"You must win! You can't come back with a second place." Marga pressed her fist against my chest, giving weight to her words.

"Yes! You're not allowed to lose, you have too much at stake." Unlike Marga's serious expression, Arisa looked genuinely happy as she cheered me on.

"Good luck, Maki. You're only one match away from being the champion." Sol imitated the other two, placing her fist against my chest as well. Her expression was difficult to read—somewhere between serious and happy.

"I won't let you down. I'll come back after I've won." I gave them my best smile, full of confidence. I trusted in my strength completely; I would give everything not to lose. My gaze fell on the bracelets around my arms. I had equipped them as a last resort. Hopefully, I wouldn't need to use them during the match.

I turned to leave, but before stepping away, Camux gave me a strong slap on the back. His strike carried weight. "You can do it, champion." He winked at me, and I returned the gesture before heading out of the private box, determined to win.

When I arrived at the corridor that led into the arena, I saw the same boy with blue hair and light-blue eyes waiting there. My instincts hadn't been wrong—the person who had been watching me before was indeed him. He had already known what I looked like, and that was why his gaze hadn't left me until I turned to face him.

"Don't bother. You won't achieve anything." His deep voice reached my ears. "You won't be able to defeat me, not with all the effort or luck in the world." I looked at him for a moment before turning my gaze straight ahead again. Through my Personal World, I could sense his irritation at my attitude. He bit his lip in annoyance; I was sure he had expected a different kind of reaction from me.

"I love making people like you suffer—showing them despair and extinguishing all hope. The quiet ones avoid dialogue because they already know they'll lose." As we walked toward the arena, he tried once more to provoke me, and once again, I ignored him. I didn't give him a single glance. That seemed to irritate him even more, because his Imra grew violent.

Now, standing face-to-face inside the arena, we stared each other down. Just from this short interaction, I had seen enough. He was an unpleasant person, someone who thought himself superior to everyone else and took advantage of every situation to prove it. He had no respect for anyone, looking down on others as if they were beneath him. A terrible person, yes—but one who had the strength to back it up. His presence radiated power, and I could actively feel several Pseudo Laws and even Laws within him.

"Maki Vichag," the referee called, looking straight at me. "Jefran Vallac," he turned toward the arrogant boy. Jefran pulled a staff out of his storage bracelet—he was clearly a pure mage. "Fight cleanly, both of you. Good luck. Begin."

The moment the referee signaled the start, a thick mist began flooding the entire arena. Almost instantly, enormous ice spikes, each nearly my size, shot toward me. Those constructs were large and sturdy, but they lacked the density of mine. I created five Joyeuse—two in my hands, three flying forward—to smash through his incoming barrage.

My blades tore through his spikes, and shards of ice rained down across the arena. Jefran erected several ice walls to stop my swords and, at the same time, I felt him trying to siphon off the mana from my destroyed blades, attempting to recover some of his own. But my Imra, imbued with my willpower, repelled him and pushed him out of my constructs. If he wanted a battle of Imra for control, I had more than enough confidence.

The mist coiled around my legs. For now, it didn't seem to do anything—it caused no pain, no curse. I tried to disperse it twice with my own mana, but quickly realized it was futile. The mist re-formed easily because of its thinness, and it probably consumed very little mana to sustain. It was an extremely efficient area-control spell.

Then Jefran created something surprising beside him—a golem of ice. Its level of detail caught me off guard. It was my size, muscular, with two shields. He had poured a large amount of mana into it, making its inner structure solid. It was probably as tough as a grade-3 monster. He must have dedicated one or even two skills just to control something like that.

I activated all my abilities except for those tied to gravity—my secret card. With a single Electrifying Step, I shot toward him, hoping to catch him off guard. But the golem moved immediately, planting its shields between us. When my attack connected, I realized how durable this thing was. I wouldn't be able to destroy it with a few simple strikes.

I dodged left and right, avoiding Jefran's ice constructs and countering with my own when necessary. I noticed that when his structures were broken, he didn't recover as much mana as he wanted, so I made a habit of shattering them actively. He wasn't just skilled at recycling mana; he also had an enormous mana reserve compared to mine.

The golem was impressive. Whenever it was damaged, Jefran could heal it almost instantly with his mana. Fighting him was incredibly frustrating. Was this how my opponents felt against me? All of his offensive and defensive abilities were on par with mine. This endless sea of mist was another problem; he used it to track my exact location at all times. It was a sensory ability similar to my Personal World, only many times worse.

Here came another charge. As I closed the distance, the golem rushed at me with its shields, aiming to knock me down. When I used my movement skill to slip past it, a volley of ice spears awaited me. Jefran wasn't letting me get close, knowing that was where he could lose. For the first time, I unleashed my Raging Electrifying River. Massive currents of lightning surged toward him.

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My attack forced him onto the defensive, and at the same time, I discovered something important. Because it was an area-of-effect attack and it was lightning, the mist on the ground was disrupted and took longer to reform. I didn't stop there; I launched several consecutive bursts. The problem was that the spell's strength was relatively easy to block with an ice wall. Meanwhile, the golem never stopped hounding me. Jefran had realized my plan.

Our ability to manipulate mana was nearly identical. We both could create reinforced constructs quickly and infuse them with enough mana to make them stronger than what our rank should allow. I doubted he could weave mana like I did—my constructs hit harder—but he had chosen to refine other abilities, like that golem, which was proving to be a massive nuisance.

