten my cheek.

My arm stung, but I paid it no mind. I swung my staff with my fingers and came at him. He came rushing towards me and swung at me. Then I imbued extra mana into my feet and struck my staff on the ground, using it as a pivot. I quickly jumped into the air and used it to help me aim and crash my feet down.

The Sapphire Star nimbly changed his flow and jumped into a cartwheel to evade my kick, but I pressured him.

I swung my staff down at him, but he swiftly raised his hand and sent a strong blast of wind at me. The wind was strong enough to send me flying back to the other side of the arena, then he got up and kept his hand raised.

Then I noticed that as the particles of fire and wind came out instantaneously, he was using two different elements at the same time?

He let out a few quiet incantations as the wind fueled the fire, and a large heap of flames came charging at me. Almost two metres of blazing inferno swam at me; he most likely tried to end me quickly after seeing my close combat was good.

But he didn’t know that my mana casting was just as good. Without the need to let out a single incantation, I summoned ice walls around myself to defend against the attack.

The contrasting elements collided, and steam enveloped us; as it cleared, Dean’s ugly scowl became more evident.

He, in turn, was met with a cocky grin, my teeth now slightly stained with blood. 

A round of applause echoed through the colosseum as we crouched back into our fighting stances.