He was tall, easily six feet, with a with a broad, muscular build. His dark hair was cut short, and his eyes were a deep brown.

He wore light armor made of what looked like hardened earth, formed from his own magic.

"Competitors, take your positions!" Hendricks announced.

Lucas and Victor moved to opposite sides of the platform, facing each other across the thirty-foot distance.

"The rules are simple!" Hendricks continued, his voice magically amplified to carry throughout the arena.

"Fight until one of you triggers your protective barrier, surrenders, or is unable to continue! Killing blows are prohibited! Maiming is discouraged but injuries are expected! Any questions?"

Neither Lucas nor Victor spoke.

"Good! Competitors, are you ready?"

Lucas nodded, falling into a ready stance. Across from him, Victor did the same, his hands already glowing with earth magic.

"BEGIN!"

Victor moved.

One moment he was standing across the platform, and the next he was in Lucas's face, his armored fist driving toward Lucas's head with terrifying speed.

Lucas's Danger Sense activated and he barely managed to duck under the blow.

He felt the displaced air ruffle his hair as the stone-covered fist passed overhead.

How is he so fast with all that armor?!

Lucas didn't have time to ponder the question. Victor's follow-up came immediately. It was a knee strike aimed at Lucas's lowered head.

Lucas threw himself to the side, rolling across the platform. He came up just in time to see Victor's sword descending toward him in a brutal overhead chop.

He rolled again, and the blade struck the platform where he'd been with enough force to crack the reinforced stone.

The crowd gasped.

The earth-enhanced warrior pressed forward relentlessly.

His sword came in with a horizontal slash that Lucas had to duck. Then a thrust that forced him to sidestep. Then another overhead chop that he barely avoided.

Each attack was faster and stronger than anything Victor had thrown at him before.

And the worst part was that Victor's defense hadn't weakened at all. If anything, it had improved because now he could absorb hits that would have forced him to dodge before.

Lucas tried to counter with a quick jab to Victor's exposed face, but the earth mage tilted his head and let the punch glance off his armored shoulder instead.

The impact sent jolts of pain through Lucas's already injured hand.

Victor's response was immediate. A palm strike to Lucas's chest that sent him flying backward.

Lucas hit the platform hard, skidding several feet before he could arrest his momentum.

His chest felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer, and he was pretty sure at least one rib was cracked.

[Warning: Host has sustained significant damage. Protective barrier activation at 40%.]

Great. Just great.

He forced himself to his feet, wheezing with each breath. Victor was already advancing, his armored form looking like an unstoppable golem.

This isn't working. I can't fight him straight up, and I definitely can't match his strength now. I need to think. There has to be a weakness. There's always a weakness.

The earth armor was covered most of Victor but not all of him. Victor's joints had thinner coverage to allow for movement.

His face was partially protected but not fully. And the mana required to maintain that level of enhancement had to be enormous.

But those observations didn't help much. Lucas couldn't realistically exploit the joint weaknesses while Victor was actively fighting back and hitting him in the face hadn't accomplished much beyond pissing him off.

Victor closed the distance again. His sword came in low, forcing Lucas to jump. Mid-air, Lucas saw Victor's other hand coming up with another palm strike.

No time to dodge.

The stone-covered palm caught Lucas in the side, right where Victor had cut him earlier. The pain was blinding, and Lucas felt something give way in his torso.

[Warning: Protective barrier activation at 65%.]

Lucas crashed down onto the platform, rolling several times before coming to a stop near the edge. His vision swam, and he tasted blood in his mouth.

Get up. Get up or it's over.

He pushed himself to his hands and knees, every movement agony.

Through blurred vision, he saw Victor approaching slowly, deliberately. Not rushing because he didn't need to. The fight was all but over.

"You fought well," Victor said. "Better than I expected, honestly. But this is the difference between our ranks. You should yield."

Lucas spat blood onto the platform. "Not... a chance..."

Victor raised his sword. "Last chance to yield, Estellan."

He was preparing for what was clearly meant to be a finishing blow.

Lucas's response was to activate his Flowing River Style mana circulation at maximum intensity.

It wouldn't last long. Maybe thirty seconds before his reserves were completely depleted. But thirty seconds might be enough.

He charged.

Victor's eyes widened slightly, probably surprised that Lucas still had any fight left in him, but he recovered quickly and brought his sword down in a devastating vertical slash.

Lucas didn't try to dodge. Instead, he angled his body so the blade would hit his already-broken left arm instead of anything vital.

The sword bit deep into his arm, and the pain was indescribable.

But his protective barrier didn't trigger because the damage, while severe, wasn't quite enough to meet the threshold.

More importantly, Victor's sword was now stuck in Lucas's arm.

Lucas grabbed the blade with his right hand, ignoring the way it cut into his palm, and used it as leverage to pull himself toward Victor.

"What are you—" Victor started to say.

Lucas headbutted him.

His forehead connected with Victor's nose with a loud crunch. Blood exploded from the impact, and Victor stumbled backward, releasing his grip on the sword to clutch at his face.

The sword was still embedded in Lucas's arm, but he didn't have time to deal with that.

He pressed his attack, driving his knee into Victor's armored stomach (which accomplished nothing except hurting his knee) then transitioning into an attempted sweep of Victor's legs.

The sweep actually worked.

Victor, disoriented from the broken nose and not expecting such a basic technique, lost his footing and crashed to the platform on his back.

Lucas fell on top of him, using his body weight to pin the larger man down.

With his good hand, he delivered punch after punch to Victor's face, targeting the parts not covered by the earth armor.

Victor's hands came up to protect himself, and the earth armor began to crack and crumble as his concentration broke. Lucas felt the stone covering on Victor's torso start to dissolve....

Then Victor's mana surged, and Lucas was thrown off by a burst of raw magical force.

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