Minutes passed in a tedious cycle. If I wasn't fighting the golem, I was destroying Jefran's constructs as he tried to catch me off guard. He, in turn, had to constantly defend against my lightning and Joyeuse while simultaneously repairing his golem.

Then something changed. The mana within the mist felt… different. Looking down, I noticed the fog was slowly climbing my body. With a surge of Imra, I blew it away in a single pulse, reinforcing my ice armor with additional Imra to prevent it from clinging again. I didn't know what its effect was and didn't want to find out. Jefran clicked his tongue when his plan failed.

"Flies are good at dodging, hard to catch." It was the first time either of us had spoken since the match began—we had both been too focused.

"If that happens, it's only because the fly is more skilled than its predator." I winked at him. My remark clearly didn't sit well, because his attacks suddenly grew more furious.

I edged closer, little by little, damaging his golem. Since it was his construct, he had to control it personally, and unlike me, he lacked combat experience. I quickly inflicted serious damage while dodging the spears from behind. Then I activated my Crushing Zone. He almost collapsed under the pressure, giving me a chance to close in. My blade nearly tore a huge gash into his back—until something strange happened.

For a moment, I touched his shield, but then he dissolved into mist, reappearing behind the golem. He had taken a wound, but managed to avoid the worst of it. My brow furrowed. If that strike had landed fully, he could have lost control entirely and taken enough damage to end the fight. He had kept calm enough to teleport away quickly.

He had infused his body with mana and Imra to withstand my gravity, showing he could resist under pressure. I renewed my assault without pause. The scales tipped in my favor—the golem couldn't keep up with all my movements and was suffering more damage by the second. Jefran had to pour mana into healing it, teleport away as mist when I got too close, and launch attacks to hold me back.

I paused for half a second to think of a new tactic, and he seized the chance. Maybe it was coincidence, maybe instinct, but the mist coiled tighter around my limbs like chains. Even as my Imra and Laws worked to break them, he reinforced them with his own Imra and Laws. It became a contest of who had greater control and mastery. I could see his face twisted with strain, sweat pouring, as he pumped mana desperately to keep the chains from shattering.

I felt my Imra and Laws gradually overwhelming his, breaking chain after chain. The problem was his mana—he was burning it actively to rebuild them almost instantly. I decided to turn this to my advantage. I let him bind me. Dropping to one knee, I forced a weary expression onto my face, pretending exhaustion.

He laughed. Heavy steps of the golem approached. Its shield slammed into me, sending me flying several meters. My armor absorbed most of the damage; a grade-3 shield couldn't break through. All I needed was to channel a little mana to repair the cracks. If it had been a cutting attack, the result might have been different.

"Finally, I've got you, little rat. You've been running for too long." I allowed the mist to wrap my limbs in chains. His careful, deliberate steps drew closer. He still underestimated me, but he wasn't reckless—he kept a cautious two meters away. That was enough. I just needed him a little closer, but he never gave me that chance.

"It's time to end this and show who the true star is." He conjured multiple ice spikes around me. As I heard his disgusting laugh again, I made my move. Those chains weren't nearly as strong as they looked. Yes, they carried Laws and Imra, but they weren't unbreakable—and I had kept a card hidden.

My prison of gravity and Imra clamped down on him. His newly-summoned spikes wavered, and I saw the panic in his eyes as he realized he couldn't act. A surge of lightning coursed through my body, and with gravity repelling the chains, I shattered them in an instant. I hadn't needed to use my other affinities until now. I could have used the bracelets, but I preferred to save them.

It all happened in less than a second. Already I was moving, blades aimed at him. The golem lunged, but I slipped past easily. He fought against my prison, but too late—an X-shaped slash carved into his chest. I tightened the prison, because he had nearly broken free to teleport away.

The golem pressed down on me, and more ice spikes rained toward my body. I had to reposition to keep attacking. He was still struggling, nearly immobile but not completely helpless, straining to use his abilities.

His protective shield cracked badly under just three slashes—my death affinity was no joke. His face twisted in disbelief, as though he couldn't accept being at a disadvantage against someone of his own rank. Maybe he never had been before. "Damn rat, I'm sick of your games. Just die!" Technically, we couldn't kill each other in this arena, but I wasn't about to correct him. I'd just teach him some manners by force.

I surged forward again. His golem intercepted me, but his spells had weakened after wasting so much mana. My reserves weren't limitless either, but his were suffering worse. I feinted by casting a false prison. He poured everything into breaking free, and in that moment, I pulled with gravity, dragging him toward me. I wasn't used to using gravity in this way, but it worked better than expected.

His face twisted with desperation. He tried to escape using his mist again. His control over the golem faltered with his fear of losing. His Imra was unstable, emotions chaotic—I could feel it all clearly from afar.

"Idiot, you're not the only one with a sensory ability." My voice was a whisper. I felt where he intended to reappear, and with one Electrifying Step to the side and another to close the distance, I was right behind him as he materialized. His focus too shattered to sense me, he couldn't react. My blade pierced his spine, followed by a slash across his neck.

He collapsed to the ground from the force, his second protective shield activating. I stared down at him, waiting until our eyes met. Then I made the most pitiful expression I could. "You're weak. Arrogant. And a terrible person." My words stunned him into silence. His mouth moved, but no reply came. Without another glance, I turned toward the referee.

The judge raised my hand, declaring me champion. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a small device resembling a camera. I performed the salute I had been thinking about these past days. I placed my hands near my chest—my right arm lifted slightly, my three middle fingers forming an "M," while my left arm made a "V" with my index and middle fingers. The initials of my name.

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