Chapter 270: Fire Stance

The matches between the six practitioners continued. This is a round-robin between the six but because they have three platforms, the progress of the fight happens quickly.

Aside from the battle of skills, this is now also a battle of endurance. 

If they want to win their next fight, they have to consider conserving energy or perhaps, defeat their current opponent as quickly as possible so they can have some time to rest. 

The second round was actually quite an exciting match as well due to the match-up.

[ Mourad vs Droltob ] 

[ Stasis vs Alee ] 

[ Imane vs Vinete ] 

Mourad and Droltob are in the same village, while Imane and Vinete were dominant female half-imps with incredible swordsmanship. Most of all, the two young ladies weren't on good terms. It seems that it was related to a certain conflict that has occurred between the villages. 

Mourad and Stasis won their fight without any question but the third platform's result was quite surprising. 

Vinete, who lost against Mourad in the fight yesterday and lost to Stasis as well, had actually defeated Imane!

It seems that the latter was unable to fight against Vinete's Mu no Kamae just like how Stasis and Mourad dealt with it.

'Tsk… She just got lucky. I was too focused on conserving my energy.' Imane made an excuse. She didn't expect that Vinete would use an Ayumi-Ashi to approach her.

She thought that Vinete's stance would be used for a counterattack! She actually initiated during the whole fight as if she was still fighting Stasis!

Due to her miscalculation, Vinete gained momentum and continuously scored on her while she only manages to cleanly hit her three times. 

Finally, the practitioners of Reboroz village were able to celebrate. 

Vinete and Alee from the same village weren't winning their fights before. This made their fellow practitioners in Reboroz frustrated. 

It's already frustrating that three practitioners from Bhibra Village managed to enter the top six and two of them were also winning. 

However, now that they stopped Imane, they have finally gained voice and celebrated their first win.

On the other hand, Reiji wasn't too surprised at the result since he knows that Vinete is also a skilled practitioner. 

"Hmm… I guess Imane is practicing too much with her Arcana. Now that it is prohibited on the stage, she couldn't bring out her best against her fellow disciple." The Sentient Arcana analyzed their battle. 

Imane is the only practitioner here who summoned an Arcana. It wouldn't be surprising if she's been mastering it ever since. 

After all, one of the Arcane Magic of her weapon requires her to use it repeatedly in order to increase its power. Reiji couldn't blame her for that since it's better if she's indeed focused on her Ring Arcana. 

Anyway, she's also quite commendable for not using the power of her ring throughout the battle. 

If she ever did, the other finalists would probably not be aware of how they got defeated. After all, the one that Imane has summoned is a Legendary-Rank Arcana.

"Third Match!" Ruthren shouted as he announced the next match-up.

[ Mourad vs Imane ] 

[ Vinete vs Alee ] 

[ Stasis vs Droltob ] 

Mourad and Imane are from the same village. It is similar to Vinete and Alee's situation. This made the crowd a bit silent since they couldn't properly cheer their bet. 

Anyway, they still encouraged them to do their best in the battle. 

'Haa~ I'm getting tired… I should've listened to them and forfeited. How could I win against these monsters?'

Droltob complained. He's quite a skilled swordsman but these people here weren't just skilled but genius in the art of the sword. 

Nevertheless, he can see his two brothers at the side. He's sure that they aren't expecting him to win this fight but he can see them still cheering for him.

He couldn't be lazy now and he has to show them that he's still a finalist in this competition. 

"Come!" He shouted at Stasis who's already in his stance. 

He knows how to deal with Dual Wielders as he learned from the guardians. However, even Vinete lost to him… He couldn't use his prior knowledge and he has to do something different if he wanted to win against him. 

'I will win this round!'

Droltob was determined. He raised his hand as he used Jodan no Kamae!

He wanted to prove that he's not just a participant here and he could also win the battle. 

"Very well… Show me what you got!" Stasis felt the man's resolve as he took a serious stance as well.

Since Droltob used Jodan, he used his Juji no Kamae to counter it. 

This is what Droltob wanted… He wished for Stasis to defend while he attacks.

It doesn't matter whether he'll get hit by the man's other sword. He just wanted to deal with one extremely strong overhead strike!

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Droltob took three heavy steps to reach Stasis. He was now in his sword's effective range.

As soon as this happened, everyone could feel that he's about to pour everything into his attack. 

'All in a single strike!' The crowd realized that Droltob is planning to exert all his power in this vertical strike. 

They couldn't help but focus on their match even though Mourad's battle against Imane was also interesting to watch. 

"Haa!"

Droltob shouted as he finally swung his sword…

Bam!

Stasis was able to defend the strike above his head. He used his left sword to do this as he's planning to use his right sword to execute a counter move.

Crack!

However, he was surprised by the sudden sound of a breaking sword.

Pah!

He was hit on his head! He was confused about what happened!

It took a moment for him to realize his blunder!

The wooden sword he used was broken in half as Droltob's sword continued hitting his head!

It was such a powerful move that even his sword was broken! 

Thud! Thud!

He backed away from Droltob!

Something that he has never done before! The crowd cheered as they have finally seen Stasis being cornered.